Making the Logo

I decided to make a logo for Fey’s inn based off of the assignment Create a Logo that is Simple yet Detailed.

To design the logo for the inn, I first found a website that was a logo maker.

I began filling out the basics page by page starting with the name.

Then I selected the style, font category, and layout. I could pick more than one of each but I knew how I wanted it to look.

Then I looked through the premade designs and picked one that stood out to me.

That opened the editor and I changed the colors a bit as well as the font and centering to suit my needs.

Then I saved the logo and used a screen capture to save the image.

Making the Poster

I chose to include a poster as a visual part of my narrative to show what Ackerley had been looking at. I based this off of the Event Poster design assignment.

To do this, I wanted to make it quite monochrome to add to the idea of an older fantasy world without modern technology therefore the poster would not have much color.

First I opened the paper template and image of the lute as layers in GIMP.

Then I moved the image where I wanted it and used the text tools to surround the image and add in what I wanted it to say. I used the side panel to select the font, size, and color of the lettering.

Finally I was able to export it and save it.

Making The Forest Scene

For this design/visual assignment I used the Are We There Yet? idea and applied it to my character Ackerley.

Since I have dressed as this character before I already owned the cloak I always imagine him wearing. I decided to avoid a full costume for one picture to have my photo taken from behind wearing the cloak and a pair of brown boots. This was the original photo.

I then found a picture of a forest and added both of these into GIMP as layers using file > open as layers…

I then used the intelligent scissors selection tool and the pen that came with my computer to trace my outline for the image.

Then I had to switch the selection so it selected everything outside of the silhouette using the select > invert tool.

Selecting the eraser next, I increased the size and erased the entire selected area of the image, leaving just the silhouette.

Then I had to use the invert tool again to reselect the image and then use layer > anchor Layer to make sure that the image was solid again.

Then I was able to use the tools to change and distort the image to fit the frame. This mainly included flipping, scaling, and shearing the image.

Then I was able to erase any excess around the image before exporting the file.

Making Ackerley’s Journey

For the video portion of my final I did a variation on the Where Do You Want To Go? assignment. I decided to keep the theme of a montage of places, but instead I wanted to show his journey using images to show the passage of time. I chose to pick videos of the different areas of forests he had to travel through and set it to appropriate music, the theme I created earlier in the project.

To do this assignment I used OpenShot Video editor. I first had to import all my clips, music, and title cards into the project. To do this I used import files in the top bar.

Once everything was imported, I dragged each clip down to the bottom and lined them up in the order I wanted. Once they were in order I dragged them to their desired length.

Once I had all clips and audio dragged in I had to add a fade between each clip using right click on the clip > fade > entire clip > fade in and out (fast)

Once I watched it through I was able to export it as an MP4 video.

Making Ackerley’s Theme

For the audio portion of my final, I decided to come up with my own idea by creating a song myself that went along with my story. As my character Ackerley is a bard and plays the flute I decided to use musescore to create a simple flute tune that goes along with the idea of adventuring.

The way I made this song was by first opening a new score in the musescore software under file>new…

Then I had to select my presets. The first one was to name the piece and put in the name of the composer.

Then I selected choose instrument rather than the clef I wanted so it would auto pick it. I then Picked flute and clicked add to score to choose the instrument.

Then I had to pick my key.

As for the time and tempo I kept the presets but to choose another time these are adjustable.

Then it was time to add in the actual notes. To do this I selected the note length I wanted to play in the top bar and used the letters on the key board to add them into the score.

I did this to write my whole song, then I had to export it. I went to File>Export… then in the export popup selected MP3 audio as my output before doing the final export.

Finally I uploaded it to SoundCloud.

Lyric Video

Create a lyric video for a song. Try and be as creative as possible. Use multiple fonts, colors, backgrounds, and transitions. Try not to be super plain and try to deliver the lyrics clearly and correctly.

(Video Assignment Create A Lyric Video)

For this assignment I honestly have just had this song stuck in my head for weeks on end and decided I wanted to make the lyric video for it. Apparently the theme of the week for me is things I missed out on due to covid, as I was supposed to see Alec Benjamin in concert back in May 2020 and sadly couldn’t.

I did struggle to make this the most unique video due to the limitations of the windows video editor I used. There isn’t a lot of personalization available, but I tried to use all moving clips to make the background video so that it still had some good movement and interesting aspects.

Tutorial!

To make this video I used the windows video editor that came with my computer. I started by importing all my clips that I found on various free stock footage sites.

Then I clicked add in the project library and added in all my clips. Once they were in I dragged them down to the story board or right clicked add to storyboard.

Once all my clips were in I cut them down to the desired length by using the split tool. I divided them up by lyrics as I needed to add more than one section of lyrics to each clip. I would split the clip, then add the lyrics in to each part of the split as needed.

When Adding text, I selected the portion of the clip that had the lyrics I needed and clicked the text button. Then I used the text settings to type the lyrics in, choose a font, and select a layout.

Then I added in my audio and made sure it lined up with all the timings I added.

I added the title and end cards using the add title card button.

