Introduction to the Narrative Unit
From October to January the Narrative Unit asked the junior class, “How well can you visually tell a structured story?”. Students began in English class reading short stories and developing the idea of a character and story arcs later learning their roles and the parts they play in developing a story the audience wants to experience. This idea was later practiced through descriptive storytelling, narrative digital art, storyboards, films, and animations. To successfully accomplish this goal students used a variety of modern professional equipment and applications such as Wacom Digital Drawing Pads, lighting equipment, down-shooters, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, Avid Pro Tools, HTML/CSS, DragonFrame, and Google Apps.
I value how much I immensely improved my story telling skills during the Narrative Unit. Through all my classes at Freestyle Academy, I have been able to become proficient at using technology I didn’t even know existed last year. I have learned how to successfully express my ideas visually through animation and complete an entire short story made from scratch. This enhanced my ability to tell a stories through various mediums I have never used before this year. I value the opportunity I’ve been given to use this technology when many kids my age don’t have a chance to even come close.
Narrative Story
In English we were tasked to come up with an original short story. The story was to take place within the period of a day and only supposed to be about 5-7 pages long. With these restrictions it was difficult not to write more. I was inspired to write about Machu Picchu since Machu Picchu is something that has been on my bucket list for a while now. This story is something I mainly came up with on a whim from various inspirations in my life. I saw myself as my main character if I was in an alternate universe. My character is creative and outgoing. He is someone who likes a bit of mystery and adventure. After the written short story, I recorded myself using a Tascam recorder and uploading the audio to Pro Tools. In Pro Tools I edited my audio, cutting out pauses and adding sound effects, finally exporting and uploading to Soundcloud.
The Shadow in the Mist
The familiar rays of sun glisten through the condensation on the window as it tickles and shines on Maverick’s eyelids. Slowly opening his eyes, immediately squinting to adjust. Still in the bliss of the limbo between dream and reality, he relaxes for a moment, then bursts up from his hotel bed realizing what day it is. He stumbles over his large feet while hitting his head rushing to the bathroom to comb his blonde hair, which seemed bleached and stiff from growing up outside in the Southern Californian sun. Throwing on clothes, there are scars splattered all over his evenly tanned golden skin a tattered SF Giants baseball cap is snug facing backwards atop his head, an elaborate pattern plastered across the chest on his llama fleece sweater he bought at the local street market the day before. Slowing down for this part only, Maverick steadily packs his camera and various lenses, clicking the camera bag shut and then with lightning speed continues on to pack the rest of his possessions with little care. Sprinting out the door he hits his head once more.
He trips over his untied shoelaces running to catch the 6:35 bus two and a half blocks from hotel. Stepping onto the transport, he sits quietly as him and the other passengers bounce down the paved streets of Aguas Calientes, Peru. Clumsily, Maverick pulls out his phone almost dropping it as the bus hits a speed bump. Turning it constantly on he finds no cell reception, casually stuffing it back into his bag he simultaneously digs for the pamphlet containing information and a map of Machu Picchu he grabbed at the front desk of his hotel. Opening the pamphlet directly in the center is the map, to the left are bus times and restaurants in Aguas Calientes, to the right are several pictures, one of which he recognizes. This picture was taken by his co-worker and featured in one of the main articles of National Geographic seven years prior.
Reaching the foot of the mountain the bus begins its ascent along the steep winding road. The serpentine path ahead persists onward and upward. Slippery rock walls damp with the morning mist, Maverick gags. He has been attempting to tackle his altitude sickness demon clawing at his throat for the past day or so. The air around him thinner and thinner, weezing softly, as he makes an effort to put the idea of his morning coffee and muffin from the local woman selling them in front of the bus, to the furthest crevice of his brain. Reaching the bus stop Maverick’s subtle saunter has morphed into somewhat of a hobble as he rummages for his water bottle in the depths of his backpack. Pulling out his water he takes a large gulp trying to push down the altitude sickness demon which feels as if its tickling the back of his throat. He caps the bottle, stuffing it into the side pouch for next time easy access. He gently pulls out his camera in preparation, caressing the crumbs off the lens cap. Maverick treds along following the pack of tourists ten feet ahead.
