Introduction
Freestyle has been one of the best experiences in my high school career. In English, I was exposed to many different forms of literature and was able to expand my knowledge by the wide variety of techniques that the authors used. In Digital Media, I was able to get hands-on experience with adobe applications and create incredible artworks through technology. In Film, I learned more about organization and time management. Being efficient with my time and working within a group environment at a professional level. As a film student, I integrated all these lessons from freestyle and apply it to my films. These projects allowed me to express myself and show to the essence of who I am as a person.
MANDALA
Although I am proud of my Mandala Production, I wished I put more symbolic meaning behind my artwork. When making the Mandala, I simply played Lofi music and was mindlessly drawing based on how I was so inclined, as opposed to a methodical representation of myself. Personally, I love the final product, but I would have liked to have put more thought to give it a deeper meaning and make it a reflection of myself and my thinking. Design-wise, I would have liked to have had a different design in the center and chosen a specific, cohesive color palette to make my overall piece more meaningful.
Through this project, I learned how to use different Adobe applications, including Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Encoder. Since film is my elective for freestyle, creating the reveal video was very enjoyable as it allowed me to combine my love for digital art and videography. Being able to learn how to use Adobe Encoder and render videos was something that I was very interested in. Even simply drawing the mandala was a very therapeutic process. I was able to capture my creative freedom and was able to senselessly let my mind have fun and draw.
As the general process of art, sometimes may not look good until it is fully finished. While creating the Mandala I often questioned what design I would create and how it would look good within my general portfolio. Instead of constantly restarting because of stressing over minute details, I let my mind work and trusted the process that my conscious would create something beautiful. It was a new experience for me to, in a way, relinquish my control and allow myself to be inspired and guided by my subconscious.
Pastel Painting
My experience in creating Photoshop Pastel Painting was enjoyable. I learned how to get the exact color from an image without eyeballing and getting the same color. I am still very new and learning how to use different brushes, but I am very happy with my pastel painting. Personally, this project was more challenging than the mandala because I had to be much more precise with my brush strokes, while with the mandala project, I was able to let loose and draw freely.
I value the experience and the new tools that I have learned through photoshop. This project was different from the mandala but just as fun. I enjoy the creative freedom of allowing myself to pick the photo I want to paint, but it was complicated to stay between the lines and recreate the image through a brush. I also value the skill of perseverance and dedication. I restarted multiple times during my painting, but eventually, I was able to get the painting even though it was not perfect.
Though I am a first-year freestyle student, I feel as if I could pick up and do the projects well. With each project, I was able to gain more knowledge on how each different adobe application works and the patience to retry doing a project consistently. It was straightforward to follow directions and often very peaceful to color in the image as a digital artist. This project brought me back to my childhood of painting in coloring books. I noticed that the pastel brush was not smooth around the edges, which created small cracks between each stroke which was very tedious because I had to fill in every hole and crack from the background.
Watercolor Painting
The story of Sunset Plains is what I imagine what my perfect sunset would look like, nothing but nature and the the beautiful hues that the sunset produces. I never went outside to watch the sunset or sun rise for myself but from watching movies and seeing pictures, I could see the beauty of nature. As a kid, I loved nature and the feeling of being alone with my thoughts. Walking through trails is something that i enjoy so I know that watching the sun would give me the same or an even better feeling.
Three of the most meaningful connections were paintings that hold memories, make magic, and do not expect instant success. While painting, I often didn’t like how my art looked until I continued to keep painting. My drawing took time to create and even at the start, it didn’t look good; adding more and more made it look a lot better. My painting held memories of watching movies and seeing beautiful sunsets and the magic and story of each stroke on the canvas.
I think that I liked the Watercolor painting better than the pastel painting. At first, the watercolor painting looked terrible but eventually, when I kept working on the art, it turned out to look not that bad. This is my first time creating a watercolor painting and for the first time, I like how it turned out. Between digital painting and analog painting, I think I would like analog painting. Personally, I feel as if I had more control with analog art but, digital art is more fun because it is digital. I could mess up multiple times and redo different strokes, experiment more with no consequences and have easier access to various tools.
Watercolor Painting Effect
The photos I converted into watercolor paintings were from my photography class in my sophomore year at Mountain View High School. I was proud of those photos because they captured the beauty of nature. I wanted to have a general theme between all of my photos, and choosing pictures of flowers, trees, and butterflies was perfect because they also caught the essence of life. Within all of my artworks, they were all close-up photos of an object. I focused on flowers, a butterfly, and a paisley-shaped leaf. These objects were all a part of other objects, just like them, but the close-up showed the details and differences that made them unique.
Using the filters and textures was new and very fun. As a first-year freestyle student, learning about the different tools of photoshop was interesting. At first, I was very confused and nervous about creating a watercolor painting on photoshop but also creating a cloud-like effect to reveal the painting was amazing. This assignment was a process because I thought my art looked very ugly with the different layers. But continuing to add the layers and see the artwork turn into something cool is something that I will always apricate in art. Looking back, I was proud of myself because I was able to say, “I made that.”
