The bulk of the Narrative 2 unit was the Worldbuilding project in English. We were given free rein to imagine whatever setting we pleased, and populate it with characters of our own making. The only caveat is that we needed to use our settings and characters to tell a compelling narrative story. For this, we were taught the fundamentals of storytelling and narrative structure, and made extensive use of teamwork and peer review.
The Worldbuilding unit made all of us better writers and storytellers, and taught us to work better in teams. Even though I worked on this project on my own, seeing groups of my friends passionately weave stories and bounce ideas off each other was a deeply inspiring sight.
“Ambush in the Blackwood Forrest” is the title of my piece, and describes the scene therein- a walking barge full of people is attacked by an enormous gigantopithecus, a species of towering primate. The chaos and disarray of the assault is demonstrated by the use of diagonal lines within the forrest of otherwise straight trees. The monster itself has a wide open mouth and glowing eyes, adding to its terror and malice. The forrest is composed of many layers of varying flora, just as a real forrest would be.
I am quite pleased with the way this project turned out, as I didn’t expect it to look very good. I was very constrained in terms of time, so I had to simplify many elements of the composition to get it done by the deadline. I’m thankful that the composition still looks dense and detailed. I chose a green light to illuminate the scene to contribute to the forrest theme. It was either that or a red light to pair with the tone of panic and danger, but I ultimately decided against that.
Attached below is my Narrative treatment. Read it and behold my storytelling genius!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Tg02DOs2Pr9m-NZr5hZuj4bl8ICIHweRNT0O0AFWLdY/edit
Additionally, here is a sick poster I made for a film adaptation of the first story:
I greatly enjoyed the Worldbuilding unit, as did many of us. I learned quite a bit about what goes into compelling characterization, consistent and logical worldbuilding, and an interesting and unique premise. These are all skills that are applicable far beyond just narrative storytelling. I think it has a long and exciting future at Freestyle and I can’t wait to see what future generations create given this opportunity.