Scrabble: A Game in Words
Hi Everyone,
This project was full of excitement and represented a substantial challenge. In exploring the subject of scrabble as a gamified learning experience, a lot of research had to be done. However, it quickly became evident that not all information about the game could be transmitted in a 10 minute doc format. So began the most interesting part of the project: the editing. This was a two fold challenge as while it was important to include the most important research and ideas, it was also important to keep the doc entertaining. Frequently, I had to remind myself that this was not an essay but a piece of media that educated AND entertained. To that end I started watching other documentaries to provide inspiration and came across the work of Ken Burns. His style of matching images, music, and audio was a strong influence on this piece although I tried to add my own flair by the clip from the Scrabble games show and the sound bites from scrabble players. To avoid any copyright issues for music I search high and low for songs out of copyright.
This was a very enjoyable process and I happy with the results. I hope you enjoy.
Best Wishes
Maxim
ScrabbleDocumentary (PDF Transcript)
Hi Maxim,
Yes, I thoroughly enjoyed your documentary, as I’ve thoroughly enjoyed playing Scrabble throughout my life. I didn’t know about the Dutch word used as the title of the game, and I’ve always wondered why there were so few Ss and you’ve answered that too! Last summer we rented a cottage where there was a German version of the game on hand, and the letter frequency and values were different, so I wonder if they used a Berlin newspaper to determine those. My only suggestion for you is the pronunciation of Poughkeepsie: PO-KIP-SEE.
Lastly, a little anecdote: My cousin was in fierce competition for an apartment in the late 90s when it was getting hard to find a place to live in Toronto. The landlord decided to hold a Scrabble competition to determine the winner. My cousin won and The National Post wrote a story about it.
Hi Maxim,
I really enjoyed watching your documentary. It was very informative, the music choice was a nice touch and the visual components were relevant and aesthetically pleasing! Great job!
I thought the history of Scrabble was very interesting. Having played the game a few times, it was great to learn some aspects of the game that I didn’t know about.
Rachel