Introduction

The visual narrative unit: How well can you visually tell a structured story?

Shot by Oliver Camp

This unit tested my technical skills in digital media, my ability to “show, not tell” in English, and my artistic skills in design. Digital Media taught me how to manipulate a variety of programs to tell stories visually and through audio. English challenged my storytelling abilities. Design challenged my ability to create characters and furthered my Adobe Illustrator skills.

Story

For English, we were challenged to create an English narrative story that showed character development, used different stylistic choices, and conveyed a purpose or meaning. The inspiration for my story came from personal experiences with my brother.

To create my English narrative story, I was instructed to create a plot map and complete a character questionnaire. These assignments helped to plan my story.

To produce the audio version of my English narrative story, I used a microphone from my house, my computer, and Abelton Live. I recorded my vocals, edited the vocals, and added music through Abelton Live. I valued translating my writing into audio because it made me enjoy listening to audiobooks more after I knew what it takes to make them.

Friday Night Ice Cream

Every day since Mike was a baby he’d shared a room with his older brother, Thomas.  They only had around 18 months between them in age, and they share many similar interests; however, their competitiveness has stood in the way of their relationship for years. They both have a constant drive to always fight with each other, and always have the last word in the argument. Naturally, like brothers, they mess with each other all the time, but all the jokes, instead of bringing connection, backfired and separated them further. Their parents were worried. Both of their personalities clashed so much which started another war every time they spoke. While Mike is very sensitive and uses strong words, Thomas is much more aggressive and physical. Throughout their childhood, they have both used their contrasting abilities to oppose each other and fight back. This time, instead of starting another war, Mike realized the importance of his older brother so he did something very small, but in his world, crazy. He asked his brother to go out and get ice cream.

For the first time in a while, Thomas was home tonight. He wasn’t out with his friends, he wasn’t out with his girlfriend, and he wasn’t at a party. Thomas lives his life on the go, while Mike, as an introvert, has gotten used to his brother always being gone. He typically sees him in the mornings before school and right before bed. They spend minimal time together hanging out and talking about their days. We are brothers after all. We should be close, but we’re not.

It was already October. The first semester was almost over and Mike’s brother, Thomas, is leaving for college next year. Thomas is a senior in high school, and Mike is unsure if they will be close. It was a Friday night, and Mike had just come home from tutoring kids at Buddies For Math. Mike arrived at his house and found his brother doing work in their room. He was confused as to why he was home because it was already past seven o’clock, and Thomas should be out with his friends. It became so regular for Mike to have the room to himself on Friday nights. Mike was so interested in why he was still home so he asked his mom, “Is Thomas staying home tonight?”

His mom replied saying “Yeah, he has lots of college essays and work to complete. Why are you suddenly so curious?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. I’m just not used to him being home on Friday nights” said Mike.

“That’s understandable. You know, in less than a year he’ll be leaving for college. Those months will pass in no time” said his Mom.

Oh boy. Those words hit Mike like a freight train. His brother was leaving. To Mike, this felt so far away, but he knew Thomas would be leaving in no time. Mike wishes that he could look back on his childhood and think of all the good times he had with his brother, instead of just bad memories. His priorities began to switch. He realized that his main concern should be to invest more quality time with his brother, and less arguing and fighting. He wanted a connection that would last when they separated. Mike imagined not having a brother, and he started to realize that he had taken his brother for granted his entire life. Their dad has been telling them that they would be best friends eventually. Mike wonders if there is still time to become best friends, he sure hopes there is enough time.

All of a sudden, Mike felt all this pressure to fix their relationship. He planned on playing video games to take his mind off of it all. Video games didn’t distract him, so he switched to working out, but the only thing that he could think about was the idea that his brother was leaving soon. He kept asking himself: is there still time to fix the relationship? Mike was flooded with a sense of guilt. All his life he blamed Thomas for their toxic relationship, but he finally came to realize that his brother wasn’t the only reason. It was himself too. He finally felt responsible.

