Christmas Music Video

For one of the last assignments of the year, We were required to partner up with someone else in class we didn't regularly work with and create a seasonal music video. My partner, Will Cecil, and I came up with several ideas initially, all ranging from outside events like iceskating, to intimate settings like decorating a tree. While all the ideas we came up with were fun and festive, we found that some of their aspects weren't very practical. We weren't able to film the entire group of people we wanted, so we were forced to be creative as the time we had grew shorter and shorter. Inevitably, the last week rolled around for the assignment, and thankfully, we had our idea finalized. We decided to use the song, How the Grinch Stole Christmas and had our friend, Alec Walberg play the grinch. Through a series of comedic shots, we portrayed Alec to be just as mean as the Grinch himself. Abby Peek also made an appearance in our video, playing an adorable Cindy Lou Who. overall, Despite the slight time crunch, I believe our video was a success.

Montage

To understand the concept of montage, you must first appreciate the man who invented the technique: Sergei Eisenstein. Sergei began his career in an ideal moment in history, a time when cinematographers were utilized to relay to the general public the war that was happening around them. Sergei was a very gifted cinematographer, known for his 'intellectual montage' skills. his films, such asLa destrucción de Oaxaca (Documentary short) 

 1930Sentimental Romance (Short) (as S. M. Eisenstein) 

 1929Gore i radost zhenshchiny 

 1929The Storming of La Sarraz 

 1929Old and New 

 1928October (Ten Days that Shook the World) (as S. M. Eisenstein) 

 1925Battleship Potemkin (as S.M. Eisenstein) 

 1925Strike 

 1923

Dnevnik Glumova (Short) 


perhaps his most well known film, Battleship Potemkin represents one of his best works in development of the montage technique. Montage focuses on emotion, not time. Eisenstein spends ten minutes on a scene that only lasts two, just to demonstrate the general feelings of the people in it. Abby Peek and I decided to do our montage as a promo for our school's Musical, The Wizard of Oz. we wanted to not only capture the essence of the show, but resurrect a nostalgic emotion that everyone felt when they watched the movie as a child.

Project Management

For my Group's MLK video Project, we were very diligent in the process of organizing and strategizing what needed to be done. We meticulously planned out every moment of our process, from storyboarding, to location scouting. We did our best to work around obstacles, like filming in the rain during an outside scene. We kept a running google Doc during the entirety of the project, and frequently texted our team in order to make sure everything ran smoothly. We planned constantly, and despite our challenges, we were able to execute this video properly.

Film Crew

While I know I could handle the job of being a Producer, I know my schedule keeps me quite busy, and I would be slightly concerned about how demanding the responsibilities of being a Producer would entail. Director of Photography is a very exciting, yet stressful job. This is arguably one of the more challenging jobs, because it involves being capable of shot composition, noticing visual dynamics, and being confident in camera work. The gravitation of this job is quite heavy, because without this person,  the film itself would not exist.  Project managers are highly important because it is their responsibility to keep everything running smoothly. While I know I would be good at this job, I feel that my talents would be better suited for something else.  Directing is having an overall vision for something, and convincing everyone else around you that its a good idea. I think I'd be good at Directing, but i enjoy more creative responsibilities. Editing is a detail oriented process that would require patience and a good eye for what looks best. I believe I am fairly qualified to do a job like this. I am skilled at finding ways to make something look its best, even if there is very little that went right in the filming process. I am good at thinking creatively, especially when I need to come up with a solution to a problem in short periods of time.

Codecs

Recently, I've had the opportunity to learn about Codecs. Initially, I couldn't say I knew a thing about Codecs. After doing some research, I discovered that the word Codec means compression/decompression. It also stands for compressor/decompressor and code/decode. Essentially what that means is that Codecs are computer programs that shrink large movie files so you can watch them on your computer easily. Even if we don't consciously know about Codecs, we use them on a regular basis; we need them every time we want to listen to music or watch a video on our computer. A commonly known Codec is Mp3, that renders music and allows sharing to be quick and attainable. Codecs get very little credit from the public, because no one even acknowledges the work that goes into displaying movies and music. We use codecs every day, and we need to remember how important it is.

