Introduction

In this unit, we were encouraged to practice and take risks with the new skills we were learning, including learning DSLR Cameras, Tascam Audio Recorders, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premiere Pro, and more. Each project had us explore different mediums such as poetry, music, art, animations and web production. This unit helped me learn a lot of modern professional equipment which I will be using in the future.

My first project(s) at Freestyle were both fun and stressful at the same time. Never had I been assigned a project to do in the first month, and admittedly it was a bit of a jarring change of pace! Digital Media taught me not only a lot of very useful computer skills, but also how to manage my time between all the projects we were assigned! And English, to put it simply, taught me to be myself when writing.

The Visitors (Art Reflection)

The SFMOMA field trip was a very fun (though also anxiety-provoking; I hadn’t been on a field trip in a while!) and worthwhile experience which I keep in my heart to this day. In English, we were tasked to write a small reflection of any moments of AWE an art piece gave us. As for Digital Media, we were asked to take some photos of the artworks with our DSLR cameras! During this project, I learned not only very useful premiere pro skills, but also how to write a short but meaningful paragraph.

Parody Introduction

At first, I had no clue what to do for this project. I knew I wanted to do a somewhat popular pop song, and that I wanted the parody to be funny, but which song out of thousands to choose; I had no clue. That’s when my brother had a genius idea- Hot To Go by Chappell Roan. And that’s when we both had a genius idea- it should be about our cat, Ellie. We’ve always joked around how Ellie is overweight (due to her medium-lengthed fur), but in reality she’s a normal weight for a cat. Either way, she had an insatiable thirst for food and snacks (she’s stolen some chicken wings from us before), so I decided to make my parody from her point of view.

Writing the lyrics was obviously the first step, but it was super tough. I had never written lyrics for a parody, nor have I written good lyrics, so starting and figuring out some rhymes was the hardest part. And after I was able to start, I was having a lot of fun writing them! In the end, I was able to cook up some lyrics that I’m actually proud of. Recording the lyrics were also rough, as I was not only sick while singing but I’ve never sung before. Somehow, however, I was able to really enjoy it (even though I was worried someone could hear me). In class, editing the lyrics was actually very easy for me, to the point that I had finished most of the work in thirty minutes. I was really confident that at home I could fix it up in ten minutes and then submit. However, when I got home, I decided I should probably add some effects to my voice, and then I proceeded to crash Audition twice (one time I lost ten minutes of progress). And then after a grueling hour and a half of editing, I had finally finished. And it didn’t even sound half bad! Well, maybe a little haha. Looking back, most interesting to me in the process of making this parody was definitely adding effects. It almost transformed how my parody sounded, and it is DEFINITELY something I will be using in future projects; no matter how tiring they were to do.

There is nothing deep about my lyrics (though I won’t stop you if you want to derive some deep meaning), it’s mostly me making fun of my cat. If I were to change something about the lyrics however, it’d probably add some inside joke or change up the second verse, as I ran out of ideas to write, and it just sounds weird singing it out loud haha. In the end, I am most proud of my lyrics and effects I did in my Parody. The lyrics turned out weirdly good and the effects were such a gamechanger, I was impressed with my own work. Music and making songs is something I’ve always wanted to do or dabble in, so this was really good experience!

Parody Lyrics

Five, six

Five, six, seven, eight

(this one’s for you Ellie)

VERSE 1:

You know I’m never done, my emotional affliction

It’s all in my belly and I have an addiction

I only want fast food, are you hearing your kitty?

Who can blame a girl? Get me KFC, not Wendy!

Maybe, you could get me a sweet

I only really live to eat

If you could do me one more favor please

Bring some KFC for me, KFC for me

CHORUS:

K-F-C-T-O-G-O

Drive to thrive and follow your nose

Stop by the window, thats how it goes

With no doubt, take my KFC to go

K-F-C-T-O-G-O

Drive and thrive and follow your nose

Stop by the window, thats how it goes

K-F-C-T-O-G-O

K-F-C-T-O-G-O

Bring my KFC back home

K-F-C-T-O-G-O

They haven’t seen this greed since rome

VERSE 2:
Well, with all those bills I ain’t dealing

when I get that rumbling stomach feeling

What do you got there, are you getting FIT?

