Emoji Activity

For this activity, I chose this movie because this was the last movie I watched. I did not think about whether it would be easier or more difficult to do another movie or book. The entire summary was done directly with an emoji keyboard without first drafting a written copy in words.  I normally use a lot of emojis in my SMS or DM to friends and family, so my initial thought was: “how hard could this be?”

So obviously, the process of writing a movie plot with emojis turned out to be incredibly difficult. A lot of the words and phrases could not be translated directly. In order to turn my thoughts into emojis, I had to search for emojis that matched the word that I wanted to use. When there were no direct equivalent available, I had to think of the idea that I was trying to convey first. Then, I would combine multiple ideas together in order to communicate something that I could normally say with one word.  For example, representing a character in the movie was difficult. Using a combination of emojis to represent character traits was the only way I could think of, but I would image that it would appear quite confusing until I explain it. If I were to write the name of the character, it would instantly reveal the movie. It was interesting that I had to think in abstract symbolism rather than in “words”.

I found it difficult to start with the title, so I began with the summary first. Once I got into the rhythm of thinking in emojis, I was then able to translate the title, which happened when I was about halfway through the summary. In other words, I emojied the summary halfway, then the title, then finished the rest of the plot summary.