Caitlin Woodington

When They Say Happily Ever After

“When They Say Happily Ever After” by Caitlin Woodington (Licensed by CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

Synopsis 

“When They Say Happily Ever After” is the story of a child’s favorite book, The Lion’s Paw, finding its way back to that child who is now an adult, told from the perspective of an adult.

Original Media Assets

I wrote and recorded the narration for “When They Say Happily Ever After.” In addition to creating the narration, I shot all of the video footage myself.

Software

Audio: I used QuickTime Player to record the audio of my husband playing the part of The Lion’s Paw and of me saying my lines. I also used an AI tool called Descript to records the lines for the two additional speakers in the digital story. I edited all of my audio using Audacity.

Video: I edited my movie using iMovie. I used Canva to add text to several of my video clips.

Video Footage: I shot my video footage using my DSLR camera a Sony a6000.

Credits

Video and Image Credits:

  • “Opening of When They Say Happily Ever After” by Caitlin Woodington (Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
  • “Child Takes The Lion’s Paw Off the Shelf” by Caitlin Woodington (Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
  • “Child Looking at The Lion’s Paw” by Caitlin Woodington (Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
  • “Child Reading The Lion’s Paw” by Caitlin Woodington (Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
  • “Reading The Lion’s Paw Under the Covers” by Caitlin Woodington (Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
  • “Hugging The Lion’s Paw” by Caitlin Woodington (Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
  • “Back to the Library” by Caitlin Woodington (Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
  • The Lion’s Paw Put Back on Shelf” by Caitlin Woodington (Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
  • “Passed Over” by Caitlin Woodington (Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
  • “Ignored” by Caitlin Woodington (Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
  • “Broken” by Caitlin Woodington (Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
  • “Forgotten” by Caitlin Woodington (Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
  • “Packed Away” by Caitlin Woodington (Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
  • “Box Opened and Found” by Caitlin Woodington (Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
  • “Packaged” by Caitlin Woodington (Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
  • “Unboxing” by Caitlin Woodington (Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
  • “Taping The Lion’s Paw” by Caitlin Woodington(Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
  • “Wrapping up The Lion’s Paw” by Caitlin Woodington (Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
  • “Another One” by Caitlin Woodington (Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
  • “Is This What they Mean When They Say Happily Ever After” by Caitlin Woodington (Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
  • “Passing on The Lion’s Paw” by Caitlin Woodington (Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

Audio Credits:

Fire Resistant

“Fire Resistant” by Caitlin Woodington licensed by CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Video Editing Software: iMovie, with title image created using Canva Pro

Export Settings: 1080p, Best (Pro Res) Quality, .mov file

Image Credits:

“Grayscale Photo of Hands Holding a Burnt Book” by Дмитрий Пропадалин (Pexels License, some rights reserved)

“Burning Open Book” by Anton Massalov (Pexels License, some rights reserved)

“Open Book Lot” by Patrick Tomasso (Unsplash License, some rights reserved)

“All the wisdom” by Robert Anasch (Unsplash License, some rights reserved)

“Hand Holding Burning Book” by Sefa Tekin (Pexels License, some rights reserved)

“Burned Book in a Forest” by Anton Massalov (Pexels License, some rights reserved)

“Woman Holding a Book in a Park” by Alexander Mass (Pexels License, some rights reserved)

“Banned Books Display (left side, detail) (3970240928).jpg” by carmichaellibrary (CC BY 2.0)

“P2120070.jpg” by John Ramspott (CC BY 2.0)

“Banned Books” by Anirvan (CC BY 2.0)

“Banned Books Week at ITDS” by teachingforchange (CC BY 2.0)

“Ban Moms for Liberty, NOT books” by Joe Piette (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

“Fahrenheit 451” by arbyreed (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

“IMG_2064” by teachingforchange (CC BY-NC 2.0)

“IMG_2065” by teachingforchange (CC BY-NC 2.0)

“A Person Holding Up Two Books in Their Hand” by Sincerely Media (Unsplash License, some rights reserved)

