Digital Story: FINITO!

For the first time, I finished a project on time (or before the due date since the quarter hasn't ended yet). I am so proud of myself. But just like there's an up, there is also a down. For the millionth time, I was once again late to Mrs. Weigand's class. I am always making poor Mrs. Weigand get up from her seat...
I'll work on that.

Digital Story Reflection

Digital Story Reflection

For this project, we were to take pictures from home or the Internet to create a story that narrates something that happened in our life. It did not necessarily have to be about anything super special, just as long as it was a story and had some type of meaning to you. The “rules” of this project was that your story had to be at the least one minute long and have at least six pictures. You were also encouraged to record your own voice instead of just having pictures or words popping up on the screen. In addition, having background music was not a requirement, but I personally think it makes your whole movie much better and more interesting.

My digital story is about myself growing up combined with my Sweet 16 (since having a Sweet 16 symbolizes growing up from a girl to a young lady). In the whole process of completing this project, I mainly had in mind my parents, especially my mother because she is a really special person in my life. I just thought it would be a good idea to dedicate something like this to her knowing that she has done so much for me. Also, I want to show my parents that ever since I was little, yes, they did do a good job. The images I used to create my story were mainly from my Sweet 16 because that was a very specific event that people would easily recognize and know what I’m talking about. I also included some pictures from when I was a toddler because I was showing the process of myself growing up.

The reason for why I chose the theme of my story to be growing up/my Sweet 16 is because it was a very important event that happened to me and also for my parents. Like I mentioned before, I wanted to dedicate this project to my parents (especially to my mom) because they have done so much for me. I think that for any girl who wants a Sweet 16 or Quinceñera (Spanish Sweet 15) it’s an important event because it means a lot to them and their parents.

I think I did really well on this project. The only thing I would change is the audio. The song was perfect for my theme but I felt that at times, the song would overpower the audio of my voice; you can still hear what I am saying though. Besides that, I would say everything else went smoothly… At first, I had trouble coming up with the lines that I was going to say for my movie, but after putting up my pictures, the story came easily to me.

I really liked using iMovie. I learned how simple it was to make movies on my own using my very own pictures or other pictures from the internet. If you’re big on making videos (like myself), it comes handy when posting things on sites like YouTube. I am so sad that my Digital Media class will soon be over. I enjoyed having this class so much because I learned how to use an Apple computer and also how to use all the cool programs you can install on there. I think the most useful thing that I learned and will definitely use in the future is iMovie. I would love to learn how to add all sorts of different effects on there and later on post my videos on sites like YouTube, Tumblr, and Blogger. I really like singing so I hope that in the future I will be able to use iMovie to posts some of my own videos.

Growing Up

Frustrations Lead To Eating... Chocolate Cake

I am baking my frustrations away!
I am making German chocolate cake.

The Two Songs!

So I was stuck in trying to decide which song I should use for my project. I finally narrowed it down to the songs I just posted; I'm going to go with My Wish, by Rascal Flatts.

My wish~Rascal Flatts w/ lyrics

There You'll Be ~ Faith Hill

Finishing Up

I am finishing up my digital story/movie project. So far, this is one of my favorite projects.

A Nervous Wreck

I am super nervous about my driving test today. Right now, I am actually shaking while trying to type, it's that bad. What made me this nervous? Learning that I have to make a 3-point turn on the test today...

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE...
I really like the current project we are working on in Digital Media class.

Because My Brain Is Wired Differently...

...I can't start off by writing my story. First, I have to see all my pictures, add my music, and then finally, come up with a story. I work backwards and the hard way is usually the easy way for me. I wrote my "story" but it honestly sucks, and it is super cheesy. I am upset; what am I to do?

Photographic Truth

Photographic Truth Reflection

            This quarter’s assignment was called “Photographic Truth”. The point of this assignment was to pick a theme, find pictures related to that, and then insert your own pictures of yourself in those pictures. The point was to get people to think/look twice at the picture because they couldn’t believe you were in there because you made it so believable.  

