Current project: elizabeth Barrett Browning
How Do We Love Thee?
How Do We Love Thee? is a two scene 28-minute short CVR experience designed to introduce Elizabeth Barrett Browning to secondary students.
Though the experience can be enjoyed by people of all ages, Amanda used her two decades of experience teaching high school English students to conceive of the idea and to then create the script.
A lot of people then said yes in order for the script to live. In fact, had one department declined or one individual backed down, she would be doing her dissertation on a different topic entirely. Instead, she gets to play in the possibilities of cinematic virtual reality.
How it happened
By accident. Really. I needed a few extra classes for my degree and the Film & Digital Media Department was offering a master level course “The Psychology of Media.” I asked my advisor if I could take it — the response, “Sure, why not?”
So in the spring of 2017 I entered the halls of the Castellaw Communications Center and began learning about the film industry from people who were planning on joining its ranks. I also met a few of the people who would be helping me create this first iteration of educational cinematic virtual reality (eduCVR).
Marcos Luna Hoyas, cinematographer, (and very dear friend), is a quiet young man. He observes. Most of the semester we sat across from each other, and when he spoke, made certain to listen, knowing his perspective was not only from a technical, production side, but also one born from his life in Spain. Our final project for the term was to present on an aspect of media and society. I chose to present on the possibilities of cinematic virtual reality (CVR) and secondary English curriculum.
The gist of the presentation is a study on how a then theoretical CVR account of an author’s life would impact high school
How Do We love thee? a vr experience (2018).
produced & directed by Logan Trent. Filmed as partial requirement of a master’s class in the Baylor FDM Department.
cont.
Chairman Chris Hansen, Dr. Dan Shafer, Dr. Michael Korpi, and Dr. Corey Carbonara — encouraged their graduate students to take part in the project. Professor Hansen even assigned a cumulative project for one of his classes- the creation of a BTS reel. I didn’t know either - it stands for Behind the Scenes; so, while we were preparing to film, we were being filmed. It was an interesting experience for one never having had it before.
And so, in under 3 months, I found myself surrounded by crew and cast, preparing to shoot in a new medium for a new curricular modality that I believe will help secondary teachers pull their students back into the literature that asks people questions about who we are and presents us situations to find out.
Day of Filming
Our cast, all from the Baylor Theater Arts Department, all volunteered their talents to the project. Professor Steven Pounder, cast as Robert Browning (see photo to the right). He was spectacular. So were his students. Not only did they give up their time during the end of the semester to sound the words Gabe and I had written, they took a risk for a person they did not know on a medium that is still being proven.
Their co-star was a camera - a now obsolete Odyssey Go Pro. Their setting, a library, and their final product meant for the eyes of a very few in a study for a dissertation that has yet to be finished — but it will be. And I have a feeling that the distribution will be more than just a few eyes.
Where Ba Goes From Here
She, Ba (Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s nickname), goes to as many hands as I can get her into. How Do We Love Thee? is a prototype for the curriculum we want to create in order to introduce literature and the potential of cinematic virtual reality to students everywhere.
We are finishing post-production, for which I am eternally grateful to Bonnie Bogavich of BlackCat Bonifide for her talents and her energies on this project. Not only is she amazing at ambisonic sound design, but she’s been incredibly generous with me about producing and navigating in the technical industry.
We’re waiting on one more piece of post-production and then the entire film will be ready for testing. By the middle of February my study should be run and we’ll be ready to release our prototype for public consumption. I’m so looking forward to the feedback. —peace & possibilities - amg
Original poster designed by Alex Tharp of AT Designs.
students’ relationship to the literature. Though the study of the eduCVR experience has changed from students’ thoughts to that of teachers, the film still needed to be created. That process template was something like this:
Set up meeting. Pitch idea. Ask request. Point out rewards. Confirm. [repeat]
The first ask was for the location - the Armstrong Browning Library. It’s a beautiful building filled with beautiful people who take care of the largest collection of Robert & Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s work in the world. Luckily I knew the new director; she had graciously given me a tour of the facility when I was a new student and curious as to what librarianship was all about (After haunting the halls for two years, my conclusion is magic - librarians work magic).
So Jennifer, the ABL director, said yes. She said yes to everything I asked - the original copy on set, the actors left alone in the room with the artifacts, the all day shoot.
Wanted: Crew for Crazy New Idea
With the location secured, and Marcos on board, I turned to him and said, “Now what?”
“We need a director and a crew.”
When he saw my panicked “and where do I get those?” face, he gave me a name, Gabe Lipton, and Gabe gave me a name, Sylvia Fuhrken, and once she agreed to be our costume designer, the rest of our preparation went in a miraculous whirl.
How The Whirl Went
Unbeknownst to me, four professors in Baylor’s Film & Digital Media Department —
Steven Pounder as Robert Browning next to a photo of Robert Browning with Amanda Gardner on the third floor of the ABL, just down the hall from the Elizabeth Barrett Browning Salon.