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.