Quarter 2 Reflection

     This semester I took animation and video. I would say my main strength for both quarters was my ability to make things flow together. Nothing looked too out of place and it all fit together rather well. That is something needed for both animation and editing.

     I can get sidetracked easily while working, and that is not good. I need to focus on staying focused. Also need to work on making better storyboards and sticking to them. I had trouble planning out shots right then and there. I couldn't think of what I needed and wanted to be in the final product.

     My favorite part of the whole semester was editing videos. I enjoy seeing the video get put together and seeing everything you filmed and worked hard on fall into place. I like how you get the final say on everything and how whatever skills you have or new things you want to try can all go into that process.

     There isn't anything I would do differently about this semester in e-Comm. Maybe a few spots or days when I could have worked harder instead of slacking off, but other than a few small details, nothing. I would, however, like to go back and see what it would have been like if I made different decisions on projects. Maybe if I had done a different house in animation, or gone a different route with a video. I want to see what that would have been like without changing what has already happened.

    This semester, I got to learn the basics of both animation and video. it was super interesting to learn what goes into making both. There is a lot more making a video than I had expected. For both, there are a lot of details you need to think about before, during, and after.

     Next semester for me is graphic design and the final project. I'm not sure what it will be like but I am very excited. Next semester I want to work better with teams and meet new people in the same program I am in. I have already met a lot of great people through this program and I cannot wait to meet more. Overall, I am very happy with the program I am in and I can't wait to see what it has in store for us.

Web Project

Website Project

     To finish off the quarter, we did a web design project. There is no class for web design, so we have to work it in during different points of the year. This was our first project of the year.

     To do the web project we watched a series of videos, done by Mr. Olson, walking us through each step. We went into Dreamweaver to do it.  First, we had to set up the website in Dreamweaver. Then we had to go into Photoshop to take a picture that would go into the website.  After that, we would follow the steps the video had for us, pausing the video whenever we had to work. The videos did a very good job explaining what each step contained and the best way to go about getting it done. We could also preview it in Safari to see what it would look like when we were done. Throughout the process, we switched back and forth between design and code. We used both to get through the website. 

   
     Sometimes along the way I would get lost and have to go back into the video to find where I was. That took up a lot of extra time and set me back a bit. I also faced the problem of my website turning out different and needing to find where I went wrong. Along the way I learned a lot about how to set up a website using code and Dreamweaver.

     I don't think I will continue web design because the process of creating a website is not something I enjoyed. Maybe if I get to see the whole process I will enjoy it more.  really like the way my website turned out in the end. I am proud of what I was able to create.

Technical Post

How To Put Music In The Background Of A Video
First you are going to want to choose your music that you want to put into your video.  Whether its a song you bought or some audio that you found, you're going to want to put it in your video. If it's just some audio you found, you need to turn it into an mp3 file. You can do that on a website and it should appear in your music. Once you have that, you need to keep yup your music and pull up where you are editing. From there you can drag the mp3 file to where in your video you want the audio. Then you can edit it however you want to!

A B Sequencing

For our second video, we had to demonstrate A B sequencing. We split up into partners to film.  With our partners, we chose what we were doing for our video and drew out a storyboard. To show someone walking and show A B sequencing, I had my partner take long a trip to the printer. First, we got all the shots that were in the classroom and had both of us in them, then went on to the ones that had just one person. Then, we shot out in the hall, getting all the footage to make it look like an interesting walk. After we had everything shot, we hopped into Adobe Premiere and started to edit. I missed a day of class because of a field trip, so I was running a bit behind. I put all the clips together and went back in to fine tune it. After that, I added a few final touches and sent it on its way. I published it, uploaded it, and put it on Google Classroom.
Once we presented our videos, we were given feedback. For my next video I need to make sure I stay on one side of the axis line and keep my clips at a good length.

Six Shot System

Today was our first day really getting to learn about video. We were taught about the six shot system and got to use the iPads to take the pictures. The six shots were, over the shoulder, extreme closeup, extreme wide, medium, wide, and a shot of the hands. We paired up to take the pictures and I took them of my sister.              

Wide- This shot shows the whole body of the character being focused on.

Hand Shot-This shot shows us what they are currently doing with their hands.

Over The Shoulder- This shot shows us what they are doing, but from over their shoulder.