He arrives at the Machu Picchu viewpoint. The one everyone has captured numerous times, again and again. Despite this, Maverick is at a loss for words. He immediately flips his camera on taking the photo, knowing it’s cliche and is unlikely his boss will approve, but taking the shot anyways. As he is finishing up a hooded figure bumps him harshly on the shoulder causing Maverick to almost lose his grasp on his camera. He quickly spins around looking for figure he saw expecting an apology, but the figure had vanished. He decides to just brush this interaction off. Thinking to himself, “How could I possibly be mad in a place like this?”. Continuing on, Maverick keeps his eye gazing through his lense finding every possible opportunity to press that button and hear that satisfying click whisper in his ear. As the afternoon approaches, he rests his feet on a nearby wooden bench coated with a thin layer of rust from the annual relentless fog. He slips off, and sets down underneath the bench his grassy, dusty white Nikes he picked up in Japan, that have now morphed into a raincloud sort of grey after only wearing them for a week or two. Crossing his legs on the bench Maverick takes a moment to look at his photos from the past couple of hours. He thinks to himself, “These photos are gorgeous but they won’t be what Angie’s looking for. Everyone has seen these photos a bazillion times. If I’m going to make the front cover I need something more than just Machu Picchu’s surface level.” He rotates through the photos slowly seeing a dark spot hiding in the shadows. He magnifies to explore this odd shape. Reaching the max he squints recognizing a pine green hood. Flipping through the photos one after another the figure has popped up in every photos from the past two hours.
An eerie feeling tingles from the crown of his head dispersing itself throughout his body. Suddenly Maverick is the subject of an aquarium swimming around, constantly being watched. Looking around the fish bowl, Maverick is checking every corner until his eyes land upon the green hood a couple yards away, peeking behind the pristinely trimmed Incan stones. He doesn’t recognize the face. Why would he, he’s in a foreign country all alone? So who could possibly be so interested in him? Making eye contact, the figure swiftly disappears from the corner. Stuffing his feet into his shoes, strapping his backpack on, and running with camera dangling around his neck, Maverick chases after. The figure halts at the foot of the Huayna Picchu trail head, peaks back to confirm Maverick’s tag along. Once confirmed, the figure begins to climb.
Following behind as this mysterious individual glides up the mountain with ease, he drags his feet, breathing heavily, his mouth drying up, Maverick reaches for the water in the side pouch of his backpack to battle the demon. Higher and higher they climb, Maverick shouts over the sweeping wind, “Hey why were you following me?! Who are you?! What’s your name?! I’m Maverick! Should I be following you?! Do you want me to follow you?! I can turn back”. The figure stays facing forward only giving a gesture to “keep following”.
After about an hour of this, Maverick and the figure reached the peak. Maverick, out of breath, staring down at his now mud splattered Nikes, looks up, his jaw instinatiouly says hello to the grass. The beyond heavenly view, provides Maverick such rare perspective of Machu Picchu. Looking down upon the Incan wonder, lush mountains surround the island of beige stone structures, as the sun, just like it had done when he woke up this morning, kisses the abandoned city. Each ray separated by the loose fog at the sun sets giving off a celestial glow. Maverick’s hands move so quickly to his camera he fumbles. Thoughts racing through his head, thinking, “This is it. This is the one. This is the photo that will be on the cover. If Angie doesn’t approve of this, I quit.” The camera whispers the clicking noise softly in his ear. He finishes, caps his camera lense and turns around to thank the mysterious person who brought him up here in the first place. Standing in front of him finally not hiding, the figure slowly pulls off the pine green hood to reveal a twenty-something Peruvian woman. She has feathery bangs and two waist length ink black braids trailing down the back of her intricate vibrantly colored just below the knee dress. She wears pom poms on the rim of her skirt; the colors look like satisfying chaos morphed into diamond and flower-like shapes, paired with black stockings and sandals. The woman speaks in simple broken English, “I speak little English. You camera, click, I thought view would be good photo.” Maverick responds, “I am beyond thanks. This is the most gorgeous view I have ever seen. Can I take a portrait of you.” The woman looks confused but understands as Maverick peaks through the lense. She stares straight down the lense welcoming its presence as a friend she has spent all day with. Her kind hazel eyes engulf the camera as it captures every detail of her being down to the speck of dust in her hair.
Two weeks have passed since Machu Picchu and Maverick is walking down Jones Street, Manhattan, he turns to a newsstand to find National Geographic Magazine front and center with it’s lemon rim. Maverick picks up a copy, his photo beaming on the front cover, but he ignores it and instantly flips to the centerfold, revealing the mysterious woman staring right back at him with, wearing the pine green hood.
