Setting The Scene

Arabian Days and Nights

Presenter: Gage Brahe

Presenter Status: Undergraduate student

Academic Year: 20-21

Semester: Fall

Faculty Mentor:

Department: English

Funding Source/Sponsor: SYRCE Symposium

Screenshot URL: https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1lqrDfJdvsKJ9PJMDfCHFj8ZdKN624-WB

Abstract:
My project format will be a collage that compares scenes that have been described in different stories across the world to Arabian Nights And Days. The initial question is “how does the setting of different scenes affect the story and compared to other stories of a similar era.” I was inspired to do this after we started reading Arabian Days and Nights in class and I noticed the visceral description of the locations the characters were in and how that affected interactions and story progression. Every story needs to set its scene before the story begins and often elaborates throughout the story for various reasons. This applies to all story formats so I decided to do research on scene-setting in a more general sense and from there compare what I read in Arabian Nights and Days to other stories. I used a variety of different sources for my project. Even though my project is mainly images I still had to used sources such as scholarly articles, documentaries, and interviews to hone my project and figure out what images I was going to use. The research didn’t necessarily change the direction of my project but instead changed my mindset going into it. I originally thought the project was going to be very geographically focused, however, now I understand that using the types of images I am going to use it will need to emphasize colors quite a bit more. 

For this project, I had to use two different processes. The first for research, in which I took the traditional steps of going to credible sites such as One Search and Google Scholar, finding information on my topic and topics related to mine for references. The second process was dedicated to the images. The images for my project had to be found through different means because sources for formal research almost never have images so I have to find images from fans of certain stories who draw the setting depicted in the stories they read.  These drawings and paintings are really what inspired me for this project. The majority of the images are works of art by individuals who only do it out of passion, not for monetary gain. 

This entire project went very smoothly and the research I didn’t only change my perspective on the project and didn’t change what the project was going to be. The interviews are what really influenced me the most. These are where you can get direct insight into the mind of the creator of the story and be inspired directly by them. I found with these that all of the stories I researched were by people who were also inspired, not by one individual like many of their fans are but by the community, they are from and the potential they see within it.