Harlow Inman

Introduction

Throughout this unit we used tools like DSLR Cameras, Tascam Audio Recorders, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Animate, Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Audition, Avid Pro Tools, WordPress, and Google Apps to develop our technical communication skills while completing projects that emphasized poetry, music, art, experimental film, and web production. These projects all challenged us to express our own personal aesthetic and distinct opinions.

In my English and Digital Media classes this unit gave me a creative outlet to express myself while still being a beginner in most tools we were using. For example, the SFMOMA Art Production Video allowed me to analyze and apply my own meaning to one of the beautiful pieces at the MOMA by using Adobe Premiere Pro to create a video about said painting. It was a very satisfying project to me because I was given a lot of freedom around what I chose to include in the video. We worked on the dialogue in English, which allowed me to get feedback and fine tune my analysis of the art piece, and then we worked on the video in Digital Media, which allowed me to visually express my analysis.

Seestück by Gerhard Richter: An Analysis

Early on in the conceptual unit Freestyle Academy took a class trip to the SFMOMA museum to allow us students to explore different types of art and get to know each other. During this trip the juniors were tasked with finding an art piece that left them awe-struck which would be used in English and Digital Media to create a reflection video. We had been exploring the concept of awe in English prior to this trip and had concluded that everybody has different triggers for awe, some of mine being nature, collective effervescence, and life and death. Therefore, when I stumbled upon the painting Seestück by Gerhard Richter, I was immediately drawn in with awe, recognizing the themes that we previously explored in class. The beauty of the sea, one of the most mysterious forces of nature, the collective effervescence we all feel when swimming in the sea, and the themes of life and death that come up time and time again in connection to the sea, all flooded my mind while looking at this painting. Once I had captured some photos of this piece, I began the process of creating a reflection about it that connected it back to awe. We worked on this in English class and I got feedback and was able to make it more engaging and authentic. I then took this analysis to Digital Media, where I recorded it and then put it over a video I created. The final product was an engaging short video analyzing the art piece and explaining how I connected it back to the feeling of awe. Throughout this creation process I learned many technical skills including how to use a Tascam Audio Recorder, how to edit a recording in Adobe Audition by adjusting audio and clipping out mistakes, and how to edit a video in Adobe Premiere Pro using keyframing and photos. It was a great introduction to different applications and I was really able to develop my technical skills and to start to find my creative voice.

This project was incredibly valuable for many reasons. I feel much more comfortable operating Premiere Pro and Audition after having to use it for this project and trust that I can make even greater things using those applications in the future. Additionally, I was able to deepen my understanding of the concept of awe, as well as develop my writing and analysis skills. It was a great project to kick off the year and I learned many useful skills that I can apply to future projects!

Parody Production: Born To Cry

I began the process of producing this song by first choosing a song, then brainstorming parody lyrics, then finding a backing track, and finally recording vocals over the backing track in the recording booth. While lyrics came more easily to me, the recording part was foreign and I had to learn how to use the recording booth before approaching this project. However, once I learned how, it was very fun to record my parody. I stuck with the second take as I felt it unnecessary to have perfect vocals, considering the tone of the song is supposed to be humorous. Then for post production I added reverb and normalized the volume in Audition to make it a bit easier to listen to.

Born To Die by Lana Del Rey was my song of choice for this parody about junior year. Lana Del Rey’s music has carried me through countless late nights studying and early mornings struggling to get out of bed, especially during junior year. I felt it only proper to use her song for my parody, because sometimes when you are overloaded with schoolwork and incredibly stressed you feel like you were born to study, work, then die. However, incorporating lightheartedness and being able to view a tough situation as humorous can always be helpful, so I hope this song resonates with juniors who are also feeling the burn out of all the classes and academic pressures.

After choosing this song for my parody, I began on my lyrics. I had to brainstorm lyrics that matched the tempo of the song, so it took a bit. Following this I took my backing track and lyrics into the recording booth and recorded my final vocals in two tries to be sure that it was still humorous, with the imperfections adding to the message. After gathering my vocals, I edited them in Adobe Audition and added some effects like a DeEsser and Reverb to make it a little easier on the ears. Once I had my final product, I exported it! My favorite part of this process was definitely the recording and singing, as I felt very professional in the recording booth, despite not sounding too professional. I appreciated getting a little peek into the world of musical artists.

During high school, schoolwork and the pressure put on you by parents or peers to overachieve can be a cloud over your head, preventing you from truly enjoying these wonderful years. Especially during junior year, when you have AP’s, the SAT, college, and much more to think about, it’s so easy to get incredibly burnt out and unmotivated. I hope that my song can bring some humor into the situation and help people realize that we are all going through it together. My overarching message is that in a few years when we are in college we will all look back at ourselves now and laugh about all the wild things we had to do to get there. This time may be stressful, but there is still light and hope and whimsy in the world, if you’re able to tap into it and create it.

