Great Exprectations

Great Exceptions

During the course of our Public Service Announcements project we will learn how to apply our lessons learned in the class. This gives us the opportunity to make a difference in the community by representing an organization and develop invaluable social and business contacts. To produce "broadcast-ready advertising" and be provided with "real world" experience to create PSAs. 

By creating an advertisement through a radio of commercial type project. Over the radio, creating a simple 30 second script with music and sound in the background to enhance the listeners experience. Through a commercial type project however would be more challenging as I will get to later on. 

To relate to others, the advertising would have to send a message that the audience can understand on a large spectrum of peoples. Creating an image that almost everyone could understand is another challenge that is going to be difficult. Whether is be family friendly or a message that will stick to the audience with either being dramatic or unique. 

The challenges with creating an actual commercial with audio and visual aid would be trying to schedule shooting times. Getting the whole crew on set and establishing a concrete script and storyboard so that the crew is all on the same page and making the shoot more efficient with little to no confusion.

This will help us learn about what real life advertising agencies go through daily. Going to the site, organization, or multiple sites and collaboration with your and the organization heads ideas. Getting real time field work and a feel for what is like in the "real world". The purpose of the advertisement is to get our own experience and to also get the word out about the organization.

Thought Process of Still Image Project

Still Image Project

The still image project will be the final big project for this class, where we will combine our lessons learned about Adobe Audition and Premiere Pro. By using images, video, and audio all to create a PSA or a "How To" video. Using Premiere Pro and Adobe Audition we can combine our audio and visual skills to create such a video but first we have to think of the script of the audio and also the visual script, a script board. 

My video is going to be a video about the process of making a Tinder account. It will be a "How To" video combined with still images of profiles, funny videos of my friends for comedic relief, and audio over the video of myself about going through the process of making a Tinder profile. 

Effects to use in Audition

Once I have my script and story board I can then take my audio and add effects to it. My plan is to create the script, then record the audio, then finally I can take the still images and record the video. In Audition I can add effects such as I can in Premiere Pro such as the fade effect and the merge effect. In Audition for the audio for effects I can merge the audio. When I merge the audio I will also verge image and video along with it to make the video run more smoothly. 

By using the balance effect I can control the audio's volume and how loud I want music or scripted audio in the video. I can put music in the background of the audio in the "How To" video and keep it at a low volume, allowing the listener to still hear the script and the music at the same time. 

The delay tool can help my audio be delayed on the mix track so that it can merge and the same time as the visual in the video. By using a variety of audio tracks on the mix-track in Audition the delay tool will help the audio seem more smooth and with less problems.

The DeCrackler Effect will help with my audio overall. Since I am recording from my phone, bad vocalization from the walls or even the sound of rain from an open window will be eliminated. Using the DeCrackler Effect will solve all of the problems in my audio that common people find impossible to solve.

The Lion King Rises

The Lion King Rises

The assignment given to us this weekend was simple and helped us break in our video editing skills. We were given 4 total trailers in a zip folder by our professor. 2 trailers from Disney's Lion King and the other 2 trailers were from the prequel of the Batman series, The Dark Night Rises. With this video and audio, our professor challenged us to combine this content to create one trailer. I wanted to approach this project as if the trailer was for one movie and only use video from one movie.

Brainstorming:

I used the video from the Lion King trailers for the audience to view along with the audio to one of the more dramatic Batman trailers. The idea behind it was that I could make a child's movie into an intense and action packed film. Rating a child's movie PG-13 and almost scaring the audience, using the black screen and dramatic music to make the trailer suspenseful with a little bit of humor. Thinking about a movie almost any kid my age grew up with, and transforming it to a violent high explosive movie will bring a smile to anyone who enjoyed it.

Putting it all together:

I took what I though was the best video from the 2 Lion King trailers and put them on my new project, completely taking out its own audio. Then I took the entire audio from one of the Dark Knight trailers and compared the trailer to shots I could use in my own creation. When it comes to a shot over Gotham I would use a panning shot of Pride Rock. Every time a main character would be brought up in the Dark Knight trailer I would use a character such as Scar with Bane and Simba with Batman. 

Once I had the original audio and the desired shots from the Lion King I then tweaked the audio a bit more. The ending for the original audio I used ended too slowly for me, so I took the upbeat and dramatic ending of the other trailer and implanted to my own project to hype the video up and allow me to use more shots that I could not fit with the original audio. I used the official titles of Disney and directors along with quotes such as "coming soon" and "this summer" to create a type of realism to the video. To make it more official. 

