The Almost Breakfast Club

Overall View

Recently in E-comm we have dedicated our time to a new project: the recreation of movie trailer (set in high school). We were assigned groups in which we would decide which trailer to recreate. My group, which consisted of Shaylee (director), Maddie (cinematographer), Alexis (Art Director), and I as the main editor, decided on The Breakfast Club as our trailer of choice. We dedicated time during school and after for our best attempt of recreation, although we fell short of completion.

The Process Behind The Tragedy

The Breakfast Club seemed like an easy task at first, but eventually as events turned out it proved to be otherwise. First we started by creating scripts and storyboards. I was tasked with the storyboards while our director helped create the scripts. Shortly after, our Art Director created costume lists, and our cinematographer created prop lists, resulting in our pre-production process being completed fast. But, during our production days our actors were unavailable, resulting in the constant change of actors, therefore leading to my group playing the part ourselves. Due to schedule conflicts within the group as well, we ended up with an unfinished trailer. Although we all mainly worked hard, we came close to completion.

Reflection Upon Semi Completion

Although the majority of my group put forth their best effort for completion, our group ran out of time resulting in our submission of a semi completed project. Schedule conflicts, actor changes, and unavailable equipment played a major role in our struggles towards completion. If I had tried to recreate this trailer again, I would be the director and worked with new people to create available time spans, as well as a specific schedule to follow.  

Music Video

     General Overview

     As of late in video production, we've spent the past month working on a music video. My group consisted of Blake Gamber as the Main Editor, Addy Osborn as the Art Director, River as the secondary Art Director who primarily filled roles and completed extra tasks if needed, Blake Dane as Cinematographer, and myself as the Director for the video. We went for a story look for our music video, following the concepts of a guy who is lonely and lost, who eventually finds a love interest and becomes content. The story follows a storyline of 3 days that gradually become happier as the character progresses. Overall we had arranged several film dates and spent class time sorting out the specifics as a group, but our project was incomplete by the date of the deadline, resulting in a almost finished video.

     The Process

     Our group split up the work and attempted to divide and conquer, first by scouting main actors and extras, locations, and props. Addy, River, and I took care of scouting for extras and other necessities, although we did not use majority of them. Afterwards, River and I starting with school scenes on film dates we set. But, during these times we ran into problems such as a school gas leak, extras not showing up, or misunderstood availability of main actors. After school scenes we worked on house scenes at Blake Gamber's house. Addy and River accompanied Blake Gamber to film these scenes. Shortly after we prioritized park and car scenes, with Addy and River accompanying me on several occasions to film, yet none of extras turned up and our actors abruptly had schedule conflicts resulting the scrapping of the footage due to having to refill with different light. Overall we had arranged roughly 11 film dates, and out of those only 6 were able to be used. But, once all, was said and done for the most part we could begin to edit our film, with Blake Gamber's being the priority.

     Collaboration

     In my personal opinion, I believe the majority of my group worked together to get this project done with the intent of submitting it into a competition. But, there were definitely group conflicts that restricted our capabilities a bit. For example, when we were attempting to set dates for filming the collective group put down their availability for almost every day, except Blake Gamber who left his availability vague stating he is "free any day he is not working" although we had no way of knowing which days he was, which turned out to be everyday. Blake D did not show up to any film sessions and failed to help contribute to group ideas or plans, which made it difficult since someone else had to fill the role of cinematographer on set. Then of course as mentioned earlier, our actors had conflicts such as robotics which was not typically expressed until the date of filming. As a result, reliability was an issue, so setting up dates to film was difficult for the most part. Another issue we ran into was the argument of changing the script on set, which delayed filming. For example, if Addy disagreed with a segment in the script we had to struggle back and forth until we could come to a conclusion, using up time needed for filming. River although was extremely helpful and contributed in almost every way towards the project. She provided valuable insight and much needed help for setting up equipment. Due to these collaboration issues we inevitably ran out of time, yet our project looked rather appealing so the outcome is not that disappointing.