“Banned Books Selfies 2018” by UCCS Kraemer Family Library (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

“comic book burning” by Michael Vance1 (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

“Book Burning” by Jason Verwey (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

“Nazi Germany 1933-05 Books and publications earmarked for burning from the Hirschfeld Institute looted by students and SA stormtroopers Robert Sennecke Int Ill.-Verlag Berlin Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe 3 1 0 17 12421 34422 Public domain.jpg” by Unidentified (unknown, uncredited or anonymous) photographer (CC BY-SA 4.0)

“Censored” by Sally Wilson (CC BY-SA 2.0)

“Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-30858-001” by Klein (CC-BY-SA 3.0)

“Book burning exhibit at the Muhlenberg branch library on West 23rd Street, Manhattan” by New York Public Library Archives (Free to use without restriction)

“1933-may-10-berlin-book-burning.JPG” by Unknown author (Public Domain Mark 1.0 Universal PDM 1.0)

“BBW-13” by Kennedy Library (CC BY-NC 2.0)

“Read a banned book!” by Clint McMahon (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

“My all-time favorite world to escape to” by Madalyn Cox (Unsplash License, some rights reserved)

“Portrait shot of piles of books” by Annie Spratt (Unsplash License, some rights reserved)

“A selection of children’s loved and classic books” by Nick Fewings (Unsplash License, some rights reserved)

“Child reading books” by Annie Spratt (Unsplash License, some rights reserved)

“girl-holding-lighted-sparkler-while-reading-book” by Alexia Rodriguez  (Unsplash License, some rights reserved)

“Child reading Lord of the Rings” by Annie Spratt (Unsplash License, some rights reserved)

“My very favorite” by Madalyn Cox (Unsplash License, some rights reserved)

“Book-covered walls” by Eugenio Mazzone (Unsplash License, some rights reserved)

“a-black-cat-laying-on-top-of-a-book-shelf” by Madalyn Cox (Unsplash License, some rights reserved)

“Another favorite world to escape to” by Madalyn Cox (Unsplash License, some rights reserved)

“The ACOTAR series by Sarah J. Maas” by Elin Melaas (Unsplash License, some rights reserved)

“The House of Leaves – Burning 4” by LearningLark (CC BY 2.0)

“The House of Leaves – Burning 5” by LearningLark (CC BY 2.0)

“The House of Leaves – Burning 1” by LearningLark (CC BY 2.0)

“The House of Leaves – Burning 8” by LearningLark (CC BY 2.0)

“FOTO:FORTEPAN” by Pesti Srác (CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

“Burning of Pynchon Book” from The History of Springfield in Massachusetts, for the Young (Public Domain Image Worldwide)

“Oliver twist” by pcorreia (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

“Burning Book” by Sarah Luke (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

“old university library” by Quinten de Graaf (Unsplash License, some rights reserved)

“Books are weapons in the war of ideas” by Boston Public Library (CC BY 2.0)

“Crop faceless man with burning book in hands” by leshkamal (Pexels License, some rights reserved)

“chaos” by Anna Conti (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

“Against Banned Books” by florian.b (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

“Chaos” by Matt Francis (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

“Chaos” by carnagenyc (CC BY-NC 2.0)

“chaos” by rené van haeften (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

“Chaos” by Arend Jan Wonink (CC BY-NC 2.0)

“Chaos” by carnagenyc (CC BY-NC 2.0)

“Clutter or creativity ??” by Nick Kenrick (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

“Chaos” by Ben Shepherd (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

“rien à comprendre” by Michel Desbiens (CC BY-NC 2.0)

“chaos” by rené van haeften (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

“chaos” by _eWalter_ (CC BY-NC 2.0)

“chaos” by Kemal Oflazer (CC BY-NC 2.0)

“Burned Books” by naturalturn (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

“Disorientation” by Sivi Steys (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

“Disorientation” by Matthew Montgomery (CC BY-NC 2.0)

