During semester one, a lot of projects and activities took place. We learned through creating PSA's, short films, writing scripts, guest speakers, a lip-dub production, as well as a field trip. At the start of the year, our first project was our PSA, and our group chose the topic of racism.
Racism PSA
The project itself was completed before two weeks. We had the idea of bringing everyone together to create unity instead of the separation between race. When it came to the challenges we faced during the production of everything, the biggest complication was getting actors. We initially wanted a large number of people to be there for the ending shot of everyone holding hands but we were unable to get the number of people we actually wanted. Along the way, we had learned that our planning as a group needed to be a little bit better as none of our times for production worked with every group member. When it came to present to the class, we were given feedback that discussed our lighting. The class liked the concept and the set up of the video, they just felt it would have been easier to watch if it was brighter. We were unable to go back and make changes without redoing the entire video because when it came to color correcting in the editing, everything turned an orange color or a blue color, the picture no longer looked normal. Overall, this is a project I would not consider my best work, but it was a learning experience considering it was the first project we did coming back from summer break.
Short Film
Our next project we created was a short film, that also involved our second assignment of the year, my script. The original idea behind my story was Christopher Robin, from Winnie the Pooh. He grew up in a broken family, with parents who did not want him so I ended up taking that idea and making a story out of it. We had a mother, an older sister, and a younger sister. The mother who is an alcoholic is very aggressive towards the older sister who goes out of her way to protect the younger sister. It was based on family dynamic and who actually took care of one another in the family. We spent an entire day of filming, after a week of pre-production, and three days of editing. The most challenging part of all of this was that we had a camera die right at the end of the production so we ended the film very abruptly. Along the way, we learned that even though you are filming something that will be five minutes when done, it can take you 4 hours to shoot. When my group and I presented to the class, a lot of what we got was positive but some things that people pointed out is that we didn't have a variety of close up shots. There were things in the film that would have been a lot stronger if we had got shots that were closer or conveyed more emotion. They also made notes of the ending, about how the film just ended at the end of act two without any resolution. We were unable at the time to go back and change things like that because it would have resulted in a restart of the entire production process just for that ending scene. Looking back at it now, it would very much be something I would like to change, but our group never took the time to. Overall, I was semi-happy with this project, I look at it and can see a lot of things that need to be fixed but for my second short film created, I would say it was pretty decent.
Class Time
Class time this semester was used very productive some weeks, and not so productive with others. During this semester I took on additional projects like the lip-dub which took away a lot of "menu item" time. A few of us in class spent a lot of class time in pre-production for the lip-dub video which kept most of my attention when things were not happening in class. Once the lip-dub was done, my focus immediately switched to the scripting of Kansas City Savior so it went from on project to another. Any real downtime was spent doing homework, or going over menu items, or working on videos for an upcoming youtube channel a few of us in eComm would like to be starting next semester. Outside of class, most of the eComm work done was centered around pre-production things. It was rare I took home camera equipment this semester. When the equipment was taken home, it was for personal use, working on filming different things, or taking pictures - nothing that was published for eComm.
Strengths and Weaknesses
When it comes to my strengths in eComm, I believe I am strongest in project management and leadership. I spend a lot of time planning different things and keeping what I can organize in class with all of our projects and I feel that is where my skills are used best. When it comes to my communication, I also believe that is a stronger trait of mine, but it still needs some work. Collaboration is something I feel I do well because you can't do all the planning on your own and you end up needing help along the way. My technical skills I feel are my weaknesses in the program because I don't put as much time into the camera work or editing when it comes to production as I do with all of the planning in pre-production. Editing is something I do believe relaxes me once I get into a rhythm or in the "zone" of editing, but outside of that, my technical skills are something that will always need work.
Guest Speakers
During the semester we got the chance to hear from two guest speakers, Gordon Lamb and Joshua Smith. I loved listening to both of them talk about their experience. When it comes to what we learned, I had learned most about the personality behind filming and producing videos from Mr. Smith, and the different times of professional equipment from Mr. Lamb. Overall, I was very very happy listening to them and learning about all of the equipment and experience both of the guest speakers had gone through. They were able to give us not just information over the film industry, and production but also over things they had learned in their life that helped them be where they are today and that was really important, I felt when speaking to a group of high school students.
MX4D Experience
Our field trip this semester was something I was really happy I got the chance to experience. We were able to sit through a movie and had numerous features actually you and your senses to feel as if you were actually in the video. The biggest takeaway from the field trip for me was that, when it comes to production, there are higher standards of how this movie can be shown so trying to make it realistic is important. The new technology in the film industry I do believe is very cool, but it is also something I feel needs to be executed correctly otherwise it can ruin a whole production.
Summary
The first semester, I thought was great. My favorite part, of course, was the production of the lip-dub because that was the project I got to take on as my own with a whole team of people. It was one of the most positive and fun-filled experiences I had had throughout high school and I am really really thankful for that. If I could go back, I would put a little more time into our first two projects because I know they can be a lot better than they are now, but it has to be something everyone in the group is dedicated to, not just a few group members. One of the biggest takeaways I learned this semester is that no matter how much you plan, not everything will go the way you want it to, and that was probably one of the hardest things for me to be okay with considering I always spent so much time planning things. My biggest goal for next semester is to have a quality feature film that runs smoothly. When it comes to our eComm class we know our strengths and we know our weaknesses, and we have to be able to work as a team around those things. Aside from all of that, I am genuinely very thankful for everything that happened this semester and I'm looking forward to coming back after the break and hitting the ground running without feature film.
This past week we got to experience Justice Leauge in MX4D. MX4D studios provide an experience that places you in the movie. You sit in chairs about as big as an airplane seat and throughout the movie you are experiencing the movement that takes place in the movie. 4D is very precise when it comes to sensory detail. Sight, smell, touch, and sound are all integrated into the movie. When it comes to watching Justice Leauge in the MX4D studio I felt that it took away from the overall feel of the movie. The biggest thing that pulled away from the overall experience was that it was somewhat distracting. In class, we did a recap where we talked about how we felt about the movie and much of what was said was that the 4D effects, did not line up with certain parts of the movie. During fight scenes, your seat was being moved around a lot and it was hard to figure out which character you were mimicking because so much was going on at one time. When it came to Batman or Superman flying, the wind that was blown on you during the movie was very loud so you were very much able to hear the 4D which drew away from the sound of the actual movie. In my opinion, 4D is a really unique experience, and I do not regret going at all. I think that it has to be the "right" movie to experience a really good MX4D effect.
Favorites vs. Least Favorites
I loved the movie as just the movie. I felt that it was done very well and the CGI effects used were amazing. There were not a lot of continuity errors, nor prolonged parts that made the movie drag on. However, I do wish certain characters would have been developed more. Aquaman and Flash were characters in the movie, but I feel that you barely knew anything about them. When it comes to the other characters like Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman, you are already aware of their stories because of the movies that have recently come out featuring their life stories. I really did not have many complaints about the movie. I loved the cinematography as well as the music, I felt that this movie was directed and executed very well.
MX4D I think is something that would be really interesting to watch in different genres like horror. As I am someone that loves the rush you get from jump scares and things like that. This is something I would love to watch a horror movie in. I think when it comes to our feature films in school, this would help enhance the experience if the effects were done correctly. That was the hardest thing about watching Justice Leauge was that the effects did not always line up with what was taking place. When it comes to MX4D verses a normal 2D movie, I feel that it really does change the normal movie experience. I don`t go see movies very often so it was very exciting to get to experience the movie with all the added effects. As 3D is something I really try to avoid my choice to go see Justice Leauge again would be to see it in 2D as I think that is how the movie would look best.
