Intro
At Freestyle Academy, the Senior Narrative Project is the largest, most time consuming, and arguably the most stretching. In English, we explore creative writing like lyrical essays and personal essays, which we then produce ourselves (often used for college admissions). In Digital Media, we explored many forms of media, creating smaller, exploratory projects in Adobe After Effects. We also learned how to produce our own music through software like ProTools and Reason, recording our own parodies and EDM tracks. Finally, in film we produced the epitome of any Freestyle film student’s career, the Senior Narrative film, complete with pitching, screen play writing, story boarding, casting, acting, lighting lessons, critiques, filming, crewing, and editing.
English
Lyrical Essay
In English, we wrote lyrical essays, similar to Claudia Rankine’s Citizen. For our projects, we first interviewed someone with an interesting perspective or life story. Some people wrote about coming to terms with death or about living in America as an immigrant. I chose to write about age, based on an interview with a kid (who will remain anonymous).
No One is a Bad Age
You like how old you are. If you could be a different age for a day you’d be a baby or a toddler like your younger sister. But five is great. Kids are great. Adults are adults. No one is a bad age. Except for your wrinkly neighbor down the street, who looks kinda funky.
No one is a bad age.
Everyone at school in your class is your same age. All five. All just great. Then the teacher. You have a lot to say about your teacher. She is the best teacher in the whole wide world. Better than a whole lot of people. You think so. She says so. You say so.
You like your teacher. Does she like you back?
Who knows?
Does it matter?
Who knows?
You get lost in a sea of siblings, big fish and a little fish. You want to be seen. They swim away. Now your blue scales blend in with the blue blue ocean.
It’s an accident.
It happens.
You love them. You look up to them. They listen sometimes.
They’re busy all the time.
You got a trampoline last Christmas. Everyone was excited. You were exuberant. You liked the way the word rolled off on your tongue and would use it whenever an adult asked you how you were doing. You were always exuberant.
Now the trampoline stands. Still. Bleached. Unused except by your small forty five pound gloomy frame. Only sometimes. The times when they are too busy to read you a book. Or they start the book and remember
their math homework
their guitar chords
their chores
and the book falls to the floor with
a rushed excuse.
You want people to see you. You show them your drawings and crafts until they lose interest. To hear you. You become loud. To notice you. Even aggressive sometimes.
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You become the teacher.
Your siblings are now students.
Your parents are now pupils.
You deserve respect or else they lose recess time. You tell them they are losing recess time.
They snicker and whisper.
They are disrespectful.
You tell them they are losing more recess time.
That’s unacceptable.
They are loud.
They walk away, far away.
You’re left standing on the couch, pointer finger raised at an invisible audience.
Social and Civics Responsibility Research Paper
More Media, Anyone?
The average American teenager, or youth between the ages of 8 and 18, spent an average of 463 minutes consuming digital media in the year 2016. That’s 7.7 hours! (Common). Or, to put it into perspective, an hour and a half longer than the average school day in California (Spiegelman). This data begs the question, what are teenagers doing on their screen for so long? And why do they spend such a large amount of time doing it? According to a research study conducted by Common Sense Media, the average youth spends 197 minutes per day (3.28 hours) watching TV, DVDS, and videos (on platforms such as Youtube or Facebook, or on the web in general) (Common). It’s clear that the average teen consumes large amounts of media. But what significance does this have? Much research has been done by varying sources about why teenagers are constantly tweeting, texting, watching, and gaming. Some believe that it’s because technology has become more accessible, as 95% of teenagers report ownership of a smartphone, or that media consumption has always been and most likely will be an upward trend, from 214 minutes of screen time in 2011 to 343 minutes of media consumption in 2016 and onwards (Anderson). As a 17-year old media consumer, constantly surrounded by teens who are mass consuming media, my view adds an interesting perspective. I believe that there are two primary reasons for this constant media consumption behavior: it’s addictive and it’s heavily encouraged.
