Monday, November 30, 2015

Scratch Game Design



Recently, in our GT class, we have been working on coding. We made a simple chase game and mine is a polar bear chasing a penguin. User experience did effect how I made my game. For example, the way my sprites looks. The polar bear was originally just a happy little bear but then I made him look a little more intimidating by adding eyebrows. Another thing I changed was the timer. I added in a timer because the game is very simple and a little boring. I thought by adding in a timer it would make the game a little more exciting. In my platform game, I decided to make the duck appear at the bottom of the screen after touching the dot so ti wasn't so easy to win. The duck itself didn't change its looks at all. Maybe if I changed it's costume when it fell that would make it a little more interesting.

My chase game is about a penguin that saw a polar bear ad started to run. Its as simple as that. I made the background change maybe around 5 times. In my platform game, a duck is flying from cloud to cloud trying to get to the purple dot in the sky.  Both my games are pretty simple but their unique. My platform game has many levels and only changes the background about 3 times. By many levels, I mean the levels just keep going until the timer hits zero. If you get past 3-5 levels, you win! My penguin changes it's costume from normal to wide-eyed. As I said before, my duck doesn't change it's costume but the penguin does.

My best code that I was most proud of was probably the way my penguin moves. It moves very smoothly which I'm proud of. Although, I may have just copied the code from Ashley's screen so it wasn't very difficult. But another thing I'm proud of, is my duck because it jumps, and lands on platforms and ground rather than falling through it. Im very proud of that. It took me a while to work out how it works but in the end I got it. The most difficult bug to work out was the jumping as well. I mean the duck fell through the floor. Another bug was trying to get the duck to say "Next Level!" when it touched the dot. For some reason it wouldn't but it would change the background but in the end I fixed it. 

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Invention Commercial


P3T4_Invention from Kapaa Middle School MEDIA on Vimeo.



Our product was called the Quick Dish Dry. Our main goal was to finish on time and to actually get our product to work. Also to meet all the requirements of course. One of the main requirements was that we needed our video to be between 40 and 50 seconds. We met that requirement with 47 seconds. I believe we did meet the rest the requirements as well. As for our goal of the product working, we were actually a successful. The Quick Dish Dry surprisingly worked as we were filming. It dried the dishes so fast we actually had to soak the plates again in between scenes.


At the beginning of this project we created a production plan. The plan was due much earlier than the actual video and unfortunately not many people turned it in on time. Our team, well we were practically hanging on the edge of a cliff. Ashley and I worked on our plan through out lunch, the day it was due. We only had lunch to finish so we rushed trying to get it done. The bell rang which meant we had to get to our next class. We were NOT finished, although Ashley quickly typed in some words and we ran to Mr. Sanderl to get our idea approved, even though it wasn't completely finished. We did get it checked off and neither of us were late to our next class. So we just barely accomplished this goal.


The best "team moment" we had was probably the second time we met up to film. The first time we met up to film Ashton wore a white shirt. The second time we filmed he wore a purple shirt. Because of his appearance change we had to re film everything. But, that turned out okay. At first we didn't want to film but we knew we had to. We tried avoiding that fact by putting Ashton in a gray jacket. Well Ashley's gray jacket. It was a full on girl jacket with fur in the hood. It was pretty funny. Another team moment was when we needed a fan. We decided to walk up to Ashley's Aunt's house to get the fan. Ashton didn't want to put his shoes back on so he walked to Ashley's Aunt's house with us but in Ashley's bright purple slippers. I think overall the best team moments were when Ashton wore Ashley's clothes. He does anything we tell him too. I also remember we ate McDonald's together.

During the editing we had fun. In fact, through out all of this, we had a lot of fun. The editing was mostly done by Jhoanna and Ashley, again. Although this time Jhoanna took over a little more than Ashley. Also this time we all took turns editing but Jhoanna kind of cut in during my turn, also Jhoanna and Ashley took over when Ashton was editing. But, this time we did more than last time! When it was my turn to edit I tried to go back and attempt to fix a few errors. Then I added in a few clips but I never really had the time edit them hence the fact Jhoanna took the pen from me. But then I believe it was Ashton's turn. He added in a few clips and we showed him how to do a few things in iMovie so at least he learned something from that. I believe he added in transitions but I'm not really sure. We made him do a few more of the basic things because he didn't really know how to do much. He edited some clips to fit the length we wanted and then it rotated back to Jhoanna's turn, I think. She went back and fixed a few errors and added in some more clips. Ashley also dealt with most of the audio. Our commercial was pretty simple so it wasn't that hard to edit. It didn't take very long, it only took about 2 classes, or I guess that's 2 hours. Then, we turned it in, on time of course. Overall, I think we were a pretty successful team.



Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Composition Scavenger Hunt


P3T4_Composition_2015 from Kapaa Middle School MEDIA on Vimeo.


Out of these twenty composition techniques we have been using, I think the most important one is point of view. Its important because it makes the audience feel somewhat like they're the subject in the video or image. Or at least that's what I think. When I watch a video or movie with point of view I defiantly feel more interested. I think that point of view composition makes the audience a little more engaged in the movie or video. Another composition technique I think is important is contrast in content. This technique really brings out the subject and makes it clear for us to know what to focus on. I also just love to film with this technique. I find it fu
n because its meant for something different to stand out of a crowd. It's just so random, like me.

The most difficult composition technique, in my opinion, is parts of a whole. I think this one is difficult because when I first learned about it, I was taught to make sure it says something. But I'm not sure if the same thing applies in this class. So another one I find difficult was the unusual angle. You have to be pretty creative to find an unusual angle that no one else would think of. Its defiantly a challenge for me to be creative in the shots in that way. Another one I find difficult is repetition of shapes. Finding repetition of shapes in my everyday life just isn't  exactly my thing. I guess if you look at something like a key board or maybe the pattern on the floor your standing on (If there is one) but a straight up birds eye view wound't look so good with something like a floor pattern. It would look like a boring flat angle and no one likes those. You would probably have to do something creative like maybe make it look like leading lines or ants eye or ground level to make a repetition of shapes look good. To do that you have to be creative and that's pretty challenging for me.

My teammates are, Ashton Barker, Jhoanna Marie Domingo, and Ashley Ricciardi. Ashton is a sixth grade boy who got stuck in a group with three 7th grade girls. He has two older brothers and a younger sister. He also has blonde hair and amazingly nice eyes that we're all jealous of. He also nicknamed me "Da nae nae" although hes not the first so I'm used to it. Ashley is, Ashley. Last year we worked on a music video together which is some where in my old posts. Ashley is always so busy yet she always there to film. She does gymnastics and piano and she has a lot friends. This makes it difficult for the rest of us to film at her house. Jhoanna doesn't own any dogs or cats and she has a younger brother that's 9 years old.  In this project everyone has a team of three, but us, were that one team of four because our class is so big.

Ashley did most of the filming and Jhoanna did some of it. Ashton and I weren't allowed to touch the camera just because Ashley and Jhoanna felt a little safer if they held it. That's just them. But, we did contribute in editing and trying to find where to film the composition techniques. Ashton added around half of the clips in iMovie and Ashley did the rest. I guess Ashley just likes to take charge, and Jhoanna too. Ashton also added the transitions. I added the music and some of the text layovers. Well I played all the jingles from the top of the list of jingles we could choose. As soon as I played maybe the 6th one, Ashley and Jhoanna practically pushed me off of my chair in excitement. They loved it and added it in them selves without my opinion or Ashton's. Yes, they did do most of the work, but I guess thats just because they like taking charge, as I said before. But, in our next project Ashton and I will defiantly contribute more. Jhoanna added the most of the text layovers. Also if you watch the video, I think Ashton and I are in front of the camera a lot. Okay, not really me but Im in there maybe 2 or 3 times which is more than Ashley. Oh and Ashley also did the voice over. Yes she did do a lot didn't she. Although, remember I did help with finding where to film which is an important part in this.


Friday, October 23, 2015

Cracking the Code



We have started a new project, well two new projects I guess. One of the projects we have started, which is what I will talking about in this post, is coding. The other project we are working on will be revealed later. For now lets just talk about the coding. We have not really got into the project yet, and its not really a project, its more like something we are studying and learning like any other class. But this involves games. Yeah, we aren't a normal class if you couldn't tell by now. But thats what makes it awesome. Anyway I think everyone should learn coding, or at least a few things about it.

