Link to Final Presentation (Strongly advised to visit first and then look at the photos below) : https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1tyrDMt1nd3FGLLpMohw6GNayjxoqOIAxrHKpZksc3sc/edit#slide=id.gd56b01eaab_0_29
Final Outcome
These are the photos and videos taken from different angles at different moments.
Visual Experiment
Sewol Ferry Sinking
BBC news article. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-27056653
Track 1: Radio News Broadcast
Breaking news. This morning, the Sewol ferry, left Incheon, Seoul, South Korea to go to the southern island of Jeju island. It carried 476people, including 324 high school students who were on a field trip to the resort island. Because of the fog, the ship had to leave 2.5 hours behind the schedule but unfortunately, it wasn’t enough time to avoid the accident. Here is a short breakdown of the accident.
At 8:48 a.m. on April 16, the ferry made a sharp turn after reaching the Maenggol Channel, which is notorious for its strong underwater currents.
At 8:52 a.m., a student on the ship called 911 panicking to send a signal that the boat was sinking. His first words were “Save us, please!” and He later said, “The ship is tilting.”
After this call, the rescue operations kicked off including the Coast Guard, the Navy, and dozens of fisherman and fishing boats nearby.
At 9:39, the ferry’s chief engineer and six other engineers escaped on the first rescue boat sent by the Coast Guard.
The most surprising news is that the ferry’s captain also abandoned the ship and was rescued by the Coast Guard – even before the other passengers.
In about an hour. It was nearly 10:21 when they rescued 40 more.
In total, only 172 people were rescued, 295 were confirmed dead, and nine others have remained missing since.
Track 2: Podcast – Analysis on Sewol Ferry Incident by Professor Seo
Hello, this is Rachel Seo, a Professor of political studies at Yonsei University. Today, I am here to analyze why this Sewol ferry disaster shook the nation on a whole different level. There are several reasons for this but the fact is that the government had a late response to the sinking with delayed rescue operations and conflicting reports on casualty numbers, which only harassed the passengers’ families more. Not only that, it exposed the government’s lack of interest in monitoring the safety check because 1) Sewol was found to have been carrying too much cargo and 2) it had been remodeled beyond its safety limits. But we cannot only blame the high positions of society. It also proves the lack of ethics among the general public as the ferry’s captain abandoned the ship and the passengers.
Now, this is where it gets worse. How did our president respond when this disaster was shaking the nation? There are lots of rumors about this but, as you might already know, the most famous and most predominant one is that president park was having plastic surgery and cosmetic treatments during the early hours of the sinking. The rumors were caused by her apparent absence from duty during the seven hours from when the sinking was first reported until she appeared at the government task force around 5:30 p.m.
Believe it or not, this is how our own president reacted and it has been receiving huge criticism since then.
Knowing this makes me wonder how the disaster would have been different if we had better politics and politicians. It is just devastating to watch how our nation is coping with it and I hope things will get better in the future.
Track 3: Documentary – Stories of the survivors (High school students who were on the Sewol ferry)
“We weren’t all rescued. I think we escaped by ourselves. They said they were going to rescue us, and we thought they would really do so. Since they were bringing helicopters and the coast guard, we thought it wouldn’t be a big deal. But now we can‘t be with our beloved friends, and we can’t ever see them again no matter how much we miss them for the rest of our lives. What was it that we did wrong? If there was something that we did wrong, I think it was getting off the Sewol ferry alive.”
“If the president had been receiving briefings and giving instructions during the seven hours when she did not appear on the day of the accident, and if we had been told to get off the ferry immediately instead of staying in our seats, there would not have been as many victims as there are today. This obviously needs to be investigated,” Jang said.
“We have remained silent even though we were the victims because we lacked the courage and we were afraid of being criticized in the past. But now we intend to take courage. Someday, when we meet our friends once again, we hope to be able to proudly tell them that we made sure that the people who separated us from our friends were held responsible, that we made those people pay the price.”
Track 4: Documentary – Stories of the victims’ friends and families
This is the story of one of the bereaved mothers. I am a mother of Geonwoo Lim, who was in his second year of Danwon high school. Geonwoo has a brother that is 10 years younger than him. I really want his brother to live in a safer world, instead of the world Geonwoo was living in. So at least for his brother, I want to show the world and punish why we weren’t able to save Geonwoo. I don’t need money, I don’t need honor. I just want to know who put our son into this situation and that is all I want. I really want Geonwoo’s brother, Chanwoo to live in a better, safer world so please help us and don’t be affected by the lies.