     Personal Overview

     In my opinion, I tried my hardest to keep the project afloat, showing up to every film session except the one hosted at Blake Gamber's house. I helped recruit extras, check out equipment, and schedule film dates. One flaw of mine during filming was my mistakes of continuity on two of the lunchroom scenes, which I had hoped to redo but we ran out of time. I believe that River, Addy and I contributed the most to this project, whereas our other group mates failed to accompany us to filming or help with ideas in class. If I could do this project again, I would choose more reliable group mates that would help contribute to lighten the workload, and I would focus more on availability and continuity. 

First Feature Story

The Feature Story:

Recently in Ecomm, we worked on developing a feature story to demonstrate our skills, and present in class. We were paired up into groups, and tasked with finding unique traits and demonstrating them through a sequence of shots, B-roll, and a full fledged interview. The person I interviewed was Eric Baker, member of the dungeons and dragons club and medieval history enthusiast. 

Behind The Scenes:

This project, overall, took roughly 3 weeks to complete. During this time we filmed the interview, B-roll, and edited the final product. At the start we starting throwing things out, trying to come up with a topic to discuss. Once we latched onto a subject, we formulated questions and stayed after school to shoot the interview. Shortly after, we stayed after school again to get footage of the dungeons and dragons club for B-roll. Once we had all the footage we needed, we spent a day putting together the clips and using editing techniques we were taught during class.

Results From This Project:

Due to this project I was able to learn the process of creating a story on film. I learned how to properly use a camera paired with a lavalier microphone, and how to test audio levels before filming took place. I have acquired new knowledge on how to properly interview someone, and how to scout a well suited location to film. Although there were a lot of ideas I have learned to this project, there are also a few things I would change. For example, I was paired in a group of 3, and although I know this was unavoidable, it still made working as a group difficult since we had to work together to make an additional feature story, since the majority of the class was paired in groups of two. Also, it would be additionally helpful if we were taught about the tools in Adobe Premiere Pro to help soften the time spent on editing. I am rather unfamiliar with Adobe softwares, so a large chunk of my time is spent trying to navigate the menus, especially since I'm already accustomed to a different editing software I use for personal reasons. 

4th Quarter Reflection and Group Project

Our Company Logo and Product Logo

Our Company Poster

Our Project:

Product Banner

     For our last quarter of e9 we incorporated skills gathered throughout the year in a group based project. The project used skills from video production, graphic design, and animation to make a believable company and presentation to show to our judges (aka teachers). There were many ups and downs with this project, and I would say the most challenging part was the 3d animation and box design because it was hard to get a clear image of what we wanted to do. At first our group started out slow, coming up with various ideas and pitching them to the rest of the group, but then we caught on and split up the tasks to accomplish goals faster. The project took almost all the available class time during quarter 4 to complete, but the outcome was definitely worth the effort. My accomplishments as an individual in the group were not astounding, but they were definitely contributive and credible. I spent my time working on the 3d animation and box design as well as some of the creative construction of the product and company, and with the constructive feedback from my peers I was able to shape my work into pieces that fit well with our company and plan. After working with my group this quarter, I have learned several new skills in fields such as video production and graphic design that I could potentially use in future works for myself. Overall I would say that I'm rather proud of my work and my contributions, but also my group as a whole.

Animation for our website

Animation to put on other's websites

Use of Class Time:

Company banner

     During class I would say that I remained a mixture between productive and unproductive. Although I was distracted easily, I still managed to complete my work on time with that being either the use of time out of class or the implementation of my peers ideas or feedback to help me make a solid product. Majority of my work was done during class, but during the filming period we did use time out of class to get a better shot and work on our filming skills as a whole. Also, I spent some time out of class researching potential editing tricks and skills for the commercial portion of our project to possibly improve mine and make it fit with the ideas I had in my head. My team and I also spent time communicating after school to check up on the completion of products that were others responsibilities (although I did try and provide feedback for said products).

Strengths:

     After my official first year of E-communications, I can proudly say that my areas of expertise are in the video production and animation fields, especially since those fields are the ones I receive the most joy and entertainment out of. I have had experience with these fields in the past, but E-comm has helped me better my skills and taught me more about the things I love. I try to incorporate my strengths and use them the best I can, whether that be my edits on our commercial or feedback for parts of our project like the logo or animation.

Areas of Improvement:

     After realizing my strengths in E-comm, I have also realized the parts that need improvement. For example, I would definitely say that I need to work on my capabilities in the 3d aspect of things using softwares such as Sketchup, as well as my filming skills with the camera and tripod. In the future I wish to improve my 3d models as well as my use of different angles and shots while filming. For these reasons, I believe I still have a long way as an E-communications student.