“Natural disorientation” by Pulpolux !!! (CC BY-NC 2.0)

“20090805 – Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! museum – blacklight rotating tunnel room – Clint – (by Ryan S) – 3794710119_0d385073c1_o” by Claire CJS (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

“OVERWHELMED” by akahawkeyefan (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

“devastation” by Bill Dickinson (CC BY-NC 2.0)

“Library card” by blackwaterimages from Getty Images Signature (Licensed under Canva Pro Content License)

Audio Credits:

Scene 2 – The Burning Of The Books” by Subliminal (CC NC-SAMPLING+ 1.0)

Magic in the Middle

“Magic in the Middle Podcast Poster” by Caitlin Woodington is a derivative of “brown stick on book page” by Tuyen Vo originally licensed under the Unsplash License (Some Rights Reserved). The derivative is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
The podcast “Magic in the Middle” by Caitlin Woodington is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

Whether it be an epic quest, fairies, or dragons, Magic in the Middle is a podcast dedicated to all things related to fantasy books. Episodes release weekly, providing listeners with book reviews of new releases and backlist titles as well as interesting discussions on topics such as tropes of the genre. Each episode concludes with a recommendation for a listener, and recommendations includes middle grade, YA, and adult fantasy books. The podcast’s goal is to provide high quality content that celebrates the genre in a way that both those who are new to fantasy books as well as long time readers can enjoy. This particular episode focuses on new releases publishing in 2025.

The podcast episode incorporates sound effects, music, and a voice over. The opening is a mix of magical sounds related to the fantasy genre, striving to create a feeling that the listener is opening a book and being whisked away by the magic. The podcast opens with the turning of pages, and then a mix of magical sound effects and music follow. Sounds effects of a magic wand, a magic spell, and a fairy flying are all used. A spoken word sound effect of a female voice saying “Once upon a time” is also included in the introduction, and the audio effect of an am radio filter curve has been added to the particular sound effect. The sounds have been overlaid to create a magical, mystical feel. The selected music is reminiscent of music often found within fantasy movies. The music plays at varying volumes throughout the podcast, and if the audio was longer it would fade out entirely after the introduction. The podcast includes a voice over, which is me introducing the podcast and today’s episode based on a script I wrote. Along with using the audio effects of fading in and out, noise reduction has been used to clean up the recordings. Additionally, volumes of the individual audio recordings have been adjusted to mix together better.

I edited the “Magic in the Middle” podcast using Audacity. I edited the “Magic in the Middle podcast poster” using Canva.

Audio Credits:

“Book Page Turn” by Kodack (CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0)Public Domain Dedication)

“Aquarium” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License CC by 4.0

“Magic spell (small positive)” by Nakhas (CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0)Public Domain Dedication)

Fairy FlyBy 2.aif” by timgormly (CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0)Public Domain Dedication)

“Female Voice: Once Upon a Time” by LadyImperatrix (CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0)Public Domain Dedication)

3D Magic Wand tinkle_16bit.wav” by Timbre (Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0))

“Magic in the Middle audio” by Caitlin Woodington (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0))

Photo Credit:

“brown stick on book page” by Tuyen Vo licensed under the Unsplash License (Some Rights Reserved)

Capturing Childlike Wonder

“Stop and Smell the Flowers” by Caitlin Woodington is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
“Childlike Wonder” by Caitlin Woodington is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Like most parents my photos app is full of photos of my young son. Thousands of images representing moments in his young life, all trying to capture the fleeting moments of his childhood. While I love a posed image where he’s smiling and looking directly at my camera, though in full transparency I use my phone to capture more photos these days instead pulling out my DSLR camera, my favorite photos of him are the upstaged images, capturing moments that show his childlike awe and wonder at the world around him.

