eXplore A/V Reflection

eXplore A/V taught me a lot of stuff I never knew before. We were assigned a new project about every two weeks and in these two weeks we have to come up with an idea over the topic, film what we need to complete the video whether we have to stay after school or come in early to film it, we have to get interviews of individuals, do voice overs to complete the story and then finally get b-roll to show the story. Once we get all the filming down we have to edit, this includes putting nat noise into the video, j edits, l edits, any background music or noise if needed, text to show who the individual is we are interviewing and just making sure the video you are putting together tells a story. 

One project assigned to us was over our schools blood drive, it was the first

project we did where we had to include everything we learned into it including j and l edits and proper voice overs. we also learned here how to get b-roll on the camera without using a tripod, we had to properly hold the camera still in our hands and record b-roll on our own. The most recent project we did for our final was a whole ONW now story. Our whole class was separated into two groups and we had to assign tasks and jobs for each person and make an 11 minute video with 6 different stories in it. My group decided to make the topic of the video Above and Beyond because we wanted to tell the school how much work our different segments are putting in to get to the top and stay there. 

When doing the blood drive video I had issues figuring out how to make all the audio levels the same throughout the whole video to where it sounds like its at the same level. I also had issues with the j and l edits because we had just breifly learned about them and it was hard for me to understand it fully. When it came to the ONW Now story i had figured out how to do this two things pretty well from my point of view. The ONW Now story was a tough one for me because my partner was gone a lot and when she tried getting interviews at two separate occasions and wasn't filming them either time so on Monday the day the whole video was due I had to stay after till 5:30 and edit everything and do all the voice-overs, I was lucky enough that my 7th hour teacher let me interview one of the students in our class during his hour so she didn't have to stay after school to do it with me. In the end I finished it and was proud to get that weight lifted off my shoulders.

Next semester I'm excited to learn a whole other part of video, its going to be exciting and stressful at the same time but I'm up for the challenge. I also plan on staying after school more to make sure my projects look good and fit all the requirements for the project. 

Blood Drive Project Reviews

Evan
1. Great J and L edits.
2. Audio levels need to be adjusted and maybe lower the background noise when you do your vo.

Nick
1. Great job using the rule of thirds.
2. Audio levels need to be adjusted and lower background noises when you have your vo playing.

Allison
1. I love your audio levels.
2. Have a happier voice when recording your vo and end don't end with your own quote.

Courtney
1. Your voice content is wonderful!
2. Lower background levels.

Dema
1. Great vo content.
2. Raise interview audio levels and make sure they are all at the same level throughout the video.

Rosie
1. I liked how you used one person throughout the whole interview.
2. Work better on broll (it was a bit shaky) and make the video longer, it'll sound more like a story.

Kierstyn
1. Great job on content for the interview!
2. Have a more enthusiastic vo voice, and make sure the video is specifically about the project topic.

Rylee
1. Great audio levels.
2. Have a better vo voice and make sure your descriptions are correct and are filled in.

Catherine
1. Great content on the interview.
2. Have a happier vo voice, end with a quote not a vo, and don't forget about descriptions!

Alex
1. Nice broll.
2. Have longer vo, and use the rule of thirds next time.

Mitch
1. Good overall video!
2. Make sure the audio levels match.

Nicole
1. Good J and L edits and nice story!
2. Have a happier vo voice and make sure all audio levels match.

Drew
1. I loved how there was humor in your video, it set it apart from the other videos.
2. Don't have a monotone voice when doing vo.

Emily
1. Great overall video!
2. Make sure you can hear the interview voices though.

Conlin
1. Great vo content and added humor to your story with the interview.
2. Have a happier vo voice.

Cyle
1. Nice content.
2. Talk faster when recording your vo, and don't add in the interview questions.

Jacob
1. Nice word choices in your vo.
2. No monotone voice when doing your vo and also talk a little bit faster, in the beginning it sounded very slow.

Abbey
1. Great vo.
2. make the video longer next time, it'll sound more like a story.

Amy
1. Great intro!
2. Make sure we can hear the interviews.

