Conceptual

Introduction

In the Conceptual Project Unit, as Juniors, we were encouraged to explore abstract thinking and build our communication skills to answer the simple, but deep question, “How can I use unconventional forms to express myself?” This project puts a focus on taking risks and stretching ourselves through creative outlets such as poetry, music, art, experimental film, and web production. In all of these diverse mediums, we were encouraged to express our opinions and ourselves. We used many tools such as DSLR Cameras, Tascam Audio Recorders, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Animate, Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Audition, Avid Pro Tools, WordPress, and Google Apps to help us obtain final products we could be proud of.

Being a Freestyle student is rewarding in many ways because it feels like the work we do matters. If we write a poem in English, we will use our Digital Media skills to edit it visually in Photoshop and record it complete with sound effects in Pro Tools. Having all of my work connected to each other creates really satisfying and fulfilling results.

Haiku – Short And Powerful

In English, we were taught how to write meaningful Haikus. Even though they are short, a lot of effort goes into the word choice so that they can be meaningful. In our Haikus, we were encouraged to have a season and an element of surprise in each poem we wrote. We also based our Haikus off a randomly selected phrase- mine was “Exploring the Feeling of Desire through Teaching.” Although difficult, this direction proved to make a focused poem where I was able to narrow down my ideas. In Digital Media, we then took our poem and used Premier Pro to edit it, adding visuals and sounds. We also used a photo that we had personally taken.

My poem discusses the motivation that a mother drew from her kids. Due to the fact that her kids needed her love, her care, and her teaching, she was able to have a desire to become better to meet their needs.

In this project, I learned so many tools and different ways to explore language. I also really learned to appreciate Haikus, and the work that goes into other forms of artwork and media. Another thing that I think was valuable from this experience was getting to hear and provide feedback for other people’s work, and receiving meaningful critique.

Poetry

The poetry unit was a powerful way to put self-reflection and creativity together. To start the unit, we were encouraged to find a quiet writing space. Each time we wanted to write, we would return to that space and allow ourselves to take time to think and write what came to our minds. Own of our first assignments was to write down a whole bunch of things about ourselves- our likes, our dislikes, dreams, room, etc. These then could translate into an idea for a poem. In Digital Media, we then recorded and edited the audio of our poem (complete with sound effects- watch out for the hot chocolate slurp in mine!). In Digital Media as well we then created a background for our poem in Photoshop to help the poem come alive and be more than words on a page.

My poem “Christmas in September” is a free-verse poem that analyzes the stability and security that traditions bring. I wrote this poem because especially during quarantine, or “coronacation” as we like to call it, I have been unsurprisingly feeling more unstable and anxious than usual. I really have been longing for Christmas, and, after thinking about it, I realized that the reason I must be yearning for Christmas is because of how normal and predictable it is. I associate it with so many healing, up lifting emotions, and so this poem is about the steps I took to figure out the root cause of my desires, and the hope that now I can take those positive emotions and implement them into my life. To start off the poem, I used questions as a way to reflect my ponderings, and to allow the reader to ponder with me. I used imagery throughout the poem so that the reader could visualize Christmas and get into the mood and cheerfulness that it brings. I used a mixture of enjambments and end-stops throughout, but probably the most notable one would be in the second to last sentence, when I used an em-dash to portray my hesitation and collective thoughtfulness of me coming to a conclusion. In order to create the fun, upbeat and excited feeling that Christmas brings me, I used a variety of sound techniques, such as assonance, consonance, and some alliteration.Finally, I used a juxtaposition to compare my current self and Christmas, to show how contrasted they were, but how I wanted them to become more similar. During my peer reviews, I was worried that my poem was too literal and too straightforward, but people encouraged me to keep it more straightforward because of the simplicity of my message. They did, however, suggest that I incorporate more descriptive words to describe the cookies, hot chocolate, lights, and presents, which I did in an attempt to allow the reader to really visualize them. I took inspiration from Ilya Kaminsky’s poem,“We Lived Happily During the War” because of the simplicity that the poem presented, even while still possessing great sound qualities. Additionally, his poem was able to bring lots of imagery to mind, without being too flowery, which I loved and tried to adapt in my own work.

This project was really interesting to me because I was able to put so many different new skills into one final project. This year was the first time I have ever used Pro Tools or Photoshop, or recorded audio on a audio recorder, so it was really rewarding to put all of these skills to use in something tangible I could see, hear, and read.

Elements & Principles of Art

This assignment was one of our first in Digital Media. Basically, we were supposed to learn a little bit about each principle and element of art and then create a slide show with examples of each principle or element in traditional art, modern art, and photography. This project was really helpful because it helps us know how to make images, designs and other projects look good and use descriptions to describe and identify why they look good.

Experimental Film

I have valued Film class because it has given me a designated place to be creative and to explore different ideas. I also enjoy the fact that the class size is so small- our class only has 10 students! This allows us to have a lot of time to focus in on each person and give meaningful feedback.

In Film class, we used the same intention statement (exploring the feeling of desire through teaching) as we did for the Haiku. We then were challenged to create an abstract film conveying emotions without directly showing any part of the intention statement. We were able use different sound, color, and other effects to convey the desired emotion. (which in my case, was desire:) We started by brainstorming and we were able to work with other peers to receive feedback and improve our film. In the end, I was able to create my first official film, so please enjoy “Sweet Enlightenment.”

For me, the biggest part of this film was the idea. Coming up with abstract ideas was something that was new to me. Once I had the idea, I was able to write down and brainstorm my scenes, shot them, record them, edit, add sound, and receive feedback. I found this process very time consuming, but I did not mind because I found myself enjoying it because I was excited about my idea.