Intro

Making this website was so that we could learn and practice designing a website, while compiling what we have made in our conceptual unit. I had to complete an essay, 3 poems, and a haiku in English class; a conceptual photograph and artist statement in Design; and a piece of music, and this website, in Digital Media. This first unit, the conceptual unit, has really set me up for freestyle. Before this I have not really done anything artistic so I had to really think differently about these assignments to complete them well. Also, learning how to use all the tools that we will use on every other project was important and interesting.

 

My expository essay was made to explain how I feel about the FIRST Robotics Competition and how it is more than robots.

Long hours every night, doing intense equations to maximize efficiency, staying in the dark with nothing but the computer screen to light the room, while the “click clack” sound of typing echoes around as you code a robot, A room filled with guys with broken glasses and tucked in spotless white shirts jabbering about different equations and physics laws. This is how many people seem think members of a high school robotics team would be, however anyone who knows a FRC team knows differently.

Many people don’t know what kind of program FIRST Robotics Competition is and assume the aforementioned traits of the members, and yes sometimes long nights are pulled, and some members might not be the most socially fluid, however most members would not necessarily be someone you could single out in a crowd for being a “nerd” or “geek”. The only difference they have from “normal” people is a slight interest in mechanics, or code, or being a part of a non-sports team; and a little bit of spare time. The people who stay and come back to meetings time and time again are not jerks who always want to show that they are better, but people who want to be around friends and build a robot with them.

Making something you are proud of is something many people get hooked on, and because of the scope of the project there is always more to do. People who put time in get knowledge and experience out. Having mentors there to help you step by step and in some cases figure it out with you, is a great way to learn practical skills for any STEM field.

Once your team has built a robot you go to tournaments and learn why so many people do FRC. Being there and watching something that you labored over for six weeks compete is great, you see what you and your team did right and wrong, and you also get to see what other teams did totally differently to complete the same task. Talking of other teams, interacting with other teams is half of the tournaments. Walking around and seeing how other people dealt with the same challenge differently is really cool. Also just talking to the people on other teams and making friends with people who you might never have had the chance to meat is really cool.

Overall I think when people who look at a FRC robotics team and think “Oh that is a club where all the nerds go, I don’t belong there,” should really think again and try it out. They might just find something great.

Poems

In English class we were exploring different types of poetry. To display what we learned we made 3 different types of poems: freeverse, spoken word, and an ekphrastic poem. The freeverse poem is a poem without the constriction of rhyming schemes or other rules. To make up for this you use clever line ending and spacing to make a deeply meaningful poem. In english we drew concept statements out of a hat to create our freeverse poems, mine was: "Exploring the feeling of suspicion through sports." A spoken word poem is similar to a freeverse poem in the sense that there are no definite rules, however the difference is where is freeverse you can change your lines, spoken word has to sound fluid and paint it's picture that way. We were told to make our spoken word poem off of a topic of our choosing, and I chose the busy planned lives we live here in th Silicon Valley. Ekphrastic poetry was a type heard for the first time. An ekphrastic poem responds to a piece of art. We took a feildtrip to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and told to chose a piece there to make a poem in response to it. I chose to make it off of the sculpture "Quantum Cloud VIII" by Anthony Gormley. In Digital Media we put the poem onto an image to complement what we were trying to say, recorded the poems, and used music to set the mood for the poems.

When adding to the poems in Digital Media class I learned a couple things. First, that controlling every part to make it convey what you want is difficult. Even if your picture ends up complementing your message, your font color needs to do the same. Not only that but getting the songs and voice to math the mood is difficult, but extremely important. Also, even though it is difficult to do, you realize just how much deeper you meaning can get when you have all the new aspects. Every time you add a sense if feels that much more immersive and makes you think about it just that much more.

"Snap"
"trapped"
Ekphrastic Poem
Haiku

In English we made a Haiku based on a prompt we pulled out of a hat. My prompt was: “Experiencing the feeling of suspicion through playing sports.” In English we learned about the different parts of the haiku, like the kigo (seasonal word) and the kireji (cutting word), and how to incorporate them into our haiku. We then put the haiku onto an image that deepens the meaning of the poem. In Digital Media we took these images and made a title card and soundtrack of us speaking the haiku. We used Adobe Animate to make the videos. I was one of the students that tried to get into the animation class, but switched back to Digital Media when it didn’t have enough interest, so I enjoyed learning how to use Adobe Animate even if it was to a very limited degree.

screenshot of useing Adobe Animate to make the video
Art

I Am Exploring The Feeling Of Individuality Through Experiencing Connectedness

Thubnail of conceptual art piece
Click on image to view art

This assignment was to use one of our poem’s conceptual statements to make a photo that described it. Then to make an artist statement that described our photo and how we made them.

 

“Passing through sulfurous Smokey city bustling around us, lush forests with endless crannies waiting to be explored, chilling oceans that let us see to end end of the earth in all directions, yet hide deep mysteries. Realize how you have been shaped from each, and how you have been shaping each. Quantum Cloud VIII has us remember that everything which makes us now, was used to make something before, and will be used again.” Was my response to the piece Quantum Cloud VIII a sculpture of a man made out of sticks. Shooting this piece I wanted to show how everything in the universe is made from what was something else, and how it will be recycled and used again. The face that is emerging from the sand, yet simultaneously falling apart to show this feeling. Looking into the distance it is both longing to find something new in life while also knowing in death it will provide for another.

I chose a face in sand because I thought it got off the feeling of being and individual, yet shows how everything that makes you is still there and contributing but is not solely yours. To make the face I got a cheap Halloween mask and filled the face with wet sand, then the rest with dry sand so that the face would be noticeable, but would still blend into the sand in the background. I found if I pressed the eyes I could give make the face seem to be staring into the distance, and at the same time make it look older. I took the photo on a foggy morning so in Photoshop I made it redder, and gave it darker shadows in the eyes to look like it had a more wise/pained expression. I also added a filter that made the sand blend together more, yet still seem separate and distinct. The biggest hurdle for me was timing. Originally I had planned to have much longer shadows on the faces I took pictures of, however fiddling with face building techniques so by the time I was getting good pictures the sun had go down. The morning I took the photos there was an overcast so there were practically no shadows, and lots of white light.

screenshot of useing photoshop to make the art
Music

My experimental music was very loosely inspired by more classical musical pieces. I tried to have the music convey a story with few pieces. I am not very musically talented and cannot play or keep a beat so I used a piano track and composer mode for all of my song so that I could get the most out of what I did know. I also added strings using a Aux track and different Midi tracks to add different instruments, while tweaking the volume of the tracks.

I enjoyed making a song instead of just playing a song. Despite my lack of musical talent I have tried to play instruments in the past and found it difficult to reproduce the music on paper. However making the music came surprisingly easier in comparison. Having made the music I can make it sound exactly how I want it to sound and have the computer play it to me perfectly, was really cool and fun. I also enjoyed trying to interpret my thoughts into musical feeling instead of words, and thought it was a different way to use my brain.

screenshot of useing protools to make the music