Alyssa
1. I loved your voice overs!
2. Higher interview audio levels

Chelsea
1. Great video content.
2. Have a little more of a "pep" in your voice when doing vo.

Tutorial Blog post for Web #1

The techniques that I am going to be sharing with you all are color-code names, hexadecimal numbers, rgb, and rgba. These techniques I have been using in Adobe Dreamweaver, it's an easier way of looking at web colors.

1. Color Code Names.
     A color code is distinguishing any color using a code. These codes start with a hashtag and have 6 capital letters or numbers after and it helps differentiate colors into even more specific names/codes. The first two letters or numbers represent red, the next two represent green, and the last two represent blue.
          Examples: #000000 is black, #0000FF is blue, and #00008B is darkblue.
Do you see how the last two characters in blue and darkblue are different from the rest? It's because those colors only have blue in them.

This shows the color name with their color code and then what the color looks like.

2. Hexadecimal Numbers.
     These use the numbers 0-9 and letters A-F, it is an easier way to express binary numbers in modern computers.
          Examples: #FOF8FF, #FAEBD7, and #00FFFF

You can see at the top of this image the column that shows the hex numbers. 

3. Rgb.
     Rgb is what represents the numbers/letters in the hex and depending on what number or letter they use is how much of that color is in the final color. The first two represent red, the next two represent green, and the last two represent blue.
          Examples: #RRGGBB,  (RR=red, GG=green, and BB=blue.), (255, 0, 0.)

The middle section here shows what the color would be like in rgb.

4. Rgba.
     Rgba is just like rgb but the a stands for alpha. Alpha stands for the transparency in the color.
          Examples: #RRGGBB, (RR=red, GG=green, and BB=blue.), (255, 0, 0, 0.2.)

This is similar to rgb but the last number is what changes the transparency as shown above. 

A wonderful website you can use if you need help is http://www.w3schools.com/
It has information over web developing, and everything that you need to know about how to create a website.

A Happier Newsroom Brings Better Work.

1. Write a summary of the article, identifying the three key points.
     A small-chained paper in Florida is showing others that it is possible to do better work than before and keep their employees happy while working there. Recently Pensacola News Journal (PNJ) was struggling due to the 2013 layoffs in Gannett. As the year went on the PNJ figured out a new idea to make things better than they were before. Troy Moon, a veteran with the PNJ who has worked there for 30 years, says "There's a lot more freedom to do your own thing. We're having fun. The editors aren't telling us, do this, do that. [Nellessen-Lara] is trusting us to use our instincts."

2. Discuss the authors argument.
     The author is explaining that this new way of keeping PNJ's employees happy is working better than how it was before. This news journal is getting a lot of attention from the public over their new ways of doing things. Kevin Robinson says before "You always felt this pressure of, 'If I'm not putting two stories in the paper every day, I'm not doing my part.' " Today he is able to take a day to find something interesting to write about, it makes things flow a lot easier for him.
     The author does a great job at putting a good amount of evidence in her article to support her thoughts, what she could do better is explain more about what it was like for the employees before the things changed and get more people's perspectives from it.

3. My critique.
     The author does a good job at explaining and giving evidence towards what it is like after the change but could do a better job at giving more evidence of what it was like before. The evidence used is very well placed in the article. What I think could have been done better was putting more information at the beginning about what it was like before the change occurred, it would have us compare each stage and have us question things, make us wonder more.

The article: http://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/pensacola_news_journal.php

Professional Project Review

This professional video was made to capture Selena Gomez's new song Good For You.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TsVjvEkc4s
The first shot in the video is quite confusing, it's in the middle of where her head should and shouldn't be. Her head should be more to the left of the screen to follow the rule of thirds. The second shot is the same way in which her head should be more to the left. They did an excellent job of the third shot, it was a close up of her face, they should have placed it using the rule of thirds though. The 8th shot they did use the rule of thirds when filming her face and you can actually see it and tell its in the correct spot. The 10th shot uses the rile of thirds as well and you can actually tell it used the rule of thirds. A majority of the close up shots of her face were centered and should have been using the rule of thirds.
                - The rule of thirds is a "rule of thumb" or guideline which applies to the process of composing visual images such as designs, films, paintings, and photographs. The guideline proposes that an image should be imagined as divided into nine equal parts by two equally spaced horizontal lines and two equally spaced vertical lines, and that important compositional elements should be placed along these lines or their intersections. Proponents of the technique claim that aligning a subject with these points creates more tension, energy and interest in the composition than simply centering the subject.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_third

10th shot in video. 

