Introduction
Narrative projects are all about storytelling. From an actually written flash fiction story to illustrated designs, these projects tell a variety of stories in unique ways. Through these projects, not only did we create, but we also learned methods to be able to make them, including Pro Tools, Adobe Illustrator, and more. Through drafting and revision processes in all classes, we built our planning skills with both independent projects, collaborative projects, and some that were a mix of both.
Personally through these projects, I learned how to tell a story through different techniques, other than actually writing a story, although I did build these skills as well. A valuable tool I vastly improved on is using Adobe Illustrator. It was my first time using a vector based application, and though I found it hard at first, I warmed up to it. Similarly, Pro Tools and music production in general was something I’ve never tried before, but dabbling with it allowed me to create a piece I’m proud of, and I now have another form of storytelling to choose from.
English
Flash Fiction
In English, we wrote our own flash fiction story then used the skills established in Digital Media to turn our stories into a podcast-like episode, using Pro Tools to edit audio and add sound effects. Between the actual storytelling we learned in English for writing the story itself and the sound effects, including music, to enhance the audio, our short stories really came to life.
My inspiration for my story was the character itself. The character, named Tessa, was a sort of random collection of traits I thought of off the top of my head, just to get started. Then I used the Character Questionnaire in English to justify these traits in order to build her personality, and who she really is a person. Additionally, it was October, so my jumping off point for the plot itself was Autumn leaves, black cats, and a sort of creepy aspect for Halloween. Using a combination of Tessa’s traits, internal struggles, and this October inspiration, I crafted a story captured in under 1,000 words. In summary, Tessa is upset because of a conflict with her best friend. To cool off, she gets out of the house to take her daily photo of a Coke, but her mood is soured even more when she can’t find any. Instead, she’s met with a mysterious black cat, who turns out to be playing with the only empty Coke can around. In order to take the photo she’s worked so hard on taking every single day, Tessa will need to overcome her irrational fear of cats and retrieve the can for herself.
Photograph
naomi <3: tessa pls pick up the phone, can we talk?
Tessa ignored the message. A huff left her lips as she slipped on her shoes and adjusted the scarf around her neck, stepping outside the comfort of her home. Standing there, Tessa considered how maybe calling her best friend back would be best, no matter how mad she was. But talking on the phone wasn’t something they did, and she wasn’t in the mood to turn that into a norm.
Instead, Tessa was out of the house to take her daily photo of a Coke can, as usual. Digital camera in hand, she set off from her porch to find a littered piece of trash. Scavenging the street, her eyes scanned the sidewalks for a can to photograph. Yet, only orange fallen leaves and acorns were scattered about the sidewalks. There was a time when Tessa tried photographing subjects like that. But for some reason, the scene of a littered soda can just appealed to Tessa more. She would always pick it up and throw it in the trash, of course. It truly was a shame that people littered like that.
After no success, a rolling cloud of discomfort settled over her as Naomi crossed her thoughts again. A clear sign that Tessa’s plan of distracting herself with her ritualistic photo had failed. Spinning on her heels, she began marching back to her house, ready to settle comfortably into her room and find something else to distract her.
But when she turned, Tessa was met with the sight of a small black creature, swatting at something red on the sidewalk.
It was a black cat playing with an empty Coke can.
Of all the pests that could be playing with the only Coke can around, of course it had to be a cat. Gripping her camera, Tessa creeped forward, trying not to consider how cats, especially black ones, were an omen of bad luck. Still, Tessa wasn’t about to let this fear of hers stand in the way of taking the photo she’s worked so hard to take every day. If she went home without a photo and being this close to taking it, her insides would practically tilt.
She adjusted her camera positions, desperately trying to get a shot without the cat in it, but the thing was relentless. It would swat the can away, only to pounce right back onto it. Tessa lowered the camera, her face twisting as she inched closer to the cat. As she held up the camera in another attempt to catch the Coke can only, the shot landed on the cat’s face, showing its three, focused eyes intently following the can – she paused.
Three eyes?
Tessa’s eyes themselves widened as she stared down at the screen. She nearly dropped the camera trying to process the creature in front of her. Lowering it, she continued observing the cat, only now she watched its face instead of the can. The thing seemed to act just the same as any other cat, but Tessa supposed that she probably wouldn’t know what a normal cat acted like. But she did know that a normal cat definitely didn’t have three eyes.
Before Tessa could fully process what was in front of her, it suddenly began hissing and meowing aggressively, seemingly at nothing. Its body spasmed, and one of its claws flailed around, the Coke can following it. Tessa flinched, retreating slightly.
Only then did she connect the dots, realizing the cat had gotten its claw stuck onto the can itself. Tessa looked around desperately for anyone else to help. She gritted her teeth when she saw only empty streets around her. Glancing back at the cat, Tessa cringed at its pain as it continued to screech at the stuck can. She sighed.
