Conceptual

In our first unit of the school year, the conceptual unit, we used unconventional forms to express ourselves and learned to apply many new programs and technologies. While creating poetry, music, a film, and my website I learned to use many new tools such as a DSLR Camera, a Tascam Audio Recorder, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Audition, Avid Pro Tools, and WordPress.

This unit was an amazing introduction to Freestyle and the nature of my classes. I learned so many new tools for creating media and expanded my knowledge about programs I already knew. In English I really enjoyed pushing myself in creative writing, an area that I feel does not come as naturally to me as analytical writing. The conceptual unit was a great start to the school year and I can’t wait to continue learning at Freestyle!

Haiku

Our first assignment in the conceptual unit at Freestyle Academy was to write a haiku based on a randomly assigned concept statement. I was assigned the statement “I am exploring the feeling of defensiveness through companionship.” Using this statement I had to follow the haiku format to write my poem in English class, using feedback from my classmates and teachers as well. Then, in Digital Media class we learned to use our DSLR cameras to take a high quality photo for our the final presentation of our haiku. We also learned to use keyframes in Adobe Premiere Pro to animate text for our haiku video.

Haiku Video
Premiere Pro interface of my haiku video

Above you can see how I learned to use the keyframes to animate the text to glide on screen as I say each line. This was my first time using Adobe Premiere Pro in digital media class, and it was also my first time ever using keyframes. I loved creating this piece because it included every aspect of media I was learning, as well as because it pushed my creative writing abilities to write a deep haiku about a very confusing concept statement.

Poetry

After writing the haiku poem, we moved on to studying and writing free verse poetry in English class. My favorite writing exercise we did was writing an ekphrastic poems based on an art piece, and I ended up using that piece for my final free verse poem. Then in Digital Media class we learned to use Adobe Photoshop to edit photos and create new photos and collages. We used this skill to create a final version of our free verse poem complete with visuals.

Memory by Mia Bassett
Click on image to see poem
Listen to my intention statement

Memory is an ekphrastic free verse poem in which I responded to a painting done by my great-grandfather Bob Moore of Minnie Mouse. I was inspired to first write this ekphrastic poem because this painting has hung in my room since I was born and I have not given enough appreciation to the painting and its origins. The speaker in this poem is me, as I observe the artwork’s fine details and recognize the juxtaposition of having a painting of a well-recognized character in my room that my family considers a personal heirloom to the family. I highlight this contradiction by focusing the beginning of the first stanza on the fame of Minnie Mouse and her impact on so many people. The lines at the end of the first stanza that reference the blue on her bow and the red on her skirt emphasize that these ideas of intimacy and being displayed to the world do not normally mix yet cause a bright, beautiful display in this painting. The paint chipping references my family’s attempts to preserve this painting because my great-grandpa painted it on a scrap piece of paper that was not meant to withstand years on display. The tone of the second stanza becomes more intimate as I begin to use enjambments in the lines, more visual imagery of the detailed painting (such as “the point of light on the tip of her nose”), and alliteration (such as “intimacy of inheritance” and “delicately displayed”). These all give a sense of comfort and attention that can be found in family memories, as well as a more informal tone that allows the pace to pick up as the poem reaches its conclusion.

Film

Our big project in film class for the conceptual unit was an experimental film based on the same concept statement as our haikus. This was such an interesting project to start with because it challenged me to not think about the film in a narrative sense. Coming up with a concept was challenging, but the experience taught me a lot.

My experimental film
My original experimental film synopsis from the beginning of preproduction
My Adobe Premiere Pro interface from creating my experimental film

The conceptual unit was an amazing introduction to film and being a film student at Freestyle. I am so grateful to all my classmates for their insightful feedback and my teacher, Mr. Taylor. I learned so much about the process of creating a film from pitching, to preproduction, to shooting, to editing, and I cannot wait to apply this knowledge to my next Freestyle film.

Elements & Principles of Art

This was an assignment towards the beginning of the semester where we learned about the elements and principles of art and design and then were tasked with finding examples of art that show each principle from the internet. This project taught me to better understand the elements of art and how they are used.

Elements and Principles of Art Title Page