Explorations Project
The Explorations Project was an opportunity given to all Freestyle Juniors to explore a new skill or topic that interests them. This can be a discovery, exploration, or expansion of the student’s passion. Whether it takes the form of a physical product, an illustration, a film, etc., a student’s Explorations Project will be the product of their unique voice as a creative.
For my Explorations Project, I chose to combine my interests in both physics and animation to produce an animation that is accurate to real-world motion. Part of my inspiration to do this was the fact that I enrolled in AP Physics 1 in the first place because I had convinced myself that it had applications in animation (which is very incorrect). This project was a way for me to force that connection between these two classes that ultimately had nothing to do with each other, while also expanding my creative and visual literacy skills in animation.
My process for my Explorations Project consisted of 3 main steps: Finding my initial conditions, doing the calculations, and creating the animation.
For the initial conditions, I decided which materials certain elements of my animation would be made out of. The cube would be made of brass, and the sliding surface would be made of steel. Other variables I had to establish early on were the coefficient of drag of the cube, the volume and mass of the cube, the frontal area of the cube, the liquid the cube would fall into, the dimensions of the triangular incline, the initial velocity coming out of the cannon, etc.
My calculations used a narrow range of equations, being mostly kinematics and the rest using Newton’s 2nd Law in some way. Other equations I used were buoyant force and drag force in water. I drew free-body diagrams to aid with my understanding of the forces at play and to reference for my math.
Finally, I created the animation almost exclusively in Procreate, only using Adobe After Effects at the end of my process to edit my assets together. I used the onion skin, rotation, and transform tools to produce the desired path of motion in my animation. I also created guides for myself on the canvas to help with consistency and accuracy to physics principles.
Below is my final Explorations Project production, or in other words, my final animation. Using a combination of physics concepts, mathematics, and animation knowledge, I created a relatively accurate digital visualization of the movement of a brass cube through a sliding, free fall, and liquid environment.
What I really valued from the Explorations Project was the opportunity to experiment with new applications of animation as an art form that I had never tried before. I really enjoyed connecting STEM and art through my passion for both. I believe that I grew as a digital artist in my ability to think outside of the box to find applications for my work, and to broaden my artistic horizons beyond what is considered conventional for artistic subjects. I also improved my ability to utilize a wider variety of the tools at my disposal to execute my ideas, being able to seamlessly transition from frame-by-frame assets in Procreate to keyframing in After Effects.
Music Recording
The Music Recording Project was a really fun opportunity to cover any song we wanted in the Freestyle Music Recording Studio. This was a group/partner project, and my partner was Mia. After a long time trying to decide which song we wanted to cover, I mentioned to Mia that I thought it would be fun to cover Bigger is Better from Sofia the First because it’s an actually really catchy song from a kids show about princesses. I suppose Mia couldn’t resist the temptations of childhood whimsy either because she really liked the idea, and that’s the song that we ended up singing.
Covering Bigger is Better ended up being a really fun experience that I’m glad I got to share with Mia. We worked together to figure out the harmonies and sing the backup vocals, which I really enjoyed because it was a fun way to add layers to the track. Being in the recording studio was really awesome as well, and it was cool to see all the high-end equipment and instruments. I decided to make the album cover reminiscent of a child’s drawing of princesses to reflect the silly attitude of our cover.
Artist Statment
The Music Recording Project was an incredible experience. Students got to use the music recording studio at Freestyle, edit the music and create an album cover for the song. This project was a collaborative song cover. Mia and I worked together to create a cover of “Bigger is Better” from Sofia the First. Recording in the music recording studio was awesome! It was amazing to learn how the studio worked, and get to make use of our amazing facility. Mr. Florendo showed us how to record, how to mute things, and how to pan the audio so that some tracks will be louder in one ear and quieter in the other. Mia and I took turns singing, with Mia singing the first part and me singing the second. Then, we went back and added some background vocals.
The music recording studio is an amazing space that we have at Freestyle. I hope that in the future, we will have more chances to make use of it. I feel that this project has helped me gain more appreciation for music production!
Poem
Leading up to writing our final poems, a Poet-in-Residence visited our class for an entire week of English to teach us about the art of poetry. Those workshops taught me a lot about what it takes to make a poem meaningful, and what I need to change about my poetry to make it less generic. I noticed during some of my practice poems, particularly the Newspaper Poem and the Ars Poetica Poem, that I didn’t seem to be writing with any sense of direction. It showed through to my final poems, which read more like a teenager trying to sound deep than a writer that had something important to say. I had written those poems about subjects that I was passionate about, and yet I couldn’t meaningfully adapt that passion into poetry. This contributed to my focus on crafting a poem with a confident, distinct voice.
My poem for the explorations poem project in English explored an artist’s process of sifting through ideas and inspiration, struggling to find something worth exploring. I was inspired by my Mentor Poem, which was titled “Orchard.” Though the subject of that poem had nothing to do what what I ended up writing about, the title was what gave me the idea to represent inspiration through growing fruit. The Poet-in-Residence workshops taught me to be extremely purposeful with my language, which shows through strongly in my final poem. I kept each line very brief to make each word’s meaning more potent, and included sensory language to enhance the metaphor and draw in the reader.
My Poem
The life cycle of an idea
I listen, falling
between the whispers
of ripe fruit and the taunts
of sour seeds
begging to meet the earth
Half rot away
The others beg for sun
Sprouting through the weight
of visitors’ footsteps
surveying the prospects
Some are misshapen
Discolored
Unripe
Left to spoil
I catch a glimpse of bright red
hiding among the brush
Hands bruised
I climb.