Parody Lyrics

Don’t give up now

Don’t procrastinate

Junior year’s the most important it decides your whole fate

Keep studying hard

Just to get by

Take SAT, AP’s, and honors

Try to have fun in the meantime

Come and talk a walk through MVHS

Practice fluency facts in the pouring rain

While you go insane

Write LEQ’s, retake your tests

Cause you and I, are gonna go to college

Are gonna go to college

Are gonna go to college

Come and talk a walk through MVHS

Practice fluency facts in the pouring rain

While you go insane

Photoshop Blend Mode Editing

In this assignment we were tasked with using Photoshop to edit the appearance of some of our photos in order to make them more visually pleasing. This entailed lots of layering and blending, as well as using brushes to lighten and darken in places.

One thing I really valued from this project was being able to add many new photo editing techniques to my toolbox because I love taking my own creative photos but don’t know much about editing them. I think creatively using Photoshop Blend Modes will help me better express my artistic vision for my photos.

I am excited to use my photoshop skills for my Freestyle photo blogs in the future, as well as for my own creative projects that I can upload to my socials.

DSLR Photos

Early on in conceptual we learned various photography techniques experimenting with depth of field, exposure, flash, ISO, and white balance. All of these photography sessions were very insightful and I was able to collaborate with my peers to create some fun photos using the skills we learned. Below I’ve chosen to feature some of my favorites from these practice sessions, as I think they have provided me with a solid basic foundation in photography which I am looking forward to applying to my future projects!

Using AV mode with shallow and deep depth of field on our DSLRs was very interesting because we were able to create many different looking photos of the same setting and subject. I used my calico critter and had quite a few photos with different focuses and depths of field. The one displayed above has a shallow depth and focus on the critter. As for TV mode with long exposure, we used light bars to create shapes out of light. My group had lots of fun with this one and we experimented with many different shapes including swirls, zig zags, and angel wings. The hardest part was making sure we got the timing right. The flash practice was also very engaging thanks to the fun backgrounds. My group and I had some street photography style portraits and also some Twilight inspired photos. P-mode with ISO changes was a fun experiment because it helped us learn the effect of ISO on our photos. I took some very dark photos and some very light photos without changing anything but the camera ISO. Finally, we experimented with white balance to change the coloring of our photos while taking them, which was a great skill to learn as it takes away the need to do lots of editing. Overall, all of these skills were very useful to learn and easy to apply to future projects.

Film Conceptual

Throughout the conceptual unit in Film we were introduced to many different film skills and concepts. We worked on our ability to translate emotion through film, with our biggest focus being on our experimental projects, in which we were given a statement and tasked to shoot an experimental film based off of said statement. In the time we took to develop, shoot, and edit our experimentals were learned different film techniques that we had the opportunity to use in our experimentals. Featured in this section are my Greenscreen video, DoubleMint Effect video, and our Class Scavenger Hunt video (which was our first time ever using our cameras!) as well as my Experimental film.

Desire Through Serving the Community

In my experimental I am exploring the feeling of desire through serving the community.

My film, which explored the idea of desire through serving the community, was produced in Premiere Pro. The editing process included arranging shots and clipping them as needed, keyframing the fading in and out of certain clips, color grading all clips, finding and cutting music, and adding text.

Conceptual Exercises

Collaborative Scavenger Hunt

The scavenger hunt video was our first ever film exercise in which we were given a list of shots we had to get in a certain time limit. We tried to get as many as we could with our limited film knowledge and collaborated on the filming and editing as a class. I enjoyed using the cameras for the first time and playing around with things like ISO, aperture, and shutter speed to see the effect on the shots. Although the finished product isn’t perfect by any means, I’m sure it will serve as a great starting point from which we can track our progress as a filmmakers as we continue on at Freestyle Academy.

Green Screen Practice

For the green screen practice we used the Freestyle Academy green screen room to shoot. The objective was to learn how to shoot a successful green screen clip and edit it to look believable. I found the exercise very interesting and fun, as I had always wondered how green screens were used. However, it was a trial and error process with editing it to make sure the background and subject were not overlapping. After some time, I was able to produce a final product I was happy with. I am very grateful to know how to use green screen now and hope to use it for future projects.

Doubles Exercise

The doubles exercise was a challenge to get right as it requires no accidental movement of the tripod or camera. I was able to get it in a few takes and then the big test was during editing getting the timing and alignment right. It turned out pretty good for a first try, and I had lots of fun with it. Now that I’ve gotten the hang of it, I’m excited to use it for more complex film ideas.