Mike finally had the urge to take charge. He was stressing from writing applications, and he wanted to invite him to get ice cream. Mike didn’t know where to start. It was late in the evening now and he wondered if Thomas needed a break. Mike thought a lot about this until he finally figured it out, he was going to go grab ice cream with him. This would go a long way in their relationship. These were the first baby steps.

Despite how awkward Mike felt, he knew that he would not regret asking. The worst thing that could’ve happened was Thomas saying no. He approached their room, and his heart rate shot up, and his palms started getting sweaty. Mike finally got over his nerves, “H-h” he said, but he didn’t have the strength to finish his thought. He took a deep breath, calmed down, and muttered: “Hey, this is super random, but would you want to go get ice cream or something?”

“Sorry, what did you say?” said Thomas.

Mike repeated himself clearer this time, “Hey, this is super random, but would you want to go get ice cream or something?” 

He expected Thomas to say that he had too much work to do and that he couldn’t tonight; however, Thomas responded with, “Are you serious?”

Mike’s heart dropped. He knew it was too late. He screwed up. His mind filled up with ideas, and instead of answering, Mike nodded in affirmation.

“This is really weird, but I guess I’ll go. Let me finish up some work first,” said Thomas.

Mike acted very calmly, but his mind and heart were ecstatic with joy. He felt that tonight could be the turning point in their relationship. Mike knew he wanted a relationship with his brother, and he hoped Thomas did too. That Friday night, on October 4, 2019, was the first night in a long time that they both could connect as friends and most importantly, as brothers.

Screenshot of my Abelton Live session that I used to create the audio for my narrative story.

Below is my short story author study on Stephen King.

When is horror considered too far?

In his work, Night Shift, Stephen King pushes the limits for what is considered appropriate in short stories by twisting people’s views on mass epidemics (“Night Surf”), exploring what would happen if our imaginations came to life (“Battleground”), flipping people’s perspectives on simple acts of kindness (“The Man Who Loved Flowers”), and by shining a bad light on companies that trick people into complying with their beliefs (Quitters, Inc.) King argues that not everything that you have been told by society is necessarily the truth. He further illustrates how society’s beliefs can torment one’s mind and end up backfiring, causing harm or even death. His arguments on kindness, fall-out, nightmares, and addiction most importantly twist the reader’s perspective on society and influence the self reflecting on one’s life.

King takes predictable, cliche scenarios and flips them to make them unique and captivating to the reader. In his story, “Night Surf”, the key characters believe that they are fully aware of their environment and surroundings. The author takes a group of arrogant teenagers and puts them in a world crisis where most of the population has been wiped out due to the A6 epidemic. The teenagers are the last group of people alive for all they know and they do whatever they want, “We came over the ridge and I paused. I always have to pause. Before A6, this had been a public beach. Tourists, picnickers, runny-nosed kids and fat bagg grandmothers with sunburned elbows. Candy wrappers and popsicle sticks in the sand… But now all the dirt and all the crap was gone. The ocean had eaten it, all of it, as casually as you might eat a handful of Cracker Jacks… Just us… We loved the beach too, I guess.” The teenagers portray freedom, recklessness, and ignorance while adults would be too mature for these to be a problem. These stereotypes are necessary to set up the plot twist. It sets the reader up to believe that they are going to survive and find a way out of the mess. In most dystopian stories, the characters would have a problem, create a plan, and solve the problem so they can live happily ever after. King purposefully overlooks this and gives the characters no greater purpose or plan to deal with the problem. The kids use human sacrifices in the hope that the virus will not affect them which is very childish. The story develops and they find out one of the kids has the A6 disease, “‘Needles has got A6,’ I said.

She stopped and looked at me. Her face was very still. ‘Don’t joke, Bernie.’

I lit a cigarette.

‘He can’t! He had—’ ‘Yes, he had A2. Hong Kong flu. Just like you and me and Corey and Kelley and Joan.’

‘But that would mean he isn’t—’

‘Immune.’