10 Camera Techniques

One of my favorite things about being in a film class is constantly learning new techniques. I do my best to experiment with new ideas every time I have an opportunity to get behind a camera, and enjoy being assigned to try something new. One of our early on assignments this year was to attempt to use cinematic classic techniques, such as whip pan, whip cut, Focus Transition, and Search Up. I collaborated with a small group, and for one day we played with the ten different techniques we were challenged to learn about. While we easily can research all of the camera shots online, we couldn't possibly fathom how to properly execute the techniques without an opportunity to try them for ourselves. the main objective isn't just to learn about them; it is to take what we've learned and apply it to our own work as cinematographers.

 As we all tried the techniques, we were forced to be inventive and creative as we did our best to do the camera angles justice. The truly amazing thing about being able to film for assignments is being able to look back on past assignments to see how we have grown as film students.  We will never truly be done with the learning process in film. this world is a constantly evolving and innovative and its our responsibility to be not only capable of keeping up with these changes, but also being one step ahead.

At the end of the day, I could say with absolute certainty that my favorite Filming technique was the Whip Pan, Whip Cut, because it required the knowledge of how to properly transitioning between two scenes flawlessly. For those of you who may not be familiar with this particular technique, Whip Pan, Whip Cut can be seen in several instances and is most frequently utilized when portraying a memory transition. A good example I like to think of is in the TV show, How I Met Your Mother. The show is primarily based on memories and uses a whip pan, whip cut at least once an episode. Their intro used a slight variation of the process, but in general possesses the same principle. http://youtu.be/ZPLOsabhQSM

Spoken Word Poem

Billions of people walk this earth every day, and not one of them will be moved the exact same way by the beauty that surrounds them. The wonderful thing about the unique variety of perceptions is that thousands of opinions could be about the same thing and all of them different.  "Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder," is exponentially true, and I incorporated that saying into my plans for the filming of my Spoken Word Poem. An assignment given to me recently focused on the way we tell stories as individuals. I selected a Spoken Word Poem titled, The Crossroad by Norbert Mathumo. Here is the poem itself-

"THE CROSS ROAD

When words sound like a lost course
Who is will provide the answers to all this questions we ask
When the world feels like sinking sand
Who will beat fear to hold my hand?
When the road of life seems too long to reach the end
Who will tell me continue when am just about to stop

I am not afraid of what the world brings me
It is after all life, and it is meant to be
I cannot chose what my tomorrow becomes
But I can choose to become my tomorrow
And define my existence today
But a choice is but a choice
It may not define what becomes
Or what tomorrow may bring

 When behind lies the tattered ruins
Of an interrupted middle class firmly
When our differences of reason cannot elevate
When sense make no sense
And the silence in my house
Is beyond the count of grief
I sit and take a moment to meditate
For you to read my thoughts in a poem

 In the deepest end of solitude
I find a place to bury pain
What my heart cannot heed
My mind cannot feed
To corrupt my thoughts with greed
I am not afraid to be alone
Because no one is ever alone
But I am afraid to be what I am not
Like a wound left to rot

 A defined sense of solitude
At the cross road
When thoughts collide
When we take a moment to weigh our load
When we all pause
To Whig history

When the sea mimics the land
Life still exist within
When the sun set to the east
And the night is left for beasts to feast
Life still exist within
When all is lost
And when all is said and done
When fun has become less fun
When all have come and gone
When there is nowhere to run
Life still exist within

 When something becomes nothing
When nothing becomes something
And when ideas deceive the mind
In the interregnum
It is the journey of life
Not the arrival which occupies my mind
 When we get to the cross road,"

