1st Semester Final Reflection

  It's been a long semester, which means this is going to be a long post. So, let's go ahead and get started with the PSA I made.
  Our PSA was about peer pressure, and not giving in to the temptation of doing stupid stuff. The project didn't take long. Everyone in the class spent about a week on pre-production. But my group then finished shooting and editing in the next two days. Really the only challenges we faced were during shooting, we couldn't quite decide what we wanted the friend group in the background to do. And we weren't exactly sure how we could make it known that they were there while still focusing on the two main characters. Ultimately, I just cut a clip of them reacting into  the middle of the scene. It may not look professionally made, but I didn't know what else to do. I don't think I learned anything during this project. The process wasn't any different than what we had already done, it was just the concept. As for feedback, I honestly don't remember. And I don't remember whether I went back and changed anything after that feedback. My overall opinion of it is that while it definitely wasn't the worst video in the class, we could've done better.



  So this is a short film I made with my group. Originally, we had an entirely different idea for our film. But due to actors' schedule conflicts, we were never able to do it. So we found ourselves in a little predicament. The project was due by the end of class the next day and only two people in our group were available to work on it that night. So, in a desperate attempt to actually get something turned in, we switched to a script that only ever had two people on the screen at once, was really simple, called up the only friend either of us had that didn't have plans, and threw together a video. However, it actually turned out decent considering how little time we spent on it. If I learned anything in this project, it's that a simple script is much easier to film. As for feedback, it was mostly about how short it was, how the fight was too long, etc. But honestly that was kind of the point. I didn't really intend for this film to be emotionally deep or dramatic. Kid walks in the woods, kid fights somebody in the woods, kid goes home. I'm not sure if we changed anything. My overall opinion of this film is that it was better than a lot of the other films in the class, but it wasn't our best work. I would've liked to add something to the beginning, but we didn't have the time to do that.

  My time in class has been devoted to either working on projects or learning how to enhance those projects. If I finish early, I often watch movies or videos to see what the professionals do to make their movies good. I have been especially interested in watching the behind the scenes of fight sequences. Outside of class I do much the same, exposing myself to the world of behind-the-curtain.

  My strengths are largely attributed to my personality. I am a perfectionist and always have been. I always want to plan everything out, and do every shot multiple times to ensure we get the best take. I think I could definitely improve my editing skills. I'm not usually the editor in my group, so I don't know nearly as much about the programs as my classmates.
  I honestly don't even remember the guest speakers. I don't know if I was gone or just tired, but I don't have any recollection of any guest speakers.

  The MX4D technology was interesting, and seemed like a phenomenal idea, but it ended up just being annoying. Everything it did was just distracting. It was loud and obnoxious, which just pissed me off. I don't believe this technology will benefit the movie industry until they make it less noticeable.

  I think my favorite part of this semester was definitely the short film. I had a great time doing the fight scene. I think that the main thing I would do differently is be more confident in my ideas. It took me forever to come up with a script idea because I kept thinking that it was too complicated, or too simple, or too weird. I'm not sure what my overall takeaway is, there's been a lot of stuff that I've forgotten. One thing that I would like to do next year is actually come up with an idea for our feature film. I didn't have anything this year, so I would like to get my chance to introduce my own story.

MX4D Review

  Recently, my video production class went on a field trip to B & B Theaters in Shawnee, Kansas to experience one of only 5 MX4D theaters in the nation. MX4D theaters are intended to create an immersive sensory experience for moviegoers. The chairs move with the motion of the camera, water sprays up at you, the chair gives you a little kick when there's an impact, and it makes certain smells release from the seat. However, the seats don't have vents, so the first thing we noticed when we walked in was that the room smelled. This, however, didn't last long. We forgot about it 5 minutes into the movie. Just to clarify, we saw Justice League. In the first scene, when a robber drops a bag, the seats moved. Why? There wasn't any logical reason why you should've felt the impact of the bag. The chair movement was especially annoying in the front row. You're already looking straight up to see the screen, it doesn't help that the chair suddenly tilts forward, making it even harder to watch.  There was also a strobe light that went off for explosions and gunshots, and that actually worked for a while. But like every other feature it got annoying after about 30 minutes. When there was wind or water, the nozzles in the seats made a loud hiss/popping sound. Not only was this distracting, but it was also annoying. Plus, the water kept spraying my popcorn. Another feature in the theater was their snow machine. It was loud, so I knew when it was going off, but the snow never actually made it to the front few rows. Overall, I'd say that the MX4D features were cool initially, but long-term they actually made the movie worse. Of course, it may have just been the movie. I've been told that it was better when they were playing Thor: Ragnarok, so I might have to try it with another movie to have a better opinion of it. But really, it wasn't anything spectacular, and I actually like the normal movie theater experience better.

