Telling A Wire Episode Through GIFs
The big part of this week’s assignment was learning to create a series of .GIF animated images to explain an episode of The Wire. Knowing that the process of creating the GIFs would require several programs already freaked me out a little. I saw that some of my other DS106 classmates had used Adobe Photoshop and video editors to create their GIF images and add text. Before falling into full panic mode, I took a deep breath (and reminded myself that it was only Thursday) and went through the GIF tutorial provided by Professor Groom.
I used the directions in the email (also sent to us by Professor Groom) to download Season 1, Episode 10 of The Wire, the episode that I would be explaining with my GIF images. I then went through the tutorial and downloaded HandBrake and MPEG Streamclip. As the video was already in a format MPEG Streamclip could work with, I realized I didn’t really need HandBrake. For each scene I selected from Episode 10 to transform into a GIF, I trimmed and exported in MPEG Streamclip to GIMP. I already had GIMP installed as I have worked with the program before (it’s truly a great free software!). I realized why the tutorial mentioned choosing short clips… some of my GIFs were over 40 layers (frames) long! I didn’t see this as a huge issue until I decided I wanted to add text to my GIFs. Using Google, I found an easy-to-follow tutorial on adding text to GIF animations in GIMP.
With this step, I had to be patient. Because some of my GIF animations were 40+ frames, I had to keep duplicating the Text layer and merging it down. Needless to say, there was a big sigh of relief when I finished making all 6 of my GIFs Thursday night. Making the first GIF wasn’t too bad–in fact if you followed the directions carefully, it was quite easy. The next five were a breeze to make after I got the hang of the whole process. Below are my six GIF images telling the story of Episode 10.
The detectives are getting closer to Avon, and Stringer realizes they need to tighten up.
Omar, Greggs, and McNulty question the Barksdale crew’s truce.
Orlando is given no choice but to take what the lawyer has offered.
Bubs makes moves to change his life, asking Kima for some support.
Lt. Daniels stresses that they still need the wire tap.
Kima senses something is not right, right before they are ambushed.
Four Daily Creates
Another one of our assignments this week was to complete four daily create mini-assignments. Below is each of my four creations with a short explanation:
September 2, 2014 – If great scientists had logos…
I was a little confused about this assignment because I noticed other classmates were making logos for their own names, but the examples were of scientists’ names. I chose to create a logo for Gregor Mendel, the founder of modern genetics.
September 3, 2014 – Represent a Well-Known Story as a Transit Map
For this Daily Create, I chose to create a brief transit map of the Land of Oz (there are actually many more locations!).
September 4, 2014 – Internet Mapping Project
I enjoy doodling, so this Daily Create was really fun for me. I’m always on YouTube, so I marked it as my “Home.” I chose to put Facebook in the sky as I use Facebook to watch over what my friends are up to. I portrayed Reddit/r/funny as a playground as it’s just fun and entertainment.
September 6, 2014 – Book Bloc Shield
I’ve never read this book, but I found that the title speak’s for many underrepresented, unheard individuals in the world wanting to have a voice and make a change.