It’s no secret that media is constructed to be addictive. Features like infinite scrolling, pulling down to refresh new content or messages, wait time before skipping an ad, endless searching, or red notification bubbles encourage media users, primarily teens and young adults, to spend large quantities of time on media and to frequently come back for more. These varying features of the apps and platforms we use every day on our devices are specifically and purposely designed to keep us hooked. Nir Eyal, accredited author of Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products, distinguishes infinite scroll as “the Web’s Slot Machine” (Eyal). Infinite scrolling, the process of endlessly scrolling down a bottomless page of media, is not unlike gambling. How so? In a video with Tristan Harris, previously a Design Ethicist at Google, Vox videographer Christophe Haubursin explores the reasons why smart phone technology is so addictive. Harris affirms that software developers and others used gambling as a model for design interfaces and programs released by Google, as well as other technology companies. Infinite scrolling was patterned after slots on colorful slot machines engineered to entice us and encourage us to spend more time on browsing media, watching videos, and ultimately fall down “the bottomless vortex of stuff” (Vox). “The bottomless vortex of stuff” is whatever media one can fall into and lose sight of the end because there are so many new directions and ways to explore, which is a common result when people turn on their computer to “surf the web” or see “what’s trending” (on YouTube, the news, their favorite celebrities social media page, or in the latest politics). The relationship between bottomless vortexes or infinite scrolling and media consumption is not inconsequential. Gambling is deemed a morally wrong behavior by 28 percent of Americans (Gallup). But how many Americans believe that consuming media, particularly social media in large quantities, is a morally wrong behavior? One would think that from a sample of Americans most, if not all, would voice the opinion that using a smartphone is an acceptable behavior, a tool that should be harnessed but is not inherently wrong or evil. This stance on media augments the gravity of the effects of media consumption on users and why we are often unaware of how it affects us personally and as a whole.
Against the popular belief that media consumption habits should be lessened or that are amount of time spent using technology should be decreased, media companies are actively trying to encourage us to use their products more frequently, for longer periods of time, and to share our media consumption with others. This trend is not surprising. In order for any company to thrive and grow, it needs the demand to be high and for its products or offers to be used, coveted, or even seen as a luxurious necessity. Media companies have discovered that the more features and tools an app or website provides, the longer they can keep the average consumer’s attention because the number of activities is greater for us to engage in and it is less likely for a consumer to stop consuming because there is so much more to get done or that happens within the app or webpage. Especially social media companies try to capture our attention through unique ways such as Instagram adapting the “stories” feature (as used by Snapchat) so that not only can you post what you did in the last day, hour, and minute, but you can live stream video content to your friends, families, stalkers, and strangers. Facebook and other sites recognized that video games pull users in. And they don’t let go easily. Early on, Facebook introduced online games, one of them known as the classic Facebook game or Farmville, to its site. Then, in 2016, Facebook introduced the feature to play games on the Facebook Messenger App for mobile devices (Vaccari). Recently, in December 2018, a survey was conducted by Gamehunters.club about the monthly gamers traffic on Facebook and concluded that in December alone, 66 million active users played at games on Facebook’s site, the most popular games including Poker, 8 ball pool, candy crush saga, and farm heroes saga (Gamehunters.club). Why did Facebook augment the gaming portion, among other aspects of its site? Because games had proven a successful way to lure people to linger on Facebook. In his book Theories of Consumption, John Storey explores the connection between adaptation and media. He explains that the media is constantly upcycling in order to appeal to consumers. And we’re still using it. Some “older” types of media such as the television, are considered to be outdated, but still hold value. Although fewer people watch television on a physical TV, it is a highly popular activity. Companies like Netflix and Hulu have springboarded off the fact that humans enjoy watching television to create online sites that can stream our favorite shows all day, every day and are accessible while commuting, at work, at school, on vacation, or in the bathtub. They have been so successful, as a matter of fact, that the idea of “binge-watching” has emerged. According to epidemiologist Loretta DiPietro of the Milken Institute School of Public Health at GWU, who was cited in NPR’s article “Home For The Holidays? Get Off The Couch!,” it used to be harder to “binge-watch.” She explains that between shows, such as during commercial breaks, or if the show had ended, television watchers would get up to pursue another activity. Nowadays, there is no such activity involved. DiPietro states that “ [with binge-watching] It’s now possible to watch several hours without moving” (Neighmond). Without having to move off the couch, and with autoplay even, we can effortlessly binge-watch entire episodes, or even extensive series in one sitting.
If 95% of teenagers have cell phones, how many have their own computer? Gaming console? Second, or even a third smartphone? The list could go on and on with different devices, but more interestingly, activities that can be engaged in, tasks completed, and time wasted. If the average youth spends 7.7 hours per day consuming media from as young as 8 years old to becoming a legal adult, the average teen will spend almost 31,000 hours or almost 1,300 days consuming media. That’s the time it takes to take 216 back-to-back round trips to the moon!
