Semester 1 Review

What Did I Learn?

Technology

     Throughout the semester, I learned how to better use Illustrator so my patterns looked natural and connected together so when putting my pattern onto mockups and a digital layout of my box, it would all fit correctly and perfectly. I have learned so much in the technology department of e-Com. When I was a Freshmen, I could barely use Photoshop, and Premier Pro. I struggled so much, but i eventually learned how to use both of them efficiently. The next year when I was a Sophomore, I hated Illustrator because I didn't know anything. It was if I was starting over again in the learning process. I eventually learned the tools and shortcuts of Illustrator that I now use Illustrator whenever there's Graphic Design involved, even in my daily life. I used to do very small projects in Illustrator that would take a couple hours to about a day, but now I have done so many month long projects in and out of Illustrator that I have the stamina and attention span to dit down and do what I need to get done. My Sophomore year, we did many Photoshop tutorials, and then towards the end, I did a Vector portrait of my grandfather and many other vector portraits. The Photoshop tutorials took minutes, maybe a hour at most. The Vector Portrait took many weeks and hours to do. I had to stay after school to finish the project. I worked so hard and stayed after school so long that my muscles in my hands were sore. While I worked so much in Illustrator, I do need to go back and do some Photoshop work since those skills have been neglected for some time now. 

Collaboration and Communication

     In Graphic Design, I often asked my teacher and the people around me what they thought of my design once I was done. I'd get compliments as well as critiques. I did my best to fix my designs based on the critiques and see what worked best. Everyone around me had amazing ideas to share. In the past, I wasn't very open or vocal about anything. I was mostly introverted, and still introverted to this day. However, thanks to Video and other events outside of e-Com, I am able to fulfill any role needed and am ready to give my opinion or thoughts on something if need be. I am also more open about asking for critiques during random stages of the creating process. I have made great friends because of e-Com not just in the Graphic Design branch, but in the other branches as well. 

     Before I even entered high school, I was very communicative. I always told teachers when I would be absent and e-mail them when I was sick or gone unexpectedly. So, from a professional standpoint, I was communicative, but from a more casual standpoint, not so much. Once I get to know people, I become very open, but team projects were always something I didn't really like. Thanks to e-Com, I have had many opportunities to be open and communicate what needs to be done as well as goof around here and there.

Project Management

      In middle school and even sometimes to this day, I procrastinate quite often, however if I am away from distractions and given "free" time, then I get projects and other things done usually before the deadline. Going through the e-Com program, I have always completed projects and have been aware of deadlines. I have stayed after school for hours sometimes finishing a project. I try to use class time to my advantage and use as much of it as possible to work on a current project. One thing I wish to correct in the future, however, is to stay on task better and not get sidetracked by friends. 

Leadership

     I wouldn't consider myself a leader. In group projects, I fulfill any role that needs to be filled. However, if being a leader or director or head project person is the role that needs to be filled, I'll step up and be the leader. I do have many leadership qualities like listening to others as well as being able to take control of situations. 

1st Semester Reflection

ONW Now News Story

This project was for my school's version of a news program. This project took us a couple days due to principal being busy multiple times. One challenge was, obviously, interviewing the principal since he's always busy, but somehow my team interviewed him. Another challenge was editing. My team wasn't sure who would be responsible for editing, but I was good and could edit pretty quickly. I did stay after school due to the voiceover being sent to me long after I finished the first edit. After I got the voiceover in, my teacher sat down with me and helped me fix the color, graphics and straighten the angles in clips. I didn't get home until 4:45pm that night. I learned to pay attention to little details when editing, even if it doesn't seem like a big deal, it is. The teacher helped me a lot along the way on this project and the end result is really good. It's on of my best edited pieces this semester.

Advanced Feature Piece

This project was to do an advanced interview by including varied shots and natural sound. This project took my team a couple days, giving me the opportunity to get a lot of B-roll. A challenge along the way was the audio didn't record so out entire interview with Mr. Johns was silent. I told my team the best option was to do a voiceover for the entire thing and the teacher said to add light music under the voiceover. Feedback I was given was to make sure to audio is on while recording. Overall, recovering from a major setback like this is an accomplishment. This project is one of my better works.

