Semester Reflection

I think that I've done a lot this year. I did my best to get stories out every other week and with many of my stories I had to stay after school or travel elsewhere to film B-Role.

STORIES

Brendan Dunwiddie Story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN78pQwXfQw

  This was a story over Brendan Dunwiddie and his decision to make the switch from Football to Cross Country. I covered this story because my partner Alex and I, during hallway committee, asked him what sports he was participating in and found out he was moving from one sport to another; the two sports (Cross Country and Football) are completely different. I went out and filmed this outside of school as well as edited it with the help of Alex. The story took us about 6 days, or possibly 5, from start to finish. The outcome of this story was a minute long news package that told a, in my opinion, decent story.While we were working on finishing this story, I learned that I need to figure out ahead of time the easiest way to film a sport's practice because I ended up running with the Cross Country team in jeans and a long sleeve shirt in the heat- this wasn't my best idea.

Concussions Story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfq30NqejxA

  This was a package over the Blue Valley Little League Football League and the concussions that often occur in Football. Me and Alex chose this story because we were interested in both Football and just how common concussions are in the sport. I went out to the League field and filmed this outside of class, as well as I edited most of the video. Creating this package was an experience in that we got to travel to a league we'd never heard of to watch 5th and 6th graders play football. This package took about a week to make since filming was a bit of a challenge to schedule because the league normally doesn't allow anyone to record the games; we also had to in and out point around 400 clips. The outcome was one of my favorite packages and a video full of great B-Role that includes numerous hard hits to emphasize injuries and concussions. After making this story I learned that the B-Role needs to help tell the story, just as much as the voice over.

Band Marching Festival Story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEBPl3otGv4

  This is a story over a marching festival our school's band participated in. We decided to cover this story because this was a big deal for the band, and many other school bands were going to be in it as well, so I went out and filmed this. This story took about 4 or 5 days to complete; the outcome of this story was a music filled package that told a great story of the band's stunning performance that they worked so hard to prepare for. After completing this story I learned to always white balance the camera before I start filming to avoid clips with very different lighting since. What makes lighting difficult is that it is always noticeable when you cut from one clip to another and that takes away from the quality of the package.

Plagiarism Story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hem34XfkGc

  This is a package over Plagiarism and how it is a problem in every school, as well as steps our school and many others, are taking to prevent it. We chose to to cover this story because our former teacher Mr. Allam suggested that we address the issue in a news package, and that's what got us going. I filmed B-Role for this.This package took a week to make because of all the interviews scheduled on different days and finding classes to film B-Role in; The library just wasn't cutting it when it came to quality B-Role. The outcome of this was a factual, informative package that I think enlightened students on plagiarism and its repercussions. I learned that I need to test the mic before going to film an interview because they may not always work and this took away from the quality of many the interviews Alex and I filmed.

Week of Giving Recap: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sbr7GpZysq4

  This is a recap over the Week of Giving that took place at ONW. I ended up working on this project alone. I chose to work on this package because I had never done a recap before and this would be a new experience for me. This was a package I did by myself so I filmed all of the B-Role and edited it. This story took 2 days to complete; one day to film and the other to edit. This was pretty rushed since I was on a crunch for time. The outcome of this story was a short and to the point recap of the Week of Giving at ONW that told students what they might have missed. Overall, I think this package did what it needed to do, considering the time frame I had to finish it. After making this package I learned that when I'm short on time I really need to get to it since there is no time to waste. While I did finish this in time, it's a great lesson for future reference.

Groundbreaking Playground Ceremony Story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sbr7GpZysq4

  This is a story over the groundbreaking ceremony on College and Lone Elm for a new park being made for special needs kids. We chose to cover this story because we thought it was great that they were creating a park accessible to special needs kids and wanted to find out more. I filmed B-Role for this and Alex did all of the editing since I was out sick the day we were going to edit it. This package only took two days to complete. The outcome was a heart-warming story over a new park soon to be built for special needs kids. After completing this package I learned that I need to dress appropriately for the weather conditions that I might be filming in. I learned this the hard way since it was most likely below 40 degrees and I only had on a thin jacket and no gloves.

STRENGTHS

  One of my strengths in Convergence Journalism is editing. I am able to make precise cuts and organize B-Role in a way that helps tell the story. I can also balance audio pretty well and avoid having random clips that are extremely loud compared to the others. I maximized my strengths by volunteering to edit and doing the best editing I could when I was given the opportunity.

