Introduction
The narrative unit was a grueling and difficult one that was very pressing on creativity whilst using techniques previously established in the past. English was focused on furthering writing quality in terms of style and ensuring readers’ interest. Previously, I had only been writing essays for english courses, but this class introduced a new realm of script that involves creating a story that is captivating by means of content rather than claims. Digital Media was mostly about learning to use Illustrator to create art pieces, such as a geometric light cover. Past skills, such as Pro Tools, were still implemented for projects like the short story production. By far the most challenging was the visual narrative in Film. It was a project involving skills previously established in terms of camera use and editing on Premiere Pro, and it added new skills to be used such as Griffith’s pattern, suspense scenes, and chase scenes. The film took months to come up with, film, and produce, and along the way I learned valuable lessons not specific to film that will indeed carry on in life outside of school. Becoming more assertive, organized, and an effective communicator was imperative, and an unspoken lesson that was taught through the unit. While each focus was different throughout every class, important and useful skills were obtained in all.
Short Story
English was an entirely new challenge compared to previous year’s and their typical forms of writing. Often an essay was to be written, rather than a more creative form being a short story. The starting process for narrative was to complete a character questionnaire along with a plot map. The two worked together to establish the character’s tendencies along with the basic arc of the story. The inspiration for my story was based solely on the ridiculous name I had come up with: Jennithon. Her name brings a picture of a sad woman in her 30s who probably has a lot of cats and tells boring stories. Thus her main character flaw: fearful of everything. Narrative writing was a great opportunity to explore possible inclinations in writing, as I was already aware I am capable of writing essays and the like. Now I know I can create my own story, of course not perfectly, but effectively.
This Letter Needs to Be Mailed
Honors Short Story Author Study: Win
I’m a mere salesmen who got shipped off to war like the rest of ‘em. We’ve been travelling through the harsh, dark water for days in silence, seeing nothing but blue, blue, and more blue; better than a splash of red anyway. The name’s Tomial Kenneth if you didn’t catch that, but most don’t anymore now that we tread through the thick of combat. Stationed a few miles outside Omaha Beach, me and about 10,000 other men have been waiting for the signal, anticipating the time when we have to jump out into the dark blue water and leave our dread back in the ship. I thought looking down, wide eyed at my pale, white hands how long it’s been and how long it’s going to be before– “Move, move, move!”. I jolted straight up with robotic movement and launched myself over the boat into the deep, blue water without a second thought. My legs tear through the cold air with great brashness, yet my mind wanders to another place. My fixation is on the yellowish sand, which I can’t help but stare directly at. I tumble down the ground like the others around me and take cover behind a giant, rustic, metal asterisk. Hands pressed in, I sink helplessly through the muddy silt, each tiny grain forming around my shaky palms. I can think of nothing other than the cool and soft sensation my hands feel as the sand forms around my fingertips.
“Soldier, get up! Move forward!”
“Y-yes sir!”
Eyes wide and head tilted towards the sand, I stumble my way through the beach not realising whether or not I’ve even moved or breathed in the past several minutes. My brain tumbles forward with the rest of my body, when I feel a harsh tug on my sleeve. Before I know it I’m being carried off with great force and utter violence into a truck, by a man speaking the language of babies. Not that I’ve been looking at anything in the first place– except of course debris flying about, but that is mostly a blur of motion– but I now see even less. I’m sure a blindfold has been tied, no slapped onto my face. The truck is driven recklessly through the beach from what I can tell, and I sway and topple over things in the back, hearing the words I can’t decipher once more. My breath grows ragged and painful with the realization of where I am, or where I am not one should say, as the men continue to talk for what feels like an hour. Slowly the truck stops and I hear the engine falter. Doors slam, when my foot is yanked carelessly and I made to stand upright. The man shoves me from behind shouting what I think must mean “move”. Finally, after all the tripping on branches of what I believe to be a forest and the shouting for tripping on such branches, we’ve reached the destination. A shove to the back leading me into a dank and empty room allows me to realize this. Suddenly my blindfold is torn off my face, and before I can see who and what surrounds me, the men rush out the entrance like rabble of school kids who heard the ice cream truck. “Welcome comrade” the voice called with a hint of an accent. “Of course you must be thinking as to why you may be in this room. Today we’re going to play a game, a war game of course.” I stood stunned as the voice spoke. Still staring at the dinghy, brown floor, confusion washed over me with thoughts about where I am, if I’m alone, and most importantly why I’m here. “I will ask you one question,” the voice said. “And you will answer with your true desire. If you answer correctly I let you out. So, what do you want?”
