Introduction

The conceptual unit was a bit of a stumbling block for me. The idea of it is for juniors to be introduced to and practice thinking in ways we’re not used to. Before I actually wrote this, I would have said it did not succeed in doing so for me, and that I generally disliked the abandonment of the rules I had learned beforehand. I think while I did still dislike some of the process, and I’m not stoked with how my work came out, now that I’m reflecting on it I can see progress made.

I did learn at least to be able to think about things in a bit more of an abstract way, even if it’s still not my favorite thing to do. What I did really enjoy was learning to use our equipment provided to us by the program, learning to use our cameras, audio recorders, and software is something I had been looking forward to, and I still look forward to learning more in the future. I still feel a bit frustrated with my work in this unit not being perfect, but that’s a running issue I have with anything I create. Plus, in this case the point was not to make something perfectly the first go around, but rather to practice with our tools and process, and in that respect I think I did get quite a bit out of this unit.

SFMOMA Field Trip and Assignment

At the beginning of the 2024 semester, Freestyle took a field trip to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. It houses a variety of pieces, ranging from paintings to music, and we went with the intention of finding a piece that inspired awe in us. We were then to write a short reflection on the piece in English, and then record it and edit it into a video in Digital Media. I had difficulty finding awe, but I did find it really cool how Gerhard Richter made this painting, and so I wrote about that instead. Through making this project, I primarily learned how to use parts of Adobe Premiere Pro, as well as our digital audio recorders.

Learning the basics of Premiere and our audio recorders has been super valuable, and having the practice for short writings like this was also something I’m glad we did, condensing my thoughts is something I have trouble with sometimes.

Parody Introduction

Technically, I quite enjoyed this project. The idea here was to choose a song, rewrite part of the lyrics, and then record ourselves singing our re-written lyrics. We learned some basics on how to use Adobe Audition, and using Audition, edited a karaoke version of our chosen song and our recording together. In hindsight however, the tone came off differently than I intended. The following is the initial artist statement I wrote for this project.

I was inspired to make this parody primarily because I couldn’t think of anything else. I have no other way to say this, but I did not manage my time well, and so I had to come up with this on the fly, which is what I then wrote the lyrics off of (in one sitting mind you). Working on this project taught me the basics of working in Adobe Audition, but I found myself familiar with some features due to my using Audacity as a hobby. I think if I were to redo this, I’d alter my voice to have a similar effect to the original singer’s doubled-up effect. I’m most proud of my song choice for this, as Blue Monday is one of my favorite songs. In future, I’m going to make sure I keep better track of my assignments and when they’re due, as it’s been an ongoing problem for me.

Parody Lyrics

How does it feel? To think on the fly? When you’ve got but 5 minutes left, and no idea so far?

I thought I had a week left, I thought I had some time… Tell me how much longer? Tell me now how much longer.

Those who came before me, made it to the deadline. From the draft until completion, they’ll turn in late no more.

And still I find it so hard, to do what I need to do. But I’m quite sure that you’ll tell me, just how I shall do today.

I see an F on the deadline, I probably can’t submit. But if I try hard enough now, I just might manage a D.

Apparently I was mistaken, and I thought I had a week. Tell me how should I do this? Tell me now, what should I do?

Now I sit here waiting.

Thought I had a week now, while I did stuff this weekend. Tell me what should I do, while my heart goes cold?

Looking back, I messed up with this song. I had intended for a much different tone from both the artist’s statement and my singing. It’s not my favorite thing to look back on because of this, but I am in some way glad it happened, as it’s helped me identify that problem and work to fix it moving forward.

Film

In a similar vein to Digital Media, the goal of the below was to practice the tools we’ve been given, and use some of those skills to create a short experimental film from a randomly chosen phrase. While I had some issues managing my time, I think this part of film has been very enjoyable, I love learning about the tools,