Introduction
For the narrative project in English, we read the play Red by John Logan, then we wrote flash fictions about characters we made up after learning about the narrative structure. In Digital Media, we recorded audio of the flash fictions and edited the audio using sound effects and music to enhance the story. We also designed album cover art for the stories using Adobe Illustrator. In Design, we combined several animals to create creatures based off of a flash fiction character in Illustrator.
In this unit, I valued learning how to tell a story effectively and use tools to communicate the story in different mediums such as writing, sound, and visual design.
Story
Our assignment in English was to create a character and a plot and tell their story through a short flash fiction. I took inspiration for my character from friends and the music I like.
In the audio story, I enjoyed how you could make the reader feel more immersed in the story by adding sound effects and music as more details.
Fight or Flight
Brrring—the bell dismisses Jasmine from the last period of the day. While waiting for everyone to shuffle out of the classroom, she pulls out her phone to press play and the opening lines to one of her favorite albums, Melodrama, float through her earbuds. Stepping out of the school building into the cold, she hurries by the piles of snow to the bus stop, then lets herself relax to the music while staring out the window on the familiar ride to her stop. She gets home and the rest of her family is out, so she toasts a Costco croissant for snack, changes into pajamas, falls back onto her beanbag, and tries to start on her homework. By dinnertime, she’s still the only one home, so she fixes herself toast from the contents of the pantry and eats alone while reading her library book. This is what happens everyday, without fail.
It’s just another ordinary day after school, walking alone from school to the bus stop when she notices a colorful flyer on the ground covered in shoe prints. Upon closer inspection, she finds it’s an advertisement for a neighborhood dance studio looking to hire a receptionist. She has always wanted to try dance, but never bothered to learn. Her parents are out of town, so she gets off the bus at a different stop this time and walks to the address printed on the flyer. Stepping into the building, she can hear the tip tap of feet on the surface of the hardwood floor of the dance room. The class seems small, but the ages of the students range from toddlers to seniors. She is mesmerized by how gracefully they move. Since she has nowhere else to be, she looks around and waits for the class to be over. The lobby’s walls have floor to ceiling bookshelves all filled with all sorts of books and trinkets. There’s even a fake Christmas tree covered in ornaments still up, with everything from a handmade souvenir from Prague and a homemade creation made of pipe-cleaners a kindergartener might have made. She can’t think of what to do so she takes her time admiring all the ornaments, then the books.
After a few minutes, she goes to look for someone who works at the studio. She practically walks straight into a door with the word “OFFICE” on it that she missed when she first walked in. Straightening her posture, she knocks on the door.
“Who is it?” a slightly annoyed voice asks from inside.
Not wanting to further inconvenience whoever was on the other side, she hesitates, “Umm…”
“Did you say something? Please speak up,” the voice interrupts.
Flustered, she chooses to save herself the embarrassment and turns around to escape from the studio, but when she turns, she runs right smack into someone. The tall boy, who seems to be in a rush, wears an apologetic expression, says sorry multiple times then hurries into the dance room. Disoriented, Jasmine quickly tries to leave, but the office door opens and the woman stops her, apologizing for coming off so rude and inviting her to talk in her office.
Throughout their conversation, Jasmine learns that the woman, Sue, is the owner of the studio and the boy she collided with was her son Will. Sue tells her how proud she is of Will, a pretty accomplished dancer. Jasmine can’t help but feel a twinge of jealousy, not because Will is so good at dancing, but because she can hear in Sue’s voice just how proud of him she was. Jasmine thinks of her mom, who she rarely saw since she had to travel often for work. She knows her mom loves her, but it seemed like the only way she showed her affection was through saying, or rather texting the words “I love you” and not through actions. Sue eventually asks why Jasmine was there, and Jasmine hesitates. Deciding to be honest, she tells Sue she saw the flyer and wanted to check it out. When Sue hears this, she is elated and hires her on the spot.
After five minutes of training, Jasmine is officially employed and settled in. She sees Will walk out of the studio and attempts to be friendly, smiling at him, but he doesn’t notice. Will walks closer to the desk and Jasmine tilts her head down to avoid eye contact as he walks past.
When Jasmine gets home, she is tired and hasn’t started her homework, but she is so happy about getting a job that homework takes about half the time it normally would. Lying in her bed in the dark, she recalls how involved Sue is in Will’s life. Feeling sorry for herself, she sighs then settles into bed.
Roughly six months later, the weather starts to warm up and Jasmine’s job at the studio has become part of her more exciting routine. Since Will’s mom owns the studio, Will also spends his after school time at the studio doing homework when he isn’t dancing. One day when Jasmine arrives at the studio after school, her earbuds snag on the desk and “The Louvre”, her favorite song from Melodrama, starts playing out loud. Will’s head snaps up and he looks over to the desk. Embarrassed, Jasmine scrambles to mute her phone and quickly gets settled at the desk.
“Good song choice.” Will says.
“Oh… thanks,” Jasmine replies softly. Will gives her a knowing smile and goes back to his homework. Why is that the first time in six months Jasmine has ever directly talked to Will when he had been there the whole time with similar taste in music? Jasmine tells herself that the moment has passed, but then deciding she can’t wait any longer she asks Will, “What other artists do you like?”
