The conceptual unit of freestyle was my introduction to the program, and was an introduction to the creative nature of freestyle. Our experimental films were strange and our poems were abstract. This gave a lot of creative liberty to the student so they could create the art they want to make. Along with this, this unit introduced us to our vast source of tools, such as premiere pro, photoshop, and pro tools.
I value the creative freedom given to the student, as the program and projects require risk taking. The emphasis on personal style made the projects very enjoyable as I was able to make it the way I wanted to.
Haiku
Initially, the haiku was an English project that was an introduction into the poetry unit, and as a way to introduction to using figurative language in poetry. When we were finished however, we brought it to Digital Media, where we transformed it into a photoshopped image.
Premiere Pro session of Haiku
The Photo Haiku was valuable because it was a good hands on way to start using premiere pro, and to become comfortable with its many functions.
Poetry
The free verse poem, much like the haiku, was split into two sections. the writing process in English, and the visual development in Digital Media. In English, the goal of the project was to create a free verse poem using metaphor’s and symbolism. In digital media, the goal was to create an image that reflects the poem, and to record yourself delivering the poem to its fullest with additions like with sound effects.
Intention Statement: “The Song” is a free verse poem about breaking free so you can be yourself. This is done through the description of the song Ghost Town, off of Kanye West’s “Ye” album. A song about happiness, and being free of pain. This poem was originally a “One Self En Masse” poem, about one song on an album of songs. There are a lot of description words, such as the line about a battlefield and a fist fight that encapsulate my feelings about the song and album. In this case, the album “Ye” is a very short album in contrast to the many grandiose albums of Kanye’s. I used the idea of a messy album to encapsulate how chaotic one’s inner self can be. It should also be noted that the poem’s final line, “And I feel kind of free” is a direct nod to Ghost Town, as it is used repeatedly throughout the song. The speaker of this poem is the song itself, reflecting back on it objectively, and commenting on its purpose. At the beginning of a majority of the stanzas, I use a book metaphor. I use “novel”, and, “chapter”, to identify the focus of the stanza. When I refer to a novel I am talking about the overall album, and when I mention a chapter, I am talking about the song itself. I use the metaphor of a book because I feel when talking about an album, many people think of a collection of songs. However when I think of an album, at least certain albums, I think of a story being told through a musical medium. It is easier for many people to understand the idea of albums like this as a novel rather than an album. In the first stanza, I use a lot of enjambment to connect points together, with emphasis on certain words like “emotion” and “expectations”. I also punctuate the end of the opening line of stanzas using the book metaphor to add emphasis on the idea that music can be like a book. This is the way I have always felt about music and it is an idea I feel many people overlook. The second stanza was originally part of the first, however after getting feedback, I realized my poem could be more interesting if I added meaningful line breaks. I was also influenced to do this through reading Uch’s poem and E.E. Cummings “[l(a],”. They both used very interesting lineation techniques that I tried to emulate in small ways. I felt the sentence “Breaking the chains that used to hold me” was a perfect line for this, as the sentence is literally breaking away from the rest of the poem, breaking the chains that once bound it. Another line with interesting lineation is “All present all clashing lacking any logical structure”. I made this a single line with no breaks to compliment the idea of a chaotic mess. This line, much like the meaning, lacks logical structure. I think this adds to a more dynamic reading experience.
I valued writing and producing my poem through multiple mediums, as it allowed me to experiment and experience different forms of my poem. The poem with the voice over and sound effects is much more alive and interesting to listen to, especially with a visual representation of the poem. The written poem however allows more freedom for the reader, and lets them interpret the poem for themselves, rather than seeing the more defined meaning of the final product.
Photoshop Blend Mode Editing
The photoshop blend modes project was all about practicing and testing out some of photoshops many features. Specifically, blending functions. We mainly used them to edit the lighting of an image, adjusting the white and dark aspects to add highlights and shadows. Along with this these tools are what allow you to blend images together.
Photo shop blend modes are really interesting to use and give a whole new freedom to photoshop. Learning how to use them makes photo editing much easier, and it allows you to make images the way you want to.
I valued learning how to use blend modes because it creates a good base for photo editing. It provides a basic idea of what photo editing is all about, and it gives a good set of skills to build off of. Along with this it is really fun to play around with and allows a lot of room for creativity.
Film
In film, our experimental unit primarily consisted of the experimental film. The experimental film was an abstract film that was supposed to lack a district story and have experimental methods of film. The film program has been amazing so far, as not only have we learned about many elements of film, we also got to practice them through short mini projects. Much like with the rest of the classes at freestyle, the thing I value most about film is the creative liberty. For the experimental film our creative options were limitless, and the thinking outside the box was heavily encouraged. I value the amount of collaboration, as nearly every project requires multiple students, providing many opportunities for working together and creating a better film.
Experimental film Synopsis
Concept statement: I am exploring the feeling of self pity through sustainable living
I will start the film with an up close shot of an unlit match. This will quickly cut to the main character waking up, and sitting up in bed, looking somewhat happy. This will be followed up by him walking down a street. There is going to be a stranger sitting on the road looking at the ground. In front of them will be a cup of water. The main character is going to look at them with pity and walk past them, ignoring them, and scoffing as they walk away. The shot will cut back the match however now there is a flame being lit. Another quick cut will be back to the main character in bed. They sit up in a similar way but now look slightly less happy and a little more tired. They will walk down the street again, however more exhausted looking and now when they walk past the stranger they will bump into them. Cut back to the match and the flame is lower, and the main character is more tired after waking up. Next time they walk past, they will kick the water cup, the stranger will be sitting again. Match is even lower and the main character is even more tired. Throughout the cycle the colors are going to be fading more and more, the saturation is lower and lower. This process happens a few times until the main character looks exhausted getting up from bed and the flame is almost out. The behavior is getting more and more aggressive towards the stranger. Finally, the main character will walk down the street, and either steal from, yell at, or jump the stranger. This part is still in development but it is going to be something of that nature. The match will now be out, and in total black and white. And the main character will not get out of bed. However I might just end with the match going out rather than the person not getting up, as this would bring it full circle. The idea is the main character’s health is deteriorating, as a result of their actions against this stranger. This stranger is a symbol for a person’s inner self. This ties into self pity, and the deterioration of the main character is the lack of longevity in the way they live. The match is symbolic of how they are consuming themselves. I might also take out the sleeping scenes as a whole as the match might be all that is needed to push this idea, and I think that would potentially make it a little more abstract, as it is less obvious of what is going on.
Experimental Film
The filmmaking process was kicked off by our pitch day. This was the day we all came together to pitch our individual films, and gain feedback. My film was heavily altered, but it came out as a much stronger concept than before. After this, we wrote our synopsis and started shooting. Throughout the shooting process, we could turn in our dailies, essentially draft shots of the film. We would do this to gain feedback throughout the filming process and make improvements where necessary. In the end, the film consisted of 2 main parts. The match, and the boy. The section with the match I shot alone in my backyard at night. I experimented with many different lens lengths and camera angles until I came to the final shot. The part with the boy was shot with a few friends in Los Altos Hills, and was done over the course of two main shooting days.