Story Time

Story Time: 

The assignment given to us for the week was to record one of our friends telling a story. We then take the recorded audio and edit it down to one minute. Using Adobe Audition we are able to place the audio on a multitrack so that we can edit multiple audio recordings at one time. Once we have recorded our friend telling their story, we then must edit it down to a one minute recording with all of the important information so that the listener can fully understand the story. We then place our own introduction to the video and also a closing identifying who the speaker is and concluding the moral of the story at the end. Below is the original audio recording that I took of my friend talking completely unedited. 

In Abobe Audition I then put the recording on a mix track where I was able to place the original audio on the first track and the introduction along with the conclusion on track 2. Using the razor tool I was able to edit down the story to about 1:03. I found it very hard since Josh told so many stories in such a short time, so editing it down so that it was not only easy to follow along but so it was short enough and made sense. I found that by magnifying the track and being able to see the levels of audio it was easier to know where Josh would pause and be able to use the razor tool and trim the overall audio.

Photoshop Madness

Photoshop Madness

For this assignment I couldn't think of any famous celebrity to make fun of so instead I used irony with our President. I placed President Trump in the drive thru of Mcdonalds but the irony is that he thought it was Taco Bell. 

I took a photo of Trump and masked around him to just place his face in the car. It is funny to me because of the face that Trump is making and as well as the face of the drive thru lady. I had to use the clone tool to remove the hand and head of the driver that was previously in the car. 

Contrasting With Swatches

Using Swatches in Adobe inDesign for contrast:

The Photo:

This photo was captured off of the shore in Ocean Isle in South Carolina. I chose this image because I took it myself and I love the colors in it. The colors in the sky all contrast each other and I thought it would work perfectly for this assignment to create swatches in order to prepare for our Brochure Assignment. In our assignment we can only take 3 colors to base our trip-fold piece of paper on. By using these swatches we create contrast in our brochure to please the audiences eyes. 

Creating The Swatches: 

I took the swatches from the image using the blue, the pink, and the tan you see off in the horizon. The swatches were then created by using the "create new tint" tool in the swatches category. Once I had the three main colors I created a new tint color and decreased 2 of each by 25%. So in total I had 9 swatches created. 3 are tinted at 75% and the last 3 are tinted at 50%. 

To create the boxes I used the rectangle tool to create one. Then by pressing the option button I copy the square. and create a 9 square template nice and organized to see the tint in the color much more easier.

Creating a nameplate:

When creating a name plate I used the rectangle tool to create a clean and even rectangle. Then I used the colors from the swatches to create a nameplate with contrast colors to make the letters sick out. Fist I had to create character and paragraph styles to go along with the nameplate. The title which is my name has to be bold and stick out to attract the readers eyes and making it the first thing they see. Using the paragraph style tool I created a font and the color and named it. I created 3 different headings along with 3 different character styles for the body text. I used different types of text as well for the body. The style is more normal and bland and this indicates the actual information in the brochure. 

Brochure Writing

Brochure Writing

This week's assignment is to find a brochure and use the following terms to relate to our own assignment as we begin to create brochure's for fellow incoming freshman about their new passports.

The terms are:

1. Limiting Fonts
2. Limiting Colors
3. Contrast Contrast Contrast
4. Trifold Brochure Writing Tips

I took a brochure located inside of the Wanek building on campus. It is a brochure to promote the Mariana H. Lubein Gardens located on campus.

1. Limiting Fonts:

The different types of fonts in the brochure help the reader better identify the smaller detains and draw their eyes to the big fancy letters with more interesting facts and statements. The basic 12 point font talks about the plants and how they grow and such, while the while font with a purple background sticks out about the history of the actual garden. 

Limiting Colors:

In the High Point brochure the obvious assumption would be made and would be correct about the colors of the paper. The purple and white to give the panther pride off while also including green to initiate the green garden effect. 

Contrast: 

What makes the different types of text stand out is the background behind the font. With the white font and purple background and it fits well. On the second and third pages there are white and purple dim backgrounds to keep the reader's eyes interested and easier to follow along with. 

Trifold Brochure Writing Tips: 

When writing the information to fill into the small sliver of paper you have, you must be direct to the point. Brochure's are meant to give information, immediate facts to make it an easy read. Also use different fonts and font colors to identify important information and just filler information. 

