Introduction

The last unit of my junior year at Freestyle was explorations. This was a fun unit to end on because we were given a lot of freedom to create anything we wished. This unit had hardly any limitations compared to past units. Having the amount of freedom we were given was overwhelming at first because I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, though in the end I am glad we were given so much choice.

Poetry

In english we were assigned to create a poem for this unit. Poetry already has few limitations and for this assignment we were given the choice to write about anything we wished. This unit was special because we were able to have a guest poet, Ms. Moore run a week long poetry workshop. This was helpful because she shared some poetry with us and took us through exercises to help us brainstorm.

I created this poem from one of the workshops we did with Ms. Moore. My edited poem is very different from what my original poem was like, however the workshop helped me get ideas and inspiration for my final poem. This poem was inspired by my appreciation for living in the present and to remind others that life is short, so make the most of it! I really enjoyed writing this poem and I loved ending junior year english with this assignment.

Music

In digital media, we were given the opportunity to produce our own music in the music studio. This was a collaborative project and I decided to do this assignment with my friend Anna. Going into this project Anna and I knew that we wanted to try and sing a song rather than playing instruments. First off, we had to pick the song and then download a backing track so that we had background noise to sing to. We decided to choose Sweet Caroline. This is a song that Anna and I both really enjoy so it was easy to agree what song we were going to sing to. Once we chose our song and dowloaded our backing track we were ready to head into the studio.

Recording Studio

Being in the recording studio was my favorite part of this project! I had never recorded in the music studio prior to this project so this was a really cool experience. Before we started recording, we first had Mr. Florendo help us set up the microphones, and the audio setting on our headphones. Then, we practiced singing the song a few times. On our third practice run we were able to get the song down and we were able to sing it smoothly, with little mess ups. This process was super fun and I enjoyed being in the recording studio with Anna and Mr. Florendo.

Editing

Once we were done in the recording studio it was time to edit our music. On protools, Anna and I adjusted the volume of our voices as well as the volume of the background music. We adjusted the audio direction so that Anna’s voice was coming from the left, and my voice was coming from the right. Also, we decided to add some reverb to help make our voices sound better.

Final Product!

Artist Statement

Recording in the studio taught us a few valuable lessons. First, we discovered how fun it can be to sing and record music with a backing track—especially when you’re doing it with a friend, even if you have no prior experience. We also learned how to adjust key settings and audio levels for our voices, our partners, Mr. Florendo’s, and the music track, all with just a few clicks on the control pad. Most importantly, we realized it’s okay to try something you’re not good at and to share that experience with others. This process and experience was memorable for both of us and we really enjoyed getting the opportunity to make music with such advanced equipment!

Film

Process

In film, I decided to explore poetic documentary. I had really enjoyed the documentary unit and this inspired me to explore more in the documentary genre. When assigned this project, we were first told to research about our topic so that we would be able to learn the skill before we tried doing it ourself. In order to do this, I looked on the internet, reading articles and watching videos. While doing this, I took notes on a good document so that I could then include that information on my slides later. From here, I then decided to practice the skill through making a short film.

For my short poetic documentary, I decided to choose nature as my theme. I then decided that the feeling I wanted to convey was a calming and peaceful feeling. When planning out my shots, I knew that I wanted to include water in my film, and then I choose anything else I found pretty for the rest of my shots.

Editing

When editing my short film, I decided to use color grading in order to enhance my image and make the colors more vibrant. I decided to adjust the shadows and highlights of all my shots as well as changing the exposure slightly. For audio, I decided to include the original audio from my videos and I decided to not add any additional sound affects or music.

Reflection

Although this unit was short compared to our other units so far, I am really glad I got to learn new skills. I really enjoyed this unit because of how much freedom we were given and I really enjoyed making a film around something that I was interested in. This assignment was fun and I thought it was a cool experience to show the work I had done to my classmates.