Short Film Reflection - The Stalker

  For my latest video project, we made short films. Everyone wrote a script, then we split into groups and chose one script to make into our film. My group initially chose what I saw as a teenage spoof of The A-Team. We went through the usual pre-production process, making storyboards and finding actors. Once we had everything set up, we went to film. Unfortunately, there was no day when all of our actors were free at the same time. We tried for a week to resolve this, but we were nearing our deadline and had nothing to show for it. With three days left to turn in our video, we switched to my script. It was about a kid who went for a walk in the woods, with someone following him. With any other script, this was hopeless. But my script required only three people, so even though most of my group couldn't make it, we still had hope. Only two of my group, me included, were able to show up. We got one friend to be an actor, but no one else was available. So for your viewing pleasure, I had to be in the film. Yippee. 

  Luckily, we got everything filmed in less than two hours. Once we had gotten the film, it was up to the editor to bring it together. He did so just in time, turning it in at the last possible minute. So considering we made a film in about 3 hours of panic work, I'm surprised it turned out to be as good as it was. One member of our group complained that his name wasn't in the final credits, but that's kind of because he did nothing. He made the storyboards and then sat there while we tried to make a film. I don't know if it's because he didn't know what to do or if he just didn't want to help, but he ended up being a little bit of a road block. 

Personal Project-PSA

  So, this is my first post of the new school year and I figured I would start it off with my first project. Our assignment was to create a PSA about an important topic from a list. My group was originally thinking about making a video on violence, but we chose peer pressure instead.
 
  Going into pre-production, we started forming our ideas for the video, and for the most part it turned out exactly like our original plan. We made the storyboard, assigned team roles, and had the teacher check our script. Once all that was done, we were ready to start filming.

  Filming was relatively easy. We gathered our actors and went to our predetermined location, where we set up the camera and filmed our scene. That's basically all there was to it. Once we filmed the hall sequences, that was all we could do at school. My group met again after school to film the car sequences, but unfortunately I could not make it to that part. But my group managed just fine without me.

  Editing took less than an hour, and some of my group members actually made multiple versions. So between the five of us, we made 7 or 8 different videos from the same footage. It just goes to show that everyone interprets things differently.

Animation - Final Reflection

  Takeaways from the five e-Comm guarantees? Well, I'd say that technical skills are arguably the most important. If you can't do the project, then it doesn't matter how well you prepare. But in a group setting, collaboration keeps a project running smoothly, and communication is much the same. Leadership contributes to project management; a good leader keeps everyone else on track so that the project is finished efficiently. I learned all of this through my experiences and observations in group projects. These lessons are important because they keep the project going. My biggest challenge was working with people. I am an independent, introverted person. I don't enjoy group settings, and I had trouble cooperating. In the final project of the year, our group made a short parody of "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids". They asked me to stand in front of a green screen and run around like I was terrified. Instead, I stood there for a few seconds, then walked out of the shot. I hate being in front of the camera...

  My greatest strength was definitely the technical part of the class. And I wasn't even that great at it. I just can't seem to cooperate with people. Social skills are definitely my biggest weakness. I improved by being able to tolerate people. That doesn't seem that great, but that's a big step for me. I just hate it when people try to tell me what to do, and that happens every time there's a group project. Obviously, social skills are important in the world, and I will continue to develop them to a degree that I can at least fool people into thinking I like them. Hopefully, I will actually be a cooperative person by the time I leave high school. 

  I hope to apply my learning to video production next year. Perhaps the special effects I learned with the green screen and explosions. Not to mention the website that we used to learn how to do the explosions. I plan to use other tutorials on that website to expand my experience and knowledge. Specifically, I have been interested in creating an under-skin glow, like in the show "Iron Fist". 

  If I could change anything, I would work on my project management. There were a few projects that I missed in class and neglected to make up. I would go back and finish those projects, or at least get something that I could turn in. 

  Throughout the year in animation I have learned so many things. 2D animation in Photoshop, the usefulness of Adobe After Effects, 3D animation in MAYA, and special effects. My knowledge of animation has grown exponentially, and I enjoyed the sarcastic humor of the teacher. Overall, I had a great experience in this class and I wish I could spend a few more days there. But all good things must come to an end. So as I leave, I remind the teacher that I did learn, and I did enjoy it. For now, that's all I have to say.  

Video Production - Final Reflection

  This year in video production, I extended my learning of everything video. First semester was all about convergence journalism, but this semester was everything entertainment. Communication, collaboration, project management, leadership, and technical skills were put to the test as we pushed through three major projects. A music video, a high school trailer, and a short film. 

  The music video was our first big project in entertainment. We used the technical skills that we had learned in convergence to make a music video worth watching. The vast majority of our time was spent in preproduction. Filming only took a couple of days, and the editing process was even faster. Some of the major challenges that we faced involved scheduling. One person couldn't do this one day, and another person couldn't fit any time this day. It was a mess, but we got it done. The most important lesson we learned is that if you don't plan ahead, you're not going to finish. Prep work is the key to success. Once we were done, our feedback was mostly positive. It was a good video, consisting of a one-shot to the tune of Sweet Dreams. 