This is the story of another bereaved mother. Because they all had similar heights, I asked if I could see the foot of the dead body. They asked why and I said I can recognize if that body is my daughter by looking at her foot. So I refused to look at the face and instead saw her foot. And I saw it and it was her…
This is the story of a high school student who lost his girlfriend in the Sewol ferry accident. She used to cheer me up every time I did badly on exams or things didn’t go as I wanted. She said “I am doing great” and supported me a lot which I still remember. I wish she could do the same today standing next to me when I am having hard times. Eighteen years in my life is short. But she still gave me some nice memories and I want to say that I am thankful for her for standing next to me and sorry for not treating her better when she was alive.
This is the story of the bereaved sibling. It was so sad that the season changes and time passes but my sister’s room has stopped. I didn’t like how this room where my sister used to be is the only place that it stopped in this world. I couldn’t express my sorrow in front of my parents who had lost their child. What I heard the most during the funeral is that I should take care of my parents. Take care of them. But we were also the victims. We have also lost someone we love. We were also about to collapse. So I think that was the toughest time. Beep
Along with the script for the audio tour, I also prepared visual material to present a more lively experience. I specifically chose Prezi because it allows zooming in and out. This function goes well with my drawing of the map on a larger scale and then zoomed in to offer more details and photos.
Link to Prezi: https://prezi.com/view/wwigE2mgx9a9n6Er6MHC/
Script for the Audio Tour of Seoul
TRACK 1
Welcome to Gangnam! I’m your new friend today and I am here to guide you through this wonderful city Gangnam! Just between you and me, I would like to give you a few tips before we properly begin. I recommend you to visit here from 2 to 4 pm because it will be the least crowded but you can still feel the vibe. Also, the best way to experience Gangnam is to visit key places between the Sinnonhyeon subway station and Gangnam subway station. So let me begin! Looking at the map please come to the first location which is the red dot. But before we really begin, if you are new to Prezi please go to track 2. If you are already familiar with Prezi, just make sure to play track 3 once you reach the red dot.
TRACK 2
After you arrive at each place, I recommend you press the arrow key from your keyboard to take a look at the photos. This key will take you to the next icon that symbolizes that place. If you want to skip some places – which is totally fine – just press that button on the Prezi slide and it will directly take you to that place regardless of the order. This way, you can choose your own order of visiting different places. If you want to stick to the order I made, press the arrow key when instructed from the audio tracks.
TRACK 3
I’m glad that you have managed to find this place. This cafe is quite further away from the main road so only a few people know about this place. This bakery cafe used to open 24/7 before the pandemic and it has been my favorite place to study ever since. It was last fall midterm when I was dealing with the heavy workload from college. I have to say, I was quite disappointed that I couldn’t be in Starbucks in New York but instead be in this place in Seoul around 2 am. My first-year college experience has been very different from my expectation and dream, but this cafe was like a silver lining to me. It’s very quiet and clean – perfect to open my MacBook and start doing assignments.
Now you will probably be asking about how about these nice photos of bread and cakes? Well, this place bakes the best bread in the city at 6 in the morning every day. So if you want to taste some freshly baked bread, hurry up because they will be sold out in a blink of an eye. Now take those bread and go back to your place. See the third photo of a mini oven placed on every table? You can use this to heat your bread for a few seconds. So put your bread in the mini oven and let’s make them warm. Speaking from my experience, this smell and taste will relieve your stress, especially academic stress, so you should definitely try it out.