Then I added the text the same way I did with the lyrics.

Once I was sure I liked the video I exported it!

Where I’d like to be

Where is somewhere that you have always dreamed of going? I really like travelling, and I often think about where I would go if I had all the money in the world. Do a video montage of images and/or video of the places that you would like to go, and add music that is native to the that area or just something fun. 

(Video Assignment Where do you want to go?)

For this assignment I made a short montage of places in Italy I would like to see. The reason for this is I was supposed to go on a trip to Italy and Croatia in May of 2020. I had been looking forward to this trip for a long time when covid hit and I watched the weeks tick by as more and more trips got canceled and borders closed until finally they canceled my trip in April. I was sad as we were going on this trip to celebrate my moms birthday and we had even scored business class plane tickets extremely cheap making it even more exciting. I still really want to go and even though it may not be for awhile, we are already looking to plan the trip again!

Tutorial:

To start out I had to import all my images into the windows video editor. To do this you need to click the add button below project library.

Once you select the images or videos you want, you must drag them down to the story board or right click and click place in story board.

Then you must select the duration of each image you added. To do that click duration, then either click a preset or type it in the custom box.

The next step would be adding title and end cards.

Once you add the title card and move it where you want, you must add the text.

Once you click add text, you can type the words you want, select a style, choose the layout, and add it to your title or end card.

Then you have to add the audio over the entire video.

When using custom audio, click the custom audio button then click add audio file. Once it has been imported, extend the bar to cover however much of the video you want the audio over.

Then watch through your video to be sure you like it and export!

Falling Asleep at an Orchestra Concert

This media assignment has two parts. First, edit a song to sound like it is playing from another room. The audio should sound muffled and the bass should be prominent. Here is an example of this effect and here is a tutorial on how to do this. The second part of this assignment is to write a weirdly specific description of your song. Here is an example of a description.

(Audio Assignment Played from Another Room)

It’s a Tuesday night and you can’t believe you agreed to be here. You are beginning to drift off as the orchestra plays in the other room. You can hear it but it is not as impactful as you wait in the ticket booth for any last minute attendees. Soon it all begins to fade out in the distance.

I inspired this piece from the music which I fall asleep to which is often an instrumental song with the description “Soft strings played from another room with fireplace crackles” or something similar. I tried to create the same effect, minus the extra sounds of fire or rain. I always find the descriptors on these pieces kind of funny as many could just be “Muted strings with rain” if they weren’t trying to sound elaborate.

Tutorial:

To make this I took the instrumental piece in audacity and enhanced the bass while reducing the treble a touch. Effects>bass and treble.

Then I found the low-pass filter and increased the frequency and roll off.

After that I just exported the sound as an MP3.

That’s not a cat

Make Noise!! The title is pretty self explanatory. Take a recognizable song or sound, and then turn it into a completely unrecognizable sound. For example, take a dog barking and make it sound like tv static. This can be accomplished using any DAW (digital audio workspace, for those unaware) or some online audio editor.

(Audio Assignment Make Noise from a Normal Sample)

“What was that? Was that my cat? It didn’t sound like her… Here kitty…” I quietly shake the bag of treats calling to her. I se a shadow, there she is! But why is she changing, getting…taller? “Is my cat… An alien?”

I wanted to pick a pretty distinct sound that everyone could recognize. I chose a meow because it was already higher in pitch. I thought of what it would be like if the cat transformed and was a disguised alien the whole time. While that’s obviously not going to happen, It was a fun idea to think about.

Tutorial:

I took the sample of a cat meowing and brought it into audacity. Then I began to mess with the low-pass filter under the effects tab.

I edited the frequency and dB until I liked the sound. Then I used the whawha effect to get the wobble of the sound.

Then I reduced the bass using the bass and treble feature.

Then I imported in the original sound again and arranged them so they played in order.

Do you hear what I hear?

Auditory Illusions is when you hear the lyrics where there are none because there is only piano. Create your own auditory illusion by downloading a song with heavy vocals and convert it to a MIDI file. Then put the MIDI file into MIDI Trails  and adjust some of the settings. Use a screencasting software to record your video and audio. Upload your final product to YouTube. Here is an example.  

(Audio Assignment Auditory Illusion)

Throughout my life I have always enjoyed illusions from magic, to optical, to even auditory illusions. Since I have always loved it so much, having a chance to make one myself seemed like a no brainer. I chose Lay All Your Love on Me from Mamma Mia because I listened to the soundtrack for a week straight over Christmas while working overnights. While that may have been a questionable choice, I knew it would be a cool song to use because of how much overlap the voices have with the chorus.

In the end I could make out quite a few of the lyrics, but sometimes I had to decide if I really could hear the illusion or if I just knew the song too well.

Tutorial:

To do this assignment I took my MP3 file of the song and found an online mp3 to MIDI converter. I uploaded the file, then pressed start conversion. I had to wait a few minutes, but then I was able to download it.

After that I was able to open the file in MIDITrail and click play under the playback tab.

Once I knew it worked I screen recorded the video using the xbox game bar screen capture built into my computer. Then I uploaded it to youtube!