  The second project of entertainment was the high school trailer. We had to take a trailer of a movie based in high school and replicate it shot for shot. My group decided to do The Breakfast Club. I had never seen it before and was a little slow on figuring everything out, but that isn't what killed us. Our biggest challenge again was scheduling. Due to jobs, after school activities, parents, and actors simply not showing up, the video was not completed. It was frustrating, annoying, stupid, and overall it made me want to punch something. All we could do was sit and come up with ideas. Ideas that were never to be used. 

  The final and most successful project was our short film. This time, I was placed in a different group. The prep work took up most of the allotted time, and the filming and editing was relatively simple comparatively. Our biggest challenge, just like the last two times, was scheduling. The person who was supposed to be scheduling everything told us the wrong places, so for the first few days nothing got done. But eventually it was finished. 

  Overall, I enjoyed entertainment much more than convergence. Despite the constant frustrations and issues, it was just a better environment for me. Call me crazy, but I just didn't enjoy journalism as much as I enjoyed slamming my head on a wall. During class, I would double check my project to make sure it was as good as it could be. Once I had done that, I would usually watch movies on my tablet, taking mental notes on the shots and strategies used to make the film. I also do this outside of class, and I keep a journal of any cool plot ideas that I might come up with. I am very good at actually doing the work, I just have a hard time finding the time and desire to do it. I often have other things to do, and a school project is often at the bottom of the list. 

  I don't know what I enjoyed most about this semester. Nothing seemed to go right, everything and everyone annoyed me, yet I just loved it. I don't even know how to explain it. If I could change anything, it would be my schedule. I need to plan ahead better so that I can get stuff done. Overall, my big takeaway from this semester is that prep work and planning are the most important aspects to video production. Next year, I hope to keep learning and improving on my skills. I have no specific final thoughts. Nothing that needs to be said, nothing that needs to be done. I'll move on to next year with a renewed purpose, one which I hope will lead me to a long and successful life.

Professional Article Review - How Special Effects Transformed the Movies

  This article, located on techradar.com, talks about several different ways that CGI has transformed the movie experience. First, it talks about the ways different companies can customize their own brand of CGI; second, it gave a brief background of the history of CGI and some of the first movies to incorporate it, and how CGI was revolutionized after the release of Tron; third, it talked about how Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy used a new program for the huge battle scenes; and finally, the article talked about how the best CGI is used when blending fact and fiction. The author does a good job making an argument, using historical events and examples to push points through. The article seems accurate, and I might consider reading more of the content of this website.

http://www.techradar.com/news/world-of-tech/computing/how-special-effects-transformed-the-movies-590842/2

Professional Project Review - Frozen

  Honestly, I hated the movie. Yeah, I'm a pessimist. Deal with it. But I'm not here to review the plot or the overwhelmingly numerous musical numbers, I'm talking about the animation segment of it.
  Overall, it was well animated, as most Disney/Pixar movies are. Anywhere from the giant snowman down to the reindeer, the attention to detail was spectacular. However, there were a few mistakes. When Elsa is singing "Let it Go", she pulls her hair out of its bun and throws it around, unwittingly passing it straight through her shoulder. Another mistake was during the song "Love is an Open Door". In the scene where the singers' shadows are dancing across the wall, both shadows are floating, indicating that the characters would have had to be floating too. These are just a few mistakes, and let's be honest, no kids movie is going to be perfect. They don't have to make it perfect because no normal kid looks for these kinds of things. Overall, it was still well done, but a little more double checking couldn't have hurt.

Personal Project - Explosions

  This quarter in animation, our class has been learning about special effects and how to properly input them into video. Once we learned the basics, we created two projects based on explosions. Nothing is happening, then BOOM! Because why not...

  Overall, the projects were just an introduction into special effects. They were meant to test how well we learned, then how fast we could repeat it. There wasn't any pre-production for this project other than downloading the effects used. We used the explosion, dust, smoke, debris, and some other effects to make the blast as real as possible. Along the way, I learned that it rarely works perfectly the first time, and the key to being successful is being patient until you find something that works. If I did anything differently, it would definitely be my lack of patience. At the beginning, some of the things that I wanted didn't work out, and I slammed my head on my desk out of frustration multiple times. But the technical work would stay the same. I'm satisfied with how the two videos turned out. 

Movie Trailer Remake - Reflection

  In my video class, we had to remake a movie trailer. Of course, the movie had to be based in a high school. My group chose to remake "The Breakfast Club". We planned everything, made a script, a storyboard, and a cast and crew list. We began production, but we didn't get anything filmed. As it happens, the actors either didn't show up or couldn't, members of the crew (including myself) had to skip production for our jobs, and overall, nothing got done. There was absolutely nothing we could do about it. So unfortunately, we have nothing to show for over a month of scrambling and preparing. Oops.