Will pauses, then smiles and pulls out his phone to show her.
Illustrations
These illustrations were inspired by summertime and childhood nostalgia. I used a bright, citrusy color palette and made cute juice cartons, citrus slices, and paper airplanes using Illustrator.
Artist Statement:
My inspiration for this project was summer and childhood. I grew through realizing that we should be more grateful for every moment because later, you often look back and miss the pass. Some struggles were that I couldn’t get the perspective right for the fruit slices on the juice cartons. I also struggled with finding a good idea that I could make look good in Illustrator. I would change the colors of the stickers because the colors didn’t print the way I thought they would. I am most proud of the juice cartons and getting the perspective right. I will use what I learned about brainstorming ideas in future projects when I have to think of something creative. This changed the way I see others’ art because I am more appreciative of the creativity and thinking that has to go into making up new concepts and ideas for art.
Music Production
For the Parody project, we wrote parody lyrics, then recorded us singing them over the original track. In our process, we first agreed on using Riptide by Vance Joy since it is a catchy and popular song. Then, we thought of lyrics that matched the syllables of the originals and then recorded us singing in the recording studio. We used a filter in Pro Tools to remove the original vocals from the song. Our parody lyrics were inspired by the stress of school and the slight relief provided by music.
Song title: Lifeline
Verse 1:
I am scared of in-te-grals and sumssssssssss
I am tired from never sleeping enough
Oh, all my cells are turning mushed
crushed and grounded by our daily habits.
Ohhhhh-ohhhhh-ohhhhhh, oh break-ing-down, and I choke and cry!
Chorus:
Papers, strewn all across the floor now,
I’ve given away to my dark side,
I just wanna keep up good grades.
I love you, music, you’re keeping me sane and
not alone at midnight, ‘cause
I still need to submit my work.
Verse x2:
You ask if all of this is worth the while,
Killing our brain cells o-ver quizzes and finals
It’s hard to live in here & now,
always fearing the future for what to do next.
Ohhhhh-ohhhhh-ohhhhhh, find my playlist, then I press the key!
Chorus x2:
I’m nodding, bobbing along to the lyrics,
keeping my toes with the rhythm,
all other thoughts fly out of my head.
My worries, disintegrating like soap flakes,
I know they’ll come back to find me,
but right now I have my inner peace.
Original Lyrics:
[Verse 1]
I was scared of dentists and the dark
I was scared of pretty girls and starting conversations
Oh, all my friends are turning green
You’re the magician’s assistant in their dream
[Pre-Chorus]
Oh, oh-o-oh, and they come unstuck
[Chorus]
Lady, running down to the riptide
Taken away to the dark side
I wanna be your left hand man
I love you, when you’re singing that song and
I got a lump in my throat ’cause
You’re gonna sing the words wrong
Original song link (Riptide, Vance Joy): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJ_1HMAGb4k
Design
In design, we combined 5 different kinds of animals to create a creature, with each part of an animal representing a characteristic of our flash fiction characters. We used Adobe Illustrator to trace the animal parts and combine them. After making the creatures, we used one-point perspective to illustrate backgrounds for the creatures. I valued the brainstorming process where we thought of many different creatures and which trait they could represent in our characters.
Narrative Background
For the background, I used one point perspective to make certain buildings look further from the viewer and certain buildings closer. The vanishing point was towards the right of the illustration. My favorite part of the background to make was the off-white building on the left because you could see through the pillars so you had to make all sides of the building in perspective. I also made use of shadows to shade the floating building on the top and color the windows.
Narrative Illustration
To create the creature, we brainstormed characteristics to go with animals, then chose distinctive parts of the animals to combine into one creature. My creatures is a mixture of a shark, hyena, owl, wasp, and komodo dragon. We created color palettes using what we learned about color theory. Then, we created morgues with photos of the animals we wanted to use and traced them in Illustrator.
Artist Statement
In my flash fiction “Fight of Flight”, the protagonist, a girl named Jasmine, is a very independent but shy and lonely character who learns to open up to others and come out of her shell. In the ending scene, she finally decides to start a conversation with someone new and learns that they have a lot in common.
I used Adobe Illustrator to make my creature and background. I planned which animal parts I would use and created a color palette based off of the traits of the character in my story. The Frumpkitoo is a blend of a hyena to represent selfishness, a shark representing solitariness, an owl representing intelligence, a komodo dragon representing slyness, and a wasp representing impulsiveness. I chose to make my background an underwater city because it represents my character feeling alone and isolated in her own world. The background is an exterior one point perspective and it was a challenge to make the buildings look realistic and far away to make space for my creature. I am pretty happy with my work, but if I could change something I would change the color palettes to make them more simple.
Elements and Principles
In class, we learned about the elements of art (line, shape, form, value, texture, color, and space) and the principles of design (balance, contrast, pattern, unity, movement, scale, emphasis, variety, juxtaposition, rhythm, and proportion). We made small illustrations combining one element of art and one principle of design.
