Introduction

The reflections unit required us to use many different mediums of art to answer the question “who am I?” In Digital Media we used Adobe softwares to create a mandala and cut it out of material of our choice. In English we wrote essays about ourselves as though we were applying to college with them (and some of us are!). In Film class we used stuff we wrote in English to narrate a film that spoke to the audience and taught them a little more about us.

Mandala

In Digital Media our assignment was to use Adobe Illustrator to create masks and rotate images to draw a mandala. The way we programmed Illustrator to work meant that we only needed to draw our lines one time and the mandala was being drawn. No need for countless hours of copying yourself over again.

The things that I valued from creating both my colored mandala and my black/white mandala were the calmness of creating it, and the satisfaction when I was done. When I was making my first mandala, I spent a lot of time on it, without even realizing it! 30 minutes had passed and I was still working on the center of my mandala. When I zoomed out, those 30 minutes very clearly paid off, as the design was unlike anything I could have expected, especially since the lines I was drawing felt so random. It was so easy to make, and looks so cool when it’s completed. I really liked creating my mandalas.

Creating my mandala taught me a little about myself. It taught me that I am a little bit crazy, and that a design that represents me would not have a lot of parallel lines. Everything would be jumbled and confusing, but it would still make out something that could be called art. My head is such a mess of emotions and thoughts that being able to collect them into a mandala felt really good for me to do. And the end result looks so cool, too!

This I Believe Video Production

The This I Believe Essay Video Production assignment had many different parts. First we were tasked in English to write an essay about something we believe in. The topics can be silly or they can be heavy. But in the end, we needed to adapt it into a film. I ended up using the same file for Film as I did for Digital Media, as the essay was the same for both projects.

The version of the essay I spoke aloud for this assignment was improvised, based on the one I wrote. I like this one more.

Responsibility

I believe in responsibility. I have also spent a very long time without it. At the beginning of the shelter in place in 2020, I felt like a total bum. I’d sit in my room anywhere from hours to days at a time. Laid back gaming and watching tv, that was my life. Sounds blissful, huh? For a short period of time, it really was. But without responsibility I was dragged into depression like a whirlpool. Having responsibility helps me stay grounded to the things I believe to be important such as my friends, my job, and school.

Having strong friendships means friends rely on each other. In my junior year of highschool, my grades were dropping because I spent too much time gaming with my friends and neglecting my homework. One of my friends and I got together and noticed this trend. We decided to make an effort to save the games for after we had finished our work for the day. Playing games before I finished my work not only took me away from my work, but it was also a sign that I had let my friend down, which is something I wouldn’t let myself do. Deciding to work through our problems together, and being responsible to each other made it possible for us to stick to our resolution.

During the shelter in place in 2020, being depressed for so much of the quarantine had depleted all of my energy I would’ve spent on being a good, functioning member of society. I felt as though I had nothing left. My job as a lifeguard was boring and didn’t pay well, and I wanted to quit. But despite all of this, I still was motivated to work hard, just not as a guard. What I needed was a new job, a change in responsibility. I asked the manager at the club for a 9-5 job as a camp counselor. Going from 16 hours a week to 40 hours a week is a big leap, but depression is a deep hole, and I needed to be thrown out of it. Waking up at 8:00 am to get ready for my job everyday changed everything for me. Ever since I had that counselor job, I’ve been able to feel happy more often, and I’ve been able to stay motivated with work.

The job as a counselor taught me how important it is to have responsibility. Responsibilities can feel like a burden, but letting them pass by has great consequences. My friends have also taught me many things about responsibility. It can come in many forms, but one should be ready and willing to accept responsibility especially if it helps people.

Photoshop Art

Film – Reflections

In film class we were assigned to create a video essay using the essay we made in English class. I have already uploaded my video essay earlier in the page, but here it is again because it is important to note that I created this for film, and used it in Digital Media as well.

College Essay Page

link essay page