Illustrations
Geometric Light Cover
Geometric Light Cover Artist Statement
Using the application, Illustrator, I created my own Geometric Light Cover Design. With inspiration from my favorite book series of all time, Harry Potter, I created a light cover with a Deathly Hallows symbol and a flying snitch design which were cut out using a laser cutter. As for my colors I chose red and gold, to signify Gryffindor, a famous Hogwarts house. Harry Potter has taken up a huge part of my life so far. As a child this was a big part of my household, connecting my mom, my brother and I together sharing time reading aloud before bed. After finishing the books I immediately became more and more obsessed with the entire Harry Potter universe and I consider myself a lifetime fan. When it came time to come up with a design for my Geometric Light Cover, I was stuck but eventually decided it would be exciting to create a design that represented Harry Potter and my passion for books and movies I’ve read and watched dozens of times. This project allowed more creative freedom and gave me the chance to use my skills after learning how to use Illustrator. I value that I was allowed to choose what I wanted to create rather than following strict guidelines. The Geometric Light Cover project was also the first project where our class produced a physical 3D piece of art rather than just digital. I felt really proud to spend so much time and effort on the computer using my knowledge of Illustrator, and then being handed a physical copy of what I created. There is definitely a warm feeling you obtain once you stand back and look at your finished product.
Illustrator Project Choice – Sticker
Illustrator Sticker Design Artist Statement
For this project I chose to create a sticker that would cater to the sense of humor of the current high school generation. I wanted to create a sticker that I could hand to my friends, who would look at me and burst out laughing because the idea was so hilarious. I attempted to bring together two pop culture jokes and mash them into one. On one hand there is a popular joke, or what my generation tends to call a meme, circulating the internet using a character from the popular Disney+ Star Wars TV show named, “The Mandalorian”. This character has been dubbed “Baby Yoda” for his strikingly young similarity to the famous character “Yoda” from the main Star Wars saga. The internet has been completely obsessed with incorporating “Baby Yoda” into anything and everything where the character’s adorable face can create eye-catching content from SNL skits, to memes, and even merchandise. On the other hand “VSCO-girl” is a term used for a teenage girl who generally dresses and carries certain accessories. A “VSCO-girl” dresses mainly in an oversized 80’s band t-shirt or hoodie, which she has usually never even heard of, carries a Hydro Flask with dangling friendship bracelets attached to the lid, has her hair tied back using a scrunchie, and shuffles around in Birkenstocks. I thought of these pop culture jokes combined, would be an amusing little gift to pass around to my friends. I valued using my skills I learned on Illustrator to create something I could easily make again in the future. These stickers and this project in general made it possible to use my artistic ability and learn how to make something I’ve always been curious about. The technology is right at my fingertips.
Animation
In animation class, the Narrative Unit challenged my classmates and I to take our visual story telling skills to the next level by designing and animating characters in a story setting. During this several month long period of time, our class completed a series of multiple time consuming projects which ultimately came together to form our ten second Mood Scene Animation and our sixty second Short Film. This may sound like minimal work, but considering one second is twelve frames and we’re drawing each frame by hand, time tends to add up. Despite this work, I greatly value the opportunity I’ve been given. I learned how to create a product I was overall proud of in the end. This unit taught be how to work as a team with my peers on projects that weren’t just meaningless 30 minute posters in some random class. This is the type of work I want to do with the rest of my life, and learning the basics of it at an early age is something really important to me.
Mood Scene
Our main project for the Narrative Unit was the Mood scene. For this project there were four main parts: the set, the puppet, the 2D animation, and the After Effects editing. The first step was to design and create our set. For this part I worked in a group with group with Anna Finaly and constructed a set meant to radiate an enchanted twilight vibe. We later took photos of this set in order to use them as our backdrop later on. For the second step we designed a character and creating a character bio giving some context then quickly moved on to assemble our puppets starting with a thick wire base wrapped in tape and covered in thin foam wrap. We later used clay and melted plastic for the hands, feet, and head. Using our puppet we created a stop motion walk cycle of two steps continuously repeating. Saving this for later and moving onto the third step, we used our knowledge of animating on photoshop and animated a new character’s two step repeating walk cycle. Once all of this was completed we put everything together. The set pictures were used as the backdrop and we uploaded both, the 2D photoshop and the puppet walk cycle to edit in After Effects. In after Effects we cut out the green screen behind the puppet and added shadows, foreground, and imitation lighting.
Animated Narrative
Our second project for the Narrative Unit was our Animated Narrative. For this project I worked in a group of three with Anna Finaly and Delia Copeland as my partners. With only three weeks to complete this project, our objective was to use our story telling skills we learned in English, brainstorm a story, and convert our idea into visual representation using animation. In the end our story was of a six year-old girl’s first time surfing a wave successfully on a beach trip with her mom. Delia and I were already fairly familiar using an app called “Procreate” on our iPad Pros. This gave us the advantage of working at home since these iPads were portable and Anna could borrow one of Freestyle’s extras. This overall cut our work time down significantly and saved us from animating on Photoshop.
