This task was much harder than I thought. Even though there are so many emojis available to us, it felt like the perfect emojis for the words I’m trying to represent are missing. I approached this task by thinking of movies or shows that have very unique or farcical characters. I thought these shows or movies would be easier to summarize using emojis compared to shows and movies whose characters are more “common”. I also considered the plot and looked for more action for the same reason as dialogue heavy plots are harder to represent using emojis. I steered away from books because characters often present themselves differently to different readers. After selecting the source material, I started with the title and luckily it was short and easy to convert into emojis. I then started with writing the plot in English and then representing the important pieces of information in those sentences using a string of emojis.
Throughout the task there were many challenges I encountered. The first challenge was how I could represent names. The only way to do this is breaking down a name by its syllables and using emojis that can represent each syllable. I attempted to form the protagonist’s name using emojis but I was not successful in finding the emojis that represented the sounds. Instead, I used an emoji that is a key article of clothing to represent the protagonist.
The second challenge was whether to use homophones or use words that had related meanings to the emojis when the perfect emoji didn’t exist. I decided to steer away from homophones as to not confuse the reader into thinking that I was trying to use the true meaning of a homophonic emoji. For my plot summary I mostly used the emojis’ direct meaning or their related meaning such as using an anchor to represent boat. Another method that I used in my plot summary was using the imagery formed by combining different emojis to represent meaning such as using a man running followed by a puff of smoke to represent running away or escaping.
Deciphering another person’s emoji plot was also very challenging. I found that I have to know the source material already in order to figure out the emoji story. It was close to impossible for me to get the complete story of movies or shows that I have not seen before using emojis. However, reading a plot using emojis felt like solving a puzzle. It took longer than reading the plot in English but there is a great sense of satisfaction when you realize the source material they are representing and deciphering the emoji story.
Story Spoiler Below!
One Piece (Netflix live action series season 1)
Luffy is a pirate who wants to find the one piece treasure. He forms his crew which has a thief/navigator, a swordsman, a chef, and a marksman. They fight other pirates including a clown, a fish-man, and a butler with sword hands. They also escaped many encounters with the Marines who are trying to capture the pirates. Season one ends with Luffy having a huge bounty and the crew continuing on to find the one piece.