When adding improvements to MX4D or making changes to the technology, the first thing I would fix would be the smells provided throughout the film. Justice Leauge we got to smell things like grass, and dirt, and whiskey and the only smell that I thought was accurate was the dirt as it smelt like fresh mulch. I would also change how things like snow and ash and fog are produced throughout the theatre. A large group of us sat in the first two rows and while we experience the fog from the front of the movie theatre, we didn't get to experience the snow or ash because it took place behind us.
Overall Thoughts/Conclusion
This is something I was very happy I got to be included in. While I did not like the effects of Justice League in MX4D, I am excited to see what other movies are shown because it really does change the average experience of new movies. There are a few things I wish would have been better, but I am happy that I went and I got to see the movie because it was a very good movie.
Back in August, I approached my entertainment teacher with the idea of bringing back an all-school video in order to promote positive press towards our school. The original idea behind all of this was that with a new school in the district was opening up Olathe Northwest had large changes regarding over half of a new staff, as well as a decrease in students transferring to the new school. The intention behind the video was to bring the student body together and show off the love for our school because it was something I felt we as a school needed. From that point, my teacher Mrs. Smith began helping me plan out how we could make everything work.
"Pre-Production" Process -
Building a Team
The very first thing I did for this project was present it to the two entertainment classes in the eComm program in order to build a team of people who would be helping me with this project. Surprisingly 34 different students were interested from the start which was amazing to see. A power point was presented to them showing Olathe Northwest's first Lip-Dub from 2011, as well as our latest video made in 2015 centered around High School Musical's "We're all in this Together". I had talked to the classes about how I would like this year's video to be the traditional "Lip-Dub" style because it allowed everyone to participate and show off their love for what they spent high school involved in. After getting a team together, our production crew was asked what positions they would like to be apart of (Director of Photography, Editor, Art Director, Location Managers, and Music Supervisor) and filled out small applications allowing Mrs. Smith and I to pick who was right for each part. Our next step from there was to present the idea to administration and get everything approved before we could plan.
Administration Pitch
After scheduling a meeting with the administrative staff, I presented to them the same power point I originally presented to my production team. We sat in a room and talked through all the possibilities and different ideas we would like to have in the video. They asked questions about how we planned to execute this video and how they could help. They agreed with the reasoning behind why the video should be made and they felt that this was something the school really needed due to the changes made. By the end of the meeting, we got the approval for the video and we were able to start planning.
Production Team Planning
About every week we would meet one morning at 7 am and would have breakfast and talks about the different things we would like to have in the video. One of our biggest things was the song as that is the most important part of the video. We worked to create a path to maximize the number of students we would put throughout the school as well as where each group should be based on how many participated and how much they wanted to do in the video. A drone was incorporated to show the entire outside of our school and then we focused on showing off the students, what Olathe Northwest was really about. One thing we wanted to make sure we HAD in the video was a big ending scene with everyone coming together because that showed off what the "Raven Nation" really was. In the time of planning, posters and t-shirts were made for the entire production team. The administration was given shirts as a gift for all their help, as well as additional staff t-shirts for all the eComm teachers and a few additional who were part of the planning and execution of the video.
Prep-Night
As the student director, this was the most fun I had aside from the actual lip-dub. Prep-Night was November 8th, the day before the lip-dub. My production team helped hang up posters, blow up 600+ balloons, do walkthroughs, go over job assignments/final procedures for the next morning. Different rooms in the school were arranged different ways, we figured out where rugs needed to be placed for camera movement to be clean, as well as where poles needed to be moved from what doors. Our final touches resulted in taping sports on the floor where our RFC members (Raven Flight Core) would start their lip-sync section. A small group of us stayed the entire night and by the time we left it was 10:20 pm and the next morning we were back at 6:30 am ready to go again.
Production
November 9th, 2017 was the day my production team and I had been prepping for since the second week in August and the day production took place everyone was very excited but on edge, because we all wanted this to be amazing so it quickly was a reality check that the video was happening. Fox 4 was there getting behind the scene footage of the filming of the Lip-Dub as well as additional people from the district in order to see the process. There were some complications during filming that day. We originally planned for the lip-dub to be shot two times through completely that way we had options, but we ended up having to do four complete walkthroughs because we were running too fast through the path.
Take One/Take Two
Our first two recordings of the lip-dub, you were not able to tell what each group was because we were running instead of just walking. We had an incident at the end of the second run through where the music had stopped right before entering the gym so our last couple people lip-syncing made up what they were doing and people around them had just continued cheering and keeping the spirit going.
Take Three
On our third take it the music had stopped halfway through which resulted in a total reset right after making it past Golf into the commons. At this point, we switched out speakers in order to make the music louder as well as make sure it would work all the way through the school.
Take Four
The fourth time we were able to make it all the way through with the music as well as slow down our speed so everyone was noticeable. By the fourth take, the timing was practically perfect, there were only a few things noticeable about the first three takes to the final take and that was the spirit in some parts of the hallway. It was hard for everyone to maintain the hype by the end of the fourth run through due to all the time it was taking.
Gym Scene
The gym scene was by far the most successful part of this video in my opinion. The entire school came together and we did our "Oh When Northwest" chant and at the very end the student body rushed the floor and balloons were pulled and thrown into the crowned. This really showed the unity and pride our school needed coming together for the shot.
"Post-Production" Process -
As soon as we finished filming in the school, we immediately headed upstairs and the editing team got to work. We started to pick our what shots we wanted to use for the gym, as well as which take we wanted to use versus ones we could not use. The editing team worked Friday, then the following Monday-Wednesday on getting color corrections, nat noise, music integration, clip alignment, as well as transition shots were done. Thursday, November 16th was the day of our premiere to the school and all of us were extremely pleased with the outcome even though there are things we know we can change.
Final Thoughts/Conclusion -
The entire experience behind the lip-dub was extremely fulfilling for me. While there was a lot of stress, I was very happy with everything in the end.
Changes -
There are a few things I think would be beneficial for next year if we choose to do this again.
1. Communication between location directors - During our run-throughs, we had art directors calling and yelling what we were passing so the other side of the school knew what was going on and it made things hard on both ends. The other side of the school didn't know, the calls would drop, different things like that.
2. Louder speaker(s) positioned throughout the school - Everyone needs to know where we are and there were points where I feel like students were a little blindsided by the fact that the camera was right in from of them cause it would be a really quick turn of a corner and it instantly was there turn to get hyped up.
3. Press - I think this would have been beneficial if we were to bring more publicity to what we were doing. Posters being made sooner and hung up for the rest of the students to see and be made aware of. Mrs. Smith made a good point that we could have easily drawn more outside attention from this that would show off our school in a positive manner so that was something to keep in mind for next year.
Those were the three biggest points I thought would have made the video smoother but I know there are others. The week following the lip-dub we got feedback from both entertainment classes where a lot of good points were brought up that I also think will help change how next years video is produced.
Conclusion -
I could not be more thankful for the experience gained from being student director on a project this large. I learned a lot about myself during this time, as well as what it really means to be a leader. Seeing the entire school come together the way they did was one of the satisfying and heartwarming feelings I have ever gotten because I really showed off who we are as Olathe Northwest and that was something I think everyone needed to see. A huge thank you goes out to every single person who was apart of the process because without all of them it would not have been possible. For the future, I hope I will be able to make a second one senior year and find ways to improve this year's video.
Create a Short Film: A short film is designed to reach a specific audience with a strong beginning, middle and end storyline. It will tell a complete story (Act I, II, III) and entertain an audience. Your short film should be a minimum of 5 minutes to a maximum of 10 minutes long. It should contain your title and have ending credits.