What I liked about this poem in particular was how the rhythm pulled the story along. I really connected with its message and knew that I could visualize doing something really interesting. I played with several ideas in the initial process of defining what the message was, and it was difficult to pinpoint the exact way i wanted to convey the story it told. The concept i struggled with the most was how severe i needed to show the grief and sadness that clouded this spoken word. Working with Abby Peek, we collaborated to come up with a vision for the story plot, and properly executing it. Our initial thoughts were to tell the story from a girl's point of view. We interpreted the meaning of the poem to be that of a struggle with overcoming a loss, not necessarily one that literally happened to her, but one that this girl felt emotionally. We worked for several days on our shots that we knew we wanted to capture. The difficult part of this project was surprisingly not the actual filming, but finding time to accomplish it. Timing was key, and sadly, we did not acknowledge how necessary it was to strategize that part of the project. Realistically, we only had time to film two days. With the fast approaching deadline, and no time left to film, we pulled extra b-roll that we had from last year to at least have a finished product. In all honesty, i am not pleased with the way we finished it. Maybe one day i will revisit the project to give it the proper time and attention it deserves, but for now, here is my spoken word poem:

Spoken Word Poem

Billions of people walk this earth every day, and not one of them will be moved the exact same way by the beauty that surrounds them. The wonderful thing about the unique variety of perceptions is that thousands of opinions could be about the same thing and all of them different.  "Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder," is exponentially true, and I incorporated that saying into my plans for the filming of my Spoken Word Poem. An assignment given to me recently focused on the way we tell stories as individuals. I selected a Spoken Word Poem titled, The Crossroad by Norbert Mathumo. Here is the poem itself-

"THE CROSS ROAD

When words sound like a lost course
Who is will provide the answers to all this questions we ask
When the world feels like sinking sand
Who will beat fear to hold my hand?
When the road of life seems too long to reach the end
Who will tell me continue when am just about to stop

I am not afraid of what the world brings me
It is after all life, and it is meant to be
I cannot chose what my tomorrow becomes
But I can choose to become my tomorrow
And define my existence today
But a choice is but a choice
It may not define what becomes
Or what tomorrow may bring

 When behind lies the tattered ruins
Of an interrupted middle class firmly
When our differences of reason cannot elevate
When sense make no sense
And the silence in my house
Is beyond the count of grief
I sit and take a moment to meditate
For you to read my thoughts in a poem

 In the deepest end of solitude
I find a place to bury pain
What my heart cannot heed
My mind cannot feed
To corrupt my thoughts with greed
I am not afraid to be alone
Because no one is ever alone
But I am afraid to be what I am not
Like a wound left to rot

 A defined sense of solitude
At the cross road
When thoughts collide
When we take a moment to weigh our load
When we all pause
To Whig history

When the sea mimics the land
Life still exist within
When the sun set to the east
And the night is left for beasts to feast
Life still exist within
When all is lost
And when all is said and done
When fun has become less fun
When all have come and gone
When there is nowhere to run
Life still exist within

 When something becomes nothing
When nothing becomes something
And when ideas deceive the mind
In the interregnum
It is the journey of life
Not the arrival which occupies my mind
 When we get to the cross road,"

What I liked about this poem in particular was how the rhythm pulled the story along. I really connected with its message and knew that I could visualize doing something really interesting. I played with several ideas in the initial process of defining what the message was, and it was difficult to pinpoint the exact way i wanted to convey the story it told. The concept i struggled with the most was how severe i needed to show the grief and sadness that clouded this spoken word. Working with Abby Peek, we collaborated to come up with a vision for the story plot, and properly executing it. Our initial thoughts were to tell the story from a girl's point of view. We interpreted the meaning of the poem to be that of a struggle with overcoming a loss, not necessarily one that literally happened to her, but one that this girl felt emotionally. We worked for several days on our shots that we knew we wanted to capture. The difficult part of this project was surprisingly not the actual filming, but finding time to accomplish it. Timing was key, and sadly, we did not acknowledge how necessary it was to strategize that part of the project. Realistically, we only had time to film two days. With the fast approaching deadline, and no time left to film, we pulled extra b-roll that we had from last year to at least have a finished product. In all honesty, i am not pleased with the way we finished it. Maybe one day i will revisit the project to give it the proper time and attention it deserves, but for now, here is my spoken word poem:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4yFy8oiqnE

Plot Vrs. Story

Plot and Story are key factors to any good writing piece, whether it is a novel or a screenplay. Commonly mistaken for the same thing, both Plot and Story may relate to one another, but are, in fact, quite different. The Plot is something that demonstrates the pattern of events that unfold to a reader, an overview of sorts. Plot is also commonly linked with summaries, but are exclusively used to recap the key points of a literary work. 

