Introduction
Within narrative 1, we learned how to tell a compelling and well-structured story that portrayed complex emotions and ideas. In our elective class, we created our own narrative creature based on our character from our Flash Fiction which we made in English. Our learning process combined with all three classes English, Design, and Digital Media left us with a narrative project that allowed me to express my creativity through every outlet.
The narrative project helped show me how crucial visuals are and taught me how to express meaningful messages strictly through visuals. Restricting the use of dialogue encourages creativity and out-of-the-box thinking. I look forward to applying the skills I have gained to future projects where I am able to continue to push myself into achieving new things.
Story
In English, we explored the world of Narrative writing by creating our own Flash Fiction. Our stories included unique characters we came up with and followed the typical narrative outline with a setting, rising action, climax, and resolution. I loved that we were given complete freedom to take our stories in any direction we wanted with no restrictions.
Once we finished revising and adapting our Flash Fictions, we took our stories to Digital Media to turn them into captivating audiobooks. We did that by recording our stories through Pro Tools and mixing them with music and SFX to elevate our stories to the next level. Pro Tools continues to be a challenging platform yet I appreciate every chance I get to use it as it enhances many elements of my projects.
Dandelions
Monday: 8:00 am. Persima woke up and turned off her alarm clock. 8:04 am. Persima walked into her bathroom and started brushing her teeth with her red toothbrush; the blue toothbrush remains in its place, untouched. 8:10 am. She looked into her closet and grabbed 1 out of the 5 identical black shirts along with a pair of gray pants, black socks, and a maroon scarf. 8:13 am. Persima grabbed her overnight oats and pre-made cold brew from the fridge. By 8:15 am Persima grabbed her book from the kitchen table, wrapped her scarf around her face, and set out the door.
And just like every other morning, she made her way toward Lincoln Park. As she crossed the sidewalk she looked around the familiar roads and hid a smile at the bittersweetness of it all. The dandelions moved back and forth like branches in a storm, releasing their seeds as the wind blew them away. And just like every other morning, Persima couldn’t help but make the same wish she made each time she saw the seeds blow past her.
Once Persima arrived at Lincoln Park, she followed her regular route to her bench. From that bench, beautiful San Francisco smiled at her. Rain or shine, Persima arrived at the bench no later than 8:30 am and left no earlier than 1:00 pm. On this Monday morning, just like every other Monday morning, Persima arrived at her bench at 8:28 am, pulled out her book, and began the rest of her day by reading. At 9:15 am a pair of eyes burned a hole into the cover of Persima’s book. When she lowered her paperback, she was caught cemented in the gaze of 2 little brown eyes. The eyes belonged to a small child who, based on her height and pigtails, could not have been older than 5 years old.
“What do you want?” Said Persima, annoyed by the unusual disturbance. The little girl said nothing, she simply stood there staring at Persima. “What do you want?” The girl stayed silent. Persima was growing more irritated as each second passed until finally, at 9:20 am, she shut her book, looked the girl into her eyes, and said, “ I can stare too little girl. You just ruined my morning.” With that, Persima left her bench and walked back home—her earliest departure.
Tuesday: 8:00 am. By 8:15 am Persima was out the door, a book in one hand and her black roast in the other. As she made her way to her bench she didn’t stop once to think of the little girl who mysteriously appeared and refused to leave her alone. Persima was able to read peacefully for 20 minutes when at 9:20 am she felt a familiar gaze looking at her behind her book. She lowered her cover to reveal exactly who she was suspecting. This time, the little girl was wearing braids and carrying a ball.
The little girl handed Persima the ball. Persima accepted the ball from the little girl only to then launch it as far as she could across the park. Nevertheless, her satisfaction did not last long, when nearly 2 minutes later the girl was back with the ball handing it back to Persima. This time filled with rage, Persima grabbed the ball from the girl and drop-kicked it as hard as she could away from her, away from her bench, and away from her park all the way… into the pond. Then the little girl simply looked up at Persima, who was gleaming with joy, then back to her ball which was now floating in the middle of the pond. Persima picked up her book and left the park, leaving the little girl alone.
