Introduction

In the first unit in freestyle, the conceptual one is one of the most important units of the entire program, where we develop our own ways of thinking and problem solving to answer the question:

“How can I use unconventional forms to express myself?”

I think one of the great things about freestyle is that everything that we do is unconventional! Every single one of our projects is challenging us to learn new skills, and be able to express those skill though our assignments. I cannot think of any one thing I have done so far that has not challenged me, and benefited me in some way. This alone is Unconventional! Everything that i learn is new or something used in a novel way, so we can stay ahead of the curve and be leaders in what we want to lead in. This is much different then a normal schooling environment, where many teachers try to force us information without much variation between subjects.

Another way freestyle is awesome in their unconventionality is how the classes are connected with each other. In english class we learn various literary skills that we can then strength is by putting audio or visuals behind it, increasing aspects of both sides tenfold.

Haiku

Out Hiku Unit was the first major unit that freestyles of our grade experienced. We took the first few weeks learning about what makes good haikus, and looking at many examples. WE followed up with this in digital media by learning how to use DSLR cameras to take quality photos for out backgrounds to our hiku. We then recorded ourselves with recorders and learned how to use photoshop to put text, udio and images together in the final product!

So far, i think the Hiku video production embodies what freestyle is the most, which is a collaboration between english and digital media(as a concept), where we learn how to express art in english, then create the art in digital media. I learned how to use a DSLR camera, after effects, better poetry skills, and voice recorders all into one project!

Free Verse Poetry

“Scaffolding” is a free-verse poem about the little things that make up a room and that even if you would not notice them, they are usually more important than the things that you believe would truly make up the room.

 The speaker in this poem is a version of me, similar to Billy Collins’ speaker in “The Trouble with Poetry”; in other words, it is someone who takes time to appreciate the little things in life. For example, my speaker is glad for the smooth roll of the bearings in the door. In the first stanza, I use repetition to represent that even though I only mentioned five items that are in my bedroom, the reader can almost visually see an infinite list. I accompany this by trying to describe accurately the things in my room. When the speaker’s attitude toward the things in their room turn from listing them to contemplating what makes them part of specifically a bedroom, it shows what the poem’s message is. I can imagine someone reading this poem out loud, and when they do, it’s a very quiet and calm voice, like the voice you would use for your bedtime stories. In order to improve this poem, I know that the most important thing is the ending, where we learn the message. I realized that I was saying the same thing multiple times, and I believe that a mark of a good poem is(not always, but at least for what I was trying to accomplish) is that it is succinct, and does not spend too much time being there, it would rather spend much more time in your head after you have read it. I realized that, and really shortened the ending to something that really embodies the essence of what the poem is about, without adding too much flair.

I was particularly inspired by the listing objects assignment because I had a very good idea that I was not able to really get down specifically, so this was a great chance for me to expand upon that. In short, I would like my reader to come away with more appreciation for the small things that we cannot live without.

Photoshop Blend Mode Editing

The photoshop blend modes assignment is a introduction to one of the most important aspects of photoshop that is both simple and complex. IT allows us to lighten and darken, and remove parts of images, and much more!

some thoughts i had about blend modes at the time were:

“I like how you can subtly change a photo without adding anything to it via blend modes, and it is simple to do

I see myself changing the color schemes for photos, to make it look more special and give it a special touch”

Click on images below to see full resolution!

Animation!

I chose animation because I knew that I was somewhat skilled in computers/tech, but I have almost to zero talent in ‘conventional’ 2d art. I felt that animation was the perfect class to grow both of my skills in areas that I wanted to expand to. It’s amazing that even when i am now a fourth through freestyle, i can already see my skills greatly improving!

Phenakistoscope

The phenakistoscope is one of the oldest forms of animation, so it was fitting to start our year of with one. I created a base fragment of one, side, then copied each one with slightly different changes. once i was done with the wheel, I put it into photoshop to stitch rotated images of it in a loop

Zoetrope

The Zoetrope was the second artistic project we did in animation. a zoetrope is one of the oldest forms of animation, having a strip of paper rotate quickly to have them blend together. I drew a very basic walk cycle of someone walking on a planet, with clouds and rocks going past them.

Flipbooks!

Continuing on the trend of starting with the oldest forms of animation and going backwards, the next step in my animation journey is creating flipbooks. This was a relatively simple, but arduous process. We used a light board and started drawing. In total, out class creates 2 flip books each. One of the flip book were supposed to be whatever we wanted, and the other one we were supposed to have them loop to the next classmates book, between the AM and PM classes

Stop motion paper and object

When creating stop motion we used a software called dragonframe 4, then hooked it p to our DSLR cameras, to be able to take photos with a computer. For the left side video, I was inspired by a game series called Bloons tower defence, where you hire monkeys to pop balloons so they god run away. It was a interesting challenge coming up with all the darts and actual balloons that try to get past.

To the right side of the page, I did a traditional form of stop motion to just play around, but I am very proud of the results. I got a play-dough ball to do tricks involving a eraser, such as jumping over one, or making it disappear. I had alto of fun with this one because I tried to be very creative with the materials I used.

Final thoughts

All in all, I had a lot of fun learning many new skills, techniques and concepts, and feel very lucky that I learned about freestyle, and I cannot wait for next semesters challenges and events.

Thank you for reading all to the end, i hope you enjoyed it!

-Eli