Narrative 1

Introduction

We were practicing communicating character story arc through descriptive storytelling, comic design, and storyboards. We deepened our technical communication skills by learning a variety of modern professional equipment and applications such as Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Dreamweaver.I really enjoyed being able to reading 1984. The book really did a good job of illustrating a beautiful story of an awful time. I used that book, others that I have read prior, and my personal experiences to write my story.I really think that through digital media, I was able to think of creative ways to incorporate sound to better my short story. In design, I used one picture to best show my character. In English, I wrote two stories, one that had restrictions and one that I was free to creativity write.

Story

The assignment was simply to write a story to “show and not tell” a story. I took inspiration from my own experiences, things that I really enjoyed, and stories that I have read before.In digital media, I listened and read my story to find out where would be the best parts for sounds. I searched through the files provided to find the best sounds that could better engage listeners to the story.I really enjoyed the writing the story because of all the creative freedom that I got to express through it. When I was writing my story, there were parts that I thought about could use sounds to better expresses my story. Momma’s Boy
It hangs from his neck, shining as the sun reflects its rays off of it and reflecting onto the side mirrors. Driving down the street, fall leaves just starting to turn their beautiful fall colors are swiftly descending down onto the car top. The weather has just started to be become chilly. The wind messes up her hair as she rolls down the windows. No cars in front of them and no cars behind them, they cruise down the street. The guy, named Eli, has his brand new red sweatshirt on with the sleeves rolled, ready for the fall weather. His long arm hangs out the window, lighting tapping on the white car door, and his hazel eyes shine through the side of his sunglasses. He’s driving, exploring the hills of Burlingame and sitting next to him is Aylett, his best friend. Aylett lounges with her tan feet up on the dashboard, laughing as they zoom down the streets. Her gray cardigan is swaying the wind under it, a thin black top. She looks at him as he drives. It swings from his neck. Nicely placed on a chain, hanging so the ring hits back and forths on his chest as they ride down the street. As they pull into Eli’s driveway, they both seemed out of breath. They have been laughing like little children playing tag the entire ride. Eli and Aylett head inside where the heater has been left on by Eli’s father, who probably forgot to turn it off before he left for another adventure. Who knows where he went. Eli and Aylett spread themselves on the dinner table with snacks of all sorts and homework. Eli had his computer on his right and all his papers of his left, with a textbook in front of him, he gets to work. Aylett doesn’t have homework, it’s her fall break so she just catches up on social media while she watches Eli work. After some time, Aylett gets up and heads to her suitcase and grabs more of the Japanese snacks that she brought from home. A whiff of sugar could be smelled by Eli as Aylett walks back. She pranced back down the stairs, snacks in hand, stacked higher than her face.  A single step down the stairs, her heel slips. Next thing she knows, she is on the floor, facing the ceiling. She felt a pain in her head but didn’t feel bad anywhere else. Eli comes running in after hearing the loud thud. He picks her up in one motion, runs to the kitchen, opens the refrigerator door, Aylett reaches her hand in to grab the ice pack. With a slight kick, Eli closes the door. They head back to the car again, ice pack in hand, to the hospital. In a rush, Eli speeds away without time to turn on his car to his desirable heat. Aylett sits with her arm rested on the car window, icing her head, humming the ambulance siren.   The hospital is chilly, empty, and white. The tall, thin, white walls were unwelcoming and almost scary to look at. The long hallway stares back at them as they head to the waiting area. The silence created is overwhelming cast of sad-ness. As the doors swing open, they look around as memories flood into their heads. Immediately a nurse comes and brings Aylett a wheelchair. Aylett’s eyes switch from a look of pain to a look of confusion. The nurse looks at her stomach, an expression of embarrassment overcomes her face, and immediately puts the wheelchair back. They take down Aylett’s information before taking her into a room, leaving Eli to frantically pace back and forth in the waiting room. Eli, grips his necklace, eventually sits down. It has been over seven years since he has been at this hospital. Last time he was here, he was in room 2, listening to the beeping of the machine. The machine was covered in buttons and arrows of all sorts but the machine only had two colors. Green and red. Eli looks at the machine, hoping that he won’t see the red. Praying that it will keep going, the lights had been turned off, the sun was setting, and he was sitting on the bed, next to his mom. Holding her hand, he is visibly sad and upset. His mom takes off her ring and places it calming into his hand, saying,  “Protect her.”,before the machine beats one last beep. Eli closes his hand and gets off the bed. Shaking that memory off, he looks up, wipes his eyes, and sees Aylett looking at him with no bandages or ice. She look fine.  Eli stands up and Aylett is quick to embrace him. They head back into the cars without saying a word but as Aylett buckles up, she quickly mentions how she was ok, just a bruise on her head. Eli is relieved, reassures her with a smile and starts drive off. Aylett starts to notice that he isn’t driving the right direction back home but doesn’t even need to ask where he is going. As they drive through trees and nature, they eventually reach a gate.  Eli drives up a hill and turns right, stopping the car. They get out and walk towards the middle of the field. There it is, the gray stone sits with lifeless flowers in front. Eli and Aylett sit in front of the tombstone as Eli starts talking to his mom. They sit as the wind blows around them and a tornado of leaves starts to form. That doesn’t bother them, they sit in the peace and quiet. Hand in hand, they walk back to the car. As they back up, Eli looks Aylett in the eyes and simply says “I get it.” All these years, he hadn’t been able to get over his mother’s death and always lived in a consent distress that he wasn’t going to be able to make his mother proud of him.  He touches the ring, his mother didn’t mean to keep the ring forever, she meant to keep Aylett safe. The ring doesn’t hold power anymore, it merely symbolizes it. He could give the ring to anyone but he had one girl in mind. Aylett has always been there for him the last seventeen years , she was his rock. His mother knew that, and today’s experience at the hospital brought it all together. He laughs a little, sighing with relief as the weight has been lifted off his shoulder. Eli slowly takes the necklace off his neck and hands it over to Aylett. Aylett simply takes it and flashes him a smile.

