Introduction

In Freestyle, we had a unit called Narrative 1 where we devoted our time to telling a meaningful story through writing, film, and drawings. In English, digital media, and film, we were able to creatively express stories that we wanted to share with the world. This is a very meaningful project to me because I was able to create and expand upon my ideas that I wanted to create.

Story

In my English class, I first started brainstorming my idea for my narrative. I created a backstory for my character so that I could understand him more and relate to his characteristics. I also decided how the story was going to play out, and the rough version of the conflict that arose. Our assignment in English was to create a story surrounding a character including a conflict that arises in which the character must go through. When I was thinking of ideas for my story, I had a rough idea of what I wanted to do, but I wasn’t exactly sure how I would be able to do it. I decided that I would come up with something that revolved around a character named Anders who slowly loses his memory, which is an approach to a story I had never experimented with. It was really interesting trying to figure out how to advance that story. I also created an audio version of my story on Pro Tools, and I added some sound effects and music throughout the audio to make it more captivating. I recorded my voice on Pro Tools and added a little bit of reverberation to make it sound more realistic. I valued being able to tell my short story through these mediums a lot because, through the audio, I could make it sound much more interesting and easier to comprehend.

Perplexed

Anders woke up with a start. The underside of his arms were caked with dust from resting on his old reclining chair. Oh no, he thought, What’s the time? How long was I asleep? Thrusting out his arm in search of his glasses, Anders glazed at his wristwatch. The faded letters “Patek” remained. Sliding the glasses onto his face, Anders forced himself out of the chair and into his mechanized wheelchair. Lethargically scooting forward, he made his way out his door and past room 302 into the elevator. After pressing “L” for the lobby, Anders stared blissfully at the ceiling. On the ceiling, there was nothing — so calm, so serene. He was mesmerized by the nothingness of it all. Anything could be considered peaceful in Anders’ life after all he had been through in the past few weeks. Between the car accident and a dream job offer, it had all happened too suddenly and gave him no time to process his issues and what was happening around him.

The elevator dinged, breaking the silence.

Anders let out a heavy sigh and continued on. The buzzing emitted from the wheelchair was almost completely masked by the blisteringly loud talking in the lobby. In the corner of his eye, Anders saw a woman in a white dress say his name over the phone. He wheeled towards her, intrigued.

“I heard my name … what’s going on?”

“Oh!” she spun around quickly. “Are you Anders … um….” She smiled.

“Last name?” she asked the caller.

“Peterson,” Anders called out. The woman turned to Anders.

“Ah, well, there’s a call for you.”

“Alright, give it to me” he gestured at the phone.

As Anders put the phone to his ear, he heard a voice on the other end of the line that sounded quiet and faded. It seemed like he knew this voice, but he just couldn’t put his finger on it. It seemed … familiar. But Anders took no chances.

“Who the hell is this?”

“Be careful” the voice replied.

Anders shook his head in annoyance. This was about the, what, 15th call he’d had in the last week? “I don’t know this person”, the usual response he muttered as he handed the phone back to the woman. Anders rolled to the large glass doors. As he was about to leave, a smartly dressed man opened the door for him, which was a very uncommon occurrence. Usually, Anders’ facial appearance caused people to avoid him. Apart from his unevenly-sized ears, his huge forehead usually intimidated people just enough to keep a safe distance. Anders’ residence wasn’t too far from his job, making it easy for him to commute. Yet, Anders hated not having enough time to breathe the natural LA smog and visit some of his favorite stores across the city. Anders was the type of man who enjoyed the ride, to view the city’s bustling population—the smokers in the alleys, the businessmen and women fondling their earpieces. He considered those parts of LA the “home of the Hollywoods”.

He was a controversial man, too. He often liked to start arguments with others about small, futile issues. Anders found joy in arguing, as he thought of it as a form of art.

At about 9:28 A.M. in his studio, Anders received another call on his cell. His short temper was not helping him. His screen read “Mitchell Green”, and he reluctantly picked it up.

“Hey man, I was wondering if you could talk really quick about the thing I’ve been thinking about,” Mitchell requested. He seemed very excited about this as if he’d been wanting to tell Anders about it for a while.

After Anders declined, Mitchell sounded disappointed. “All right then,” he let out an awkward laugh. “Maybe another time”.

“Sure, yeah, maybe,” Anders replied.