Story is the intricate detail to convey an actual piece of written work, from beginning to end. It's purpose is to thoroughly tell a narrative. A Story leaves nothing out, including even the most minuscule of details. 

Martian Scorsese has a very cinematic definition of story and plot, emphatically drawing attention to the purpose of both. Story is nothing without the correct person to tell it, plot is nothing without the right artist to portray it. They are both used to share a message to an audience. Written work in itself is nothing without plot and story. I agree with Martian Scorsese in his definitions because they require a good team to use them properly.  

Final

Well, it has finally come. My last week of Graphic Design is here, and the final project was to create a brochure for our 21st Century program, e-Communication. When we first received the project, I really tried to envision my last two years in e-Comm. So far, we have learned the basics in web design, graphic design, animation, and video. In this last year I have gravitated more toward Graphic Design and Video. The special thing about e-Comm, is that it really gives you a taste of what you can eventually do for a career. 

In my brochure, I tried to incorporate a piece of each section into the poster. I found several pictures on our website, and chose my pictures based on how they expressed the strand of e-Comm they represented. Once I selected the pictures I wanted, I took them into InDesign to compile them proportionately. I then saved it as a PDF and brought it into Photoshop. The school colors here at Olathe Northwest are black and blue, so I created a new layer over the poster, and filled it with a dark blue color. I changed the opacity to about 20% so it created a nice blue film over the pictures.

 Next, I went to Illustrator. I used the original logo for e-Comm as a template of sorts, and used the pen tool to cut out a sparkly Blue solid color in the shape of the E logo. The cool thing about the pen tool is that it creates a very detailed trace of what you want, so it was very simple to create the logo out of the sparkly pattern. After that was finished, I decided to take the logo back to Photoshop to add it to the poster. I overlaid the E on top of the poster so it was the most prominent. I changed the opacity, however, so that the photos behind it were not lost. 

I sat there looking at my poster and realized that the strands that were written in one picture, were too dark to be seen, so I hid the E and used the text tool to write in the words in a white type so they would be visible. I altered the opacity so they wouldn't be too bright, and then, to be sure that everything was clean enough, i went back to the original picture and used the clone tool to erase the original words so that the slight variation between them and the new, more visible font, would not clash. I reapplied the E and looked at the near-finished product. The only thing missing was the slogan. After thinking about it for a little while, I decided that an appropriate slogan would be, "Beginning with the end in mind." It speaks to the fact that e-Communication is a college level program that is here to help young students realize their potential, and to help them decide what their career could be. It is here to help students plan their future.

Personal Logo

Over the course of this year, my Graphic Design class has been working to perfect our own personal logo that not only defines us, but possesses all of the qualities of a truly classic logo. When I started this process, I decided to make sure I fully understood what is essential to a good logo. First and foremost, a good logo must tell a story. This is a key point in the designing process, because Logos need to reflect the person who uses it. My logo has undergone several variations, with heavy changes that I have made whenever I thought of a new way to portray myself. Designing a logo for yourself is not simple. Not only do you have to know who you are to accurately convey what you want to say to your audience, you also must understand that the first design will never be your final product.
 In Graphic Design, you always need to realize that you will undergo trial after trial before you get what you want. This is a world where there are limitless ideas, and plenty of ways to create them. You essentially are labeling yourself, and the first time you try to do it, you wont get it right away. This process is trial and error, a crucial part to figuring out what you want to say to the world. you can't move forward without making a few mistakes first. An important step to take is to sketch out your ideas as detailed or as basic as you want, as long as you can easily see where your ideas take you.

While my logo tells a story about me, so does the process of getting to that story. you can see the path it takes to get to the end product, which, in itself, is an excellent way to physically see the thoughts that went into creating that perfect design. It is incredibly difficult to find what you want to say about yourself, and then being inventive enough to be able to share it with everyone.



