PSA Assignment Reflection

The general concept that we came up with for the video was that the camera took the perspective of an individual undergoing multiple facets of peer pressure, allowing the viewer to experience the stress that an everyday teenager might experience. The video then ends with a statement and a link to more information on the topic. We began by the brainstorming the idea as a group, with Natalie writing the script and Thomas doing the storyboard. We then began working on the schedule.

Date	Scene	Location	Cast	Items needed
August 25	Drinking	Area of Refuge	Greyson	Plastic cup
	Drugs	Brick wall outside	Wes
	Sex	Lockers	Amy
August 28	Skip School	Area of Refuge	Evan	iPhone
	Outfit shame	Girls Bathroom	Natalie	Ugly outfit
August 29 at night	Drunk Driving	Night by a car	Alex	Car keys

Director	Amy
Production Designer	Thomas
Continuity Director	Brendan
Cinematographer	Natalie
Editor	Evan

Natalie did majority of camera work, while Amy assisted with direction. I helped chug the filming along and made sure that we were still on track and working. Post-production we all made individual edits but I created the main edit for our group. It was an interesting experience, as I had not done much editing during my junior year outside of audio editing. I felt that I got a good grasp of it though, and hopefully I can further advance my editing skills at some point with color correction and such. 

Our group was very communicative, even creating a group chat despite the small span of the project. Project management was also very tight, as we were able to stick by our schedule very well and even able to film more scenes in advance. Natalie and Amy mostly took the helm of leadership, but I also helped provide the basis for how the video should be edited and feedback on camera angles, which ones would work best for each scenario. Next time I want to try to put more of a hand in the process, although I did lead the editing process. What I would maintain is our teamwork, as we all provided a significant role in the making, with Wes giving direction on atmosphere and Brendan working on consistency and continuity. I hope in future project we can enhance bonds like this even further, so that if it is a project we are all truly passionate about that can truly shine through.

Graphic Design Reflection

Over this past year in Graphic Design I have learned many things, from technical skills to communication and project management. In the technical skills aspect, while I already had basic knowledge of Illustrator and Photoshop, this class has taught me various tools that I was previously unaware of, such as the pen and fringe tools. This class has also taught me pretty much the entirety of InDesign. As for communication, I have learned to be more outspoken about my opinions, and have become more helpful. Project management wise I have learned to never slack off, as that can hold you back in the long run.

            I learned these things mostly from teacher-informed tutorials, as well as my errors in trial. While we were taught several things via teacher, a lot things were learned were from tutorials, and we were encouraged to find tutorials on our own to increase our knowledge. Towards the very beginning of the year I was a tad shy, but I figured out how to adapt and towards the middle and end of this class I was the opposite. Also in the beginning of the year my project management was extremely hectic. Realizing how this was holding me back in projects, I took a stab at it. Now, while my skills are not what you would consider organized, I manage my time and image resources to a degree.

            These skills are important because not only do they increase quality and efficiency of your projects, but also all of these skills can be applied throughout your entire life. I don’t know how often I will need to use the pen tool in Illustrator later down the road, but communication can mean the difference in being an great employee. Project management skills can also later help me when adult life becomes stressful, with things like bills, taxes, and student loans.

            I believe my greatest strengths are technical skills and communication. I feel that I know enough when working through software that if I have a problem, I could figure out a solution on my own. Also, I feel that I can easily communicate with each one of my classmates and work together. Weakness I may have are likely collaboration and leadership, as I have a hard time combining my skills and work with others to create a quality design, and my leadership doesn’t really help acknowledge that within the group.

            One thing I want to change is the frequency in that I use my sketchbook. I feel that one of my weaknesses in this class was my negligence of my sketchbook, and that I would probably do better if I wrote down more ideas and sketched more drawings and designs. Another thing I would change is my focus skills. While I definitely improve in second semester, I would sometimes miss vital information during demonstrations. I will absolutely work on this, as it is a very important skill.

            All and all, I had a pretty good time in this class. I made what I believe to be quality (or at least decent) designs, while also making some friends. Next year I won’t be doing graphic design, as I will be headed to Entertainment strand, likely to work on something involving music and music production. However, I will remember the things I learned and worked on in this class, because you never know when they will be useful.