“What do I want?”
“Yes.”
“I want to leave.”
The voice chuckled over the speaker. “Oh Tomial you character you, it’s not that easy and only a fool would want that in this game.”
“I’m pretty sure I want to leave.”
The voice did not respond. I sank down to the chilled concrete floor against the grimy wall.
“I want my dog. I want a sandwich. I want a chair. I want a window. I want a candle. I want all of these things, what could you possibly know what I want!” I spat back at the voice.
“Just answer the question Tomial. Answer the question and you’ll win the game, as simple as that.”
Pent up feelings build in my mind, and I can’t help but become frustrated with this game. I signed up for a war, not to play 20 questions. Perhaps storming the beach would be only slightly worse than this concrete prison of thoughts, but I only get more fidgety and angered when I hit wall and wall again in my brain thinking of what may be the answer.
What feels like hours, but must be minutes have passed; a hand in my mind is ticking about the numbers counting down to my inevitable death, but I have not heard the voice in some time. I’m terribly exhausted from the shoving through the forest, not a single answer to this ridiculous question has come to mind.
War. War. The answer is an answer to a game about war. GI Joe. Camouflage. AK-47. Grenade. Winning, losing. Wait. Winning, I want to win. I want to win!
“I want to win!” I scream. “I want to win, I want to win!”
“Very well comrade,” the voice announced. “Then you’ve won soldier.”An ending to in inconclusive game. The door swings open revealing the dense yet bright forest I was marched through to begin the riddle. My feet begin to move quickly beneath my legs, and I don’t even notice the wind escape my body. My precious win to this game leads me out the door, and I run back to the yellowish beach to tell the others, we can win.
Illustrations
Digital Media was focused mostly on the program, Illustrator. It was a more visually productive way to create art compared to the past methods of using Pro Tools and Premiere. Some projects presented are the geometric light cover and the optional one, in which I chose stickers.
Geometric Light Cover
Geometric Light Cover Artist Statement: I’m Lactose Intolerant
Milk. Its simple beginnings, a female cow, and its bitter end (quite literally), curdled milk. Of course, to vastly represent these simple beginnings, there are numerous cow silhouettes pictured among the panels. One being the head of the cow, representing the shear wisdom and dedication to the milk craft, and the entire body, representing the vessel in which the milk is created and carried. Once the milk is produced, it must be contained in some way. Whether it be bagged milk or that of a milk carton, we often see milk carried in a certain, special way. In order to accurately represent the diverse methods to enclose milk, I closely studied images of milk cartons, milk pails, and even milk bottles. These quite complex figures were tough to imitate, but with great devotion and persistence I was able to authenticate the very milk holding devices. With these containing glories having been made, there still leaves the question of how milk is to be delivered. Nothing says delivery quite like a milk crate, and while it doesn’t appear on the actual piece due to an err in printing, it lives there in spirit. To tie it all off, a splash of milk is present to convey the ending life cycle of milk, whether it be the splash-back from pouring out cereal or merely the act of pouring expired milk down the drain. All in all, these illustrations work together to portray the importance of milk, with its diverse containing types and humble beginnings, and it allows us to appreciate the true effort that goes into milk production and distribution.
