Nature is something that speaks to me. It is something that i am heavily passionate about and that is why i decided to focus on Nature and the way I am connected to it. This project/ compilation is a means to showcasing that. i hope you enjoy! 🙂

Mood Board:

The process of making this mood board was very creatively stimulating, as nature and my connection to it is one of my greatest passions. I have incorporated photos that I’ve taken of places like Hampstead Heath, Kenwood and other places around the world. I layered them with quotes that inspire the love I hold for nature and the way I internalise it. My mood board really portrays the way nature and I are intertwined. I stacked multiple photos of mother nature to display the intricate and complex layers that nature has to it. There is one quote that states ‘As beautiful as nature is, there are no straight lines’. To reflect this. I used different graphics like the moon, the mountains, illustrations of animals and the rain cloud. I included human aspects like my shoes in the autumn leaves to indicate connection as well as a loved ones blue eye at the very centre to reveal that humans are the very centre of nature and we are one and the same. With many photos, I enhanced the saturation, as to me, nature is something that is infused with colour and passion. A couple of the photos of animals were taken by my brother while travelling, indicating his personal bond to nature. I asked a couple of friends to ‘send me a photo of nature that fills you with wonder’ . Some examples are the purple flowers and the sunset at the top centre. ( MyBlog blurred the quality a little.)

Audio:

(Listen with headphones for full effect).

My element 2 audio piece is an audio story displaying the way nature is always at hand and is something that you can rely on. I decided to do this because I felt like everything else was quite predictable regarding audio on nature and thought that my audience would enjoy something different. As the first half doesn’t have much to do with nature, it catches you off guard with the twist at the end, displaying nature’s predictability. I created this with GarageBand and I recommend listening with headphones to get the full effect. I played around with the left and right microphones. Left for most, but the right mic is designated for nature, showing opposite sides. I layered sounds that I recorded myself with ones I found via youtube and lowered the compression for a clearer and more isolated sound. I used a plug-in microphone to my Mac to remove external noises and used fade in and out on multiple recordings for a more satisfying listen. I recorded sounds from my local park of birds tweeting and asked a friend if I can use her voice for one of the phone calls and added echos over voices for it to sound more whimsical. My struggle with this was getting everything to the time limit and I had to cut a lot of my recordings out when I realised I was working overtime but I managed to fix it. I also ended up having to re-record a bunch of vocals. Now it sounds just as I had envisioned. I had a lot of fun playing around with this and I feel confident for my work to come. Here are some screenshots of the process:

 
You can see the many layers this project needed!

Creative Writing:

though my writing style for E1 was a poem, I decided to challenge myself and write a short story for my E2 creative writing piece. I really resonate with short stories as you get a glimpse of an entire universe in just a small amount of words. My inspiration for the plot was a bench dedication that I once saw in a park, “they could do with a bench here” (picture pasted below). I loved the idea about sitting on a bench admiring the beauty and complexity of nature therefore, I strongly wove that idea into my story. I decided to include a series of generations to make the story feel longer and fuller for the reader to become more invested in the ending. The story doesn’t need too much context and I included feelings, colour description and metaphors for example, the line about the sunset kissing the treetops. I believe that my concept is unique and touching and the repetition of the “they could do with a bench here” line, intertwines different generations. I wish I could have added more description but also prioritised the story line with the word count, giving the reader a clear beginning, middle and end.

video:

While creating my element 2 video I used a range of different editing techniques. Compiling a montage between humans and nature, I cut clips to the beat of the music. I chose a relaxing song that mirrored the tranquillity that nature brings to people. I chose this song as it is slow and emotional. I like to watch montages with instrumentals as sometimes, lyrics can come across as chaotic and intense. Fading in and out with audio, the viewer gains a satisfying watch due to less choppiness. I left the original sound from most of the videos. This helped me create a more dynamic ambiance between diegetic and non diegetic audio. I incorporated the 180 degree rule at the timestamps 0:37s and 0:40s. I had some difficulty with understanding this and had to remove a clip that was breaking the rule. I used slow motion for a more dramatic effect and fast motion on one clip for it to be able to fit in with the time frame. I included text in a couple clips. The text at the start of the video is in a relaxed and curved font, mirroring the style of the video to come. The video came out less saturated than I anticipated, this might have been due to the exportation and this is something I wasn’t happy about. overall, the video turned out great and I am proud of the final outcome.

Conclusion:

After spending a large amount of time with this project, I find myself feeling highly proud of the final products. I had a vision and tried my hardest to translate them creatively into these different elements.

My favourite element was the audio as it was a tedious job but it was highly rewarding when it was completed.

The most challenging element for me, was the video as getting footage that was solid enough for me to work with was hard to find, especially with the english weather.

Overall, I feel very creatively satisfied with the way these all came out and I am extremely confident and excited about future projects.