Introduction

For the conceptual unit in Freestyle, we were required to focus on a specific statement and poetry topics given to us in English class. This conceptual statement consists of an emotion occurring during an experience. For example, mine was experiencing the feeling of desperation while listening to music. From there we were supposed to go in depth on that statement’s provided emotion and experience by writing out a haiku poem. We then took a photo to represent that statement and added the text of the haiku on top of it.

Then, our Design class came into play. We then took that same conceptual statement and brought in all the stuff we learned from our design class to create a work of art with our photography. After taking a photo shoot, I was supposed to choose out one shot that connected to my conceptual statement and edit it in Photoshop to enhance specific details.

These are the programs that Freestyle students used for the conceptual unit.

Finally, in WebAudio class, I took all of the work we have done in English and Design class to bring it together onto my site I created. I used Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, Dreamweaver, and Pro Tools to create all of the work you will see here. This is a diverse collection of work I have finished for this unit and I hope you enjoy what I have to show you.

 

Art

I am exploring the feeling of desperation when listening to music.

My Conceptual Art

Click on the photograph above to see my art.
Whenever one goes through the downfall of desperation, there is absolutely no hope to reach out to. There is nothing to look up to and they are trapped at the bottom of this miserable pit. There is one thing that connects everybody and shines through any situation to anyone. Music is the key. It brings out either the best or worst in people by delivering a message or guidance in certain situations. In this case, it is to guide an individual out of the cycle of hopelessness. For example, think of one light source in a dark environment. That light is the only hope to get out of that darkness someone is trapped in. most of the background is just the sky, which was done intentionally, and that provides the never ending illusion of the street going off the shot to give that eerie vibe of loneliness. The worm’s eye view angle was intended to bring the viewer to the same level of the sufferer in this type of situation, weak and having no ability to get themselves up.

To intensify the meaning behind the photograph, I used Photoshop to enhance specific details of this piece to enhance the message. On a background copy layer, I carefully used the pen tool to create the selection before turning that outline into a path of marching ants. I used this tool on the sign and the two light sources in the scene. The selection on the sign was for me to get rid of the text to symbolize the lost feeling in my conceptual statement. I made a selection on the moon in this shot to intensify its brightness and show its powerful luminosity shining on the entirety of the dark street. When I was taking this shot late at night, I made sure to have my camera’s ISO set to a lower number for as little noise as possible and a faster shutter speed to avoid blur. These elements definitely helped the Photoshop raw process for my editing procedure.

In this photograph, the two light sources from the lamppost and the grand lunar eclipse are to connect to that hope in the dark environment. Both of the light sources are seen as a way out of the dark. Though, the lamppost leads to a fake, distracting ending, the moon’s more enchanting light catches the eye of the victim and leads them away from desperation. The isolated road and unlabelled sign are to represent the desperation itself and its effects of feeling lost and terrified. I am exploring the feeling of an endless cycle of hopelessness while music guides me to the right light of hope.

Poems

To create each poem's visual display, I used Photoshop to enhance different elements on the image. To brighten up the compass and give it an orange tint, I used the pen tool to create a path of marching ants around it to select that area on the image. In that selected path, I brightened it up to intensify its appearance and gave it a more orange hue to make it have an odd metal color. For the poem's text, I used different spacing for tracking and leading the words. This organized the text in a specific manner to fit it nicely on the whole image. It was extremely important to work with different layers when editting this piece. After I was done with applying various design elements to this Photoshop file, I had to export the poems as .PNG files to make it possible for you to see them on my website here!

Screenshot of one of my poems being editted with Photoshop.

In our English classes, one of our top assignments was to focus in depth on the big idea of poetry. While focusing on poetry, we were required to write out three of our own poems. The first one is the ten line poem to forces the reader to focus on the meaning of the poem in such a limited amount of text. The second poem is the ekphrastic poem that was focused on an artwork. What inspired me to write this poem was when I went on the Freestyle fieldtrip to the de Young Museum in San Francisco. I reflected this poem on Charles Caryl Coleman’s painting called “Azaleas and Apple Blossoms.” The third poem is my spoken word poem that we had to perform in English to the class. Mine reflects on the idea of world peace and has a sarcastic twist to it. Be sure to click on the poems below to listen to them. For your information, the spoken word poem has two parts to it that go together.

Recording of my 10 line poem.
10 Line Poem
Recording of my ekphrastic poem.
Ekphrastic Poem
Recording of my spoken word poem part 1.
Spoken Word Poem 1
Recordings of my spoken word poem part 2.

Spoken Word Poem 2

 

Haiku

In English class, we focused on the history and techniques of how to write a haiku. These were created to reflect the poet's focus on seasonal nature and to add some suspense in with it. My photo haiku was focusing on my conceptual statement of feeling desperation through the experience of listening to music. I chose to photograph a dark background with scissors and string in the foreground to deliver this message. The scissors and string are supposed to represent that tension when one is in the position of feeling desperate. The lay out of the text was organized in this manner to emphasize the sinking feeling of being in this difficult situation. As the text shrinks and falls down the page by each line, the desperate victim follows with that text.

Once this work was brought into the WebAudio class, I use Pro Tools to create the music fit for this poem's mood. I went with the mood of using a string instrument to emphasis the feeling of tension and suspense in my haiku poem. I also recorded myself readint the haiku poem in the same Pro Tools session. Once I was done creating that audio file, I imported that music file to Flash so I can organize the key frames and layers to create a video to it. I put the video together so the music and poem flow in together without overlapping each other in the process. The introduction music leads into my recording of the poem before the video is finished off with a black layer and the fade out of the outro music. For the layers, I had to design the introduction so it fit with my style and the mood of the haiku itself.

This was my setup for Flash when I was working on my photo haiku in WebAudio class. I needed to have this go perfectly with the audio I made in Pro Tools so it would not seem off when the viewer would watch and listen to my video. I had to keep track of different layers, organizing key frames, importing music, and so much more.

This is a screenshot of my photo haiku video being editted in Flash.

Music

 

This is a screenshot of my music being done in ProTools.

 

I used ProTools to create my music for the conceptual unit in Freestyle. There was no true inspiration or idea behind this music but I did want to try something new. I decided to go with a music style or genre that I usually do not go with. While going through a long list of sound effects, I decided to put in an explosion to introduce the processed drums coming in later. Before bringing in the processed guitar, I put in an ambient noise fade in to slow flow into that guitar part. With the use of reverb and panning, the music played together better since it decreased the cutting of the sound effects and instruments playing along. In the end, I set up a fade out so the music leads into the Vacuum instrument playing notes down that I did by hand on the piano keyboard. This was then bounced out as a .MP3 file so you may enjoy it here. I am not a muscian but this trial has definitely sparked up an interest in music for future projects to come.