 Another one of my strengths is knowing what types of shots I want to get before I film. Often times I'll imagine what shots would look good in whatever type of package I'm filming; 9 times out of 10 thinking about the shots beforehand and what would work is enough to lead me through the filming process. This is extremely helpful when I go out to film because it allows me to waste no time thinking about what my next shot will be.

WEAKNESSES

 My weakness is filming. That's pretty ironic considering that I do a lot of filming in most of my packages. While my concussion story had great B-Role, I think that I need to use a tripod to eliminate shaky shots. Shaky shots have been the bane of B-Role for me and I plan to use a tripod in all of my future packages to prevent them.  This semester I did try to use a tripod in my stories but eventually got away from it since it was a burden to move a tripod from one place to another. Although I guess that's the cost of still shots.

REFLECTION

Through-out this semester I've learned a lot. One of the biggest things I've learned is to white balance my camera before filming anything. The varying lighting that's always noticeable has plagued many of my shots and this needs to change. I've also learned to dress for weather conditions since I've payed the price for it twice. Lastly, I learned that I need to stay on task 24/7; this is imperative in order to have new stories out consistently, as is expected of me.

For next semester, I plan to utilize everything I've learned: White balancing the camera before filming, dressing for weather conditions, and staying on task.

I think I've grown as a student in that my work ethic has improved and so has my quality of work. I've also grown as a professional through the skills I've learned that I can take into the work force. What I've learned in e-Comm is what the professionals use in the media: Proper lighting, good audio, steady shots, B-Role matching with the voice-over. All of these will give me an edge when it comes time for me to apply to colleges and when I'm applying for jobs.

ONW Week of Giving Recap

10 Most Fascinating People of 2014 Review

The scope of this video was to highlight the lives of some of the more interesting people in the world. The film ranks them from 1 being the most interesting to 10 being the least interesting on the list. The video also goes into detail about their accomplishments and some stories from their childhood.

The film told the stories of multiple celebrities and I noticed that many of them wanted to be successful and famous from a very young age. For example, Scarlet Johansson wanted to be an actor ever since she was very little and began auditioning for films at the young age of 8. In the beginning it was stated that the majority of the fascinating people were females, and I found this true as the film went on. Also, instead of having a separate episode for each celebrity shown to create an effect of suspense, there was just one long video with commercial breaks in between each story. I do think that if each celebrity had their own episode then that would keep the viewer hooked and locked in because there is a curiosity of who's next.

There were many stories told in this film. All of the stories were about celebrities and they were all ranked in who was the most interesting from 1-10. Their stories were told through interviews, clips from their childhood, and some movies they've starred in in the past and some more recent.

One element from this work that I would apply to my own is the professional interview set up with great audio and an appealing background. I thought that this definitely added to the quality of the film, and obviously made it look more professional. The reason I'd add this element is because I've noticed that my interview set ups, more often than not, tend to lack good audio and lighting. While my interviews are good enough to use in my packages, the quality could definitely improve.

I noticed that they used lighting kits in their interviews instead of just finding a well lit spot and going with it. I have already learned how to set up light kits and use them to improve my interviews but I thought it was great to see that this skill is applicable in the real world. I plan on incorporating proper lighting into more of my interviews so that I am able make my work seem more professional than it already is.

One thing the creator of this film did well was finding B-Role that matched what the host and the current celebrity were talking about. They were not ill prepared and actually had footage of some of the celebrity's childhoods. This most likely wasn't an easy task since the footage from their childhood was probably old. There were also pictures to support the story; I thought that was key in helping give viewers an idea of what the environment they grew up in looked like. Although don't get me wrong, the footage helped do that as well.

Something the film could improve on is making the stories longer. While the film was good regardless of length, there is always room for improvement and making the stories longer would have allowed them to go more in depth about the celebrities featured.

ONW Plagiarism Story

This is a story on Plagiarism and the misconceptions about it. The story goes over what plagiarism actually is and the consequences behind it.

ONW A to Z (B) Band Festival

Concussion Story

As many of you may know, concussions have always been an in issue in the sport of Football. This story explains how concussions are affecting the younger players and are no longer being allowed to play because of concussions. Parents prohibiting their children from playing is causing a gap in the average amount of Football players.

Brendan Dunwiddie Story

Brendan Dunwiddie switched from Football to Cross Country, two very different sports. This video tells the story of why he made the switch and his new found passion for Cross Country.

Pensacola News Journal Article Review

The article is about a small news station that is working with its employees to make work more enjoyable. They're allowing them to write stories over thing they're passionate about and enjoy doing.