My Thoughts on Quarter 4:

     As a wrap up for the entirety of quarter 4, i would definitely say that I loved working in a group and using everyones specific talents to master and put together a project. If I could restart this quarter I would definitely try and contribute some more to the group, rather than completing my tasks and letting the others figure out there, which then as a result would speed up the process and increase my work ethic. I would say the take away lesson from all this is that everyone has their own talents, and a long road ahead to perfecting them, so it's always better to have feedback from others but still be confident in your abilities. Next year I hope to keep progressing in the fields of animation and video production, and improve my flaws. This year has been a great learning experience for me, as well as a place for me to show off my skills and wind down and just enjoy my hobbies.

Our website:

Our Commercial and Packaging:

CSS and CARP Design

Website Project:

This week we have been working on designing a website with a program called Adobe Dreamweaver.  We used an original html file and then added on to it, so the original and edited one look different from each other. The original file had a white background with black text and an image of a dog on the left side. Once we finished editing the CSS files of the original html file, we had major differences. In the edited html, we moved the dog over to the right side, and changed the background to black with the middle being an almost white color. We also played with the fonts and their height, and we linked the original html to the newer edited one. These pictures are from the live view of this website.

Contrast:

Contrast was used in this CSS style using colors. The backgrounds are opposite colors, so they contrast well. Also, The tan text contrasts the almost white background, adding to the contrast effect even more. The contrast is much more visible in the edited version than it is in the original html file.

Alignment:

Alignment was used in the edited html file with all the main text being aligned along the left. Also, the main heading and the subheading are right next to each other, with the main heading above the sub heading.

Repetition:

Repetition is used in the edited html file with all the text being one of two colors. The important headings and text are tan, and the poem is black. Also, the line height and spacing is the same throughout the poem.

Proximity:

Proximity is used in the edited html file with the relationship between the poem paragraphs being close together, and the headings being closer together. Also, the dog was moved to give help the layout more.

New Knowledge:

With this project, I have learned how to take an already existing html file and change it up to make it more unique. This project was fun in the fact that you could edit an existing html file and compare the changes to the original html file. Also, the checklist made things easier so overall this project was fun and easy.

My Personality Type

My Personality Type:

My personality type is ENTP which I got as a result of taking the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Test. This sequence of letters shows that I'm flexible with new problems and tasks that I'm given, resourceful and able to create new solutions, smart in terms of reading other people, and bored easily by things repetitive or that stay the same. I quickly react to problems and I'm quick in turning from one interest to another, so I'm constantly experiencing new ideas and interests. 

Famous People With The Same Personality Type:

Many people in the past have had the same personality type as I currently do, and some of those include Benjamin Franklin, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Niccolo Machiavelli. All of these people experienced the same sort of thoughts or behavioral patterns as I have. But, a few people who are considered evil have also had the same personality type. For example Mao Zedong, or the Dictator of Communist China also has the same type of personality type as I do.

My Personality Animal: 

After I took the Lion/Otter/Golden Retriever/Beaver Test I added up all my points and came to the conclusion that  fall into the "Beaver" category. The beavers are very organized and quick thinkers, and they value creativity and respect. But their weakness is pressure by others and trying too hard to be perfect. This category suits me quite well because I believe it aligns with my strengths as well as my interests. 

My Thoughts On My Personality Type:

I Believe this personality type does actually represent me very well, and it has helped me realize some of my own thoughts and behavior as well. For example, I believe that I do overthink things and that I tend to stick to a certain type of group of friends. This personality type shows that I have the capabilities to lead a team or stay on task and follow the lead of others, and I have learned that it's good to be prepared and that I can be rather flexible and resourceful if I need to be.

AB Sequence

  

About This Project:

Recently we have been working on a project that attempts to make moving from one place to another more entertaining. We used different techniques such as adding obstacles and different angles to make the movement more enjoyable to watch. We used Ipads and tripods to record the scenes, and Adobe Premiere Pro to put them all together into a sequence of events. This project took roughly 1 week to fully complete both recording and editing.