The story of this video is in fact directed towards Selena's ex, Justin Bieber. The lyrics of the song are not to reach out to him but more to tell him what he is missing out on. My favorite part of this video was the 10th shot because when it came up it just stood out from all the the other shots because it followed the rule of thirds very well, i'd definitely use a shot like this on my own work. An element in this video that I already know hot to do is the rule of thirds, but just like the video i could use a little more work on it. One things i really liked about this video was how the creator did an excellent job of transitioning from shot to shot with the different scenes it used throughout the whole video, it made the video flow very well, but i do think the creator could have improved on using the rule of thirds more than he/she did because it would make the video look more professional. 

Opening shot in video. 

Overall I think the song and the video are good but I don't think that they go together that well. I think that they could have came up with a better video that tied in with the song more. 

3 Sites, Then and Now.

This project was designed for us to find 3 websites and screenshot what they looked like when they first started and what they look like today and then explain the differences. The first website I chose to do was Youtube because it has become more and more popular over these past few years and more people are using it entertain others. The top picture shows us what it looks like today, it has videos that are popular showing, you can even make your own channel if you want! The subscription tab tells you (if you have made yourself a channel) who you follow and will show you the recent videos that they have uploaded. Back in 2005 was when Youtube first started. As you can see it is mostly a blank screen with a blue background and no videos showing. My guess is that back then you wouldn't know that the site is made for videos because there isn't anything showing you what is it.

To the top right is the code version of Youtube today and the top left is the code from 2005. The first three paragraphs in both of them are the same but any thing below that is different. In todays' code there is more information typed maybe because of the videos that are shown on the screen and the other one looks blank because it is blank.

CNN is known for their worldly news. Their first website was created in 2000 and is shown to the right. It is similar to the one today (above) because they both have news on it and is a working site that people can actually use. The whole layout of the site has changed dramatically in which they only use black, white, red and a little touch of blue for the website colors.
As you can clearly see the code version on the right has a lot more information because it is from our modern day. While the one on the left has some coding but it isn't near as much as the one today.

 Wikipedia is a website used to find facts or information on any topic. But be careful because anyone can change the information in the text to whatever they want even thought it may be incorrect. In 2001 when wikipedia started they had tags to lead you in the right direction probably because they didn't have information on everything like they do today. Today all you have to do is type in the search bar what you need to know about. In the coding for this site in 2001 they used the term var a lot but today they used link rel.

The Wayback machine is website that you can research what any site looked like when they first started and all the progress they have done over the years to make it look like what it does today. They don't do only do websites but they also do videos, audio, softwares, texts and images. One thing I like about this website is how they have a tab where you can donate money to them because the cost of having to store 1 billion web captures a week is a fraction of the cost of Amazon Could. This website is overall unique to me and whoever manages this site must be very smart and patient.

My Final Project in e9.

First was the video rotation. Here we came up with the Shoe Fold invention and did a rough sketch as well as a story board of what our commercial would look like and who in our group would do each part. I got assigned the director of the video and I also played a part in the commercial as the "pro runner." Ava, Hallie, and Brendan were the main actors in the video as well as helping me out with the placement of the camera to get the correct shot. When putting the video together on final cut pro each person in our group did it in a different way and we learned the different ways we could have put the video together off of one another.

 While Ava was making the website I helped her with the banner and the content for the website. I wish I could have helped her more on the website because she did a lot with it and did an amazing job at it! As you can see i did the content for the locations tab and for the ad tab. I think I would have added more to the ad tab because it is just a sentence long and isn't really professional.

 In Graphic design I did the website banner and helped with the look of the logo. Doing the banner had to be my favorite part but I do think i should
Have mad sit more colorful.