Medium-This shot shows the character from the waist up.

Extreme Closeup- This shot is a closeup of the character's face.

Extreme Wide- This shot shows us the setting of the pictures, but the character is still seen.

Social Media Article

Since second quarter has now started, we switched e9 strands. Now we are in video.  Yesterday we read an article about social media and how it can affect your chances of getting a job or getting into college. It talked about how if you put out a bad image of yourself online, then it will probably come back to bite you. It said that you should always be careful about what you put out because you don't want to offend anyone, make them mad, or hurt their feelings. It also talked about how once you put something out there, it doesn't matter if you take it down. It will always be out there.

Overall, it was a very good article to read, and had very useful information in it. Always be careful about what you say online and what sort of image of yourself you are putting out. You never know who might see it, wether its a friend or a college scout.

Elevator Pitch

My name is Hannah Iverson and I am an e-Communication student at Olathe Northwest. I play the cello and the ukulele.  I am proficient in writing and memorization. I have been told many times that I am good at paying attention to detail. I am a strong leader and am good at making sure everyone is getting involved at the task at hand. I also have a knack for planning ahead. I'm working towards being an editor and I'm taking all the classes i can to get myself on that track.

3d Animated House

For our last project in the animation rotation, we made a house in Sketch-up.  We learned how to use it and make a house using the little tips and tricks. I learned that Sketch-up is very hard to use if you have no prior experience with it. Luckily, we had videos that walked us through the important parts. We got to choose our own houses, and I chose a tiny house. After finishing the house, we added in details. I added in a  canoe, a bench, and paint to the house. Getting all the details in took some time and we finished out by animating it in scenes.

Ten Strengths Animation

Today I finally finished my first animation project that doesn't involve a bouncing ball. We had to take our ten strengths words and fit them into our animation. The first struggle was actually choosing words. After we managed to find our words that at least vaguely described us, we got to work.

We put our background picture into Photoshop first, mine being an orchestra hall. We spent a lot of time putting in our words after that. We had to make sure we really liked the final look, the fonts, colors, and sizes of each of the words. Once we had that in order, we began to animate.

This time in Photoshop, we used the video timeline to animate. We made all of the words come in front different spots, sizes, and opacities. My animation was looking oddly grainy and it made it super frustrating to try to nitpick little details. I couldn't play it without it looking like that. I ended up shortening the entire thing by hand twice. At first video looked that way, too. But the second time around I got lucky and it was okay.

If I were to go back and do this project again, I would want to choose a less busy background image. Though I do like my image, I feel like I could have gone with something more simplistic and easy to work with.  I am very excited to see what our next unit, working in 3D, has in store.

Ten Strengths Video:

Bouncing Ball Try 2

This time we decided to not only make the ball bounce, but too make it move as well. We added in arcs to see how the ball follows it. That means we had to learn what arcs are and how to properly use them.

Process

First, we learned what arcs are.  Arcs are the circular path that animations follow to make it look more realistic. Without the arcs, your animation just looks mechanical and fake, so it's important to add them in. Next, we applied them to what we were doing. When a ball falls, it doesn't keep bouncing at the same height. That wouldn't be right. The ball slowly bounces less and less until it stops. We put the arcs in and put the ball along the line, making the bouncing affect. We got to put little faces on the bouncy ball so it made a face when it hit the ground. Once we had it all mapped out, we went back in and put it into timeline. There we added a cool little fade in and out. After that we saved it and got to see the final product.

Aftermath

This time around I learned how to make animations look more realistic. Using the arcs helped us keep the ball on track and looking normal. Without them, nothing about the ball bouncing would have liked normal or even remotely correct. I also learned how to put text into the animation, which really isn't too big of a thing, but it would have taken me a really long time to find it otherwise. I learned how to fade from one frame to another as well. 

Looking Back

If I were to go back and to this again, I would add in shadows and clouds. I would also change the faces I put on the balls. I want to also edit the arcs a little bit to make the more realistic at the end 

when they do the little bouncy things. Looking back, the project was really fun, exciting, and interesting. I am looking forward to our next project, and I'm excited to see what it incorporates.

Learn about arcs:

Bouncy Ball Animation

Since we are in the animation rotation, we finished our first animation today. We animated a bouncy ball bouncing on a loop in photoshop. For our first time ever animating something, I think we all did pretty good.

