Explorations

Intro to Explorations

“How can you find, explore, and/or expand your passion?

For the Explorations Project, all Junior Freestyle students were asked to explore their own passion and improve upon a particular skill set that addresses 21st-century skills. We were given complete freedom to create whatever we wanted to create and used how time however we wanted to use it. We were asked to explore a skill, research it, master it and then teach it to our peers.

My Exploration Project

For my Explorations Project, I chose to create a stop motion film with live-action actors. I chose this particular topic because I have always been fascinated with stop motion animation and claymation and in the past year, I was exposed to stop motion with live action actors which I found very intriguing. Not only did I hope to improve on my filming and photography skills, but I also wanted to improve on my 21st-century skills. The skill I chose to focus on was Self Direction: the ability to set goals related to learning, plan for the achievement of those goals, independently manage time and effort, and independently assess the quality of learning and any products that result from the learning experience. Over the course of this project, I have gotten better at plans and independently managing my time, agenda and effort.

I greatly valued the sense of freedom and independence I was given in this project. I have benefited as a digital artist because of this project and because I was allowed to explore something I was passionate about. This project made me excited for my future as I continue to learn, fail and grow as a filmmaker because it is an amazing feeling when you get to work on something you are passionate about.

Exploration Process

Below are steps, photographs, and screenshots from my production process where I planned, set up, shot and edited my project.

Step 1

  • Develop a simple story that you know you will be able to complete.
  • Plan out production with storyboards and shot lists.
  • Secure your location and actors so the production process runs smoothly.

Step 2

  • Position your camera in the desired location.
  • Use a tripod to ensure that the camera will not move when filming.
  • Set up indoors so lighting is controlled.
  • Confirm that your main subject is in focus.

Step 3

  • Put your camera into Manual, change the shutter speed to 1/500, aperture to F.22, ISO to 100,
  • Take the picture.
  • Move your subject the desired amount until you have taken a picture through all of the desired actions.

Step 4

  • Import all photos into Adobe Premiere.
  • In the project panel, right click on the pictures, then select “Speed/Duration” and adjust the speed of each picture until you are satisfied.

Exploration Final Product

Below is the final product of my Explorations Project: my short, stop motion film.

Exploration Infographic

Before creating our final Explorations Project, we were asked to create an infographic with the software of our choice. I chose to create my infographic on Adobe Illustrator. Our infographic is designed to inform our audience on our topic or subject that we chose to explore for our Explorations.

Behind the Scenes: Infographic

Experimental Music

For our experimental music, my partner Sebija Hadzicanovic and I were conflicted on where to start. Our inspiration came from the film A Star is Born with music starring Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga. We wanted to highlight the piano so while I played some notes, Sebija freestyled with her voice and added melodies and lyrics. We improvised our way through the song until we were happy with the length, then we went back over and added more piano notes and melodies. We played around with different sounds and tones for a couple of hours until we were satisfied with the end product. Below is the finished music.

Behind the Scenes: Experimental Music

Explorations Presentation

At the end of the unit, we presented our project to the rest of the Junior class at Freestyle. Below is my presentation.