The Challenges of Creating a Visual Narrative

At first glance, our visual narrative project seemed like an easy task.  Snap a few pictures, tell a story, and you’re done.  However, once I came up with a story to tell, it was difficult to create pictures that captured the story in my head.  With movies, the acting, music, and movement do a lot to tell the story, but with pictures it is difficult to convey a mood. 

The Images

This photo of "Gravity Hill" came close to image I had in my head.  I wanted the hill to appear menacing and deserted.  However, I had hoped for hill to appear steeper, but that just was not the case.

The intention of this shot was to show the girls in the story waiting on the hill.  Unfortunately, it looks more like the car in motion.  

This was a very challenging shot to create!  The wind was blowing and baby powder would not spread across the back of the car like I was hoping.  Regardless, I still came out with the photo I wanted.

The photo of the "crash" was a disaster.  It just looks like the car was pulled off on the side of the road!  Every angle was wrong, but in the end, this was the best shot I could get.  It is difficult to portray a crash if there is no damage to see.

I wanted this shot to show motion.  This scene was supposed to show the girls' attempt to get out of the locked car.  I think it worked fairly well.  

This is may favorite photo.  I love the trees that are reflecting on the window.  This shot captures a bit of dread and darkness.  It was a creepy mood to it, which is just what I was going for.

This photo is actually of a shadow that was on the wall of my living room.  About a week after out class started, I saw this shadow on the wall and thought "that would be perfect for my project!"  I had to find a way to work it in and I am glad I was able to.

This last photo, that of the abandoned car, was just what I hoped it would be.  The car looks empty and I think that I somehow captured an air of mystery.  Not only does the story end without knowing what happened to the girls, but this photo (without the story) raises questions as well.

Overall, I am satisfied with the photographs that I captured for this project.  Although some shots did not capture the exact mood or scene I was trying to create, I think that together they put the story together.  This project has opened my eyes to the challenges that directors and writers face as they try to put a story into words or images.