Narrative 1

Introduction

The narrative unit consisted of a lot of different projects. I was able to utilize other parts of the Adobe Suite, including Premiere Pro, Illustrator, ProTools, and Photoshop. Each class had different assignments that correlated with this unit. In English, I wrote a flash fiction piece using creative techniques. I then recorded this essay in Digital Media, where I was able to practice my storytelling skills. I was able to add sound effects in Pro Tools, where I additionally edited the recording. I also recorded a parody song in the recording studio at Freestyle, which I additionally edited in Pro Tools. In my film class, I created my first narrative film called “Game Over.” For this film, I had to storyboard my ideas, direct actors, film, and then edit on Premiere Pro. I found that this project took a lot of strenuous effort to complete, because of things like soundtracking the video. In the end, I was delighted with the final project, especially because I have become more comfortable learning to use special effects in Premiere Pro.

I valued the narrative unit immensely because it helped me become increasingly confident in Adobe software. It significantly helped enhance my ability to storytell, think of creative ideas, and present them in unique ways. I enjoyed this unit, particularly because software such as Pro Tools was new to me, and it was interesting to learn how to operate it. For my film, I valued learning new editing techniques, such as the “light up effect” I have displayed in my film. Overall, English, digital media, and film had various interesting projects that helped advance my abilities as a writer, filmmaker, and creator.

Story

In English, I created my flash fiction story called “The Unknown.” I decided to write about a girl who works a monotonous corporate job, and she is very bored with her life overall. Her dream, though, is to live in Paris, France, where the unknown inspires her. After I wrote this story, I recorded it in ProTools, where I was able to edit it and add various sound effects to convey a certain mood. I specifically added SFX and music to the track. Below is the audio of my story, and images that show my overall process.

Writing this flash fiction story in English enhanced my writing abilities in several ways. I originally wrote pretty straightforwardly and realized I needed to be more metaphoric and figurative with my writing. I was able to revise this story to the final draft I now have. I was happy with my final draft because I think it represents how many people feel about their lives—trapped in a job they may not thoroughly enjoy. I think it sends the message that it is important to follow your dreams and not allow yourself to be trapped in a repetitive lifestyle. My flash fiction story is shown below.

The Unknown

Alice peered out the small window located next to her compact airplane seat and saw everything she had ever aspired for and dreamed of; Paris, France. She tied her chestnut brown silky hair into a tight ponytail at the top of her head so it wouldn’t cover the teal glasses that seemed to frame her face. It was time for Alice to take a leap of faith into the unknown—Paris. She was exhilarated to leave behind her quaint but rundown town. While some may have been alarmed or intimidated to leave such a place of comfort, for Alice, it was quite the opposite. For many people, their hometowns feel like being wrapped in a cozy blanket. Alice, on the other hand, felt like she was being trapped and shielded from new perspectives and experiences. In the town where she was escaping, she worked as a lab assistant. Researching, cleaning, collecting data, etc. It was a stable job for her. Some may have even called it sufficient. Despite people pointing this out to her, she found herself in a maze of conformity; she felt as though a black hole was trying to consume her in this workplace, which she had no interest in pursuing. She just felt incomplete with this lifestyle, and it gave her a sense of unfulfillment in her life. She felt restricted within this job, and people constantly gave her reassurance that being a lab assistant was adequate. Her friends and family members would inform her that a stable income was the top priority, and doing things like traveling the world would result in her becoming financially destitute and anxious. Alice previously thought to herself, “If I dislike my job, though, and I am finding myself disconsolate with life, why am I just going to sit here and work?” So she decided to leave everything she had once found comfort and routine in and face the unpredictable landscapes of Paris. Looking out her plane window, she imagined herself soon to be in the bustling streets of Paris. Instead of getting a subpar latte from her local corner shop in her insignificant neighborhood, she envisioned herself searching for the local corner store bakeries that were going to flood the sidewalks of France. She imagined the twinkling lights of the Eiffel Tower dancing like stars in the jet-black sky up above. She visualized herself creating sketches of the landscapes she would soon encounter and the city life on which she was able to speculate. She continued to think about all that she was going to encounter in her new life in Paris when looking out her plane window. She would most definitely explore beguiling museums such as the Louvre and immerse herself in the culture and ways of life. She thought about how she no longer would have to sit at her tattered table in her dimly lit research room and instead would be trying delectable new foods in brightly illuminated restaurants with French cuisine. The activities and sights of Paris were endless, and to Alice, it felt like infinite possibilities were within her reach. 

“Alice, your shift is almost over, and I need you to get this paperwork done.” She awakened to the sound of her supervisor’s stern voice calling out her name. 

“Alice. Alice! Are you there?” She snapped quickly out of her daydream, and a rush of disappointment took over her body. Her face was red with embarrassment as she noticed she was not in Paris. She found herself sitting in her desolate research building with a stack of lengthy papers and an angry boss peering over her shoulder. Her brain felt as though fog had taken over every square inch of her head, confused about this detailed daydream she had just had. She reluctantly started her work, but she felt a strong sense of unfulfillment. What if daydreams didn’t have to be an alternate type of universe and could instead become a reality?

Illustrations

Illustrator was a prominent platform that we used in digital media for various projects. I had never created digital art before this assignment, so it was interesting to explore what is possible in Illustrator. As a group of four, we created an exquisite corpse. I decided to draw a bridge for this assignment to connect to the following images. It was really fun to see everyone’s projects and the creative ideas each person in our class had to offer. I enjoyed the collaborative assignment because seeing what everyone else in the group created was a surprise. An image of my group’s exquisite corpse is shown below.

I enjoyed learning what Illustrator has to offer and specifically utilized the pen tool to create these drawings. I liked that this assignment gave me the skills to create my own project later on in this unit.