Wednesday: 8:10 am. Unable to sleep properly, Persima woke up 10 minutes after her alarm. She went through the rest of her routine in an irritated mood. Grabbing her scarf, book, and coffee, she set out her door to the one spot that brought her peace. Walking into Lincoln Park Persima was hesitant and kept an eye out for the little girl. However, as she made her way to her bench the little girl was nowhere to be seen. As Persima read her book, she brushed away the feeling that something was amiss and reminded herself to enjoy the peace and quiet she had been looking for all week. Suddenly, as Persima flipped the pages in her book she felt a familiar stare emerging through the pages and demanding her attention.
This time when she put her book down the little girl was standing with a bouquet of dandelions. Persima accepted the dandelions and held them close to her heart, breathing in deeply and slowly as she made her customary wish.
The little girl smiled quietly and turned to walk away but before she could get too far Persima yelled, “Wait!”. The girl twirled back to face Persima. “Would you like to sit with me?” Persima offered with a slit tilt of her head. To her surprise, the little girl smiled and hopped onto the bench, sitting next to her as her little feet dangled off the edge of the bench. There they sat for the rest of the day, taking turns blowing wishes into dandelions.
And from that day on, by the time Persima arrived at their bench, the little girl was already sitting down and waiting for her. And there they would sit, rain or shine. Some days the little girl would bring chalk or a ball to play with and the two would spend hours enjoying each other’s company. On other days they would simply sit and admire the park, making wishes on dandelions, while Persima beamed down at the little girl knowing that she no longer had to make the same wish.
Illustrations
In Digital Media, we focused on improving our Adobe Illustrator skills to create a personal and unique piece of artwork that we were then able to bring to life. For one of my projects, I decided to create a tumbler that I dedicated to my mom as a birthday gift. The tumbler had a street view of our favorite city, Tel Aviv. Other ways we got to put our Illustrator skills to work were by creating an Exquisite Corpse group image. We were put into groups of 4 and given a specific frame in which our artwork had to stay in, other than that we were given full range to create whatever we wanted. And once everyone was done we combined all 4 artworks to create amazing creations.
Shots from the production
My inspiration for this project was my mom. She turns 50 this year and I knew I wanted to make her something extra special for her birthday. When brainstorming what to make her I knew it had to be something practical that she could use every day and be reminded of how much I love her and how much she means to me. With that in mind, I decided to make an Illustrator for a tumbler, instantly I knew what I was going to do for the design.
I drew inspiration from my mom’s favorite city Tel Aviv and designed a landscape so that wherever she goes she can carry around a glimpse of the city. Some of the struggles I encountered with this project were figuring out the best ways to capture Tel Aviv and figuring out how I wanted to represent one of my mom’s favorite places.
Overall I am very proud of the outcome and loved working on the project as it let me pay more attention to the actual architecture and hidden aspects of a place that means so much to me. I like how I was able to add in small details that only “local” people would understand such as the small am/pm, or the cats walking near the buildings. I wouldn’t change anything about my final project and look forward to surprising my mom with it!
Music Production
In digital media, we continued to advance our communication skills not only through visual imagery but also through sound. By using Pro Tools, we were able to create our own parodies produced at Freestyle’s very own professional music studio. We started by picking partners and finding a song we liked, we then cut the vocals out in Pro Tools and wrote our own creative lyrics. Once we were ready, we recorded our vocals in the studio and mixed them with some effects to create the final song. “None”, a parody of 21 Savage’s “A Lot” made by myself and Felicia Wagner. The song was inspired by high school students wanting to go out at lunch and buy food but not having enough money to do so. Felicia and I liked the irony of taking a song about having a lot of money and turning it into a comedy about having none.
Lyrics
I don’t got youuuuuuu
Turn up the coupons a little bit
Yeah
For so many groceries
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Yeah, yeah yeah yeah
Whah Whah, ah, ah, whoa, whoa, whoa, yeah
How much cash you got? (Shut Up)
How much credit you got? (Shut UP)
How many bills you got? (none)
How much money you got? (none)
How many hours you work ? (none)
How much money you got? (none)
How many hours you work? (one)
Lets be honest (none)
How many pray that you venmo(A lot)
How many loans you got (A lot)
How many times u get asked
If u can cover ur spot(A lot)
The work ethic not applied (A lot)
And Beating up ur self pride (A lot)
Spending too much on boba (A lot
Finna put ur mom in a coma (A lot)
She doesnt wanna see (A lot)
How much you spend on milk tea (A lot)
How many chances mama gon give ya messin round with her card (a lot)
Every day the bell ring, I’m running to that dough
That cheesy marinara grub but not that cash flow
Told my teacher tum was rumbling but every snack got sold
While they at Chipotle comprando nada por yo
Break it on down, I break it on down
I munch it all down, I much it all down , I munch it all down
Were broke with a frown were broke with a frown. were broke with a frown
Were broke with a frown.