My first experience with coding was most likely in this class. I probably have done some coding before or at least I've seen it before, but I wouldn't remember that. When we did the coding lesson in this class, which was about a week ago, it was pretty difficult for me. I mean it was easy at first but as I got farther and farther into it, it was difficult. Eventually I got through it. In my opinion it was fun. What we had to do was move codes into certain spaces to make a little angry birds character move in order to get a pig. There were codes like move left or move right but thats not what it looked like. It looked more like "moveleft();" or something like that. I don't really remember. But when I first attempted to move my little anger bird I got it. I think everyone did in fact. It was pretty simple. Doing this small lesson taught me at least the basics of coding I guess. It was pretty easy and anyone can do it. I find it fun, you may not if you ever try it but I suggest if you haven't, you should, because its very fun to make your idea into something real.

If I could create any program, game, or app, I would create an app that helped you find a matching pair of socks. I mean finding socks that go together or one left and one right sock that goes together in the morning is very difficult in my opinion. I have to go through trying on different sock trying to find which one is a left sock and which on is a right sock. It also takes me forever to find matching pairs of socks. My socks get mixed around and I can never ever find matching pairs. So, if there was an app to take a picture of your socks and match them together would be great! The way it will work is when you first get it, you need to have all of your socks and you need to take an individual picture of each one. Then you will match the socks together and it will know which one is matching. If it were possible, I would also add something in that app to help find the socks. Then the next morning all you have to do is find one sock, match it with the image then the app will find your matching sock! It kind of sounds like a dating app, but for socks.

Thursday, October 1, 2015

My Humorous Monologue


SacramedD_Comedy from Kapaa Middle School MEDIA on Vimeo.


From this comedy project, we have learned many things, especially the sixth graders. I say that because it's their first year in this class. But I have learned how to write a comedic monologue, even if I'm not so great at it. Iv'e also learned a few things about the cameras. I know its my second year so I'm most likely expected to know quite a few things in this class, but last year I was always lost when it came to the cameras, although this year, it is very clear to me. Iv'e learned how to use the magnification setting on the cameras. Iv'e learned how to make a GIF as well. Last year I made one too but if you look at it, its obvious I didn't know what I was doing. I think thats all Iv'e learned this year so far but I'm sure I'm missing some thing.

When filming this we must use something called "padding." A few of us learned to do this in a media camp we went to in summer, but not everyone knew it. Padding is went you press record, you wait 3 second until your subject moves or does its action then say "action!" When you say action, that is a signal telling your subject to move, but I'm sure you knew that. After the action in the video is over, you say "cut!" or "stop!" or something to tell the subject the video is over. But, before you say that, you must wait three more seconds. If you wait three seconds, the risk of cutting the person off is lower. What I mean is, when you press record the camera takes a few seconds to actually start recording. So if you don't wait those three seconds, you could possibly lose the beginning of your video.

In this project I had many things go wrong but some how I managed to finish on time. For example, one day Jhoanna checked out a camera to use. She got a ride with me and we went to my house. We filmed a few things for her and a few things for me. The next day she went to import the footage into IMovie. Unfortunately, she only imported it to her computer. She tried to send me my footage but that didn't work. So I had to film that part again. It was a struggle trying to find a day to get a camera because that was the one week I was busy. So one of my weaknesses was trying to find time. One of my strengths was maybe editing. I think if I had a little more time in editing, I would have done a little better. I think I could improve in many ways, but one way would be in the filming. I need to improve in finding better shots and angles. Overall, I liked this project. It was a challenge for all of us, and I'm glad its over. I mean trying to make a whole class laugh on your own is pretty hard. If I were with friends, it would have been a lot funnier.
 

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Comedy Writing


We have just started a new project, this is a comedic monologue project. It is important to have a sense of humor because this project might be easier to you than others because of it. If you are adjusted to being humorous in front of others, it will be easy for you to record your monologue or to write it. However, for others, like me, it is a littler harder to come up with a funny monologue. Another reason a humorous trait is important is because everyone loves a little comedy sometimes. Having a humorous trait can really help in a project like this.