Pocketing her camera, Tessa hesitantly approached the cat. As she got within arm’s reach, it paused, staring at her with three big eyes. When it meowed at her, it almost sounded like a plea. Now that the cat was holding still, Tessa continued to inch closer, despite a twisting feeling in her abdomen. Do it for the photo, she told herself. Squatting in front of the cat, Tessa reached for its paw and tried not to look at its eyes. But it immediately started meowing in opposition. It wasn’t aggressive, it hardly moved, but Tessa still flinched, clenching her jaw. As she took a deep breath, she reached and grabbed the cat’s paw and the can, trying to steady both while the cat tensed and continued meowing. Struggling, Tessa observed the area where the claw had hooked onto part of the can’s tab, and gently unhooked them. As soon as it was free, the cat began squirming and hissing again. Tessa didn’t wait to let it go. It practically skidded away, and began licking its paw a few feet farther from her.
Holding the Coke can, Tessa finally exhaled, relieved that the entire situation was over. She threw the can, pulled out her camera, and crouched down to get a decent shot. Before the camera could even focus on her subject, the frame was taken over by a dark silhouette, and three eyes. Lowering the camera, Tessa huffed and reached for the can. Instead, the cat shoved its head underneath her grasp before she could reach it, meowing. Only this time, it was much more content. Tessa wasn’t sure what she was expecting, but the cat’s fur was soft, and she continued petting his head. When she began scratching behind the cat’s ears, he immediately closed all three eyes and purred, leaning onto her. Tessa smiled, shifting into a more comfortable position while stroking the cat. His purring only grew louder, and he eventually rolled onto the sidewalk, eyes still closed contently.
I’ll call Naomi when I get back, she promised herself.
Tessa snapped a photo of the three-eyed cat with a smile as it seemed to pose perfectly for the shot.
When creating the audio production, I used Pro Tools to edit the audio and add sound effects. After cutting out any audible mess ups, I added royalty free music and sound effects. Music was added to the beginning and end to set the mood of the story, and sound effects such as meowing and footsteps were meant to immerse the listener into the story. Most of these were on different tracks in order to make sure the volume levels were sufficient for each clip, including music.
After creating the audio production itself, the story really came to life so much more than I anticipated. It took me a while to find the right music to set the tone I wanted the story to convey, but it was worth the search to find the right one. The sound effects also had a greater impact on the story than I thought they would. They did so much more to make the story feel real. I never thought that adding simple music and sound effects would add so much to the storytelling element, and it made me appreciate creators like podcasters who do this all the time, only on a larger scale. Not only was I able to come to value this skill, but I also developed it a lot more than previously.
Through this project I learned more about the technique of including sound effects into voice over audio productions. Figuring out the best timing wasn’t something I initially thought I would have to spend so much time on, along with whether it would be best to include it in a certain section at all. Because of this, I learned to be confident with my decisions on small things like where to put sound effect clips. I also learned what’s best in terms of fading the music and sound effects in and out. I struggled with finding the right music to fit the tone I was going for in my story. Even I wasn’t completely sure what kind of music I wanted, so I spent a lot of time scrolling through royalty free music and looked for one that felt right. I also struggled with where to put the sound effects, like mentioned before. I ultimately decided to be less nit-picky about it, and let myself place the audio without moving it slightly over every single time, basically not being too much of a perfectionist. I didn’t want to waste so much time on just that, and placing the sound effects where I did still works. I would try to read the story itself in a more engaging way. I took a few takes where I messed up a lot, and decided to re do it, but listening back I realized I sounded sort of bland. I didn’t want to take too much time in the moment rerecording the entire story again, so I decided to keep it. Looking back, I would definitely try to sound more enthusiastic, enunciate some words, and make my tone fit the story better. Still, I’m proud of how I was able to piece together a lot of different elements and skills that I’ve developed into a fully fleshed out production. I really enjoyed the writing process itself and how the story turned out, so bringing it to life through an audio production was rewarding for me in the end. The sound effects and music add a lot more to the story than I initially anticipated. I’ll definitely use this storytelling element in the future whenever I’m editing anything that includes audio. The sound effects elements that add to a story is a useful tool for anything from an audio production like this one to video editing. If I wanted to create my own video or animation at home, I could use these elements to edit projects like that. It’s also a valuable tool I can put on job or volunteer applications. Adding sound effects and music to an audio recording enhances it so much more than I initially anticipated, which makes me value other works like this. From reading the text in an engaging way, to timing sound effects, and finding the right music/sound effects, there’s a lot more that goes into it and it’s not as simple as it seems.
Digital Media
Illustrations
In Digital Media, we created a variety of illustrations to tell a story, primarily through Adobe Illustrator. This included by group and individual projects, and both digital and physical artwork. We created an exquisite corpse with peers in our class, where we each drew a different part of a drawing in Adobe Illustrator. Putting them together yielded interesting and entertaining results. Additionally, we designed something to get turned into a physical object; a patch, stickers, mug, etc. I decided to create a hoodie with a moth wings design on the back.
For this project, I designed moth wings in Adobe Illustrator and printed it onto a sweater. I based shapes and colors of the wing design on a lily moth, which I thought was an interesting design that was just challenging enough to illustrate. In addition to the wings, I added a caterpillar design of a lily moth larva to make the entire piece more visually interesting. The pen tool helped me establish the smooth and even lines of the design and live paint bucket tool allowed me to color everything in. I also used the brush tool overtop the lines made with the pen tool in order to add different line weights. During the process, I struggled with the line part, because converting lines to enable the live paint feature for coloring got rid of the variation of weight I had added. This is why I used the brush tool to add line thickness while also being able to color all the different parts in more easily.
