Semester Reflection - Convergence / Video

Projects

ONW: 1 in 2000

This project was one of our first, and it was a news story. Admittedly, it turned out to be more of a feature, but at that point, none of us really knew the difference. I interviewed my friend Sarah, who, in turn, interviewed me. While we thought this was a good idea then, I probably wouldn't do that again, just because interviewing friends is difficult when attempting to appear professional. However, we had fun, and it was at the beginning of the year. I had used Final Cut Pro for my brief period in video last year, so I had to adapt to using Premiere Pro. The location I chose, although it fit my subject, didn't offer the best lighting, so I remembered that feedback later; the following videos I created were properly illuminated. If I were to go back and watch it now, I'm sure I would be cringing at the jump cuts and poor lighting. However, it was a learning experience, and that's what counts.

Feature Story #1 - First Fridays

After our news story, we were shown an example of a feature story and spent a day or two going over the differences. Before this, I couldn't tell which one was which, but I can now. For my first feature story, one of the criteria was to find someone with a talent that is "visually interesting". Coincidentally, some of my friends were going to be playing music downtown that week, so I checked out a camera over the weekend and filmed them. It took a week or so to film interviews and B-roll as well as editing. 

When I got to where they were, the sun was setting, so I had to film essentially from the beginning. Quickly after that, the buildings around us had hidden the sun, which eventually turned into nighttime. Later, while editing, I ended up only using the shots that had natural light, because the rest of them weren't as good. It was also my first time filming without a tripod, which was intimidating at first; I hate watching videos with shakiness in them. However, my friends are in E-Comm as well, and they gave me some advice on how to get good shots without relying on a tripod.

The feedback I received was mostly that I hadn't filmed my interviews on location; if I had, it definitely would have added to the video. Although this was helpful, I couldn't change it at that point. This was the video that I had the most fun filming and the one that I'm proudest of.

ONW Now

As our final video in class, we shot our own edition of ONW Now, our school's weekly news. My friend Addie and I were the news anchors for our second episode, but we also created a feature story to air on it. We chose our school's improv club as our topic because we both felt that theatre doesn't get covered as often as sports. I shot the interviews and Addie went to improv club that week to get B-roll. We then finished editing in just two days.

Filming this video was challenging only because we didn't have much time to do it. However, Addie and I worked together to get lots of good footage. I've found that the key to being able to make good feature stories is to get more than you actually need.

When it came to actually being an anchor, I had lots of help. My parents both have a degree in broadcasting, so I asked them what to wear, how to speak, etc. Mr. Cooper, the convergence teacher, also gave Addie and I tips on how to appear more professional. It was stressful, but we got it done in one take.

Sadly, our audio didn't come through, so we didn't get to have the full experience. Regardless, I think it was a strong ending to a semester of convergence, and I've come out with much more knowledge than I had before.

Productivity

In class, I rarely have time where I'm not working on something. I've learned over the course of this semester that filming and editing is harder than it looks. However, when I'm not directly working on something for class, I've found that I really enjoy writing scripts for potential short films. A couple of my friends and I joined together to start a productions channel called About Last Night on YouTube. We haven't produced anything yet, but I have a short film storyboarded and written; all we have to do is film it. Even outside of class, I love creating ideas and conceptualizing films that I can eventually make.

Strengths

I feel that my best quality in this field is my passion for filming. I love the feeling of getting that perfect shot, although it's difficult to describe to anyone who hasn't done it. When you finish editing a video and you get to see your work as a final product, it's amazing. That feeling of accomplishment only makes my drive to create stronger.

Improving

I will admit, convergence is not the type of video I'm interested in. I have a feeling that next semester, when we study entertainment, it will be different. Regardless, I try not to let this affect my work.

Summary

This semester has been a period of learning, which I don't mind. I learn best when it's hands-on, and having to adapt to things like a completely different video editing software has provided that for me. Next semester, I plan on working as hard as possible and hopefully developing my own personal portfolio along with my classwork. My end goal would be to create something and submit it to eMagine, so I'm going to work towards that. Video has been wonderful so far, and I hope to continue that.

Semester Reflection - Graphic Design

Projects

Raccoon Postcard

For our postcard project, we needed to use the raccoon that we had previously created by following a tutorial, and put it into a postcard. It took around two weeks, but it didn't feel like it was drawn out. I had some difficulty coming up with the initial concept, because the raccoon itself isn't an animal that relates to a specific holiday, but since it was close to Halloween, I used that. After that, it was a smooth process. Not necessarily easy, but I had fun. This was the first time I had scanned in handwritten typography and I was definitely pleased with the results.

While I was adding the bats on the right to give it more of a Halloween feeling, my teacher told me that I should add them to both sides in order to keep it symmetrical. After doing so, I realized that it looked much better, even though it seemed insignificant. I'm happy with the product I created, especially since we got to see them professionally printed.

