Introduction
“How can you find, explore, and/or expand your passion?”
In this unit, we were challenged to explore a subject that we were curious about but didn’t have much practice in. For English, we wrote a lyrical essay and spent weeks prior studying lyrical essayists such as Ross Gaye, Maggie Nelson, and Ryan Van Meeter. I particularly took an interest to Gaye’s Book of Delights. I loved the authenticity of his writing style and I took inspiration from him while writing my lyrical essay entitled “Large Iced Honey Lavender Latte.” In Digital media we got to learn to use various tool create our own music. We learned how to use the keyboard. It connected to Pro Tools and had the ability to play over 5,000 instruments. We were challenged to make a song using the variety of instruments and tools provided for us. I always wanted to play piano, however, I am not amazing at it but with Pro Tools, I got to do the right hand separately and edited the left hand into it. I used tools like the cut tool and metronome tool in order to time and edit together all my separate takes. In Design, we got to expand on a design skill that interested us. At first, I wanted to do sculpting however I couldn’t find the right clay to do my original idea. I tried firm polymer clay, lightweight polymer clay, and ceramic clay. I tried to sculpt each one of them and ultimately failed. I ended up working with wire and making creations that I am really proud of. I learned that I want to explore more wire related things in the future such as jewelry.
English Class Production
For English we learned how to write a lyrical essay. I had never heard the term lyrical essay before until this unit, I soon discovered it is my favorite form of writing. There are little rules and have space for streams of thought which I found super interesting. We did many writing exercises, source searching, and essay analysis, in preparation for our essay. My essay was little letters to strangers and what I would tell them. These strangers are ones that have stuck with me throughout my life and kept me optimistic due to their kindness.
Design Class Production
I have always wanted to work with clay and I thought that I would try for our explorations project in Design. I first had to buy armature wire and shape it into a hand, then cover that hand in tinfoil, and then I would apply the clay on top. I bought firm polymer clay, then quickly realized it was way to firm to even roll. I got lightweight clay, which felt like marshmallow making it impossible to sculpt. I used ceramic clay and it cracked along my armature wire. After that experience my wallet was begging me to stop buying clay. I realized however, that I did enjoy working with the armature wire and wondered if I could expand on that. I got four different types of wire and watched some tutorials on youtube of how to create certain coils and how to bend the wire properly with pliers. I began creating two trees (one silver and one gold). I then created a slideshow with unique graphic design elements to show my process of clay to wire.
My Wire Process
My Happy Accident (failed) Clay Process
Digital Media Class Production
For digital Media we further expanded our knowledge of Pro Tools by using a keyboard that connected to Pro Tools, allowing us to use the keys to play over 5,000 instruments. I choose to play a shortened cover of “Mia & Sebastian’s Theme” from the movie “La La Land.” Since I do not play piano, and the piece was heavily piano-influenced, I had to record at least 8 times for each chunk of the song. I watched a tutorial on how to play the piano version a multitude of times but could never get my left hand to match my right so this assignment allowed me to record each hand separately in however many takes I needed and then edit it all together. I started off with the basic melody of the piece, I then added a one-octave higher version to give it depth along with the left hand. I had about 10 tracks playing at once because I had to keep rerecording little snippets I would mess up on. I watched a tutorial for the piano song and replayed it several times. I took it chunk by chunk and edited it together creating a smooth sound. I used the Grand Piano instrument for the whole song and made some parts have. Different dynamic sounds to further the depth. Overall I am proud of how it came out and I hope I can improve my Protools and Piano skills. I then used Adobe Illustrator to replicate the iconic scene from La La Land by tracing the main characters using the pen tool. I added a purple gradient background to replicate the sky from the scene and then applied white dots to mimic the stars. I downloaded the font used in the movie poster and used the font as my title. I wanted it to look as close to the movie poster as I could while still making my own original piece.