The Bayley Bulletin 2016 Vlog Challenge!
For our 2016 Vlog Challenge, Seton High School Students were encouraged to craft a 5 minute, in-character vlog based on one of the books you are reading this year. The challenge was to become one of the characters, and either pretend to be in the original time period or transpose the story into a modern setting while remaining true to the intent of the tale.
Vlog: Polly Milton’s Memoirs
A gifted musician, Polly comes to the city to try to support herself by earning a living teaching music. She finds her upper-crust city friends much less welcoming to a working-class woman, and learns some new lessons about true tragedies and the every day kindnesses that make a big difference in a hard world. Meanwhile, Polly struggles with affairs of the heart when a seemingly perfect suitor starts to court Polly, while she still harbors an unrequited love for a much less perfect person. What decisions Polly makes, and how her tale ends are two questions that can only be answered by reading Louisa May Alcott’s An Old-Fashioned Girl.
In this first episode, Polly Milton, a girl from a small country town, steals away a few minutes in an airport terminal to make a first entry in a video diary. She introduces herself and expresses her excitement and expectations about the new people and places she’ll see during her visit to her friend’s home in the big city.
For purposes of modernization, Polly Milton’s Memoirs does not maintain all of the exact names, places, and objects found in the original book. Nicknames may be traced back to their root names, and replaced with more modern monikers, i.e. Fanny comes from Frances, but since no one in the 21st century wants to be called a fanny pack, Frances becomes “Cessa”.
About Rachel Sommers
Rachel C. Sommers is a 17-year-old high school student. She is an only child, living with her parents, four dogs, six birds, and a betta fish. Rachel has a passion for animals of all kinds, but especially dogs and parrots. For this reason, she aspires to become a veterinarian specializing in avian and canine medicine. Among her hobbies are bird training (or being trained by birds) ,reading interesting science articles, and making fun videos.
Rules & Challenge Details
Vlog: [noun] a blog made from video.
Do you enjoy making videos? Are you interested in exploring your creativity?
The Bayley Bulletin has a new project in mind: the Bayley Bulletin Vlogs!
Seton High School Students are encouraged to craft a 5 minute, in-character vlog based on one of the books you are reading this year.
This challenge ends on August 31st 2016, but you can send in your vlogs at any time!
Rules
- No more than 5 minutes.
- Family friendly.
- True to the source material.
- Seton’s language and modesty guidelines must be met and maintained throughout the series.
Content
You can dress up in period costume, or you can translate it into a modern day setting. Or you can tranpose it into another period. Your creativity is what makes this special.
Things to look out for: clear video, good audio, and good lighting.
Use of Music
Be careful of copyright infringement when choosing any music you might like to use. You can buy a soundtrack from websites like Pond5, AudioJungle or PremiumBeat, where you get a royalty-free licence to use as you like.
There are websites online that provide free music, such as Musopen, or you can explore the Youtube Music Library which are available for your uploads.
Uploading
Make sure it’s in high quality, and use a good site accessible to the general public like Youtube, or Vimeo. Vimeo is the best option, and setting up an account is free.
The content must be sourced from the books you are reading in your curriculum, i.e.: Robinson Crusoe, Pygmalion, Jane Eyre, Perelandra, etc.
The challenge is to become one of the characters, and either pretend to be in the original time period or transpose the story into a modern setting while remaining true to the intent of the tale.
It’s a special project, for three reasons.
- First, you are creating something that helps you pursue a passion and gain experience in filmmaking.
- Second, you are learning to follow guidelines and incorporate reviews from counselors and peers.
- Lastly, you are creating an engaging tool for other high schoolers to better understand and enjoy the books that they are studying.
Once you are finished, send it in for us to review! The best will be shared on the Bulletin.
This sounds like a cool idea! Are we allowed to use any book from a Seton course we are currently taking, such as Around the World in Eighty Days from Honors World Literature? Thank you!
Absolutely! That’s exactly the idea. :) You could pretend to be any of the characters, or perhaps a new character who goes along with them, chronicling the amazing journey.
Can they be over five minutes long?
Hi there! Sorry for missing this comment! Feel free to contact us with your idea. It can often be a challenge to make the first five minutes, so that’s why we’ve set a simple limit there.
This sounds super!! Do we have to make an entire series or can we just do one to intro the book? If a series of episodes is preferred, about how long should it be? Also, can siblings star or only help and does the book have to be from the high school reading or from one of the lower grades’? Finally, can I make/submit a series for a book that’s already been done?…sorry this got long :)
Hi! You can absolutely include siblings and friends. :) The series does have to come from a high school curricular book. You can submit an idea for a series and we’ll let you know. Naturally, we’d encourage you to explore a book that hasn’t been already done; Rachel has been exploring ‘An Old Fashioned Girl’.
For the Vlog challenge parameters, you can try doing the first video to see what you think about the process, and to get our feedback. While we certainly put no additional pressure on you as a student, we know that we – and the student community – would like to continue watching more of the story. :)
Hope this helps! Feel free to email us if you have any more questions!
Thank you so much!! I will definitely be working on some new material for yall, how would you prefer me to submit the video?
Youtube or Vimeo is fine. There are more details available in the dropdown below the video titled HTMM Seton Promo. :)
Excellent thank you!!