Screenshot of the Adobe Audition

I used Adobe Audition to add sound effects to my short story. Screenshot of my short story through Adobe Audition

English Honors- Author Explication

College Rules Another ordinary day, walking into to her room, Hanna puts down her keys and is ready for a nap. Instead she pulls up her chair besides Noah and kisses him softly on the check. She then bends down to pick up the cat and says, hugging the cat, “Aren’t you just the cutest thing?” before letting it back on the ground. “Yes, yes I am.” Noah replies back. The two laugh together. They sit down at the desk and start their homework. Light conversations about their days are exchanged but most of the noise are keys clicking and pencils scribbling. Occasionally there was the slurp of the coffee, from Noah. Every now and then Hanna would get up and walk around their small dorm, which basically is a circle around the desk. She would murmur random words to her to make sense of the words she was studying. Hanna finishes early and starts to pack her things away as she doesn’t want to see anything school-related after homework is done. Noah finally finishes his last assignment and they lie in bed, chatting. They put a dish out for their cat and the cat eats it slowly. Noah and Hanna put on their shoes to take a quick stroll in the courtyard. The trees are just starting to turn yellow, the first sign of fall. The sun shines through the leaves, leaving a glow on their faces.   Soon the sun starts to set and they watch it from their window, the cat watching alongside them. The pretty colors lighten up the room with a nice glow before vanishing for the night. Noah brushes his teeth while Hanna showers before both are in bed. Wrapped in blankets, they fall asleep in each other’s arms. Weeks have gone by and the rain has become snow and the lakes have become ice, winter is upon them. Hanna trouts into the dorm, stomps her feet at the doormat, and takes her shoes off. Shivering, she hurries to the thermostat and turns the heat on. Hanna looks around to the messy dorm. Eh, Noah will clean it. It’s his week to clean anyways. She picks up a shirt from the floor, smells it. Eh, it only smells about three days old. Tosses the shirt on and lays in bed. Eventually sleeps overcomes her. Noah walks in, it’s been dark outside for awhile. He looks at his girlfriend, passed out on the bed. She probably just didn’t want to do homework or see me. The cat meows and looks up with saddening eyes. He just simply picks up the cat and moves it over to Hanna’s bed. He turns on a light and quickly does some homework. The clocks flashes one and Noah rubs his eyes before surrendering to sleep. The cat still meowing at a sleeping Noah, occasionally switching to Hanna. After hours, the cat is tired and falls asleep with a grumble in its stomach. The alarm beeps as Hanna aggressively gets up to turn it off. She throws a shirt over herself, taking a quick glance at the window, still dark outside, and rushes into the bathroom. Hanna pasts Noah without a word, climbing over piles of clothes that have started to leave a distinct smell in the room, and gets ready for the day. The cat follows Hanna slipping itself through the small crack that Hanna had left in the bathroom door. Hanna turns to be met with the droopy sad chocolate eyes. She sighs Looks like the cat hasn’t eaten in weeks. Oh well, not my cat. It’s Noah’s cat. Out of guilt, she pours together a small bowl of food for the cat and puts it down. Even before she can fully put in on the ground, the cat has managed to eat half of it. She looks at Noah, and quietly leaves the dorm for the day. Hanna locks the door behind her, knowing that she will be back late and he won’t leave until right before she gets back. She and Noah haven’t been in the dorm together for more than half an hour in the last month and even then they don’t exchange more than a hello. This saddens her a little but she knows that they are both busy people. Days pass and Hanna returns to the apartment. She finds footprints left on the floor, they look dirty and almost deadly. She follows them into the bathroom to find the cat in the bathtub. It was sitting, crawled up in a ball. Wow the cat looks so sick. Maybe I shouldn’t have just put it all on Noah, maybe I should have taken care of it myself. She quickly fills up a bowl of water and food for the cat. The cat eats it slowly. Looking up and down, the cat seems a little reluctant to finish the entire meal. Maybe the cat wants to save it for later. The cat sits there before falling into a slumber. Hanna quickly