The author of this article doesn't really make any kind of argument, but more so talks about the adjustments Pensacola is making. However, it could be argued that if you work with your employees, then you will see an improvement in their performance and morale. This is shown when veteran feature Troy Moon said "I don't remember it being this good, not since the '90s at least." This is also shown when the article talks about Kevin Robinson and how he feels "freed up." Both of these employees saying that they enjoy work more and have more time serve as one of the strengths of this article. Very good evidence and sources are provided. Although, one of the weaknesses of this article is that it talks about the company's not so good past which can cause readers to see Pensacola News Journal in a negative light.  From this, the author concludes that letting reporters do work they're passionate about is a great way to keep up morale.

This article was pretty good in that all of the claims made and evidence provided go back to the main point which is if you let your employees do work they're passionate about, you'll see in an increase in performance and morale. The evidence in this article is very convincing since it is real people giving their honest input on the changes and how they've affected them. An application for me as a videographer is to do work I enjoy. By doing this I'll be more willing to work and will more likely than not see an improvement in my video quality.

Overall, this was a solid article. It was definitely interesting to see what happens when you let your employees do their own thing and work on things they enjoy. Enjoying your job makes going to work a lot easier and provides motivation.

Article: http://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/pensacola_news_journal.php

Standup

Video Semester 2 Final: Making of a Shortfilm

Scope

The scope of this project was to make a package about something that fit into the category "Bright." This package couldn't be more than 1 minute and 30 seconds long. It had to include interviews, commentary and a lot of B Role (shots of people performing actions)

Pre-Production

During Pre-Production I was deciding what I wanted my package to be over. I eventually chose to have a package over what goes into making a short film. After I decided what I wanted it to be about I was ready to film. The reason I didn't storyboard or script write at the beginning is that it's a news package and you have to get what you can and then work with that.

Production

During production, I was mainly filming. Filming took a couple days, some days felt longer than others depending on how much was going on and whether or not the group I was recording was actually recording or not. Once I finally finished filming B-Role, I then recorded interviews. Each interview consisted of 21 questions about the project they were working on for their final. I interviewed 3 members of the 4 member cast: Carter, Chris, and Espy. Each interview took around 25-30 minutes. On a good day I could usually finish one interview and start the next one before the bell rang. After recording all of the interviews, I was finally able to start writing my story and recording voice overs.

While I was story writing, I was just planning what shots I wanted to use and what I would say in my voice overs. This is a key part in the making of a news package because it gives you a game plan to follow going in and makes the editing process so much easier. After I finished writing my story, I began to record my voice overs. In case you don't know what a voice over is, it's just audio that you play over clips, essentially commentary over what you're showing. An important thing to remember about voice overs is that you should match what you say with what you say. An example of this would be if I was talking about the editing process, I would show them editing while I talked about it.

Post-Production

Finally, after I finished getting everything recorded and ready to go, I could actually start putting this package together in Final Cut Pro. Final Cut Pro is a video editing software used to edit film. First, I imported all of my clips and voice overs. Then, I in and out pointed all of my clips, favorited some clips, and added key words to the clips I thought I would use. When I finished doing that, I started adding the clips to the timeline to get them sequenced properly (put them in the order I wanted them in). Once they were all in order, I added in my voice over. After all of this was done, I played through it a couple of times to make sure my audio was good, and if it wasn't I would adjust it. Finally, when everything was put together and ready to go, I was able to share this project to YouTube as well as on this blog post.

Lessons Learned

Looking back on this project, I was able to learn a lot, both technically and professionally. One of the first and most important things that I learned was to shoot in sequences. This is extremely important to the overall quality of your B-Role as well as your finished film (or news package in my case). Shooting in sequences is basically getting a medium shot (waist up) close up of the face, then a close up of the hands, and finally a close up of the feet. This also helps you match up what you hear with what you see. I also learned that story writing is key. Without my story written, I would have been lost when it came to editing and putting the news package together. Like I said earlier, this makes editing it so much easier. I also learned that making sure the mic used during the interview is actually working. If it isn't, your whole interview isn't near as good as it should have been. The audio is a lot worse and it causes me trouble having to bump it up so you can hear it or turning it down if for some reason it's too loud. Another thing I learned is that you always need to follow the rule of thirds. This makes sure that their eyes are in the proper place on the screen and that they're looking in to space. This makes everything look nicer and more professional. The last thing I learned is that when you're shooting an interview, it should be one continuous clip and that the shot should be very tight (not a lot of space where they aren't looking). This makes the interview more professional and overall improves the quality of it.

