Reflections

Max Raschke Welcome to my reflections website! This is the second website I created during my senior year at Freestyle. This unit we focused on the overarching question of "Who am I?" This site is to showcase my work in writing, digital photography, graphic design, and in digital media production. Throughout this unit I used Adobe After Effects, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Avid Pro Tools and Adobe Dreamweaver. This unit was really all about getting me back into the swing of things, after the long summer I needed some practice. My first semester was pretty crazy. In Digital Media we started the year out learning JavaScript, learning basic codeing to animate out websites. In Design we learned about HDR photography and more Photoshop techniques. In english we read two novels and wrote a personal essay that we could use as a college application essay. Needless to say I was very busy. Feel free to take a look at all the work I did this semester!

My first project this year was an exercise in After Effects. In order to brush up my skills, I needed to make a short simple video about five important lessons I have learned throughout my life. Through this project I was able to practice syncing up visual elements with audio ones. I also began learning to operate cameras in After Effects. In this video the camera use is limited to zooming in and out, but I also learned a multitude of different camera techniques that I would use in a later project.

In English class we were tasked with creating a personal essay that could we could use as a college essay. We started by analyzing lots of example college essays. We were looking to see what writing elements college admission officers like to see, and what elements bore the crap out of them. My essay was about how I want to create video games to inspire young people to use their imaginations. I felt a sadness that kids were not going outside to play any more. I feel like mindless content on the internet is not letting children explore their own ideas. You can click on the Link below to see a PDF of my essay.

Click here to read my personal essay

In Design class I learned how to take HDR photos. HDR stands for high-dynamic-range. It is a technique used in photography to reproduce a greater dynamic range of luminosity than is possible with standard digital imaging or photographic techniques. To create an HDR photo you need to take the same photo multiple times at different exposures. In my case I took the same photo five times increasing the exposure with each shot. Then you combine the photos in Photoshop. With just a little more editing, you have an amazing HDR photo! My final assignment for this Unit was to create a diptych that conveys some sort of message.

This piece was based on my personal essay. My essay was about how I want to create video games to inspire our younger generations to use their imaginations. I felt a sadness that kids were not going outside to play any more. I felt like mindless content on the Internet is not letting children explore their own ideas.

The first photo represents the basic idea of playing outside, with a ps4 sitting out in the grass. I played around with many different locations of the ps4. One of the more interesting compositions was where I had the ps4 and controllers suspended in a thorny rose bush. I liked the composition but it didn’t really represent the message I was trying to convey. So I chose this photo. The second photo was meant to represent repairing one’s imagination. With the surgical tools meant to repair the light bulb. I played around with the lighting for a long time with this one. I really wanted to get good shadows in one of my photo’s and I have to say the shadows in this photo are pretty awesome. My message is kind of corny, playing outside repairs the imagination, but I feel like my message gets conveyed pretty well.