 How We Completed This Project:

We completed this project by separating different tasks and taking each task a step at a time. We first began by splitting up the work between 4 different people, since we worked in small groups on this project. After we determined the director, main actor, side actors, and cameraman, we began story boarding to put together a simple story taking place in the school where a student had to travel from one point to another. We came up with many ideas but we decided on this one revolving around hot pockets because it seemed the most unique of the ones we came up with. Then, we spent the next two days filming various scenes, trying to keep many of the constants the same. Once we were finished with the filming we hopped on the computers and began editing using Adobe Premiere Pro. We added quick cuts, zooms, and other various effects that we needed. The music we used in our film is a few songs we picked from a long list of royalty free songs. After the video was completely edited we exported it and uploaded it to our youtube channels to be viewed.

New Ideas and Possible Changes:

During the making of this film, I learned many new techniques to spice up movement to make it less dull and boring. Obstacles are a must in films to add anticipation and action, and I have learned that now. If I were to do this whole project over again I would film a few scenes different, and have less clips but have them be longer rather than having a lot of short clips so they could all fit together more smoothly.

Printing a Document Video

Project Concept:

Recently we have started a project where we demonstrate the process of printing a document at Olathe Northwest, adding comedic affect to show the confusion some highschoolers might have when first attempting to print a document. The project was completed using Ipads on tripods, and the video editing application known as Adobe Premiere Pro. The project was split into 3 parts, the planning/storyboarding, shooting, and editing. Overall this project took roughly 2 weeks.

Process Behind The Project:

When we first began this project, we brainstormed potential locations and stories with a partner. Once we set the storyboards and scouted an area suitable to film, we grabbed our equipment such as the tripod and Ipad. My partner and I decided to shoot the scenes in the library, which took several takes with us maneuvering the tripod into other locations. One of the major points of this project was to use each of the 6 basic shots and the rule of thirds to draw in the viewer. In all the shots we took I was the actor playing the part of the confused student whereas my partner filmed the scenes. Many parts were trimmed to keep the story short and simple. Background music was added to fit the theme of the story and audio from the video itself was cut to make the video even more simple.

Confusion and Correction:

There are many things that I believe could be changed and made better throughout our video. This was the first time my partner and I used the tripod, leaving us confused on how to properly center the Ipad and keep the shot balanced. If I were to do this project again I would redo the beginning scene since it was wobbly and unbalanced. Also I would trim a few other clips such as the scenes where I move the mouse across the screen. Overall the project was relatively simple, with many of the tasks not requiring much work. Also, I have had experience with filming and video editors before so the project was easily manageable.

Website

My Personal Website

What We Made:

We have just completed a project that involved us making our own personal website in Adobe Dreamweaver. The website featured a personal photo, and multiple pages and links which showed off some our projects as well as a personal description describing ourselves. This project lasted many days and was a great learning experience.

The Process:

We first began by doing the basics, like renaming certain files to make them easily accessible in Adobe Dreamweaver. Afterwards, we took a photo of ourselves and saved all the files into our server folder. Shortly after, we began creating our website in Dreamweaver by added in details such as our "Elevator Pitch" or personal description, our title and name, and our photo we took previously. Next we added link to our blog, school website, and E-communications website. We also created a menu and added another page connected to our current home page, and we made it feature our projects and creations. Then, we made sure to link the projects page to our home page to make it accessible. Once we were done with all the major parts, we began personalizing our web page with different fonts, font colors, and background colors. 

Would I Ever Recreate This Process?

If I was offered a chance to do this project again, I would most likely participate again. This project was actually quite enjoyable and it was astonishing to see the work you put in the code transform into a web page before your very eyes. This project has also expanded my knowledge by quite a bit since I was never really comfortable with designing web related stuff until now. 

 

Sketchup House

The Sketchup Project

We recently began using an application known as "Sketchup" to create 3d models for objects such as chairs and houses. This application is used by many animators and architects to plan out an idea before constructing it. Our project was based on taking pictures and blueprints for real houses, and recreating them in Sketchup. We also took two outside textures and used them in the design of our house. Afterwards we created a video to show a panorama of the whole house, getting dynamic shots of each side along with our 2 favorite features we created.