So what actions should we take knowing that we spend a large percentage of our time looking at a screen, often engaged in activities purposely trying to keep us hooked and active for as long as possible? First, we should recognize, that although we might try to deny the quantity of time we spend consuming media, most of us have become the average media consumer. According to San Diego State University psychology professor Jean Twenge, smartphones are raising a new and unhappy tech generation, or as she puts it the “iGen”. Twenge categorizes everyone born in and after 1995 as part of the “iGen,” as smartphones have existed and become part of the norm since the mid-nineties. She states that ideally we shouldn’t spend any time on social media, or media in general, because it weakens the state of our mental health and drives away happiness. However, Twenge recognizes that media can also be used as a tool for us to communicate with our friends, organize tasks, and enjoy entertainment. Her commentary on how to deal with media addictive habits include getting a non-smart phone, or old fashioned flip phone, if you find that your media consumption has gotten out of control. She also advises to limit our media consumption to under two hours (qtd. in Hermesauto). This may seem like a large chunk of time, which it is, but compared to the 7.7 hours an average teenager spends consuming media, her suggestion is well below the norm. Overall, media consumption is where we spend a large portion of our time because we fall into addictive habits and are encouraged by society to continue consuming. I’m not suggesting that we break the trend of media use altogether or throw our phones in the blender, although if you have a good enough phone it will survive. I am suggesting that we start to look our media consumption as a growing issue instead of our life and begin to alter our habits to create a more balanced, less addictive, and more controlled lifestyle.
Digital Media
Mandalas: Creation and Reflection
In Digital Media, we used Adobe Illustrator to create a mandala that we later laser engraved onto a medium of our choice, mine being thick wood. We also created colored, digital mandalas and two videos about them. First, a video about how I created my black and white mandala and second, a personal reflection video on the process.
Film
In Film, we created a senior narrative film, a short film about a plot of our choosing. We did everything from brainstorming, pitching, writing a screenplay, story-boarding, casting, managing locations, gathering props, filming, and editing with everything from making the story flow to sound design.
Narrative Synopsis
Rachel is an overstressed, single helicopter parent with three kids who is juggling working at home with taking care of them. She is overly busy and is constantly worried about her kids and that she isn’t doing enough for them. Then her friend, Jessica, phones her to catch up, but she is too busy watching her kids to have a long conversation. However, Jessica learns that Rachel is in desperate need of a break but isn’t going to let herself take one anytime soon. So the friend offers to set Rachel up on a blind date. Rachel doesn’t want to worry about one more thing on her to do list, so she hurriedly declines. But Jessica persists and immediately sets Rachel up on a blind first date.
Leading up to the date, Rachel is nervous about leaving her kids at home with a babysitter because she hasn’t left them out of her eyes since her husband passed away some time before. But eventually her friend convinces her that everything will be okay and that she could be her babysitter. To further convince her, she introduces her to a new app called Monitor, which is an app designed for parents to be able to watch their kids on their phone when they are in a different location (baby monitoring taken to the next level). The app gives Rachel more freedom in a way but also restricts her because she feels that she always needs to watch her kids, even when she is in the same house.
On the night of the blind date, Rachel struggles to get ready and cook dinner. The spaghetti is boiling over and one of her kids has just done something despicable (like squeezing out a whole tube of toothpaste in the sink). Luckily, Jessica opens the door just then and takes over, helping to entertain the kids and help with dinner. This reassures Rachel a little bit and Ethan arrives to pick her up. They drive together to go in the car, making casual small talk. While Ethan is paying attention to the road, Rachel sneaks a peek at her phone.
At the restaurant, Rachel is continually torn between trying to give her full, undivided attention to this man she has just met and worrying about her kids and what they might be doing. Back home, her kids are having fun with Jessica in a safe way even though it doesn’t look like it sometimes (the angles of the video camera hides some things from Rachel). Rachel keeps worrying about her kids, but as she watches seemingly hazardous situations go okay (she goes into the bathroom to check), she is slightly more nervous and relaxed at the same time. She engages in conversation with Ethan but everytime there is a pause or he’s not paying attention, she looks to see what her kids are up to.
She’s used her phone so much that it starts dying, and she starts panicking again. She is in the middle of watching her three year old pick up a large knife when her phone dies. Rachel tries to be calm as she asks Ethan for his phone to call home. She tries to call Jessica, but she doesn’t pick up because she left her phone in her purse and it’s on vibrate. In shock/very scared about her children, Rachel convinces Ethan to drive her back home (uses an excuse?)
The whole way home is stressful because Rachel wants Ethan to drive faster, but is trying not to freak Ethan out. Back at home, Rachel busts in the door closely followed by Ethan, only to discover that everyone is quietly eating cake around the dinner table.
Rachel hugs her kids, and apologizes to her kids, then Jessica, then Ethan. She realizes that maybe she needs to give her kids a little more freedom and that she does need to spend more time doing things for herself. Ethan is impressed by her mama bird attributes and hugs her. They all sit down and finish eating cake together.
Narrative Screenplay
The entire text of our film. Below is a short snippet but if you would like to view the entire screenplay you may do so by following this link.
Narrative Shot List
