Tele-Meeting between Hai, Youme, and Khanh

Khanh here. Just got off the phone with Hai and Youme. Discussion time ran1:47:25. I had an ear-set jammed into my right ear--but it kept falling. Hai and Youme had me on the speaker so they could hear me together while cute Song gurgled her demands for a fresh diaper and attention. We discussed the Grant Project. Youme has some notes and I have some notes.

START REPORT:

Recap of Project Distribution:

• Bing is working long hours to blur faces in the documentary Nuoc we made last Spring semester. 
• Hai, Youme, and I (we're the Comic Trio) are creating a comic novella in response to the documentary. 

Tasks:

• We need to check with the IRB (Independent Review Board) to see that consent forms and all else concerning the documentary (especially) and the research, reference to real people and places, etc. are ethical. 
• We have two possible printers, but we need to research more because it would be best if our comic is printed as professionally/perfect (Youme has proper terminology for this. Sorry that I'm inefficient in the lingo) and as cheap as possible. 
• Create projected timeline to present to the Mentors.
• The Comic Trio needs to check up with Bing and Mentors for feedback on what has been decided for the comic and its current direction.
• Set up a face-to-face meeting with Mentors within the next week or two.
• Get paperwork done for University employment.
• Start sketching

Check with Mentors:

• Legal issues similar to IRB issues raised above (but more focused on the work-in-progress comic)
• Time Sheets?

Future:

• Trio will meet Thursdays at some time between 2:30-3:00 p.m. to develop comic
• -Set up meetings with Mentors

Comic Novella Details:
Incorporate the noir style (for the present in which subjects are depicted in the university environment) with a more cartoon-ish style (e.g. subjects drawn as video characters) (for when subjects are reflecting & analyzing as they tell their story).
Hai&Youme half (I'm not going into great details because those two will be able to give more accurate details)-

• 1st page-addresses question of perspective, prejudice, and expectations from 1st-impressions? (1st person narrative). Figure surrounded by speech bubbles with a text box
• 2nd & 3rd pages-creation of scrapbook photos
• 4-Wonder about other adopted children. Ask questions. Image of child's silhouette
• 5-Address assimilation to American culture of adoptee & international child (language issues)  
• 6 & 7-Non-camera photos. Idea of "my home is in the past"
• 8 & 9-Hai riding phoenix (instead of plane). Past and present integrated. May include Khanh.
• 10-Bio and pic of collaborators. Project info and details. Contact. Etc.

Khanh half (not as concrete as Hai&Youme's. Thanks for brainstorming help, guys. I needed it).

• 1-Large image of university with close-up box of classroom depicting ASAM class with all 4 collaborators in it
• 2-Page of text in epistolary format posing ideas of memory/immigration/ethnicity/prejudice/identity/etc.--not fully established yet
• 3-three box images in collage: Bing at laptop, Hai boarding bus (with Youme?), & Khanh working/riding train

---READER SEES BREAK-OFF TO INDIVIDUAL STORIES---

• 4-Khanh working (more detailed and fuller image with text, etc...text box in 1st person as Khanh speaking and introducing self--similar to Hai's 1st page)
• 5-Khanh shooting billiards with friends after work
• 6 & 7-two page spread of series of smaller images arranged in ladder form showing individual scenes of family life and the segmented and separate lives that each family member leads
• 8-Khanh jogging with dog
• 9 & 10-Conversation between Bing & Khanh

Commentary: Right now, what we have above seems very disjointed, but we will change and integrate the two halves so that the comic story flows smoother. 
Hai's story takes the format of a scrapbook and reflects on the past as he addresses present issues.
Khanh's story depicts a day of ordinary life as present-day reflections.
Bing's story is that of a spectator who remains outside of the box (or does he?:), observing, commenting, and (at times) discussing.


Comic Story projected outline:
Hai opens the conversation with his 1st page. His solitary reflection is followed by a dialogue between Bing and Khanh (depicted as an online-chat?). 
Bing-->What he sees and desires as material for the documentary.
Khanh-->What is left out in the process.


Drawing the comic in pencil first. Doing black-and-white. Colored cover. (Funds are limited after all and we need at least 100 printed copies Youme suggested).


Want to include Nuoc in the comic. There are already discussed changes to the outline shown above. And Hai's story may be in the middle of the novella instead of the beginning so don't take the order of the pages as any kind of ordered sketchboard for the comic itself. 


In the end, the Documentary "Nuoc" creates the constructions that are Khanh and Hai. They become characters as depicted by Bing, the artist who films and puts the documentary together. They are his creations and separate entities from the original subjects: the people Khanh and Hai. The comic de-constructs Bing's creation--i.e. de-constructs the constructions. The subjects are presented in a wider perspective of personality, history, and thought. They are multi-faceted in the fact that they pose questions that only lead to more questions and perhaps hold no answers. The comic causes readers to look at themselves even as they are given judgments and asked not to judge. Together, the documentary and the comic are a duality that provokes thought and debate on the topic of identity, the discourse of what is Asian-American (specifically Vietnamese Americans), presents the theme of what it is to be an international adoptee and how it is to be an immigrant in America, and many other things.

END REPORT

I probably left out a lot of things. And I added a few small ideas as I typed (couldn't help myself), but that was the gist of the conversation. We went over the committee meeting in which I was absent, also. Will touch up with the Prof. on that later this week. 

Please feel free to correct and add anything, Youme and Hai.