Overall, I’m happy with how my sweater turned out. This project was different for me because I’m not used to designing things for the purpose of becoming a physical item like a sweater. I had to think of how it would look and fit onto the limited space and specific shape of the sweater. I also had to consider other aspects to add like the larvae design on the sleeve and how both of those designs would clash with the color of the sweater itself. If I were to change anything, I would definitely try to make the wings themselves larger. They turned out a little small, so I would have made them longer and rotated them more to span across most of the back of the sweater. Through this process, I got a lot better with the pen tool, which I struggled with when learning how to use Illustrator. As I illustrated all of the little details and broader shapes, my technical skills of the pen tool drastically improved and I’m proud that despite the initial struggle I was able to create a clean design with a combination of the pen tool that’s new to me and the brush tool that I was more comfortable with.
Illustrator is a very different application than Photoshop and provides many new tools that wouldn’t be available there. I’m gonna be honest, I hated Illustrator at first. I could barely figure out how the pen tool worked, and the brush strokes felt too clean in my opinion. But after experimenting, especially through the Exquisite Corpse project, I found a personal balance between achieving steady lines while also making it look more organic and adding line weight that makes my illustrations appear more organic, like how my style typically is. I’m also very happy with how my moth hoodie design turned out. I was able to capture the detail of real moth (the design was inspired by the Lily Moth) and have both wings be the same. Watching it come to life in form of a hoodie was even more rewarding.
Music
I’ve never tried music making before this project. I’ve written poetry, but this assignment required us to write a lyric-less experimental song or interstitials using Pro Tools. We used the digital instruments and a MIDI keyboard to create our music.
When I found the music box option on the Xpand tool, I decided to base the song off of that. It starts and ends with a plain tune on the music box, and adds more instruments to it in the verses and choruses. This is why I decided to call the song ‘Lullaby.’ The simplicity and music box aspect remind me of a childish sort of song.
When creating this piece, I went into it having no idea what I wanted to do. But the music box option on the Xpand feature caught my attention, and I decided to let that be my main inspiration for the entire song. I repeated the same tune throughout the piece, and changed up the different sounds and instruments, adding more and more to it yet still starting and ending with the same plain music box. “Lullaby” refers to the simplicity and calmness of the music box motif.
For this production, I’m proud that I was able to come up with something in the first place. I knew it was supposed to be experimental, that we weren’t expected to make a groundbreaking sort of piece, but I still had no idea what I was doing and struggled a lot at the beginning. Being able to have a final song that I’m happy with made me proud. Generally, an experimental project like this helped me improve my ability to make music in general, especially with a professional software like Pro Tools.
I really value being able to make music without knowing how to play any instruments. I love music, but have never been great at playing instruments, or enjoyed it. Using virtual instruments on Pro Tools helped me get over that fear, and allowed me to create music without prior knowledge of how to play an actual, physical instrument. I’m very glad that I can now create music by using digital instruments, as well as real ones.
Although I tried to keep the whole song simple because I was unconfident in my music making abilities, I wish I had added at least a little more variety to the tune. Still, I’m proud of myself for getting the entire project done and actually creating music. I’ve always loved listening to music, but never believed that I could create some of my own. Now I can say that I have!
Animation
Animation was by far the most fun for me when it came to the Narrative projects. We did a lot of storytelling through the use of visuals rather than audible words, alongside character development through design and visuals, which was a different approach compared to our work in English. Through this, I was able to develop even more skills that more specific to a passion of mine. From stop motion animation to digital animation, or a combination of both, all of the projects were helpful and enjoyable to create, especially for the visual design aspects.
This project was a lot of fun, since it was a combination of stop motion animation and digital animation. We initially designed our characters and their backstories, names, and personalities based on their design. Then we created the actual puppets. We used wire, plastic, stuffing, fabrics, and a mix of other materials to create this posable puppet. What was also fun was how unique this project was for everybody. We all designed different characters that we used different methods to make into physical puppets.
The lip sync animation was a simple animation to start off of a fully digital project. We were only required to animate our characters lips, but many people animated other small parts too. I thought Bohemian Rhapsody was an interesting song to animate this project for, and adding the background singers as smaller cats in the background made this project more enjoyable for me. This was also our first time using Adobe After Effects to animate for a fully digitally drawn animation. It was a new experience, which made it both interesting and difficult complete. But when I got done, I was happy with how to final animation turned out.
This was our first group project of the year in Animation. We were assigned to animate a conceivable story without any words. It was definitely different to animate in a group, where we assigned different roles and all did different things. While I animated the walk cycles and miscellaneous portions, my peers drew the backgrounds, animated the credits, and animated other characters, specifically the monster. This project helped me learn more about collaboration and create a longer story without any words. It was also very fun to see all of our different styles come through in a way that worked together.