E-Learning Task 2: What's so GOOD about a Good multi-modal text?

This DS which I am going to analyze is taken from VidLit What Was I Thinking? The Training Wheels of Love by Mimi Pond. This short clip narrates the events in the bad romance of the persona with her boyfriend which eventually led to a break-up.

The clip begins with a groovy music in the background. Then the picture of a girl appears on the left and the title of the book "What Was I Thinking" in speech bubble appears shortly after. Immediately, the phrase "Bad Boyfriend Stories" appears just below the speech bubble. The use of groovy music immediately catches the attention of the audience as the music chosen is suitable for the topic of love even though this is about a romance gone wrong. To have the phrases appear one after another is effective because it allows the audience to focus on the semantics of the phrases and it is a sort of prelude to what the audience might expect later in the digital story.

What comes immediately after the segment is the zooming in of the title "The Training Wheels of Love" in the form a car tyre with accompanying screeching sound as it comes to a halt. The use of the graphic tyre is most apt because it correlates with the semantic meaning of "Wheels" in the title. The story is presented in the form of a comic strip.

When the story is being narrated, the groovy music is replaced by one that is rather mysterious sounding, almost detective-like, which is not at all melancholic. Key phrases are emphasized through the enlarging of fonts and still images are used effectively to capture the attention of the audience.

The use of voice (intonation and expression) in the narration of the DS does capture the attention of the audience on one hand. On the other, it limits the imagination of the audience as it does not allow them the interpretive freedom a narrative offers.