Now I will explain five tips for writing a humorous narrative. I don't find my narrative humorous so I'm not sure how helpful this will be. First tip is to help you come up with an idea. First, racial jokes aren't always funny to everyone, especially if its making fun of them, so try to avoid that. Second, a good idea is to make fun of yourself rather than others. Telling a humorous story that happened in your life can be very funny. Third, another idea is to be sarcastic. If you find something annoying, you can say you like it, just make sure your sounding sarcastic so they audience knows what your doing. For example, my project is about how I absolutely LOVE when I ask someone a question and they say "Its your choice." This could be funny depending on how your tone of voice is. If you sound like you genuinely love it then no one will get it. If you read it in a sad tone, they will get the wrong idea. If sarcastic is what your are going for, them make sure you sound sarcastic. Fourth, when telling a joke make sure its not to long or short. For example, if my joke was REALLY long then the audience would fall asleep in the middle of it. If its too short, its just not as funny so if you have a really good joke that's too short, just try to add a few more words. Fifth, nonsense. A lot of people find a lot of jokes funny just because its just dumb or obvious or just plane simple. But, if you do decide to do a joke like this, make sure it makes just a little sense. If you were to say something like, "Why did the pickle cross the road? To kill the turkey's pork chop!" then, well, not many people would find that funny because it sounds like you just thought of it right then and there without giving it any thought. Although another tip is not put TOO much thought into it. It you put too much thought in anything it will turn into a disaster. Anyway, an example of a dumb joke is this. There was a plane at the airport and a service truck was approaching it. Then, the truck hit the plane. A guy then came along and said "Good thing it didn't hit the plane while it was in the air." You probably didn't funny but it followed that last step, also that was a true story by the way... Anyway, an example of a simple joke is "Did you hear the joke about my bed? No? That's because I didn't make it yet." That one make me laugh when I saw it. It was posted on Google+ by one of the GT eighth graders. But, those are all my tips to writing a comedic monologue, hope you find them useful. I also hope you enjoy my joke monologue that I will post in about two weeks. Oh! I almost forgot, one of the most obvious tips I have is to not mess up. When ever I tell I tell a joke I ALWAYS mess up, so make sure you don't.

Now to explain my comedic monologue. As I said in the last paragraph, my topic is when you ask someone a question and they say "I don't know, its your choice." I don't find it funny because it is my own comedic monologue but who knows, maybe someone in my class will. Anyway I remember when I was thinking of an idea i had no idea at all. My mind was blank. But luckily Kyla came over to help me. Her monologue is about how she absolutely LOVES homework. Her monologue is sarcastic that's where I got the idea to do a sarcastic monologue myself. She asked me what I don't like or what annoys me and I sat and thought for a moment. I remembered the day before, I was ranting to my brother about how much I hate when I ask someone a question and they say "It's your choice". So then I came up with my topic. I asked Kyla what her thoughts were and she said she finds it quite annoying herself so I decided to do it. I have to explain to how its funny so I'll try. I think my monologue is funny because its sarcastic. I think sarcastic is pretty funny. Well that's the end of this blog post, in about two weeks another will be up and most likely with my monologue in it. See you then! Also before I go I just wanted to say that if you don't recognize the two girls in that GIF then that's Ashley Ricciardi and Myself. 

Thursday, September 3, 2015

Motivational Poster


We are working on a new project and in this project we must create a motivational poster. In this poster we must include our personal quotes, manifesto, symbols, and more. We must have a portrait picture of our selves and three pictures of our personal symbols. We also need two text layers. The first will have my manifesto and the other will have my personal quotes. With these two text layers we must fill the whole page and there can not be any blank space. Now for the design requirements. We have to do some kerning so the text will fit the page. We also must use a "triadic color scheme". By this I mean we need our own three colors that we must use in our project. I chose a greenish turquoise, a purple and magenta kind of color, and a kind of dark yellow. The yellow isn't very visible though. Another thing we need is visual balance and adjustment layers.

To start off our first Photoshop project of the year, we had to first, of course, create a new document. Next, we had to copy and paste our manifesto and personal quotes that we came up with a few weeks ago. After that we started kerning our words to make them fit the page. After about a day of kerning, we added in the images in the background. Three of the images are symbols that symbolize our selves. The fourth picture was a portrait of our selves. After we added in all the images we got back to kerning. Kerning took up the most of the time we worked on this. The next step was to add color! We had to have a stroke, bevel and emboss, outer glow, and a drop shadow effect on our text. Then we needed to add the color by using a triadic color scheme. The last step was to play with the color balance to match the color scheme. After that we just needed to turn them in and finally, we were finished.


