Explore A/V Semester Reflection

Explore A/V

This semester I am in a class in the E-Communications Program at Olathe Northwest High School called Exploring Audio and Video (Explore A/V). During the semester we had many projects we had to do involving a new concept we had to learn along the way. Some projects that were assigned were about an interesting story about someone at our school, our schools blood drive, a procedure video about how to do something at Olathe Northwest, and a news broadcast.

Problems along the way

Whenever you have a plan of what you want to accomplish, doesn't it seem that it never goes exactly the way you want it? Well that's exactly true for these projects we created. First we had to plan out what we were going to film and how we were going to do it. The problem is working around after school and with other activities you do outside of school because our projects are due at a specific date, and also getting the right shots towards your topic and getting enough. I've had that experience before when I didn't get enough footage and my video wasn't very well done and I wished that I got more, so always get more footage then you think you do. Also during our blood drive project we couldn't use tripods to hold our cameras, so we had to hold them ourselves, and many of us were very shaky so all the footage wasn't very good and we only had 10 minutes to get everything we needed including 2 interviews. I didn't like that none of us got much footage but in the end we shared footage with each other and it made it a lot better.

Evaluation

With all the projects we did, a lot of the ideas were stellar on paper, but when we went to do it live, it didn't work out the way we thought it would. The hardest project was probably the news broadcast because we were in a team of about 10-11 people and we all had to come up with a theme and decide on who's doing each part of the broadcast and each of us would pair up and do a news package to go into the broadcast. What really didn't work out was no one agreed with each other on ideas, so we mostly had votes, and that seemed to do the trick on getting everything in on time. Overall, in a partner project, you and your partner have to communicate a lot on what works best to work together. 

Learning and Action Plan

What I learned this semester so far is how to work better with a partner, hold the camera steadier, and write better scripts. What I will do better next semester is work better on editing faster and focus more on what I need to do. What I hope to learn is how to do broadcasts better and get a glimpse of how they will run because I am highly considering of doing mostly broadcasting next year. Below are some of the projects I have done this year

The Bloody Friday the 13th

Scope of the project

Last Friday Olathe Northwest hosted it's semi-annual blood drive and I got a first look of the school's blood drive by getting footage of what goes on inside and take that footage and make a project out of it. The main idea of this project was to cover the blood drive and to see how it all works and to see how many take part in their school spirit.

Process

My process was first I had to plan out what my angle was going to be (Ex: Teacher/student that was giving blood, STUCO member or a phlebotomist) and then I would come up with questions to ask the person I'm planning on using for story. When I got inside to where the blood drive was held, right from the start is very difficult because of so many people into one room with a lot of tables and machines so it was very hard to film great shots as well as keep the camera steady because we didn't have tripods to use and I only had 10 minutes to get what I wanted including interviews. When I was all done filming what I got, which wasn't very much at all, I started writing my script and doing voice overs, and then after I finished writing, it was time to put it all together to edit. For editing this time, the project had to be either EXACTLY 45 seconds, 1 minute or 90 seconds long. But it was very hard because not many people had enough shots so some of us combined footage to make it for us to have more footage to choose from.

What did I learn?

What I learned along the way was it was very hard to do a story about something that is live and you only have one shot, so if you don't have a plan, you're not going to get amazing shots. Also I learned how to sequence the shots that I kept better, and I made a few minor tweaks in Final Cut Pro and
it looked a whole lot more intriguing to viewer's standpoint.

What I would do differently/same

What I would do differently next time is plan more ahead if I did something like this again even though it was my first time doing it. So I would make sure I have back-up plans as well because you cannot expect your plan to be perfect, so you have to be ready for anything. What I would do the same is keep writing my scripts the way they are because they seem to be flowing very smoothly with all of my videos and they make you wonder what's coming next.

Conclusions

This experience was a good one because it's like a news story, you only have one shot to get it right and this will help with other news stories in the future. Overall this was a fun video to do and I hope I keep learning as much as I can to master my skills.

ONW NOW Story

ONW NOW Story

Scope

This is a story about Roan Stanley, a sophomore at ONW who moved from Memphis, TN who hopes to fit in very well in a new school. The general idea of this story was to show how students like Roan can have their ups and downs while moving but can still have fun and get involved.