TRACK 4
Look at the first photo. Zzang games. This means “The best games” in Korean. Now let’s go inside this orange building. Where you are standing right now is the very center of this place. This place is the most crowded, well to be more accurate, used to be crowded before the pandemic, filled with young generations. About a few months ago, this place had to close down for a whole month because the covid confirmed case once visited here. Since then, this place takes extra care to make this place clean and sanitized every hour. Also, you can’t enter if you are not wearing a mask. Before covid, it was like a goto place after having a few drinks in Gangnam. You can feel the young vibe, hear some screams and chants. So, welcome to the biggest game center in Gangnam. In front of you are countlessly many claw machines that I try every time I come here but never manage to get one. It can be stressful sometimes, but it only required a coin to play so I didn’t let my bad game skill ruin the day. You can still give it a go and please let me know if you pick a doll because it will give me some hope to try again next time. If this isn’t enough fun for you, look around. To your right is the staircase which will lead you to darts and pump it up arcade machines. Let’s go upstairs together. I can feel that you are astonished by the loud music. But don’t be afraid because it will give you the best experience. Now give it a go with any game and I will be waiting here. Go, have some fun!
TRACK 5
It was about a year ago when I had my first date with my boyfriend. This movie theater named ‘CGV’ is the ‘heart’ of Gangnam street. I personally chose this place at that time because it has special seats for couples at the very last row in each movie theater, known as the ‘sweet box’ like that photo on the left. Sitting very close to each other, we shared popcorn, pretending as if we are not feeling the butterflies in the stomach. Still, we enjoyed the movie and had a lovely and unforgettable time. We arrived here at night since there are fewer people, so I would have recommended this time to you too under normal conditions. Unfortunately, this movie theater only opens until 10 pm because of the operation restriction due to Covid-19. So if you want to come here again to watch a movie, make sure you come here before 10 pm.
I still remember in detail what happened that day. We bought a ticket with the ticket machine on the first floor and hopped on the escalator to go to the third floor with yummy snacks in our hands. Now, you might be probably wondering about where you can get those yummy popcorns. I’m sorry to tell you this but the answer to that is that you can’t. Covid has again stopped us from eating in the movie theater and this movie theater no longer sells snacks. But I have something that can cheer you up. Pretending you have already finished a movie, why don’t we go to the second floor? Let’s use the staircase next to the elevators. Now you will see a small photo booth to your right. Taking photos is the best way to capture and remember your moments here so make sure to not skip it.
TRACK 6
People, cars, and buses – they are moving so fastly and they look so busy. You will also notice a few giant screens that are just the same as the one in the photo. These screens are used for commercials, like the ones on Broadway in New york. Nowadays, these screens advertise Netflix movies as more people are binge-watching Netflix due to quarantines. Behind the massive screens are tall rise buildings that shine brightly at night. In these buildings, there are lots of shopping malls, restaurants, and offices that people come and go to every day.
Please bear with me the loud noises of Gangnam. Once you decide to come here, you can’t avoid the noises coming from every building and shop. Mostly, they are Kpop songs so it will be less annoying if you are a K-pop fan. The next loud noises are coming from the traffic because there are huge traffic jams from 6pm to 8pm everyday in this Gangnam street. You will hear lots of angry horns from people who want to go back home eagerly after work. This is hugely brought about by the strict working conditions in Seoul which most people work in the office ⅔ of the day. This reminds me of my father who returns to our house everyday around 9pm with an exhausted face. It is really depressing that this is considered to be the norm in our society.
TRACK 7
Finally, our last destination of our tour is Gangnam. This place is called “Temple Strike” where you can bowl with your friends and families. Now, let’s open the door. When I visited this place for the first time, I took the elevator thinking it would take me to the bowling place. Instead, it led me to some restaurant so make sure to skip the elevators and use the staircase next to them to go downstairs. Not used to the darkly mysterious atmosphere of the staircase, I slowly went downstairs where some loud long and neon lights greeted me. I entered the place and noticed the bowling shoes of all sizes to my left and the counter to my right. I first picked a shoe of my size and went to an empty lane. I also bought some drinks – beer for me and a cocktail for my friend – and we had an energetic, enjoyable time. And this is the reason why I brought you to this place at the end of our tour. You can enjoy both drinks and games with friends while bowling. So if you want to give it a go, pause the audio track here and just remember to come back after you are finished.
You are back! I hope you had a nice time. Now, let’s go outside. So this is the end of our tour in Gangnam. Hope you had a lovely time. If you have any destination that you particularly liked then visit there again and replay the audio.
This is an hourly comic I created to represent my daily life. The color and its hexadecimal code are chosen to express the emotion I felt at that time and the audio captures the live moment within that hour.
The video is put together by using Adobe Premiere Pro.