Conceptual

Introduction

This unit encouraged creativity through projects including abstract elements. I demonstrated growth in my creative abilities through writing poetry, and learning web production. In my film class, I made an experimental film. This was my first film creation which pushed me to learn new technology and work with DSLR cameras.

In my digital media class, I focused on learning about different Adobe apps. I completed different assignments and projects on Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Pro Tools, and Dreamweaver. Now, I have more enhanced skillsets involving working these apps. I did not have prior experience using adobe apps and I am very grateful to have this newly acquired knowledge. I have also learned more about photography. This has been very exciting for me to explore.

My English class has had such a positive influence on my writing and speaking skills. I have learned to illustrate my ideas in discussions surrounding the books we have read in class and connecting them to current day issues. My creative writing has greatly increased as well through writing poetry and flash fiction stories. Looking back, these assignments have implemented critical skills, such as the capability to think in an innovative manner.

Haiku

The haiku assignment was to write a haiku poem based on our conceptual statement. My statement was “faith through reuniting with an old friend.” This was a challenging assignment because I had to be creative and focus on premise wording to get my message across, while also addressing all parts of my prompt. In English class, I worked on using a kigo and visual imagery to make a powerful and well written haiku. In Digital Media, I recorded my haiku, and used Premiere Pro to add a visual component to my haiku.

I really value this Haiku project because it improved my skills using Adobe apps like Premiere Pro. This is a very useful skill to have because editing and producing videos is very prevalent in todays time. I am grateful to have learned this skill because I use Premiere Pro to edit my videos made in film class, and this allowed for an introduction to this app. I am also appreciative of this assignment because now I can videos in my own life like for my family and friends birthday’s, compiling photos, and for other school assignments that involve a visual component.

Poetry

During the poetry unit, I improved upon my creative writing skills. In English, we wrote free verse poems. I went through many rough drafts in order to have my poem the best it can be. I learned about assonance and consonance, and many other useful skills to writing poetry. I wrote about dichotomy and how the emotions of love and hate are each important and interconnected with one another. I was going for a philosophical message, and to make the reader see a new perspective of love and hate.

In Digital Media, I recorded an intention statement and my free verse poem. I then made a visual in Photoshop with my audio embedded. This made my poem be more cohesive and have both listening and and visual component be available. This taught me more about how to use Photoshop, and how to edit audio on ProTools.

“Dichotomy” is a free verse poem about how the emotions of love and hate seem like they would be complete opposites, but often they are in similar situations. The speaker in this poem is from a professor or someone speaking on a podium addressing an audience. It starts like a speech that then changes to a philosophical meaning of love. The end of the poem is expressive, where the speaker addresses having a realization of the complexities of life. They are reacting to how the feeling of love and positive emotions would be more difficult to understand without having felt the negative emotions, and how that balance can be difficult to recognize and accept.

Assonance is used between the words, “other” and “color. ” Consonance is also used in the line “a scorching sunburn.” The tone is didactic because a message is trying to be portrayed to the audience, to then shift to philosophical. A kigo is used during this tone shift in the lines, “Like how the leaves in autumn lose their life, as the world shifts into muted color. There are events that spark positive emotions like “…as I glide on skates,” which are then juxtaposed with, “Blistering ankles.” The “two strongest words of emotion” (the first line of the poem) is explained by the last line, “how does one really know what it is like to love, if not knowing what it is like to hate?” This refocuses the topic of the poem, and lets the reader have a better understanding of the message.

This poem is similar to an earlier poem I wrote in class, except that the prompt was to describe one thing you hate and one thing you love. I revised my first draft from the earlier assignment, and I now focus on the juxtaposition between love and hate with an inquisitive tone. The ending describes the speaker’s self reflective tone when the epiphany is discovered that someone can both love and hate the same thing. In short, I would like my reader to come away with the idea that hate is necessary to really understand how to love. 

Reflection

I value learning strengthening my poetry skills in many ways. My creativity and abstract thinking increased because I had to piece together language to make my poem sound the best it could be. I also learned more about Photoshop, recording audio, and writing an intention statement. These are valuable skills that I am glad to have and use in the future.

Photoshop Blend Mode Editing

Introduction

I used Photoshop to edit my photos and add new features to enhance their quality. I used blend modes to darken and lighten certain areas of the photos, and practiced different skills in order to accentuate the best parts of the photo. I also worked with opacity, and cutting out different parts of photos. I value learning about how to make my photos look better, and adding effects that make my images more interesting to look at. I see myself using these skills to make my projects have well edited photos that look professional. 

Film

During the first semester in Film I worked on an experimental film and learned skills in Premiere Pro. I worked through the different processes of filmmaking. Through the experimental unit, I learned how to use a green screen, worked with different lighting, and learned how to storyboard. I was in all positions of making a film including the pre-production, production, and post-production. I value these skills because I had no prior experience making films, and learning all the different parts is very exciting.

Experimental Synopsis

I planned out my experimental film prior to the actual production process. My synopsis ended up differing from my final film. I originally planned to use shoes and green screen to create a film based on my given conceptual statement “Exploring Faith by Reuniting with an Old Friend.” I ended up using letters as the centerpiece and using abstract ideas incorporating flowers and other objects.

KylieO_Synopsis

Exploring Faith by Reuniting with an Old Friend

My film expresses friendships through metaphorically using shoes to represent how people in friend groups tend to morph into a herd mentality state. I am thinking of starting with a group of different shoes all the same color and type, then one pair that is different and left out (crocs). There is a pair of crocs that will separate and one will join this group of converse, that are all exactly the same. One of the crocs will be left out.

Throughout the beginning of the film flashing videos/images of stereotypical group norms will be shown with scenes of bullying the one outlier (the croc), and have a gray undertone in the film, and more harsher tones around the group. In one scene the group walks in front, and the croc walks behind leaving footsteps. There will be scenes where the croc watches the group, and has faith that the “old friend/other croc” will come back. There is patience shown through the next few scenes expressing how the croc hopes their faith won’t fail.

Near the end of the film I will show a “flood” of flowing water where all the shoes that are the same sink, and the croc (the outlier) will float. This represents that differences are positive and that morphing to be like someone else, or for others to like you isn’t the best option. At the end of the film, there will be a scene where the other croc walks up to the remaining shoe and they walk away together (representing reuniting with an old friend). The color scheme will lighten up as well. Music throughout the film will reinforce the emotions of the shoes. It will start more solemnly, and then become uplifting at the end. The explanation will be interpreted by the different scenes.

This ended up changing throughout my film project. I learned a lot from this experience, and realized what looked right and what didn’t and ended up going in a different direction. I realized it was difficult to display emotion using shoes. By using other elements I thought it was better portrayed. This was a great learning experience for me.

I used Premiere Pro to edit my film and organize my clips.

Other Work

I completed other smaller assignments along the way to learn new skills. Some including making a suspense scene, chase scene, and scavenger hunt video.