The script:
The short film you see above was originally a different script based on Christopher Robin's childhood story. The script was re-wrote and was produced as the following:
Two girls living in a broken family. The father is not present and the mother is an abusive alcoholic. The girls are unable to continue living in their house because the older sister does not feel it is safe for them so she attempts to leave but runs into different problems.
Production Process:
Pre-Production -
In Pre-Production, we picked groups and production roles based on who in the class wanted to do each script. I had a wonderful production crew that consisted of Armin Dikic [Cinematographer], Erin Johnson [Editor], Makenna Snowbarger [Art Director], Jordyn Whitfield [Storyboard, Documentarian], Katie MacDonald [Actress]. Our cast list included Eva Johnson, Katie MacDonald, as well as Polly Whitfiled. They were all wonderful to work with, it was a very easy going process getting everyone on board for our film day (October 7, 2017 8am-1pm).
Production -
Production was almost like a team-bonding experience for our team. The day started out with breakfast and a cast reading, as well as a walk through of shots and directional notes to be made so the overall vision of the film was kept consistent. We ran into few complications even though we had a couple of complicated scenes. The house was extremely hot, so we would find ourselves stopping to stand outside and cool off. Eight people in one room that is filled with sunlight is not the most comfortable in all honesty. We also dropped the plate off the counter causing a small dent in the floor that we are now hiding form my parents...fun times filming, every shoot is an adventure. Our final problem that seemed to effect us the most was that we had multiple cameras and by the end, all the batteries were dead or dying so we were racing against the camera battery. We were able to get all the shots we needed before it died, but not all of them saved to the SD card.
Post-Production -
Post-Production was very short for our group. Monday when the editing began, we found that our very ending scenes did not record onto the SD card, so about two minutes of footage concluding our Act III had disappeared resulting in an abrupt ending at the end of Act II. Erin worked very hard on the editing for three days and produced "EVA".
My Role -
For this project I was the director and script writer. During production, I also did a small amount of filming but that was not my main role. After this project was completed, I learned that being director is not my favorite role due to the fact that the script would only be produced the way I wanted it to. If I were to give my script off to another person in the classroom, I guarantee you that we would've had a completely different film submitted, and I like to take other people's ideas into consideration which is why the script was changed the day before we filmed.
Technically/ Professionally -
For this project, Adobe Premiere Pro was used, as well as YouTube for our background music. As this was not treated as an extremely professional project, it should have because our Five Guarantees were used in this assignment.
Technical Skills -
Cinematography, Editing on Adobe Premiere Pro, Script writing on Celtx
Communication -
Contact with crew members and actresses, coordination between location owners, members jobs and supplies needed
Leadership -
Everyone on the team was a leader in their own way. I led the vision, Armin led the camera, Jordyn led the process of shoot day, MaKenna led continuity and getting the actresses costuming/makeup, Katie led the actresses and Erin too lead on editing. We all had the opportunity to be a leader during this project.
Collaboration -
Sharing of ideas and script changes, brainstorming the overall vision or outcome of the film, working on fixing on the spot problems brought on during shoot day.
Project Management -
This is where I personally believe we lacked the most because we did not have time to go back and re-shoot the shots that we ended up not having the weekend after we filmed. We had a limited number of hours to edit, and it really effected out short film. We spent so much time in pre-production but didn't acknowledge how equally important production and post-production was in this process.
Conclusion:
Changes I would make -
We really did have a good experience filming, but I would make sure I was more tedious about filming when getting the chance to re-do this project. I would like to have all of our shots, and there are a few shots I would re-do because they are a bit shaky or dark and I effects the continuity of it. I would also probably change the location to somewhere with a larger kitchen just because we spent a lot of time there and it was SO hot by the time we finished. I also think the short film would have benefited from a little bit of script touch ups, and having another person make changes to "slower: parts in the film. Next time I will also make sure that everyone has formatted their camera cards so we do not have missing shots when starting editing. I would also make sure the profanity in the one kitchen scene was removed.
Things I would keep the same -
Almost everything I would keep the same regarding what is left. I had a wonderful team, our production crew's family that helped us were some of the sweetest and funniest people I have had the opportunity to work with. I am overly thankful for everyone that help with this project because while I am fully aware our short film could be much stronger and more detailed, I felt like for our first short film of the year it is sitting in a very good place. We were given very good feedback from the class consisting of people really liking the editing style, the variety of shots and music chose. Many spoke on behalf of the fact that broken families are a very real situation and it was portrayed very well in this film and it was easily understandable.
Final thought:
From here on out I would like my projects to continue to improve because I know I do not push myself hard enough. I would also like to take the time to branch out and try other jobs as I do love being behind the camera as well as editing but it is not always my first choice.
Our first assignment of the year was to make a PSA that was between 50 seconds and two minutes long. The group decided our PSA would be over racism. We thought using silhouettes would be a really strong idea for the video as it never showed the color of someone's skin, only the outline of their body sticking with the theme "we are all just people".
Pre-Production:
Pre-production consisted of a lot of brain storming. We came up with the idea to take a bunch of different people with different races and ethnicities and having them speak/take pictures for us. We stuck with visual representations of "coming together". The storyboarding nor script took long because we pulled statistics for or actors to say, and much of our story boarding was just pictures of silhouettes. We all took rolls in the group, choosing what we were most comfortable with for this first project which helped it move along quite smoothly. The hardest part of preproduction was getting the cast list to work best with the production team. It unfortunately fell apart right at the end because we were unable to use all the people we originally wanted so we improvised and worked with the smaller group of people and turned in a product that was not as good as originally planned.
Production:
Production was a really short process. We filmed other eComm students during class so we could get all the images of silhouettes we needed. Our actual footage took about 15 minutes to shoot after school one day, and most of that time was spent waiting around for people to get there or finding people that could help.
Post-Production:
Post-Production is always my favorite part of the process because it is an "all on your own" part. You are able to sit and edit, and you generally get a different product from the rest of the group because you interpreted the concept a different way. Especially with such a short video, it is easy to get really caught up in small details and finding things you would change and make better for next time which is why I like it so much, because I'm able to learn from it.
My Role:
For this video, I took the role of cinematographer. I was not really needed until the afternoon we shot video. I helped a lot in the brainstorming how we thought the video should look but after that I was more hands-off until they needed my help. While filming all of this I learned the video would have been much better if we were able to get a lot more people to come help us because it would have looked like more people were helping support what we were doing. We had 6 actors come and help us and they were very easy to work with, but it was a real eye-opener on how much our pre-production fell through when we started filming.
General Information:
For this project we used Adobe Premiere Pro, which is what we used last year for all of our video edits. Much of our five guarantees were used in this project, but all in different ways. Technical skills were not as enhanced in this project as we took pictures of silhouettes and used and dolly to push and pull a camera. The communication between the group was pretty average for our first project. We all chose each other which made the communication between the 5 members easier as we were all friends. Armin really took leadership in this project as he was our director and it was him who made all the final choices. Collaboration was heavy in this assignment. We worked with other eComm classes, students we didn't know personally, and so that was a little bit of a challenge because everyone was a little nervous when we were getting pictures. Finally, the project management skills went right along as planned even though not every film went as planned. We did everything on the days we planned to film, edit, ect. but we didn't have all the people we originally hoped for.
Change and Keep the Same:
The concept of the video is very strong, and that is important when we are making a video about a sensitive topic such as racism in America. However, when it came to post production I found more things we could have done better than what I liked. The biggest problem was the lack of people, so the planning of that I would change. I would also change some of the silhouettes into not only faces, but full body too just because it is more of a visual impact of "No matter what our skin tone is, body type, gender, ethnicity, ect. we are all just people, and we all make a shadow". I would have added in a shot where we showed all of our actors smiling or laughing in front of the camera to make the heavier topic more light hearted. It is my personal opinion that if we were to get the chance to re-do this over, we could produce something better than what we have now.