‘Maybe he lied when he said he had A2. So we’d take him along with us that time,’ I said… I didn’t have to tell her that A2 was no guarantee against A6. She knew that. She had just blocked it out. I sat and watched the surf. It was really up.” Plot twists like these appear in many of his short stories. None of his stories end up in a happy ever after type of story where everything is good in the end. Changes in the story surprise the reader and lead them to reflect on if they should have seen it coming. King explores the idea of trust by showing an example of betrayal as one of the main characters lies which risks the lives of all the other kids. Human’s inherent selfishness takes over with society’s beliefs and can torment one’s mind. Trusting their friend ended up backfiring and ultimately might lead to their own death.

In “Battleground”, King focuses in on a hitman named Mr. Renshaw. He kills a toymaker for money and it backfires on him. Society’s belief that money should be the main goal in one’s life has influenced this man to kill for monetary benefit. King challenges this idea by bringing the toymaker’s toys to life and they try to kill Mr. Renshaw, “The Vietnam Footlocker was rocking, making the brown paper beneath it rattle. It suddenly overbalanced and fell to the carpet with a  soft thud, landing on one end. The hinged top opened a crack of perhaps two inches. Tiny foot soldiers, about an inch and a half tall, began to crawl out. Renshaw watches them, unblinking. His mind made no effort to cope with the real or unreal aspect of what he was seeing.” He emphasizes the challenge of sticking true to one’s values after being corrupted by society’s beliefs. This man, as a hitman, believes it is good to kill people for money with little to no empathy for the people he kills. Money has been taught to be the most important thing in life and has become the motive for many evil jobs. King emphasizes this idea that no matter what, evil acts will backfire on you. He uses the objects as a metaphor for the consequences of doing such evils even though it is very abstract. Later in the story, Mr. Renshaw fights off the mini soldiers, “The copter reacted instantly, kamikaze-diving him as he charged across the rug, dripping tiny splatter of liquid fire…Renshaw threw the lighter fluid. They can be caught, mushrooming into a licking fireball. The next instant he was reversing, running for the door. He never knew what hit him. It was like the thud that a steel safe would make when dropped from a respectable height. Only this thud ran through the entire high-rise apartment building, thrumming in its steel frame like a  tuning fork. The penthouse door blew off its hinges and shattered against the far wall.” Human’s inherent selfishness takes over with society’s beliefs and can torment one’s mind into believing that money, power, and materialistic things are what matter in life, while it is only intoxicating their mind.

King also flips people’s perspectives on the way they view simple acts of kindness in his story “The Man Who Loved Flowers”. The reader always has a hard time predicting what will happen next due to his mysterious writing style. This story starts off with a man who seems innocent. He stops at a flower shop and buys half a dozen roses, “He turned back to the flower stand, smiling. He would bring her some flowers, that would please her. He loved to see her eyes light up with the surprise— little things because he was far from rich. A box of candy. A bracelet once only a bag of Valencia oranges because he knew they were Norma’s Favorite”. This scene sets up the entire story for the notorious plot twist that King has in most of his stories and to challenge society’s core beliefs.

His story, “Quitters, Inc.” takes a very common addiction and changes the way we see stopping it. He focuses on a man who can’t stop smoking cigarettes. The company held a program that tortures their clients in order for them to stop smoking. The program has different levels, it’s “operated on a ten-step punishment scale. Steps six, seven, and eight consisted of further trips to the rabbit room (and increased voltage) and more serious beatings. The ninth step would be the breaking of his son’s arms.” The punishments are obviously brutal. It’s a metaphor to show how smoking affects not only you but everyone around you. People have to mentally and physically be punished in order to stop addictions. He takes a common addition, flips the concept, and takes a more literal approach to the struggles of quitting.