 Once you understand what you want to say, you must be conscientious of how you are designing your logo. While it may seem more important to simply put together your idea so you can decide if its right or not, you also must be sure to pay attention to the smaller details. While it seems unimportant and pointless, things like font spacing, type face, B&W adding color, Placement/Composition, size, angle, overlap, and transparency are all major factors as well. If you were to send off a logo without any focus on any of those details, it would have the potential to be problematic.
You always want to stay on the simpler side in logo design. A good rule of thumb is to imagine your logo blown up on a billboard. If no one can read it as they are driving by, then they won't care about you. Simple may seem boring, but if its understated, it can be classic and timeless.

Designing logos means you know how to tell a story. You know how to take an image and turn it into a meaningful symbol that everyone can comprehend.

When I thought of how my logo could tell my story, I thought about how I came across to other people, what i loved most, and where I could see myself going with my career. All of these things made me thing of several different aspects of my logo. I primarily wanted to stick with bright or cheerful colors, because I generally am a positive person. I wanted my Logo to present itself in a way that was neat and orderly as well. I have looked at so many different ways to style my logo, and at times, I wasn't even sure if it was telling a story or not.

I then realized that I was getting too far away from what I originally wanted. I wanted a classic logo that portrayed me as a person. Since my initials are H.O., I decided to play with a retro font that made it possible for my O initial to be a ring around the H initial. I was so happy with my final product, because I feel like it really Conveys who I am, where I am going, and what I like.

eMagine

On April 5th, I attended an award show called eMagine. The show was centered around the amazing things E-communications has done all year. We showed up at seven, everyone wearing dressy clothes. a red carpet was rolled out, and photographers were waiting to snap a photo of all attending. everyone quickly filled into the auditorium and took their seats. Each three segments were announced by actual students who were in the E-communications program. the amazing thing about the show was that we were not the only school who came to the show.

15 other schools not only attended, but submitted their own work. We all viewed the projects that so many students had worked so hard on, and it was truly amazing to witness how creative people could be. It was so incredible to see how truly talented high school kids are. I think this festival is a revolutionary process; the more people want to be in it, the more they will strive to achieve their goals. This will encourage students that there are so many possibilities they can follow to become successful in their lives.

Movie Poster

For my Graphic Design class, we were all supposed to replicate the simplistic ideals from Saul Bass for vintage movie posters.
We were required to select a movie from the 70's or earlier. For me, the question of which movie to choose was a simple one; West Side Story. From a very young age I have idolized the classic movie musical, and have always had a special place in my heart for it. The revolutionary spin on a timeless classic of Romeo and Juliet is absolutely iconic. The Gangs of the west side of New York tell the story flawlessly, and have made instant rememberable music numbers, that i still sing along to. Made in 1961, the Movie musical is renowned for its spectacular cast, including Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer.

the poster selected for advertisement is one of a fire escape with silhouettes dancing. It was set on a red background, to create a more visually pleasing effect. the contrasts in colors are bright and give an ominous feeling to the movie. The fire escape idea was genius because the most prominent scene in the movie would be the balcony scene between Tony and Maria, which happens to take place on a fire escape.

I knew that even trying to create something similar to the original movie poster, would be an enormous challenge. I decided that the background to the picture needed to remain red; it gave the poster familiarity and power. One thing i did decide to change, was the amount of ladders to the fire escape. I felt like it needed more because with a few simple ladders, it wasn't necessarily clear that it was set on a fire escape. I also decided to make the silhouettes black instead of white, and the letters white instead of black. i personally think that it balances the picture out much more.






 Saul Bass's movie posters are iconic because he only uses a limited number of colors and shapes to tell the story that lures movie viewers in. It takes a special amount of talent to create something so powerful with so little. It just shows how overrated people believe in using so much to tell the pivotal points in a story.

Google Logo

In today's day and age, there are so many logos we don't think twice about. They are apart of our everyday lives, we don't even remember a time when we didn't know what they meant. Google is very much one of those logos. We all use it as our search engines almost everyday. Google has a very simplistic design; the basic colors are iconic when put together, but really mean nothing without the letters to hold the logo together. Google has, over time, truly used inspiring logos. Depending on the season, holiday, or event, you can expect a festive variation to the classic logo. They tastefully keep things new and exciting, but never forget their original design. 