finishes her homework and finally decides to clean up the dorm. She moves the pile of clothes off the floor and finds the clean ones and the dirty ones. Most were dirty and she puts them into a bin. Cleaning, vacuuming, sweeping, she keeps herself busy with the messy dorm. Occasionally she would walk by the bathroom to make sure that the cat was still breathing. Hours later, the dorm is finally what it looked like months ago before everything went downhill. Noah stumbles in the dorm. His nose up in the air because the clean clothes smell was unfamiliar in the dorm. He looks around, admires the cleanness. Hanna had past out from all the work and he could imagine because the room was a big mess before he left. He didn’t even do anything about it. A light bulb goes off in his head, he has been so worried about himself that he hadn’t given one thought about Hanna and her life. Oh my gosh! The cat! Where is the cat? He hasn’t fed it in weeks because he always thought that Hanna had. Eventually finds the cat in the bathroom, realizing that she actually hasn’t. Gosh don’t you look a little skinny. He picks it up and it almost slips out of his hand. Kitty, do you need something? Love and support from your dad. I’m sorry that I haven’t been there. I should have been taking care of you that’s why I brought you here even when Hanna hasn’t wanted that. Noah hears rustles coming from Hanna’s bed. Ah, Hanna’s awake. I can talk to her. “Hi”, Noah simply starts. “Hi”, Hanna replies. “I’m sorry.” “I know.” “The cat…” Noah starts. “Looks so skinny because either of us has been feeding it like we promised. We really need to change. I barely see you, when I do, you are half awake. We both are so tired but we have to make time. We have to compromise.” Hanna ends. “Yes, yes we do.” With that they climb into the same bed and cover themselves in loads of blankets as the sun slowly sets, catching up on the winter and discussing how they were going to move forward. They talk until the moon shows its bright shine in the sky, before Hanna falls asleep. Noah usually still up doing homework, lays in silence watching Hanna as her chest rises up and down. He catches sight with the cat, who was looking at him with almost a smile across its face. The next day, Hanna awakens to the smell of hot breakfast, Noah had gone out in the snow to get her breakfast. They sit and enjoy the breakfast. Here and there, they would sneak pieces to the cat who eager awaited at the table. When Hanna and Noah finishes, they walked hand in hand through the courtyard and the cat quickly ahead of them. Noah’s body jerks, his eyes flicker, and his eyes slowly open. Noah wipes the sweat off his forehead and looks down at a still sleeping Hanna. He hugs her tightly knowing that he is always with her. Noah makes eye contact with the cat, looking back at him with his chubby face. Noah sighs with relief. Slowly, Noah closes his eyes. It was all a dream. In English honors, I read Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?. It was a book full of short stories and I used a couple of the Storie to get a grasp on Raymon Carver’s writing style and emulated it in my own short story. he uses a lot of short paragraphs and symbolism through objects.

Illustrations

In Adobe Illustrator, I used skills that I’ve learned in both digital media and design to design banners for my website which you are viewing. So each banner has some relationship to it’s respective title. 

Screenshot of the things we learned through Illustrator

Background and Animal Representation

In design, we learned more details about Adobe Illustrator. To create our creature though, we first had to come up with traits of our creatures. From that, we compiled photos of the animals from the internet though Photoshop and we did the same with the background. Then, we traced it all through Adobe Illustrator before choosing color schemes that would fit the mood of the scene. The Pictures that I Complied To Create My Illustration AstridH-Narr_Creature 2 AstridH_BG Screenshot of my Adobe Illustrator

Personal Illustrator

For my personal illustration, I used inspiration from things that I’ve always wanted to do. Something I’d really like to do in the future is to create an interactive museum that people can enjoy and make their days better. I drew out a basic design of some of the rooms that I’d like to one day design more in-depth and produce, life-size. I have a basic exterior design, a milk and cookies room, a rainbow straws room that spreads aware of the use of plastic straws, and a boba pool. Each room is going to be unique.