Introduction

Our conceptual project emphasizes creativity and the process of creating music, art, web production, and poetry, instead of being hyper-focused on the end product. By using professional equipment like DSLR Cameras, Tascam Audio Recorders, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Adobe Premier Pro, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Audition, Avid Pro Tools, WordPress, and many other Google apps, we were able to have full access to whatever our imagination desired.

In this past unit, not only have I learned more about how to use my resources, but to also pushed myself into creating something I am proud of. In English, I am unafraid to express my thoughts or to show my work to other classmates to gain inspiration. In Digital Media, I value the challenges you have to overcome while working with the brand equipment that seems so foreign at first, but over time you slowly grow attached to it. Overall, I enjoyed the Conceptual unit because it allowed us to focus and develop our ideas, and make sure our ideas were creative so our outcomes became even better.

Haiku

In English, we were required to write a haiku poem about a sentence given to us. My sentence was, “I am exploring the feeling of resentment through the experience of sleep”. At first, it was difficult for me because I was not the type to write much poetry. I had written a little bit before for a few school assignments, but they were never as difficult as this one because of the oddly specific theme. After a few days of brainstorming and finding an image I thought connected with the poem, we created an image with both the poem and the image together.

Then in Digital Media, we were required to make our poem into a video format. We used a program called Premier Pro, and it definitely took some time to get used to, but in the end, I was successfully able to record my voice, add images, add transitions for my text, and add background music that matched the mood. Overall, the project was very fun to do as it allowed me to think outside the box, and figure out how to use voice recorders and use Premier Pro.

The main thing I valued about the Haiku Project was learning how to use Premier Pro and the brainstorming process. In the past, I have used Premier Pro before, but it had been so long since I used it that I completely forgot how it worked. Relearning how to use it was very nostalgic and would also be a very useful skill I would need for my Digital Media class. I also valued the brainstorming process as it forced me to think outside the box. Normally, one would not connect resentment and sleep together in one sentence, and figuring it out took me a few days of brainstorming. Still, once I got my final poem, I felt like I had accurately represented the feeling.

Why Art?

In English class, we read the story Red by John Logan which was a story and play that followed Mark Rothko and his assistant Ken. Overall, the story contemplates the meaning of art. Then, we proceeded to read many articles about the meaning of art and had to choose which one connected the most to us to write for the topic of our essay. For my essay, I decided to read an article by Dutch fashion designer Iris Van Herpan and Belgian-French choreographer Damien Jalet which talked about how trauma and art, as well as true originality, do not exist due to the shared influences with the people and culture around you.

Using the audio below, you can also listen to my Why Art Matters essay.

We also had a Why Art? presentation where we would have to present our findings to the class in the form of a slideshow and vocal commentary. My overall goal for the presentation was to make it clear and to the point where listeners would be able to follow along and understand the material as I presented.

Overall, I enjoyed the process of writing and creating an essay where I got to choose the topic that interested me, as well as an artist that I liked. This English assignment has helped me greatly due to the great feedback and the step-by-step process we went through to find all of our evidence and plan our paragraphs. Like every other teenager, I’m not a big fan of essays, but this one was quite fun due to the freedom we had when writing our essay.

Photoshop Blend mode editing

In this assignment, we were required to play around with Photoshop Blend Modes and be creative with our images. In total, we learned how to use multiply, screen, and overlay. Multiply could darken our images, the screen can lighten our images, and overlay could both lighten and darken certain areas.

One thing I value learning through Photoshop Blend Modes is how to brighten and darken photos in a way that is simple and easy. Overall, I’m sure it’ll come in handy to be able to darken and lighten the photo within the program itself, and it’s a very basic, but very much-needed step to learning.

Design

So far, being in Design has been such a fun experience. We’ve begun to learn how to use various programs like Adobe Photoshop, as well as how to use our cameras. I value the many lessons and projects we’ve done, but one of my favorite parts is when we work together as an entire class to help each other brainstorm ideas for our various projects. Overall, Design has been very enjoyable with supportive classmates, and I am very excited for many of our new projects to come!

Alphabet Photo

Our Alphabet photo assignment was to spell out our name through objects in the real world around us. Using our cameras and our surroundings, we had to find objects and shapes that looked similar to the letters in our names. Using Photoshop, we edited and cropped these photos to spell out our own names.

Overall, I enjoyed this assignment because it allowed me to focus more on the environment around me. Every single day I passed many of these objects, and yet never realized looking at it through another lense. It was difficult at first to fight the right objects and shapes, but as I took more and more photos I realized there was a lot more out there then I thought.

Conceptual Photo

Our Conceptual Photo assignment was to convey our English statement into two objects. We had to make sure the objects were not too literal and had to be cautious of our background, lighting, and angles While we were creating this project, one of my favorite parts of it was brainstorming as a class. We brought our ideas about what objects we should do, and backgrounds and so one as a group greatly helped with the creating process.

Artists Statement:

In my photography, I deliberately choose my key objects; a destroyed red velvet cake and an alarm clock. These two objects serve the complex emotions associated with resentment and the action of sleeping in our lives. The red velvet cake, destroyed and ruined, is a symbol of resentment. Resentment often stems from the feeling of betrayal and sabotage, and intentionally ruining something that was meant to be enjoyed can commonly be seen with resentment. To further emphasize this theme, I position the knife within the cake, invoking the metaphor of being “stabbed in the back”. The alarm clock symbolizes sleep, portraying the idea that sleep is regulated by time. It reminds us of the balance between resting and being awake. The background, a ruffled gray blanket adds depth to the representation of sleep. Blankets envelop us in warmth and comfort, providing us with a sense of security as we drift into sleep. I wished to show the texture of the blanket as it can represent the sensory experience of sleep. 

With this project, I learned how to crop in Photoshop to improve my photographs which initially felt imbalanced. Using the crop tool, I adjusted the dimensions to create a more visually pleasing, and naturally balanced composition. Additionally, I changed some of the color scales of the image to enhance the black clock and the vibrant red hue of the red velvet cake in comparison with the background.

In this lesson, I learned that taking photos is not as easy as it seems, and making sure you have the right lighting, angles, and subject can be challenging. I enjoyed this assignment because it allowed me to overcome the challenges of using a camera that isn’t my phone, and learning how to use the many settings.