“How do you ignite your passion and elevate your skills and experiences to create your ultimate and most successful Freestyle project?”

The Zenith project challenged Freestyle seniors to apply all of the skills that we’ve learned over the past two years to an ultimate passion project. After nearly two years of learning how to use different creative applications, record technically-sound media, teachers handed it to us for our final Freestyle project. As a film student, I chose to make an experimental film. My film addresses themes of creativity and writers block. These themes felt very appropriate as I approach the end of our time at high school and and Freestyle. I chose to focus on experimental editing in Premiere Pro.

Pre-Production

I ended up making a storyboard for each of my shots and general themes, which I sadly do not have pictures of. I wanted my film to be as authentic as possible so I found musicians to score my film. I communicated with them as best as I could so our thought processes were similar. I also learned how to use a steady cam to get the best looking shots I could for my final Film project.

Production

I shot at 3 locations: an elementary school, my house alleyways, and at MVHS. The locations didn’t matter too much as the experimental film is more about the emotion portrayed. I had to use fast paced camera work and very quick movements in order to capture the right emotion of the actor.

Post-Production

This was a challenge for me as I do not think my editing skills are great. I had to edit in such a way where the emotion is clearly shown with the contrast of creativity and writers block. I used many effects such as glitches, motion blur, transitions, etc. I also focused on color grading the right shots to boost the emotion portrayal.

Final Product

Reflection

Choosing the idea for my experimental film project was a personal journey that came from my interest in creativity and the challenge of creative block. I’ve always been interested by the experimental aspects of music and film, particularly how these can be changed to create strong emotions and thoughts. This project represents both a high point and a moment of reflection on my artistic journey. It is a risk because it challenges my current skills, especially in editing, but it also excites me because it allows me to explore new techniques and push my limits. To prepare for this project, I studied the works of avant-garde filmmakers and musicians who are known for using light, color grading, and sound distortion. Influences like Stan Brakhage, known for his abstract films that play with light and texture, and David Lynch, whose use of sound and visual distortion creates surreal atmospheres, were particularly inspiring. I also looked at contemporary music artists like Aphex Twin, who uses complex soundscapes to create a wide range of emotions. This research helped me understand the emotional impact of experimental techniques and gave me ideas for my own work.