Final wrap up

I sincerely enjoyed this course; it’s hands-on, and it allows you to work at your own pace to create quality work. I would suggest this course to anyone graduating college. I think these skills are essential to have in the professional world we are about to enter.

 

I would have to say my favorite project of the semester was the final video project. I found it the most time consuming but also the most gratifying in the end. I really did enjoy all of the projects, though, and more than that, I enjoyed being able to use the skills I learned in those projects to start little projects of my own for personal use.

 

I would not doubt it if I found myself using every one of the skills I obtained during this course, and if not, at least I can put it “comfortable with Adobe CS5” on my resume 🙂

 

I am majoring in Comm with an emphasis in broadcast production and I am pretty keen on going to film school once I graduate as well so this is a great introductory course for basically my entire future, haha.

 

If I had to pick a skill that I wish I would have learned it would have been one or two media capturing techniques such as photography or videography. A great picture/video starts way before you even take it and that is important to know and to learn.

 

This was easily my most rewarding course this semester(don’t tell my other professors!), and I plan on recruiting my fellow comm friends as well as everyone else who wishes to be competitive in today’s job market to take this course as well.

 

Thank you

 

-Renee M Valle

Final Video Story

I decided to take an artistic approach on this video story. I was really inspired after going shooting a few weekends ago to do some sort of action film in the woods. I would have had more dialog but I only have one person that was willing to be in front of the camera, haha. And since my blog’s theme is Media criticism I decided to walk a mile in their shoes and create a tiny bit of entertainment of my own. I can’t criticize an institution for not seeing their own work through common eyes without looking through their camera lens, right?

I storyboarded out the shots on my whiteboard and then asked a few people to help out with the camera, gun and talent. Originally, Dani(the girl) was supposed to be holding a pistol but I figured that wasn’t such a safe thing to broadcast for your professor…

After collecting the sound recorder, HD camera and tripod, we headed out to the location. Thank goodness it was sunny because it was the only day we could all get together. The shots were pretty well planned out on the story board that production was a breeze. Although it took a little directing and a few sprained ankles to get the chase sequence, I think it turned out nicely.

We finished up on location and headed back home for post production. I imported all of my video and audio and went to work putting them in order and editing them down to fit together. I cannot even tell you everything I did to edit this down to what it is now, but it involved a whole lot of resizing, recoloring and layering. I even took a few frames, edited them in photoshop and put them back in the sequence. I really enjoy filming but there is nothing like making something look exactly the way you want it to look during editing.

I messed around with a few songs but I think my slight obsession with Game of Thrones kicked in when I found this track. I like the emotion it stirs.

Story board:

Opening sequence: Title “From This Day… Forward”

• Tight shot- Main character’s eyes, sitting by tree, frightened
• Sound effect(broken stick)
• MC runs opposite way
• Long shot, running through forest
• MC runs into woods
• MC runs behind tree
• Pan across to reveal MC behind tree
• MC runs out of woods
• Shot: MC running toward fence
• MC hopping fence from front view
• MC runs out of woods
• Shot: running up to field and yielding
• MC looks right and follows antagonist to edge of field with eyes
• Flicker of MC
• Antagonist revealed, zoom out on full body
• cock gun
• cut to black
• Fade in title “til Death do us Part”
• Credits

Draft Video

To Have and to Hold from Renee Valle on Vimeo.

It took me a while to be able to upload this video, but here it is! Youtube would not even begin to download it and Vimeo took three tries in all different formats. But, alas,  I have found success.

I do have to say that I am sincerely saddened by the quality that it chose to reproduce, though. The film was shot in HD and actually looks crisp on my computer, but I will just have to find an alternative for the final product.

OK, business time.

The theme for the film is a little vague(which I am really thankful for), so I decided to take an artistic approach. I was really inspired after going shooting a few weekends ago to do some sort of action film in the woods. I would have had more dialog but I only have one person that was willing to be in front of the camera, haha. And since my blog’s theme is Media criticism I decided to walk a mile in their shoes and create entertainment of my own. I can’t criticize an institution for not seeing their own work through common eyes without looking through their camera lens, right?