The first real design in 1998 for google was designed by Sergey Brin. He designed the letters on the computer in a program called GIMP. in the process of creating the logo, it was debated whether or not it would be wise to include an Exclamation point similarly to the competing search engine, Yahoo! 

Another factor was whether or not to use only primary colors. It was going to follow a very strict pattern. The designers instead, chose to add a secondary color to counterbalance it. The color green on the L didn't follow the rules, and that was the important concept they wanted to iterate into their users; Google doesn't follow the rules. The 

Google Doodle, also in 1998, was created by Sergey Brin and Larry Page. It was inspired by the Burning Man Festival. The google founders decided to do this so they could post on the search engine to inform users of their absence if ever the Google servers ever crashed.

This Logo is so widely known; its difficult to grasp just how long it took to create just the right design. The logo has undergone so many different variations, and it is certainly not done. We take for granted the effort that goes into making a well known and well informative logo. Google is easy to remember because these people made it simplistic, classic, and timeless. 

What my values mean to me

I was recently asked to compile a top 10 list of things that are most important to me. While it was difficult to assemble such things, it also made me think more about how those things define me. I am a Number of things; I am a writer, a singer, a performer, an artist, an actress, a friend. Taking into account the things that mean the most to me was in short, summing up who I am in 10 words. It's funny though, because the 10 words i chose to represent myself are far bigger than me. They are the universe, and I am just a small part in it. I value what makes me who I am, and I hope that I could accurately signify what it means to be such titles.  What is most important to me is like the definition of me. Not everyone is like me. My values represent not only who I am, but who I want to be. They inspire me on a regular basis. Just having my dreams on my top 10 list make me strive to be the best version of myself; the version that is capable of doing what I love. My values tell a story, whether I acknowledge it or not. This assignment of my top 10 values wasn't created to just understand what I like. This assignment was for me to convey exactly who I am.

My Top 2 of Top 10

Two of my top 10 things that are important are writing and singing. To me, writing is something I am confident I will always have in my life. Its what I have always seen myself doing as a career. Writing is how I can even comprehend some emotions I have when I don’t want to talk. Writing is such an inspiration to me. There is never a shortage of words. There is an infinite supply to the world you can create with an intricate labyrinth of words to fully capture the attention of your audience. To truly make something believable, it takes a real talent to accurately perceive the world. I know what I want to do with my life; and that is to compel people. When I read books, which is quite frequent, I can never shake the thought of how inspiring it is that the author had miraculously made something in which I have found myself emotionally invested. It is great to tell a story. It is a blessing to tell a story so worth while that your audience can feel exactly what you want them to feel; to have them care immensely about anything you have written, down to the smallest detail. I want to capture people in something I have created myself. I want to inspire someone myself by my own hard work. I know it wont be easy, but that’s why I love it. Things that come easily aren’t as satisfying as things that you work for.

            Singing has always meant a great deal to me. I have always loved performing in front of my family, but I hadn’t really thought about being actually good until I was in the fifth grade. Our schools musical was casting the lead role, and even though I truly didn’t expect anything significant, I wanted to audition. There were far more suitable girls I was certain were going to beat me out, but that wasn’t the point. I wanted to share with those people what I loved to do. The day after auditions, I was completely astounded. I had landed the lead role of the show. To a fifth grader, it was the world. I know getting the lead role in a small school production is anything shy of moderately significant, but that was the turning point in who I am. The moment I was recognized for something I loved to do was the same moment in which I decided I would do anything to challenge myself to do something that I wouldn’t normally do. This internal decision has continued to run my life. I am not the most outgoing person, but because of the promise I made myself, I constantly remind myself not to play it safe. I sing in far larger audiences since my fifth grade debut. I have gone to several competitions, and have actually gotten first and second place on several occasions. I don’t sing for awards though. I sing because its something in which I am proud to share with others. My talents have made me humble, outgoing, and a far better person than I would have been if I hadn’t taken chances. I try to take my life experiences as ways in which I learn.. I still have a lot more growing to do, but I know if I didn’t take risks, I wouldn’t be as happy as I am now.  