I could use these techniques for my own artwork, using them for not only watercolor paintings. The effect was like a cloud that slowly faded and revealed the image or a cloud that grew and only showed little details of the picture. As a film student, I could use the cloud-like effect in my scenes and gain a different perspective. In the future, I would like to try to use the watercolor effect for other kinds of paintings, not specifically watercolor, or even combine multiple effects from future projects that I do in digital media.
Photoshop Composition
I do not have a specific message for my surreal composition, but it was an idea that stemmed from when I was younger. Being a child, I always wondered how to world worked, and I had no idea how the technology worked. Before, I thought that mini people controlled everything, such as cameras and even stoplights. When asked to create a surreal composition, I immediately thought of mini people. It wasn’t easy compiling all the photos because I didn’t want just to have people, so I put images of what came to my mind even if it didn’t make sense.
For all of the images, I used masking layers. Since my art was mainly a compilation of ideas, masking layers were my best friend. Selection tools also made the process of creating this surreal composition a lot easier. The other techniques I learned were not applied to this specific composition, but in future surreal compositions, I will use them as they give the artwork an interesting effect.
With any of these compositions, it was easy to get an idea because there were no limitations besides my mind. I could do anything I wanted, and I did. To me, realistic compositions were just like regular photos that I could take with a camera. With surreal compositions, I found it to look cooler because it combines reality with a little bit of fantasy. It was more fun because I could put together something that didn’t have to make sense. Because of the limitless creativity, it was more difficult as there was a lot more I could add. Overall, both compositions use the same techniques, but surreal was more enjoyable.
College Personal Essay
My personal essay was about my personal struggles growing up. I have learned a lot of valuable lessons over the years and I have been in the process of failing and trying again over and over again. Through my failures, I have been able to find who I was as a person and what I valued.
Though I will forever be grateful for my mother and everything she has done to better our lives, being raised in a single parent household was far from blissful. As Will Smith of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air reflects, lacking a strong father figure in the household makes growing up just that much harder. Beyond just our financial instability, my emotional needs were rarely fulfilled. While other boys in my fencing club had their parents in the stands at every competition, I was lucky if my mother could schedule her shifts around my match. I oftentimes struggled with simple concepts every boy my age knew, like how to ride a bike, throw a football, shoot a basketball, or even how to shave. I was never really taught how to carry myself with confidence, never really shown how to be strong in the midst of hardships.
To fill that void of influence in my life, I ended up turning to the men flickering on the big screen as my models of manhood. From characters as realistic as Uncle Phil to animated fathers such as Mufasa, filmic examples of manhood greatly shaped my outlook. Because of my desire to be a better man than my father, I have modeled my own character after these positive masculine influences. The impact these iconic figures in film have had on who I am today evidences the power of film. In my journey to becoming a better man, the screen became my escape to happier lives, the surprising relatability of the characters giving me a semblance of normalcy. The storylines allowed my imagination to venture beyond my bedroom walls and transported me to a world far from reality.
This power, the power to create stories on screen, is what first captured my love of film. This summer, I was lucky enough to be a part of a crew and learn the different techniques behind experienced filmmakers and see firsthand the process, beginning to end. Seeing the distinct shots and angles coming together like a perfect puzzle is truly what makes film an art form; the minor decisions that come with each take have a major effect on the final product of the sequence on screen, whether it be the nervous mood implied by jerky camera movements or the feeling of adrenaline induced by fast ones. Being able to learn about the challenges of direction and the tedious nature of putting together even just a short video enhanced my passion for film, as I have seen first hand the care for every frame. I still have much to learn, but my passion and skill have helped me envision my future.
As a filmmaker-in-the-making, I am learning skills that apply to film as well as the real world. A primary lesson is the virtue of patience; creating a masterpiece takes lots of time. Communicating concisely and quickly is also imperative because time is money on a film set. Furthermore, because of all the moving parts on a film set, I need to be in tune with the other members of my team, and we all need to do our part so that the final product encapsulates the vision of the directors. All of these values will continue to serve me well in any professional environment.
Because of my passion for film, I have learned that my family circumstance, however detrimental to my mental well-being, was a blessing in disguise. Though I believed that missing a male figure put me at a disadvantage, my father was not the perfect person I perceived him to be as a child. So, in turning to film as a result of my family circumstances, my fascination with the worlds that filmmakers create sparked my own passion. It is my destined path: an unconventional yet natural sequence of events.
Film
As a film student at Freestyle Academy, I have learned many different techniques that include camera work and storytelling. I have always been an advocate for art and film was a way to express myself.
This video was a reflection of my insecurities in the classroom. I have always struggled with self-confidence, often being bullied by my classmates when I couldn’t answer a question correctly. When creating this idea, I wasn’t sure about what my reflection should be about but sitting in the classroom and remembering all the experiences I had, I knew that I should create something about being called on by the teacher.
I value my experience in film production because it enhanced my ability to create a visual masterpiece. Admittedly, I don’t like my reflection video as it was my first, but continuing to absorb the knowledge spilled by Mr. Taylor, I have created other films to show my constant progression. Using the lessons of creating a story and manipulating the audience to feel the emotions of what I project on the big screens, I have created art that I am more proud of.