Interview Project

My latest video project was my first time doing an interview. I was kind of nervous at first, especially when actually conducting the interview. Eventually though, I got through it, and made a project that went pretty well. The hardest part was likely making the questions and asking them. After that, I got into the editing and made the footage into a completed video. During the editing process, I learned how to make titles in Premiere and also how to use static images and how to include keyframes to make motion with pictures.



There were definitely some things that I could have done better, though. While the titles were nice, they often got in the way and were a bit repetitive. The only reason that I used them was another problem, too. While I was recording the interview, I forgot to get full sentence answers, so the titles explained what the question was. Also, the framing of the shot, while mostly fine, was a bit too zoomed out, especially with the head-room.

Walking Animation

The latest project I've made in Animation is a walking cycle. This was definitely the hardest, but also the most fun project I've done so far. One cool thing about this animation is that I actually drew the character by hand. I don't think that I'm any good at drawing, but when I scanned it in, my drawings looked fairly good, and the weirdness of the proportions actually worked for the project. After setting up the foot movement and moving my character (who is half pug, half butler) across the screen, I started messing with the other limbs to give the whole thing a sense of realism, applying the Principles of Animation, such as Squash and Stretch, to the head. I also made the arms swing slightly. All of these really subtle changes actually worked to make a somewhat natural-looking walk cycle.

First After Effects Animations

For the first two animations of the year, I started learning how to use After Effects. Last year, the only animations I made were in Photoshop, but I'm really loving AE. Before, I had to make frames for everything, but keyframes are really helpful to make animations longer than a few seconds. My first animation was just a bouncing ball, something I had done before. However, this time I was able to make the bounce look smoother and more realistic. The second animation was of a crawling worm, and it turned out even better. This was technically my first "character" animation, so I learned how to use puppet pins to move parts of the worm. It ended up pretty good, but if I took a bit more time, it could've probably done even better.

Procedure Video

I finished my first video for sophomore year, and it turned out pretty good. As well as being the first of the year, it's also my first video using the Panasonic camera and using Premiere Pro. Both tools were a bit confusing at first, but eventually, I learned how they worked. Many people were complaining about the differences in Premiere from Final Cut, but it's really the same thing with a few more features. Filming the video went well too. My partner and I both used our ideas together to make a complete project. All of our shots worked for the video, telling a story and following the rules of video design. Editing was fun, too. Learning all the things I could do with the new software was really cool, especially the video effects I could add in. Finding audio clips and putting them in the video was also fun, to add more emotion into the story. If I could change anything, I'd probably make the second to last scene a bit more zoomed out, as  it would do well to add more to the tone and feel of the shot. Overall, I'm pretty proud that this is my first project of the year, and I'm exited to see what things I'll be able to do later in the year.

Final Reflection

My Year in e-Comm was really good. When I started the year, I knew very little about what we were doing and how to do it. The extent of my skill was at the level of Microsoft Paint or Movie Maker. Now I've learned so much and am much better. Now I know how to use Illustrator, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Sketchup, and Final Cut Pro. I knew the bare basics of Sketchup, but knew literally nothing about any of the others.

 My teachers allowed my to learn all these programs, as well as how to work as a team and how to manage a long project. After all the stuff I learned from my teachers, I learned more on my own. I discovered some hidden and advanced tools to make some cool things. For example, on my logo in Graphic Design, I wanted to make it 3-D, so I went online and figured out how to make shadows.

In addition to the applications in this class, I've been able to take my skills into other areas. As I've had projects in other classes, knowing how to work as a team and how to manage time. Still though, my working as a team skills could be better, as on the last project, some things didn't go as well as planned.

In the end, all of what I learned will definitely help next year and in years after that. Even this summer, I have a few projects planned, and knowing all of my newly learned skills will really help. In the projects I work on this summer, I'll probably learn even more, making next school year better.

As a whole, I learned so much about how work will be like in the future, including communication and technical skills, as well as general responsibility and management. The entire year was great and I hope my next three years will be as well. This class was a really good way to show me stuff about the industries and it was just overall awesome.

Final Team Project

For the final team project in my first year of E-Comm, this went pretty good! I was on team  Cognito, latin for "learning", and we made the app "Tutor Tool". We all worked well together as a team, especially during the planning phase. We collaborated a lot while coming up with the idea and all worked to improve the plan. Our biggest problem, however, was bringing some of the plans into life. When we started making the graphics, we were doing good, but near the end of that rotation, things started getting weird and we ended up losing some files. Even with that, our role assignments made the project go fairly smooth. On the next group project, I'll take the information I learned about group time management and try to get more done. People tell me that I personally am good at managing time, but as a team, it's much harder. I kind of wish that the different parts of our project blended together better, especially between the animation and the video, as the silence during everyone's animations was kind of awkward. The green screen footage especially could have been used a bit better.

My part in the project was mostly the background stuff. In Graphic Design, my main job was making the web banner. Also, I animated the banner, but unfortunately I wasn't able to use it on the website. I also helped Armin out with the company logo, especially with the letter spacing and the gear theme. And for everybody, I found the Hex codes for all the colors we chose to be in the color scheme.




I love doing animation and making 3D models, so I ended up doing a lot of the animation. The most important model I made was the iPhone. After learning how to make the basic shape, it was pretty fun to make all the little details. I also made some other decorations, such as the books and the pencil. After everyone put their models in the set, I made the animation, making sure all the camera angles were inside the room.

For the video, I did most of the behind the scenes stuff. During filming, I did the camera work. It was fun to work the camera and wear a headset to talk to Skai and Mr. Cooper in the studio, who were working the teleprompter. I felt like a professional, so that was pretty cool. After filming, I was in charge of the editing. In Final Cut, I put all the clips together, using transitions when needed. There was also one shot with really bad lighting, so I fixed the colors, making it look like all the others. I also worked with the audio editing, reducing the echo in the voiceover. I think the video ended up really good, but I could make it even better if I had another day or two.

In conclusion, the whole project was a success, definitely not the best, but still pretty good for the first group project of the year. I'll take all that I learned from the project, both technical skills and communication, and get even better for the future.

6 Shot System Video

My first video project was on the 6 Shot System. I learned a lot about the basics of video and worked directly with a partner for the first time in an ecomm project. The project ended up turning out good for my first video, and i'm satisfied with my work. When filming the shots, I learned many lessons about what to do and what not to do, which helped me later. I also learned how to use Final Cut, which I personally enjoyed more than the filming. I learned all the skills for making the video and some more, including transitions and audio editing. If I could change my video, I would try to make more emotions, especially in my close ups, because my acting was not very good in the final product.