Illustrations

Geometric Light Cover

Screenshot of my geometric light cover project in Adobe Illustrator

insert photo

Final Geometric Light Cover

For this project, I wanted to portray my love for football. Football has been a big part of my life since I was three. My favorite sport is football and I was inspired to incorporate football in my geometric light cover project. For my first design, I added a football. The football is what football is known for. I added lines behind it to show it was in movement, to make it look like it had just been thrown. For my other design, I added a field goal. This also reminds people of the sport. Despite the designs, I had a challenging time creating it. There were many moving parts to it and it took me a while to come up with each design. Once it was printed, the next step was to put the pieces together. At first, it looked really challenging to piece together. After some time, I eventually matched all the pieces and it turned out much better than I thought

This project taught me to value the design process. It also taught me to appreciate graphic design and product design more. Before this project, I was unaware of all the steps that it took to create products and it seemed much easier at first. Despite its flaws, I was very satisfied with the results. As I was creating it, plastic was chipped and some parts were not printed correctly.

Stickers – If there’s no wind, row

PNG of final Illustrator project
Physical Stickers
Screenshot of Illustrator project

For this project, I used my Illustrator skills to create stickers. I wanted to make stickers that inspired people, but I didn’t know what to create. When I have a hard time coming up with unique ideas, I tend to look at other objects/artists/projects for inspiration. I really didn’t have a plan starting out, so I went on Google to search for images that caught my eye. As I was scrolling, a photo of Earth stood out to me, so I dragged it into my Adobe Illustrator project and made a replica of it. I laid my Earth in the middle of my artboard and added stars around it using the star tool. From here, I needed to add final touches, and I thought to myself: there is no better way to finish out this project than adding Mr. Flo’s iconic quote to my stickers. His quote is, “If there is no wind, row.” This quote not only added meaning but also added emotion to my stickers. In the end, my stickers are meant to inspire people to shoot for the stars and work harder.

This project taught me to value graphic design. To be honest, it seemed easy at first, but I later realized the difficulty of it. There are many different steps and layers that go into each project, which means there is lots of room for error. The hardest part of the process is to come up with a solid idea and make sure it turns out the way you envision it to be. Sometimes I can have a really good idea, but it doesn’t turn out the way It wanted to be in Illustrator. This project also taught me that art always has a reason and a place in the world.

Design

For my elective class, I chose design, where we learned an incredible amount of artistic elements and principles, color theory, and other essentials to create a design.

This class challenged me in many ways because of my lack of experience starting out; however, I saw lots of improvement. I valued everything I learned because it opened my eyes to the design world. I became more curious about fashion design and clothing, even though that wasn’t our focus.

Friday Night Ice Cream

Final Creature Illustrator Project

Friday Night Ice Cream, a story by Oliver Camp, econompasses a toxic relationship and the first steps to heal it. The story starts out with a character named Mike who feels disconnected from his brother, Thomas. While Mike is a junior in highschool, Thomas is a senior and will be leaving for college in less than a year. Mike longs for a deep connection with Thomas, but is scared to make the first steps. They  have a history of trying to be better than each other and are known to fight about the smallest things. Their fierce personalities make it much harder for their relationship to heal. The story initially starts at their house as the two characters eventually end up at an ice cream shop. It was a Friday night and Thomas was home for once, writing his college applications. Mike saw this as an opportunity to hang out with his brother one on one. Mike won’t be able to live with himself knowing that he doesn’t have a connection with his brother, so he faces the problem and simply asks his brother to get ice cream with him. A simple, yet big leap in their relationship as brothers.

To design my Narrative Project, I used Adobe Illustrator. The pen tool in Adobe Illustrator was very important in my production, along with the following linear perspective. These skills allowed me to get precise and accurate edits. My illustration is important because it was the first place that Mike and Thomas could connect as friends. My hybrid animal was created using five animals. Each animal shows a different side to Mike’s personality. The tiger and wasp represent his fierceness and eagerness to fight back and win. The great white shark represents his intelligence and mysterious personality. The iguana tongue shows his playfulness. The dove wing is meant to represent his caring heart as well as the peace he was able to make with his brother by inviting him to get ice cream.

Banana

Screenshot of banana project.