Future Changes & Things to Keep up

After watching this news package, there are a few things that I would change and some things that I wouldn't. I would definitely go back and shoot in sequences if I could, this would make my film a lot better and would have given me better B-Role to work with. I would also make sure that the mic in my interviews was actually turned on and working. Doing this would make my interviews a lot more audible. The last thing I would change is making sure that the shot of the person I'm interviewing is a tight shot. This makes the interview look a lot better. Although I can fix this with the crop tool in Final Cut Pro, it is much easier to do it right the first time.

While there are a lot of things I could improve on, I would keep some things the same. One of these would be the close ups of the screen when they were recording and script writing. This helped me match up what you heard with what you saw. An example of this would be when I had a close up of Carter writing script while I talked about how script writing was an important part of making a short film. The other thing I would keep the same is the way I speak in the voice overs. I think it's very clear and sounds like I'm interested in what I'm talking about, but at the same time it's professional.

Experiences

I've been able to draw a few things from this project that will help enhance my next project. The first thing I'll take away is the group I work with. I worked with an enthusiastic group who knew what they were doing. This made the filming process a lot more fun and made things go a lot smoother. The last experience I will draw from this is staying on task. I think I was able to stay on task pretty well and this helped me finish the project on time. The only thing that slowed me down was confusion and last minute interviews.

Wrapping Things up

Overall, I thought I did pretty well for what kind of B-Role I had (not the best). I'm not that proud of this news packages but I'm definitely going to learn from it going into next year. I definitely could have done better and plan to do so. My projects will only get better from here on out. This was a fun package to make and hope to work with groups similar in the future. Thanks for reading.

Attack of the 100ft Dude!!! Animation Semester 2 Final

ANIMATION SEMESTER 2 FINAL

"ATTACK OF THE 100 FT DUDE!!!"

The goal of this project was to make a short animated film that included 3D animation as well as special fx. The 3D animation was done in the program Maya and the special fx were done in Adobe After Effects. Both of these elements were required and had to be incorporated into the film in some way. The people in my group who all contributed to the making of this animated film were: Me, Drew McCall and Graham Petter. What our film is about is in the title: Attack of the 100 Ft Dude!!! If you didn't get the hint, the film is about a 100 ft monster that attacks the city. The military attempts to save the day, will they pull it off? Watch the move to find out!


Pre-Production we were coming up with ideas on what we wanted to make our short animated film about. We all came up with an idea, pitched it, and at the end chose a winner. After we decided what we wanted to make, we began storyboarding. Storyboarding is drawing out images of the different scenes that you plan to include in your film or animation. Most of the drawings were not the most accurate portrayal of the scene but more rough sketches of what we wanted to happen. Then, we decided who would play what role in the film, basically chose characters. Then, we chose which locations we wanted to film in. Finally, we were ready to begin making this animated film. Oh, here is what the storyboard looked like:

During production we filmed all of our scenes. Some scenes we filmed more than once to make sure that we got the right shot and the acting was ok. We did a lot of filming in front of a green screen, here is what that looked like:

After we got everything filmed, we imported all of our clips into After Effects. In After Effects, we added in all of the Special Effects and did most of the Video Editing. Special FX and video editing were done by Drew McCall and Graham Petter. While they worked on editing the film and adding special fx, I worked in Maya to create the animated tank and the missile. I was responsible for all 3D models and animations. Finally, when all of this was done we rendered out or movie and began typing the blog post that you're reading now.

Looking back on this project and during the production of it, I was able to learn a few things. One of the first thing that I learned was how to batch render in Maya. This was extremely useful and made all the 3D animation actually able to be in the film. The second thing that I learned was how to make a tank. It isn't the best tank but it was way over my expectations on what I thought that I was capable of making. I also learned that communication is key when collaborating with others to make a short animated movie. Without communication nobody will know exactly what it is they're supposed to be doing and you will not finish before or on the deadline. I also learned that deadlines come up extremely fast so all the time you are given to work on a project in class should be used wisely; in other words: DON'T SLACK OFF. 

After watching my final project, I would definitely do a few things differently. The first thing I would do differently would be bettering my acting. It was ok but it was kind of corny. My only excuse for this is that it is a 50s movie and it's supposed to be bad (Me:1 Haters: 0; I'm keeping score). The second thing that I would do differently would be to try to make a better tank. The one I made was ok but I feel as though I could have done better if I utilized a lot more of what I had learned over the semester. Although there are a few things I would change, I could draw a lot from this project.

The first thing I will draw from this project is the willingness to go out on a wing and try to make something I've never made before (this being the tank). The reason for this is that I actually surprised myself and the turn out wasn't too bad. The other thing I would draw from this is how to batch render. Without this, you wouldn't see the tank or missile in the film.

