Showcase

Introduction

Hi. My name is Elen Parry and I am a student at Freestyle Academy. At Freestyle, I’ve taken classes in Animation, Film, English, and Digital Media. I’ve also co-hosted the Freestyle dances with my friend and fellow Freestyle student Sydney Tomasello. I’ve greatly enjoyed my time here, expanding my interests in the arts, and creating a path for my future. The work I’ve done here greatly impacted my choice of major, and helped me get into one of my top colleges. I am proud of all my work I’ve done here, but here are my two favorites.

Rotoscope

Junior year, I was an Animation student. In preparation for our Documentary, we learned about rotoscoping. Rotoscoping is when you animate over a video, the most famous example would be A-ha’s music video for “Take On Me”. We are given this short clip of a man doing parkour, and we had to animate over it. We were given complete creative freedom for it.

I think this is one of my favorite videos because of the work I put into it. It’s a five second video, and we animate at 12 fps. So, this video is made of 60 drawings. Each frame spent me around 30 mins to complete because I chose to animate the background too. I remember working on it in my Spanish class. I brought my portable tablet to class, and was animating this after I finished a quiz. I was really happy how it turned out. And here it is!

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Senior Narrative

Senior Narrative! My favorite project out of all my Freestyle work. This is my favorite for many reasons.

In preparation for this project, we had a lighting project where we learned how to use external lighting equipment for our films. This tiny project made me realize I love lighting, and I’m now really considering pursuing a career in Cinematography.

I also got to work with two of the most talented and creative people I know. I co-directed this project with Brandon Choi and Sydney Tomasello. They were the best partners I could’ve worked with. They’re kind, hardworking, and passionate about their work.

I’ll always remember editing this film. We desperately wanted this film to be shown at the Freestyle Exhibition on Valentine’s Day. The two nights leading up to this, we stayed in the Film room editing until one in the morning. I’ll remember getting my dinner delivered to campus, and eating in between taking turns editing our film. With each hour going by, we slowly descended into sleep-deprivation induced madness. But, we did it, and I walked home teary-eyed. It was shown at Exhibition. I’ll always remember sitting next to Brandon and Sydney, and holding hands as we watched our film get projected onto the big screen. Hearing the applause once the credits rolled made the lack of sleep worth it.

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I knew I wanted to be a student at Freestyle Academy since I was in 8th grade. I remember visiting campus during the End of Year Exhibition, and walking around in awe. I was never a good student, my teachers can attest to that. I wouldn’t try, I would just do the bare minimum needed to pass. But once I joined Freestyle, I realized that I couldn’t. To not try here would be a massive waste of resources. This school is such a unique opportunity. I worked harder here than I’ve ever worked in my life.

I owe my career path to Freestyle Academy. I’m attending UC Santa Cruz in the fall. I plan on majoring in the Film/Digital Media Program, a major I never would’ve realized I enjoyed if it weren’t for Freestyle. Thank Freestyle, for everything.