4th Quarter Last Post

The Project
According to Meyer-Briggs text, I was an ENFP, and according to the animal test, I was an otter, so I tried to channel that imagination and enthusiasm towards our project. The idea was to sell a product using all areas of E-Comm we had covered- animation, video, and graphic design. Jake was an INTJ and a beaver as the most introverted member of our group, Sara was ESFJ and Golden Retriever, and Jacob was also ESFJ and a beaver.

The Process

I storyboarded the commercial and was the spokesperson that had to explain the product. I also designed the website, including the content and color scheme.We started by throwing out product ideas and, once we had locked onto Snooze-Tune, we started writing our slogan, jingle and product description. Then we storyboarded the video before filming. Our next rotation was animation where we were supposed to make a 3D version of our product using Google Sketch-Up.

My Experience
I designed the pillow part of the animation. Lastly, our group went into graphic design where we made the coupon, ad, website, and web banner. We finished up by inserting our logo into the commercial when we had the extra time. I learned a lot about AI, Dreamweaver, and Google Sketch-Up- like how to make rounded edges on a 3D object. I also learned about setting reasonable, achievable goals instead of trying to get too many things done within a deadline.

Next Time
If I had another chance to do this project, my goal would be to have better time management. I might have gotten a planner to use it specifically for this, because of deadlines and smaller things that needed to happen sooner. I should have also had a back-up plan because in case things went wrong. But I was proud of my creative ideas in all rotations. I felt I added a lot of imagination in the process, even if the goals were a little unrealistic because of it. I regret not signing up for E-comm next year. If it were not 2 hours, I definitely would have, but it's more important to get my 2 years of language credit in, considering I hope to be going into a college out of state. But if I did have the opportunity to apply what I've learned to another E-Comm project, I would definitely relate it to graphic design, because I struggled so much with AI. I should have asked for more help from team members during that portion.

Snooze-Tune Pillow Product Commerical

It was hard, at first, to think of a product that could incorporate everything we wanted. In the end,  my group decided on what we called the Snooze-Tune: a pillow that could play lullabies to kids at night. It still needed some adjusting but we were soon onto the storyboarding for the commercial. Unfortunately, in the initial planning process, we weren't very realistic. Because our product was directed towards children, we had planned on using a 5-year-old as the main person in our commercial, but it was Easter weekend and hard to pull it together. We ended up behind, not sure how to represent our pillow and with nothing to film at school with no 5-year-olds on hand.

Finally, we decided to change our plans. I spoke in the commercial, explaining the product and giving the testimonial. Sarah took the place of our 5-year-old and we decided to direct our product towards teens more as well. After all, teens bought pillow pets more than anyone and I would use this product in my life. We actually got done quickly and did get the chance to put some kids in it thanks to Sarah. The editing stage took some time but we didn't get behind and our video is a safe 1 minute 15 seconds.

Interview

When I chose to do E-comm, I was especially interested in video design because I hope to be an actress and I've done on-camera auditions before. I've gone to workshops, learned the mechanics, but still always struggled with them. It was incredibly helpful to be the creative person behind the camera so I could understand what translates and what doesn't. Now I understand the camera and the shots, and I have a new skill set I can always use. Choosing the arts as a career means you can't be picky- the more I can do, the more likely I can be used so I'm grateful for anything I can learn.
The other two careers I'm looking at for my future are marketing and a writer for TV among others. Both of these fields are perfect for the E-communication to help me with. Video design has been very interesting and a great learning opportunity. I made friends, learned collaboration, had room to be creative while still being given a goal, and expanded my horizons.

Chase Scene

I learned a lot about creativity with camera angles and shots. There was a large range of locations to choose from and many different ideas to put to use. We did close-ups that were reflections, wide shots from behind walls. We bent the rules a little bit to be creative and I'm glad we did! I learned about how to add a static effect at the end using Final Cut Pro, and how to use more than two six shot systems and more than two locations. I especially learned about adding music this time. Previously, soundtracks had been long enough to take up the whole video. But this time, there wasn't a song long enough and one that consistently kept the mood accurate as it constantly changed in the video, from creepy suspense to obvious danger. I had to put a lot of different music together, sometimes stacking them up so they flowed together better.
This factor in music and the new creative devices I used are definite things I plan on keeping  up. In my next video, it'll be essential to steady the camera better before it starts rolling. I noticed multiple places where that could have been smoother.
In this project, I worked with two actors, and therefore it was a little harder to collaborate. We got along really well and turned out a good, cooperative group, but we all had many different ideas we hoped to implement while only a few could really be used. We did a great job bouncing ideas off each other and were an extremely efficient, hard-working team. I honestly don't think I could ask for better in terms of collaboration.

AB sequence project: 2 location video

In this project, I learned about transitions from one area to another in a video sequence. To show this, we had a girl working on homework, before she got thirsty and has to get a quick drink from the water fountain. The water fountain is actually a hallway away from the classroom, but when filming, I used footage only of her leaving the classroom and arriving at the water fountain with none of the walking in between simply because it's not necessary and boring to watch someone walk down a hallway. The passage of time can be warped to keep the audience interested. It's these concepts that I will apply to future projects.

Collaboration means working together to produce something good, and I think I've accomplished that with my partner. We were a great team and were easily able to bounce ideas off of each other. For example, in the video she took of me reading, I gave her the idea to have a shot of the clock so the viewer understood why I had to leave and go into the classroom. And in my video, she was able to help me a lot with where to put the camera for the best shot, something I'm not always so good at figuring out.

Soccer Hobby

In this project, we used a six-shot system to make a short video of someone else in class performing a hobby they enjoy. We had to make it out of multiple clips. The first shot I have is called and Extra Close-Up (XCU) and focuses on his hands performing an action- putting down the ball. My second shot is called an Over-The-Shoulder (OTS) where he prepares himself in kick. The third is a Medium Shot (MS) of him running towards the ball and then there's a Wide Shot (WS) of him kicking which I experimented with speed on. The last shot is an Extra Wide Shot (XWS) of the ball flying towards the goal and making it! While I already knew how to string videos together from the last project where I did a Broadway mash-up, this time I was actually the one filming and had to work with the limited footage. I had to string together the shots in the best way. These six shots each have their own uses in certain situations and will be helpful with any future video I make.

Highlight Video

The Highlight Video project involved finding five Youtube videos that we could clip and strong together into one full video. It was supposed to be about something we love or a hobby- so I chose Broadway! I started with finding some footage of the classics- Lion King, Wicked, Les Mis...Then, I went to find promos from my favorite shows that are newer and more contemporary- Pippin and Bring It On. I also added some Tarzan footage in there, but had to end up taking it back out. That was the hardest part: cutting my footage. There was so much i wanted to use but I had to have exactly a minute.

The great thing about using promos was that they were made as an advertisement so they already featured the best parts. I ended up using them the most, while the Wicked clip went from five minutes to five seconds. I'm very proud of how it turned out.