Applied Project and Research Article Prospectus

Applied Project:

How can I encapsulate most of my college education in one project? For my applied project, I would like to create a video diary and final product of taking a piece of media from conception, to screenplay, casting, filming, editing, and post-production. Through my program here at PSU, I’ve learned that the first half of producing a piece of media comes from the English discipline when it comes to researching, writing, and formatting. Casting is a blend of English and Communications disciplines as it involves communication with actors in order to find out their strengths and chemistry, but must match the characters to be cast. The rest of the process I’ve learned from the many video production classes I’ve taken in the Communications department as well as my English internship at the local television station. Showing the final project alone doesn’t fully capture what goes into making a piece of visual media, but creating a video diary alongside it provides a 360 degree view of the experience and process.

I personally want to work behind the camera, and working in pre- and post-productions are my favorite parts of media producing. I love the writing and the editing, and this will help me get more acquainted with people when it comes to the directing and filming aspect. A lot of people think content creating is easy as people online make it look so, but it’s actually a lot of work for a one man team and works significantly better when cooperating with others.


2/27-Have screenplay done with footage of brainstorming and formatting

3/6-Cast some people and hand out scripts as well as document the casting process

3/20-Film at least half of the footage

4/3- Finish filming

4/10- Edit both videos and finalize them

4/23- Post final video diary and short film to ePort along with reflection to show the process in a written format

Research Article:

I am working on the topic of book adaptations because I want to find out more about adapting them into a television series over a movie is beneficial in order to help my reader understand better if taking the time to adapt a book into a longer television series over a two hour movie is beneficial to both audiences and creators. As humans, we will not watch an eight hour movie, but we will watch eight one-hour long episodes in one viewing session. Why?

As someone that watches a lot of movies and television as well as reading books, I find it interesting when a book will get an adaptation of either a television series or a film. It wasn’t until the success of Game of Thrones that adapting previous source material into television shows rather than films. but now with the sort of success of the Marvel Netflix originals and A Series of Unfortunate Events, many are demanding that their favorite piece of literature be given more time on the story, which television can provide. But does this cause the crew of these sets to delve deeper into a story or add unnecessary filler? is it more profitable to make a television series than a film? I want to answer these questions for entertainment developers such as producers for television or film studios as to which would be more profitable when it comes to advertising, box office, etc. along with quality. For this project some of the major thing I have to find out are the pros and cons of each when it comes to adapting a television series or movie and maybe find some examples of some that were adapted into both mediums.

Some key terms:

Adaptations, production, profit margin, budget, advertising


Metacritic, IMDB


2/27-Start gathering resources, taking notes from them, work on precis

3/6-Have precis ready to post

3/20-Start drafting the essay with sources and post outline

4/3- Make good leeway into the draft, at least 3/4 of the way done

4/10- Post first draft on ePort

4/23- Revise and post final product onto ePort

Ideas, Ideas, Ideas

My ideas for IDS projects in this coming semester:

Research Article

  • “I am working on the topic of mental illness portrayal in media because I want to find out how television shows either manipulate the topic in order to help my reader understand better how media distorts how it is portrayed.” This combines the different disciplines of media studies and health studies as it analyzes how one discipline affects the other.
  • “I am working on the topic of filling our homes with smart devices because I want to find out the risk we are at for data mining in order to help my reader understand better how these devices can be used against us.” I absolutely fear the sentience of devices one day rising up against us. Even Amazon is making fun of themselves for how mart their smart devices are. It combines the technical aspect of media studies and how we communicate with our technology and how that affects us socially.
  • “I am working on the topic of shows about nothing because I want to find out how the concept worked so well in the 90’s versus in order to help my reader understand better why our culture recycles ideas to make a quick buck.” Entertainment is a huge industry that we live in and is focused on in the English and Communications disciplines and it would be interesting to look on it socially as to how a common genre can work in one era but not in another.
  • “I am working on the topic of book adaptations because I want to find out more about adapting them into a television series over a movie is beneficial in order to help my reader understand better if taking the time to adapt a book into a longer television series over a two hour movie is beneficial to both audiences and creators.” As humans, we will not watch an eight hour movie, but we will watch eight hour long episodes in one viewing session. Why?
  • “I am working on the topic of production hell because I want to find out if putting a movie through said hell is worth it financially in order to help my reader understand better what it is to go through production hell and the toll it takes on the quality of the final product.” Production hell greatly alters the quality in my opinion, but with the recent success of Bohemian Rhapsody, who’s to say?