General Thoughts:
I did enjoy doing this assignment, it was an easy one to get back into the swing of things. Being able to point out the mistakes makes it easier to learn, as well as fix things in the future. For the next project, over-planning in pre-production seems like a smart move, just so there is a back up incase something is to go wrong. For the first piece of the year though, I am proud of what we have and I do think it somewhat relays the message we needed to get across.
Sophomore year had a lot of ups and downs to it, but eComm made it much more enjoyable. Choose two strands we favored most, and spending an hour a day in those classes. Video was my favorite strand, and will be the once I continue with for the rest of high school. While video has caused me a lot of frustration and stress, it is something I am really passionate about.
What I Did This Semester -
Music Video
Coming back from winter break we analyzed numerous music video techniques, shots, and editing styles. We were assigned a group to work with where we took a song everyone thought would be good to edit to, and then began preproduction. We chose locations, costumes, coordinated times with our group members as to when we would film, story boarded, composed shot lists, etc. The project from start to finish I think took two weeks, maybe three - I'm a little unsure. Along the way, a lot of things were learned start with, the weather is really not your friend. We waited for a day that was nice and sunny for Lilly (our main dancer) to preform, but it turned out to be freezing, and muddy everywhere due to rain taking place the night before. We also learned that in post, warp stabilizer will not fix all the shots we had to do while walking with a camera. Much of where we shot was un-level, or too muddy for the tripod to sit up correctly so we ended up just holding the camera a lot. When we presented this to our class, some of the feedback we got was that we should have a larger variety of shots. We missed out on really good opportunities for some extreme close up shots, as well as some close up and over the shoulder. If I could go back and change things, I would probably re-do the whole assignment, come up with a new song, prompt it to have an actual story, as well as choose new location. This is a project I think I could have made a lot better if I thought out more of what I wanted the video to look like in the end. I did have fun making this video, although I will probably never want to listen to the song Upswing ever again because I have heard it enough to last me a life time.
High School Movie Trailer Remake
Our next assignment was to recreate a movie that took place in a high school. We were to remake it shot for shot, edit for edit. Lilly, Ryan, and I kinda stretched the idea of "High School" with this because a lot of Napoleon Dynamite was produced outside of the school when it should have been done ALL in school. This assignment took a month I believe, it was to be finished before spring break. Some problems we ran into started small, with our group. We originally had different actors for our film, some upperclassman who would have played the part really well just because they all work together, and have a type of chemistry on screen that is very humorous to watch. They had other video projects they were executing during the time we needed to be filming, so immediately we had to change plans and Ryan became our Napoleon. Some other problems we ran into was a cranky main actor because he didn't want to wear a wet shirt for a couple shots, but it was okay, he had every right to be upset, it was cold. With this film, we learned how important time management is. During the time we were working on this in class assignment, Lilly, Ryan and I were also working on client work as a group which made it so much harder because we gave our clients more attention than our grades. This resulted in us rushing, and I am sure if we actually took the time, we could redo this and make it much better then what we have now. There is always room for improvement and I have learned a lot since we did these last two projects, which is why I know what could be changed. When we showed this to our class, much of them really enjoyed it, but some of the points we made were very true. Our audio does not line up with the original video, and the lighting is off in many shots. We were unable to get a tetherball for this which resulted in some improvising, but we could have easily gone to an elementary school and found a tetherball to get footage with. Once again, now that the video is exported, we did not go back an change anything, but if I took the time to, I would correct a lot. Shots would be changed, as well as working to make it shot for shot exactly so we could get it as close to the original trailer as possible. I really liked making this video because I had a lot of fun editing it, and working with Lilly and Ryan gave me the chance to get closer to them which I really valued.
Short Film
Our final project that we have spent the past month on was our short film. We all started by learning about genres, plot development, and themes. We took the time to develop treatments of stories we came up with, and then presented them to the class. We choose four that everyone really liked, split into teams and then began choosing how we would make the short film work. I was assigned director for this which worked in my favor because I am very type A personality, and feel more comfortable in charge. Josh, our cinematographer, started by storyboarding the film. Lilly, our main actress worked on creating production schedules, shot lists, prop list. Jaclyn, our art department worked on costuming, music we could use in the film, as well as creating a movie poster. I worked on re-writing parts of the script so we could do all of it at school, as well as coordinating with my team ways we could actually film all of this and what ideas we could add to make it better. We originally planned to have security camera footage, as well as test messages popping up on the screen but we ran out of time for that towards the end which resulted in changing parts of our short film. When working on this, a few things were made really apparent, starting with audio. We have a lot of dialogue, our story relies on it, and so if something goes wrong we have to make a lot of changes. Our lunchroom scene was redone three different times, and in those times we probably did the whole scene six or seven times so we had a variety of shots. Another thing we learn is that, when it comes to pull of a mirror image of the main actor, we needed someone who looked exactly like Lilly. Same build, roughly the same skin and hair color. It would have made filming certain parts more believable. For critics, my class suggest that the scene where the office lady is looking t her computer could have been a tighter edit, because it was long and awkward, however, they did like it which was good. For other members of our short film the main concern was that the lighting changes a lot in the film and should be color corrected. We did a good job of making it suspenseful and pulling off a really good story. If I could, I would probably change the beginning of the story so that way it started at Sarah's (the main character) house and have it show her stalker starting there so it didn't just seem sudden once she got to school. I would most likely find ways to make the shots connect a little better because even editing it, I feel there are a couple things that become hard to follow. This project was very interesting making. I was out sick for a portion of it which did not help my group, but I am super happy that we finished. I am happy with the outcome of the project, I just know if we were given the chance, all of us could find ways to make it better.
Valuable Takeaways Learned From Each Guarantee -
Technology
Much of the technology aspect consisted of trial and error, video demonstrations, various projects and learning how to adjust different things. From our very first video assignment of the year, the six shots system to our final project, our short film, much improvement has been made. We learned lighting settings, audio settings, color correcting skills, how to set up different shots, how to execute different types of moving shots. When it came to editing we learned how to use Adobe Premiere Pro as a whole. Freshman year we spent time with Final Cut Pro so this year we took the time to learn an entirely new software, which I favor much more over Final Cut. The skills we acquired this year are important because they will be the ones we always remember. We used audio adjustments, music overlays, color correcting, different shots, story boarding, pre-production planning for all our projects and because it was so repetitive it will be routine. Along the way many challenges were faced especially when it came to filming/audio problems, as well as editing. There were times, especially in our last project where shots were too shaky, and warp stabilizer would not work so we would have to go re-do the shot because we forgot to check it before moving on. There were also instances where we thought the audio would be fine, because that's how it sounded on the camera, but that was not the case. When we would bring the footage back, the audio was really messed up, you were unable to hear anything but white noise or popping when talking between scenes got loud. When it comes to technology, my greatest strengths is that I am willing to go redo something just because the edit does not look good with that we are doing. Another thing would be that when I get stuck and have issues, I am not afraid to ask for help, or even watch videos on how to fix the problem I am having. My editing is something that has improved a lot because it used to be something that I would rush, but now I take more time with the editing than I do the filming. By doing this, it has allowed me to learn a lot of skills, such as morph cuts, and how important B-Roll is when an interview is taking place. There are many things I know I still need to work on, and one of them is taking the time to get everything set up on cameras before filming. Lighting and audio are the biggest struggles, and it is something I honestly forget just because I am so ready to start filming. Next year because I am continuing video, I know I will use a lot of the skills I have learned from this year because they are all very valuable and very important for what is needed to make a video good. There is nothing I would change, but I know next year I would like to know all the things you are able to do with Adobe Premiere Pro because I think if I had more knowledge about each of the tools and what they did/how they can change your video, I would find ways to make my videos much better. Technology, as well as communication are, in my opinion, the most important parts of eComm, so the take aways are extremely valuable, and I think what I am walking away with meet that.
