Summary #6 Final

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Creating my final project was a lot of work, but was a lot more fun than I expected. As someone who loves writing it was fun to make a story and be able to expand into the digital elements. I decided to be a bit more creative with my media elements as most of the assignments given didn’t quite fall under what I wanted from my story. I decided to edit some assignments as well as create my own idea in the form of writing my own song for the project.

I think the biggest thing I can take away from this course is to not be afraid to share what I make, and to not shy away from using new programs. I had never used any form of photoshop, or more intricate video editors before this course and now I think I could use them quite regularly.

I think while I was taking the course to fill a gen-ed requirement, it was actually one of the most interesting courses I’ve taken in my three years at Mary Washington. If I could go back and do the course again, I would start with taking the summer course to have more time to spend on assignments, but also I would try to not shy away from more difficult assignments as now I do think I am capable of them.

I think of all the projects I have done this term, I especially enjoyed making the Should You Accept Cookies? book as it was my first time playing with photo manipulation and I really enjoyed the task.

Overall, I think this course was very beneficial to me and I learned so much more than I expected.

Final project:

Final Story: Ackerley’s Journey

Tutorials:

Making Ackerley’s Theme
Making The Forest Scene
Making the Poster
Making the Logo

Summary #5

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The video assignments this week were something new for me as I am not a video editor. When I was 14 and had a youtube channel, I didn’t even want to touch editing so my friend who I had the channel with did all the editing at the time (There is a reason she went to film school and I did not). Due to my avoidance of editing videos, trying to navigate this on my own was an interesting experience. I am a hands on learner, so I made the choice not to use any tutorials, as I have more fun learning as I go. This did mean some things took me more time than they needed to learn. I also used the built in windows editing program so I didn’t have a lot of options when it came to making projects super unique which I would like to do in the future.

As we are now in the final week of the class, I am getting more comfortable getting my posts out there and commenting on other peoples posts. I think doing the daily creates has helped me push past a lot of my barriers in posting as I get to see everyone else’s each day.

The analysis assignments this week were really interesting for me and I think they definitely improved my abilities to understand how films are shot. There is so much that ties together to get a message across and finding the right scene or shot to do it can be difficult.

As for my comments, I enjoyed getting to see my classmates post this week! Here are the comments I made.

#1 (This one wouldn’t let me view the comment in moderation)

#2

#3

#4

The comments I received were also nice and helpful and had things I will need to consider in my future projects.

This sections assignments:

Daily creates:

Look. Listen. Analyze. :

Look. Listen. Analyze.

Reading movies:

Reading Movies

Assignments:

Lyric Video
Where I’d like to be

Summary #4

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This assignment period was tough for me as I have spent very little time working with audio in the past. I am a very visual person, so having to listen carefully with little to look at took more work than I am used to.

The resources on audio design and how to improve story telling were very helpful for me and I tried my best to include some of them, even with my lack of skills.

I did really enjoy playing with the audio editors and seeing what they could do. I have used audacity in the past for recording for projects, but never editing so it was interesting to try and work the program in a new way. I don’t quite enjoy hearing myself on recordings as I do have a bit of a lisp and it always seems to come out more when I am trying to sound professional. Working around that, I tried to find assignments that were more about editing than me speaking.

As for the comments this week: I got some good feedback on my work. The ones that really stood out to me were a praise on my Auditory Illusion, and two with suggestions on how I could improve my I Swear I Was There post. I think seeing people appreciate my work helps me feel more confident, as well as being able to comment on others and hype them up or give advice.

Links to blogs I commented on: #1 #2 #3 #4 #5

As someone who really enjoys a good story podcast, I was able to connect a lot I learned to things I listen to normally like ‘Welcome to Nightvale’ and ‘The Adventure Zone’. Understanding these techniques gives me a greater appreciation for these podcasts, as well as the work that goes into them.

While I don’t think audio editing is going to be my niche, I do hope to try more in the future.

Daily creates:

Summaries:

Ted Radio Hour and ScottLo
Ira Glass and Jad Abumrad
Moon Graffiti

Assignments:

Falling Asleep at an Orchestra Concert
That’s not a cat
Do you hear what I hear?
A Fantasy Tale

Summary #3

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This assignment was a lot of fun for me as I got to really work on my skills in GIMP and be a little more creative in a way I’m actually proficient, on a computer. I had been hesitant for a long time to try and use photo shop or a similar program because it felt daunting but having set tasks made picking it up much easier.

I feel as though I completed the assignments well, even with the bit of struggle I had. I spun somethings to make them easier for me to understand like the designBlitz, but I hope they still had the same impact.

The most trouble I had was with the GIF assignments as the GIFs wouldn’t show up right in WordPress for a bit. Once I put the extra time in, I think i got it figured out. My favorite thing this week was just experimenting with GIMP. I enjoyed learning the aspects of design, especially through Vignelli Canon as the book was a great demonstration of many of the principals.

Since I am not proficient in any means at using GIMP yet, I think some of these assignments would be interesting to do again once I have a better grasp of it all. I would also like to work on recognizing design elements out of my comfort zone in the future.

Daily Create #1
Daily Create #2
Reflection on Vignelli
Vignelli Reflection
DesignBlitz
DesignBlitz
Should you accept cookies?
Design Assignment #1
I don’t want that book
Design Assignment #2
Hey that looks like…
Design Assignment #3
I swear I was there
Design Assignment #4
I’ll Stay Right here
Design Assignment #5
Oh the Attention
GIF Assignment #1
A day in the list
GIF Assignment #2

Summary #2

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This assignment period was a lot of new for me in a very short time. As photography is not something I focus on, trying to find my own rhythm took me awhile as I tested the techniques that were suggested in the lesson. This week was also my first time ever using photo editing software for anything other than cropping images. If I am being honest it was easier than I expected but I probably should’ve followed more tutorials instead of blindly trying my best.

I think my completion of the assignments was decent even though often I hit creative blocks. I struggled to come up with creative ways to express my assignments and think of something new and unique. If I could change one thing I did, I would try to find more interesting locations to photograph as well as do earlier in the day, which I often couldn’t do as I did have to work two of the three days I had to do the assignments.

For the daily creates, I really do like that they are smaller things I can do between larger assignments, almost as a breather. The visual assignments on the other hand were a struggle as they required a lot deeper thought and time to do. Luckily, I did enjoy them as well in the end and it brought out some of my love of storytelling.

Overall, I liked the concepts of visual story telling even if it isn’t my area of expertise. The assignments were fun for the most part and got me to move away from focusing on if I was doing something wrong. I felt free to express myself in the setting.

Daily create #1
Daily Create #2
Action
Photo Safari
The Photo Safari
Photo Safari Summary
What Draws the Eye?
Visual Assignment #1
What if the Sky was Red?
Visual Assignment #2
The Cover is a Lie
Visual Assignment #3
When will it all collapse?
Visual Assignment #4
The ugly can still be beautiful
Draw it
What visual storytelling has taught me…
Summary of visual storytelling and photo techniques