Narrative Unit

The Narrative unit at Freestyle was all about storytelling. In English we would write our own story, in Design we would create a visual representation of our story, and in Digital Media we created audio for our story. The Narrative unit was a big step up from the Conceptual unit and it proved to be much more challenging. I valued being able to learn a brand new program, Adobe Illustrator. I learned how to write compelling stories, but most importantly I learned how to overcome challenges and roadblocks in the many projects we did.

Story

The main project in English was the short story. First, we needed to create our main character. For this we created a “Character Questionnaire”, which was many questions that we would answer in the mindset of the character we were creating.

After creating the main character, we brainstormed for what the plot would be for the story. The setting for my story was inspired by looking at images online, and I settled on a ski resort for my character, Martin to work at. On Google Maps, I went to the Rocky Mountains in Colorado to look at different ski resorts to envision what I wanted the story to visually look like while reading the story. I was told to have only a few different people in the story, so I only included a few characters that work at the ski lift, which I think worked perfectly. I think I did really well on my story and I’m proud of what I accomplished.

A Tale of Entrapment

As Martin was driving down the winding roads of the Rockies in his Chevy Malibu, he began to reflect on his new job. He was excited that he would be getting another chance at a real job since the incident at the Seven-Eleven. Although he didn’t think much about what he would be doing, Martin was certain that the work would be easy. Gordon, the owner had mentioned that he would mostly be doing different at the Arapahoe Basin ski resort. Martin would be spending a good amount of time with James, who seemed to be a suck up to Gordon. While touring the rest of the resort, they viewed the grim double black, “Andre’s Paradise”. The ski run was locally known as a death trap, and dozens of people had gotten seriously injured on it each year. 

“Who in their right mind would go down there!” Martin exclaimed. 

“It doesn’t look so bad,” James replied. “I bet I could do it”.

“You’re crazy,” Martin said. “That’s instant death”. 

“You’re both crazy, let’s go back now,” Gordan pronounced

From that point on, Martin didn’t really trust James. He realized that James would do anything to suck up to Gordon and get the higher paying lower level management position that would look over all the lift employees. There was one other employee at the lift, Emily, She didn’t seem to care for James or the higher position that was up for grabs. 

On Martin’s first full day on the job, he walked through the lodge towards the dining hall to get his free breakfast, when suddenly James appeared out of nowhere and scared Martin. 

“Have you seen Emily anywhere?” James asked

“No,” Martin replied. “I just came to get my free … “

“If you see her, send her my way,” interrupted James. “And I’m trying to get with her so don’t try and funny business.”

“Yea, ok I won’t,” said Martin.

In the dining hall, Martin got his free food and picked a table in the corner, far away from where he was just confronted by James. There were only a few other people eating, mostly older people with their kids, trying to get up the mountain before the traffic of the lift lines later in the day. Martin didn’t really expect to see any good skiers, as the day before it seemed like James and Emily didn’t really do any work. All of the sudden, Emily appeared… 

“How’s your first day going?” she asked. 

“Good, no hard work yet,” replied Martin. 

“Ok, I’ll see you at the lift in a few.”  

As she turned and went, Martin suddenly realized that he had forgotten to mention James to her. He didn’t really care though, he had a feeling that Emily didn’t really like James. Martin thought that Emily was also nice and didn’t deserve to be bothered by someone like James. As he walked out to the lift, Martin felt himself get hit in the back with a snowball. He spun around to see James at the bottom of the steps and smirking at him. 

“You ready for your first day rookie?” James called out to him. 

Martin just turned back, brushed himself off, and walked over to the lift where Emily already was. After an hour or so, Martin was swamped with work, he had no idea that the job would be so taxing. He figured he would just be sitting at the ski lift and have plenty of time to do whatever he wanted like at his old job at the Seven-Eleven. On the contrary, he was constantly being needed to do work around the mountain, shifting from the lift with James and Emily to going up and down the mountain to help the workers on the top and the other side of the slopes. By his third day, Martin was totally beat and couldn’t take it anymore. After he ended for the day he went straight to Gordon’s office to quit. He turned and saw James right in his face… 

“You really need to step up your game man! I can’t have you make me look bad in front of Gordon. I’m going to win that management position and there can’t be anything that will prevent it.”

James then saw Emily out of the corner of his eye and jogged over to catch up to her before she went outside. Martin sat at the table thinking to himself. 

“I need to win that job,” he murmured to himself. 

Martin was confident, he would work as hard as he could to win that job over James. For the rest of the week  he came in early and did all the work he could do, and each opportunity he had, he took to make himself look perfect for the job. Gordon started to notice, he commended his hard work and said that he was proud of Martin’s newfound determination. Martin’s hard work turned into self confidence and he felt happier and healthier than he ever did back at his old job in the city. His friendship with Emily developed and they started to hang out more during the tranquil points in the day. 

