Evan Segelke

Explorations

Introduction

This unit we were tasked with researching a skill of our own choice and “expand our passion”. In essence, we got to make our own project. I found this creative freedom to be very exciting. I chose the topic of music-based editing and for my product, I was going to make a music video. I’ve always loved music and been inspired by people who create their own music which is one of the main reasons I chose this topic. This project sought to improve upon my creativity, collaboration, and Risk-taking.

Process

The most important part of every music video is the music itself, so that’s where I started. I also thought to myself “I’ve never written a full song before” and so I reached out to a friend and fellow jazz enthusiast to see if he wanted to be a part of my crazy plans. He was on board and together we formed the new band “Front Yard” featuring Cary Higgins and myself.

Here is the album cover I made for our band using Photoshop

We then spent the majority of our time writing the song. The story of recording and producing the song is a fun one. The name “Front Yard” isn’t just for show, it is where we wrote and recorded the song. We recorded it on Cary’s laptop using Garageband and then I added effects in Reason and we had our finished song. Then it came down to me to make the music video.

Final Production

In digital media, we were tasked with making an infographic about our research. Since I research Music videos, I made an infographic about style in Music Videos. This isn’t a comprehensive guide on all aspects of Music Videos but it encapsulates a lot of what I think makes music videos cool. I also tried to reference some great bands and artists with some of the visuals. One of the main takeaways I got about music videos is that there are no rules, the focus is on the music. This makes sense considering most music videos are a kind of marketing strategy.

Here is my infographic
This is my Illustrator interface

I also made a video presentation that goes more in-depth on my project which was Freestyle’s solution to a quarantined end of the year presentation. It also includes the music video as part of the presentation.

Here is the final music video by itself:

Reflection

I’ve been loving the creative freedom given to us at freestyle and I had a good deal of fun working on this project. I also feel a bit more confident in my musical ability having written a song with my friend. I also love any excuse to learn more about musicians and bands, and how they make their awesome music and stylized videos. It was also a nice break to make a music video that focused on relaxing imagery.

Experimental Music

Here is the song we made. It’s nice and jazzy.

This is the Reason interface showing part of the song making process

English Honors

In our honors English class to Freestyle, we had a project that was brand new due to quarantine. Our project was to read any classic of American Literature and make three literary responses. I read Walden by Henry David Thoreau. We were given a wide array of creative options for our literary responses.

Walden | Princeton University Press

Literary Response 1

My Color Palette

Intention:

Here is the color palette that I made in Illustrator. I tried experimenting with gradient things to varied success. Some of the names I chose were inspired by quotes and others were inspired by themes of tranquility in the novel so far. Thoreau explored the idea of clothing in the first section of the book and compared our consumption of new clothing to the molting cycle of animals. He used the phrase “Wormy coat” which I liked the sound of and described how it was considered almost shameful to patch up clothes for longevity’s sake which is where “patchwork clothes” came from. “Pine Peace in Solitude”, “Necessity free from flamboyance”, and “sound of simple living” were all inspired by how calm he made his life sound in his house by the lake. He seemed pretty passionate about making bread so I included that as a color as well.

Literary Response 2

My Blackout Poetry

Intention:

This is the blackout poetry I made from a page in Walden using photoshop. I was particularly inspired by Thoreau’s use of the Trojan Horse imagery in this section of the book. I tried to make the poem follow a somewhat narrative structure following a person who feels guilty and regrets how others are using the lake, Walden. I also tried to capture one of the main themes of the book which is nature conservation. The image of destroying the “Iron Horse” to preserve the purity of Walden encapsulates Thoreau’s idea that nature should be experienced, not exploited.

Literary Response 3

The playlist I made about Walden

Intention:

I made this playlist inspired by Thoreau’s journey throughout the novel. It starts off with “why you’d want to live here” by Death Cab, which centers around how pollution and consumerism make city life unappealing. It features great lines such as “you can’t swim in a town this shallow, you will most assuredly drown tomorrow”. The playlist then transitions to songs more centered around nature and it’s conservation. I also included “Vikingman” by Rodrigo y Gabriela to represent the conversations Thoreau had with the woodsmen. Thoreau also describes the railroad taking away from nature in his novel so I included “breakdown” by Jack Johnson. I ended the playlist on “Lakehouse” to go out on a really great song.