The Process Behind the Build

The project all in all took roughly a week, with each part of the process taking a couple days. We first began by searching for a house with a minimum of 500 square feet on https://www.houseplans.com, and once I found the one I was looking for, I saved all the pictures and blueprints for the layout. Next we began remaking the foundation and the house itself in Sketchup, using exact measurements to make sure the textures looked relatively the same as in the picture. After that, we began adding features such as doorways, walkways, and windows to make it look like a modern home. Once the layout and design of the house was made, we then added textures to give color to the house and make it look realistic. During this process, I took two outside textures (one for my front door floor mat, and one for my porch since those textures were hard to make in Sketchup) and I transferred them into Sketchup so I could improve the design of my house. Shortly after, we added dynamic lighting and shadows to make your house look as if it was truly there in the landscape. Finally, once we were finished with the house entirely, we made a short video showing the design of our house.

General Thoughts

This project all in all was really enjoyable, with us being able to create our own houses and customize them. But, it was very confusing at first and for the most part it too us a really long time to get started. If I were to do this project again, I would have probably spent more time making the roof and designing it. The roof to me was the hardest part, since you had to get the right shape or else Sketchup would twist and turn it the wrong way. It was also really hard for me to add the hanging sides off the roof that prevent water from simply running down your walls. The rest of the project was smooth sailing though, which resulting in an interesting and relatively fun experience. 

My Video of House: https://youtu.be/2IJDQX7Ab78

The blueprint for the house

The house I chose off of Houseplans.com

The porch texture I chose

The Floor Mat texture I chose

Ball Bounces

This Project:

Recently, we have been learning how to create small animations in Adobe Photoshop. We were then tasked with making an animation where a ball bounces, and the rest was up to us. So I decided to go crazy and make a monster attacking the ball. The project was pretty fun and it was great that we got to input our own ideas.

The first and simple ball bounce design

The Process:

My last and most creative design

We first began by making a ball bouncing in an arch shape coming from off the screen then bouncing into grass. We did this by using the brush tool and creating grass, then making a ball using the ellipse tool and making it land in grass. We created a rough outline of where the ball should go in each frame, then frame by frame we moved the ball giving the appearance of movement. After we did the first and simple design, we then repeated this process but then had creative freedom to make the ball do whatever we want after it bounced. I then began to make an Octopus using the brush tool and I made a tentacle appear to grasp and take the ball out of sight. 

What I learned:

I learned that you can make animations using photoshop, and how to make objects appear to bounce frame by frame. I also learned how to make the grass texture used in the background by changed the style of the brush tool.

Personal Logo

Tested logo ideas. Only one made the cut.

Final logo I stuck with from the original artboard.

Personal Logo

Process of making my logo:

We first began by making some crude rough drafts in our art sketchbooks to test shapes and designs that represents us. I made many logo ideas, but only 4 were chosen as a foundation for what we were about to begin in Adobe Illustrator. Once we were ready to begin using Adobe Illustrator, we received some constructive criticism from our teacher on how to incorporate our ideas into the software. Once we began using Adobe Illustrator, we made many variations of one or more logos we decided to stick with. Using color, text, and shapes we made many designs on a single dartboard (as seen above), I decided on my final logo and made its own separate artboard.

Reasons behind the colors, shapes, and text:

I decided to make the character blue to show that I can be dependable or trustworthy. Also, the reason behind the red is to show a supposed rift or fight since red is the color of war or fighting, while the blue dependable person holds everything together. The shapes were put together to make a person, but he looks very friendly since he is completely round and doesn't have any jutting edges. I made the text round and curvy to make it seem as though they are being pulled closer together.

Mockup:

How my logo would appear on the back of a company van

How my logo would appear on company merchandise

How my logo would appear on the inside of the front of a store

Anatomy of Typography

Typography and how it is used in my name. The blue labels describe certain parts of the text, as well as the lines it sits on.

The Project Itself:

The project was based on the anatomy or parts of text that make up the text/font itself. We used Adobe Illustrator to label several parts of text in my name, and we showed the basic lines that text lays on, such as the Caps Height, X-Height, and Base Line. The blue text represents the labels, and I used 10 total separate labels to describe parts of the text in my name.

What I have learned:

I learned that there are many simple yet overlooked parts that complete the text, and all of them are important. I also learned about the existence of the X-height, since before I was only aware of the Base Line and the Caps Height. 

