Shooting Creativity

In unit 1 of my new course A Nation's Argument, we focus on what makes a good argument. We defined argument, which comes from the Latin word meaning to clarify. We learned about the structure of arguments, by looking at the Declaration of Independence that America wrote to the British. We also looked at art, and how that can also be used to make an argument, or just show the reality of a subject, which is an effort at making something clear. For the action project, we had to make our own Declaration of Independence about a class/course we would want to exist in our school. Something I liked about this was that we got to chose our class, something that means a lot to us. I would say a challenge was actually coming up with an idea because in my class, a lot of people’s ideas overlapped. Please enjoy my Declaration of Independence!

                                                                                                     

I declare that there is a independent study class that is all about filmmaking and acting. Films/videos can show everyone something that is so amazing, either fake or real, and still get someone to feel a lot of emotions. Acting, which is usually part of a film, is so important, because not only does it make the audience feel more, but it also makes the person who is acting, more open to trying new things. From acting and filmmaking you can learn so much, about almost anything, and open new ideas to yourself. The purpose of school, is for kids to get a chance to learn and grow as people, both educationally, and socially, and to see and meet new people from all over. With the education given to us, we can learn from old/new things and use them in our lives to become better people. All of this can be achieved with an open mind, and wanting to learn more. My unalienable rights as a student are to grow, and have my desire to learn and interests nurtured, and with that filming and acting can be a shortcut to learning about new cultures, things that are going on in the world, and what could happen to our world. With the fact that filming can open up someone’s imagination. Nothing will ever be too boring because in this class you will be able to explore your imagination, and grow at perfecting this art.

The guiding question to this course called , “Shooting Creativity”, is: What can one film do to one person? Think about that, too, because hasn’t a film made you cry, or laugh to the point of crying? I have felt a lot from movies -- they let me into new things, explore my imagination, and be able to see the realness in a subject that sometimes you just can't get from a book. I feel like many other people feel this way, and I want them to be able to have the skills and tools they need to pursue their dreams of exploring this artistic medium.

This course will be offered during the elective term of the school year, because it is neither a STEAM or Humanities course, but in a way both, since there will be a science to the editing, and history will be added to the units. There will be three units: the first unit, called “Act”, will be focusing on acting; the different types there are; what it is like to be on stage versus being on set; and how to be a strong wonderful actor. We will also look at great actors and what makes them so good, how a comedy actor can differ from a drama one, and what can also connect them. The second unit, called “Shooting”, will focus on how to properly film, what makes a good location to film at, and different angles and what they can convey. The last unit, called “Tweak”, will focus on editing, and all the pieces that go into it, including adding special effects, changing the lighting, and trimming and adding stuff in.

My desired outcomes for this class, are for people to learn how to make a great film, by actually learning the editing, camera work, and acting, among other things, that all go into making a wonderful film. This class will take students and bring them into a wonderful world where they can make their own films, and they can explore the kinds of things they like in films. Though certain students will need a lot of different materials; course materials include cameras for shooting, editing software for everyone, and possibly a partnership with a improv place, such as iO Chicago, which is a few blocks from the school. Improv actors are amazing at doing things on the spot, so if there were actors in need, and they would be partnered with us, hopefully they could help. We could even visit them for an FE and learn how acting to them is different from acting to other actors, learning about what they have to do differently.

P1: Film can offer a person something that is very important.

P2: Films can release many emotions in one person.

P3: This course will focus on acting, filming, and editing.

P4: This course will turn someone into an expert on making a film.

C: “Shooting Creativity” should be a class in the GCE School curriculum.

NVA "Expert Film Maker Graph" (2016)

I declare that there be “Filming Creativity” where students can learn all aspects of filmmaking -- camera work, editing, and acting skills. This all will help develop well-rounded, enthusiastic, curious students learn much more, by building the skills to adapt and be open to new things, and make the best films that a high school student could ever make!

Lights, Camera, Action!

In unit 1 of Light, Sound, and Time, we explored more trigonometry and got in deep with it. We also talked about light, whether it is a particle or wave. Next we looked at colors, and how we are able to see colors, and what they are on the electromagnetic spectrum. We also looked at the human eye, and how it is similar to a camera. Leading me to the action project, we have to make a pinhole camera out of household materials, and create an image with it. With that we have to use the math we have learned and make similar triangles, from the box to what the image will be. The object used in the calculations is different from my actual image, because we needed something that was taller than the height of the pinhole camera. I really liked how we used household items to make a thing that can actually take a picture with film; it honestly amazes me that that is possible. Please enjoy seeing my camera, and the picture I was able to take with it.

NVA "Pinhole Camera Side View" (2016) GCE Lab School. 

NVA "Pinhole Camera Top View" (2016) GCE Lab School. 

This device will capture light by having a small hole in the top, that will take light and put it inside the camera. When the light enters the camera, whatever image is showing will be flipped on the other side of the box; as shown below.

NVA "Light in Pinhole Camera Example" (2016) GCE Lab School. 

This camera doesn’t illustrate refraction, because refraction only happens when light goes from one medium to another, like air to water or glass, which will physically slow down the speed at which the light is going. Since there is only a hole, it won't slow down the speed of the light.  It is black on the inside because we don’t want the light going into the camera to reflect, because if it did it would ruin the image. When white, it will reflect it, so we make it black to stop the light from doing so. The camera shows light being a wave, because it does not collide with any other light waves. It shows or represents the electromagnetic spectrum, because black is absorbing all the colors that are going into the camera, and the only colors showing are from the image being shown into the camera. The light acts as a particle when it is interacting with the paper, because the particles give off energy and when that happens a chemical reaction happens within the paper, creating an image after going through the developing process.

NVA "Pinhole Camera Similar Triangles" (2016) GCE Lab School. 

Above are the calculations I did for figuring out the similar triangles that go into taking the picture and the light ray going into the box. The hypotenuse of the triangle is the light ray from the top of the object going down to the bottom right corner of the camera. This is good for having to figure out the distance you need from your camera to your object, so that you can get all of the object in through the pinhole.

NVA "Yoshi Pinhole Picture" (2016) Latin School. 

For the picture, the shutter speed was about 3 minutes, so the film had enough time to absorb all of the light, leading to a better picture. If I were to do this again, I would play around with the times of the shutter speed, so I could get the perfect image. Also I would like to be able to re-position the camera, so that it could get everything in the picture a lot better. I had more objects, a yoyo and a Rubic cube, under the Yoshi that I wanted in the picture. I would probably want to put something underneath to raise the Yoshi and the things it was on.

Go "Get It"

I go into a lot EDM, especially trap music. So I looked for interesting apps, or websites that I could use to make music. I found Music Maker Jam, which I go on my phone first, then my laptop, and my the laptop version had to me able to do much more with it. Here is my Get It  song, under my DJ name, Valy.

NVA "Weeds Door Mural" (2015)