Conceptual

Introduction

This conceptual project highlights unique ways of learning through poetry, music, art, animations, experimental film, and web production, which pushes me to share my opinions through my own perspectives and ideas. I have been able to enhance my technical communication skills by learning a variety of modern professional equipment and applications such as DSLR cameras, Tascam audio recorders, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Animate, Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Audition, Avid Pro Tools, WordPress, and Google Apps.

What I really value about being a Freestyle student is that I am able to think of creative ideas and express them in many different ways. Freestyle really lets students embrace their ideas and thoughts, and we have various ways to display intricate plans and designs. I have learned in both my English class and digital media that there isn’t necessarily a right or wrong way to do things, but instead, there are various ways to create projects and gain new knowledge in different novels, texts, software, and more. I have found it really interesting to learn new skills, such as video production, as well as gain insight into new texts in my English classes. Overall, freestyle has given me the ability to greatly enhance my skills in ways I didn’t know I could achieve.

Haiku

The haiku assignment was to write a poem using conventional haiku writing techniques, and we were assigned to write about our conceptual statement. My statement was “exploring the feeling of denial with the passing of time.” I thought this assignment was difficult at first because, at first, it seemed like it was going to be simple. I soon realized I would really have to step into a creative mindset to better advance my writing. In English, I worked on the elements of writing a haiku, like adding vivid imagery and focusing on the kigo, and in digital media, I transformed this into an animated production using Premiere Pro.

I really valued the Haiku Project because it helped me learn about keyframes and practice using all of the components of Premiere Pro, a tool that we use and will continue to use frequently in Freestyle. I think that creating these videos will be extremely beneficial because knowing some basic skills in animation, with technology growing in society, can be useful. I found it challenging to figure out at first, but then I was able to get the hang of it and overall strengthen my skills.

Why Art?

I enjoyed the “Why Art?” assignment because I was able to research both Kate Blanchett and Jackson Pollock and the ways that they relate to each other. I was able to explore how, even though these are very different people, the stylistic choices Pollock uses in his drip-painting can represent unity, which is something that Kate Blanchett sees the importance of (both political unity and social unity in everyday life). Through this project, I was able to enhance my writing skills by doing research on these people, and I learned about the elements of design and art. I was unfamiliar with the components of artwork before this, and through examining Pollock’s work, I was able to learn more about who he was as a person and artist. Overall, I was able to explore why art is important, and I learned a lot through this project.

This is my essay, called “Canvas of Unity: Expressing Emotions and Individualism in Art.” This is where I was really able to show my contrasting perspectives on both Pollock and Blanchett, which is explained in my paragraph above.

You can also listen to my “Why Art Matters” essay with the audio below.

I had the opportunity as well to present my “Why Art” presentation. My goals for this presentation were to present the key points of my essay to my peers, and they were able to get an insight into what my essay was really about. In this presentation, I was able to put into more clear words and conciseness what this essay showed and exemplified. In this presentation, I was able to work on my presence while talking to a group of people, and I was able to complete this within the time limit of 5–6 minutes. During this presentation, I was really able to learn a lot of things about my essay, but also from other people as well. I answered questions after I was done presenting, too.

Overall, this “Why Does Art Matter?” assignment helped me to answer this question. I learned that art can be a tool for self-expression and identity, and art can help creativity flourish especially in times of desolation, chaos, or havoc. Art can be a way to symbolize emotions people are going through, and I learned this through researching these different people in my essay. I thought this was an interesting project because we had creative freedom in what we wrote about and how we went about completing this project, which I thought was unique because I was able to read my classmate’s essays that were vastly different from each other. This benefited me because I was able to grow my insights greatly.

Photoshop Blend Mode Editing Edition

In the Blend Modes assignments, I was able to enhance my skills in Photoshop and editing images. This included learning tools such as blending, overlaying, and more. I learned how to combine pictures and Photoshop them together so they appear more cohesive. It was a challenging assignment for me, but it will really help me in the future for other digital media assignments.

What do you value about learning about and creatively using Photoshop Blend Modes? I really valued learning how to use Photoshop, as I feel like this was the first time I really had to be independent and do it on my own. This project was really challenging for me; I just really couldn’t figure out how to do it, and that made me discouraged. I ended up just taking my time with it and figuring out how to do each part of this assignment.

How do you see yourself using your new Photoshop skills with your creative projects? I think I could definitely use Photoshop in the future, along with other digital assignments like photoblogs. Changing things like lighting and using techniques such as overlay will help me accomplish this, as I now have the skills to do so.

Film

During the conceptual unit of the film, I worked on a wide variety of things. I learned how to do various things, such as greenscreen, and learn about the overall process of what it takes to be a good filmmaker. I did this through many different exercises and film projects that I did both in and out of class, which have helped to give me practice to further enhance my skills as a filmmaker.

Experimental Synopsis

This was the first film I independently created, and it went with the prompt “denial in the passage of time.” What first came to mind for me was coming of age, because I think a lot of people are in denial of that. So, I created a film that represents going through the stages of childhood, teenage, and older generations and how there can be denial in the past. I explored Premiere Pro for this and learned how to edit a video.