How it went:

The project went smoothly and it was easy to understand, since most of the parts are simple and easy to label using the text and line tools in Adobe Illustrator. I was able to use a reference to help me find certain parts of the text, which made things easier to understand. 

Logo Color Schemes

Analogous 

John Deere's logo

This logo uses the analogous colors of green and yellow. I think this company chose these colors because the green represents fresh food, and the yellow shows how energetic they are.

Subway's Logo

This logo uses the analogous colors of green and yellow. I think this company chose these colors because they resemble the equipment they sell.

Complementary

Visa's logo

This logo uses the complementary colors of orange and blue. I think this company chose these colors because the orange represents their friendly attitude, and the blue shows that they can be trusted.

Fanta's Logo

This logo uses the complementary colors of orange and blue. I think this company chose these colors because the orange represents the attraction to the drink, and the blue shows the their drinks can be trusted.

Warm

McDonald's logo

This logo uses the warm colors of yellow and red. I think this company chose these colors because the red and the yellow mix well together, and they show a simple design.

MasterCard's logo

This logo uses the warm colors of orange and red. I think this company chose these colors because the orange and red merge together well, and these show the similarities that they have.

Cool

Intel's logo

This logo uses the cool color of blue. I think this company chose this color because the blue shows that they are dependable, and that their products are cool rather than warm.

Samsung's logo 

This logo uses the cool color of blue. I think this company chose this color because it shows that their products can be trusted.

Monochromatic

Animal Planet's logo

This logo uses the monochromatic colors of light green, green, and dark green. I think this company chose these colors because it shows that it is all about nature.

A & W's Logo

This logo uses the monochromatic colors of light brown, brown, and dark brown. I think the company chose these colors because the colors look similar to how their drinks look.

Triad Colors

Burger King's logo

This logo uses the triad colors of blue, yellow, and red. I think the company chose these colors because the red they all contrast each other and make one another stand out. Also their colors overall represent love, dependability, and excitement.

Lidl's logo.

This logo uses the triad colors of blue, yellow, and red. I think this company chose these colors because they make the simple logo unique, and the colors give off a "hero" kind of look.

Color Wheel Project

Idea Behind This Color Wheel:

This project was meant to show the different types of colors, ranging from primary, to secondary, to tertiary colors. We used a variety of shapes in Adobe Illustrator by using the shape tool. We first began by creating the outline of the color wheel using a circle and 2 triangles. Then we began to place the primary colors and connect them by the solid triangle, and shortly we placed all the secondary colors and connected them by a dashed triangle. Soon after, we added the tertiary colors to complete the color placement on the color wheel. Lastly, we labeled each color using the text tool and added a title to the top. 

What I Learned:

I learned how to use the basic tools in Adobe Illustrator to create and design a graphic, I learned various short-cut keys that aligned with each tools, and I learned how to format and save a project so it is accessible and able to be used in this blog

If I could do this project again:

I would use shot-cut keys to reduce the time it took me to finish making the shapes and color wheel. Also, if I could do this project again I would be able to complete it in less time considering the fact that I'm more knowledgable about Adobe Illustrator.

Sidewalk Chalk

Our team in the middle of working

Our finished product

        For the past few days, we have been working on a small project called sidewalk chalk where we worked in small groups to create a picture out of chalk to represent members in the group. We picked out multiple colors, perferably brighter colors, and we divided airspace into sections so we could each draw a picture to represent ourselves. We first began brainstorming on a large piece of paper, which we used as a rough draft for the chalk drawing. We decided it would be best to put something in the middle to represent us all, then use the leftover corners to put one drawing in each corner. In the middle, we drew a raven, then in the corners we drew a longboard for me, a wave, a set of shoes to represent cross country, and a soccer ball. Then, once our rough draft was complete, we then moved onto our final copy in the courtyard. After we chose a square, we then began to choose colors and placement. Our drawing was made of primarily blue and black colors, since Olathe Northwest's colors consist of blue and black. Then we decided on colors that would stand out from the raven and began drawing our pictures in the corners. Afterwards, we made an outline of bright colors to fill some negative space. Although the drawing turned out quite well, the teamwork aspect wasn't all that great. If I could change some aspects to make a better experience for next time, I would have my team be more involved, since I was the one who did majority of the drawing and coloring.