                  The first thing you needed in order to do this project is find a theme that you wanted to use. The teacher suggested that you use a historical theme so that it can be relatable to other students. After you found a theme for the project, next you were to go online and find pictures of that theme. For example, I searched for pictures from the Beatles and Rolling Stones since that was the theme I chose to do. After you found your pictures, you were to take pictures of yourself in different poses that you chose that would fit in with each of your pictures.

                  To me, the phrase “photographic truth” means that not all the pictures you see are necessarily true. With the technology that we have available to us, we have to be careful with what we see; it is very simple to insert things to the real pictures and still make it look believable. The technology of today is amazing.

                  The theme for my project was 1960s music, and the two popular icons of this time are the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. I had to do a lot of work in order to try to make my pictures look believable. I mainly dealt with color and texture for all my pictures. The tools I used for this project were the magnetic lasso, the crop tool, the move tool, the stamp tool, the magic wand, and the burn tool. I had to adjust the color by going to image, adjustments, and variations. To replace the color I went to image, adjustments, replace color. These were the main tools I used to complete my project. It sounds really simple, but this project actually took time and over all patience.

                  The reason for why I chose to do this theme was because I really like music, and the Beatles and Rolling Stones are one of those bands that don’t necessarily die out but are still alive with the youth of today. Another reason for why I chose this theme was because I would have loved to go back into the time when they were really popular. I would have loved to also sing along with them and travel. Putting myself in those pictures was a way for me to symbolize my presence with them. If I couldn’t be there in real life, at least I could be there in picture form. The thought of me being with these two bands is fun and really cool to me.

                 What I have learned about this project is that not all pictures that we see (especially on the internet) are true. Today it is very easy to change a picture and make it seem like something else was really happening. Something new that I learned to do in this project is to better use the stamp tool and to also change the color of my own pictures so that it matches with other pictures. Like I said before, this sounds really easy but can actually be a hard and tedious task. This was an assignment that I really did like. I learned something else to do on the amazing Apple computers. At the beginning I was frustrated that I could not think of a theme, but after I had a theme, everything else was good. I did find this project to be difficult because I really wanted the pictures to look believable. I did think I was successful in this project. Although you can tell where I am in each picture, I thought that I did a good job matching the colors and textures. If another person who did not know anything about the Beatles or Rolling Stones, I think they would very much believe that I was in the pictures. If I were to do this assignment all over again and had more time, I would work a little bit more on the color and trying to clean up the edges of each of my own pictures. Although you can’t really tell that much, these are things that I would like to perfect. 

Here We Go Again...

The hardest part about starting a new project is always thinking about the idea or theme. Where do I start? How do I start? What is my project going to be about? Is this idea any good? What song should I use? 
And all those questions are in my mind now. I need to pick a story and I also need pictures to go along with my story. I am thinking, thinking, thinking.

Julie & Julia- Meltdown

We all have our meltdowns, and sometimes, they may come out something like this.

Thanksgiving Day

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE! EAT A WHOLE LOT AND DON'T FORGET TO ALWAYS HAVE TONS OF FUN :)

Parents, Teachers, Report Cards

My mom came to school today to get my report card and I took her to my Digital Media class to see all the projects that I have been working on; my mom thinks I am crazy.


I think that is all there is to say about that. 




Mom thinks I'm crazy, I think I'm completely [in]sane.

I Wish, I Wish, With All My Heart...

I wish digital media was the only class I had in school.
As a matter of fact, I would rather be working on my project for that class right now than stuck here on my computer typing up essays. 
But what can I do? I am only in high school. 


On the bright side: I love Google Chrome. Just saying.

Success! Sort of...

I have finally picked a theme for my Photographic Truth project! It is basically 1960s music with The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. I have to admit, I felt kind of silly and stupid and a bit nervous taking those pictures outside of the classroom in front of the elevator, but glad I got everything over with. Are photo shoots like this too??
My outfit: Leather jacket, shades, washed out purple jeans, and some boots. I think I looked kind of cool... in a dorky but definitely fun way. 