He hung up. On the job, Anders was committed to one thing and one thing only—getting things done. He had no time for pleasantries or anything of the sort. Wheeling toward the set outside the studio, Anders immediately felt a rush of reality. He had talked to Mitchell earlier and promised him that he would discuss his idea. He tried to call Mitchell back but he didn’t pick up.

Anders rushed to his car, throwing aside his one work-related rule. When Anders reached the parking lot, he noticed that his car was nowhere to be seen. What in the — Ander’s thought was cut short by a huge realization. He didn’t drive. He never did. He couldn’t. Shaking his head, Anders returned to his home, now completely stumped by his failure to remember anything. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and started to phone his doctor. 1-576-445-8943. Anders kept the number locked up in the back of his mind after he was admitted to the hospital following his car accident.

His staccato, timid presses worried him more. He was always confident in his actions—never faltered, never regretted. Calling the doctor, Anders was told to meet with his doctor immediately.

Tap tap tap. His shoe smacked against the cold, unwelcoming floor. “Anders?” a nurse called out. Anders gave a quick simper and followed her into the “second room on the right.” After 5 minutes of the usual pre-meeting checkup, the short Dr. Lander walked in.

“So, I see here that you think you have issues with your memory? Is that correct?”

“Yes.” Anders coughed. He was embarrassed to even be at the doctor’s. He constantly tried to keep a strong facade in front of his peers and erstwhile foes.

“It doesn’t look good. It seems that you may have terminal amnesia.”

“What in the hell is that?”

But Dr. Lander just smiled. He shook his head and turned away.

“I’m afraid there’s not much we can do. You’re just going to have to wait it out,” he added.

Too tired to fight, Anders walked out the door. Silence gathered around him like a mist. He returned back to his home and reclined back on his dusty, old reclining chair. He had not a care in the world about what had just happened or what would happen in his future. Anders just simply wanted to relax. He warmly wiggled around in the chair and smiled. He shut his eyes.

Playwright Study

The setting shows a small restaurant on the side of a large street. The flickering, dimly lit lights barely illuminate the bustling avenue. Two smartly-dressed men, Nick and Shane, are seen entering the restaurant and immediately hand off their hats to an African American gentleman waiting tables. Stepping simultaneously, the men make their way across the sticky floor of the restaurant and past the kitchen. They pass through a door, where a large man, aptly named Stanley Butcherton, is smoking a cigarette over a typewriter.

Stanley: I take it you have something for me?

Nick and Shane glance at each other for a moment. Shane lets out a small sigh of disgust.

Shane: Depends on what y’er gon’ give me.

Nick subtly smacks Shane’s forearm.

Shane: Us. Give … us.

Stanley rests his chin on two fingers.

Stanley: Please, take a seat.

Taking a deep breath, Stanley stares at the two men and begins to tap his fingers against  

Stanley: I can’t tell you what I have unless I…

Another man slams through the door and rushes through the room. He is recognized as Arturo Moretti, one of Stanley’s assistants. Moretti seems infatuated with something in his hand.

Moretti: Sorry, am I intruding upon something?

Nick rustles in his chair awkwardly.

Stanley: (Pulls out a pistol) GET OUT OF HERE!

Moretti scampers out the door as quick as a jackrabbit.

Stanley (cleaning his pistol with a loose rag on the table): As I was saying, (he lays the pistol on the table pointed toward the men) I would … prefer it if you could tell me what you know.

Nick drops a small piece of paper with some numbers scribbled on it from his pocket onto the table. Stanley picks it up and gives it a quick look. He stares back at the men with rage in his eyes.

Stanley (whispering): This … this is it? This small piece of paper with … what the hell is this, three numbers barely written down?! Unacceptable!

Now standing, Stanley towers over the two men. Shane and Nick cower slightly at each punctual, sharp word.

Nick: IT’S ALL WE DONE GOT!!

Stanley: So now you decide to speak up, hm? (He smirks) So do you just expect me to give you compensation for this, whatever this is?

Nick: It’s called information. You expect us to risk ours hinds for you? What you sent us out on was a fool’s errand! We’s already breaking the law helping out a felon!

The kitchen goes silent. Nick realizes he is yelling.

Shane: What he meant to say was that we will try again and do better next time.

Shane goes up to Nick and pulls him away from the table with force. As the two men walk toward the door, Stanley calls out to them.

