Intro

Throughout the narrative unit if you will, I valued being able to tell a story without really having to write it out or say it. Although I did have to come with a story and tell it, there were also different factors that help the consumer get the feel of it. In english, we were told to more or less describe something other than just tell it straight up. In Film we were told to use lighting, music, and overall color to tell the story. And in Digital Media, we were told to create the story with sounds and or draw it.

Story

In English, we had been given the assignment to create a Flash Fiction with character development and literary devices. These literary devices were crucial for my story. After all, I had chosen to write in first person meaning that the way objects or happenings are described is how my main character is describing. With this, I decided to make him, Kage Miller, self-centered and basically with some sort of god-complex, so he more or less belittled the things he describes.

As I said before, Digital Media showed us how to set the scene with sounds/tone. I used car ambience to keep the setting throughout the whole story, and I had to set the tone with my voice.

Me and only Me?

I open the door to my car. Put my phone in the cup holder. Insert the keys, turn them. The car starts, my phone rings. It rings? 

“Who’s calling at this time?” I say as I look at the car clock. 9:26 pm.

“Oh I guess it’s not that late, lemme see who it is” I continue to talk to myself as I look at the phone and see Jackson’s calling. I pick up the phone. 

“Hello? What do you need” I snap at him, annoyed that anyone would choose to interrupt my day.

“Jeez, man what’s got your panties in a bunch? Why do you gotta be a dick sometimes.”He retorts.

“Shut up, what do you need?”I say as I place my phone back into the cup holder.

“Nevermind, I’ll call you when you’re not this much of a dick” He hangs up on me. What a waste of time. If you’re gonna call me at least finish whatever you wanted to say. Annoyed, I continue and back out of my driveway for the last time. I change through radio stations discontentedly trying to find at least one good radio station that’s not playing the same five songs over and over nor talking about some celebrity gossip or news I don’t care about. As I finally find a song that slightly piques my interest, I pull up to a famous street in my opinion. It’s only really famous to me because this is where Jackson tried an ollie on his cheap crappy skateboard he got himself at Walmart, and it snapped in half the moment he landed . He was so pissed, and still is to this day as I tease him everytime we pass it. Man, what if he was trying to say “Goodbye” through that phone call. Whatever, the past is the past, I’ll see him again in a month when I come back for more stuff. 

As I come to another intersection, this slowass grandma starts walking across. Why is she out so late, it’s literally passed her bedtime. I resist the urge to beep at her to speed up because I mean, she can’t help it. Maybe if I just move forward a bit she’ll speed up. Do I have to go out there and help her myself? My god! Maybe not? I mean she’s literally almost at the end I don’t have to help her. Oh my god, she just dropped her wallet, could this take any longer? Jesus Christ, hurry up. 

Finally she reaches the end, out of sight, out of mind. Maybe not so out of mind, she was so slow. I’m just trying to drive here and arrive at my new apartment in the morning. 

Rinnnng Rinnnng

Again? What the hell do they want, and who the hell is it this time? Where did I put my phone? I look to my cup holder and it’s not there like it should be. Jesus, now’s not the time. I start to look for my phone, arm flailing around, still keeping my gaze on the road. As I start to feel it, I make a big mistake and look away from the road. I grasp onto my phone.

Beep! Beep!

I look up quickly and realize I’ve run a red light. I try to swerve my car away from those incoming. My heart is racing, my phone isn’t even in my hand anymore. I pullover and collect my thoughts. My phone continues to ring in the background. It’s still ringing? Without thinking I pick up, still not knowing who’s calling. 

“H-Hello?” I answer.

“Hello? Am I speaking to Kage Miller right now?” The voice on the phone speaks.

“Uhm, Hello? Yes?” I answer again trying to catch my breath. 

“Yes, I just wanted to inform you that you did not get the job, we found a better applicant” They reply, so formly, and without a trace of empathy.  

“Oh uhh okay. It’s fine, thank you” I hang up, not wanting to hear the rest. I sit back in my seat and rest my hands on my face. Exhaling, I put the pieces together about what just happened. First of all, I’m trying to move. Get a call from Jackson, start driving. I drive up on a slow grandma. Get another call, only to look away from the road once. Almost crash, get declined from a job I need, and now I’m here sitting in a car, pulled up on the side of the road. Can this get any worse? Am I just not good enough?

Illustrations

As a part of being in Freestyle, we were told to make a choice of what we would create. This came with many options like Moroccan Candles, Badges, T-Shirt prints and more. We were also told to illustrate what we wanted on them. I ended up choosing a nightlight with a sort of interesting design. The design being a Teddy bear with human hands reaching out with the caption “Come Here”.

I’m 16 years old, and still have a huge obsession with stuffed animals, particularly “abstract” teddy bears. I have, I guess I would call it a collection of weirdly formed teddy bears. Some have big noses and snouts, some don’t really have a snout. Some are used to being on all 4s, and others can stand like humans on their own. So, these teddy bears have a nice place in my heart, and to add the abstractness to my project, the teddy bear seen has big human hands with the title being “Come Here!”

Film

In my Film class, we focused on creating a story without dialogue, so we could focus more on telling the story visually. We studied films and how to film like this which lead on to assignments like the Chase Scene or Griffiths Pattern. In the end this all lead up to the big project which was our first Narrative Film.

I chose to film about a person who is writing their New Years resolutions as an intruder comes in and practically makes the Main Character start them. With that came the story board, which I created on Photoshop.

And then with this, we began filming.

When it came to filming my Narrative, I realized that this wasn’t going to be just shoot and be done with. I realized that actors would make mistakes and that I would make camera mistakes too. Lighting was a big struggle for me since I had chosen to shoot in the dark to make it more ominous. But I overcame that with feedback from dailies sessions in class and I really value that. I also found out that my house wasn’t big enough for my camera to be in some spots and that I couldn’t just take down a wall like they do in movies. I had change many shots because of this, and it ended still coming out the way I wanted it. I had a lot of help from friends and family and I really appreciate it. This was my final cut of my narrative film, New Year, New Me.