The Visual Narrative Project includes all three classes. In English, this project focuses on students learning techniques for story writing and developing their usage of tools such as imagery and figurative meaning. In writing the short story, students have creative freedom to experiment with different aspects that make up a story like characters and plot. In Digital Media, students learn new skills on Illustrator with an emphasis on graphic design and how to produce quality audios on Pro Tools. In Animation, students take part in a group project to animate a story without dialogue, therefore, focusing solely on visual elements

Our assignment in English was to create our own short story after reading several in class. We were tasked with steps like brainstorming a character, coming up with a setting, and in general generating all the necessary elements that make up a quality short story. My process for creating the story was first making up a character and deciding on its hobbies/interests/quirks that would play an important role in the story. Afterward, I came up with a setting and a conflict which I then used to write my story all out. For the audio, I used my recorder and then edited it in Pro Tools.

For the Parody Project, we had to come up with lighthearted new lyrics for a song of our choice. The first step I took in this project was finding a song that was catchy and had a steady rhythm, making it easier to replace the lyrics. I ended up going with “Congratulations” by Post Malone and my lyrics were based on the pandemic and my experience in quarantine. I removed the original vocals using Pro Tools and filtered out the higher sounds, including his voice, while keeping the drums and background music.

My mama said, “Just got a school email”
Said things were gonna change this semester
Never thought there would be a pandemic
They said it wouldn’t last long and 
Now they always say, “Check your Canvas” 
School is all online no interaction 
No one ever thought it would be like this
People upset, they just want a vaccination 
Yeah, we want it 

At first I was happy, yeah 
Now I’m wishing I could go out, yeah 
Thinkin it was only two weeks, yeah  
Somehow became over 20, yeah 
For the vaccine, I’d pay millions, yeah  
I be missing my friends crazy, yeah 
And being closer than 6 feet, yeah 
Stayin home makes my mind hazy, yeah 

The first project we had to produce this semester was the animation of a puppet. We went through several steps before reaching the final stage of animation. First, we created a digital design of our character along with their backstory. Afterward, we sculpted our puppet out of wire and clay then painted and constructed clothes for them. Finally, we animated them by taking a picture frame by frame and adjusting their arms and legs to simulate walking. I really enjoyed this process of bringing a digital character to life through turning it into a 3D figure.

Another project that is still ongoing is the Visual Narrative Animation. In this group project, we were instructed to create an animated story without dialogue. Our group chose to focus our story around a boy and his beloved treehouse. Below are some of the images I have created for the animation.