Choice: I decided on my own individual illustrator project to create my own custom-designed stickers. I think learning how to create stickers is a valuable skill, as they can be used as gifts, to decorate cards, water bottles, letters, and more. The first sticker I designed was a wave because I really love the ocean and the beach. I decided to use an assortment of hues and colors to represent the happiness of summer! For my second sticker, I created a design with several different colors and put my initials inside. I enjoyed this project because it gave us creative freedom, and I am excited to use my stickers!

Music

This unit made it possible to create music productions in Adobe Audition. In particular, my partner and I created a parody on the Adobe platform Audition. For this project, I wrote the lyrics to this song, sang it in the recording studio, and then worked to produce it. We made a parody about homework to the song “Goosebumps” by Travis Scott. We overall liked the formatting of this song and thought it would be fun to produce. To produce the parody song, we recorded it with the equipment in the recording studio and edited it. We made sure to solo our tracks, normalize them, add reverb, and more.

Lyrics to Parody

Film

Yeah

12 am in the night, yeah

Ooh-ooh, ooh

I get homework every night, yeah, it piles up yeah,

It gets me stressed, it makes me want to cry yeah, 

Worried ’bout those grades yeah, I’m way too tired yeah,

It’s way too dumb, yeah

I get that homework all the time, I don’t have time yeah

Throw that to the side, yeah

I get that homework every time, yeah, every single night (straight up)

When you throw that to the side, yeah (it’s lit)

I get that homework every time, yeah

8-4-0 through the 3-0-0, yeah I’m grinding 

Why the pressure on me?

Why so many assignments? I’m failing low-key

I be trying low-key on my homework, busy busy

When I’m pullin’ up at my friends house, 

Get my work done 

When I text, I don’t get knowledge

Just tryna get into college i’m

Never off my grind

I fall through cycles, where my homework gets vital, yeah

I fall through cycles, where my homework gets vital, yeah

Oh no, I can’t deal with this at all, yeah

When I’m with my squad I can’t do nothing wrong, yeah

Stayin in the city, don’t worry , yeah

Yeah, we’re gonna breeze through things, no time to contemplate

Yeah, ’cause we from a place, a place you cannot stay

Oh, you can’t go, oh, I do know

No more homework  (brrt, brrt, brrt)

I get homework every night, yeah, it piles up yeah,

It gets me stressed, it makes me want to cry yeah, 

Worried ’bout those grades yeah, I’m way too tired yeah,

I get that homework all the time, I don’t have time yeah

Throw that to the side, yeah

I get that homework every time, yeah, every single night (straight up)

When you throw that to the side, yeah (it’s lit)

I get that homework every time, yeah

In film, the narrative unit spent several months creating a project of our choice. Originally, I had a completely different idea than what I ended up with. We started off the unit with storyboarding, which was definitely the most challenging aspect of the project. We had to draw hundreds of cards to “storyboard” what would be included in our narrative from start to finish. My partner and I had to redraw and restart the entire storyboarding process. While I had a lot of late nights because of this and got frustrated at times, I was very satisfied when I finally knew what my film would be about. I thought it would be interesting to do a film that involved special effects, and showed why it is important to stay true to who you are. I decided to create “Game Over” along with my partner Kayla, which would be a comedic narrative about how a teenage girl experiences a course of events that are associated with bad luck. The production was a challenging but fun part of the process; we had to film and refilm many times, direct our actors properly, and get the correct camera angles. A lot of the filming was featured at Hyperspace, a local arcade that I also work at. After all the filming was done, we began editing on Premiere Pro. It took many strenuous days and countless hours to edit, but in the end, it was worth it. We had to practice adding sound effects, credits, music, and overall editing the clips so the continuity was consistent. This was the first major film that I made, and I am extremely proud of my efforts with this project. My narrative film “Game Over” is linked below.

Synopsis

I ended up rewriting the synopsis I originally wrote because “Game Over” was a completely different idea entirely than what I started with.

The film will feature “Hyperspace,” a local arcade in the area. It will begin with a teenage girl playing arcade games, overall happy with herself. She is feeling excited until she sees two mean girls in the arcade; they are quietly making fun of her and whispering. The main character notices and starts to feel insecure with herself. She looks at the prizes and sees a prize that she really wants; a stuffed animal. She notices that there is a specific number of tickets that she needs to earn, so she diligently plays all of the games. She ends up going to the counter to pick out the stuffed animal, but the mean girls are in the back, making fun of her. She starts to doubt herself and her decision, so she decides to pick out a bracelet, similar to the other girls, to fit in. Little does she know that this choice will leave her with a cursed bracelet since she isn’t true to herself.

In Act II, a series of unlucky things happen to her. She is going to run into a pole and hurt her arm. She is then going to buy pizza, trip, and get it all over her white shirt. Then her car will not start, she will be out of gas, a runner will run into her, and the only shirt she has to replace the dirty one will be an “ugly” unicorn shirt that is not her style. Before every bad luck action occurs, her bracelet will have a light-up effect,” signaling when something bad is going to happen. She will ultimately realize that her bracelet is cursed, because every time she tries to get rid of it, the bracelet appears back on her wrist. She begins to lose hope when this happens.

In Act lll, an idea will spark. The main character realizes that the solution to getting rid of the bracelet is to return it to the arcade. She begins her journey back to the arcade, but she will run into some problems. She almost gets hit by a car or a shopping cart, and overall, she just starts to look very tired and distressed. When she finally makes it back to the arcade, the mean girls are there, judging her, but she doesn’t care. She returns the bracelet that has bad luck and gets the stuffed animal instead. The ending will show the true importance of staying true to yourself and having overall confidence in who you are.