Collaboration
A lot of my collaboration skills were learned outside of the classroom when we were working on filming or with client work. Being out an working around problems that appeared where what taught me most about collaborating with group members. As soon as certain shots didn't work, everyone would be throwing out ideas so that we could fix the problem as fast as possible. Collaboration is important in this program because you can't always do your work by yourself. You have to be able to work with a team, take suggestions, and work problems out with the people you work with. While there were not a lot of challenges faced in this guarantee, one that showed up a lot with client work was that we would go to wherever we were needed, we would work on filming, getting everything they needed, and then when we would send off our final product, we would not hear a response for a little while which made it really hard to work together with our clients for reasons like time management and effective communication. Some of my strengths when it came to working in group settings and as a team were that I am very Type A, a leader personality so it was easy for me to take charge when things started moving slow. I was always one to be able to contribute new suggestions as to how we could do things. I was also very open to suggestions. My weakness came from the fact I would get bored of the group project we would be doing and some days ideas of how the video should go would be completely different than how they were actually supposed to go. When working on Napoleon Dynamite, we changed so many things from the original trailer just because our original group fell apart and we rushed. When working on the short film, our group script started would with a bus stop scene, and we ended up changing it so it would be easier for us to film. I have learned that when we are part of a team, we take full responsibility for one another's mistakes, and it is something I am going to use in everyday life, all the time. Weather it is in eComm, or at work, it is a valuable takeaway the can be interpreted into many different life settings.
Communication
Communication is one of my greatest strengths when it comes to all the guarantees. This program constantly has me communicating with teachers, clients, online through blog post, and websites like Behance. All of these help me learn how to get better and better in these areas. Communication is really important in this program because it is constantly about "How are we going to get this information out?" Some of the biggest issues I face in this is the mis-communication errors. When working with clients, or even in group settings, the communication is so SO important, and one little misunderstanding can result in the success or failure of a project. When working on client work this year, Lilly and I had a communication error with some of the clients revolving around interviews and how they wanted certain things in the video, as well as what they did not want in the video. This resulted in re-editing the video, which was not the end of the world, it was just frustrating at the time because we were under the impression we had completed the video. My weakness when it comes to communication would probably be expressing when I do not agree with something. Numerous times while working on projects in first and second semester, there were things I did not agree with in the sense I did not think they would look good in the video itself. I have a tendency to keep a lot of feedback to myself as well, just because I hate criticizing other people's work. Next year, I plan on improving that by offering minor suggestions when it comes to to critiquing classmates work, but I know it is something I will have to keep working on to feel comfortable giving my opinion about what I actually think of the videos we watch. Much of what I have learned this year in communications, I am always going to continue to use. Communication has taught me how to be effective in what I am saying, be professional, as well as given me a little extra confidence when it comes to new clients. There is not much I would change in this aspect, because it is one of strengths, I know I can get better at it which will be beneficial to me in the long run, having room to grow.
Project Management
I learned project management quickest, because I am very grade motivated, and generally when turning things in late, the grades begin to drop. Project management is important because it teaches you that deadlines are not flexible. Your client wants a video due in two weeks, and you don't have it completed, you are not going to have very happy clients who will refer you on to others. It is important because it teaches you to be responsible, and work effectively in the time you have. When it came to time management, this was probably my worst of the five because I would rush everything just to get done on time. There were numerous projects where I felt they could have been better if I had just found the time to continue to work on it. By working extra hard to get all the shots we need in a little amount of days, and then by spending time editing, and fixing, and making final touches, it really moves by quick. I plan to improve this all together by managing my time well in class, as well as taking the time to work outside of class if needed because I rarely did that this past year when I knew I could have. I know I will need to work on sticking to production schedules better, as well as pacing myself on the editing portion by doing it in sequences that get things done more efficiently. For example, all the sub-clips go in first, then audio channels are adjusted. Next we make sure there are no shaky shots, we then color correct, and add in extra sound effects or edits, finally we export. Being able to get that process down will help with my time management as well. With the things I learned this year, I will be sure to put them into better effect next year in hopes that my projects are all improving and I'm not thinking "...if I would have taken more time to edit this, it would look better". I plan on making sure I stick to be really effective in my time management, as well as making sure the quality of my work is shown by how much time I put into each of the projects I do next year.
Leadership
This skill has taken many years to learn and improve on, and still I am constantly learning how to get better. My teachers all make a big influence on how well my leadership skills get because they are people I look up to. Without leadership skills, projects would have no dynamics. Everyone would just go along with whatever the project was, structure would seem minimal, and it would gradually start to fall apart. When leadership skills come into play, things are done efficiently, there is always something needing to be done, projects are managed better, as well as being directed/lead in the right direction. The most challenging about this is that I am very "leader" personality that I am always the one to take charge, and throughout this year I never really thought about if someone else wanted to take charge in any of the groups I was apart of, I was always the one who just took charge of it and went. Next year, I most definitely will try my hardest to not always throw myself up as leader for starters because everyone deserves the chance to be in charge of a project. I know I can also work on being more open to suggestions all the time, not just some of the time like I am now. With what I have learned I will continue to use it in my everyday like, especially when it comes to work and school. There is not much I would change to this guarantee, other than what I know I need to work on which I plan to improve with next year.
How My Time Was Spent -
Video was never a class I slacked off in. I was very social in this class, and talked to my peers a lot, but I was constantly working. When I wasn't working on in class assignments, I was working on my client work for the Olathe Public Library or Olathe East Design Academy. I never finished any of my projects early. There were many times where I found myself staying after school taking the time to finish editing just because I was so tedious about how I wanted the videos to work. Outside of class, I watched a lot of videos that had really unique edits on them for the purposes of personal work I would like to do in the near future. Video was without a doubt my most productive class.
My Overall Strengths -
My strengths when it came to video where leadership, problem solving, and my willingness to learn and correct my mistakes to improve the quality of my work. These were present in every single assignment without a doubt because I would always push to take the lead, and make sure the video was done step by step that way we had everything.
My Overall Weaknesses -
My weakness when it came to video was the need to always be in charge. There is no doubt in my mind that it annoyed people in my groups. With that also comes the bad habit of always choosing how the video was done. If I could change anything, I would probably choose to have someone else be director for this last short film and I would have taken role on cinematographer. It is my belief that if someone else was director, our film would be different because someone would have a different idea of how to execute the film.
Summary -
Like I said, video is my favorite class out of the whole day. It is a time for me to relax and have fun, but I still get the chance to be creative. This semester, I loved the projects. I loved the entertainment based side of video compared to the news side of video. I would have liked to work with other people on my projects because I worked with Lilly and Josh on two out of the three projects, and I didn't get to work with hardly anyone else in the class. One of my biggest take aways from this semester would be knowing the importance of "coming in late, leave early" because a lot of my videos would be better if I remembered it. My goal for next year is that I am a positive contribution to the new video time I will be apart of. I am overly excited about getting to be apart of the bigger class because creating their short films looks like so much fun even though I know it is a lot of work. Overall though, I could not be more thankful for the friendships I made in video, my amazing teacher, as well as all the things I learned. I know next year will be great, but this year alone made such an impact on me and it is one I will never forget.
