Author: celizalde23

This is my Visual Narrative

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

Both film and short story follow the same story. Of course there are some differences between the two that can only be done in certain ways because of the different media used. 

For example, the film was able to show human expressions and actions, setting and environment, something that in writing can be done, but will likely make the writing longer trying to explain everything. Of course, sound is something that differs from writing. You can hear the voice of the main character when he calls out to his wife, or his last sigh when he is hung. The sound of the swirling water, the birds, the guns, all of that makes the film a different experience from reading. The film did not need a narrator to explain what was going on through the main character’s mind, the camera angles and the actors expressions and movements were enough to explain what was going through his head.

For the writing there is more information given about the character Peyton Farquhar and how he ended up being hung. The film did not give any background story for this character, it only showed his family. The writing was able to explain things that the film did not, the audience might have to figure it out by themselves. 

The pacing is different in both medias. The short story can have a slow or a fast pace, it depends on the reader and how they want to process the story. The writing does not feel slow, it feels right for me to be able to read and understand what is going on in the story. The film feels slow in comparison to the short story. The video is about 23 minutes long, and it took me less than that to read the short story. I noticed the film’s pace was slow because the camera was showing the environment around the character. It gave a vast image of what this setting looks like so that we can follow the main character through his journey back home, which ended up only being the character’s imagination.

It is interesting how different both media can be, you can do things to one that can’t do to the other, which makes it fascinating.

Diagramatic Narrative Slideshow

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This is a story of someone being afraid of being alone when it’s dark outside. The character is trying to get to her car as fast as possible to feel safe when turning on her car lights. I decided to not include images of the character arriving safe to the car so that the viewers can interpret any possible endings. Did she arrive safely? Was she being followed by someone or something? Is this character not making it to safety? 

I decided to take some of the photos while moving fast so that I could get a sense of movement and rush from the character. The transition I used for this story is action-to-action, following how the character is walking out of a building and proceeds to fast walk (or run) to get to her car. And at the end it feels like a subject-to-subject transition because I’m letting the viewer create a posible situation and ending for the girl that is alone out in the dark.

Classical Aristotelian 3-part Structure:

 A fantasy world, where different creatures live together and have their own rules. There is a community of Fairies that call themselves the “Children of Earth.” They have very strict rules about interacting with outsiders, anyone who isn’t a fairy (animal or plant) is considered not a“Child of Earth.” It is believed that if the fairies have contact with the outsiders they will “contaminate” their bodies, which will damage the purity of Earth. Aniela, one of the few fairies that is training to become a “Child of Earth,” is assigned to take care of one of the many forests in the Fairy community. This one is next to a human village that is isolated from the rest of the human cities.

She encountered humans throughout her training, but she avoided them and never made any close contact. However, she is intrigued by the way they live, their customs, and how they interact with each other. One day there was pure silence coming from the human village, which was rare. Aniela, intrigued, enters the village, she looks everywhere but no humans on sight. That is when, without even noticing, a human child holds her hand. In the moment of panic, she gets paralyzed, knowing perfectly that she has been contaminated by a human. In that moment she stops and analyzes the situation, no one else is there, just the two of them. The child is pale and dirty, which makes Aniela feel concerned about this child’s safety. 

At that moment she decided to take care of the human child, she knew that going back will only make things worse, and leaving the child alone will likely not survive. She did not feel remorse, but she questioned her community’s beliefs. Is it okay to let any creature die just because they are not a child of Earth? 

Kishontenketsu 4-part Structure:

A group of students that are about to go on a school field trip that is happening up in the mountains. They are visiting the old city of the Sky. It is said that their ancestors would climb these mountains to pray to their guardian angels so that they can be protected from evil and have great health. We are introduced to Uriel, a student who is introverted but would open up to anyone who wants to become friends with him. A bus is taking them to the city of the Sky.

The students enjoy the view from their seats, many chat, many laugh, just a few feeling dizzy from all the curves. Uriel sits next to the most chatty student of the class, she wouldn’t stop talking about the mountains and the old city to Uriel, who did not mind.

Then an accident was caused by another driver taking over both lanes, which caused the bus driver to try and avoid a crash, and that made the bus tilt and fall close to the edge of a hill. Everyone is panicking from the tilt and the injuries. They evacuate the bus, and at the end Uriel leaves the bus together with the girl who was sitting next to him. That is when the hill starts to crack, which makes the bus and the two of them fall down the hill. Is this the end of both of them? Many were thinking that, but Uriel did not panic. He has a special amulet that he can use to summon a guardian angel to save them. But he did not expect the girl that was falling beside him to be a guardian angel. 

She saved him and stayed on the side of the hill so no one could see them. Angels can take any form. He keeps it a secret and they wait for the rescue team to arrive.

Episodic Structure:

As the Evergreen Kingdom is under attack, everyone evacuates to get shelter from the neighboring kingdoms. 

