The Start of Something New!

        Recently I have been introduced into the complicated and new world of Convergence Journalism. The experience has been interesting and I think it is the complete opposite of what we have been working on all year. The process took a lot longer than I would have thought, but I feel pretty proud in what I created.

The Lego Set
       First thing we did was one day we picked up the cameras and just shot someone building a Star Wars lego set. I thought this was interesting because I am used to storyboarding everything before I shoot. This made me a bit unsure of what to get, do I just filmed whatever shots felt like I could use later in editing.  I sadly  filmed everything in one clip and this made the editing process take a lot longer cause I had to select different sections of the clips to make smaller clips. Another challenge I faced while filming was making the camera steady with only my body, no tripods was allowed during this project. I also struggled with finding a way to incorporate nat noise into my film.
   
     My partner also talked about a bunch of random things while I was trying to get the shots in so I had to cut all of those random thoughts out of my video which took a lot of my shots away. For the editing of the project I mostly spent my time cutting the clips like I mentioned earlier. Then I picked my favorite clips and looked through all my audio to find the sounds I wanted use in my video. Then I wrote a script of what I wanted the audio to be and recorded the voiceovers for my shots. Finally I re-edited my film to match the sound up with the shots I wanted them with. This whole project was really hard for me and it took me longer to edit then I wanted it to.

Blood Drive day

      The next project I got to film was the annual ONW blood drive which was cool because it was the first project I got to do using students, not just E-comm kids. This also provided a challenge because they answered the questions very close-ended which made the editing process hard because I didn't have much audio that I could use in my film. I then cut out all the audio and clips I couldn't use and put what I wanted into the timeline. Then I cut out all the clips that didn't fit with my theme and wrote the script I wanted to use for this project. 

   

I got to use some new technology when I filmed my voice overs because I had a portable microphone at my house and I used it to film my voice overs directly into Final Cut Pro. Overall  that taught me a lot about how to use different kinds of tech. I also learned about story telling and how to get a persons story in. This was a challenge because I figured out that I didn't have enough footage during the editing process and I had to use another groups footage to help my video along. I also ran into trouble when I was told that the person I had filmed wasn't actually eligible to donate. In hindsight I should have filmed two stories just to ensure that I got a person who was eligible to donate. Well you know what they say, Hindsight is always 20/20. Anyway I think this video turned out pretty well and I just wish I had gotten more shots to make it longer and follow a better story. 

   

 A struggle that I ran into consistently was my Informal interviews. I feel like that is a skill that I need to improve on. I had a lot of problems getting the people to talk and I also had a problem getting people to answer openly and not just with yes or no answers. I know that I can be an introvert and that I need to work on that skill of mine. Anyway all in all I feel pretty happy with how my projects went and I know the skills I need to improve on for next time.

     

Character Story Animation

(I Know there is an awkward black screen at the end. I could not figure out how to get rid of it sorry..)

The scope of this project was to create a story using After Effects with multiple scenes and camera changes. First I started with storyboarding the project and deciding that I wanted to make a Captain America story. Then  I drew out my character and scanned in the images. The hardest part came when I started to edit my drawings in Photoshop by changing the lines and adding color. I also added my background in the background at the same time. That took the longest because I am not a very good artist and I had a lot of editing to do to make my drawings better for the assignment. The final step was to make the images scenes in After Effects and make all the scenes into one clip. I learned a lot about time management from this project and about my drawing and how to edit the drawing on photoshop. I would pick an easier topic to draw and spend more time on the After Effects part to make it better quality.  I would still do the same kind of shots just maybe get to work on them more. I will use my lessons about time management on my next project and in all future projects.

Music Video Blog

Music Video

The scope of this music video project was to create a story that told a story and worked with a song of our choice. We chose our song and then  created our theme of bullies and superheroes to go with the song.  The next step was to create a beat sheet which lined up beats of our song with shots of us. Then we went out and shot our stuff which took longer, but we got lots of shots in and got a lot of extra shots. Finally I started the editing stage which took about a week to decide which shots would go best where and what music to use and how to mix it. The music probably took me longest to make the music and beats line up with the shots.

I learned a lot during this video making a longer video with more people in our group. Technically I learned a lot about how to use some different parts of Final Cut Pro and also how to get some cool shots near the camera. Professionally I learned that larger groups mean more likely to get off task and a lot better chance of getting more bloopers and taking longer to film.

If I could do this again differently I would have kept my team on task more and try to make our time spent working more productive and not as much goofing off. I would do that because we had some problems staying on task and focusing on only our projects and not other projects we could have done. I really liked the theme of switching between universes and I would do that again because I loved how it kind of flowed with the music and also added a cool theme to the whole video.

I would use my experiences with large groups and with the sound problems I had in the future on other projects. I think in general I would pick a different song next time just to have less problems with the music.