In the Animation part I did the final touches to the wallet as in making it look more like a wallet instead of a box and I added the cards colors to them to make them look more like a credit card. Lastly I changed the color of the wallet so it would fit our company colors better!

Shoefoldvideo

  For our invention my group came up with the idea
of a shoe fold. The shoe fold is an easy, waterproof, way to carry your money
around on your shoe and with the special lock and seal technology. When filming
this I was the director as well as an actress, the “pro runner.” One thing I think
I could have done better is prior to this get a better feel for the effects and
transitions that I could add to the video. I do think I succeeded in finding
and using the new things in the video, such as the effect in the beginning, the
voice-overs, and the frozen frame at the end. My favorite part of filming was
the voice-overs because there were other kids in my class near us filming and
they helped us figure out what to say and if we needed to do it again because
we didn’t have excitement in our voice. This project was my favorite by far!

final project

  When thinking back onto my e9 experience in video
I felt like it took me a little longer than others to actually grasp onto the
concept of it. All of the tools and things to remember to make a video was a
struggle for me but like I said in my video I felt like I knew what I was doing
in the two actions one shot video. I think what I could have done better was
taking notes more on what my teacher had told us like about the quick access
keys and some of the tools in final cut pro. Video was a great and fun experience
for me to go through, before taking e9 I wasn’t that good with computers and
now I have my parents asking me for help when it comes to things they don’t
know and that is why I have chosen to take video next year because I think if I
wanted to I could go far with it and help out more people in my family if they
need it.

Chase Video

   In this project I learned how to collaborate with more than one other person, I did it with three. I also learned how to work with them to create The Chase while using all of our ideas, and sometimes combining them to create a shot. Collaborating for this project had pros and cons, the pros were having more ideas to intertwine and work together with to create a video that all of us liked and contributed to, having more people lets you decided what part you want to play in the whole video making scheme whether its making the story board, acting or directing the film. The cons are not being able to create the story on your own if you are the type of person that likes doing that, it takes a longer amount of time to film and put things together for you all to like the idea of the film. In my further projects I will put the same collaboration thought into working with others by using their ideas and not just mine to create the video. In my next project I would like to put more thought into the story board so we will follow it as we film each shot and not change it up as we go because my group did that some and it confused me and may have made the video weird if we have two of the same shot after another.

DShaffer project3

In this project we had to collaborate with another person in our class and film them doing the actions we chose. A collaboration is the action of working with someone to create or produce something. In this project my partner and I had to use the six shot system at least twice but in two different locations while doing two different actions. For my video I had my partner sitting in the hallway reading as my action one. I then had her get up, walk into the classroom (because the bell for class was about to ring), sit down and read till class started as action two.

Throughout my filming process I learned better how to stage each shot, and cut my films to the correct spot. When doing my next project I will apply the same shots as I did this last time and cut each one properly to make the video flow. I will also apply the way I chose my music this time because it was a lot easier.

Project2

In the 6 shot sequence there are 6 shots. First there is an extra close up (ECU), this is a close up of the hands. Second there is an over the shoulder shot (OTS), this shows what the person is doing looking at their backside/shoulder. Third is the close up (CU), when doing this you answer "Who is it?", it's also just of their face, Fourth is the medium shot (MS), this shows the person from their waist/hips to the top of their head. Fifth is the wide shot (WS), this shot shows what the person is doing but not the entire scene. Lastly is the extra wide shot (EWS), this shot sets the scene.

Throughout this process I learned how to use our schools cameras and how to position the tripod to make the correct shot. I also learned how to put my video idea onto a storyboard prior to filming. In my next project I plan to apply these techniques to make the video more lively.

Highlight Video

For my highlight video I decided to make one over one of my favorite things which are bunnies! I made my video on Final Cut Pro which is a video editing app. I got the videos I used from youtube and each section is a different video. Some tools I used were the space bar to stop and play the video, the j key on the keyboard to rewind, the k key on the keyboard to stop the video, the l key on the keyboard to speed up the video, the i key to input a starting point and the o key to place an output of the video. I chose this hobby because I love to just watch my bunny roam around the hallways and see what it does, it makes me so happy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwFX4jmUR3k