Exploring Video Final 2019

Projects

Movie Trailer

One of my projects this semester was to recreate a movie trailer. We were given a month to do so. A challenge we faced for the first week or so was finding actors that were available. We needed a couple more actors that weren't apart of our group but every person we asked declined. Eventually, we finally got enough actors for the video. While filming, we learned how much effort can be put into a single shot. The only issues with the video is one shot that doesn't look fully focused and there was one part where I was saying a line, but we later realized I was too quiet so we had to use the audio from the original trailer. During editing, we changed the aspect ratio to look like the original trailer. Overall, the quality is very good, and it's a very obvious remake of the Breakfast Club trailer.

Short Film

My latest project was to create an original short film. This was one of the few projects where we were planning and creating something entirely original. We had a little under 2 months to create the video. We also had to start by writing a logline, synopsis, script, and film treatment. After everyone did this, we chose the best videos to create and we got into groups. We had to schedule, storyboard, and other pre-production steps. The filming only took one day. My editing took four days. The short film is a comedy about a man that gets robbed whilst gaming.

Time Management

Whenever I have something to work on in class, I will do it. If I have nothing to work on, I'll do work from other classes. There have been many class periods where I had nothing to do, but when there is, I am usually productive. For example, after we filmed "The Robbery," I edited every class period consistently and I even came in for Raven 50 one day.

Strengths

In video production, I think I'm not bad at editing and operating the camera. The only way to maximize these strengths is to practice. The more I use a camera, the better I'll understand it and utilize it. The more I edit, the more I'll understand the software and editing techniques.

Areas of Improvement

I need to improve as a leader. I have only directed one video this year and I'm not very good at it. I have never liked being the leader in charge, but this of course can change.

Short Film

In the short film, I operated the camera for about half of the clips. I was also responsible for editing the video. The genre of our short film, as mentioned earlier, was a comedy. The story is not meant to be taken seriously. Something I learned was how to color correct. While editing, I noticed that some scenes looked a bit too yellow so I had to fix that. Before we were in groups, I had to write my own story. I learned to look for plot holes in my writing. My writing skills slightly improved.

Summary

My favorite part about second semester video production was the short film. I didn't enjoy the writing part, but everything that followed was genuinely fun. Especially, the filming process. I liked setting up the camera and shooting the video. Something I wish I did differently this semester was to finish my music video project. That project was a disaster for my group. My major take-away is that I would like to continue video production as a junior. My goal is to improve my editing/filming to look more professional and polished.

Graphic Design Final 2019

Projects

My favorite graphic design project from 2nd semester was the logos project. The task was to sketch 30 original logos in our sketchbook and make 5 of them in Adobe Illustrator. We were given about 3 weeks to do so. My only struggle in this project was trying to come up with logo ideas during the sketching process. Many of my logos were inspired by something else. A lot of them were inspired by yin and yang. One of them was inspired by the superman logo. I asked for a few people's opinions on which of my logos were the best then I recreated them in Illustrator with the pen tool and shape tool. The last step was to do different color schemes with each logo to see which colors work best with the logos. Overall, the process was very relaxed and nothing felt super tedious. My logos turned out pretty good and I'd say I improved my knowledge of logo design. There are 2 logos that received the most praise so I'll put them both below.

My second favorite project my vector portrait project. We were given a month to take a picture of ourselves and vectorize it in Adobe Illustrator. I chose to do a low poly vector portrait. This was challenging because I had no clue how to do this when I first started. I learned how to use the grid in Illustrator to create a series of triangles that resemble my head. I colored them with the eyedropper tool. It was a very slow and somewhat tedious process but it wasn't too difficult once I got the hang of it. The final vector portrait resembles me quite well and I'm proud of how it turned out.

Another project I enjoyed from second semester was my special event advertising project. I had the choice of making a hypothetical advertisements for either the Sprint Center or The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. I chose the second option. The main artist being promoted was Andy Warhol. I had to make a poster, postcards, and ticket design promoting the event. My designs were inspired by pop art because Andy Warhol made pop art. I improved my skills in Photoshop and Illustrator. I remember being suggested that I don't change the color of Andy Warhol in the middle of the poster, although I was going to. I was also given the suggestion of adding shapes. The final poster turned out fine, but it isn't my best work.

Time Management

This semester, I usually had just the right amount of time to do each project. There were very few times where I had to come in during Raven 50 to work on a project. Usually, I was productive during class but there have been a few times where I worked on homework from other classes. While making a project, I try to do the best I can. Whenever I need to improve something but don't know how, I ask for others' suggestions. 

Strengths

In e-communications, I have been both a strong graphic designer and film maker. In graphic design, my strength has always been in Photoshop. I'm best with Photoshop whenever we do projects, although I have improved quite a bit in Illustrator as well. As an e-comm student in general, I'm best with technical skills.

Areas of Improvement

My biggest area of improvement is leadership. I've never been a very good leader, which is why I am never director in my video class. Luckily, graphic design is often very independent and there isn't a need for a leader.

Conclusion

Graphic design was a fun class. I loved the feeling of creating original art. It felt very rewarding to finish a project after weeks. My only complaint of the class is the required blog posts for every project. I'd rather be working on the next project, but it's really not a big deal. It was a hard decision whether I wanted to continue graphic design or video production as a junior but I decided on video production. My goal for e-comm next year is to create work that I'm proud of, and to have fun while doing so. Thank you Mrs. Beaudoin for teaching this great class, it was fun!