When creating my screencast, I found it beneficial to draft the script I was going to narrate over the imagery before going on the create the visual aspect of the presentation. Using the questions presented in the assignment as a guideline, I was able to touch upon all necessary analyzations required for the assignment while expressing my voice and relating content while still maintaining flow of the assignment. After creating my narrative, I went on to compose the visuals of my screencast. This is where I ran into a creative-block. I was not sure how to portray the visual aspect of my video in an entertaining way that was both informative and engaging to the viewer. After watching the Ladylike video I decided to analyze again for inspiration, I had a “creative breakthrough” and decided to create a moving presentation that included photos, videos, and screenshots from the Ladylike video itself along with other photos of the cast.

I was then prepared to spend a good amount of time figuring out every logistical aspect of doing such, as I am not someone who is extremely “technologically advanced” as some would say. Another difficult situation I ran into was the timing and placement of pictures/videos in regards to the narrative. I went through speaking the presentation line by line with all media in front of me that I picked to possibly include. I was able to speak out the presentation and choose when to transition to which picture next, and one I got in the groove of it all, it went very smoothly. It was then time to practice my presentation. When reading through the narrative, the first few times consisted of editing the language and making sure everything was equally flowing and informative. After completing that, I read to practice the tone I would have while reading. I feel that is often a disregarded aspect when people are narrating a video that is SO important. I often like comparing it to Crash course videos made by Hank and Tom Green. When speaking in their videos, the emphasize certain words/phrases in order to give them recognition and keeping the viewer entertained.

The most challenging aspect I ran into ended up being the length of the screencast. I was able to get the video around three minutes if I spoke at the speed of light, however that was a note on the last video I had made. Therefore, I wanted to correct that mistake and make sure to speak clearly and at a good pace. It was then time to record my screencast. After watching the “how to” video I felt comfortable in the software, but did expect to need more than one try to get everything to work. After successfully recording the screencast to my liking and uploading it to YouTube, it was then time to figure out the last creative piece of this Leap 1 Assignment. That was, thinking of design ideas for my Notion page to make it appealing to viewers. After attempting different themes, such as black and white (with intent of a sleek look) and extremely colorful (with intent of making the page “pop”), I decided to meet in the middle and make an attractive page with pastel colors that were intriguing to look at, but not overwhelming. Overall, this Leap 1 Assignment had much more of a creative process than I was expecting it to have when I first began. I am thankful because I feel it help me to develop creative skills such as planning and designing, and ultimately combine those with literacy skills I have been evolving throughout COM250 this semester. I am excited to continue to create, design, and compose future projects while incorporating what I have learned each week about digital and media literacy.