Applied Project

  • Short film on good portrayals vs bad portrayals in media of mental illness and how that has affected audiences. This is an interesting topic as some shows like 13 Reasons Why come with a warning label whereas Bojack Horseman does not. This could be difficult due to the stigmatization of mental illness in our present day.
  • Create a short documentary on the evolution and life of a meme. There was a terrible film claiming to do this already on Netflix, but rather followed celebrity trends. Memes can influence and make or break slang. We’re still saying “yeet” years after it’s peak popularity.
  • Write a screenplay, hire actors, film it, edit it, and document what it was like to go through each process with a video blog. This would show a step by step how to produce a piece of media that’s been around since the early 1900’s.
  • Video essay on iconic memes: where are they know and how did their media presence either ruin or improve their lives? This would be an interesting commentary and could be analyzed through how our culture can read one word and make someone famous.
  • Video in depth analysis with statistics about remakes of famous films: are they worth it? The film industry has lost it’s niche for original ideas and production companies are just relying on big names now to sell movies over quality. DC for example. This could show how muhc I’ve learned and could break down their flaws.


In order to be successful in today’s world, one needs to build an online presence in order to stay relevant and make contacts. In my time in Interdisciplinary studies, I’ve developed a Twitter presence that I need to revisit after taking a break. I remember how much we used Tweetdeck to organize everything and how helpful it was for keeping track of different hashtags and see how other people in the class are communicating with the outside world.

I’m going to continue to follow major directors, editors, and creators of film and television programming as well as local media networks to develop online connections that will help me in my endeavors. As media creators, many of them are on Twitter. I to, will contribute my ideas on the platform and they will hopefully circulate as I accumulate a following. In order to gain a larger following, I may eventually switch my public account to something a little more private so I won’t be spammed.

Twitter Logo

As I will be mainly using Twitter, I’m going to follow the guidelines that have been presented by Matt:

  • Add a Twitter widget to your ePort
  • Following 1-10 new academic and professional (“acaprof”) accounts per day
  • A minimum of 1 simple acaprof retweet a day
  • A minimum of 1 quoted retweet a day
  • A minimum of 1 reply a day
  • A minimum of 1 acaprof tweet of your own per day
  • 1-10 favorites per day
  • Active use of the #IDSSem hashtag (#PlymouthIDS, too, if you want!)
  • Active use of your relevant acaprof hashtags
  • Use of helpful apps (Twitter for mobile; Tweetdeck; etc)
  • 5 days a week (minimum) of this tweeting. 10 minutes a day or so.

In summary, I feel that I will know that my PLN is working if I manage to get follow backs from people that I follow and eventually can communicate with them through DM’s or and exchange professional information.

Intellectual Journey

I was born in Portland, Maine and lived there for about ten years before moving to Sugar Hill, New Hampshire, where my family still lives. It’s a small town near Franconia Notch, and the area was so small the high school was composed for four different towns’ children. There, I was a big part of the theatre program and the music program, as it was the only one that sparked my interest. As the years went on, those departments were getting smaller and smaller with people losing interest so I didn’t branch out much further than that. It wasn’t until my senior year when I was in a playwriting class and was a part of a theatre competition that I learned how much I preferred being on the opposite side of the curtain. I preferred to write over perform. I preferred to manage props and set pieces over acting. I spent all my time learning as much as I could of the process of television shows and movies and never knew how it could be applied to my future profession until I entered the Interdisciplinary program here at Plymouth State University.

I originally enrolled here undeclared because I had no clue what I was going to or what major I was going to choose. I figured by doing so I could get my general education credits over with while still being on my own away from home to gain a sense of adulthood. Of course, that didn’t last long as I was told at the end of my first semester that I transferred over too many credits from college courses I took in high school and had to pick a major in my second semester here. I panicked and looked into the Literature and Film area of the English major and asked about that to my advisor, and the option was no longer offered but was still in the catalog. She then recommended Interdisciplinary and fell in love with the opportunities that came with it.

I worked at the PBTV station for three semesters.

I’ve taken some courses throughout my time here at PSU, and I’ve got to say it’s more about the instructors that influence your interest rather than the course. The most influential have been Paul Rogalus with his writing courses, Ian Halter with his video production courses, and Juliet Harvey-Bolia at the local tv station where I had my internship. Each of them helped me understand the different processes of producing media and what to avoid and gave me tips. It was a hands on experience where I actually produced media instead of just taking notes and eventually a test on it.

I never really fit in at my high school. I wasn’t cast aside or anything, I was just kind of known for singing at events and for television show recommendations. Everyone was planning their futures and I was content with going to a state school and trying to figure things out. A lot of people underestimate this place but it has so much to offer. Through this program I’m finally able to being my interests into my career field and can’t wait to use what I’ve learned.