WELL! Now to go and work on my project. Pictures will hopefully be posted up soon :)

I don't usually use this smiley but I think it's appropriate to describe how I feel towards these 2 pictures: (^_^)

Labor

Having your water break, pushing the baby out, opening your legs for this whole process, babies living in you living in water; yeah, giving birth sounds crazy. Happy Mother's Day, definitely a holiday.

Photographic Truth: The Before

So this quarters assignment is called: Photographic Truth. I am struggling trying to find what my theme should be. I think the problem is that there are so many themes in this world that it is so hard to choose just one. Or at least the best one. Now I probably won't find the best theme for this project, but I'm hoping I find a really good one, and if I get lucky, a great one. So far I have...
whoops, can't tell you yet ;)




     The Frustration Of This Project

Pictures, Just For Fun

Let's Show Some School Spirit!

Professional Day

80's Day!

Hat Day!

Green Day!

Lyrical Triptych

Lyrical Triptych Reflection

Lyrical Triptych Reflection

The assignment for this project was to create three lyrical triptychs (artwork consisting of three related panels) relating to a song of our choice. The purpose was to visually represent the ideas and feelings found in the song’s lyrics by creating a digital collage in Adobe Photoshop.

Before starting this assignment, as a class we looked at different student examples and critiqued them in order to create a list of important criteria for designing a successful project of our own. Then we were to select a song that had personal meaning to us, or that we just liked in general and find tons of different pictures that we could possibly use in order to create our triptychs. From the song we chose, we were to analyze the lyrics and create three separate portions, which we would eventually use to complete the project.

            All three panels for this project were 5”x7” inches. Each panel was to visually reflect a different portion of the song’s lyrics. The project was created using the tools in Adobe Photoshop. The tools to focus on were the lasso, cutting and pasting, opacity, layers, color adjustments, and filters. 

            The song I chose to use for my three lyrical triptychs was “Last Christmas”, by: WHAM! The main reason for why I chose this song was because I really enjoy Christmas time, and even though this is a bit of a sad song, it does kind of have a love twist to it. I also enjoy singing this song too whether it’s Christmas time or not. I have three panels for my project. The first panel is a shadow of two people with their heads together forming a heart shape. The background is snow falling down. On the bottom I have the words, “Last Christmas I gave you my heart…” The second panel is nice Christmas scenery, a faded close up of a girl crying, and a couple enjoying their presence together in a corner. Finally the third panel has the same background except this time there is a crowd full of teens, and a girl with a tear in the background looking at the scene.

            The Adobe Photoshop tools that I used were magnetic lasso, the stamp tool, filters, color adjustments, copy and paste, blending options, and the type tool. I used the filters and adjustments to mainly make the main girl in all three panels look almost ghost like. I really like using the different filters for the pictures because each filter can change the mood of just one picture.

            I created certain images to reflect the lyrics of the song by first finding a lot of different pictures that I think would go with the different lyrics of the song. The main pictures were a Christmas scene/room, falling snow, a crying girl, and a happy couple. Sounds simple, huh? Not really. By using the filters, I was mainly able to create the important character in the triptych to look invisible and ghost like throughout the whole three panels. By having that, I could create a very sad mood, and by having the happy Christmas background, a mood of softness with a tad of happiness involved. There was a lot of copying and pasting involved in order to create the images that I wanted.

            I really like using Adobe Photoshop. I think it’s pretty cool the different things I can do using it. I can make several different images using other images I couldn’t think would be possible to put together. I personally think I could have done better on my lyrical triptych. What was stopping me from doing better was that I thought of a new and better idea for the lyrical triptychs much later into the project. By that time it was too late to start over with another idea. What I thought I did well was the fact that I started using and learning more about a different variety of the tools Adobe Photoshop has to offer. If I were to do the assignment over, I would think more carefully thoroughly about what I really want to do for the project. I feel like I am much more familiar with all the tools I need to do the projects in my Digital Media class.  