Vectored Self-Portrait

Next, we were tasked with vectoring a picture of ourselves. I started with a photo that my friend had taken, which is still one of my favorite pictures of myself. Then, I put it into Illustrator and started tracing basic shapes with the pen tool. It took a week or so, but I still wish I could have spent more time on it.

Only using the pen tool was challenging due to the restrictions that it created. Dealing with the anchor points was difficult, and it was hard to create realistic texture in places like my hair. However, I moved past that by using the gaussian blur to make shadows and highlights. I didn't receive much feedback on this project, which I would have liked, but it wasn't one of our major projects.

I don't really know how to explain why I put the stars in it other than that it was just to give it personality and to make my work a little more mine. I found a picture of the constellation for Sagittarius, which is my zodiac sign, and I recreated it in Illustrator, and placed it onto the portrait. After that, I copied and rotated it a few times so it wouldn't look too uniform, and then I decided to go all out and make a moon and a ring like Saturn. The ring turned out to be much more difficult than I expected, but I like how it turned out.

Productivity

Out of the 120 hours that I've been in graphic design, I can definitely say that I've been learning the entire time. I'm sort of a perfectionist, so I tend to keep working and changing things to make them better if I can. However, when I have free time and no classwork to do, I work on graphic design for personal projects. A couple of my friends and I are forming a productions channel on YouTube for film called About Last Night, so I've been trying to create a logo and a header. I also work on sketching ideas for this outside of class. Even when I'm not working on that, I still create typography. After the first project with it, I went home and started a sketchbook for graphic design, and I've been filling it with handwritten typography ever since.

Strengths

As a graphic designer, I have to have a sense of what is aesthetically pleasing and what isn't. I've been learning what makes a design beautiful, whether it's minimalist or intricate. I'm also good at handwritten typography, and using Illustrator, so I work very well on projects involving those.

Improving

My Photoshop skills are definitely in need of improvement. When we did our tutorial projects, we watched videos to learn how to do it, and I had to watch them so many times. Eventually, I figured it out, though, which is the important part. Even now, I use tutorials to do things in Photoshop, but I'm learning that having to use them isn't a bad thing; as long as I'm making an effort to get comfortable using Photoshop, it's okay.

Summary

This semester in graphic design has been such an amazing experience. Last year, we only had a quarter, and it can't even compare. I've learned so much, especially the technical skills I need to even consider doing graphic design. But on a deeper level, I've started to genuinely enjoy creating and designing. I wouldn't change a thing, except I would start working on things outside of school earlier. Now I have the basic skills established; I'm competent in Photoshop and comfortable in Illustrator. Next semester, I'd like to create at least three things that I'm really proud of.

I joined E-Comm knowing that I want to do Entertainment, but this semester in graphic design has made that decision so much more difficult. As of now, I know Entertainment is my passion, but it's nice to know that I have graphic design to fall back on.

Feature Story #2

For my second feature story, I decided to focus on my friend, Rachel, and her talent for painting and photography. I felt that this was a visually interesting topic, so I wouldn't have hard time creating the video. I still have trouble writing a narrative lead, and it always ends up as more of a news intro, but I'm working on it. After all, the first step to fixing a problem is being aware of it.

The interviews were difficult as well. Rachel's has good content, but there was a class who came into our interview space while I was filming, so you can hear them in the background. Addie's was quieter, but I would shoot at a different angle next time. However, since we're all friends, Addie's opinions of Rachel's work were appreciative and positive.

Overall, shooting and editing was very similar to the first feature story I did. The feedback I received was constructive, like that I should raise some of the volumes. Next time, I won't film in a loud area.

11 x 17 Infographic

The finished infographic

When we were told to make an infographic for our assignment, I made a list of ideas, but I narrowed it down and eventually chose Halsey. She is my favorite singer, and because it had been a little over a year since she released her first album, I thought it would be fun. 

I downloaded her album cover for Badlands and used it to pull colors from to keep it consistent. I also went to her YouTube channel and noted the number of views for each of the three singles released. Finally, to add to those numbers, I took screenshots from the music videos.

When I drew out my wireframe, I had put a lot more information on it, but I didn't keep most of it; I wanted to keep my infographic clean.

The main thing when creating it in Illustrator was downloading the font that Halsey uses for her products and vectoring the mountains that she included on her album. To give the statistics at the top some dimension, I changed the relative size of all of them. The YouTube views were easy to deal with - I just out them into a bar graph. However, I had to move the bar graph around quite a bit to make it fit in visually. Then, I took colors from the screenshots and created a small color palette underneath them.

When we received feedback in class, I got generally positive things. I enjoy getting feedback so I can correct things I wouldn't have seen otherwise, but when you only get compliments, it's difficult to revise. My teacher pointed out that there was a parallel between the increasing size of the numbers and the rising mountain above them, which I hadn't originally noticed.

Regardless, it was the first time our class had really given feedback, and it was a good experience. Overall, I feel like my skills have developed a lot while doing this project, and it was fun to be able to use my creativity.