The Project Pitch
This blog post will be a bit different from my usual ones. I mean that in the sense that this post is actually two things smushed into one! In this post, I’ll reflect on and talk about both the process of “Dulce et Decorum Est” and the skills I gained from it, and how the Spring Exhibition went or if I can add more on the topic of the Spring Exhibition.WW1 Paragraph Placeholder
My Learning Adventure
Throughout the course of this project, we learned a lot of things. Some of those things included
- learning the components of a successful story, along with the forms they take and why we tell them
- stuff at MONOVA
- causes of WW1
- Canada in WW1
- a deeper dive into some of the important aspects of the war (trench warfare, medicine, planes, tanks, and ships, weapons, PTSD, minorities and women in the war)
- propaganda, consription, internment, ethical judgement
Overall, I was able to further my knowledge on a lot of topics I originally had little to no clue about.
The Skills
As for the skills I was able to pick up or further improve on, I’d say I utilized a lot of them. A few of them were as follows:
- brainstorming for coming up with ideas for theatre script
- acting
- technology design (sound design and video editing)
- paying attention (joke)
- public speaking (WW1 weapons presentation)
- reflecting
I feel like throughout not just this project, but the school year as well, I’ve gained and progressed on lots of new skills, and am therefore becoming a better learner than the year before. tPols here I come!
My Work
Dulce et Decorum Est:
”Museums tell stories in multiple ways, and in many forms. For example, there’s interactive displays, and even in those, there are multiple forms. There’s visual, auditory, tactile (touch), olfactory (smell), etc. There’s also dioramas, VR, and living exhibits, such as people pretending to be a notable character. There are also layouts that help to understand the story the museum is trying to show or make example of. Some of these are thematic galleries, time & date, location of events, and many others. All in all, museums can tell stories in a variety of ways to drive it forward in the way they choose.” -Keystone 1
”The competing narratives of war can be sectioned into 2 main views: “The reality of war”, and “the myth of war”. For example, the myth might be a healthy soldier in a crisp clean uniform and little to no injuries on a poster telling people to join, as opposed to the reality that in war, uniforms were dirty and may even have lice in them (see “Weapons of WW1” presentation, subclass “Bayonets”), and the soldiers would have grave wounds, with diseases passing throughout the trenches. The myth of war refers to the government using propaganda to protect the country, gain public support, counter enemy messages, and recruit soldiers. It fixes war in the glory of a “noble and necessary endeavour.” On the other hand, the reality of war is the more negative effects of such. For example, the negative side of propaganda was that it manipulates people, limits freedom of expression, and spreads false information. These different perspectives show that war is a complex topic, with some justifying propaganda’s use, while others loathe its impact on ethical values and society.”
-Keystone 2
Launchers, Torpedos, and Bayonets, oh my!
“Solar:
– Make sound louder = fixed by air playing it to TV
– make trench look more like trench = brown paper or cardboard
+ Acting was very good
+ Sound effects really added to the performance
Owen:
+ Emotion was very powerful
+ & – Good emotional ending, but try to act better (practice)
+ & – Card is nice, but make sure you have an exhibition layout soon
+ & – Trench is easily noticed, but add texture
– Make grenades” -Keystone 3 feedback
“Cam:
– writing the Script and rewriting it to work around problems and ideas
– provide stomp rocket (for mortar shell)
– filming and video editing (for flashback)
– acting (in theatre performance)
– sound design” -Keystone 3 what I provided in the group work
Spring Exhibition 2023:
BONUS: My Experiences
Dulce et Decorum Est:
Throughout the project, we were given multiple opportunities to expand our learning. The museum visit to the Museum of North Vancouver (MONOVA) and the multiple classes for creation, planning, and work all helped us reach our final goal of making a true museum experience.
Spring Exhibition 2023:
Being able to showcase the work that me and my group had been working on for while was probably one of the most enjoyable parts of this project for me. Both during and after the Exhibition, my group and I got multiple compliments and rounds of applause, and I’m really proud of that. Each time we performed, we’d notice little things we weren’t happy with or wanted to experimentally change, and it slowly bettered our performance to what we could call satisfactory.
Driving Question and Answer
How can we make the contrasting narratives of war come alive for an audience?
It’s possible to make the contrasting narratives of come alive for an audience in a multitude of ways, and a museum is one of the best ways. Museums give the audience a unique experience to walk through history themselves, getting to see the different perspectives, listen to key stories and events, and explore many other possibilities. Theatre (living exhibits), interactive displays, VR and AR, dioramas, and many other things can offer an interactive and interesting experience to keep the audience intrigued and interested. All these things and many more make it fun to learn about and explore the contrasting narratives of war, as we got to see through our final product. The theatre performances, the interactive cannon (along with other interactive exhibits), and realistic dioramas were all a big hit during the museum experience on Exhibition night. Making the contrasting narratives of war come alive for the visitors was certainly a journey, but a rewarding one.