In my opinion, Photoshop is an amazing program but, when it comes to projects and due dates, it can get pretty stressful. I find Photoshop projects to be challenging so there not exactly my favorite thing to work with but I still find it fun. This was the first project of the year so I didn't expect many people to finish, including  me, but somehow I managed to turn it in on time. I ended up getting a four out of four grade and I agree with that because I worked really hard and tried my best to meet all the requirements. The thing I found challenging the most was kerning. Kerning took the longest and that's probably why some people didn't finish. I went in during recess and lunch a lot so I think that's why I finished on time. I also tried not to be absent at all so I wouldn't be behind. Another thing I did that Mr. Sanderl said to do was to kern one line at a time. This was a very, very, stressful project because it was our first. To make it even worse, it was due on the day of mid - quarter. So that means anything and everything we turned in from the first day of school, to that day, counted as our grade. Of course mid - quarter grades don't matter that much but still, I know everyone in GT wants a good grade weather its mid - quarter or not. GT can cause us to stress, but it is fun and so worth it. To prevent myself from stressing way to much, I just think of my friends. As cheesy as it sounds, its true. My friends are always there either to help me get my job done or to help me recover from my sadness of getting a bad grade. I guess thats how I solve all of my GT stress issues. Overall, I think this project was pretty fun, but I can't  wait until our group projects come along.


Saturday, August 22, 2015

Personal Manifesto

Hello world! My name is Denae Sacramed and I have just come back to school from summer break and have moved on to the next grade. In this intro paragraph, I will be explaining five unique or interesting facts about my current self. One fact about myself is that my favorite color is red at the moment. Another fact about me is that I have two dogs. Their names are Chance and Hoku. The third fact about me is that I wear glasses. The fourth fact about me is that I love to wear jeans and I rarely ever wear shorts. The fifth fact about me is that my favorite fruits are strawberries and apples. These are five random facts about me and I guess you could call them interesting.

I am not a creative person at all. But this paragraph is all about my 2015-2016 creative Manifesto. Live each day as if it were your last. Live life to the fullest. Live isn't as long as you think. Don't do what you don't want to do. Be kind to others. You are lucky to live the life you live, so take that to your advantage. If you have a dream then go for it. Don't let one little word bring you down. Stop wasting your time thinking about what others think of you. Be proud of your accomplishments. Make time for friends too. This is my creative manifesto. I might have written down too much but that's okay I guess.

I think my manifesto applies to my readers because I talk a lot about life in general and how special it is. We only live once so we should do what we want to do. We wont always have the same chances we have today so I say we should live life to the fullest. Another thing I said that applies to my readers is to be kind to others. Again we only live once and we only get to meet a certain person once. No one is the same so if your mean to one person you may never see them again. I think no one really realizes how important life is and how the small things can effect your life tremendously.

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Music Videos Rock!


P5T7 Never Gonna Give You Up from Kapaa Middle School MEDIA on Vimeo.


My teammate, Ashley, was probably the person who contributed the most. She is the main character in the music video. She also always tries to come when we meet up after school. The first time we met up, I went to Ashley's house. I was the only one who could go because Eden was very busy that week and Sophia was very busy as well. Ashley was busy with gymnastics and piano. Eden was busy with family and Sophia was busy with other sports. Ashley tries to make time but sometimes she can't. Ashley is a hard worker and I'm glad she is on my team. Even as I'm typing this she is working on our production plan for our music video. She is an amazing teammate. She keeps everything organized in our production plan. She also saved us by coming up with the idea to use teddy bears in our music video at the last minute. Sure, she is busy all the time with other things but she still tries to contribute. She also edits the most and thanks to her, we finished. Sophia tries to contribute but she's just to busy.  Sophia has done one or three lip syncs, me and Ashley have done almost five. Sophia does most of the filming so she does do her fair share of the work. She also helped with posters. Now, Eden. She had a lot going on before the rough cut was due. She doesn't really have time to help out. She has done three lip syncs so far though. She has also acted in the last scene. She is in about three scenes I believe. I try to contribute as much as I can. I'm never busy after school so I'm always there when we have to meet up. I have filmed a few times. I have done a few lip syncs. I do always bring the props (the teddy bears). Well Sophia and Ashley brought their own one time. I have acted in a few scenes. My computer is our editing station. But, overall Ashley has contributed the most! With her busy schedule she still pulls through and tries to hep as much as she can.