Stanley: I’m afraid there won’t be a “next time”. Moretti!!

Moretti rushes in, at Stanley’s command.

Stanley: Please lock the door from the outside.

Moretti: Yes sir.

The door shuts in front of Nick and Shane. They are confused.

Stanley: Now, let’s talk a little bit more.

Nick: What more do you want from us?

Stanley: I want to discuss our next moves.

Shane (now irritated): Alright Stan, I been trying to play nice with you. You want us to be your dogs? You want us to play fetch for you? Fine. But if you’re going to do it, do it quick. Don’t make us roll ‘round on our backs. Tell us what you want and we’ll do it to the best of our ability.

A small smile appears on Stanley’s face.

Stanley: You think I take orders from you? Listen here, pal, you may be a cop, but don’t ever think you have power over me. If you did, you wouldn’t be over here acting as my little puppets. But you need to, don’t you? You need the cash, so you’ll do anything. And I’m gonna poke and prod you all I want. You just have to sit there and take it. Don’t talk back, or the only response you’re gonna get is this.

He pushes his gun forward. Shane eyes the gun. Stanley sees him looking at it and immediately brings it back.

Nick: We may be two beat cops who happen to be in this part of town, but we still have legal jurisdiction over in these parts, alright? We’re doing what’s best for our families, not for us. We don’t want to be here, taking orders from some overweight sociopath.

Stanley: Overweight sociopath, huh? He lets out a small chuckle. You haven’t seen me at my worst. But I guess you want to. So I’m gonna have one of you go outside and that person is going to be taught a lesson by one of my buddies. Alright? So, who’s it gonna be?

Playwright Study Explanation

In A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams uses detail in the setting and constantly utilizes it in his descriptions. Throughout the play, many of the characters are described with very different traits that make them stand out from the others. For instance, the “main” character, Blanche, has lots of character development over the course of the play. At the beginning of the play, she acts like a pompous, uptown woman who feels like she has too high of a social standing to be staying in New Orleans with her sister. For example, when she enters the house of Stanley and Stella Kowalski, she says, “Never, never, never in my worst dreams could I picture – Only Poe! Only Mr. Edgar Allan Poe! – could do it justice! Out there I suppose is the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir!”. By comparing the environment outside Stanley and Stella’s apartment to one of the “ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir”, which is a grim and uninviting location, Blanche critiques Stella’s choice to live in what she considers a slum (121). However, as the play develops, Blanche grows into a woman who takes little to no interest in trivial matters anymore, which she never was in the past. In the scene above, some character traits are brought out in the later parts of the scene. Throughout the beginning of the scene, Shane seems like the composed one, but later in the scene, his true feelings are brought out. Instead of blindly following Stanley’s orders, Shane shows his true colors and why he really has to be there helping Stanley with his tasks. Similar to A Streetcar Named Desire, the main antagonist’s name is Stanley. Throughout A Streetcar Named Desire, Williams uses the actions and dialogue of Stanley to portray his character in a very negative light. He is seen as an abusive and angry fellow, which is mimicked in my scene. In addition to the main antagonists of the two plays sharing similar motives and traits, the writing style of both plays show many similarities. In between dialogue, the scene development uses descriptions in order to convey a more detailed image in the reader’s mind of what is happening. Williams uses extensive descriptive language through the play in order to show the scene to the reader and allow him/her to see for themselves how a character is reacting or how a scene looks. In Scene Three of the play, the scene direction allows the reader to have an enhanced image of the scene by saying that “Blanche waltzes to the music with romantic gestures. Mitch is delighted and moves in awkward imitation like a dancing bear.” Williams adds on “like a dancing bear” to increase the understanding of the scene for the reader. In my scene, a very similar style is used, as most of the development of the scene relies on the reader understanding exactly what is where and why something is happening. The writing style of the plays gives the reader the ability to picture for themselves how something is playing out and allows them to anticipate the next moves of the characters.

