Mar 24, 2025 6:35 PM

Guiding Light Outline

ACT ONE. 

Ally Hollander, a blind woman, sits in a conference room on the 78th floor of the North Tower at 8:25 AM, accompanied by her guide dog, Bixby. She's discussing a merger with her partner, Derrick.

At 8:46 AM, a massive explosion shakes the building, sending shockwaves through the air. Glass shatters, and chaos erupts around Ally, who cannot see the destruction but hears screams and smells smoke. (INCITING INCIDENT)

Portraiture/Environmental Photography

Being able to capture the world through the eyes of the lens is what I love most about photography. Through every click, I am able to record a moment in time that I will never get again - people are able to see the world how I see it and that is what I find so powerful. Therefore, through photography I want to experiment more on how I can explore new creative ways to portray my cultural identity.

Traditional Pasifika Patterns - Hiapo & Tivaevae

I am interested in traditional pasifika patterns and designs, especially revolving around Hiapo & Tivaevae because I feel that it is a practice that needs to be maintained and uplifted. Much like Niuean & Cook Island language, these art practices are dying out. It would be interesting to explore how I can implement these two traditional art forms in a contemporary way, without culturally appropriating it.

Minimalistic Style - Positive & Negative Space - Trivialisation of Colour

I am intrigued by the contrast of minimalistic and chaotic style created by positive and negative space. I find that this design aspect is something I want to experiment more and explore further.

Peer Activity - Reviewed by Awatea

This project I feel has a lot of highs! The parts this group did well, I think were extremely effective. I’ll go through my favourite parts first, and then maybe look at some things I thought they could’ve improved.

My favourite parts:

- the high ringing transition to elevator music is very comedic. Almost dark comedy because the expression on the actress’ face is how I would describe as desperately tired. I think this transition suits the tone of the scene very well, and this is the kind of contrast and creative thinking that really elevates a narrative above the usual!

- Some nice papery and plasticky sounds as various objects fly at the actress. (I’ll come back to how this might’ve been further improved!

- The elevator door sounds very cohesive to the room, good choice.

- The use of outside (?) noise, I assume it was outside and if so, very well done. The dogs barking, children talking is really nice and includes the viewer.

- the rain outside is also a creative choice. I like that it gets louder in one room, but I think it should possibly have a different shape or sound, as it sounds like her roof is a greenhouse roof or one of hose corrugated plastic rooves (or is it roofs?) - which I strongly doubt but I suppose isn’t impossible!

- I think the noise of her footsteps inside what I hear as an echoey hallway work well, and I like the subtle slides/scratches in her footsteps.

- Nice zip (could be louder!)

Things to improve:

- Wind sounds - I dislike howling wind for a scene like this, I don’t quite know why, I suppose it feels a bit cartoonish. Perhaps more layering of different wind was needed?

- Room tone changes, I felt like there could be a more noticeable difference between the rooms. The rain adds to this, but each tone needed to feel perhaps like she was moving further into her house.

- The paper and bags hitting the actress at the start I felt could even be more ! Or the leaves! I wanted more rustling MORE!

- The woman’s footsteps, I also wanted MORE. Gimme that slap on the pavement!

- If I’m being very picky I would ask for more diagetic sounds in her flat, like a radio in the background or something. Perhaps that would overwhelm the scene too much, but just a thought!

  Peer Feedback: Making It Meaningful – Dr. Catlin Tucker:

Feedback is how students feel seen and supported. It is also how we communicate to our students that we value the process over the product. When we give feedback as students work, we signal that the work they are doing is important, and we care about their progress.

Teachers want to give students timely, focused, and actionable feedback, yet it is easy to neglect. Traditional approaches to providing feedback are time-consuming and often require hours of work beyond the school day. Given the bombastic pressure on teachers this year (and every year), I’ve been working on strategies to help support students in giving each other feedback. As a learning community, all members should play a role in providing thoughtful and substantive feedback.

I made a google form document to ask my peers which of the 6 designs they liked the best. Below are some of the responses I gathered.

Based on this feedback, I shortened the list of possible designs down to 4 designs, seen below.