When I watch our music video, I laugh at almost every part. I mean, its funny seeing four girls dance around with  teddy bears singing with a deep voice. When filming, there were a lot of mistakes so, of course, there are bloopers at the end. My favorite part was when Ashley threw away a donation box. When we filmed it, we had to try more than six times. It was really funny. I think the audience will enjoy seeing that part. The bloopers will probably be the best part overall. Another one of my favorite parts, that were from the bloopers, was when Ashley threw the box then the paper in it flew away and I had to chase after it. I really  like working with Ashley, I think without her, we would never had finished. But in the actual music video, another part that I liked was when Ashley, Sophia, and I were dancing around with teddy bears lip syncing together. so I think the audience will enjoy that, or the other parts with us dancing with teddy bears. Or the part of me looking like a two year old skipping around with teddy bears. Either way I had a lot of fun doing this music video with my teammates.



Our music video (MV) shows what we have learned because we have included a poster at the end. That poster shows what we have learned how to use Photoshop. We have also included many effects so the MV represents that we have learned how to use iMovie. It also shows we have learned to use the cameras. If it weren't for the cameras, we would have never gotten anything done. We have also learned how to use the green screen because we have included a part where we use the green screen in the MV. Another thing we have learned to do is make animations. We have included an animation at the end. We have learned a lot this year so we tried to show that in our music video. This year has gone by so quickly. We have learned many things. One of the main things were Photoshop and the cameras. We have done so many projects that have to do with Photoshop.


Thursday, May 7, 2015

LYRICAL LIVELIHOOD



Our new project is to do a music video. We have to lip sync of course. Im very happy about that because I really can NOT sing. My favorite song... uhh I don't really have one I guess. I guess "Try" by Colbie Caillat is my favorite song. Ashley gave me the idea of "Try" and now it is both her favorite song and mine as well. The lyrics are very meaningful. It tells you to be your self and that you don't have to try so hard for other people to like you. I guess I like it because the lesson in it is very important. It tells us to not care about what others think of us. I probably have other favorite songs as well but I just can't remember them. But I think "Try" is my favorite song because of the amazing meaning behind it.

My teammates are Sophia, Ashley, and Eden. We have chosen the song "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley. I know its going to be really weird to lip sync that song with a group of four girls. I think we can pull it off though. We were going to do "Style" by Taylor Swift but then we decided to do "Cool Kids". That's when we found out that another team it doing that song. Finally that's when we decided to do an old song. So we chose "Never Gonna Give You Up". We thought that doing this song will be fun and it will show how uncool we are. I honestly think it will be so much fun. Even if we have to embarrass our selves in front of the whole class, I dont care. I mean everyone in this class has to do it too and every ones pretty silly in this class. Besides, in this class, everyone has to be themselves in order to get an A. I mean its hard to not be your silly self when doing the projects we get in this class. I think it will be a lot of fun to do this music video.


In the actual music video, there isn't really a story to it so we have to make it up our selves. Its obviously a love song so I guess we would need a boy and a girl. The problem is that all four of us are girls. All four of us know the chorus so we will defiantly include that part. When we do the chorus, all four of us will lip sync at the same time and I guess just dance. I know it sounds weird and it will most defiantly look weird but we are weird. In our music video, we never want to give up stuffed animals because they hold special memories. We chose to do this because it relates to our audience. I mean everyone has at least one toy that they were connected to as a child that they never wanna give up. When it comes to the beginning of the song, we will get Ashley and I to be the main guy with our stuffed animals. Also, in one scene, the four of us look at a bag, or box that says 'donate' on it and we have to donate the toys but we don't want to give them up. Its sounds weird, I know but I think it will be fun. Although in the end we eventually donate the toys. I can already tell there will be many mistakes, smiles, laughs, and fun.


Friday, April 24, 2015

Our Animation Story


P5T2 Julie Overcomes Writers Block from Kapaa Middle School MEDIA on Vimeo.

Our focus statement is "Julie Overcomes Writers Block" Our animation is Maddie's story but Julie is the main character. Julie plays the girl that has writers block and has an all out battle in her head. A wall, played by Maddie, is the thing that is blocking Julie's idea when she is trying to write an imagination essay. She fights paper soldiers and archers. Finally as she defeats the last soldier, the wall begins to crack and finally, it breaks and her ideas begin to flow out of her mind and on to her paper.

The lesson we are trying to teach our audience is that everyone has writers block and it can be an all out battle in your head. We wanted to share that everyone feels that way sometimes. Its something that not many people think about because its not really a big problem most of the time. But when you do have writers block on an essay, its a real pain. We wanted to show the battle that goes on in our heads sometimes. It is a bit literal though.

