Exploring Video Final Exam

Advanced Feature Story

                           
This project was a feature story about the graphic design program here at Olathe Northwest. I worked on this with Logan and Carson, and we interviewed Mrs. Beaudoin, Drew Sappingfield, and Roman Clark. It took us about two weeks to get everything right, from writing our questions all the way to editing everything. The hardest part of this was matching up the audio and video, as we recorded it on two separate devices! However Premiere Pro was really helpful in doing so, as I could snap the lip movement with the audio! Along the way, I learned that you really need to capture more b-roll than you think, even when it feels like you have plenty. I did my best to use the six-shot-system for this project, but I really just didn't have enough to go with my voiceover. Some feedback I was given was that my lead for the piece was great, but my lighting during the interviews wasn't. We wanted good sound so we used the sound proof room, but I won't use that for interviews again as it was too dark. 

ONW Now Video

This was my team's piece for ONW Now, an "In the Halls" interview! I had a blast being the anchor for this project and I really only worked on it for one day! The hardest part for me was being gone for the majority of the project, and I wasn't around to help with really any of the post production. Along the way I learned how to use the mic with the camera, and how to not separate the audio and video! Our video turned out great, and the feedback on our overall ONW Now was phenomenal! We had a really good production!

My time in class

I won't lie, I can tend to goof around. But honestly, in terms of deadlines, I think I work pretty hard! The only late assignments Ive had have been blogposts, and I think Ive used my time wisely, especially with editing. I consider myself to be pretty good with Premiere Pro, so often times I'll finish my video and I'll have extra time to really enhance it in post! I also so more editing outside of class just for fun, like making music videos with my cousin or sports edits for myself!

Strengths and Needs

I definitely have a strength in editing using Premiere Pro, and also in my acting and creativity. I love being in front of the camera, but also working in post production and watching as everything falls into place. I think my biggest need right now is understanding the camera, and really knowing how to use all of its functions. I only just learned how to use the mic and still wouldn't know exactly how to set it up if you asked me! Obviously I understand the basics, but it'd be nice to be proficient with all the bells and whistles of it.

Summary

This semester of e-comm has only solidified my idea of my career someday. I've wanted to be a video editor for a long time, and working on these real news and feature stories has not changed my mind at all! I love editing the work that team has done, and watching as it unfolds into a real and good piece of work. My favorite project is still the ONW Now production, and working in the control room with some great people. A goal I'd like to set for myself is to understand the camera more, and really become an expert in using it. Something I'd change from this semester is my blogposts, and actually GETTING THEM IN ON TIME... I"ll work on that. :)

Lastly I think my biggest takeaway has just been working on collaboration and teamwork, knowing when to be a leader and when to let others take charge.

Sophomore ONW Now

     First of all, I LOVED this project! I got to work in the control room on the video side of things queuing up the videos and running the countdown between segments. It was an absolute blast! Definitely my favorite project so far!
 A good news broadcast has many stories that are relevant and interesting for the viewer. It has a few different anchors that are clear and concise, and are easy to listen to. The broadcast should have a mix of feature and stories and stories from the anchors, with good transitions alternating between them. I think our production had all of this, except one of the anchor's mics was muted. (Not under our control though!)
We had a great script written on the telepromptors for the anchors to read, and smooth transitions from each segment to the next. A large part of these shows is good teamwork between all of the workers. Communication was key to keep everything organized and running smoothly! Everyone is under the same importance level, and one member not on task can mess up the entire production. Even an extra in the back messing up on camera can cause the whole operation to meltdown. 

Performance Review Blog

Panorama Project

Infographic

John Wick Raccoon

(Click on the pics to enlarge them)                                                                                                 click here for a cool web site 

Jared the Landscape Man

My Projects 

So far this semester we have created a multitude of projects, including these four that you see here. The rest of the projects are all included on my behance profile: https://www.behance.net/paulialex0a8c8

Panorama Project 

For this picture, we had to turn 10 different shots into one congruent photo. We used Adobe Photoshop and it took about two weeks. It was our final photoshop project. It was definitely tough to merge the three main shots together, and I'm still not totally happy with the line created in between the second and third section. I learned how to use the eraser tool to soften lines between pictures, and I learned how to use the mask more effectively. My original idea wasn't to have three distinct sections, but that's really where the project took me.