Time

When I wasn't needed, I made sure assignments were turned in and we had made sure my team had everything planned out and ready to go. There were some days where I did nothing due to everything being ready and assignments were turned in. When I finished early I made sure everything exported correctly and uploaded to Youtube the way I wanted it to. Outside of class, I'd watch movies and notice the different cuts and shots in movies and tv. I would try to name the different shots, but it happens so fast, I can't name them in time. My strengths are communication and editing. I try to be as open and on page with everyone on my team wile remaining flexible when it comes to ideas.  I can improve my skills in leadership by being more vocal about the project and what my team should do. 

ONW Now

 My role in the ONW Now news piece was editor. I edited the clips of the video, voiceover, color correction, straighten shots, added graphics and transitions in Adobe Premier Pro. My team did a story over the new laptops every student got at our school. I learned to pay attention to detail even if it seems insignificant.

Summary

  What I loved about this semester is the amount of editing I got to do. If I could change what happened about this semester it'd be making sure the audio is on when recording. Overall, I learned how to straighten clips, correct color, add graphics and proper transitions. One goal I'd set for next year is to be more efficient and notice small details.

Final Thoughts

 While video has been fun and I enjoy editing, there were several times this semester where I was really stressed out and had to stay after school a lot to finish projects and assignments. I hope next semester will be less stressful, but I don't plan on enrolling into video next school year due to the stress I experienced. 

 

ONW NOW

A good broadcast story should contain at least one interview, B-roll that pertains to the story or what the interviewee is referring to, a good voiceover/script and good editing.

When my class was doing the Sophomore version of *ONW Now, i sat in the room where people could control what was being recorded for video as well as transitions and what would play next. I didn't do much since I edited my team's video for ONW Now while everyone else went to the recording booth to get jobs for when the entire thing would be recorded. 

A strong news broadcast should contain good leaders, proper preparation, and strong teamwork skills like communication. The anchors have to be prepared to read the teleprompter and make it sound natural instead of if they were reading off of a screen. Those in the recording booth have to have good communication skill and prepare for technology failure and have to have a plan in place. The microphones have to be checked to make sure they are working and on. Set director have to have good listening and communication skills to be able to take orders from the recording booth and to pass directions onto the anchors. 

*ONW Now is my school's version of a News Station. Every week, they make a news broadcast about different things happening around the school. They also produce daily news videos, but ONW Now is the news that most students see and is produced weekly. 

1st Semester Review

"Nature Man"

   This project was one of the first Photoshop Projects I did in my Graphic Design class. This project was to Photoshop a man, image was provided, into anything we wanted. The rules were the face had to be visible and use adjustment layers. I don't remember how long this project took me to complete, but longer than I thought. Some challenges for this project were deciding what I wanted to do. Originally, I was going to do a horror type edit, but decided to do a galaxy/alien edit instead. I had a a difficult time gettin the suit right, but figured it out in the end. I learned how to use adjustment layers and opacity as well as the quick select tool. Some feedback I got was the lack of blending modes. I didn't use any, in fact, due to my nonexistent experience with blending modes. To this day, I do think this edit is one of my best. 

Photoshop Challenge 2

 This project was to find 5 photos or more, use a photoshop filter, adjustment layer, and a layer mask to create this edit. It took me a couple days, from what I remember, to complete it. I learned to use color balance/adjustment and how to layer photos together. Some challenges I faced were trying to make the gravestones look natural, getting the fox's orange color to stand out, but blend it, and for the statue/ghost thing in the background to be faint but noticeable. Some feedback I got was the gravestones looked a little distorted and the fox would look better if it had a shadow underneath it. I didn't make any changes to it since I turned it on to my teacher due to my satisfaction with my work. This project isn't my best work, but i do like the aesthetic it has. It's interesting.  