In my opinion, I think this project was a lot of fun. I wasn't stressed so much like everyone else. Sometimes, I like a challenge. I think, honestly, we didn't really need the extra time we got, but its always good to had extra time to finish our projects. This was also my first time animating anything so i think it was a lot of fun. I think the best moments were when we didn't show up at lunch to work on the project. I mean
we always did but we always showed up late.

When ever we were late Maddie would get mad and say she would kill us. I like working with Maddie, she makes the project less stressful and even more fun. She always puts a smile on my face. I also like the day when Maddie tried to film but she had the lens cap on. She is the best leader I could ask for. I am very lucky that I got to be on her team twice this year. The best moments are always the moments when someone gets the whole team to laugh, like when Jayse forgets my name. The worst moments are when our whole team starts to stress. Everyone starts to stress and worry and run around. We never really get anything done when we stress.







Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Animation Outtakes


The people on my team are Julie, Maddie, and Jayse. Jayse always seems to make the team laugh. Hes very hardworking, funny, and helpful. Julie is fun, and out going. Julie is very funny, and way more brave than me, Jayse, and Maddie. Julie is the main character in our animation. Me, Maddie, and Jayse are pretty quiet and shy in class, but when it comes to Julie, she is our speaker! Julie isn't afraid of presenting in front of the class or embarrassing her self in front the class either. She is friends with almost everyone in the sixth grade. She is also friends with a lot of seventh graders. She is very friendly and kind. Last but not least, Maddie. Maddie is our team leader who always makes me smile. She is very funny and always makes me feel less stressed. She is a hardworking straight A student. She is the best leader I could ask for and I'm very happy and lucky that i got to be on her team twice this year.

A stop motion animation is when you take a picture of an object and then slightly move it and taking another picture in a sequence. The do that over and over and over. Finally when you finish taking pictures of the object replay them in a sequence to make it appear like the object is moving on its own. A GIF is hen you play a short animation or video for a certain amount of time and finally when it ends it replays again. An example is the red ball bouncing up and down continuously.


Our animation is called "Julie Overcomes Writers Block". This is Maddie's story but of course Julie is the brave one so she is the main character of our animation. We chose this topic because everyone has writers block so we wanted to share the all out battle that goes on in your head. Of course, we made it a bit literal. This animation shows that everyone has writers block once in a while. Its not really a big deal to people until they actually face it. Writers block can be a big problem.

Friday, March 13, 2015

Typography Images



Typography is a way to make an image out of words. Its like a style of art made from words. Its also a little like a style of writing. Its just that the arrangement of the words have to be in the form of the image. For example if I used an image of a person's face, the words would form the face. I think, typography images make a lasting impact because the words and color in the image just give you an idea. Typography images make a lasting impact because of the words used in the image.

The biggest challenge when making the typography images was pretty much everything. I mean most things were kind of hard and some things were easy. The hardest so far was the teacher typography image. Right now when I'm writing this we aren't done with the typography image of ourselves, but there will be an image of it. But the teacher image was hard for me because some steps, I didn't understand very well. When I had to add the gradient I got a little confused but luckily I got help from Ashley and Kyla and I finished on time. My biggest challenge when doing the me images was probably trying to get like a white back round. Although I asked for help and I finished.

From the three examples I think I like the teacher image the best. Although it was hard, I had fun making it. The first example shows an innovator. Her name is Marie Curie. We used words we found online. The second example is Mrs. Fujimoto, we used those words in her image because we asked her some questions about her self and those were her answers. The last example, is me. The words in the images of  me describe me. The image was taken by Kyla. So far I have used the words, energetic, science, eleven, and reading. I chose reading because I like to read, I chose science because it is my favorite subject in school. I chose energetic because I am energetic. Im not energetic at school but I am at home. Lastly I chose eleven because I am eleven. The typography image of me was fun to make too. I think is was easier than the teacher image.


Monday, March 2, 2015

Double Exposed Portrait

Portrait photography is pictures of a person or a group of people to show their expression or feeling. But, in a portrait, it shows both sides of the face. In profile pictures, it only shows the right or left side of the face. The picture only shows the persons right or left eye and only one half of their face. Profiles are basically an outline of one side of their face. A silhouette is an image of a person, animal, object, or a scene. Silhouettes represents the shape and its single color. The color is usually black, but the edges matching the outline of the subject.