1. A young knight apprentice (squire) from the Evergreen Kingdom evacuated together with her two friends. Incapable of fighting and using a sword, she fears that they would be attacked by the enemy. They walk through the forest to get to the Floreo Kingdom, where they can be safe from the attacks. In this group, she thinks that her two friends are more capable of fighting than her. 
2. The princess from the Evergreen Kingdom has been evacuated by a special knight from the Floreo Kingdom. This knight is one of the best trained and has the ability to use magic with the help of a flower. They walk through the forest to get as soon as possible to the Floreo Kingdom. The princess is unsure about the idea of going with a knight that’s from another kingdom. It has become a rough situation because the flower won’t stop talking. 
3. A knight from the Evergreen Kingdom and the Templum Kingdom are on their way to track the princess’ location. They have been sent as a backup to help the princess get to safety, but the attacks have made it difficult for them to find her. They are both acquaintances but have no time for chit chat. 

They all meet at some point in the forest on their way to the Floreo Kingdom. That is where they start making plans and strategies to protect the princess, because she is a descendant of the Guardians. 

Surrealism Structure:

This is the story of a young man who can enter people’s dreams to escape from his own nightmares. He prefers to watch other people’s dreams so he won’t have to face his terrible nightmares. As time progresses he starts to see those nightmares become reality, which he can’t escape from. He decides to look for a person whose life isn’t a nightmare to live forever in their dreams. As he encounters a College student who is doing well in life, had a lovely childhood, and a supportive family, he decides to stay in his dreams. At first he experiences beautiful moments from these students, but his decision only made this student’s life a nightmare. As he realizes his mistake, he decides to face those nightmares and accept reality.

Personal Anecdote:

This is the story of a little girl from a small town in central Mexico. She was smart, creative, stubborn, selfish, and extroverted. She would think highly of herself because she was better than all the kinds from this small town. The school only had about 70 students in total, and only 8 students her age. First place in any test, contest, and she would receive diplomas or recognition. Everyone would look up to her and follow her as if she was their leader. How did a little girl manage all of that? How can she decide what everyone will play and where she wants to play that game? She did not care if someone got hit by a soccer ball because she was intruding the soccer field. She did not care if someone wanted to play something else because she was the one to choose the game. One day her bubble popped and that is when she realized the harsh reality, she was not the best of the best because there was a world outside her world. There are others better than her, others who are smarter, who are more creative. That day, she became a new person. She understood that it was not easy to survive outside in the real world.

Understanding Comics

I enjoy both writing and drawing, which has got me thinking about creating a comic book, or like other people have told me, a graphic novel. When I was reading Understanding Comics about the panel-to-panel transitions and how they work, as well as the different types, I was surprised by how little I knew about creating comic books. I mostly read Japanese comics (Manga), which has a different style to the western comic books. Also, I read comics that are from up to down while scrolling down my phone’s screen, which has made it easier to follow. Still, I was not aware of how panel transitions work, especially when I once tried to do it myself. I would like to try and implement different ways of panel-to-panel transitions and the bleeds as well. The bleeds are something I notice the most when I’m reading Japanese comics, which has me mesmerized and intrigued. 

Some things that I found interesting while reading Understanding Comics, the motion lines. These lines give motion to any object, person, creature, and scene, which makes the work more vivid and alive. I want my comics to be just as vivid as these lines and create something that intrigues the audience. 

Because of my interest in Japanese comic style, I would love to create a work inspired by it. Thanks to Understanding Comics, I’m more aware of the type of structure and style they follow. For example, they use aspect-to-aspect for some of their panel transitions, page bleed to emphasize a scene or feeling, and motion line to show motion.

Dramatic Writing & Great Rock and Roll Pauses:

The Great Rock and Roll Pauses story focuses on the relationship between a family. Sasha Blake, the mother; Lincoln Blake, the brother; Drew Blake, the father; and Alison Blake, the one narrating the story. Alison, the narrator, explains that Drew does not understand his son Lincoln and through the story he sounds worried about Lincoln not having a friend come over, and he is also worried about his son’s obsession with music. The conflict I believe is Drew not understanding his son and being worried about him, which caused that conflict between both of them and Sasha as well. At the end Alison talks about the walk she had with her father outside in the desert. Drew starts to understand that he needs to accept his son just like he is not to worry about him obsessing with music. He wants to understand his son, and try as many times to be able to do so. For me, the format of this story was an interesting one, I have never read something like this before. All the colors and arrow, and graphs, and shapes, everything made it look well coordinated and intriguing to read. The narrator had a great way to demonstrate when someone was talking and thinking, and which colors represent each character. That was a lovely detail from this diagrammatic form.

