Digital Story

So with the culmination of my Multimedia applications class I present to you my final project. "Pagan: Just What The Hell Is It". This digital story uses many of the techniques I have learned thus far for incorporating multimedia into Sociological research and presentation.

In this digital story we look at what a Pagan is from the perspective of Pagan High Priestess in the San Antonio Pagan community. The video will also explore Pagan ritual and some of the workings that go on behind close doors. Hopefully this video will help to shed some like on the mainstream public's ideas of what Pagans are and what it is they do.

13. Creating an Xtranormal Cartoon

Sometimes animation can be far superior to any other form of teaching. The following animation I used using xtranormal.com show a conversation between High Priest Dragon and High Priestess Morgan talking about whether ritual can be made up as you go or if it needs to come directly from a book. Dragon is of the sense that things need to be by the book while Morgan thinks ritual can be much more meaningful if it flows from the heart and is something the practitioner feels very strongly about. Let's have a look.


Morgan and Dragon on Ritual

10. Digital Story Telling Outline

10. Digital Story Telling Outline

Idea 1: Filming of actual pagan ritual.

One of my ideas for my digital story would be to film an actual pagan ritual and hold a Q&A round table afterwards to ask questions about what took place during the ritual. The people that would be interviewed in this digital story would be those participating in the ritual. Some challenges that might be encountered during the process of the filming would be that many pagans are not willing to allow their rituals to be filmed. I believe I could overcome this by using pagans that are familiar with me and my works.

Idea 2: Interview of a Pagan with candid street interviews intermixed.

To perform an interview with a single pagan and ask questions about what paganism is. I would add into the film candid street interviews of normal every day people asking them a single question, “What is a Pagan?” The challenges in doing this is that candid street interviews are sometimes hard to attain as many people do not like to be filmed unexpectedly. I believe I could overcome this problem by providing some sort of quid pro quo satisfaction for the interviews. Maybe I could perform these candid interviews on a college campus and hand out a free soda or red bull to those that agree to answer the question on film. 

7. screen structure images

Assignment 7. screen structure images 

The above proper point demonstrates the four types of Screen Structures. In the narrative section images depicting the calling of quarters and invoking of deity are shown. The documentary section shows the altar table and setup of the previous ritual pictures. The Aesthetic section depicts picture of a fire sword dance and are of an artistic styling. And under the emotional screen structure section the images of one Pagans pilgrimage to the sacred monolith of Stonehenge is depicted. 

6. Video Clip as Representation of Key Concepts

The above clip shows how Durkheim’s concept of the sacred is used within the modern Neo-Drudic belief system of Paganism. Though Stonehenge was built over 5,000 years ago and very little is known what historically happen there or even what it was truly used for, it still captures the imaginations of many across the world who call themselves Pagan and all know that no matter what really took place at Stonehenge it is a holy and sacred place.

Within the classroom this clip can be used to show the sociological importance and also the impact of the sacred on society. Durkheim’s Sacred is displayed here as those who believe in the holiness of Stonehenge participate in a Neo-Drudic ritual at the site. Durkheim’s Profane can also be displayed in much the same fashion by how the participants feel about the vandalism to the stones  that has taken place over the years and archaeological excavations happening at the site.