Introduction
During the conceptual unit was a time where I could express my abstract ideas freely whether that be through poetry, photoshop, experimental film, or many other things. I learned the basics of many important skills during this unit such as video editing, photo editing, website design, and audio editing. I used my free time to develop specific skills I was more interested in such as drawing and 3d printing. I had access to professional grade equipment that enabled me to create things that I would other wisely not have been able to do, as well as having teachers to teach me how to use them.
Haiku
In my english class, I was assigned to write a haiku with a certain prompt given to me. My prompt was to write a haiku exploring the feeling of jealousy through stargazing. Although it was an admittedly difficult prompt, I had an idea of someone or something that felt jealous of the stars that were stars together in night sky with one another while they had to be alone.
This project was relatively simple as it was used as a way to introduce us with the video editing software, Adobe Premier Pro. One of the most important and useful things I learned during this project was the use of time stamps where I could directly edit many different aspects of the videos I added to the interface, such as volume, size, opacity, brightness, motion, etc. From this point onwards, I would learn how to use Premier pro more and more efficiently. I enjoyed my experience in creating this project because I had room to be creative and put my own ideas into it.
Poetry
I wrote multiple poems such as my free verse haiku and ekphrastic poems. I used my free verse english skills and skill with audio editing during my production of a poetry and poem soundtrack. I valued learning how to use Pro Tools to edit many different audios together into a soundtrack. I had fun coming up and creating a mini story for my poems using sound effects and music played over my voice overs of my poems. Another important thing I learned during this project was my introduction into the use of photoshop. I used photoshop to edit a custom photo for my ekphrastic poem, using my skills to create interesting lighting conditions on top of photos I combined as a visualization for my poem.
The Monster is a free verse poem about the unawareness and suspension of disbelief of those who play the wildly popular game, Among Us. The speakers in the poem represent those who play the game with their wild imaginations, made up fantasies, and their unawareness of how ridiculous they are while playing a game. The poem is ultimately a parody of those who play the game to escape from their real lives and replace it with a make-belief world of astronauts and impostors. Techniques I utilized include ekraphisitic details such as “The sound of padded footsteps creak the vents above their heads”,“But all the crewmates could hear were their own blood pumping through their head” and “the sound of slicing flesh was quickly followed by an eerie silence”) to immerse the readers into the world of the players.I also used end stops to emphasize certain phrases, such as “Don’t be ridiculous!”, “or should I say, the impostor.”, and “now there are only 6 astronauts left.”. Imagery was used as a way to present a striking visual image of what was happening in the poem. An example of imagery is the part “drifting alone in the dark vastness of space”. The objective correlative of my poem was to bring a sense of mystery, fear, and paranoia, pulling the reader into the dark and violent world of an Among Us player.During peer review, my readers enjoyed the raw sense of uneasiness and tension, as well as the insanity the astronauts / players felt as they tried to resolve the dangerous mystery. The most helpful feedback I received was to reorganize the poem to slowly build up the tension throughout the poem. I moved around certain parts of the poem to make it feel much more like a build up of events, and I think it came out much better than it was before. I tried to create a special kind of poem with lots of dialogue between the different characters, to show how the situation was affecting their minds, and the insanity they were being put through. My partners thought that aspect was a unique and interesting take on how poems are usually written, and it was a good way for my poem to stand out from the others, giving it it’s own unique flavor.
I learned the basics of how to use Pro Tools for all sorts of audio editing projects. I valued learning how to add the fade in and fade outs for audio clips because it made it sound much better. I made sure to edit all the audio to be perfectly in synch as well as having all of them being just the right sound level.
Photoshop Blend Mode editing
During this project, I was introduced to photoshop to learn the basics of photo editing. I valued learning how to combine photos together into collages as well as learning how to add small details such as subtle shading to make photos more visually appealing. Knowing the basics of photo editing in photoshop is a useful life skill I can use in the future and if I ever want one of my photos edited, I can do it easily.
Experimental Film
During the conceptual unit, I was taught the basics of film including film language, three act structure, line of action, camera angles, and more. So far I’ve had a great time learning from Mr. Taylor about film and I love making movies. In the future, I’m planning to go into the film industry.
Since this was my first film, I was still figuring out a lot of thing I had recently learned and there are many things I wish I would’ve done different. During filming, I had to create schedules around my actor on specific days for shooting the movie, while also making sure I would shoot as efficiently as possible in the little time we had. During editing, I would experiment and try out new techniques as well as watching tutorials on how to create certain effects in the movie. Although this movie is my best work, it was the launching point where I learned a lot and gained experience that I could use to improve for my next movies.
Film exercises
Between my experimental film and my next film, we learned new techniques to enhance our storytelling and editing skills, such as double effect, green screen exercises, and suspense exercises. During these mini projects, I learned a lot that I would use in my future film.
Tuxedo Dude – Chase scene movie
My chase scene movie was my second project for my film class. The purpose for this project was to practice line of action in a chase scene. I tried to watch as many examples as I could for good chase scenes to make this as best as it could be. I also incorporated a fight scene because I wanted to experiment with them and to learn how to make one. I learned a lot from this project and I am proud of how it came out. My film teacher also recognize the extra effort I put into this project and gave me the 5th A grade ever given for this project.