To create a double exposure in photoshop, there are a few steps. File>Scripts>Load Files in to Stack>Browse>Choose three images>Start. When you pick three photos, one needs to be a profile picture of a person and the other two has to be textures. For mine, I used a book page and tree leaves. Double exposure makes two images combine to symbolize a side of your face.


I used the book page because I like to read. I chose a book that I read last year called "Gathering Blue". When I read this book it reminds me of last year, which was a fun year. I used the tree leaves because I like nature. I love gardening and I have always loved gardening since I was little. I think my quality could improve because it looks a bit weird. My chin looks a bit weird because i used the dodge tool there when I didn't mean too.


Monday, February 9, 2015

HDR Photography




HDR photography is like drawing with light. HDR photography is used for taking pictures and you can take 3 or more pictures with different exposure levels. The thing i like about HDR photography is that we can create our own picture. Our own edited picture that we make our selfs. The thing I dislike about it is how long it takes to change the exposure. When you take pictures for an HDR picture, you try not to move the camera too much, or try not to move the subject. Although, when you take to long to change the exposure, you might move the camera a bit.

To create a HDR picture, it takes quiet a few steps. You'll need 7 pictures with different exposure levels. When you have that, you'll need to use Photoshop. Then go to File>Automate>Merge To HDR Pro>Browse, then choose your 7 photos to use. Then play with the effects 'till you get what you want. This is just a guess but, I think HDR is different then automatic HDR functions because you get to take the pictures your self.

When we started with our HDR pictures, my first thought was, it has to be surrealistic and it has to meet the expectations. So when I started with my experiment I tried to make it look surrealistic. Although I could see a lot of ghosts in the picture, I tried to work with it. I played with the settings and I got what I got. I worked hard on this project.



Friday, January 23, 2015

Movie Trailer Critique



Our movie trailer is about a guinea pig named George. This guinea pig goes on an amazing adventure. My teammates in this project are Lani, Sophia, and Shaday. We are team 3. George is Shaday's guinea pig so without her, our trailer would turn out totally different from what we have now. In the beginning, we were thinking about making the movie like "UP". We were going to make it look like George goes into a balloon basket and fly away on an adventure. But we didn't include that. I tried to help as much as I could. Shaday did do most of the editing, and we always met up at her house. I think Shaday contributed the most. I tried to go to her house and help out as much as I could. I think I didn't go only once or twice. But I helped with filming as much as I could.

The requirements for this project are, the trailer has to be at least one minute and thirty seconds long and the longest it could be was two minutes and thirty seconds. Another requirement was that you need the movie trailer poster somewhere in the trailer. We also needed 5 scenes, a voice actor and dialogue.  The other requirements were you need transitions, Foley, and text layovers. We added music as well, I think everyone did. Our team completed all the requirements. We had the poster, it was a minute and thirty seconds, and it had transitions, text layovers, a voice actor etc.

Our movie trailer got four out of four. Ten people voted our trailer as the best. We got the most votes. I think we did good. I agree with the results. I think we got a good grade and we deserved it because we tried our best to complete this project. From this project, I have learned, that guinea pigs are hard to work with and I have also learned some new words. For example, Foley. In the results, for the requirements we got two people who thought we could use improvement. I think we could have used improvement too but overall, I'm happy with our grade.







Monday, January 12, 2015

Movie Poster Promo

In this project me and my team are making a movie trailer. Our team is me,  Shaday, Sophia, and Lani.  In our movie trailer, a guinea pig named George is on an amazing adventure and runs into several problems. George is a wild guinea pig who gets captured. Our poster includes Shaday's guinea pig, George, who is the main character.

Our movie trailer title is Snoopy George. We chose this title because our movie trailer is about a guinea pig named George that goes on an adventure because he is tired of his old life. We have included the names of our teammates, Lani Alo, Sophia Gregory, Shaday Thomas, and me, Denae Sacramed. We also have included the name of our main character, George. Another thing it has are reviews.

The drop shadows on the text make the title more noticeable because without it its kind of hard to see. The layer effects help make everything pop out and easier to see. The effects and layers made the poster more interesting than just letters and a picture. The effects on the text make the words pop out. The effects I used on the text were drop shadow, stroke, and bevel and emboss.