Personal Narrative Video

The City With Wings-Personal Narrative

Geoffrey Hernandez, 18

The City With Wings

The city of lost angels. The city that I represent. A city well known around the world for famous and infamous events. I may live in the valley, but that doesn't mean I dont know anything about the restless streets down there. Time passes by slowly on the way to Los Angeles. Heavy, conjested traffic is everywhere, hundreds of people honking their horns at each other as the skyscrapers watch over us from above.
I get out my car and start to walk down the street. I see several restaurants, some opening while others are still cleaning up from last night's company. As I feel the wind pick up speed, I see dust pick up as trash bags move across the streets like ghosts, passing by crowds of people, screaming "Pick me up."No one listens. I walk towards the alley, thinking what movie should I get? What kind of clothing am I looking for? I see hundreds of people crowded in the alley, all moving like wild animals looking for the best bargain, giving money to people in need of it for exchange of goods they cant find anywhere else.
I finally get a movie and two t-shirts, all items in black bags not white. Now I'm at the park, sitting on a bench. As I look up at the blue skies, thinking what I should eat later on, birds keep me company while music plays in the background. Homeless people keep bugging me for change. I feel guilty looking at them the way everyone else does: like wild animals struggling to survive who once used to be like me. A person with a plan for tomorrow. As the sun begins to turn up the heat, I start walking again on the sidewalk. The many stories inspired by this city keeps running in my head, seeing the reasons why Oscar pursued his career as a professional boxer after being surrounded by poverty. Him, along with many others, thank L.A. for giving them strength to live their dreams, for giving them hope.
The sun slowly starts dissapearing. People start going to restaurants while others head to the parking lots. I start heading towards my car, breathing the limited air given to me. I feel a change in the wind, pointing me towards the way home and as I start to turn around the corner, I see different types of people walk the dark streets, all looking for something...anything. Like I say, its just another day in L.A.

"Entering New Territory-Personal Narrative"

Running throughout the streets of Los Angeles, seeing how much they have changed throughout the years is what the students of Theodore Roosevelt High School point out in "Entering New Territory", a short story describing Los Angeles and the beautiful city it used to be. Several visuals are presented by the writers, giving the reader alot of ideas, visualizing the city as being restless and always on the run no matter what time of the day it is. Nature is presented as barely existing, showing beauty to the runner in the story as something we may not see later on in the future. The story shows the difference between Los Angeles and other cities explaining the culture of L.A. throughout several observations shown in the story.

This helps me in film by adding commentary to my film while illustrating what I want the viewers to see upon what goes on in my mind. This short story is a good example of what kind of dialogue must be added in our films so it can appeal to the audience and seem more dramatic and easy to follow. Out of all of the short stories, I enjoyed this one more because it was easy to read and relate to.

This American Life "God's Close Up"-Personal Narrative

Religion is a powerful concept that has been alive for years. Many of us continue to worship the same ideas created thousands of years ago, visualizing several short stories told to us through other people, giving us ideas of what lies ahead of us tomorrow. in "God's Close Up", we see a short story told by a guy named Ben. Ben displays his view of religion by creating his own project in which he crosses several lines looking for men with beards although the religion he follows do not favor beards. When Ben finally convinces a group of men to pose as Jesus and his followers, he has a photo shoot of these men dressed up as disciples, and uses the images by painting them and using his imagination to add more details towards his work.

After seeing this video I first thought that Dan was crazy. By seeing him struggle towards finding volunteers, and seeing the idea of having strangers pose as religious symbols did not seem right to me at first because using his friends and family member along with people who were outcasts of society and complete strangers did not seem right, until I got the message he was trying to get through the viewer stating we are all God's children. This idea has been forgotten in our society and it makes me have ideas upon what to do for my next film, pointing out a universal idea and showing my side of the story.

This American Life "My Way"-Personal Narrative

When we first go to middle school, we still live in our own state of mind, living in an unreal world seen through television and in comic books. In "My Way", we see two different situations that connect to these feelings: one throughout the experiences of middle school children living in their own state of mind and another of an old man living his simple life through experience. Both situations are seen as being a way of life that can either change or remain the same. After seeing this video, I realized how much a person can use his or her imaginations and illustrate them through film.

This story connects to our film class by delivering personal experiences, along with personal ideas, as a different way of art shown. These two short stories made me see how powerful an idea can be illustrated and heard through one's vision into others. Overall, these two short stories are target points for us to use in order to create personal visuals for our own stories.

Just Watch-Personal Narrative

In "Just Watch", the writer creates tension between televisions and his family. He explains how television corrupts his life through his family members due towards lack of communication. Television is explained in his point of view as being the center of attention in which is followed like a religion. This short story points out several interesting facts about what we don't see everyday during our normal routines, one example of him stating crucial ideas of people in need of attention that we can respond to in the real world, but the thought of television being used in today's society as something more than just an escape from being alone to a hobby keeps one's mind away from other important news that can affect our lives dramatically.

Film class is similar to the short story by giving us,the directors of our own movies, several ideas to draw attention and provide self-interests, along with points of views, to create a visual movie that has a story attached to it. This relates to film by having different opinions and ideas set out to the reader, questioning them of what are the right and wrong ideas society sets out for us.