Dr. Tolulope Filani: Smith, Hammond, & Middleton Sculptures

In 2006, Dr. Tolulope Filani started teaching fine arts at South Carolina State University. Dr. Filani had three different degrees and he was also the student of an actor. He says he remembers walking around the campus and thinking how bare it was compared to other places he had attended, like the University of Missouri. After talking about how bare the campus was he knew he wanted to help change it.

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SOT: Dr. Tolulope Filani     00:17

In: For I told myself

Out: I started the sculpture

Transcript: For I told myself, someways that it's worthless when you criticize the system and you can't bring something, you understand, to match whatever it is that you are talking about. So I took it upon myself, I started the sculpture.

He then took it upon himself to research The Orangeburg Massacre and create sculptures in remembrance of the three men who died. What is the Orangeburg Massacre, many may ask?

The Orangeburg Massacre took place on February 8th, 1968 in Orangeburg, South Carolina. This was a shooting of student protestors on the campus of then South Carolina State College. The Collegian, published in March 1968 tells the stories of what happened that day by the students. This Massacre resulted in more than two dozen students wounded and the deaths of Henry Smith, Samual Hammond, and Delano Middleton. 

Dr. Filani first created these sculptures in clay. In the interview, he explains to us that he created these sculptures 12 years ago in 2010. This was a very difficult process. He invited classmates and families to see the sculptures after they were done. Filani knew he did decent when one parent was about to break down after seeing his work. He brought his work before many presidents of the university and they were very reluctant.  

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SOT: Dr. Tolulope Filani  00:08

In: And this really bothers me 

Out: Celebrate ourselves enough

Transcript: And this really bothers me a great deal in a sense as a people of color we just don't celebrate ourselves enough.

After many years his sculptures were in bronze and put on the South Carolina State's campus. After asking Filani how it felt to have this event honoring his work, have your work in bronze, and see people appreciating it, his response was very humble. He expresses to us that he was very appreciative of being recognized but he wanted to put the most emphasis on the sculptures. He sees himself as a tool that can be used to contribute to this society in hopes that others will do the same. 

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SOT: Dr. Tolulope Filani    00:18

In: When things like this happen

Out: Will be appreciated and celebrated

Transcript: When things like this happen it seems to me like it is a way of reassuring everybody young, old, and new that whatever you contribute to the society, someday somewhere along the line it will be appreciated and celebrated.

Overall, the Orangeburg Massacre is very memorable for the county of Orangeburg as well as South Carolina State University. This is a very tragic story but I am very glad that we celebrate it each year.

A Day to Remember: Minority Softball Prospect Game

 

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One day I will always remember is participating in the first-ever Minority Softball Prospect softball game. A couple days before I arrived, it was announced that I would be competing in the homerun derby. I was not nervous because I had been preparing for this day for about a month now. 

The first day everyone arrived, we had a meet and greet and dinner with everyone. It was very exciting to see people I have played against and meet new people. After the meet and greet, I went with my sister to get our nails done. For the last event of the day, we took professional headshots in the collar shirt that they provided for us.

The next day (competition day) I woke up excited about what was in store for the day. After warming up and hitting the front toss it was time for the competition. There were three rounds, six contestants, and the bottom two of each round were eliminated. Each round had different time limits and different rules that you had to follow.

 

In the first round, I hit five home runs which was the second most. Next round this other player and I hit seven home runs. I was a little nervous for the last round especially since we had tied for the second round. In the last round, I hit three home runs and now it was her turn. It was kind of hard to watch because I was wondering was my best enough. 

I ended up winning the competition. This is a day to remember because as one of the only freshmen at this event, I won the first-ever Minority Prospect Softball homerun derby. 

I was very excited and waved to my mom and sister to come down on the field. There were so many cameras and people asking me questions. This was very overwhelming at the time. At that moment, I was very proud of myself and those who helped me prepare for the event. There were so many people back home cheering me on. I was also posted on many different social media platforms like Gamechanger. Overall, this will always be a day to remember because I love defying the odds because many people didn’t think I was capable of this type of accolade.

Outlook on 2024

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My outlook for the New Year is that it will be very busy. For the first 5 months, I will be training and playing softball. This is my second year playing softball here at South Carolina State University Softball is a big part of my life and I have been playing since I was seven years old. Every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday we have weights at 6 a.m. and this allows us to become stronger and faster.

My roommates are also my teammates. Recently we had media day. We put on our uniforms to take our headshots, action shots, and the team picture. Two of my roommates and I have been playing softball together since we were in sixth grade. My other roommate and I just met when we came to college but she fits into the group like our missing piece.

We play almost every weekend and we also do a lot of traveling. Some of our competitors are North Carolina Central University, Howard University, and Delaware State University. Overall, the first part of my year will be very busy. Our goal for this year is to win the MEAC tournament. We have been practicing six days a week for about three hours each day in order to reach this goal. I feel as if we will reach this goal because we have been working hard and we are a pretty close team. Being able to trust your teammates is a huge part of winning that many people do not realize. I am very excited for this year and cannot wait to see us reach our full potential.

Commerical

 In Mr. Harwood's class we had to creat a commerical or public service annoncement. I decided to create a commerical for my new shoes, Nike Air Max. I produced this video at home in Lancaster, SC. 

I learned how to be creative with my content. I also learned how to add music and flash to my videos.

Halloween Candy Corn Package

 In class we had the opportunity to make a video asking people how they felt about halloween candy corn Because I was absent that day, I decided to ask my teammates and coaches some questions. This video included clips of my teammates and coaches here at South Carolina State.

I learned more editing skills for this project. Knowing how to put together different sound bites was cruical for this assignment.

Creative Lighting Project

 For this class project, we learned how to create different effects using only light. This first picture uses flat frontal lighting. This type of lighting only uses a main light and it is located near the camera at eye level.

Next is Rembrandt lighting. The light is set up at a 45-degree angle to the side of the subject. It is used to create a triangular highlight on the opposite cheek.

Split lighting is used to illuminate only half of the face. The light is placed at eye level and 90 degrees to the side of the subject.

Broad lighting is a portrait lighting pattern where the portion of the subject's face that is turned toward the camera is lit most brightly.

Butterfly lighting is a glamour lighting technique for women. The light is supposed
to create a butterfly-shaped shadow under the nose.

Lastly,
we got to create a scary picture using light as well.

Overall, I learned how to use lighting in order to create many different effects.

Three Point Lighting

 The purpose of three-point lighting is to position three lights to use for visual media. When using three-point lighting, it is important to eliminate the shading and shadows that are produced by direct lighting.

This first image shows the overall setup of three-point lighting. When doing three-point lighting you must have a key light, a fill light, and a backlight. Below I will describe each light and its purpose.

This image is a close-up of my classmate with no lights. I think this image is important so we can see the differences that the key light, fill light, and backlights make.

In this image, the key light is the only light used. The key light is the dominant light source and it can be compared to the sun because it provides the distinctive highlights in the scene.

Next, we used the key light and the fill light. The fill light is known as the secondary light source. It creates depth and dimension in the subject's face. The fill light produces illumination about half as intense as the key light.

Lastly, we added the backlight. The point of the backlight is to be placed opposite the key light shines down on the subject and adds texture to the subject's hair. 

This last image is the setup with all the lights and the subject sitting in the right place. Overall in Mr. Harwood class at SCSU, I learned that three-point lighting is very effective when trying to create good visual media.