Plausible Impossible

Donald and Gus are both wanting the last pea and so on goes the battle for the pea on the table. This is plausible because someone could have a battle for that, but it is impossible for them to so this battle they way they are doing it. They are both using their air to try and get the pea and this is impossible in itself.  This is impossible also because later in the scene, they bring the pea in the air and gravity would have already overcome it before they could get it in the air. 

Another Plausible Impossible is when Gus is pulling the peas across the table with a straw. This is plausible beacuse in theory you could accomplish this using your air. It is impossible though because you could not accomplish this across the entire table. This is also impossible because there is no way a goose bill could work a straw like that.

 This plausible impossible is about the special watch Gus carries around. It is plausible because you can have a watch theta tells you when you need to eat and what time your meals would be at. It is impossible though to have a watch that changes the meals and points rapidly at the time as shown later in the cartoon. It is also impossible because they do not make these kind of watches.

 This example of plausible impossible is when Donald gets the mailbox stuck on his head. It is plausible because in theory if your mailbox is big enough then goes your head could be shoved into it. It is impossible though because a head does not change sizes to fit inside the mailbox. Also you would get severe head injures  from being shoved into a mailbox.

This final example of plausible impossible is when Gus starts shuffling the bread a meat like playing cards. This is plausible because this in theory would work just fine and would fit nicely together, like most things in the animated world do. This is impossible though because in the real world if you tried this you would literally throw food all over your house, not into a nicely stacked pile. Also the food would not be perfect shapes so they would all move in a different pattern.

Perspective Project

Something I took away form this project was the ability to move all the scenes and keep the background in place. I also learned how difficult it was to make each layer move at a different speed and still look good. Finally I learned how to erase little spots in the background and make them disappear. 

The Chase

The scope of my project was to create a film that went from point, to point, to point and told a story all using the six shot system.

First I started in Pre-Production where we collaborated on our story and drew up our storyboard. The storyboard was a detailed overview of our film. Next up was Production where we started filming our story and filmed for about three to four days . Finally I started Post-production where I edited my video in two days.

Along the way I learned a lot about having your supplies there everyday. Technically I learned a lot about filming the different kinds of shots needed in an action sequence and also how to make short fast cuts on our story when editing our clips. Professionally I learned about incorporating the group ideas into the final story. I also learned about how we worked together as a team.

Next time I would film more transition shots then I think I need because I mess up. Also I would try to film each shot multiple times in case of mistakes.

I would have the same amount of close ups as I had this time because I think they were about half of my film and took up the majority of the time of the video.

I would take some of the collaboration experiences from this project and apply them to other projects. Also I would probably like to have the same group dynamics because my partner and I worked really well together.

Character Walk

My character isa robot. I designed it as a robot because I wanted something with lots of lines and easy to draw. I also thought it would be easier to upload and make walk.





















   I had some problems with my characters legs being too big and her dress was hard to animate. I had a couple of keyframes that skipped and went too fast. To create the keyframes I moved the first letup, then down and back. I repeated this step for both legs and copied these keyframes to create the animation across the screen. Then I went back to the dress and pulled it across the screen at a slower pace.

I learned about how animating the robot worked. I also learned how to resize the legs and make them move slowly. I had a big problem with the legs and getting them to walk across the screen properly. If I should redo this project I would change the character I drew to make it better looking. I feel like it was mot my best work, but it was better than it could have been. 

Post-Critique

First was that my animation had a skip in it when it moved across the screen. The other was that my animation went too fast across the screen. They also said that my legs moved well. I am going to fix this by fixing my keyframes to make them line up better.

INSERT NEW ANIMATION HERE

Late Again

Sequencing helps the audience understand the movements in a film, It also helps the audience understand how a subject got to where they are from where they were.

Close up of the Face is important in a film because it shows emotion and detail in the face to the audience.

Close up of the feet is important because it shows detail in the feet and action.

Close up of the hands are important because they show detail and what the character is doing.

Medium shots are important because they don't show a lot of detail, but they still help tell the story.

This medium shot is important because it shows where the charter is and what he is doing.

This over the shoulder shows what the character is doing and also his body in the shot.

Over the shoulder shots are important because they show the character in the shot as well as what they are doing.

Wide shots are important because they establish where the character is and establishes the story.

This wide shot shows where the subject is going and closes the film.

Worm

This is the worm I created, First with Photoshop, Then with After Effects. First in Photoshop I created a grass and sky background then in a new layer I created my worm and then exported it to After Effects. Once in After Effects I added pins to my worm, starched the head, and then made the move in the pins. Then I went to position and moved my worm across the screen. Finally I rendered my worm out and finished my project.

First Bounce

  This project was difficult and new to me. First we stared out in Adobe Photoshop and created our animation there first. Then we put a still of our background into After Effects and started our animating process. We set the key frames and moved the ball across the screen. This will help me understand After Effects in the future.

Cutting Carrots

      This project was mostly to introduce us into the six shot system and how to use final cut pro. I learned all about the final cut pro system and and the shortcuts it uses. I also learned alot about the new cameras and technology and how to use the camera and tripod. I will apply these techniques to filming and editing all future projects.