Movie Poster

My scope for this project was to create a poster of a favorite childhood movie in the style of the legendary Saul Bass. I chose the Incredibles for my movie, as I loved it as a kid and still do. I started off with a couple of sketches, and decided on making the poster look like the suits. After this, I set the create the graphics in Illustrator and piece it together in InDesign. The hardest part of the project was the Incredibles logo, which I created from scratch. I explored my tools in order to recreate the logo, which is more complex than it looks. I took some unorthodox methods in solving my problems, such as the live paint, but in the end the logo turned out fine. One thing I want to differently in different projects is to draw more sketches and put more effort into brainstorming.

Magazine Project

My scope for this project was to create a custom magazine cover that reflected my interests and personality. I decided it would be much more entertaining to create my own magazine instead of using a preexisting one, so I came up with Timbre, which is supposed to be a music magazine. I held a mini photoshoot during class, and selected this pose out of the group.

 Then, I drew rough sketches of what I wanted the cover to look like, and most of them were similar to this. I experimented with different fonts and colors until I found the ones that fit my scope. One thing I enjoyed about about this project was the freedom it gave me to indirectly express myself, and I like the bold but minimalistic style my final product has. One thing I would do differently next time is recreate some of the different sketches in InDesign for a true compare and contrast.

Individual Project

For my individual project, I wrote a small EP called Mobile, and instead of creating a single album cover for the whole thing, I created four covers for each individual song. I made sure to choose patterns and colors that fit each song. One thing I would've have done differently next time is draw more sketches, so that I would be more prepared when creating my work.

https://soundcloud.com/berrymaster/sets/graphic-design-ep

Final Reflection

Our final project for the semester was to create business cards for ourselves and a postcard. I decided to make my main theme be music, with my career on my business cards being a producer. I tried to looking through Moo to find inspiration, but I couldn't find anything I liked in particular. So I came up with the idea to use a sine wave as my pattern and then use a mixing board for my photo. My process included using saturation and hues, and using gradients to create shadows. I also experimented with opacity and using different colors to create different moods. This tells my story that I love music and consider it an integral part of my life, and I wanted to express that with my graphic design.

A/V Semester Reflection

This semester was about Convergence Journalism; writing and filming interviews, capturing b-roll, recording voiceovers, and then piecing all of these things together to create a news story were the thing that we learned and worked on these past couple of months. The projects that we completed were all certain topics that we had create a news package over, such as what someone did over the summer or what kind of hobbies they had, as well as live events such as the blood drive and the news packages we created for our ONW Now final.

Some key and memorable events that occurred during the semester were the hectic filming and creation of the blood drive video, and the occasional teamwork activities that we did that to strengthen our work ability. However, there were a few key issues, such as reaching deadlines and getting behind on projects. For example, the hobby video got severely delayed due to a mix of bad luck and mismanagement. However, I made sure to finish all of my work and put all of my effort into the videos. These elements strengthened my video experience and gave me a glimpse of the work I would need to do in the future.

An element that worked well with me was communication. I made sure that I was able to contact my partner on every project to share ideas and to make sure that we were on the same page. I don't believe there were any problems that came up that were due to poor communication. Another element that worked fine was the technical aspect of the program. I adhered to the 3 second rule and tried to include as many J and L edit as I could. I think my best example of this would be the swim video I did for the ONW Now Sophomore project. One element that didn't work so well was time management and planning, partly because slight mismanagement such as not scheduling things out in my agenda, but also due to constant misfortunes that I had trouble adjusting to. I resolved these issues by finding where I went wrong, and having to determination to not let it get in the way again.

I learned many new things during this semester. The entire concept of creating a news package, so just about everything we learned except for editing was new to me. This was also the first time we got to use the regular cameras, so learned how to record and adjust white balance and focus was also a new experience. I also feel that I improved on my communication and collaboration skills, by trying to make everything clear cut and giving myself the ability to reach out to my partners during the projects.

Next semester I will definitely work on my project management skills, and make sure that I have a fully written out schedule for what I need to do, and to plan ahead of time in case mishaps occur. I am looking forward to the entertainment aspect of A/V, and the various difference in not only work space but levels of creativity. I hope that I will enjoy it, and that I will be able to endure the challenges that it may bring.