While they were getting lunch one day, dark clouds started to roll over the mountain and the wind picked up. James ran over to them, 

“Guys! We need to go up the mountain, someone fell on a slope.” He announced. 

“What run?” Emily asked. 

James looked down, then back at them. He said quieter, “Andre’s Paradise”

Emily was already on her way to the shed to get her ski’s while James and Martin just stared at each other for a second. Martin saw fear in James’s eyes, which made sense to him. James would never think that he would actually have to back up his words with action. They dashed to the lodge to go get skies, and hurled themselves on the lift. On the top of the mountain, the rescue med team reached the injured man but they needed to bring water down to him and bring his skis and gear down the mountain. As he was gripping my poles, Martin started down Andre’s Paradise. After going down ten feet, he looked back to see James still at the top of the run looking frozen. Martin called for him but he just stares down the slope with a glazed look. Emily looked up at James, then told Martin to leave him and continue down the run. He nodded and continued his  pizza shaped ski formation down the mountain. He could see the rescue med team about twenty yards away. Although Emily was gracefully going over the moguls, Martin was struggling to slow down fast enough to make turns. With the med team in sight, he continued to slow down and I made it to the rest of the group. With a quick rest, the rescue med team took off to the lodge at the bottom. 

“You ready?” Emily asked. 

“I’m going to wait a minute, let me catch my breath. I’ll see you at the bottom,” Martin replied. 

She took off down the mountain and he just watched her until she disappeared into the clouds. Martin just laid in the snow, looking west he could see the faint glow of the sun setting behind the mountains. He must have dozed off looking at that glow, because he was bewildered to see the clouds and wind that had surrounded him. Martin scrambled to strap into his skis and he quickly started descending down Andre’s Paradise. The further down he went, the clouds became thicker and thicker and soon he was engulfed in the dark clouds. Seeing little more than his own two feet, Martin was shooting down the ridge uncontrollably. Going through the last major dropoff, his left ski slipped out from under me and he nose-dived and started tumbling over himself going a million miles a minute down the god forsaken mountain. Throughout the tumbling I was waiting for my bones to crack, but nothing happened. I felt as if the wind had lifted me off my feet and carried me into a white void. Martin opened his eyes and was face to face with Emily. 

“Wow that was some fall,” she smirked. 

“Ya it was.” 

Martin felt his chest pounding, he felt that it was his time to tell Emily how he really feels. So he inches a bit closer to her and says; 

“Hey, so these past few days have been…”

“I really need to remind Gordon that this is my last day,” she interrupted.

“Wait what?” Martin asked.

“I’m moving to Los Angeles, I leave for the airport tomorrow.” Emily said. 

Feeling mournful, Martin walked to the lodge to get ready to leave. Right as he was about to walk out to the parking lot, James ran over to him and announces that Gordon needs to see him in his office. He walked in with James right behind him and Gordon gestured him to sit down. 

“Martin I am very impressed with your work these last few days and I’m going to give you the management position.” 

James mouth dropped. “You can’t give him the job, he has only worked here for a week and a half!” James yelled. 

“Yes I can and I just did.,” Gordon rebutted. 

“Thank you so much,” Martin replied. 

James stormed out of the room, he couldn’t believe that Martin won the position over him. Martin left Gordon’s office, smirked at James and headed to his car.

Visual Elements in Digital Media

In Digital media, we made different visuals to complement our stories. First, we recorded the story and added other elements to create an audio version of the story. Next, we made cover art for the audio version of the story. For the illustration, I drew a large mountain in Adobe Illustrator. I was going to add a person framed under the mountain, but I figured that the mountain looked good the way it did.

Other Projects in Digital Media

Separate from our narrative project, we had two other assignments in Digital Media, The Geometric Light Cover and Personal Illustration. The goal for the Geometric Light Cover was to create two different designs that would hang during the exhibition in February. My two designs were palm trees and stars, and I really like how it turned out.

My Personal Illustration was my favorite project we did in Digital Media during the Narrative unit. With complete freedom to do anything I wanted, I quickly made a new project in Adobe Illustrator and got right to drawing with the pen tool. I wanted to make a flat, 2D landscape of a mountain range. I was inspired by The Alps and Canadian Rockies for my peaks, and I think it turned out really well. I wanted to add some wildlife for scale, and to show more life in the image. I was also going to add birds, but I forgot before I turned it in.

English

Other than working on the short story, I also had my author study biography. The project consisted of reading one of the author’s literary works, and create a short story that emulates the author’s writing style. My author, Jon McGregor, is a young author from the U.K and wrote the book “This Isn’t the Sort of Thing That Happens to Someone Like You.” The book is a collection of short stories, mostly about growing up in rural England. With little characters and dialogue, interior monologue was used often by McGregor to keep the stories moving foreword.

My imitation story was loosely based on my time in Tanzania during the summer before ninth grade. The entirety of the story takes place in a Safari Jeep where the main character mostly thinks about the other strangers in the Jeep. The story continues with him foreshadowing climate change and the destruction of the Earth. I think that I encapsulated McGregor’s writing style well and I am proud of the story that I was able to write.

