My project will concern changes in urban neighborhoods due to development and gentrification. I will focus on one block on one street in Capitol Hill: Pine Street between Summit and Belmont avenues, where a row of funky bars and businesses will soon be demolished and replaced by a large condominium complex.
The text portion of my website will combine facts and news about this development project with personal reflections about change, from me and other Capitol Hill residents. The primary point I hope to make is that neighborhoods are precious human commodities that cannot easily be replaced. Even run-down, seamy neighborhoods like this one can be special places that contribute positively to the character of a community. Even when development is inevitable, the loss of such neighborhoods should be mourned.
The core of my website will be at least on photographic panorama of the block, which I have stitched together in Photoshop from thirteen individual photos I took last week. The purpose of this is to provide a complete portrait – impossible to achieve from a single viewpoint – of the entire block. I will feature this panorama in the masthead of my website. I will also create an animated night-time version of this panorama, in which the block slides slowly past our view, accompanied by an audio recording of the typical sounds of the block on a Friday or Saturday night.
My podcast will be an essay, narrated by myself, about how the coming changes in this block remind me of other places that have changed in my life and what was lost. This will be accompanied by original music that I will compose in GarageBand, as well as a sound effects track. The sound effects track will begin with the natural sounds of the block, which will fade into the sound of feet walking on a creaky wooden floor and other sounds as the narrative goes from the present into the past and from journalism into personal memory.
The block is not scheduled for demolition until the end of 2007, so it will not be possible to document this dramatic event in my website this quarter. Instead the website will be about change looming in the near future.
Visually, I would like to use a fairly loose, magazine type format, so I am hoping to put the website together in Dreamweaver if I can advance my skills in this software fast enough.
9 responses so far ↓
flackster // April 4, 2007 at 7:53 pm |
Very well thought out, Vaun, and I think contributes to developing perspective through taking a snapshot in time of a topic that impacts us all – neighborhoods. I’ll look forward to your genre-fi-cation of the gentry’s arrival on Capitol Hill in 2007!
chloelin // April 10, 2007 at 1:36 pm |
I’m very interested in your topic because I think Capitol Hill is a special area. Look forward to your amazing story~
Week 3 Notes « Writing and Presentation For Digital Media // April 10, 2007 at 5:56 pm |
[...] Vaun [...]
Tony // April 12, 2007 at 8:24 pm |
I think you already have a whole plan for your story. It sounds like a video story and very interesting. I expect your great work.
magnusuw // April 13, 2007 at 9:27 am |
Vaun sometimes you amaze me with your talent, it is kind of frightening, I wouldn’t be surprised if you weren’t already done with your project by now. it sounds like a facinating way to chronicle change, I definitely had a similar topic in mind but this sounds like an original and creative way to go about doing it that i would not have been able to think of.
Luke // April 13, 2007 at 4:43 pm |
You put us to shame with how rich your blog is! Not only that, but your individual proposal sounds like it is designed to tackle as wide an array of media as we’ve covered in our program. Neighbourhoods are drastically changed all the time, but it seems rare when one is demolished completely. To make it tangible and give it a voice and to focus on a neighborhood in maybe the most culturally vibrant part of town, I’m already getting pissed at the condo developers! If you could work interviews with the residents in, I think it would lend itself dramatically to what you’re trying to accomplish through picture + sound.
swmcdm // April 17, 2007 at 11:35 am |
Still a super idea since you mentioned at our first class! Well-planned incorporating all elements of technical and story-telling
Look forward to the combination of interviews from others while still seeing the change from your perspective.
kegill // April 17, 2007 at 4:47 pm |
One of the best thought-out projects.
Week 4 Notes - Tu « Writing and Presentation For Digital Media // April 17, 2007 at 5:11 pm |
[...] Vaun ** [...]