You’re giving me a scare, at least I no longer have to share

so,

Maybe, you could get me a sweet

I only really live to eat

If you could do me one more favor please

Bring some KFC for me, KFC for me

CHORUS:

K-F-C-T-O-G-O

Drive to thrive and follow your nose

Stop by the window, thats how it goes

With no doubt, take my KFC to go

K-F-C-T-O-G-O

Drive and thrive and follow your nose

Stop by the window, thats how it goes

K-F-C-T-O-G-O

K-F-C-T-O-G-O

Bring my KFC back home

K-F-C-T-O-G-O

They haven’t seen this greed since rome

Now I’ll take a deep slumber

Eyes closed, I’m all alone

Eyes up, its time for supper

Order up, I want my KFC to go

Don’t call until you’ve got my order number

Hurry up, its getting cold,

Hurry up, I’m turning old!

Order up, I need my KFC to go

K-F-C-T-O-G-O

Bring my KFC back home (yeah get it home)

K-F-C-T-O-G-O

They haven’t seen this greed since rome (hear that, rome?)

K-F-C-T-O-G-O

Bring my KFC back home (yeah get it home)

K-F-C-T-O-G-O

They haven’t seen this greed since rome

Wheww, anyone else hungry?

Ngl im kinda hungry after all that talking

Nobody? Okay, im going to Mcdonalds

Photoshop Blend Mode Editing

This assignment was a practice of using Photoshop, specifically a feature called blending modes! Here, we practiced editing photos to make them standout and look nicer overall. Through this project, I now value being able to edit the picture to make it look better and more engaging. I see myself using these skills to make my pictures stand out more and edit certain parts of them to make them pop out.

DSLR Photos

DSLR practice sessions were very helpful in learning how to use cameras! We learned about A mode (shallow and deep dephs of view), TV mode (makes cool photos with long exposure), P-mode (ISO changes) and altering white balance.

Animation Projects

Animation has been both a fun experience and also an overwhelming one. The fun part, obviously being the art and animation iteself, and the stressful part being the harsh deadlines between each project. Though I thought I wouldn’t enjoy it, doing traditional animation has been a lot of fun and interesting to do. I realy felt like a disney animator back in the late 1900s, and that was prety cool. I’m very happy to be in this class as now I have a bunch of cool animation works I can look back on (and eventually keep in my room). Oh and the experience too of course, but.. look at the.. spinning wheel…

History of Animation

Very simple project that is largely repetitive in any animation students website; the history of animation and the 12 principles of animation! We watched a couple videos on these two topics and then took notes on them to make this one page essay.

Praxinoscope Zoetrope

Our first animation project ever! This is a long strip of paper that is put in a praxinoscope (search it up) and spun to watch the image move! Admittedly, I wished I used colored pencils for this, but the first animation ever isnt the best one..! Usually…

Phenakistoscope Wheel

The wheel with the long name! Traditionally, you’d use a mirror to watch the image move, but now that we have cameras and photoshop, u can achieve the same effect with a photoshop gif. I had an ambicious idea for this at first (I wanted to animate a giraffe in the middle) buuut.. unfortunately with the deadline I had to scrap the idea. Enjoy the bird, though!

Flipbooks

Flipbook 1: Analog

The first flipbook I made! This flipbook you can flip in person and see the whole thing, but here it is in digital form!

Flipbook 2: Digital

This nxt flipbook was made with the knowledge that it can only be seen in digital form! Therefore me and other students had the entire page to spare and use! This animation is part of many that creates an infinite loop of one big animation. Mine is actually the last one before it repeats; my idea with it was a cute scene between two dragons. My vision was to make the fireworks very visible and cool but that it very hard to do on paper haha.

Exquisite Corpse Flipbook animation

This is the finished product of all the flipbooks combined (regarding the flipbook above)! Mine is right before it repeats =) (video will be available in January)

Stopmotion Animation 2D

This animation was tough to do, due to the setup needed for it. I wanted to do something interesting but not overly complicated, to the point where I needed three thousand paper models. I came up with a simple-ish forest scene (and had to remove some scenes I had in mind) and was overall mostly proud of the animation result; one scene in particular. I have shaky hands so it was tough to make sure I didnt accidentally move some paper pieces that werent supposed to be moved.

Stopmotion Animation 3D

This was a SUPER fun project. We were able to bring any object from home and animate whatever to our liking. This was not only super easy but it was also very fun. I liked it so much I went above the minimum frames count and doubled or even tripled it. The story of a Baby Earls greed…