Westcott House Project
In Geometry, we were studying transformations of shapes. Examples of transformations of shapes are mirroring, translations, and rotating the shape. Mirroring a shape is when you reflect the shape at a given point, creating the mirror image of that shape. Translating a shape is when you just move the shape to a different location. Rotating a shape is when you turn the shape, changing the angle at which it is seen. In this project, we used the different transformations of shapes in the Westcott House to represent the house.
In this project we visited the Westcott House, which is a house designed by Louis Wright. We took pictures of this house, looking for transformations in the architecture. The result of the pictures we took was a movie about different aspects of the house. We were supposed to show how a certain shape represented the house and how it was seen throughout the house. The first steps in this project was learning the IMovie software. This was important to ensure that we all had the technical skills to create our final product. Once we learned this, we focused on learning how different transformations can be used to create new images. This was important so we could understand transformations, and show them in our final products. We then visited the Westcott House and took pictures for our movies. This was important, because the pictures were the main material used in our movies. Next, we created our movies using the pictures and adding music. This was our final product. In addition to the movie, we also wrote artist statements to explain the thinking behind our piece. This helped the reader understand our movie better.
The biggest challenge of this project was collaborating with my partner. In multiple areas we disagreed how things should be done. We had to compromise and work together to get the project done. I think we were challenged in this area simply because we are different people and view things differently. Overall it was a good thing I had a partner. It was really nice to have someone to bounce ideas off of, as well as have new ideas that I wouldn’t have thought of. We overcame our challenge by compromising and listening to each other’s ideas. I think our most successful moment was when we finally completed our movie. I think we were both glad to have it over, but also proud of the movie we created.
In this project, I learned how to use IMovie better than I did before this project. I also learned that it’s good to sometimes step out of your comfort zone and try something new. I am not an artsy person, but I feel this project help bring out a more creative side of me. I also learned that I really appreciate artistic architecture. I found some of the designs in the house fascinating and very interesting. I didn’t really learn anything about Geometry through this project. Besides the transformations, there wasn’t much that seemed to relate to Geometry.
I think that in the future, I will be a little more willing to step out of my comfort zone and try something new. This project also helped me learn more about how to work with people, something that I will definitely use in the future. I will never be able to escape working with people, and it’s better to learn how to work with people now instead of later in life.
In this project I used creativity in many different aspects of this project. When taking pictures, I had to think of interesting subjects that aren't normally looked at.. When making the movie, I worked with my partner to decide the order of pictures, what pictures we would use, what transitions to use, and what music to use in the video. All of these tasks required creativity on both my part and my partner's part.