As my year in graphic design comes to a close, I get the chance to look back at all my work. I have made a lot of changes to my work after just a short 10 months in this class. I loved graphic design, it gave me the creative outlet I needed in the middle of my school day. As you continue to read, you will see all my work done from January to May.
What I Did This Semester -
11x17 Design Movement Poster
The first project I did returning back from winter break was an 11x17 poster over my chosen design movement. I took the movement and interpreted it to a poster that was to advertise an upcoming exhibit at the Nelson Atkins Museum. This project did not take e very long, I think from start to finish, inducing sketching and putting together, it took maybe two weeks - maximum. When creating this, the biggest problem I ran into was color choir. I started with black and white, and thought I would love that but I was wrong. It was not eye catching like it should have been. I began adding colors, mostly reds, yellow, and oranges, but was not a fan so I took a completely different approach and just went with a color scheme that was kinda related to Swiss Design, but was very eye catching. Along the way I learned that just by adding the patterns, it makes it an element of "Swiss Design". The color were not really the big part of this, whit it was important, the meaning behind it was the movement. Some feedback I was given concluded of spacing issues, which is now fixed. They were very appreciative of this piece because it was very clean, balanced, but all the information was present, organized nicely, as well as clear and easy to access. Once the feedback was given, I changed the spacing of "The Nelson Atkins Museum" and the date below. Originally there was a gap that kinda threw off the balance, butane corrected, it made it look more clean and professional. Overall, I very much liked this project because requirements were minimal, and we had full creative freedom.
Typography 5x5 Art-board
The four quotes you see to your left was the next project we worked on which involved interpreting typography skills, as well as color theory. We took the time to find quotes that really spoke to us, or stood out, and we gave it a makeover. This project had a lot of steps to it. We started with the quotes, and then only making it in black and white, but having it arranged in a way that was really visually appealing. From there we added color instead of having it in black and white. Our class was then shown our finished product. My peers gave some really helpful feedback as to what they liked and what could have been changed. My quote designs were very favored due to how clean and simplistic they were. Nothing was too busy or overwhelming, but all of them stood for something. The one that stood out most was the third one down the list. "The virtue lies in the struggle, not the prize", this was by far a very simple one. There was not much to it, and personally I believe it is my weakest one. There was a lot of white space which helped draw your eye to the quite, but it was a bit boring, that was the only issue, which I knew before I presented. I do not believe I changed anything on my quotes even though feedback was given. My overall opinion on this project is that, it was one of our more slow projects. Of course I had fun doing it, but it wasn't as exciting to do as a infographic or a logo redesign because this was a very simple project. I was able to learn a lot about typography and fonts from this, which is a plus.
Combination Logo Marks
Next we got the opportunity to branch out and pick a company in the local KCMO area, and preform a rebrand on their company. I choose The Sundry Market & Grill for my rebrand. They are a small, natural grocer, located in the crossroads who strive to provide the most fresh fruits, vegetable, and meat. Like our other project this one was a process. Sketching, Revising, Making digital, revising, adding color, revising, and then finally our final 6 combination marks. What you see here to the right are my black and white logos because this is where I was provided the most feedback. From my peers, I was told how my spacing made a large difference in how things were presented. Originally the logos you see, did not look like that. Everything was very much spread out, and the spacing between words and combination marks was not executed correctly. My more favored logos were the first two on the top row. They looked the most clean, and had a very friendly element to them which made them much more visually appealing. The biggest thing I learned from this was, just because you have a vision for the logos that you think will work, don't rely on it a tone because there is a chance it will not look as good as you originally wanted it to. I reworked color over and over again when it came to this assignment, and that was probably the most challenging because it took the most time. However, while there were things I really did not enjoy about this project, like the sketching, and the adding color 36 times, this was one of my more successful projects because it was something I could have easily shown the company. There were a lot of elements that played into this, but I think it was a good learning experiencing have to go back and forth between original and new designs.
Business Card
Not too long ago we actually started our marketing aspect of the company rebrand assignment series. I took the favorite of all my logos and placed that onto the business card. I wanted things to be very clean, and well kept. I made sure it was still visually appealing, but my main goal was the have the information stick in you heard just by the logo. The business card itself took me no more than two days. In the first day, I struggled a lot with this because I was unable to get the spacing right, and everything just looked incorrect with the horizontal orientation. As soon as I changed the card to vertical, everything came together. I learned a lot when making this, one of those being that the white space is okay, but too much makes it extremely hard to remember. I choose the salmon color for that reason because it allows you to remember the symbol based on just the color. The card color stands out all on its own which really benefits the company. Some of the feedback I was given was that it was very clean, and the vertical orientation of the card was very impactful because they could easily see this as a small menu for the restaurant. There was a double meaning to my card and it made it very favorable. After feedback was given, I did not go back and revise anything because they did not think anything needed to be changed. They thought that my work for this was very strong and it was shown on the card. For this project, I did really enjoy getting to experiment having my "own" business card because if graphic design was the area of study I was headed, it gave me the opportunity to try different things out. While I didn't to anything really amazing with this card like it could have been, I feel the information I needed to get out was clear, and easily readable, as well as super easy to just take a glance and go on with your day.
Letterhead
My letterhead came next, and I wanted to make sure everything of mine stuck to the same theme. As you will see, my business card, letterhead, and envelope are almost all alike, minus a change or two in the final product. The letterhead I think took many 30 minutes. Before making this I already had an idea of what I wanted this to look like which made it a lot easier. I honestly did not have any complications with this, but I knew I wanted it to be a little different than my business card. The back of my business card has the days/times of the restaurant, this one because it is a letter, I simply placed the company name under the logo just so it would be something new to look at and not be identical to the business card. The front is my favorite of all of this because it is really simplistic, and the white space makes it clean and I love that. A letters main focus should be the words, not the design, which is why it is so empty. The logo is pushed up into the left corner allowing more room for writing, and the waves I have on all my work is added to the bottom to connect it to the back. Some of the feedback I was given consisted of what I just said. The simple change to the back of the letterhead made it more enjoyable to look at because it was not the same thing over and over again. The front, was very clean, and the white space, while there is a lot of it, it fit well with everything else I have been doing for this rebrand assignment. When I had the opportunity to change things, I did not because no one thought anything needed to be changed. It once again, all fit together and nothing seemed out of place. Overall, this was an easy project for me because the vision I had, worked in my favor and turned out as good as I pictured, and everyone really liked what I did for this.
Envelope
Finally, out last project/part of the rebrand series was to design an envelope that would be notice, and something you would want to open as soon as you got it in the mail. While you can not see the underside of the bottom envelope, the flap is the only thing colored while the rest of it is white, like the top. This was something else that did not take me long. I am pretty sure this was done the same day as my letterhead and took me almost no time because I wanted everything to be similar. When it came to the envelope, there were no challenges aside from making sure no matter how big someone wrote, it would still be easily read with the salmon color on the outside of the page. Along the way I learned there are probably a lot more ways I could have been creative with the back of my envelope but I kept it very simple and clean like everything else. When presenting this, my only feedback was that if this was to come in the mail, that pop of salmon would excite someone who got it and make them really eager to see what it is because it isn't all white. The white is balanced out by the color just enough to make it visually appealing and not boring. I did not change anything on this either, however, if I was going to, I would change the back to something more exciting because mine is very plain. In conclusion for the last three assignments, the rebrand series, I think it was very beneficial for us to do. Presenting these infant of the class allowed us to get really good feedback as to how someone would feeling having out choice of company advertised to them. As no one knew who The Sundry was, it was easy to get completely honest feedback over all the work.