Author Study Short Story

Each day there were different people in his Jeep, or the others surrounding his. Jack never really managed to learn their names, but it seemed like they all knew each other. For most of the day, he just looked out the window and thought of other things. The occasional photograph of course, but mostly he wanted to be engrossed in nature. Of the three others in his Jeep, only the tall, burly man knew English well. Jack rarely talked to him, but the driver and the other guy in the back seat talked quite often. 

The driver was older, and had short hair and a scruffy, white beard. Jack imagined that he had been driving this route for years and years. Jack thought of the different Jeeps that have passed through this route over the years. He wondered if the drivers knew each other, if they were from the same small town or if they ever went to the same bars while the tourists were in their fancy hotels. Jack imagined the family of the driver. He bet that the son of the driver may want to become a driver himself. He was sure that the driver told his kids about his adventures that he gets to go on every week. He bet that the driver had promised his son to take him on the route, one day after years of the son begging. Did the family ever go on vacation without their father. Where would they go for vacation, was it the same as vacation for the tourists. Or maybe the driver didn’t take his family on vacation. He didn’t appreciate these adventures for his kids, and he said that the route just became just another road. The rolling hills and the big cats just became some grass and another mammal. Looking back, on each day Jack never saw him marvel about the Lions or even the Elephants. He probably knew something that Jack didn’t, the reality of the Jeeps, the reality of the route through the vast savannah. Or maybe it was his professionalism, maybe the driver didn’t want to take the excitement from the white man. 

Jack then came to the conclusion that maybe the other guy in the backseat was the driver’s son. The constantly talked and seemed to have a good relationship, but a formal one. This is probably why the son was sitting behind the driver and not in the front with him, so the driver doesn’t put his son in front of his Jeep guests. The son could be his apprentice of some fashion, learning the tour techniques from is father in hopes of someday becoming a driver himself. Jack theorized that the son must learn the way of the road and how to navigate around the vast savannah. 

But Jack realized all drivers were different. For instance, some waved and others didn’t. He remembered the day before when they stopped for lunch he saw the driver talking with some of the other drivers. This was the only time he saw his driver interacting with other drivers from other tour agencies. He had seen many other drivers talking amongst themselves, but never his. He wondered how long they had known each other, or if some drivers just connected with each other through driving tourists. The people at the lunch spot never seemed to care about their drivers, as soon as they parked they went off on their own and left their driver to himself. Jack didn’t understand these people, why wouldn’t they want to connect with the person that’s showing them around the beautiful country. 

Jack lost his train of thought. As he looked out the window of the Jeep, he remembered the time in the bar before he left. How he was treated differently because his decisions to leave them in The States and travel to the other side of the globe. Jack knew how everything would turn out in the end, so he didn’t mind that they all looked at him like they were confused. They were confused why someone would leave their money behind to choose a life in the grasslands of the Serengeti. Jack knew that when the storm came and swept away all nature in the world that he would be glad of his decision and not regret leaving his family, friends, and money in America. He knew that the storm was on the horizon, it had already begun its carnage in the ocean, it was only a matter of time before its full impact would collide with the Savannahs. Jack had seen photos of fish choking, birds losing their homes, and beautiful islands used as landfills for the mainland. There was no turning away from the storm, people had created it they didn’t know how to stop it. People like Jack could hamper the storm, but no one could stop it. Looking out the window, Jack was happy with his decision in the bar months ago, he was happy that he could see this land before it succumbed to the storm.

Design

During the Narrative unit in Design, we many projects and learned a lot. First we learned about the Elements and Principles of Design and how to use color schemes to our advantage when designing. We learned about Line, Form, Shape, Value, and many other things that are vital in the world of design.

We would use all these when it came to learning Adobe Illustrator, the first new program that I would learn this year. Illustrator is a fantastic program that is used by digital artist, mostly used for drawing. Like most Adobe products, Illustrator takes a long time to learn, but when mastered it becomes a strong tool in the hands of a good designers.

The Narrative project was the biggest that I’ve done so far at Freestyle. The goal was to chose a bunch of different distinct animals that have some of the traits of the main character from my story from English. With these animals in mind, we had to take different parts of each animal we chose, and mash them together to create a new creature. My creature has the body of a panther, the head of a horse, hawk wings, fish tail, and praying mantis wings. We created the creature in Adobe Illustrator, but mostly used the versatile pen tool. The creature was by far the hardest thing that I’ve had to make so far in Design, and its challenge made it even more rewarding when I finished.

After finishing the creature, we had to create a unique background that the creature will live in. For my background, I decided to have my creature live in a Sequoia forest, full of huge trees and lots of grass. The creature also stands on a path that leads the viewers eye through the landscape. The background proved to be easier than the creature, so I was able to finish efficiently and successfully. I am really happy that I was able to make the image that I envisioned in my head months ago.