Pop Art 

 The last project will mention is my pop art project. It didn't take me that long to complete, but i did have a difficult time getting the subject's hair blue due to all the little strays that were too small to color. I learned how to change backgrounds and change the color of a specific object. The feedback was it looked a little choppy, and I have to agree. I had a difficult time with the quick select tool in this project. Also, I could have used a better color scheme. I finished the main part of the project and didn't know what to do for the background, so I just guessed as to what to do and hoped it looked good.  I already knew what I wanted to do when I put the photo in photoshop, but I was still learning the ropes of everything, and ended up with a decent piece of work. In my opinion, it's not bad, but not one of greater works. 

Time

 When I would finish a project, i would work on photoshopping celebrities into random characters from popular media. I stopped after awhile due to how bored i got after awhile. I then moved on to editing characters from the same movie on one photoshop document. I did do some more serious work as well, mostly doing edits for my parents. One was editing photos from their trip to Eureka Springs into a panorama collage like my Paris one. Another project was to put a photo label that my dad sent me to put on one of his friend's shirt in a photo. I think over time, the more serious the project, the better I performed and my skills improved as the year went on. Outside of class, i started an arts and crafts project where I used photoshop to create images of my friends' favorite tv/movie character or celebrity with their favorite quote. I did this for eight of my friends and will glue each image to a piece of watercolor paper with their favorite color painted onto the watercolor paper.  

One of the edits I made for my friend.
She loves video games!

This is another edit I made for a friend.
She and I are in marching band!

Eureka Springs. This is one of my better edits

Stand By Me is one of my favorite movies,
so I created this panama. 

Strengths and Weaknesses

 I have strong time and project management skills as well as communication. However I lack in leaderships skills. Graphics Design doesn't have a lot of the traditional "leadership" roles, so it's been a bit of an adaptation. However, I always ask other for advice, and ask the teacher for help when I can't figure out a solution to a problem. I do turn in projects on time and make sure I am doing what is necessary to be on track. 

Summary

 What I love most about Graphic Design is the projects and how many we do. However, back to blending modes, I'd do a project where it was just blending modes as the main focus. Overall, the takeaway I had of this semester is to enjoy the projects and to do it how you feel like doing it while completing all the requirements. A goal for next semester is to continue side projects as well as keep up with schoolwork, which wasn't a problem this semester. Overall, I had good projects and poor projects, but none of them were terribly bad.

Behance

Below is a link to my Behance where you can check out more projects I have done as well as some other cool projects done by others:
https://www.behance.net/katiebarry8d65

E9 Quarter 2 Web Project

 

My Home Page

Overview

      For my semester project, I learned how to build a website using Adobe Dreamweaver. I first started out with a pre-made template created by the teachers, then I started putting in a photo of myself along with entering my"elevator pitch" assignment where I was to create an "elevator pitch" describing myself and my talents. I then created a second page with my best projects from the semester. I included one of my animations, and my chase scene video. Once that was done, I put in some web links like my blog, my high school website, and the e-Com website. Once all of that was finished, I began to design the page by changing the text colors and changing the fonts. Once that was all done, I took a screenshot of my home page and my projects page.

What Did I Learn? 

My Projects, or "best of" page

     First of all, I learned how to make a website without using a website like Wix. It's astonishing to me that I created my own website through Adobe Dreamweaver. I also leaned more about codes and what some of the codes mean. At first, the coding looked like a big, complicated, big bunch of weird nonsense, but as I started learning what some of it meant, the code wasn't as complicated or a whole bunch of weird nonsense. Code, from what I learned, is like any other language. At first it won't make sense, but as I learned it, it started making sense and I started to understand it better.

My Opinion

     Overall, I think I did pretty well. Some of the coding was a bit tricky when it came to stylizing the links, but once I figured that out, everything else was easy. I really enjoyed this project, and I would probably do it again just for fun. learning about code was one of the more essential focuses of this project, and I enjoyed it. Honestly, I had a grand time with this project and look forward doing a similar one in the future.