Designing the light cover on Illustrator was an enriching experience that allowed me to discover possible inclinations and paths I could pursue in the future. Being a film student I am not often exposed to illustrating related work, however this both showed me that I am able to do such work and that I may be able to further explore it in the future as a possible career path.
Illustrator Stickers
Illustrator Project Artist Statement: Un-Related
To be completely frank, there is no specific meaning to these art pieces. It may have been quite apparent whilst seeing it– the kirby, the mock trial logo, the track spike, track logo, the cityscape, the face, and the fish saying “I pace with Jesus”. If there was to be a meaning taken from the pits of nowhere and nothingness and slapped onto these illustrations, it would have to be unrelated through unity. These stickers were mostly meant to be designs custom made for friends and such, as I do not typically put stickers on things. The mock trial logo was tailor made for a friend in mock trial, and the like with the track related things. Same with the “I pace with Jesus” sticker, but that was more of an inside joke with a friend. Kirby is a lovable character, so who wouldn’t want a sticker of him. The cityscape was in fact for myself, since I really like cityscapes. Together they represent “unrelated through unity” as each sticker was taken from its own realm of creativity being the minds of others, not quite solely me. They do however unite by bringing people together through the craft of stickers, and of course literally on the page they were printed upon.
This project continued the learning Illustrator path digital media was following at the time, and was a fun way to keep practicing with the program. It was a good opportunity to refine the skills taught previously. Though the illustrations themselves are not something to marvel at, they do serve as a reminder of how far I’ve come from beginning to learn the functions of Illustrator, to where I am now which is being able to swiftly create something with great ease.
Film
Film was a big focus on learning film language and how to apply it to narratives. Some strategies we learned were Griffith’s Pattern, suspense scenes, chase scenes, and storyboarding. Most of this was adapting to how emotions should be presented in films, along with little rules that make a huge difference such as the 180 degree rule.
Griffith Scene
D. W. Griffith revolutionized the way films were created. Rather than merely filming the sequences happening as they were, he cleverly picked up the camera and moved it. At that point the concept of angles and shot composition was made. This scene exemplifies the idea of establishing, showing the scene, and closing in on important subjects.
Suspense Scene
Alfred Hitchcock was one of the great filmmakers of the 20th century. Some of his most remarkable films include Rearwindow and Psycho, both with the common theme of suspense. This lesson focused on how to build tension in a scene through techniques like cross-cutting and key objects of importance.
Chase Scene
While chase scenes were a continuation of previous lessons, the concept of action reaction was a big emphasis of this unit. learning to show character emotion while keeping a fast editing pace was a huge challenge, along with new skills like utilizing the 180 degree rule.
Narrative Synopsis
Act 1: The location is established: the house. There is a Superbowl party happening in the house. The main characters are the host and his dog. The dog wants to be a part of the party and he annoyingly squeaks his chew toy and jumps up to greet someone causing them to spill their drink. The host scolds the dog and puts him in his cage. He doesn’t latch the cage properly and the dog escapes out the window. (Important object is a squeaky toy)
Act 2: The party is continuing and everyone is enjoying themselves. The team everyone is rooting for scores a point and everyone is cheering. The host goes and checks on the dog, and sees that the dog is missing. The host sees the party, everyone is having fun, he sees the chew toy that his dog loves and picks it up and walks out the door not saying anything to anyone. Cross-cuts from the owner of the dog to the dog running away, and walking around in the dog park. The dog looks very sad, and lonely. His tail is down and his head is down. The owner looks in his yard first and squeaks the chew toy, looking for the dog. Then looks around the neighborhood. At one point he sees a dog that looks like his, runs over to it but finds that the dog is not his. He goes to the dog park, but doesn’t see his dog there either. He gives up on finding his dog, and heads home. When he gets home, he is sitting in his front yard, looking hopeless.
Act 3: He looks up and sees his dog across the street, the dog looks at him. The two run to each other and hug. They walk back into the house together to enjoy the party. The film ends with the dog, now included in the party’s festivities, and he’s eating chips with the boys.