The Process

We started by putting in the sky and the ground and then adding in the ball. We had separate layers for each ball to show how it would bounce. Once we had every layer for the ball, my sister and I decided to play around with some of the other features on photoshop and see what they did. We both added in grass and a gradient to the top of the land layer. I really wanted to do little tufts of grass, but I had no idea where to do that or how to do that. I added clouds and a gradient into the sky layer to make it look a bit more realistic than it already had been with just the blue. Around this point was when we found a way to put in shadows. I made one shadow on the last frame before it hit the ground and nothing else. It took me up until we began to animate it to realize that maybe I should add shadows to the other frames to make it realistic. Without the other ones there would have been a shadow that appeared and disappeared out of nowhere. I'm glad that i got the other shadows in, even if they don't flow terribly well. After that we went into timeline and turned them all into frames.

The Aftermath

During this lesson I learned for the first time how to animate and how to actually use photoshop. I've seen photoshop used a lot, but I've never really known how to use it or how it works so it was really interesting to finally use it. We learned what does what and how to get to everything. We learned about the rules of animation and how to apply them. We mostly focused on squash and stretch. I never realized that you had to physically show the squashing and the stretching. I always just assumed that it looked like that since it was going that fast. I was wrong. We saw how robotic it looks when you don't add in squash and stretch. So, add the squash and stretch. It's important.

Reflection

If I were to go back in and redo this entire project from scratch, I would keep the shadow and change the clouds. I would also add in little tufts of grass and maybe try to make the clouds move. I like the way the shadows look, but maybe I could go back in and make them smoother, so they flow nicer.  I don't know how you could add tufts of grass, but there's most likely a way to do it. I added in the clouds in a way that I don't know if i could animate them, but I think if I added more of the clouds to the sides of it I could make them move. Maybe I could redo them in a different style, make them look cartoony and float past. But, overall, I enjoyed the project and cannot wait to animate again.

Chalk Flag

On Wednesday we went outside to draw flags out of chalk. Wednesday also happened to be one of many days in a row in which it rained. Let's just say that rain and chalk do not mix too well together.

Starting on Monday we all met down in the Raven's Nest to begin discussing our first project of the year. We learned about the meaning behind colors on flags and the symbols they have. We then split up into groups and began to work. Originally, we were going to finish our flags on Monday and the go outside Tuesday to draw our flags in the courtyard. We ended up having to take another day to choose our colors, choose and design a symbol, and work on the overall design of the flag. 

When Tuesday came around my group worked in silence, each of us taking a corner to fit our symbol in.  I ended up choosing the color white as my color of choice. I chose it because i liked the meaning behind it. It meant peace, innocence, and purity. I liked the way that some associate it with perfection and some associate it with death. It just shows the way something can be taken and thought about based purely on your perspective and how you were taught. For my symbol I went with  a treble clef. I wanted something to symbolize music and that was one of the first things that came to mind. I didn't want to do just a music note and treble clefs are oddly common today. As someone who plays the cello, I could have gone with a bass clef, but come on, only people who play an instrument seem to know that it's a thing. Once we all had our symbols chosen, we drew out our flag and got to work. 

Wednesday was also picture day. We all had to find something that was nice enough for a school picture,but comfortable enough to draw with chalk and not be worried about getting anything on our clothes. We left our classroom after about five minutes, conferred with our groups, then went to the courtyard to get started on drawing our flags. Our team flag had a sun in the middle with the rays going out to divide our sections. I was really excited to see how it would look versus when we drew it out on paper.  There were a couple problems with our original plan. Turns out treble clefs are harder                                                                                                    to draw with chalk than with a pencil. Imagine that. Besides that it had rained earlier so the ground

 was wet when we went outside to draw, so that made it a bit more difficult to get it across the way we wanted and to not continuously run out of chalk. About halfway through, it began to rain again. We were running around trying to finish our design before it washed away and trying to not mess up our future school picture. We were lucky that the rain ended while we were working and we could go back over it and finish.




Overall, I'm really happy with the way E-comm began. We got to get a feel for working in a group and collaborating to get all of our ideas across. I can only hop the next time we have to work outside, there's nothing but sunshine. I'm excited to see what's in store.