I storyboarded out the shots on my whiteboard and then asked a few people to help out with the camera, gun and talent. Originally, Dani(the girl) was supposed to be holding a pistol but I figured that wasn’t such a safe thing to broadcast for your professor…

After collecting the sound recorder, HD camera and tripod, we headed out to the location. Thank goodness it was sunny because it was the only day we could all get together. The shots were pretty well planned out on the story board that production was a breeze. Although it took a little directing and a few sprained ankles to get the chase sequence, I think it turned out nicely.

We finished up on location and headed back home for post production. I imported all of my video and audio and went to work putting them in order and editing them down to fit together. I cannot even tell you everything I did to edit this down to what it is now, but it involved a whole lot of resizing, recoloring and layering. I even took a few frames, edited them in photoshop and put them back in the sequence. I really enjoy filming but there is nothing like making something look exactly the way you want it to look during editing.

I messed around with a few songs but I think my slight obsession with Game of Thrones kicked in when I found this track. I like the emotion it stirs.

Anyways, I still have a few tweaks that I will be working on when my face isn’t in a text book this week. Other than those though, I’m happy with it.

Story board:

Opening sequence: Title “From This Day… Forward”

• Tight shot- Main character’s eyes, sitting by tree, frightened
• Sound effect(broken stick)
• MC runs opposite way
• Long shot, running through forest
• MC runs into woods
• MC runs behind tree
• Pan across to reveal MC behind tree
• MC runs out of woods
• Shot: MC running toward fence
• MC hopping fence from front view
• MC runs out of woods
• Shot: running up to field and yielding
• MC looks right and follows antagonist to edge of field with eyes
• Flicker of MC
• Antagonist revealed, zoom out on full body
• cock gun
• cut to black
• Fade in title “til Death do us Part”
• Credits

Video Tutorials

Audio Story Final

Lately, I have been really interested in the gender roles and relationship standard that the media has portrayed as normal. I decided to do my audio story interviewing some of my good friends Dani Van Slyke and Taylor Swift on how the media has affected their perceptions of reality, especially pertaining to self image and relationships.
I began with Dani’s interview, asking her a good amount of questions to be sure that I had enough content for the audio story. I recorded using my laptops microphone in waveform, and saved it. I then interviewed Taylor on the same track, asking the same questions that I did Dani. I knew I would get different responses because they are both different sexes and different ages.
I then listened to each of the interviews and took a good amount of time editing them down to find the nuggets that I thought would work well. This process is the most time consuming as it consists of listening to the interviews over, and over, and over again(kind of gets annoying if anyone else is in the room). I edited the sound bites down to the exact phrases I was potentially going to use and began to write my narrative script.
I wanted to allow the script to have a bit of a story line but also be able to be formal enough to give introductions and transitions without sounding awkward. I also wanted to make it seem personable and approachable, which is why I began with the anecdote that I did.
Recording the narration was probably my favorite part. Probably because it was the easiest!
I then edited the narration with the nuggets of interview that I decided to use and made sure the transitions were adequate and smooth.
After getting feedback, I added a narrated conclusion and tried to use a call to action to give it some life at the end.
I also edited the interviews a bit more and added music to the background. I chose Frost Waltz because it was a freely licensed song, and because it gave that sort of media magic tone that I wanted. I also liked it because it was upbeat but had moments of darker tone.

Finally, I exported it and uploaded it onto sound cloud.

Audio Story Draft

Lately, I have been really interested in the gender roles and relationship standard that the media has portrayed as normal. I decided to do my audio story interviewing some of my good friends Dani Van Slyke and Taylor Swift on how the media has affected their perceptions of reality, especially pertaining to self image and relationships.