The original image was taken on an unseasonably warm autumnal day when we still lived in Wales as my son and I traipsed around Bute Park in Cardiff making the most of the weather. Due the weather some of the flowers in the park were still lingering, and my son at this age was literally always eager to stop and smell the flowers. While the I love the original image, especially the placement of his feet as he slowed from his typical pace of running to smell these flowers, I find by cropping the image to zoom in on him as well as by off centering him the image better highlights and exhibits his childlike wonder as he takes in the flower. To help obtain this sense of childlike awe I cropped the photo using the rule of thirds to ensure his eyes were the focal point the viewer would be drawn to. By cropping the photo it also elevates little details that may be missed in the original image, such as his dirty fingers from playing in the dirt moments before this image was captured. Cropping the image shows the magic of childhood in a sense, where the ordinary things adults often pass by become extraordinary in the fresh perspective of a child.

Additionally, I adjusted the color and brightness settings to accentuate my son and the flower instead of the green in the background.

It’s the Little Things

Hey! by Benjamin Tissot is licensed under Royalty Free Music by Bensound.com (License code:
SVRBAT9GLE5CY36T)

I spend many years chasing the big, exciting highs of life. However, about a decade ago I began the journey of learning to embrace and celebrate the little things in life, realizing it was those little things that brought me the greatest joy. Now having a preschooler getting to experience life and play through his eyes, I have an even deeper appreciation for the joy that the little things in life bring. One of the purest and simplest forms of joy I find is blowing bubbles with my child. There is something incredibly peaceful and fun about watching these soapy balls float in the air, but the laughter and happiness both my child and I find in popping them is bliss.

Popped by carterse paired with the song Hey! by Benjamin Tissot represent the joy I find in the simple pleasure popping bubbles. I cannot help but giggle seeing the dog in Popped attempting to burst this bubble. By pairing the image with the upbeat and happy rhythms of Hey!, I find myself provided with ample smiles, amusement, and joy. This pairing enhances the experience finding joy and pleasure in the little, simple things in this life.

Terms of Use: “It’s the Little Things” by Caitlin Woodington is licensed under Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Hello, my name is…

Hi everyone! My name is Caitlin and I am excited to meet you all as well as learn and grow together this semester. I am originally from Florida. I spent my childhood and middle school years in Miami. I moved with my family to the small town of Lake Placid, FL before I started high school. Lake Placid feels more like my hometown. After attending a small college in North Carolina where I obtained my BS in English language education, I moved abroad. I taught English outside of Madrid, Spain for a couple of years. I married my Welsh husband and we lived in Cardiff, Wales, UK for over ten years. I loved living in Wales – it is such a beautiful and interesting place! If you ever have the chance to visit, I recommend checking out Tenby or Hay-on-Wye. Over a year ago my husband, son, and I moved back to Lake Placid to be closer to my parents. While we definitely miss Wales, we are enjoying small town life and the Florida sunshine.

I am now a year into pursuing my MSI, and I am hoping to graduate Summer 2026. Previously, I have worked as a teacher and then as an event/project coordinator for a youth non-profit organization. I am currently doing some freelance work while staying home with my 4 year old son. However, my goal is to work in a public library and I am actively looking for positions.

When I am not playing cars or legos with my son or working, I am an avid reader. I read widely across most fiction genres, but I also love talking about books and am always eager to learn what people are reading. If we were meeting face to face, I would ask you what you’re reading currently and what is one of your favorite books. If you’re interested in seeing what I’m reading, you are welcome to check out my StoryGraph account. I’m not always the best at writing reviews, but I do track all my reads.

For the first few years I worked for the non-profit, I regularly had to create various digital media, predominantly graphics or images to use on social media or flyers. I did not have any experience when I started, so I taught myself as I went and it became one of my favorite aspects of my job. My role changed and I did not get to create as much in my final years there, and I missed this creative aspect of my job. I am excited to get to try these skills again and hopefully grow them this semester. I am not an artist, but I enjoy bringing together different digital elements to create an image or graphic. I am eager to learn more about video and audio editing as those are areas I do not have much experience in.

I am really looking forward to this class! Here’s to a great semester everyone!