Conceptual

Introduction

On the conceptual unit we were able to exercise our abstract thinking and communication skills in order to explore which ways we could express ourselves by using different professional equipment and applications such as DSLR Cameras, Tascam Audio Recorders, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Animate, Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Audition, Avid Pro Tools, WordPress, and Google Apps and more!

Poem

Writing a poem always seemed like a very challenging thing for me to do and I was particularly worried about this assignment considering that I don’t really consider myself to be a very good writer, however, I was able to find that the creative liberty I was given to write something based on someone else’s art was something I enjoyed very much. Not only did I enjoy the writing part of it, I also got to experiment with the work I had done by editing it into a visual piece, as shown on the image.

Curtains
Process for audio editing
photo edition of poem

Photo Haiku & Video

One of the very first projects we were given at the beginning of the year was our Haiku poem, which we had to develop on our english class and then produce on our Digital Media class. Our short poem had to be written based on the feeling and experience we were randomly assigned, for my concept statement, I explored the feeling of defeat through the experience of contemplating the unknown.

endless nightmare

With my haiku poem done, I was able to then use it to produce as a video using Premiere Pro. This program allowed me to add background audio to my video production and in addition to that I was able to experiment with some different types of fading in and out with text :0

Elements and Principles of Art

To make any type of art, you must know the main tools to produce a good piece. In digital media we learned what these tools are. On this assignment we had to find a traditional artwork and a modern one thus we’d be able to tell how this elements and principles could change in different types of art.

Elements and Principles of Art Title Page

Animation Conceptual

Phenakistoscope

The very first assignment we were given for our animation class was to create a phenakistoscope which was a one of the first forms of moving media entertainment that creates an illusion of motion when people spin it while looking through the cut out edges.

phenakistascope png
phenakistascope gif

Zoetrope

Just like the phenakistoscope, the zoetrope was a device of early animation production. To create different motion scenarios, each of us had to create 12 frames drawings with a moving pattern.

many faces

Exquisite Corpse Video

This was our first group project in animation in each of us were given a beginning frame and an ending one, in our class we all had to keep track of what order we would be putting together each of our animated sequences and how to draw each frame. More than drawing or creating an animation, I remember this being a very collaborative assignment which at the end came out pretty cool !

Exquisite Corpse Video

Flipbook

When I found out we would be doing this as an assignment for our animation class, I flipped out!! :’D hehe. In a serious note though, I was very excited to create my first flipbook. We had to link our assignment to a specific emotion, I decided to go a little out of the bubble… if my flipbook made you go “awww :3” then I acomplished my goal of conveying that feeling you get when seeing fluffy puppies.

To create this, we had to use a stack of about 100 blank cards and trace each of them with a light board to create the frame-by-frame movement seen on the video.

Meet Billie G. !

Direct Techniques

This is probably one of the projects I’m most proud of. I had previously done some stop-motion animation when younger but not with the DSLR camera equipment and much less so with a program like “Dragonframe” which keeps track of all the pictures you take to create a final piece like the one below. When brainstorming for what to do for my sequence I thought I’d link it back to a little bit of who I am while also attempting to create something that was not seen as often with this type of animation. Thus, the final piece shown as a really bad rainstorm turning into a bit of an odd happy ending. (you might want to slow the video down a bit :’)

aftermath of the storm
Production on Dragonframe

Animation Conceptual Unit Reflection

I love every single second I get to be in the animation room, and I could not possibly limit myself to write about a single reason why I enjoy my time in this class so much. To begin with, I came in the first day of class having little to no experience on how to create motion sequences like the ones we’ve been assigned and even so, I have impressed myself on how cool my project can come out to be! Not to mention that it’s very rewarding to see the finished piece of what you have worked so hard on during the few hours we have for class. I enjoyed creating this early-animation and frame-by-frame animations every step of the way because on the process I was given the liberty to experiment with equipment I had not used before and any other materials in the classroom, the possibilities are endless! Receiving feedback from my friends was key to improving my projects and correcting what could’ve been a flaw, the support net in the classroom from both teachers and peers since the very first day in freestyle is unbelievable. — I could go on and on about how much I love animation but today I’ll leave you with a note that creating professional works, purely enjoying what I do and doing it while surrounded with people I care deeply about and who I know care about me, was something I never thought would happen during my high school life :’)