Overall, I thought the film turned out pretty good and I had a good group I was working with. We all executed and got what we needed to do done. All of our handwork leading up to the finished product was well worth it. Also, the reason that the film is not uploaded on this post is because it is still rendering (in case you couldn't tell from the text in the parentheses reading: "Movie goes here when it's done rendering").

Formal Interview

Maya Animations & Creations

Polything

This is my project called Polything. This was one of the early on and first projects we worked on. This project really focused on getting the lighting right, which in turn would make the shadows look better. A win win situation. The three main lights we used in this project were: Area lights, Ambient lights, and Point lights. Area lights are the over-head lights that light up a fairly large area. They're normally directly above something. The other type of lighting we used - point lights - are kind of like mood lights. Not too bright, not too dark. They usually go inside of the object you're making. Finally, Ambient lights. Ambient lights are like point lights, except brighter. They also usually go on the inside of whatever object you're making. We used many of these lights in later projects.

Hammer

This is my Hammer project. Before I talk about the tools we used in this project, I just want to say that I am aware of the small claws on the hammer. I didn't know they would be that small until I was close to finished shaping them. At that point, when I finally realized what they would look like, there was no way I was going back to redo it because I didn't have that type of time (just kidding, I'm lazy and wasn't sure how to fix it in the first place). Now, on to the tools. The first tool I used that played a big role in the making of this Hammer was the extrude tool. This allowed me shape the head of the hammer in order to make it look more realistic. The second tool I used was Bevel. This allowed me to edit the edges to add curves to the head and handle of the hammer. The last tool we used was the Cut Face Tool. I used this to get rid of unnecessary polygons in the hammer. All of these contributed to the final product. The lighting was pretty good in this project, I could of made the lighting look a little cooler but this lighting should suffice.

Ice Cream

This is my Ice Cream project. This was one of the first projects we actually animated, which made it pretty difficult. What I think to be the most important tool we used was the Bump Map. This added the texture to the Ice Cream, without this, the Ice Cream would look like spheres sitting on top of upside down cones. The second tool I used was the Looping Move that gave the project its animation. This tool is kind of self explanatory, it looped a single movement on the Lazy Susan. The single movement was just a single, full rotation; it wasn't anything too crazy. However, I did encounter one problem. When I added the animation, the Lazy Susan itself would move in a circle while rotating in the same direction. Modifying the center pivot didn't seem to work.  Thus, there is an image here instead of a video. Came closer to getting this animated and rendered than I did with the Bouncing Balls, I can tell you that much. However, on the bright side, the image looks pretty cool. Except for that dark spot in the bottom left of the image, that bothers me. 

Bouncing Balls

This is my Bouncing Balls project. I will mention that this was supposed to be a video but let's just say that the animating and rendering of this was hard for no reason; to cut to the chase it didn't work out. One of the tools we used was Keyframes. Setting keyframes is what makes the balls bounce (or appear to bounce). The second tool I used was Graph Editor. This tool allowed me to edit the heights and times at which the balls bounce. All of the balls bounce for different periods of time and some bounce higher than others. 

Revolve Cup

This my Revolve Cup project. This project was fairly simple. I used NURBS to make the shape of the cup. Then, I used the Curve tool to make curves a little more rounded and realistic. I used the Revolve tool to make the object in 3D. This tool took the drawing from the NURBS and repeated that pattern in a circle so it wouldn't be flat. This tool was vital in the making of this because it completed the cup. The lighting in this project was - in my opinion - amazing. Although the lighting in the PolyThing project was pretty cool, especially with the shadows and the fact that it was my first project , this is definitely a close second, if not, first.

Salt Shaker

This is my Salt Shaker project. One of the tools I used in this project was The Curves tool. This tool allowed me to edit the curves on the Salt Shaker to make them more rounded and overall make the Salt Shaker look more like an actual Salt Shaker. The other tool I used was lofting. Lofting was mainly how I made the Salt Shaker. Lofting added a surface to the repeated pattern and made it solid but hollow on in the inside which works out perfectly since salt was going to be in the Salt Shaker. I made the salt by copying the lofted surface of the body of the Salt Shaker, then shrinking it down a little bit and placing it in the salt shaker. A lot more simple then it first sounded. Lastly, I just added a rock bump map to the shrunken down salt shaker body and colored it white. Before I end this post, I want to talk about the lighting. It sort of bugs me, but for me, that was as good as it was going to get, hard enough getting the light shining on the object the way I wanted it. Adjusting the lighting and then rendering an image to preview it got pretty repetitive. I know there is probably an easier to way to set up the lights but, me being me, I made it harder than it had to be.

Interview With Carter Maass