This week we got to choose our type of assignment. I start out wanting to try something that involved a little writing. Then I started seeing Twitter conversations about the unexpected gameplay experiences that had cropped up after the launch of Pokemon GO. My mind kept coming back to this augmented reality game and what its popularity might mean for future technology.

I also jumped briefly into one conversation that mentioned using the game to find criminals in parks with this comment:

So, I decided that my idea was really just begging for some multimedia to go along with it. I changed tactics, and hunted down an assignment that would let me use my idea for a DS106 project. I found “Mashup Those Movies,” which indicates that one should combine elements from different movie posters to create something that looks like it could be a real movie.

I worked from the idea of two long-standing tv franchises having a future spin-off that sees some of our Pokemon friends living and working independently as they’ve grown up and cast-off the gym battle lifestyle. Now, they’re hardworking detectives trying to do their best in a human-centric world.

Here’s what I made…

The CSI headline and background were elements that I collected from a Google search that led me to this picture. I removed the foreground of the picture just by replicating parts of the plain background and then blending them.

I decided to draw my own Pikachu and Jigglypuff because I like having at least a few elements I create from scratch. Also, drawing the characters gave me more control over their look and expressions. I tried to give them a little bit of age with some extra lines, but kept some of the sweetness of their normal expressions. They are more experienced, but haven’t let go of their natural optimism.

The subtitle and catchphrase are both standard Pokemon elements, adjusted with fonts that straddles the more serious CSI and the playfulness of Pokemon.

I used Autodesk Sketchbook for all drawing, layering and text.

Our assignment for Week 5 involved choosing a Mashup assignment from the DS106 Assignment Bank. I have to admit that I had no clue what to choose – nothing was speaking to me. I finally went with the Vine It Then Combine It challenge as I haven’t worked much with Vine.

My subject matter, pretty much by necessity, is the new library building for Douglas County Libraries in Lone Tree. This was our last hurrah for getting everything together before opening the doors this weekend and my time was very devoted to helping out and attending related functions. So…I decided to tell a story about the “future library” from a child’s perspective.

As I started creating Vines, I couldn’t quite envision what to do with them. I wasn’t feeling a story emerging. I think I struggled with the technical aspects of making something interesting in six seconds. I was starting to get a bit down about the project at this point, and really considered switching to another assignment all together.

While poking around in my files, however, I realized that I had some kind of fun additional formats that could help fill out my story a bit better. So, I expanded my mashup and included other video I had taken, as well as stills, and some of my Vines, and started putting them together in Windows Movie Maker. The story started making more sense to me, and I felt nicely challenged by making what I had on hand come together into a story.

After getting the visuals into a reasonable layout, I outlined a script and recorded myself in Audacity timed roughly to the video. I did a bit of research on changing sound settings to make voices sound younger, and adjusted the pitch of my recording upward by two “half-steps.” I then tweaked video timing to improve the coordination between audio and visual, uploaded the video to YouTube, and came here to share it with everyone!

I noticed that I lost some of the video stabilization in one section of video, which I don’t entirely understand. But, overall, it turned into an interesting and fun project for a week full of library themes.

This week, when looking over DS106’s Mashup Assignments I tried searching for something that I could relate to education. I once again landed on something I feel like I could remix in order to use it with my own students, and I used a terrible “teaching” related movie in the meantime.

I can’t totally explain why, but I chose to mashup a picture of Arnold Schwarzenegger in Kindergarten Cop, with a bear. Based on what I was seeing from many of the mashup examples I figured-hey, the cheesier the better. Also, most movies about teachers/schools are cheesy and terrible, so I figured I would go with it.

Mashing up these two images was for Mashup Assignment 1945, I’m Ready for My Closeup. The assignment asks that you take a dramatic close up of anyone’s face and superimpose with a landscape or scene. I found a picture of Arnold running away from the children in the movie like he was running from something that was about to eat him, and landed on the bear picture.

In order to create this mashup I layered my two photos using the PhotoshopMix app. I’m still finding it easier to do most of my DS106 assignments on my phone, instead of my desktop. The apps seem easier to use. I landed on PhotoshopMix after trying out some more confusing programs on my desktop. However, I tried hard to follow Remi’s advice and not agonizing over making it perfect, and instead tried to have some fun with the mashup, and here is what I came up with: