Conceptual

Introduction

For the Conceptual Project, we were asked to experiment with a variety of tools and mediums to discover new and creative ways to express ourselves. Through music, art, animation, experimental web production, and more, we took risks with the art of self-expression and familiarized ourselves with various professional and technical tools such as DSLR Cameras, Tascam Audio Recorders, and Adobe applications.

My first quarter at Freestyle with the Conceptual Unit in English and Digital Media has been full of learning and growth. In English, I challenged myself to think more deeply about symbolism in the play Red by John Logan and elaborate on the significance of these symbols in relation to the broader context of the narrative. This forced me to step outside my comfort zone in writing my analyses of the story by conducting external research about historically significant painters. In addition, I expanded on my approach to art analysis through our SFMOMA art reflection project, where I learned about the role of collective effervescence in the experience of awe. This project was also a collaboration with our Digital Media class, which offered me a new look into how written analysis can be combined with video tools to create a more impactful reflection. In Digital Media, I learned how to use Premiere Pro for this purpose, and am now able to confidently use its video editing tools to produce video content in the future. I then continued on to learn music production with Adobe Audition during our parody song project, which taught me valuable lessons about letting go of perfectionism in the audio recording process.

Art Reflection

At the beginning of the school year, we took a field trip to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) and were challenged to find an artwork that filled us with awe, write a reflection on the significance and awe-inspiring quality of the piece, and produce a video showcasing our reflection. During this project, I found myself inspired by the many artworks I had seen at the museum and found it challenging to find the one I was most strongly impacted by. I enjoyed the process of finding deeper meaning in the work I had chosen, and connecting my experience of observing the piece to its broader significance and the artist’s intentions in creating it. This project also allowed me to grow technically in my ability to produce videos using Adobe Premiere Pro, and gave me valuable insight into how visual content can be used to emphasize written work.

What I really valued about the production of this video was the ability to see up close the ways in which the disciplines we are learning at Freestyle cross over and collaborate with one another. Instead of stopping at the written reflection, we took the project further to expand it into a completely different medium of expression. Not only this, but we learned the strengths of each separate element of the assignment—written analysis and technical video production—and how to combine them most effectively to produce a more effective result. In addition, I valued the opportunity we were given to challenge ourselves to look inward in order to produce more meaningful reflections. I believe it is extremely important to practice making connections between personal experience and art. I also am glad to have been able to learn how to use Premiere Pro in a guided classroom environment, as I often struggle to navigate that learning process on my own, and being able to use professional grade tools like this is an extremely valuable skill to have.

Parody Introduction

To produce my parody song, I wrote and recorded lyrics for a parody of “Jamie’s Cryin” by Van Halen, before switching to “Push It” by Garbage and ultimately deciding to scrap all of my work and start over with “Into the Unknown” from Frozen 2 instead. I then worked to finish the recording of my final song with the time I had left, doing my best to get takes that I thought sounded okay. Using tools in Adobe Audition, I cut up each take into its best parts and edited them together into my final product. This process included normalizing my audio, adding slight reverb to the whole track, and reducing the volume of my instrumental, in addition to adding left-to-right ear panning and extra reverb to the harmony. I also made sure to fade out my instrumental a bit earlier to avoid there being too much silence at the end of the track.

Artist Statement

This is a parody of the song “Into the Unknown” from Frozen 2, created using Adobe Audition and the Iso Booths at Freestyle. I initially made my parody using “Jamie’s Cryin’” by Van Halen instead, as I wanted to use a song that actually aligned with my music taste, but I realized far too late that this was severely limiting how well my song would actually land as a parody. The song was difficult to cover, and it just wasn’t funny, so I completely started over and chose a different song that I knew had more parodying potential. This ultimately had a very poor impact on my time management for this project and was one of the major reasons why I wasn’t able to submit it in a reasonable amount of time. However, I do not regret my decision to start from scratch, as I believe that this song is far more entertaining than my original choice and succeeds as a parody. My inspiration for this parody was a recent experience I had with my dad where we went to Costco together, and we exchanged jokes about being weirdly dedicated to Costco and it being kind of like wholesale Narnia. This made me want to explore the idea of someone who has this insane obsession and love for Costco, like a crazed stalker but instead of obsessing over a celebrity, they just really love Costco. 

One of my biggest struggles was finishing my final recording after scrapping hours of work of my “Jamie’s Cryin’” parody. I spent all of my class time and several hours on the weekend recording for my new parody, but I really struggled to let go of problems with my singing and ended up doing what was likely over a hundred takes. I essentially kept re-recording until I ran out of every ounce of time I had left; I even re-recorded a small part of this at home on my portable recorder because I absolutely couldn’t stand how terrible one part of the song sounded and was willing to sacrifice the audio quality to make it slightly better. I am still very unsatisfied with the quality of my singing for this parody, but ultimately I understand that the only one who is actually bothered by this is me, and good singing wasn’t even the point of this project at all. If I could change anything about my parody, I would re-record both parts of the harmony until they actually create a pleasing harmony together, experiment more with the effects, and try to do a better job at singing the chorus.

During the project, I grew significantly in my knowledge of Adobe Audition and my ability to use its tools effectively. For example, I now am comfortable with the basic functions of Adobe Audition, including normalizing audio tracks, creating new tracks, using the effects rack, deleting empty tracks, and using the razor tool. In addition, I familiarized myself with the Mixer, panning audio from the left ear to the right ear, and using keyframes to automate volume changes on a track. I also learned a lot about the recording process and how to use recording tools in tandem with those of Adobe software, including setting the correct input source and enabling a track for recording. I began this assignment knowing absolutely nothing about how to use the program, and I am now comfortable using it for any time I may need to mix audio in the future. Finally, I learned that I really need to keep tabs on my obsession with perfection and take to heart that I simply have to lower my expectations of myself for certain things.

By far, I am most proud of my lyrics for this project. I genuinely find them really funny, even though the humor might not come through as well when I’m singing it. I’m very proud of my ability to come up with lyrics that fit the syllables of the original song while still rhyming and communicating a story/theme. I will definitely use my new knowledge of Adobe Audition in all future projects involving audio mixing and music production, and will learn from this experience to hopefully lighten up on the perfectionism going forward. This project gave me a major appreciation for musical artists and singers, as it really showed me how incredibly difficult and time-consuming it is to create music.

Parody Lyrics

I can see you but I won’t

Who sells a mattress right next to soap??

There’s a thousand items that I never knew I’d need

But I can’t give in ‘cause of the things you do to me, oh

Oh

Don’t need a wrench, don’t need bulk crackers, earrings, plants

But if I wanted, say a coat, maybe just once ain’t bad

Everyone I’ve ever loved has disappeared in there

But if those two buck hotdogs weren’t worth it I don’t care

I can’t lose this feeling, one that I’ve always known

‘Cause I know my heart is telling me I have to go

Into a Costco

Into a Costco

Into a Costco

I’ll never leave, I need it flowing in my veins

And I’m thinking that rehab’s overrated anyways

I know it has to close but that doesn’t apply to me

‘Cause I know deep down that it’s where I’m meant to be

Every year I stay a member, I can see my savings grow

I’m not afraid of what they’ll think ‘cause I must go

Into a Costco

Into a Costco

Into a Costco

Whoa

Are you browsing? Are you buying?

Ain’t this feeling? Hypnotizing?

Oh (oh), oh (oh)

Oh (oh), oh (oh)

Oh (oh), oh (oh)

They can’t kick me out, I won’t let you go

I’ll still go every day 

Into a Costco

Animation

This semester in Animation has been full of fast-paced projects and multi-medium experimentation. From basic paper strips, to flip books, to stop motion animation, we’ve been gradually gaining experience in many of the most fundamental forms of the art. The short deadlines on which we have had to complete these projects has allowed me to grow immensely in my ability to manage both my time and my expectations of myself when working on such open-ended artistic projects. The balance between investing just enough versus too much ambition into an animation is one that is extremely difficult to navigate, but Animation at Freestyle has offered me invaluable lessons in walking this thin line. What I really value about being an Animation student is having the opportunity to practice such an amazing art form in a classroom setting and learn what my limits are in completing various animated projects.

The History of Animation

At the beginning of the school year, we were taught the history of animation and how the art form took shape in its earliest stages. We also learned about the 12 Principles of Animation and how they are used by animators to produce work that feels dynamic and high-quality. Having learned these two important lessons, we wrote a short essay summarizing the concepts and detailing examples of where the 12 Principles of Animation can be found in existing animated works.

Praxinoscope Animation

One of our first animations of the year was a thirteen-frame praxinoscope animation. We drew each frame side-by-side on a thin strip of paper with the help of a light box, then lined and colored our work. I chose to animate Deadpool because the Deadpool and Wolverine movie had recently released, and I really enjoyed animating Deadpool doing a hand heart.

Phenakistoscope Wheel

Flipbook 1

Flipbook 2

Stop Motion Paper Cutout Animation

This animation was one of my most time-consuming projects of this semester, and (in my case) involved making about 50 individually drawn, colored, and cut out paper puppets to animate together into a 90-frame stop motion animation. I ended up working on this over the course of several weeks at home, even though we were meant to have been able to finish it in two class periods at school. I decided to animate an Animal Crossing themed scene because I really love the game and wanted to animate some of my favorite villagers.

Stop Motion Object Animation

For this animation, we had to use objects (pre-made or custom sculpted out of Play-Doh) to make a 90-frame stop motion animation. For my animation, I made a silly little clown out of Play-Doh and drew an ice cream truck on some cardstock, then brought in a handful of premade baby chicks. I also used a sculpture of an ice cream cone I’d already made out of polymer clay. My goal was to animate a cute scene of a clown trying to get some ice cream accompanied by a small entourage of baby chicks!