I began with Dani’s interview, asking her a good amount of questions to be sure that I had enough content for the audio story. I recorded using my laptops microphone in waveform, and saved it. I then interviewed Taylor on the same track, asking the same questions that I did Dani. I knew I would get different responses because they are both different sexes and different ages.

I then listened to each of the interviews and took a good amount of time editing them down to find the nuggets that I thought would work well. This process is the most time consuming as it consists of listening to the interviews over, and over, and over again(kind of gets annoying if anyone else is in the room). I edited the sound bites down to the exact phrases I was potentially going to use and began to write my narrative script.

I wanted to allow the script to have a bit of a story line but also be able to be formal enough to give introductions and transitions without sounding awkward. I also wanted to make it seem personable and approachable, which is why I began with the anecdote that I did.

Recording the narration was probably my favorite part. Probably because it was the easiest!

I then edited the narration with the nuggets of interview that I decided to use and made sure the transitions were adequate and smooth.

A little bit more editing of sound levels and cuts and the story was complete! Finally, I exported it and uploaded it onto sound cloud.

Audio footage

Audio Tutorials

 

 

Final Logo

Is it just me, or does Adonbe illustrator seem like photoshop’s simple sibling? It may just be the fact that it isn’t a brand new concept this time around, but I found the system easy to navigate and fun to use.

I was fairly certain about what I wanted to do for my design this time around. I knew a magnifying glass would depict the analysis factor of my subject, and the magnified letters represent myself and my interest in the topic.

I began the design with creating the glass part of the magnifying glass. I created a circle and used a filter to create the glassy look. I then added the original handle, which I later revised with more detail.

I looked at a few graphic magnifying glasses and found this one among the myriad of designs:

at dreamstime.com as an inspiration for the handle. I had to tap into my gradient skills to create the three dimensional look without going overboard on drop shadow(taking the blunt advice from Mr. Parrotti).

I added the text on top of the glass and made the letters M E using the text tool. I then added another layer of text and made it much smaller but still lined up with the other letters. I moved the M E layer underneath the very opaque glass layer and lined everything up one last time.

I wanted to add a little bit of detail to the magnifying glass so I added a silver ring around the glass. After leaving it alone for a day I decided I needed to add some color so I made the glass a little more blue with a bit of an inner glow.

I tried to take some of my classmate’s advice and lessened the gradient effects on the handle a bit. I also looked at all of the fonts available but decided to go with my original choice.

The reading suggested that a logo should be versatile, so I made sure the background for each piece was transparent and could be used on white or colored backgrounds. I also took balance and the rule of thirds into account by angling the handle of the magnifying glass and having the text be a third of the way down from the entire logo.

Overall, I’m pretty pleased with the final project. I spent quite a bit of time(some during lectures for other classes) messing around with the graphic and there is not much I would change. I’m glad I learned how to navigate both Photoshop and Illustrator; it has already proved to be a useful skill.

Draft LogoI My

 

 

 

 

I was fairly certain about what I wanted to do for my design this time around. I knew a magnifying glass would depict the analysis factor of my subject and the old style type writer typing reminded me of the media of yesteryear.

I began the design with creating the glass part of the magnifying glass. I created a circle and used a filter to create the glassy look. I then added the handle with the rounded rectangle and filled it with a gradient to make it a little more realistic. I added the text on top of the glass and made the letters M E using the text tool. I then added another layer of text and made it much smaller but still lined up with the other letters. I moved the M E layer underneath the glass layer and lined everything up one last time.

I wanted to add a little bit of detail to the magnifying glass so I added  little bit of hinge detail and a silver ring around the glass. After leaving it alone for a day I decided I needed to add some color so I made the glass a little more blue and added the red center on the handle. I attempted to blend it with some darker notches(which Im not too sure that I love yet).

I wanted to add some more dimension so I added a drop shadow on the magnifying glass.

I also made sure the background for each piece was transparent so it could be used on white or colored backgrounds.