After reading Dramatic Writing and Great Rock and Roll Pauses, many ideas for creating my own diagrammatic form have come to mind. From the story Great Rock and Roll Pauses, there were many colors used, especially vibrant ones, which in my case I don’t enjoy using myself. But, they can work if they are well integrated, just like in this story. I would prefer pastel colors and black & white to do my own diagrammatic form. The Dramatic Writing reading has some great examples of how I can experiment with my font size. I liked this quote from that reading, “A diagram is an image that works (23).” Which made sense for me after reading the story Great Rock and Roll Pauses.

Small Deaths Movie:

This film seems to be focusing on a girl, each chapter being a stage of her life. It seems to be giving the audience a feeling of what is going around this character. The audience can only see and hear what is happening, it also gives the audience an open idea of what can happen later on in this character’s life. The first chapter is Ma and Da, which for me means mother and father through the eyes of a child. The warm colors around the house evokes some kind of feeling, for me warm colors are comfortable and have feelings of happiness. The parents seem to have some kind of conflict, especially when he did not answer her question about “coming back tonight.” For chapter Holy Cow, the sound together with the curiosity of the two girls exploring the area evoked familiar memories from my childhood. There will be different feelings coming from the audience while listening to the sound of nature. The only color that I see contrasting with the other is red, especially coming from the cow’s blood. The Joke chapter, one that was hard to follow for me, especially the joke from her friends. The only thing I noticed is how the character’s emotions are well put into the situation that is happening in that room. Also, giving the audience the feeling of wonder when the main character is walking up the stairs not knowing what we will be seeing next. 

The structure of this story is simple and can be followed by the audience. The story doesn’t have many conflicts that are visual, maybe there are more internal conflicts coming from the main character, especially when we don’t know what was going on in her house when she was a child. The ending is opened for the audience to interpret, which gives us more room to create our own assumptions. 

She & Her Cat:

This film has an easy structure and story to follow. The narrator is the cat and his point of view of what is going around his surroundings. If these were only images with no narrator explaining what was happening, I would have a different idea of the story. It is intriguing how the cat narrator describes the sounds and the smells, especially because those are the two senses that are well developed in a cat. The black and white color scheme made it feel sad and emotive. There is a conflict that the audience is not aware of, just like the narrator. In this situation we are given the freedom to fill in a situation that might have caused the girl to leave the cat behind. We don’t see her face, but we see her body and listen to the cat’s description of how she is. A surprising ending coming from this story, something that maybe some saw coming, but I did not. Having a narrator to guide the audience can be helpful in some situations or stories, and having a narrator as a cat is even more interesting for some people. This story evokes the cat’s feelings, to which he sounds grateful for everything she has done and given to him. I hear no remorse coming from the cat at the end, it seems to be something that he in a way understands why she left.

This is my first time watching the film, and each of the characters had interesting personalities. One character that surprised me the most was Jerry Lundegaard. Even though he is a husband and a father, his character doesn’t seem to care about his family’s feelings. He puts his needs, in this case money, before family. In my perspective he can also be an antagonist because of the way he acted during the whole situation with his wife. Jerry is an important part of the plot, without him and his need of obtaining money, there wouldn’t have been any kidnapping or assassinations, no story, and no interference from the police. Act of ignorance coming from him. 

The Aristotle: Poetics book explains on page 10 chapter VI, “Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude…”, and “action implies personal agents, who necessarily possess certain distinctive qualities both of character and thought…” Which applies to the tragedy that happened in the film. In this case the action taken in the film that led to the tragedy was the kidnapping of Jean Lundegaard. The action was taken which led to assassinations and police involvement. 

The character Marge Gunderson was the opposite of Jerry. She was too nice, polite, and also fearless. It is interesting how she is a police officer and is always calm and professional doing her job trying to catch the assassin. Which is totally different to her character reaction when she meets with Mike Yanahita. She was nervous when he was expressing his feelings, something her character won’t show during the dangerous situations she encounters.

My name is Cynthia Elizalde and this is my third year in WSUV. I’m a Humanities major with concentrations on English and Foreign Languages and Cultures, and a Creative Writing minor. When it comes to reading a book and watching a film, I enjoy genres such as Fantasy, Mystery, Fiction, Drama, Romance, and Action. I do enjoy reading manga, books, comic books, and online stories. I enjoy watching films and series from different countries, so that I can have a broader view of what the world has to offer through stories. It is interesting to learn how these stories from other countries are inspired by their own myths, urban stories, history, and culture. This is one of the reasons why I decided to have one of my Humanities’ concentrations as Foreign Languages and Cultures. 

I do have an interest in video games, especially when they have interesting stories and characters to follow along. Because of my lack of time, I have only played games such as Genshin Impact and Cookie Run for the last two years. These games have interesting character designs and world building, that is something that caught my attention and decided to play them. I want to create characters that are interesting for the audience and have a well written world so that people can immerse themselves into it. A game that has inspired me the most is Undertale. The story was intriguing and emotional, and it became one of my favorites of all time. Some series that have inspired me are To Your Eternity by Yoshitoki Oima, its story being  fantasy and emotional.