Panorama Project 

Jared was really fun to make! This was our first photoshop project that wasn't a tutorial. I went kind of nuts with the layer mask tool, really filling everything except for his face. Plus I used lines and learned how to use the warp tool to give him a cool tattoo. It was definitely hard to make his shirt look good with the mountain and the trees, but using adjustment layers solved that problem and I'm super happy with how it looks now.

John Wick Raccoon

We made this raccoon in Adobe Illustrator. It was super tough and following the tutorial was difficult. It took a while, at least two weeks, and some of the shapes took me a solid class period to make them look right. The only change I made to this one was adding Tilted Towers in the back and adding a joke about the main man Voiceover Pete! I really learned a lot about the direct selection tool doing this one.

Infographic

I made this project about Sporting KC in Illustrator. It was VERY pen tool heavy. I think I worked for two whole days just trying to learn the tool, but now I'm so much better at it. This has been one of the longest projects we've done because of the research we had to do first. It is about a topic I love though, so I am happy! My challenge was creating graphics that were my own, not copying others's. 

My Time in Class

I am an easily distracted person, and sometimes I could get off task, but I really think I worked hard this year. When I was done and had time, I would go back and add fun things to my projects to spice them up a bit! I also put a lot of work into my projects, and really tried to make the, look good! Not like a bad student's party. I even stayed during lunch a few times to finish up what I was working on. 

Strengths and Weaknesses

I think I'm fairly creative, and I work great with other people! However sometimes I don't like to overcome problems myself, and instead run to others more knowledgeable. I need to learn to solve my own problems.

Summary

I loved the creativity this semester. I could add my own spin on many of the projects, and I really enjoyed making it all my own! I also really liked sitting back after a project, and looking at all my hard work and the way it turned out.

One thing I would've changed is turning in my blogposts sooner.

One goal I'd like to work on for next semester is my layout design. My spacing is not always the best, and I find myself with too much negative space. I just want to utilize that layout a little bit better. 

I'm very happy with this semester, my grade, and the work that I've completed. I'm excited to keep using Illustrator next time! :)

Written News Story

I used the guidelines set by the Student Publication Association to write my news story.  I did my best to make the headline interesting and attention grabbing and explained it in the first paragraph. I used the  "inverted pyramid" by showing the most relevant information near the beginning of the story and the less essential information nearer to the bottom. I also used a quote (though it's from myself)! The guidelines said that quotes are a good way to keep the reader interested. I like writing the news story for the freedom and creativity, and that it differs a lot from the videos we make! Both have their positives and negatives, with the news story's positives being that I don't have to worry about all the fine details, (audio, white balance, b-roll, etc.). I think I definitely need to work on my headline skills, and packing more info into the short sentences. I do like my headline though! I think that was good. Next time I will put more research into my story and also finish it sooner!

Advance Feature Story

     For our second feature story, Logan, Carson and I wrote a story on the graphic design class here at ONW. We interviewed Mrs. Beaudoin, Drew Sappingfield, and Roman Clark about the basics of the class, as well as what they are all gaining from it. We started by writing our 21 questions to ask each interviewee and also began to brainstorm locations for filming (the interviews, b-roll, etc.).
    I was in charge of writing the questions and conducting the interviews, but I also did all of my own editing. I felt a little rushed during this project and actually didn't get my editing done in time but I did finish it and turn this project in a day after. I learned how to overcome the obstacle of the tripods not working and I also learned that my Apple earbuds plugged in to my phone work great as a mic. I thought the sound quality turned out really well! I'm still not too sure how the e-comm provided mics work, and how to sound check them, but that's something that I think I'll pick up on future projects. Our team collaborated well, and we never really had to butt-heads on anything. The project and all of our teamwork flowed very smoothly.
    One thing I tried to focus on for this feature story was our b-roll. I wanted to have interesting and captivating clips that helped the whole story. I did my best to utilize the six-shot-sequence, and I think it turned out well! Next time, I wouldn't record footage in the sound room. The audio there is fantastic! However, the lighting and focus is not great.
     Overall, the project isn't too bad! Our interviews turned out a lot better than my last feature story, and we have real b-roll now!