Process

How I started was I first interviewed Roan and his mom about what got them thinking about moving and then I went and filmed Roan of what he does everyday.  Then I wrote a script of how the voice overs would play out in the video. Finally I put it all together in Final Cut Pro and put the video with the voice overs into one video.

Things I learned was you definitely need more B-Roll then you think you need cause you can never have to much B-Roll. Also I learned how to focus the camera better and make sure it doesn't go out of focus which also can sometimes be the camera's fault.

What I would do differently/same

What I would do differently next time is get the interviewer to express more in their answers and like I said earlier DEFINITELY MORE B-ROLL! What I would do the same is keep writing the scripts the way I do because they seem to flow very well in all of my videos. 

Experiences/Conclusions

This was a good experience especially because of the time spent and how long it takes to make it.  In conclusion, this video was a fun won to make and hopefully I make more

Professional Article Review on Vultures or Reporters?

Last Thursday, there was a shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, OR and a gunman opened fired leaving 9 people dead and 7 others wounded before he shot and killed himself. One student at the college began live tweeting that there was somebody shooting on campus. Right away reporters and TV producers from different news casts started to request interviews from the girl and she described the requests as "Absolute Human Vultures".

The author of this article is arguing that the reporters going out of their way just to get information about a story. Jason Silverstein, a breaking news reporter for the New York Daily says that "It's our job. And it's a job that needs to be done regardless of some tweets calling you a scumbag." What Silverstein is saying is that reporters have to get information somehow to do their job, even if it gets in people's business a lot of the time. This article has many strengths including how they used many sources opinions to get both sides of what it takes to get information and if they are getting in the way. Weaknesses would be transitions and words that start each paragraph like in the beginning the article said "So it was Thursday". They should just leave the word so out. Overall it was a good story to read about.

There could be a whole lot of ways to reword a lot of the article but the author did support the main argument and didn't get sidetracked a whole lot. The evidence isn't totally convincing but it made you think both ways and not just one side.  The writer did a very good job of getting a point across without expressing their opinion, but what I didn't understand was when someone tweeted "sickening" I don't know who they are talking about at that point.

In conclusion, the article was a sad story but it was very informational in the long run.

Article Source: Vultures' or reporters?

Audiostory

This is a story about Thomas Barnes, a student at Olathe Northwest, who's taking his music to a whole to level.

Ways of Colors

4 different way of making color words

HTMl 1: 

In this project we used body styles to create font-families and color words to create a website that had a color for text and a background color to make the text and the background color to blend well.  When you code in Dreamweaver you have to have no space in your color words or then they will not function.

For example:

And here's what it looks like when it's finished...

Hexadecimal Color Sampler: 

In this project we used a ton of div styles with different background colors to make the colors of the rainbow and the different shades of black and gray. With all the different div styles you had to change the color codes to make the certain colors by using the RRGGBB scale. 

For example:

Here's the finished product....

RGB and RGBA: 

In this project we used RGBA color samplers to adjust colors to having a lot of transparency to no transparency. By using RGBA's we used the code in Dreamweaver to tell the levels of transparency. .2 being most and .8 being opague.

Here's the final....

In conclusion there are multiple ways of making colors and they can depend on how you use them to make your creations. From going to the colors of the rainbow to the families to the RGBA's they all have a lot in common.

TBL and Color Sampler Websites

These our samples of the first 2 web pages that I made. What I learned in both is that you have to adjust your code to whatever works for you and not the example, because sometimes the computer doesn't register the same as others.

In the Tim Berners-Lee webpage I learned how to insert an image and how to adjust the height and width. In the color sampler webpage was a little harder and you had to be more creative because there are many different shades of color and so everyone will not have the same color code as you. In this one, we used a lot of div's and we learned about the &nbsp's which are a little confusing but those you have to have or the color won't show up. Overall this was fun to make and it's very fun trying to figure out how much red, blue, or green is needed to make a certain color appear.

Procedures Video

This a video on how to get your lunch at ONW.  This is a 30 second video of a person sitting in class and their teacher tells them it's time to go to lunch.  This is a huge basic procedure because lunch time is really the only free time you have but you have to know what you'll need to do in order to make your time more smooth.

Professional Project Review

The story is about this girl named Michaela who is a gymnast and she is a power lifter who competes not only girls but guys.  In this video the shots are very well done and it has a good story that flows very well together.

