Week 4 Critique. Severus Snape | Important Scenes in Chronological Order

For this week’s critique I chose to focus on a fan fiction short movie about one of the most representative characters of Harry Potter series, Severus Snape. As a Harry Potter fanatic I found this work fascinating and it clearly shows deep knowledge of the history of the series as well as solid literacy dimensions representative in this fan fiction movie. Regarding the kind of involvement, the young author expressed fan identity when explaining her personal reasons to create the video, she also expressed her fan enjoyment through well documented knowledge of the book and movie series. Additionally she shared in a mature way considerations about the central character of her movie, Severus Snape. In terms of creative process she also gave proper credit to all the material she used in the production and added a brief explanation of how the movie was produced “All rights go to their respective owners. I used GarageBand, Final Cut Pro 10.0.08 and iMovie to edit music + video.” I also found interesting how she encouraged further discussions about the video and the character providing links to her Tumblr site.

Some literacy dimensions I would like to evaluate from the ones provided in Lankshear and Knobel chapter four appendix are:

Video remixing skills: Excellent. The production evidenced adequate use of video editing techniques: (e.g., cutting, splicing, transitioning) to create a seamless whole. In my opinion the author demonstrated expertise remixing segments from the movies and putting them together changing the chronological order to produce a well organized and logic story. I recognize all the time, effort, and capacity of synthesis the production involved.

Music remixing knowledge: Excellent. The video shows expertise in selecting relevant music for the movie soundtrack. The music is edited, combined, and synchronized appropriately with the videos. She also gave song links in order of appearance.

Promoting the fan space: Excellent. The author responded to comments and engaged viewers with forums about the topic such as http://tinyurl.com/snapefanfic. She also is responding to the feedback received in a proper time manner in her video discussion as well in her Tumblr site, additionally providing other resources that may be in the interest of the fan community. The number of comments is an impressive 7,807,591 and is still increasing even though the fan movie was created in 2014.

Overall, In my opinion the production is excellent and a wonderful example of how the younger generation is developing great skills in new literacies. I enjoyed and recommend the fan movie. If you are a HP fan you will enjoyed this fan work!

rmsalas72

July 4, 2015

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8 responses to “Week 4 Critique. Severus Snape | Important Scenes in Chronological Order”

La Dawna Minnis (@llminnis)

July 4, 2015 at 5:42 pm

Rosanna, thank you for writing about this! This video is such a helpful remix, as it can be difficult to fully understand Snape & Harry’s relationship across all of the movies. It is also interesting to see the characters/actors grow through the progress of the video. Great find!

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1. rmsalas72
  
  July 5, 2015 at 6:06 pm
  
  I am glad you liked it, for sure I enjoyed watching this production very much, like you I found interesting to see the characters’ evolution that appear in this short fan movie; it gives a great sense of all the changes the characters and actors experienced during the books and movies.
  
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Alicia

July 4, 2015 at 11:24 pm

It’s interesting to see the character taken out of the movie so to speak. The placing of the scenes in chronological order showed a more melancholic than sinister person. I always thought Snape was the most complex and interesting character in the story. Although, it was difficult to maintain sympathy for him during the movies. The remix, however, really focused on his wretchedness. I felt so much pity and empathy for him. I wonder what gave the producer the idea? How was she able to pick out his dark despair? Now, I have to watch the movies again!

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1. rmsalas72
  
  July 5, 2015 at 6:05 pm
  
  Alicia, I felt the same way about the character and how the video provided a new way to understand Snape. I think the author (who is just 18 years old) found a great way to share her perception about him. Before I considered myself a fan, now I think I just enjoyed so much the books and series. I have to watch the movies again too!
  
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mraarona

July 5, 2015 at 8:19 pm

Rosanna-
This was an interesting remix find. The remix made it easier for me to understand a complex character completely. I never felt that I understood his character very well (especially separated within each story). The remix was created in a very professional way. This remix seems to be a clearer way to get a complete picture of a complex character. I am now wondering what else I missed in the HP series.

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rmsalas72

July 5, 2015 at 8:25 pm

Thanks for your comment Aaron, I am wondering the same, the author said she was planning to create another video about Harry Potter, maybe I will check it too.

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mitchellwoll

July 6, 2015 at 1:35 am

Complex “gray” character’s like Snape are so interesting to me. And his progression in the books, I think, was well structured. Early on, as the main characters are younger, and the target audience too, Snape is easily categorized as sinister and dangerous. But as the books progress, the characters mature, as well as the audience, you come to find out Snape cannot be so easily judged, and that people, and things in general are more complex. Perhaps students should develop remixes like this as their book reports, rather than writing an essay. Granted this would require there be movie adaptations too. Thanks for sharing this! The remixer is very talented.

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Bill Calhoun

July 6, 2015 at 5:12 am

Rosanna, this is a great example of the remix genre, thanks. I haven’t followed HP much, but I was aware of this character, and it was fun to follow him chronologically across the series. It’s cool that the author was only 18 when she created this – she did a great job. I loved Mitchell’s comment: “Perhaps students should develop remixes like this as their book reports, rather than writing an essay.” Or maybe in addition? I was associated with an arts high-school in my town where all the seniors were required to create a lengthy video. It took them most of the year to learn the skills needed to do it though!

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