How Time Was Spent In Class -
Much of my time in class was spent working on all my projects, watching my classmates present, providing feedback, collaborating with people in the class on how to change things and make our work look better. A lot of time was spent in illustrator, as well as designtut.plus for things to help create elements on my rebrand combination marks. Blogger and Behance also got a lot of my time when it came to talking about my work. When it came to finishing work early, if there was not an extra credit assignment to work on, my time would be devoted to other homework until a new assignment was present. Outside of class, my work was enhanced probably not in a productive way, but I watched a lot of this show called Abstract where I learned all about Graphic Designers, and all these art fields. I also took the time to create my own logos outside of school. When needed I took projects hoe which allowed time to increase my final result.
Areas of Strength vs. Areas of Weakness -
Many of my strengths for this class came from the communication aspect. Some of my best contributions were presenting my work to my class and helping out some of the people in my class with feedback when they wanted to add changes to their work. My collaboration skills were minimal in this class, but when it came time to actually that skill into effect, I gave my full 100%. My leadership skills were not used this much this semester, but I knew when it was time to crack down and set them example in class when it came to being productive and getting work.
Something that I think lacked just a little this semester was my time management skills, although everything was generally in on time, I felt a lot of my work was rushed at different times because I would procrastinate on the bigger parts, like getting everything done together, and I would spend a lot of time on little itty bitty details that I would be the one to notice. I think in some aspects parts of each skills lacked, but at the same time I made sure when it really came time I was giving my best efforts in class.
Summary
This semester was a lot of fun for me. Towards the end where I had to miss a lot was no fun for me, but I genuinely had a lot of fun in this class with everyone. I loved being able to present my work and hearing how much my class loved it, as well as my teacher. That is such a satisfying feeling knowing that there are other people that really like your work. If I could change anything, I think I might have picked a different company for my company rebrand assignment. I would probably choose a company that is really fun and peppy, just because I feel like it would eliminate those little times where I got stuck, or bored of what I was going. One thing I will take away from this semester is that you should always value the constructive criticism. There were some things in my own graphic design work that I never noticed but my peers were able to, and it made the value of my work so much better, and I could not be more appreciative for all the feedback my peers and teacher provided through the entire semester. One goal I would like to set for next school year is to bring my own graphic design style to my video class. In video, we create shot films, and I would love to be one of the people on the graphics team because creating the digital art is very relaxing to me and it is something I enjoy. As this blog comes to a close, I would just like to put out there to anyone who takes the time to read this, go after things even when they aren't your forte. I can honestly say Graphic Design was my least favorite class freshman year because I never felt my work was supported, so it made me really uneasy about this year, but I was wrong. I loved graphic design so much this year, and I had so much fun even with all the independence that I had everyday. I do not know if it was because of the new teacher, or the class I had, or because we had really interesting assignments that required actual creativity, but it was such a great experience and even though today is my last graphic design class, I will always be extremely thankful for all the things I learned.
For the past month in graphic design we have been working on rebranding company of our choice, and I choose The Sundry, a small company located down in the crossroads of Kansas City. After spending a lot of time creating new logos, we took a more business approach to the logo design which is what you see above.
Process -
From the start of this, I took my favorite logo and collected the color schemes. We were to create visually appealing business cards, letterheads, and an envelope front and back. I chose the lightish salmon color as my primary color because it allowed me to keep things white and simple, but also provided that extra color so it didn't appear boring to anyone else who looked at it.
I based my rebrand off how I wanted the audience to view it. I made sure all my combination marks were the same on all of my work, but I would change one little thing on each of the assignments. The business card had the times of the restaurant on the back, while the back of the letterhead had the name of the actual company. The letter head just had a small combination mark at the top of it because I did not want the flap of the envelope to be busy.
What I learned -
Spacing is so very important when it comes to rebranding. When the spacing was off on any of the things that you see above, it was very noticeable that something was not right. I also learned that you do not have to have a ton of color to make something look visually appealing, it can have the small waves and you can still create a very good looking product.
What I liked vs. What I did not like -
I loved how easy this felt for me to complete. I felt like this was something that was easy to make up really quick, but it was still a lot of fun to create. I liked how clean, and well put together everything was, and how when you see all three of them together you know exactly what this belongs to. I did not like how much work I had to do with spacing. My logo alone is kind of awkward because it has the circle in the top left while the rest of it is very uniform by the rectangles formed by the words. Aside from the spacing issues and figuring out how everything went together, I did not have a problem and very much enjoyed this project.
My favorite thing -
My favorite thing about this who project was getting to present it to my class and hear what they thought about it. All comment were positive. They mentioned how clean everything was, and how the spacing was good, as well as how it looked very professional even with all of the white space. I loved hearing the feedback of how changing the orientation of my business card made it look like a mini menu, and how it was very visually appealing.
General Thoughts/Conclusion -
I very much enjoyed this project, while it had points that were frustrating, I was able to learn a lot about color theory, spacing, what is visually appealing for letterheads, business cards, and envelopes. This project help me understand that there are many ways to rebrand a company, and branching out from their original logo allows you to see the many different thing you can do with a little color and a new combination.
Remake a movie trailer that takes place inside of a school. Shot for Shot/Edit for Edit. We were to analyze shots, and advanced camera work and advanced editing.
Pre-Production:
Planning this project had to be my favorite part of the entire thing. We started by choosing a movie, and story boarding. My group and I chose Napoleon Dynamite, and from there we took screenshots of every different shot throughout the trailer, and wrote about camera direction, locations, and character lists/costumes. We planned on doing a lot of the filming outside of the school day because it would be easiest to get these shots when no one was in the building. Along with that, we took the time to recreate the animated shots of moving words using illustrator.
Production:
Production turned out to be a bit more difficult than we originally anticipated. We found ourselves redoing shots a couple times because a line would be messed up, or the camera was positioned wrong, just minor details just like that. Much of the filming was done in one day, at various locations. We shot the film at my house as well as Olathe Northwest. We were unable to find a school with a tetherball still out on the playground available for us to use which resulted in is changing a couple things in the trailer, but all and all the filming experience was a lot of fun.
Post-Production:
Editing was found to be easier than normal project because all we had to do was take our shot and put it in order with the original trailer. When editing, we ran into little problems such as Ryan talks a bit slower than Napoleon does in the Original Trailer which is why you will notice the left side of the screen goes blank every once in a while. We also noticed that because we do not have colored lockers in our schools, the shots are not as visually appealing in our trailer as they are in the original trailer.
What I learned:
With this, I learned that you should not underestimate all the work that actually goes into a trailer. There is a lot more work to it, than say a new story, or a music video. Aside from that, everything seemed to be very smooth. I had a great group to work with and we had a lot of fun making this. It kept us laughing which was the nice thing, it made the filming seem easier. We did however have to work around the fact we were unable to get a Pedro actor with us when we were filming outside of school, as well as the fact there was no school with a tetherball or a car with hydraulics at our dispense.
What I would change vs. What I would keep the same:
If I had the chance to redo it again, I would make sure we were able to get all of the actors we needed at one time that way we could get all the shots needed instead of having to change shots to make it work with our trailer. I would also probably change the location inside of the school to a place with better lighting for the inside shots, or even find a location with more color inside the school because the grey lockers make it look a bit dull inside the trailer.
General Thoughts/Conclusion:
From this project, I will most definitely take away how important analyzing shots are. Things like lighting, dialogue emphasis, as in getting the actor to speak at the same pace as the original actor. I will also take away the importance of planning and making sure you have everyone together and all your actors/actresses in order because having then cancel last minute seemed to cause a little bit of panic. Nevertheless, the project was a very fun and meaningful experience. While we ran into some complications, and maybe Ryan would have enjoyed a different trailer choice, I probably wouldn't change anything because I do felt like Lilly, Ryan, and I bonded a bit on making this since there were so many last minute changes.
