ANTHEM

ANTHEM SELF-ASSESMENT

I do not think the title “Anthem” is to compelling as a title for this piece but since the title sequence is so short I do not think it was an issue as far as holding the viewers attention for the video. This video/performance was a reaction to myself becoming a dual citizen between the UK and USA while keeping immense Scottish pride. I intentionally sang the Scottish Anthem with a lot more vigor than the American Anthem because for a long time I felt American Nationalism had been forced upon me and I was bogged down with it. It fitted in with the personal narrative for it’s own sake, I think the viewers as a class understood my idea; although, without text or a backstory I think this piece would be confusing for an audience outside of our writing class. I believe this piece takes the viewer on a journey in to my own mind and my torn state of flux at that moment in time, where I was grasping onto an identity I feared was getting taken away from me. But in hindsight this “torn identity” does not matter, because even my U.S. passport says I was born in the United Kingdom and no matter what I will always be a Glaswegian. I think the video/performance in this piece was very compelling to the viewer, I am a very bad singer so I think that the humorous aspect of it added a lot to the video especially since this is a class where most people see me when I am insanely tired. I think that the longevity of the piece was good for the assignments requirement being 3-4 minutes since there was a definite awkwardness towards the end of the Star Spangled Banner when I was singing the slower more complicated verses while getting tired and losing my breath but would like to push that aspect further with longer duration on both National Anthems. I think that the transition between clips was alright as far the split screen went but I should have cut the section of me turning the computer off out because it doesn’t look as professional. I do not know if the ending could be called compelling but I think it was appropriate for the content of my video since it needed to end.

I give myself a B for this assignment, I feel the video/performance was successful and my writings were strong and led me to the making of this video but do not actually pertain to the final product.