The story starts out with her and her mom in the kitchen and she explains how she helps her mom out on one side but is strong and trains with her dad on the other side. I would definitely would apply more variety of shots in my own work because they did a very good job of showing her picking up the weights and lifting them. I already know the 1/3 rule and I have been applying it to my videos.

The creator of this video did a really good job of editing and not having many shots last for more than   4 seconds and the amount of gnat noise because you don't want to bore the audience and you want to make it realistic as much as possible.  The could improve on the lighting better if they can because some shots seemed very dark and some were hurting my eyes so if they don't have that sort of glare then it will be better.

Overall, this was a very good story and that she works very hard and it pays off in the end, and that she never gave up. Also it's amazing how much she can lift.

The WayBack Machine

For this project I used the WayBack Machine to find 3 different websites and how they have changed over the years. This is ESPN's website from then to now (left to right).  ESPN has made a whole new website especially since the colors of the old one were very dull, but they one now stands out a little bit more and tells you what you are on. The logo has still stayed the same throughout the years but now there is more videos now then before because all they used back then was pictures.

 Above is the code for the old ESPN (top) and the new ESPN (bottom). There is a big difference in the codes because the old one only uses images and less code, but the new one uses a ton of videos and images and it's one long piece of code. Also there are hovers on the new one and there is no hovers on the old one.

The next site I chose was the Olathe School District's Webpage. Once again, there is a huge difference between the two. Back then Olathe wasn't as big as it is now, and there wasn't as many schools. Now in the old one there are not as many colors as the new one, there isn't as many links and hovers, and there's more images.

Now in the codes the new one uses a lot of href's and the old one used a lot of td's and tf's. Also the new code's text is all green and the old one is red and blue. There is about the same amount of code between both but the old one used a little more. Overall, the website has improved by standing out with many colors.

The final one is Wikipedia. Now when you look right away you can tell there's a lot of differences. The one today has a search bar, and has a logo of a puzzle, while the old website uses only text and has a logo of scribbles. The font is also way different. The old one just only used 1 font and the new one uses many fonts. Including some in different languages.

In the coding in the old Wikipedia they used a lot of var's and in the new Wikipedia they used a lot of td's and tables. Also there is a lot more code in the new one then the old and the old one used more links then today's. Overall all of these websites have changed a lot over time and web designers have gotten more creative over time.

The purpose of the WayBack Machine is to show how websites have changed over the years and how creative people have gotten. They are archiving the videos or links to make them very smooth. Something I found interesting was that it has a library and there are so many different links to go to. 

Final Reflection (individual work)

What was the Scope of this project?

This project was our final project we did as a team of four. The idea of this project was to think of an idea of a product and try to advertise and sell this product that we created. Our group was struggling at first to come up with ideas since most of us don't like to talk much.  But I thought to myself, how can I make the environment better?  I remembered that I hate mowing the lawn all the time, so I offered the group of an idea of an automatic lawn mower that can mow all by itself without you having to do it yourself.

The Process

Now was the question of how we were going to design it. Well I wasn't good with animation or graphics but luckily we had 2 people in our group that were and the worked on that part. Once we had our design, we had to create a website, commercial and logo and present it to our hour. So we divided up rolls to who was doing what and went from there. The hard part was making the commercial because there was really no way that we could film at school, so we had to film outside of school. We learned that the technology was very tough to use to make this and we did surprisingly well working as a team and all got along. Our presentation went well but after hearing our feedback we had to fix a few things like a script and being more convincing,

What we would do next time

Next time we will probably create a product that doesn't have much hassle of filming and designing and probably make something simpler like a writing utensil. What we would do the same is probably keep the same team because we seem to understand each other and can build off of what we did wrong the first time. This was a good experience because it final made me work as a team to get a huge project done and it made me connect with others. When I get assigned to my next big project I will already be experienced with team projects that I will know what to do and hopefully make it easy

What did I do in this project

Well what I did in this project was a lot than I even imagined. The first thing was make the commercial (top). Now each of us in our team had to make their own commercial and then we pick the best of the four and go with that one. The second thing I did was the remote control and that was not too complicated but it was an animation that I did using Google Sketch-Up. It has a power button, two control sticks, an up arrow and down arrow to adjust the height and a speed up and slow down button to adjust the speed you want. The final thing I did was the website where all the content and things our group made that went in there (below). This took the longest because I had to come with content and decide our color schemes and get everything working correctly.  My meyers-brigg was ESFJ and I am very easy-going and like talking to people and that's how I contribute to teams. Overall, this was a complicated, yet fun thing we did, and I can't wait to do e-comm next year as a sophomore. 