Moreover, the language that the characters use to communicate in A Streetcar Named Desire is alike that of the language used in my own scene. For instance, the booming voice of the Stanley in Williams’ and my play can be seen as a common theme. As Stanley is often used as the cruelest character in Williams’ play, his actions in my play reflect the same trait. In my play, for example, when Moretti comes in through the door, Stanley’s true emotions can be seen. He yells at Moretti and pulls out his gun, revealing that he is a very intolerant and unfriendly person. However, like A Streetcar Named Desire, Stanley hides his emotions for the most part throughout the play until something or someone sets him off. He puts on a facade of a very endearing and kind fellow, but in reality, he is an abusive and hurtful person. At the beginning of the play, Stanely converses with Blanche for a while. Slowly, he says that a woman would have to “lay… her cards on the table” in order to interest him (137). By saying this slowly, he makes himself seem much less aggressive than he actually is. As the play advances, however, Stanley shows his true self. When he is playing a game of poker with his friends, he starts advancing aggressively toward his wife because she calls them “drunk animal-things” (152). When he moves toward Stella, “[Stella] backs out of sight. [Stanley] advances and disappears. There is the sound of a blow. Stella cries out. Blanche screams and runs into the kitchen.” (152). This shows the development of Stanley throughout the play as it shows how at the beginning of the play, he tries to show Blanche that he is a calm, collected, and kind soul. Yet, at the end of the play, he can be seen as quite the opposite because of his actions. Because of this development, the themes in both the play and my scene share many similarities.

Tenessee Williams was known to put many metaphors in his plays, and my scene also includes a few metaphors. For instance, the dog metaphor brought up near the end of the play relates to how the two men, Nick and Shane, feel like they are just being played with by Stanley. In my scene, Stanley also has a superiority complex because he thinks he has more influence over his own society than two police officers who turned to illegal acts in order to support their families in times of trouble. In A Streetcar Named Desire, many of the characters feel like they are below Stanley because of the power triangle he seems to uphold in life. In Williams’ play, Stanley believes that he is superior to everyone because it is his apartment. Because these similarities can be drawn between the two plays, it can be noted that both A Streetcar Named Desire and my own scene resemble each other in various ways. For one, the character development is drawn out in a similar way between the two plays. Secondly, the language and emotion used in both plays share many qualities in terms of sentence structure and dialogue. Finally, the similarity of the character traits between the main antagonists can be drawn between the two plays because of the way their actions and dialogue are described. Throughout A Streetcar Named Desire and my scene, there are many similarities that enable the reader to draw a connection between the two.

Illustrations

Geometric Light Cover

Geometric Light Cover Artist Statement

With my Geometric Light Cover, I am trying to convey the message of serenity and peacefulness throughout life. Simplicity means a lot to me, as it is the boundary holding us back from crossing the line into nervousness and overthinking. Keeping a minimalistic life means a lot to me. It allows me to keep my life organized and allows me to think creatively. Oftentimes, whenever people think of ideas, they often get lost in ideas and don’t know what to do. However, I feel like the approach I take helps me be more creative in a much simpler way. In my opinion, creativity can take many different forms. For me, this is the most important way to live my life. Whenever I see simplistic/minimalistic design, it deeply resonates with me because I am able to create something that makes me genuinely interested.

From this Geometric Light Cover assignment, I really valued being able to have a fun and interesting project to work on at home as well as at Freestyle. I really appreciated having the template of the light cover to work with because it provided me a way to make sure I could go back to something where I could easily make another drawing. However, I also liked having the challenge of thinking of a design for the light cover. Though my design, as said before, is quite simplistic, I am very glad that I got to try my hand at making something that looked nice to me. I enjoyed watching the videos on how to create different shapes. Though I did not use some of the shapes, I really liked having the information given to me so that I can use it in future Illustrator projects. Overall, being able to work on this project has allowed me to create something that I can be proud of as well as helped me understand Adobe Illustrator techniques that I can use in my near future.

Sticker

Sticker Artist Statement

With my Illustrator project, I am trying to convey the message that thee are so many people trying to become famous and successful nowadays, and everybody is jumping on ideas other people have. Thus, there is large text on the sticker that says “FEED”, which in my view, means that everybody is feeding off of other people. The lack of perseverance some people now have because of our reliance on technology and other modern amenities has become the main cause of lower standards in terms of what is considered “good”. The way that the different objects of the sticker are oriented contributes to the meaning of this poem because the black and white represents a very monotone way of thinking, which I attribute to people in different industries.