            

School Spirit! Yeah! (Professional Day)

A Little Greeting To An Old English Teacher

Just a little hello from your former students. We all miss you very much! :)
-Anne, Larimar, Amy

Digital Media Buddies !

NECAP Week

It started Monday, October 4th, 2010 and ends sometime next week. It is a whole two weeks that all juniors dread. What is this horrible thing I'm talking about? NECAPS; New England Common Assessment Program (S). A test that everyone in the state has to take and this year, has to pass. I get to start every morning with either writing, reading, or math. These days have been very rainy, foggy, and sometimes chilly, which only means perfect weather for sleeping under some comfortable blankets on your bed. Instead I wake up every morning at 6am to get to school on time before 8:20am. Oh happy days.
Well, I think I'm done talking about NECAPS.   

...Blog Wars? ...

Having a Blogger account and having a Tumblr account isn't "bad" is it? Do they contradict themselves or something? Or am I okay with what I do? The questions that fill my blogger/blogging mind.
Remember this beauties: "Why can't we be friends..."


P.S. My next assignment is still in progress! Patience my dear friends. Patience! :)


P.P.S. Patience is a virtue. 

A Little Feedback Is Always Good For The Blogger Soul

Today I commented on a few blogs. It is always good to get a little feedback or a comment here and there from someone. I know that it always makes me feel a lot better, so I'm taking a wild guess and saying that it also makes the other person feel good too. Plus, by commenting on other peoples blogs, I get points in class! ...minor importance of course... ;) 
I wish the best to all blogs, including mines haha :)


Stay Alive People. 

One Of The Cool Teachers' Were Out

Ms. Weigand was not here today in my Digital Media class =(
That is all I have to say today.

Magazine Cover Reflection (for school)

Magazine Cover Design Reflection

            The purpose of this assignment was to make a magazine cover. I chose to do People Magazine. Before we could even start working on our cover’s we were suppose to learn how to use the many tools on the Apple computers. After we finally established the basics, we moved on to completing a worksheet. The purpose of the worksheet, though very simple, was to help us gain more understanding and ideas for our magazine. For example things like ideas for your headings, why you are on the cover of the magazine, what are you trying to portray to your audience, and over all, a couple of sketches to show how you want your magazine to look. We then moved on to finding a realistic title for the magazine. For example, some people chose: People magazine, Parents, Time, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, etc. After figuring and finishing that part of the assignment, we were to take a picture of ourselves to finally add to our magazine. Once we had gathered all of the above things that we were going to need and use, we were finally able to start working on our magazine cover.

My Magazine cover looks like a People Magazine. It has headings, pictures of other artists, and a picture of myself in the center wearing a gray dress and black boots, with a red-carpet background. There is also a barcode on the right hand corner. Some of the headlines are: 10 Easy Ways To Be A Successful Woman; Ordinary Life, Extraordinary People; and Taking Short Snap Shots Of the World, One Picture At A Time. There is also a close up picture of someone holding a camera on the left hand corner.

Through my magazine, I was trying to communicate the fact that a woman or any person in general can become very successful and succeed in multiple careers. In my magazine, it was being a photographer, a singer, and actor. I had a very casual “hands on your hips” pose and a smile. In the background I had a red carpet, emphasizing the part about being a famous actress. The camera in the corner showed my interests in photography. I also had a picture of Ariana Grande in the right hand corner to show interests in music. Over all, I was trying to show that a person can be very successful in different areas that they are interested in.

           Looking at my rubric, I feel like my finished artwork was successful. When I came to class, I was always focused and ready to start working on my project. I also feel like I selected interesting images that illustrate the purpose of my magazine. When designing my magazine, I used a variety of tools form the toolbar to add extra details and edit parts of my magazine. Over all, I think I did a pretty good job on my magazine cover and filled all the requirements I needed in order to successfully complete my magazine. 

My Magazine Cover