{"id":304,"date":"2026-02-16T06:16:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T06:16:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/freestyleacademy.rocks\/~DariusM\/?page_id=304"},"modified":"2026-08-14T17:52:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T17:52:35","slug":"conceptual","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/freestyleacademy.rocks\/~DariusM\/conceptual\/","title":{"rendered":"Conceptual"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Section<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Introduction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Conceptual unit is the first unit in Freestyle Academy. In our Conceptual Projects, we learn the basic skills and tools such as creating a website, using Adobe Photoshop, using Adobe Audition, and many more. Through this process, we learn how to take creative risks to create something authentic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The projects assigned in Freestyle Academy had a different structure then regular classes. For one, almost all projects integrated Digital Media, English, and an elective class (Animation in my case). Also, projects in Freestyle Academy are more intensive, and have many required steps. Personally, while I found this system stressful, the project-focused approach of Freestyle taught me an important lesson: time management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Admittedly, I am still learning how to manage my time properly. Throughout the year, and especially near the end, the amount of projects given were overwhelming. I didn’t know the concept of “perfect is the enemy of good enough” at that time, but I also wasn’t good at my organization skills in general. Therefore, I kept falling further and further behind, until eventually during Winter Break, I faced the hard truth. To face these projects, I must efficiently do my tasks. I spent Winter Break working on these projects, and while at first it felt like a chore, I realized that Freestyle Academy offered something that I was missing. The project-based style unlocked my creative side, making the projects more enjoyable to work on than I initially thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Art Reflection Video<\/h2>\n\n\n
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\"The<\/a>
The glass tunnel in the SFMOMA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

During the first quarter of the Semester, we all went on a trip to the SFMOMA museum. It was a worthwhile visit that showed us how art has evolved over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For my SFMOMA Art Reflection Video, I decided to focus on “The Visitors<\/a>“, which is an hour-long immersive exhibit by Ragnar Kjartansson that showcases synchronized nine videos of people playing music in separate rooms of a mansion, with each video having its own audio output. There was a man sitting in a bathtub getting his guitar wet, a tall lanky man with a guitar, a woman playing an accordion in a dark room, a man with a cigar playing the piano, a boy playing the guitar next to a girl, and there was also a scene which had many people quietly socializing. The video is un-edited, creating an authentic feeling.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"A<\/a>
A scene in “The Visitors” where everyone is singing together outside<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I felt a personal connection to the way the people in the art piece were portrayed with a mix of distance and closeness; I was reminded of my experience in the pandemic. At first, the people were playing by themselves in their own rooms, only connected by headphones. Although they showed deep emotion, it felt as if they were disconnected, and this parallels the pandemic when I couldn’t interact with friends. At the time, even with online video connection, there was a barrier between us, and I missed the physical human interaction. However, once the people gathered and sang together, the mood of loneliness completely vanished. Instead, everyone was playful, going outside and singing off into the distance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I stayed for the entire hour to watch this exhibition, and throughout that time, I had a sense of awe. With the world currently becoming AI-driven, this exhibition reminded me what it’s like to be human. The mistakes made in the exhibition weren’t edited out; there was no cuts or anything of the sort; the entire experience is all pure in a sense.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"A<\/a>
A scene in “The Visitors” where a large group of people are socializing outside<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In English class, we wrote about the SFMOMA experience. This writing process was one of my first tastes of how English projects would work in Freestyle. My prior experience of writing in general has been overall negative, so I wasn’t enthusiastic about this assignment at first. However, unlike regular English classes, Freestyle Academy focuses more on the creative side and less on how well an essay fell under the arbitrary rules and guidelines set out by the course lead. We also were given time and feedback to our short paragraph for the Art Reflection assignment, which put me at ease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Digital Media, we created a whole video using the pictures taken inside the museum. We first learned Adobe Premiere Pro and Audition Audition, which are a video and audio editing software, respectively. To be honest, I miscalculated the size of this project. I was too focused on making everything as perfect as possible, to the point where I would spend days just on some random transition. The worst part, however, is that I lost the entire file when I was doing catch-up work during Winter break, meaning I had to start over from scratch. My guess is that the project was on one of the school’s computers and wasn’t properly saved on the school’s network. (I later recovered the file in Junior year second semester, but by that time it was too late.) From then on, I learned an important lesson to always<\/em> have back-ups and not save the project locally. Even with this incredibly frustrating mishap, the project overall wasn’t a bad experience to make. I personally don’t love working with Adobe Premiere Pro, at least in comparison to Adobe After Effects, but I can’t argue that Premiere Pro is a bad tool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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