Babysitting every night just to make a couple bucks
Bank so void you’d think we have an android
Gang vs. the world, its just fe and sheer
Then the bell rings and we have to face our fear
Friends not giving us bites turned us to a beast
Now our friends think were poor and turned us to the streets
Yet we lived through the norm and we can now guarantee
though the other side aint money, we can plea to eat on fees
How much money you got? (none)
How many hours you work ? (none)
How much money you got? (none)
How many hours you work? (one)
Design
This unit in Design, we got to expand our knowledge and skill with Adobe Illustrator by turning our character from our Flash fiction in English into a creative creature. The creature itself was made up of 5 different body parts, a mammal, a bug, a sea creature, a bird, and a reptile. Moreover, each one of the body parts that we picked had to correlate with our character’s desired traits. For the background of our creature, we had to use linear perspective to create a scene from our story. The last thing we did for our visual narrative unit was to photograph someone who represented our character in real life and put them in a Mise en Scene. I chose to photograph my supporting character named “Little Girl”, this project was very fun because I was able to put a character I made up in my mind into a real-life figure.
The Flash Fiction, Dandolins, takes place in a park in the city of San Francisco. The bench on the left corner plays a very crucial part in the story as well fields of dandelions. I wanted the color scheme to be contrasting to my creature as well as something neutral saw that it wouldn’t draw attention away from my creature.
Solana was a quiet woman who kept to herself and learned to enjoy her own company after the passing of her husband. She followed the same routine every day, from what she ate for breakfast to her daily route to the park. Once she arrived at her park, she would sit and enjoy the beautiful view of the Golden Gate bridge while reading her book. Until one day a little girl appeared behind the sleeve of Solanas book and refused to leave no matter what comment or dirty look Solana made. Day after day the little girl awaited Solana at her bench with a new activity and each day Solana ignored her. Until one simple act of kindness, such as handpicked dandelions, convinced Solana to accept the offered friendship. And from then on the two would enjoy each other’s company every morning with the view of the Golden Gate behind them.
To create my Illustration of my hybrid animal Solana, I used Adobe Illustrator to depict her character by combining 5 animals based on their specific characteristics that matched Solana. With the body of a turtle, she is seen as closed off, the puffin face procuring undeniable beauty and an organized demeanor, a whale tail to show how she is dignified, lion main to establish her assertiveness, and lastly, butterfly wings to show she is independent. The background is a view of the Golden Gate bridge with the bench where Solana is greeted by the little girl. I used 2 point perspective to show the bench and its view of the Golden Gate bridge. It was difficult to address lighting and other factors such as shadows and especially dimensions. I am happy with the project I created but strive to keep learning and growing with the use of Illustrator and the possibilities of point perspective. Overall, I really enjoyed learning and working with Illustrator and look forward to future projects that will allow me to continue exploring this tool.
The character in my photo is the Little Girl who continues to pursue a friendship with Persima, an independent yet lonely woman, even when she shows no interest. On one of the mornings, as Persima walked to her bench, the Little Girl was there waiting for her with two braids and a ball. Annoyed with her reappearance Persima grabbed the ball and threw it away. Finally, on the third day, the Little Girl approached Persima with a bouquet of dandelions. This time instead of pushing the girl away Persima took them with tears in her eyes as they reminded her of a memory that she cherished. And from that day on, the two would enjoy each other’s company throwing around a ball and blowing on dandelions.
The process behind this photo shoot was both rewarding and exciting. I started by choosing a model, my good friend Julia Chin, and then built an outfit that would reflect my character’s young age. From there, I chose a background and since my story takes place in a park I chose the closest thing, her backyard. I used multiple lenses to see the difference between certain angles and heights. Moreover, I used a pink light to make my actor’s face appear more lively and young. Some of the challenges that I encountered while shooting outside were shadows and distracting objects in the background. Once I chose my final image, I took it into Photoshop to adjust some of the shadows and add saturation to give it a boost of color. Overall, I am happy with my outcome and it was very fun to bring my character to life.