Distracting Elements:

In our next lesson we are learning about distracting elements in photos and how to eliminate them. We were assigned to take a photo of our own captured with some sort of distracting elements and then using photoshop to fix the problems. I simply took a photo of the back of blessing at night and used the light to display how distracting the light is. Below is the picture that I took. The light distracts the rest of the photo from being visible. 

Below is the finished photo after being used with photoshop. As you can see the lighting is much better. To do this is simply changed the contrast of the photo. I made the brightness of the rest of the photo about 89 while I took the light and brought the level down to make it less distracting. 

I also used levels to manage how well the lighting and the contrast of the photo went together. The light is much less distracting now and this helps the viewer see the entire picture. using the two adjustment layers in photoshop I was able to edit the picture so that the viewer may see the entire photo and actually understand what I was trying to capture. 

Aesthetics in photography

Aesthetics: 

The next lesson that we are beginning to learn about aesthetics and how to work a certain shot. When you work a shot you use angles to heighten the interest and look of the photo. When using aesthetics you bring a totally different look of an object simply by using different teqniques. Using aesthetics to everyday objects gives people more of an appreciation for the object. The five types of aesthetics that I am going to focus on in this blog are the rules of third, symmetry and patterns, viewpoint, framing, and lastly balancing elements.

Rules of Third:

The rules of third is meant to bring balance in a photo. Using a 3x3 guideline in your camera you can take an object and balance it with its background or with other objects in the photo. I used a window as my example on how to balance the window with the side windows located next to a larger window. 

The frame of the big window is directly matched with the middle square with the 3x3 guidelines. This adds balance to the photo and making it perfectly centered in the photo. 

Symmetry and Patterns: 

In architecture symmetry is very often seen due to the fact that in order to build stability to a building it must be perfectly symmetric. In finding these symmetric patterns in architecture it brings an opportunity to the photographer to capture a photo more symmetric and stable to the eyes. In my example I used the frame of the windows. Each frame is measured to the exact same length away from each other. The frames also bring a symmetric feel to them with the patterns used on all of the frames. 

The frames have the same vertical lines along the frames to bring a pattern to the photo. 

Viewpoint:

Capturing a moment from a different point of view is how you can value a photo or image in a whole different way. We all look at life from generally the same point of view, from eye level. But if you take an object and simply change the angle of how you take a photo. Generally people will take a photo from up above or looking up since people do not generally look at life in these types of angles. 

I took this photo of the window while laying down. Looking up at the window creates a different way of looking out the window due to the fact that not many people look from the ground up to a window. 

Framing:

When using framing to center a photo architecture also may help more often than in nature. Using squares of the frame of the actual window is very effective and is how I used the shape to my advantage. 

I used the outlining of the frame of the window to use a a frame itself. By doing this I can present the object that I am trying to capture more effectively and more pleasing to the eyes. 

Balancing Elements: 

Finally in balancing elements it is creative in a way to take your center object in which you are capturing and take the weird of it and compare it to something smaller. In doing this balance the two objects in a way that they look the same size. I used a Bose speaker and the window due to the size and shape of the window. Since they both had a square shape I thought that it would match up very nicely. 

By focusing on the speaker it brings the attention to the speaker while at the same time make it seem that these two objects are the same weight and size. 

Who I am

Early life: 

I was born and brought up in a part of Boston called West Roxbury, a small condensed area of proud Irish Americans. At the age of 14 my family and I moved about 30 minutes outside of the city to a smaller town known as Marshfield. There I started high school and was a completely new start to my life. There I became a beach bum and learned to surf, skimboard, and also meet some of my life time friends. Being the new kid is never fun for anyone, but coming to college where everyone is the new kid I didn't feel so lost as some claim to be due to my situation five years ago. 

Today:

Today I attend Highpoint University where I am a freshman and happy to be experiencing the south like never before. I wanted to come to this school for two main reasons, one being that it was the school I've always wanted to be a part of since the age of 16 and the second reason being that I am the oldest of 4 and a 14 hour drive away from them would be nice. So far I have for sure made the right decision. 

Cameraman: 

I am a Electronic Media major and ever since my junior year of high school I have been editing and shooting clips for fun and it was from then a desire to do it as a career. Camera angles and video effects are what I like to do most, but put me in front of the camera and I'll freeze up. I'm not a shy kid, in fact most people tell me to shut my trap but when I know that people are watching or could possibly watch in the future I begin to choke on my tongue. If the video or project is for fun or class I will happily do my part in directing and all the video editing, just I hate to be on the screen for a long period of time for people to see.