Tracing the Functions of the Blooper Reel in Children's Digital Videos

• In Event: 54.080 - Roundtable Session 22
  In Roundtable Session: 54.080-14 - Digital Literacies, Digital Lives: Blooper Reels to Cliff Top Literacies

Abstract

This paper offers an analysis of a set of blooper reels (outtakes from videos) included in videos created by groups of third, fourth, and fifth-grade children in two critical digital literacies projects. The majority of videos were part of a school-wide effort to “save” the children’s public charter school from closure. I analyzed the blooper reels in order to understand the functions they served in videos and in the classroom and school contexts. Findings show that blooper reels index several critical digital literacy practices. Created by and for children, meant to entertain composers and their peers, they were purposefully included in externally focused texts. Their creation and incorporation suggests children’s sophisticated awareness of audience and of multimodal, digital composition practices.

Author

• Jessica Zacher Pandya, California State University - Long Beach