I valued a lot of things from this project. For instance, I was able to utilize the skills I have learned in Adobe Illustrator. Because I haven’t had much experience with it in the past, and I want to learn how to use important applications like this in my future, I really enjoyed having the opportunity to create a drawing myself as well as having it get published on a sticker. Because I have always been slightly interested in design, especially minimalistic design, I enjoyed making something that I would not usually think of making outside of school. However, this project allowed me to express my creativity and share the message I want to convey. I also really appreciated the fact that I could visit other people and see some other ideas. It was interesting to see what other people were thinking of and it was also very useful to me because I got some inspiration from people’s ideas as well as their feedback. Overall, since I was able to express my message in an interesting way, I truly valued being able to partake in this project.

Film

In our film class, we completed many different activities to understand different types of shots. For instance, we shot things like the Griffith Scene, which is a specific order of shots that must be taken in order for the viewer to understand the placement of a scene. Throughout this unit in film, by using the skills we have learned and all of the ideas that we created, we were able to create interesting scenes and films.

Chase Scene

This is my chase scene for my film class. For this video, the class was challenged to produce a scene that utilized elements of a professional chase scene. For instance, the 180 degree rule was to be followed, where the camera must not cross an invisible line.

Griffith Pattern

This is our group’s Griffith’s Pattern scene. In this video, we had to follow Griffith’s pattern, which introduces the location and characters of a scene in a specified order. We were challenged to achieve this while still having the character motivation make sense.

Suspense Scene

This is our group’s suspense scene, which revolved around creating tension between two unsuspecting characters who are asking someone to homecoming.

Narrative Synopsis and Explanation

Act 1: Mother drops bullied kid to school and hugs bullied kid. Middle schoolers/younger group of bullies hanging around a bench (potentially filmed at Loyola). It is the first day of school, and a younger kid in a walker is seen walking down a hallway. The bullies start smirking and strut up to him because they think they are superior to him. They start making fun of him because he uses a walker. Iffy kid is the main character. There is a follow shot when iffy kid walks into his first class, and there is the kid with the walker sitting down. However, we have a privileged position and we see the kid before the iffy kid. Iffy kid sits down and looks around the classroom. They all have name tags. The kid with the walker is seen drawing on a piece of scratch paper while the teacher is “talking”. The teacher introduces an introductory project about a cause that you deeply care about. Everybody stands up and starts pairing up except for iffy kid and the bullied kid because they can’t find their partners. After everybody is paired up, they sit down. The only people standing up without partners are iffy kid and the bullied kid. Their partner names match (they are partners). Iffy kid seems anxious and irritated.

Act 2: Iffy kid is brainstorming ideas on a sheet of paper while the bullied kid is doodling on his paper (his doodles are fantastic). At the end of class, a bell is heard. Bullied kid nervously slips a piece of paper to iffy kid with his address and some sort of sentence saying “Let’s work later at my house”. The next scene shows iffy kid right in front of bullied kid’s door and he walks inside after bullied kid answers the door. He sees drawings and paintings all over the house. The mom introduces herself and she is super nice and sweet she offers something to eat and shows iffy kid around the house as well as some of the drawings. Iffy kid is taken into bullied kid’s room and there is a closeup of iffy kid’s face he is in awe of bullied kids talent. Iffy kid then starts to engage with bullied kid and there is a long sequence of bullied kid and iffy kid bonding and having fun together. During the montage we can see bullied kid teaching iffy kid how to draw and he gets pretty good at it. We also see a shot of the mother smiling as this is the first time she has seen her son interact with someone from his age group, a tear flows down her cheek. The day ends.

Abyss Moment: The next day is the day of the presentation iffy kid is extremely happy when going to school but doesn’t see bullied kid in class, he gets worried. Where is bullied kid, he is sick, we don’t know how we are going to show this yet but we don’t want it too seem like bullied kid bailed

Act 3: Iffy kid is seen walking in the class. He seems super excited (bullied kid is supposed to have the project with him but he fell sick). After he realizes bullied kid is sick, he gets sad. While other people are presenting, he is sitting in his seat looking around for bullied kid. His hands start shaking and sweating and eventually, it is his turn to present. Since he has nothing to present, iffy kid has to make up something on the spot. Using the skills he learned from bullied kid, he quickly draws something really good with a really good message on it (the drawing is incredible and blows everyone away). All of the bullies faces look devastated and as an audience, we can tell that they feel bad about what they did. After this, he goes to the bullied kid’s house and enters after the mom answers the door. He goes into bullied kid’s room and gives him a hug.

In the end, we decided to slightly change the film to give it a more clear path.

Narrative Storyboard