AUTO-MAT commercial

This is our commercial about the new automatic lawn mower called the AUTO-MOW. It is an enhanced lawn mower that does its work for you. This is a project that our group decided to create. Our group's idea was to create a lawn mower that works by itself, so you don't have to work out in the   hot sun. Instead wouldn't you want to stay inside and watch TV instead of working all day and wearing yourself out. This new and improved mower will reduce that mowing time of yours and let's you do whatever you want to do. The idea of this project was to create something that would benefit others use in so many ways. Our group was struggling to come up with something until we started thinking about the environment, then ideas came up like that.

Below is our commercial about the new automatic lawn mower called the AUTO-MOW.

Lego Activity

This is a single Lego Brick. Today we did a team building activity using Legos to build whatever we were assigned to build. The rule was that whoever had the instructions couldn't talk or point, depending on the thing we made. We also had a limited amount of time to build. The hardest part was being the leader because you had to explain what you wanted without doing it yourself. In todays world you have to work with a group or team to get things done. Teamwork can be very difficult, especially when it's people you don't like or can't get along with them.

When we were doing the activity I wasn't leading much, but it was a little hard to keep up with my group sometimes because i didn't know what they were wanting. If you have a good and balance team, you can accomplish a lot of things. Even though you may get stuck with people you don't like doesn't mean you don't do any of the work. You should be the one who takes charge and show people what skills you have to contribute.

This activity really helped with my social skills, leading skills, and listening skills. Overall the activity really helped me and I will be able to use this in the near future. This was a good hands on experience and I hope I can take this and learn from it to make myself a better person.

Invasive Species Website

This is my second website that I have made using Dreamweaver. The idea of this was to create my own website using the content and logos that were provided. We had to come up with our own color schemes and pictures to put in our website. The process of our website took a long time. First we had to put in a code of what the dimensions of the website will be and what it will look like. What I will do differently next time is follow the coding very carefully next time so i don't have problems. What i will do the same is blending the text my color scheme. Overall this was a great project and I hope to use this in the future.

Dream-House Animation

This was a house that I created using Google Sketch-Up. The main idea of the project was to create a house that was a one-story building, that had a pitched roof, and an overhang. The process it took to make it was first, I had to find a floor plan that I could use to start building. Once I got my plan, I started building. It wasn't easy at first. The hard part was to create the house to start out with. If you didn't know what you were doing, then you wouldn't know what to put in. My house took me a while to figure out an I had to start over many times. What I learned along the way was how to use Google-Sketch-Up, and how to add components. Components make things much easier but take a lot of space in your file. What I would do differently next time is try to come up with more creative ideas. What I would do the same is add components because they make building so much easier. What I will draw from this experience is that I know how houses were designed and how hard it is to do so. In conclusion, I liked this project better than the chair because I had more time to work on it, and I had someone to help me a lot at home who knew the software.

Animation Project

Scope:

This Animation project I did was the first project I ever did in Keynote and in iMovie. The idea of the project was to create a 30 second animation that interests you and interests others. 

Process:

How I created it was first I had to come up with an idea. Then once I had an idea, I had to storyboard it. After I was done with my storyboard, I started animating in Keynote. The animating was very difficult at first because you had to make the opening scene and that takes the longest, but after that it is pretty easy because you can duplicate multiple slides. Along the way my work did not save in keynote, so I lost 2 days of work, but I caught up in time for the deadline. Then I exported it to iMovie to edit my video of how long the time lapse of each slide will be and I added sound effects. 

What I learned:

I learned the different thing in keynote and how you can use shapes to make a lot of different things. The deadline was also very fast, so you had to go very fast in your animation to get it done. 

What I Would Do Differently Next Time:What I would do differently next time is try to go faster, because I had a complex story but I wasn't always focused. 

What I Would Do The Same:What I would do the same is try to create a fun little story that everyone would enjoy. 

Overall:This was a great experience and now I know what to expect an animated video to look like.

My Video