Our Reflections unit encouraged us to think about who we are. Throughout the unit, I was able to understand what it is that I truly value. Especially in my film and English classes, I learned a lot about how I like to express myself.

Mandala

In Digital Media, we created Mandalas, which was an extremely fun task. The process was a soothing one and one that I enjoyed greatly. Using Adobe Illustrator, I created my own Mandala using my feelings as inspiration for what I drew.

Black and White Mandala

Colored Mandala

Mandala Reveal Build Video

When creating both my personal mandalas, I particularly enjoyed the freedom that I had. I felt like I could really do whatever I wanted to do without any real consequence. Since the process of creating the mandala was so relaxing, I started to loosen up and draw more random figures instead of the simple shapes I was drawing previously. Compared to our prior projects in Digital Media, I feel like this one was the most calming because I was able to really do whatever I wanted and my creativity produced something that I like looking at. In the colored mandala, it was interesting to see what the mandala looked like when I had developed it even more because it felt like a much more abstract piece to me when I looked at it. Overall, both the black and white and colored mandalas really caught my eye and allowed me to express my feelings really well, causing it to be one of my favorite projects.
I learned that I enjoyed the peacefulness that came with creating the mandalas. In my other reflections pieces, I analyzed how peace and freedom are the most important values to me, and I think that this project allowed me to further understand how much I really appreciate these values. Additionally, I learned that I really like simplistic things that are dense inside. For instance, in my mandala, I have many bands, and within each band, I drew a lot of other lines. I learned that this is one of my favorite types of designs, which is something that I never really knew or explored before.

Mandala Photo

This I Believe Video Production

In the This I Believe unit, I was able to write about what I like in life and things that I believe to be true. This served as yet another reflection on what I think is important in life and what I really value. I enjoyed and appreciated having the time to sit down and write from my heart. To create my video, I used After Effects and compiled several photos that corresponded with what I was talking about in my spoken essay. Making the video enabled me to learn more about Ken Burns effects.

I believe that the world needs more weirdos. Weirdos have personality, the essence of humanity. Personality is one of the most fundamental necessities in being human. The idea of having a unique personality brings up one of my favorite questions, which is “what makes you, you?”

Yeah, it’s a pretty vague question, but that’s what makes it interesting. I think that the general consensus would be that it’s personality that makes you unique. Being unique, being different, being passionate about something completely trivial or something hugely important, maybe one that has no bearing on anything other than who you are. Whichever angle you look at it, personality is vital in differentiating you from others. However, sometimes people don’t want to be different. They don’t want to be seen as “other” and are too scared to be unique in their own way. Although this may be the case, there is one thing that I would like to share with these people; one truth I know for certain, that mundanity is the anti-personality.

Take this situation, for instance. A couple of years ago, I was walking toward a group of my friends, and they were talking amongst themselves. As I got within earshot of the conversation, I noticed that they were making fun of a couple of kids who were hanging out on the grass across the campus. I realized that I knew those kids from some of my classes. My friends were chuckling and bombarding the kids with insult after insult as I stood there awkwardly, trying to focus on something else. Anything else. I just played along with my friends, mostly because of my fear of being outed as a traitor to the group if I tried to defend the kids. Something I realized was that even though my friends were making fun of those kids for being weirdos, that’s actually the reason why I liked them. They were weird. They were really weird. My friends were trying hard to fit within the norm, the standard, which is something that I didn’t necessarily agree with. They might’ve seen those other kids as easy targets to offend, but I thought the opposite. Isn’t being a weirdo a good thing? Being weird is the cornerstone of creativity. It’s the cornerstone of personality. In a world full of increasing pressure and conformity, it’s the thing that keeps us special. After all, who would you be if you’re completely normal?

It’s been my life’s goal for the last few years to attain this level of self-awareness, the idea of how I can be my own person. My desire to have a unique personality has been becoming progressively greater, and I know that sticking to what I want and not changing it for anybody will help me achieve this goal. My aspiration is to be one of those kids who my friends were making fun of. I want to become that “weirdo”.

This picture shows my workspace in Adobe After Effects. In the timeline of After Effects, there are multiple videos and still photos that I used as well as music.
This picture shows my After Effects workspace. In this screenshot, the keyframes that I made for each of the video clips are shown and the order in which the photos come in is also displayed.

Photoshop Art

In Digital Media, we used Photoshop to create lots of digital art. The art we made used various different techniques including masking and blending. We learned many new things that enabled us to put together images to create one whole image.

While making this painting, I was unsure of my direction. However, after making several strokes, I found the direction I wanted to go in. While painting, I found that I was having trouble repainting some areas because the brush tool would darken the area I was painting. So instead of going back and painting an area twice, I made sure that I got all of it in one take. I would like to make the photo more vibrant. Even though the setting is supposed to be smoggy, I would like to somehow add even more colors into the painting. I am most proud of how smog turned out. I experimented with blend modes for multiple layers, and that helped me create a more realistic setting behind the smog. This has taught me that it can be crucial to get things done right the first time over, which is a lesson that I can incorporate into many aspects of my future. This project made me realize that it can be quite difficult to make digital paintings, which gives me even more appreciation for the way other artists made theirs.

Reflections Video Essay

For my film class, our assignment was to create a video essay describing something that describes us. I used my DSLR camera to shoot the film, alternating between the 50mm and kit lens. I edited the final video in Premiere Pro.

This photo shows my interface in Premiere Pro where I edited my Video Essay.
This shot is of my timeline for my video essay in Premiere Pro. I edited the audio first, then recorded the film on top of it.

I really enjoyed spending time recording myself because it was a challenge to get the focus right. I also enjoyed coming up with new shots like the one in the screenshot that I hadn’t taken before. In English, I really liked being able to write from my experience and write how I actually felt.