Coding and Decoding Image Sequences

PHASE 1

Dillon raced out the door of his apartment building. His alarm hadn’t gone off this morning at 7:00 am like he’d hoped and now it was already 8:30 and he was running late, very, very late. He hadn’t had time to eat breakfast or comb his hair, but that didn’t matter now. All that mattered was getting to his scheduled meeting with Jay at 9:00 on time. 

Dillon hurried down the quiet street he lived on in a suburb of Atlanta. He was planning on taking the bus to his appointment with Jay because he didn’t have a car. He had gotten into an accident the previous week with a police car and his license was revoked and his car was totalled. After Dillon walked a few blocks he remembered that the buses weren’t running today because the workers were on strike. There had been an article in the newspaper about it yesterday. He looked down at his watch. It was already 8:44. “I’m never going to make it on time,” he thought.

Dillon made a quick decision to try to take the subway. He ran to the closest MARTA station, paid for his fare, and boarded the train. He almost didn’t make it because the guy in front of him was carrying a big box that got in his way. He found one of the last seats next to the window. He continued to glance at his watch, tapping his toes in a nervous way. One, then two stops went by and finally Dillon exited the train. He rushed to the turnstiles to leave the train station but an older lady in front of him got her fur stole caught in the turnstile. Dillon let out an audible sigh. Luckily the turnstile next to them opened up and Dillon leaped through it. 

As Dillon ran through the exit of the MARTA station, he stopped and looked at the clock. His eyes widened with disbelief. The clock on the wall said 9:22. His watch said 9:12. His insides burned with anxiety. His watch was ten minutes slow! He was going to be so late for his meeting with Jay! Dillon panicked and sprinted out the door of the train station and across the street to the Starbucks for his meeting. It was 9:25 and he was 25 minutes late. 

Dillon took a deep breath, went in, and looked around the coffee shop. There was no sign of Jay anywhere. Dillon inhaled the scent of roasted coffee and cinnamon rolls and decided to go buy one of each for himself with his last few dollars. After all, he hadn’t had any breakfast and he’d already had quite a morning. He walked over to a table and sat down to eat and wait for Jay. Maybe he’d had a rough morning too.

Dillon reflected on his phone call with Jay yesterday. What had Jay said again? He’d had some business to discuss. There was something about a job that he was interested in getting Dillon to do for him. Jay said it had to do with Dillon’s ninja-like reflexes, discretion, and training in the martial arts. What could it possibly be?

Dillon continued to wait for Jay. He really needed this opportunity, whatever it might be. With losing his job at the warehouse last month and his car crashing last week, his luck had run out. He was willing to do just about anything to make ends meet this month. Dillon waited for Jay, one, then two, then three hours. At that point he sighed, pushed in his chair, and headed home. “Oh well, it’s my own fault,” he murmured to himself, “Stupid alarm.”

_______________________________________________________

Describe what will be the next thing happening in the sequence, what is this story telling you, and what are the key elements of the sequence. 

The next thing that would be in the photo sequence would be a picture of Dillon leaving the coffee shop and looking sad. After that there would be a photo of him walking home with his head down. Lastly I would add a photo of him at home looking on a job search website to try to find a job.

The key elements in this photo sequence focused on a man that was concerned with time since he looked at a clock or watch three times. He seemed to be in a hurry to get somewhere and once he got there he had to wait which made him disappointed.

---

My own sequence – PHASE 2

I could use a photo sequence exercise in my fifth grade art class or photography club. Students could work with a partner to tell a story and make a photo sequence using our class set of digital cameras. If I want to get more specific about what students are photographing, I could have them choose a slip of paper out of a hat that has an emotion written on it and their photo sequence story would need to show that emotion in it. Other students would have to talk about or write about what they think the other group’s story is about. I could also show students how to edit photos and create a montage of their photos in Canva, which is what I used for this project. This project could cover some of the Georgia Standards of Excellence for Visual Art in fifth grade such as:

VA5.CR.1- Engage in the creative process to generate and visualize ideas by using subject matter and symbols to communicate meaning.

VA5.CR.1b- Apply available resources, tools, and technologies to investigate personal ideas through the process of making works of art.

The educational benefits of analyzing visual texts in the art classroom is that students are learning to look more carefully at images and also think about images they create and how others might perceive them. In art class, we also have standards that are about responding to imagery and this photo sequence project helps us with those art criticism skills such as:

VA5.RE.1- Use a variety of approaches for art criticism and to critique personal works of art and the artwork of others to enhance visual literacy.

VA5.RE.1a- Interpret and evaluate works of art through thoughtful discussion and speculation about the mood, theme, and intentions of those who create works of art. 

VA5.RE.1c- Use a variety of approaches to engage in verbal and /or written art criticism.

VA5.RE.1d- Use a variety of strategies to critique, discuss, and reflect on personal works of art and the work of peers.