Introduction
This semester, we were given a visual narrative project, spanning across all three of our Freestyle classes. It strengthened our ability to write and create stories, on which we elaborated on visually with another part of the project.
I really valued and enjoyed how we were able to decide almost everything for ourselves, from the topic of the story to the main components of the visual component of the narrative project. I think this really helped me grow as a storyteller because of how I had to think critically about my work independently, while also getting guidance from my teachers. This project also improved my skills as a digital artist because of the practice I was able to get with Adobe Illustrator, the program used for the visual component of the project.
Story
The original assignment for this project was to write a short story about a self-determined topic. My story, “Goal”, gets inspiration from some of my dreams and aspirations as a young child. I think the audio portion of the project is really important because it gives more insight into how I like to interpret my story. Details that often differ from reader to reader are instead being explained by the author using pitch, tone, and pace in the reading. While I feel my writing was strong, I think an audio recording brings a different perspective and can strengthen the tone of the story.
My Short Story
Thunder roared, but the little boy in the field was determined to keep playing, the hard, slightly deflated ball bouncing between his feet, sprinting up and down and up and down the length of the pitch. His makeshift goal, made up of two crusty old shoes, held against the storm, while his pretend goalkeeper, a sickly grey stuffed teddy bear, laid on his side.
“Goal! And he wins the World Cup!” he repeated under his breath, over and over again. His legs were covered in mud, his pants soaked and dripping wet from the rain pouring down on him. His hands were freezing cold, but his mind was in a very different place.
Rio de Janeiro, where he imagined himself as the best soccer player in the world. He imagined the crowds cheering, chanting his name, as he slid on his knees through the comforting grass after scoring a goal. When he closed his eyes, he could imagine it so vividly, he could almost hear it, see it before him, the crowd deafening him with their celebratory roar.
He took a deep breath in, taking a short run-up to the ball before shooting it slightly wide right of the makeshift goalposts he was using. He charged after the ball, desperate to keep it off of the neighbors’ side of the field. As he dribbled the ball back to the goal, he sighed and put his hands on his head. He was starving, but he couldn’t focus on eating, he could only think about kicking the ball into the top right corner of the net – and the World Cup championship game he would watch later.
He was obsessed, memories of the most miraculous goals he had ever seen running through his head constantly, the urge to play pestering him at all times. Even in his sleep, he would dream about dribbling the ball up and down the pitch, sprinting past defenders, and smashing the ball by the goalkeeper and into the net.
He placed the ball back down in the penalty spot, which he had marked out with a group of several small yellow flowers that he had previously picked out of the field. He backed up his usual two steps, once again taking a deep breath before running up to the ball and driving it, again, to the right.
From behind, he felt his grandfather lift him over his shoulder and carry him away from his beloved pitch. As he stared back at the ball, still rolling in the field, he heard his grandfather’s words of encouragement, drowned out by the storm around him. When they made it back to the house, the grandfather set the boy down and turned on the television, which would soon broadcast the most important thing to the boy at that moment.
As the boy gazed at the screen, the cheering crowd grew louder and louder in his ears. The drone soon turned into a chant. The crowd was screaming his name, over and over. He glanced at the ball at his feet, realizing what he had to do.
He backed up his usual two steps, took a deep breath… and smashed the ball into the top right corner of the goal! He sprinted across the field, yelling in celebration, and slid to a stop on his knees before the crowd. He raised his arms as they cheered for him. As he closed his eyes, he knew his years of hard work had finally paid off.
Illustrations
For the Illustrator project, we were supposed to choose a final product and use Adobe Illustrator to create said product. The project I chose was personal illustration, because most of the ideas I came up with during the brainstorming process were only viable as illustrations.
Music Production
For the Parody music production project, we were instructed to pick a song, remove the original lyrics using the program “ProTools”, and then record our own parody lyrics and add them to the song. The song I chose was “Really Love” by KSI and Craig David, which I changed to “Wear a Mask”. The lyrics are about my experience with lockdown as you can probably interpret from the title.
The techniques I used to remove the original lyrics were flipping the polarity using the EQ Plugin, and shifting the tracks as well. Then, I just recorded my audio and edited it into ProTools.
“Wear a Mask” – Parody of Really Love
It isn’t hard just to wear a mask
Is covering your mouth really too much to ask
It isn’t hard please socially distance
Because if you do covid could be nonexistent
It isn’t hard just to wear a mask
Is covering your mouth really too much to ask
It isn’t hard please socially distance
Because if you do covid could be nonexistent
Got a lot of time for the zooms I’m attending
Really hope the pandemic’s near the ending
Going outside with my friends is tempting
No mask then its pending
Don’t wear a mask then you might be in trouble
Even if you’re the NBA chilling in a bubble
Make sure you wash 20 seconds with soap
‘Til it’s clean to the bone then maybe do it double
I wanna go I wanna go out
Go sports games, I wanna see clouds
Social distance when I go the town
Six feet away like I’m wearing a crown
If you wanna be really safe go online
So close like we’re right on the goal line
Steep slope like we’re running up an incline
Remember to social distance, watch from the sideline
It isn’t hard just to wear a mask
Is covering your mouth really too much to ask
It isn’t hard please socially distance
Because if you do covid could be nonexistent
It isn’t hard just to wear a mask
Is covering your mouth really too much to ask
It isn’t hard please socially distance
Because if you do covid could be nonexistent
Design
In Design, my elective class, we were tasked with creating a creature and background scene in Adobe Illustrator, based around our Short Story Narrative. For the background, as pictured above, we had to use linear perspective, either one or two point. Linear perspective is essentially a method on how to make illustrations look more realistic, with all lines leading toward one or two vanishing points. The lines leading to the points makes the illustration look as though something is getting farther away, and basically adds depth to the illustration.
The final product of the Narrative Illustration project was our creature, which is a cross between several different animals, and we placed the creature in some kind of habitat, which we created as the background.
The story I wrote which inspired this Narrative Creature assignment is called “Goal”, and it is about a young boy who dreams of being a professional soccer player. The opening shows him practicing soccer on a rainy field with a makeshift goal. His humble beginnings are contrasted with his dream of becoming a professional, and he has a vision of himself scoring a goal.
For my Narrative Creature, I used images from the internet to model the different body parts of my creature. I used Adobe Illustrator to draw each body part, and group them all together into a creature. The five body parts I used were: the head of a bald eagle, to represent ambition; the tail of a beaver, to represent work ethic; the wings of a fly/beetle, to show the character’s tendency to be caught up in his own world; the mouth of a crocodile, to represent focus; and the shell of a hermit crab, to represent resourcefulness. I also used Illustrator for my background, which was on the top of a building, with some birds and other tall buildings in the background. For my creature, this background makes sense because of the wings, it would make sense for the creature to be very high up – for my story, it is mainly to show that he is feeling like he is on top of the world, but also the buildings and birds in the back are there to say that there is always something higher to work towards. I used one point linear perspective for my background because I wanted all lines to lead into my subject, which was my creature. I had to redo my layout of both body parts and background a few times, mostly for sizing issues. I am definitely pleased with my work!