Narrative 1

Over the course of the visual narrative unit we studied visual and literary techniques vital for effective storytelling, as well as incorporating aspects of the real world into our creations.

In English, we improved our understanding of storytelling by revisiting the fundamentals of creating a coherent narrative.

In Digital Media, we increased our storytelling abilities with world building audio editing and illustrations.

In Animation, we created short films that demonstrated narrative elements visually.

As a collaborative assignment between English and Digital media, we where tasked with creating a story, and then narrating it, with added sound effects.

We used pro tools to edit our narration audio. I also added sound effects and music that I recorded, to better set the mood.

in Digital Media, we learned how to use the program Adobe Illustrator to create vector art, art that is based of of mathematical equations and therefore can be zoomed in indefinitely and not lose quality.

We experimented with various different tools within the program, ranging from simple things like shapes, to creating more complex effects such as layer masks.

As the last part of our Illustrator learning assignment, we where able to choose our own image to trace with the pen tool, to get some practice with it. I chose a frame I thought was funny from the Team Fortress 2 comics.

At the end of our illustrator project, we where able to choose our own project to create from scratch, that we would have printed out. I chose this mountainous scene that I had recently seen in a pleasant dream.

One of our earlier Digital Media projects was learning sound editing with the program Pro Tools. After learning the basics, our first large project using the software was to create a parody of a song, and use Pro Tools to replace the original lyrics with our own.

For my parody, I chose the song “Lifetime Achievement Award” by Neil Cicierega, as It was one that I had just discovered and really enjoyed.

Lyrics:

Late at night the screens still bright

Keep up the pace until

you face daylight

Got to get these files together

Waiting for these frames to render

(upload download rightclick leftclick?) just one more than i swear that’s it

Go to bed your tired, go to bed (not yet)

Just got to push through tonight

Why Can’t you tell your eyelids heavy

Can’t you see your bodys shutting down!

I’ll have time for sleeping when I’m dead! (oh no)

But were you ever alive?

When I get ahead tomorrow

When the grades reset tomorrow i’ll be Almost done

Isn’t the internet amazing

Learning things everyday

So much opportunity

maybe if i had time for a hobby

Just half an hour till midnight

you’ve been here before

godda turn this in before daylight

Nice try getting work done early

Hope your visions not too blurry

(Look at the bags under your eyes Hope you’re not too sleep deprived?)

Go to bed your tired, go to bed (not yet)

You’ve got to open your eyes

Can’t you tell your eyelids heavy

Can’t you see your bodys shutting down!

Your circadian rhythm’s in 

Decline (oh no)

Your only wasting your time

Please dont grade to harshly

I know it’s late you know i’m sorry

Just remember

I know at least I tried

What else

Can i do

Pick up your pen, that’s better

Look, no new, assignments, to do

Who is to blame? who did this to you

I earned this, i deserve this

This is what i live for

Relax just take it easy

There’s only a little left to do

Flipping page to page

I just wanted to say

Go to bed your tired, go to bed (not yet)

Just got to push through tonight

Can’t you tell your eyelids heavy

Can’t you see your bodys shutting down!

I’ll have time for sleeping when I’m dead!

But were you ever alive?

When I get ahead tomorrow

When the grades reset tomorrow i’ll be Almost done

In Animation, we experimented with storytelling through visuals. In this project we created a character design, backstory, and puppet to use for stop motion.

After we created the puppet, we made several still poses, as well as a short walk cycle animation.

After that, we created a second, this time digital animation. We combined both of these into a final “mood scene” video.

Unfortunately, due to the Covid situation, we where unable to come to physical classes to create our own backgrounds. Because of this, I created a 3D background in Blender.

In our latest project, we created a short animation featuring the technique of lip synching.

For this one, I used the song “Ruler Of Everything” by Tally Hall.