Who am I?
This unit was truly about reflecting on the path of self discovery that we have unwittingly traveled during our previous year of Freestyle. The academic experience at this academy is about learning how to learn, despite that this fact is masked by creative production and artistic achievement. This process is clearly resembled through digital media and Film in which we learn entirely from self driven work and scarcely from lectures. Thematically, an important stage of effective comprehension is reflection. As a result, this unit is birthed naturally and slides smoothly into Freestyle Academy curriculum; this results in recorded rants on topics of personal interest, films created to convey integral aspects of ourselves, and essays that exude vulnerability.
Perspective Piece
The aforementioned “rants on topics of interest” in which I discuss the idea of gratitude through the lens of probability. The topic was chosen because it reflects my optimistic outlook and ration line of thought. Finally, the piece was accentuated with accompanying pictures and personally recorded/mastered audio.
Production Piece
In film we created pieces that reflect a certain aspect of ourselves and convey it to the viewer without directly saying it. Other than encompassing the goal of filmmaking, the project also serves as a fantastic personal exercise that allowed me to get to know myself better. Now I invite you to get to know me through an internal dialogue that combines experimental and technical elements.
The piece has been pulled until the premiere at Freestyle Academy. It will be displayed AFTER. Thank you for your patience.
The production involved an initial process of planning, immediately followed by filming, and then post production. The goal was to create an entire two minute short film in just a month. It was tough, but the result is a unique and raw representation of myself. I learned a lot about how to make a believable dialogue scene and used masking to display a jarring shot where I talked with myself. Overall, a comedic tone is kept and quick cuts are frequent in order to not make it too powerful.
On the bottom is the timeline with all of the clips and above that is the workspace with a live view of the content that is being edited. This is my favorite part of the film production process because something amateur can be transformed into something magical.
Personal Essay
Intended for college applications, this piece is stuffed with core values and personal statements. The creation process involved a lot of planning, brainstorming, and outlining as well as reading a book that guided us with the creation of a fantastic personal essay. My essay aims to convey the learning skills that I have acquired through Freestyle and extracurricular opportunities.
I fell, in an embarrassing fashion, while balancing upon a slender stair rail. My knee, now badly scraped, required attention from the school nurse. I was determined never to make that same mistake again. Not because of the cherry red blood that coated my superficial wound, for stinging alcohol and constraining gauze promised to fix that, but because my mind sought a different, more long-term medicine: understanding. I studied the cause of the error, playing back the events in my mind to hone in on each specific mistake, but, where most might vow to master the dangerous balancing act, I instead realized that what drives me is discovery, not proficiency.
While the typical roadmap encourages me to avoid failure entirely, I instead seek insight into why I failed. This desire to understand results in a passion for learning that expands like a raging wildfire, consuming books, podcasts, and experiences that would lead me further along a path less traveled. This same love of discovery led me to Freestyle Academy, a communication arts and technology program offered within my high school district. Through visual storytelling, I cultivate an ability for crafting worlds expressed by writing stories, programming video games, and illustrating comics. No matter the world, as a Freestyle student I train my focus on what story I am communicating and why it matters to me. My films are just another delicate ecosystem I obsess over, where every minute intricacy is crucial and, just like everything else I create, the films are driven by questions, and the questions are answered with curiosity and creative problem-solving. Once again, I am reminded that my joy does not come from mastery, but the process of attaining knowledge.
My desire to gain context by asking questions is not merely love, but also a basic need of my being. With one question, I admit what I do not know and simultaneously set off on a voyage to seek growth. However, this growth is not found solely in textbooks, but within real, tangible experiences. For example, when I wanted to explore the intricacies of business further, I asked the head of PlayStation product marketing if I could visit him and talk. Having expected me to ask him for a job, he was pleasantly surprised that I simply wanted to learn from him and make a genuine connection. I asked a question and, as a result, I not only made a new friend, who I chat with often, but I also learned from the experiences of a person who has acquired a lifetime of expertise. Since then, asking for context, not favors, has provided me with a myriad of connections including CEOs of successful businesses, Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, and lifelong mentors.
Inquisitive as I am, it is the rational and knowledge-seeking principles acquired at Freestyle that provide context to my unending questions. The curricular structure encourages my creativity with an innovative approach to risk-taking and a method of engaging a listener by utilizing effective storytelling. These talents are punctuated with practical applications that require the initiative to reach out to anyone, no matter their status.
I am not fueled by one passion; my interests lead me on a path of discovery. My desire to learn, to analyze, and to look at things from different perspectives has created a scenario in which I have met countless riveting characters who have invested in my curiosity. My confidence lies in my ability to question, my desire to research, and my determination to make sense of the data that I acquire. As a result, no matter what topic I find myself exploring, from filmmaking to economics, I will reach across boundaries if that’s what it takes to learn.