This is the project that we spent a lot of semester working on to intertwine all of the classes within one another. Our teachers allowed us full creative freedom with the change is gonna come project. I am usually most passionate about issues which I can relate to, one of which being the misogynoir in this country. Misogynoir is similar to misogyny in the sense that it is the mistreatment, dislike and prejudice against women but, misogynoir goes deeper into race. It is the direct mistreatment towards black women and it is extremely prevalent in the world and has been since black people were brought to this country.
My script was easy to create because I was discussing a topic very important and relevant to me. I decided to do a poem to challenge myself. I am very skilled at writing prose but I wanted to take it a step further to portray my emotions through poetry. A requirement given for the project was for everyone to include a concept learned so far in one of our courses to connect what we are talking about. I did not take a science class that my grade was taking, and I took precal math so the only class that was an option for me was AP US history. At first I did not know how I was going to do this and it was hands down the most challenging part of writing the script. I said to myself, how can I connect the struggles of black women, to what I have learned in AP US history when all I have really learned so far is the struggles of white men, who are in fact the people who placed struggle on black women AND men. But then with some thought I noticed the way this country which has so much power today was once struggling to prove itself to its older European counterparts. “Hundreds of years ago, settlers came from the new world and were still controlled by Britain. Just like they gained independence and respect by forcing them to take them seriously, we will continue to force them to take us seriously.”
To create the film I thought the best way would be to show the black women in my life, me, my friends, my family. All the images and videos used in my film belong to me and I also used a background sound of me playing the harp. I thought it went very nice with the message to not only show black women but hear and see the accomplishments we have, one of which being my taking up of the harp over the past couple months. I used videos of my talents such as me dancing and more.
I really liked the way my film came out, my favorite part is the background sound, it goes well with the poem and pictures and portrayed the perfect emotions. I did not have a specific laid out vision step by step because I like to just let the creativity flow as I go on. I learned more about the way the order of segments in a video matters and can change the whole direction and emotion of the film. In the end I thoroughly enjoyed the entire process.
For our Fall Final Project in AP language, we were challenged with a Rhetorical Creative Choice Board to independeently explore language and argument. I selected the option of a song expressing today's problem of racism because there is a clear problem with the presence of police brutality and prejudice in pur country. For this project, I composed my own music on piano using Flat.io, wrote my own orignal lyrics and found compelling artwork to acompany my piece. I feel so great about my final product and learned the importance of figurative language and rhetoric technique in music.