INTRODUCTION
The Explorations Project is built around a single, open-ended challenge: How can you find, explore, or expand your passion? For context, this project is designed to give us the creative freedom to step outside of standard assignments and take ownership of our own learning. It’s an opportunity to either discover a completely new interest, dive much deeper into a current hobby, or push the boundaries of a skill we already have. Ultimately, it’s about self-directed discovery, where the personal journey of exploring what we genuinely care about is just as important as the final product we create.
For my Explorations Project, I decided to create a cringe comedy skit centered around a completely mundane but escalating conflict over two bowls of chips. I heavily drew inspiration from the tension-filled, awkward humor of Curb Your Enthusiasm and the absurd satire of Zoolander. I chose this specific project because I wanted to take my passion for narrative filmmaking and actively put those cringe mechanics to the test. By figuring out how to translate abstract concepts into a physical script and on-screen performances, I really had to lean into my critical thinking and communication skills. It was all about intentionally using techniques like deadpan delivery and lingering silences to generate social discomfort, proving that you can manufacture genuine laughs from the most ridiculous, everyday situations.
PROCESS:
Final Product:
REFLECTION:
Reflecting on the Explorations Project, what I valued most was the sheer creative freedom to take an idea from an abstract concept to a finished piece. I am incredibly happy that I was able to draw direct inspiration from some of my absolute favorite shows and films, like Curb Your Enthusiasm, and actually get to create my own attempt at that specific style of cringe comedy. As a digital artist, the benefits of this project were massive. Because I was trying to replicate those iconic, awkward comedic moments, I had to push my technical skills to directly serve the narrative. It forced me to dive much deeper into the editing process and refine how I use my digital media tools by fine-tuning the lingering silences, getting the pacing exactly right, and manipulating the timeline so the visual layout perfectly matched the comedic beat. Ultimately, this project taught me that being a strong digital artist isn’t just about knowing the software; it’s about deliberately using those tools to make an audience feel something genuine, and it was incredibly rewarding to do that within a genre I already love so much.
POETRY
The Poet-in-Residence Experience: Before this unit, I hadn’t really viewed poetry as my primary creative outlet since I am usually much more comfortable behind a camera or an editing timeline. But having Christine Moore visit us for a week as our Poet-in-Residence completely shifted my perspective. She really helped break down the intimidation factor of poetry. Instead of making it feel like a rigid, academic exercise, she showed us that it is just another tool for storytelling and processing real, messy emotions. She created this incredibly open workshop environment where we were encouraged to experiment with language, let our guards down, and write without overthinking the rules.
Takeaways: The Power of Repetition
One of my biggest takeaways from her visit was learning how to use structural tools to build emotional weight. During the workshops, we focused heavily on the use of repetition. I used to think repeating lines was just a way to fill space, but Christine showed us how repeating a specific phrase or word acts like a heartbeat in a piece. It anchors the listener and forces them to sit with the emotion. When you repeat a line about missing something or feeling stuck, it stops being just a passing thought and becomes this undeniable, echoing feeling that the audience has to feel right along with you. Me and my table mate, Ben Kreimen, when writing our poems, became so overwhelmed with emotion. That we started feeling it coursing through our bodies, because of how powerful it was. We ended up celebrating this writing with a powerful embrace and hug that the two of us shared. All in all, was an experience I’ll never forget.
Writing the Cento Poem:
This new understanding really came to life during an exercise in which we had to write a cento poem, a piece created by piecing together lines from other sources to make something entirely new. I put together a poem that turned out to be incredibly vulnerable. I focused it heavily on feelings of loneliness and that frustrating, quiet struggle of not fully understanding yourself. By weaving those specific lines together and leaning into the rhythmic repetition we practiced, I found a way to articulate my feelings that I had never done before. It was raw, authentic, and intense. But writing it gave me a tangible way to process that internal disconnect, proving just how powerful poetry can be when you let yourself be completely honest. And when you don’t hide anything from your audience and readers.
My Final Poetry Production:
I really feel like this project captured the true meaning and spirit of my poem. It brings out that deep sense of longing I have for my family and my roots in Israel. To make sure the emotion really landed, I was very intentional about the timing, ensuring that whatever I was saying in the poem matched the specific photos shown on screen. By syncing my spoken words right to those real family memories, I wanted to turn those abstract feelings of missing home into something people could actually see and connect with. Adding the Jewish background music was the final piece that tied it all together, helping translate what it actually feels like to live here in California, away from the people I love.
The creative freedom I valued most in this project was being able to completely control the pacing, the emotional beats, and the cultural vibe. I specifically chose to use a montage of my own family photos to share an authentic, unfiltered look at my memories and the people I’m missing right now. On the technical side, making the artistic choice to carefully sync the audio with the visuals was crucial; it meant that the imagery directly reinforced the poem’s words at exactly the right moments. I made these choices along with the specific background music to create a genuine, authentic Israeli-Jewish experience. Because my main goal was to make my reality of living far away from family truly understood.