UGH! WAS IT A PROCESS. Do you remember the first drawing apps you could get on a computer where you had to painstakingly draw with a mouse? Yeah, I did that. I realize it would have been much easier to just draw the illustrations on real paper, take pictures of them, and format them into a video; however, I wanted the drawings to look juvenile & I am very proud of how they turned out. Let me explain. 

 

1) When my little sister was in pre-school, my creative mother designed the school's logo. There was a little boy and a little girl, both drawn very simply. When I was designing my own "Sophia" character, I went through many sample illustrations, but when I thought of basing her off of my mom's characters, it just made sense. They perfectly embodied the personality I wanted her to have.

 

2) The second reason I chose to create my illustrations to look like a young child drew them was because of how it connects to the story. I often think of my life in two parts--the before and after of my father's death. For my remediation project, I wanted to create something that would help my audience connect with my eight-year-old self. When I was eight, I was not (and still am not) an impressive artist, so I think the youthful style is appropriate.

 

Next, my reasons for creating a video in the first place. In my Repurposing poem, I stick with the "She Will" format until the very end, where I switch to the first person point of view. When I was brainstorming how to dramatize this is my remediation, I was inspired by the recent Youtube video phenomenon in which people tell there stories on index cards. I decided to adapt this storytelling style, and many frustrated iMovie fails/bloopers later, ended up with the video you just watched! I wanted to wait to reveal my face until the very end to accentuate the fact that I am a survivor.

 

I no longer think of myself as a victim of my past, but as someone who is fully alive.