Nerman Museum

Yesterday, my Graphic Design class took a visit to the Nerman Museum of art. The day was somewhat promising, considering we would be getting out of the first half of School, but also because we got to see first-hand, how aspiring artists got where they wanted to be in their career. When we first arrived, we went to the classes being taught in Johnson County Community College.


The first thing I noticed was all of the artwork that lined the walls. endless Paintings, sketches, and photographs covered every inch of space on those walls. It had all been done by the students. there were certain aspects that captured natural beauty, and some that defied logic. all were unique in their own way because they truly defined the Artist's personality. As we began to tour through a few select classes, it was difficult not to acknowledge the amount of passion the teachers had for their profession. It was inspirational, seeing people work in something they truly love. Everything in those classes told a story, from the the people who took them, and the art they created.

After getting a real idea of what it was like to take a more challenging art class, we then continued to the main focus of our trip: the Nerman Museum. As our bus pulled up to the building, I took in the scene before me. The Museum itself was a sleek white building with large windows that flooded the rooms with light. Walking up the path, we came across a towering figure. It was a sculpture titled "The Companion". He was sculpted are a dark metal, his posture hunched over and hidden. His hands covered his face. I got an overwhelming sense that its playful spin on a childhood classic was meant to be the truth of the world that nothing is a simple and cheerful as we'd like them to be. Kaws, the artist, surely understood this, because in almost all of his artwork, it is a haunting piece of something many of us once remembered from being children.

After Taking a picture with the "Companion" we walked up to the main doors of the Museum. Before we could even walk through the doors, we were stopped by yet another Piece of artwork. Above us were rows and rows of glittering white lights that flickered in set patterns. They illuminated every inch of the ceiling. I couldn't help but imagine how much more spectacular it would be at night.

Eventually we had to continue into the building, where our tour actually began. We divided into three groups, each setting off into different directions of the modern looking rooms. My group continued to look at Kaws designs. It was an incredible story that we learned, of Kaws making a name for himself as an artist. He originated in New York City as a graffiti artist. His art wasn't just pretty, it was a story.

We then progressed into the next room. The odd thing that I first noticed, was that it was dark in the room. The Tour Guide walked forward anyway. She introduced the artist as Dylan Mortimer. Many of us were still perplexed, until she told a few of us to walk up closely to the paintings on the wall. We skeptically walked forward until we were almost touching it, when suddenly, the entire thing lit up. Brilliant colors illuminate the darkness. Others in the group quickly rush to the other two paintings to light them up as well. Soon the room was much brighter than it even would have ben with actual lights installed in the ceilings. The paintings were Halos, meant to say that anyone could be an angel or saint.

After we left the room, we were told to explore on our own. A few of us wandered into the room beside the Kaws room. Though I never checked to see who had created those masterpieces, I was blown away by both their complexity and elegant simplicity that so many of the pictures contained. The Paintings mirrored similarities of pictures more than they did paintings. Others were made in such brilliant pastels, it was difficult to believe that they were made to depict death.

Each and every one of these paintings were incredible just to look at. What made it even more remarkable was to think about how these unique artists came into this community to make a name for themselves. They too were once just students with a dream, with a passion. They persevered and made their goals attainable. Its a valuable lesson to be learned; noting is unreachable. You are in charge of how far you will make it in this world. it is not solely relying on chance. it is how far you are willing to push yourself to make what you want happen. Nothing that is worth it in life can just be handed to you. Being passive in anything that you do will never lead you to greatness. These are people who have lead their lives by that principle. They didn't become professionals by sitting back and waiting for success to come to them. They made themselves great by working hard and taking their futures into their own hands.

Maybe that was reading into too much on such a simple trip to an art museum, but I feel like That is one of the more important things that I took away from it. Seeing success in everyday life is a great way to be inspired in my own goals. People with simple pasts are capable of becoming something they've always dreamed of.