These past couple weeks in graphic design we have done a lot of work with typography, color schemes, and how we can make these things fit with one another. To the side you will see my final four quotes, as in what I presented to my class.
1. "If you want to life yourself up, life someone else up." - Booker T. Washington
I chose this quote because it was one that I feel really relates to high school students. We all have bad days at some point, and instead of bringing other down with you the best thing to do is to make your day better by helping out someone else, or making their day better.
2. "Life is Short, the World is Wide" - Simon Raven
I chose this quotes because personally I am not a "Go with the flow" kinda gal, but sometimes I have to tell myself that no mater what happens, I can only control the things that are in my poor to control and I should not spend all my time worrying about things I can not control.
3. "The virtue lies in the struggle, not the prize." - Richard Monckton Milnes
I chose this quote because I felt as if it went well with everything going on in our graphic design class at the moment. Everyone just wants to get to the finish, but we have to really work at the things we want in life, which means doing things we do not like, numerous times.
4. "Don't worry about failures, worry about the chances you miss when you don't even try" - Jack Canfield
I chose this quote because I felt that is also really spoke to me and little things going on in my life as we are wrapping up sophomore year in these last nine weeks.
The process of these quotes started with 4 5x5 art boards where we placed these four quotes in black and white only and figured out the placement of words and what typography worked best with which quote and or words. From there we learned in depth about color schemes and how they play off of one another. We copied out black and white, and put different types of color themes on them. We used color.adobe.com to find all the color schemes which is what you will see at the top of the next document. The labels underneath explain which scheme was used.
Disclaimer: The next image has a duplicate of the first four because it was used on my behind account.
After we finished creating all the art boards, we presented to our class and they gave us feedback. I was told numerous things about my work.
1. They were very liked, everything went well together.
2. I had good use of spacing throughout my quotes. My negative space worked really well with all my quotes.
3. My typography worked really well with my quotes, I was able to emphasize all the correct words, and create flow throughout the quotes.
4. The sizing of different words, as well as the shapes/backgrounds placed in the quotes made them very visually appealing and fun to look at.
Person feedback to myself consisted of one thing, my "Virtue...Struggle...Quote" could have been so much better, and I am well aware of that. For future reference, I know that I have a lot of creative ability, and if I can't think of anything to do with the quote, choosing a new one is always an option.
In conclusion, this project was very interesting. We worked a lot with typography in freshman year, and personally I thought of it as frustrating then because there were so many options and no structure. This time, we were told things like how we were to not use more than two fonts, maybe three max, but a play on words was always an option to make it more visually appealing. I was able to learn a lot and how different typefaces and colors can work with one another.
Our assignment for the beginning of the year was to create a music video with a school appropriate song. Our video had to be a max of two minutes long, and had to have a large variety of shots. To start off the project had to pick a song as a group which actually seemed to be the easiest part of the project. We went through about three sons before deciding on Upswing by Prinze George. From there we went home and got all the publication information (When it was released, the writers, the record label, etc.) When we came back, we began planning out out production schedule. We found a location, the dates we were going to go, who all was going and where we were going to get all of our shots. Our idea for the music video was to follow along with the song, running away from problems going on in every ones lives. We were gonna have Lilly dance in the video, and the style she did was almost what we considered fighting her inner problems.
Production
Once we were on location, we only ran into a couple problems. One, it was freezing. Two, it was dirty everywhere, trash was everywhere, it was muddy, and it smelt like a mix of garbage and cold air. The filming was a lot of fun though, we got to meet some really interesting people out there including some professional vloggers TwinSauce who were super nice, and they were a lot of fun to talk to. We did Lilly's dance scene in all the locations of the Workhouse so we would have a variety of shots, different backgrounds, and different lighting. After spending about three hours filming over the weekend, we came back and began organizing and editing clips.
Post-Production
We noticed when we came back, we really lacked in close up shots so a lot of our video is done in Wide, Extreme Wide, as well as Medium shots. Unfortunately, none of us are in a position to be able to go back and film down here again but it is something we we need to make sure we work on in the future; getting a variety of shots. The editing took a whole week, and organizing the clips took the longest part of everything because we had a told of 78 clips between 30 seconds and 5 minutes. As I started laying stuff into the timeline, it got harder and harder to keep going because everything seemed really repetitive even though the other thing that was repetitive was the backgrounds. I ended up having to stay after school a day because I was not able to finish during the week due to making sure everything lined up.
What I learned
I learned a lot while making this. Lighting is you best friend when changing shots and locations. Always make sure you switch shots every couple seconds in the video. When filming, change camera angels and the variation of shots. With the technical aspect of it, I didn't really do any advanced editing in the video. I liked the dark and light mix of shot even though it should all be one color. I could have fixed that, but for some reason I just stuck with the original video clips.
With the teamwork aspect, I never really ran into trouble. I had a great group. Everyone was fun, we were able to share ideas with one another, and figure out all the little problems when filming, editing, and when planning dates.
Changes
In the video, I would change the fact we have almost no close up shots, and I think there would be certain moments in the video that would really be much better if there was more emotion in some shots. However, I do love the location and how Lilly pulled off the emotion of fighting inner problems within the dance. It made everything come together really though even though there are things we are missing.
Takeaways/Conclusions
For our next project, storyboarding will be really beneficial in the pre planning when you have an idea and you can immediately put it down on paper so you have that idea. This project overall though was SO much fun and allowed you to bone with people in the class. It gave you the opportunity to be more creative and express emotion in the video instead of doing hard news cast, or feature stories.
Last semester when we originally heard about doing a design history project, I was constantly googling images of each designer as they were named and Swiss design was the only one that caught my eye. Swiss design was made up of a generic font (Helvetica) that could be minipulated many different ways. It had bright colors, as well as repetitive geometric shapes and lines that kept almost all the designs looking clean. I also liked how not only was it full of cool, bus some designs were done in black and white which is why the creation of my poster was originally very difficult.
Research:
My research began with a general "Armin Hofmann" in Google. From there I read his small biography and gathered information on one of the people that helped found Swiss Design. From there I began reading articles and blog post of people who broke down and analyzed what Swiss Design really was. I learned about the color theory behind it, as well as the geometric shapes and patterns it followed, and why it was an influential movement in the first place.
Sketches:
My pre-planning for my poster began with 20 sketches of ideas I felt would look good on a poster. I took 10 screenshots off of online which were famous Swiss Design pieces and went from there. With each sketch, I changed a couple things each time so they were all a bit different but each row stuck to the original sketch I made. The one my poster was based off of, was one of the very first ones I came up with because I wanted to keep everything aligned, straight, as well a very clean. From there, I created my favorite of the 20 sketches in Illustrator. I took my favorite one and worked with the different colors in the poster.
Below you can see my process -
I started with the grey color for a more dull take to the earlier creations of Armin Hofmann. From there I replicated the picture, and then added color. To the right of the colored photo, you can see that I have a lot of color themes laid out which I spent time changing all the colors of each element before I came up with my final product. All I did was created a bunch of rectangles, as I think Swiss Design looks post noticeable with bold, background shapes. I worked with the text a bunch figuring out where I wanted everything to go, and finally I was able to come up with my poster.
Conclusion:
I thought this was a good project to do to kind of wrap up the "Design History" assignment we have been working on for a while. Our only requirements were to make it look Swiss Design, and make it a piece that would go in an art gallery. I was able to get creative, but also keep it clean, which is how I really like my pieces to look, and with that, I was able to create a poster that it very visually spelling and fits with Swiss.
