Introduction
In this project, we learned narrative expression by combining works that we did in English, digital media, and design. Corporating different creative tools such as Illustrator and Premier Pro. We communicated our story in the ways of visual and literal. For me, I think it is very interesting to see how different parts of the Freestyle worked together and how one idea transformed into different types of works. This section gives me a lot of opportunities to practice to absorb and create.
I valued the Visual Narrative Project as a chance to try things that are new to me and practice the skill of visual communication. I’ve never tried to create anything before this in Premier Pro or use the recording studio on the Freestyle campus. This project allowed me to explore many ways of visual communication and helped me to improve my skills in using these amazing creating tools.
story
We brainstormed the story line and character in English class, and wrote our ideas into a real story. The project in English was started with George Orwell’s 1984. Followed up with other people’s flash fiction. I struggled with the length of the story a lot at the beginning. My inspiration came from a dream that I had before. Originally, I was going to exactly what happened in the dream with its process, but after talking to Mr. Greco, our English teacher, he pointed out that it has passed the words limit.
I recorded my audio production of my story in a voice tone that I think match with the story. But I really wish that I can level up my voice and speak more clearly next time.
behind the scenes
- The design of the album is based on a scene from my narrative story.
Illustrations
We learned the creative program Illustrator, and we corporate different kinds of small project by using Illustrator to do works.
Exquisite Corpse
Exquisite corpse is a really fun project that we done in Digital Media class. Three of us (me and Ori A and Dhrithi V) grouped together for this project. We drew the following pictures without telling others, and this is what it turned out!
Illustrator Project
Project name: Curving History
My inspiration for this piece came from a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. I saw the cultural relics that came from ancient Egypt. The repetitive and summary patterns of the murals that used to be a part of tombs, patterns’ function is to provide the needs of their owner the necessity of the afterlife. As I further learned from books about ancient Egyptian art history, the 2-dimensional composition is formed by the idea of “drawing the things they know”, rather than seeing or feeling. So I created this piece for two of my most important friends, recording the eternity in our friendship by embracing the culture we love.
I grew a lot with this project, I learned and practiced how to be summarize and clear about what I want to express visually. This project is definitely a good practice for using Illustrator. And it helped me so much to further understand the ancient culture. I struggled to write the words in Egyptian on the cup and find the shape of the cup that I really wanted. I did not prepare a lot for this project, it is more likely to just float out from my inspiration. I did a lot of research on Egyptian writing and asked one of my friends who actually knew how to write, and the final word that I decided is “Eternity” and “Bestie”. One thing that I would like to change is that if I could know the size of the cup ahead, so I can draw the design more accurately and reach a better effect.
This opportunity to explore the culture of ancient Egypt was so fun to me and I felt really passionate about learning other cultures and putting them into my work. The skills from this project and the idea of it can help me for my future projects, in my education and career. I saw and practiced the combination of ancient art and culture in modern design, and understood how a commodity can be turned into an artwork, I felt very inspired by this project.
My design of the pattern that I have done in Illustrator.
music production
“Learning With Our Brain Gone” by Sylvia C, Maisie R, Alex S
The song we chose to make a parody out of was Dancing with Our Hands Tied by Taylor Swift. We chose to do our topic about the stress of school as it is something relatable to all students. We learned how to use Adobe Audition and use skills like decompressing, amplifying, and many other vital tools to enhance our project. Overall, it was a very fun project as we were able to rock our hearts out to a familiar and nostalgic song as well as mess around with the lyrics.
My lyrics of the parody project
Song Parody Planning
- Song: Dancing with our Hands Tied
- Theme: School- Junior year (testing, hoco, people)
Sylvia
Maisie
Alex
EVERYONE
I, I came back from summer
First sight, this year will be harder
Oh, I’m sixteen years old
Oh, homework overload
My, my brain had been frozen
Want a break, but they gave me more homework
Oh, and it stressed me out
Oh, testing is coming close
I used to spend my summer with fun dramas and road trips
Sitting on my bed with my headphone noise on canceled
My friends said let’s hangout and stay up until the sunrise
I had a bad feeling
I can’t keep on waking up with two hours of sleeping
Packing up my backpack with my notebooks and lunch box
Glancing all around to see all of the new freshmen
I had a bad feeling
But we should study
Putting on our, headphones, headphones
Yeah, we were crying
Praying we pass, exams, exams
Yeah we were studying
Studying with our phones off, phones off
Yeah, we were stressing
And I had a bad feeling
But we should study
I, I stay up in spite of
Deep fears that I might fail on the test
So, can we have a break
Oh, so I can stay sane
and say, say it’s just one
I’m a mess, and the one might fail on test
Oh, cause it HOCO week
Oh, and the S A T
I could’ve been studying but I stayed in bed watching
Movies on repeat, don’t even know whos on the big screen
You said “the test was lightwork don’t need to study”
I had a bad feeling
But we were crying
Starin we g at a, bad grade, bad grade
Yeah, we were stressing
overwhelmed with, aeries, aeries
Yeah, we were wishing
That we had just, studied, studied
Yeah, we were sobbing
(Ooh, we were studying)
And I had a bad feeling
But we were stressing
I walk in as the bell just rang
Praying to get a good score
I’m stressed out as the teacher walks in
If I can study it again
I’d pay a little more attention
Taking notes as I was told
I’d told myself to work a little more
and I really did try my best
Praying we pass, exams, exams
Yeah we were stressing
overwhelmed with, aeries, aeries
Yeah we were studying
Studying with our phones off, phones off
Yeah we were working
And I had a bad feeling
I can’t keep stressing
Stressing, stressing
Behind the scenes.
design
In design, we learned Illustrator and corporate with English, created a Illustration piece based on the story that we wrote.
“Foctopusfly” by Sylvia C
My narrative story is about a girl called Vitachra who accidentally falls into a “rabbit hole” and experiences a whole adventure in this grand underground opera theater hall, which ends up being just in her dream. She first arrived (or dropped) at the Great Hall and met Lady Lustina who was her guide on the tour, then they saw a huge fish tank with mermaids in there who had an exact face like Vitachra. It is a story about how Vitachra found her inner self through the journey, where the dream and reality are aligned.
I first brainstormed what animals I wanted to represent Vitachra. I chose fox to represent the characteristics of smart, butterfly for beauty, phoenix for ambition, octopus for insecurity, and snake for self-center. Then I draft out the basic shape of the creature, using the pictures of animals I found online for a better and more precise outline, with the techniques of using Illustrator pen tool to finish the line structure. After that, I filled in colors from my color scheme and used the skills we learned in class about making feathers and fur effects. I chose the sense of the inside of the Great Hall, a Western-style architecture and a point perspective with a huge fish tank in the center of the room.