Final Blog Post: Video

Video Final Reflection

Music Video

The assignment for this project was to create a music video to a song of your choosing. My group and I chose to recreate the video exactly rather than creating our own story to the song. This assignment took about a month because there was a lot of pre production and planning to get the filming days with good weather. Our pre-production started with watching the video over and over again and writing down every single shot that we would recreate on beat sheets. We also drew the shots on story boards. We wanted to be as prepared as possible. For the actual creation of the video we went to downtown kc and went around to many different locations so all the shots were different because in the video the two actors are walking the whole time in different places to find each other. It took about three hours to get all the shots downtown. Then we went to school and used a white background for the lip singing parts of the music video. We had to alter some aspects of the original to make them easier for us to recreate. Some challenges we faced was the weather. It was really cold the day we went downtown and filmed and our actress (me) was in a dress. Along the way I learned technical skills like how to edit the colors of clips on Premier Pro and how to add a black border on clips. I also learned about teamwork since there was four people in my group. I would't change anything, I think everything went great, except maybe the weather, it was freezing and I was in a dress. I liked how organized we were and how well we worked together, we hardly every disagreed. Overall I really enjoyed this project.

Clueless Trailer

For this assignment we had to choose a high school movie and recreate its trailer frame by frame. My group and I chose the movie Clueless. We tried our best to make it look authentic and recognizable. I think this project took less than a month. Pre production probably took the longest.  In the Pre-Production stage we watch the original trailer numerous times and took screenshots of some different settings of the trailer and put them on a story boar and wrote down their shot size and setting. This helped us when we got to the filming process. Also in this stage we typed out the script so we knew what to say. We also went to thrift stores to find costumes that resembled the cast's costumes in the movie. Then we moved on to the production stage. This is where we shot the video. We went to tons of different places to make the video look authentic. We incorporated props and lighting to make it more appealing. After we shot everything we moved on to post-production and started editing on Premier Pro. Editing now comes so naturally to me since we've done so many project this year. Along the way I learned a lot of things.  I learned how to be thrifty and search very hard for replicates.  I learned more about teamwork and how to rely on other people but also how to become a leader and take things into you own hands. I learned how to work with other people who aren't in eComm and their time schedules. Next time I would make a clear cut schedule and give it to all team members and make sure that everyone can attend the days that I have on the schedule. I will keep our costume search the same because searching those thrift stores really helped us make our video look authentic with a low price. That was probably the hardest part. I was given good feedback like how some shots were shaky and there were some jus cuts. I went back and reedited them as best as I could. Overall I think this was a great experience and it rally helped me dive into the entertainment film world. After this I have found a new appreciation for entertainment that I didn't have before.

Short Film: Running

 

For this assignment we were all told to write a film treatment that we later turned into a short film script. When we got assigned groups my group and I chose to turn my script into a film. I wrote this film 'Running' and, with the help of my group and our actors, brought it to life. This project took about 3 months and lasted for fourth quarter. Our group split the responsibilities of editor, cinematographer, story board creator, and location and wardrobe scout. I was mainly the editor. Some challenges we faced along the way were improvisation when someone forgot to do something that was critical to our video. We faced a challenge of focus and making sure our actors remained on task so we could finish this film to the best of our ability. I learned how to stay calm in these situations and improvise. This ending product was kind of split into two tones, comical and serious. I was given feedback to try to stay just to one tone so it has consistency. And also I went back and fixed some jump cuts that I noticed since that feedback was something I couldn't necessarily fix. This was not my favorite video or experience but I am happy I got to do it so I could see how to make a real short film.

Time Management

In class I try to maximize my time as much as possible because being in e-Comm in general has really improved my time management. I try to get all of my videos done by the deadline because I actually do it in the time that Mrs. Smith gives us, I do not mess around. If, for some reason, I get finished editing early, I immediately try to find a way to try and improve my video in some way before I turn it in. Or I just experiment with Premier Pro since I am still getting used to it. I am very much more confident with it than last semester which I am happy about. Then I double check everything so that there are no mistakes or jump cuts and once I am sure I've done all I can do for the video and it is the best I can make it, thats when I turn it in. Sometimes, if I feel like I need more time to edit my video to the best it can be I stay after school to work on it. I don't just rush and turn it in during class, I come back after school or before school with a fresh mind and work on it until I am fully satisfied with it. I feel like this really helps me because than I also might get some one on one time with Mrs. Smith if she is there before or after school and she can help me more than in class. 

Strengths and Weaknesses

Some areas of my strengths are editing fast. I know the tactics and shortcuts of Premier Pro now and that helps me edit. I can edit a whole video in less than one day which helps me with time management as well. Another thing I am good at is time management. As I mentioned before, e-Comm has really helped improve my time management not only for video production and editing but for all of my classes. One thing that I can improve on is my knowledge of the different accessories that Premier Pro has to offer. I am for sure more confident with it than I was last semester but I am still not to where I would like to be. This sumer I plan on experimenting more with Premier Pro so when I come back as a junior I will be even more knowledgable in the program. Another thing that I need to improve on is filming entertainment videos. This semester was only focussed on Entertainment and I realized that I am really not confident in it. I am definitely a Convergence Journalism girl which is what I will be focussing on next year. 

Overview

The thing I loved the most about this semester was attempting making entertainment videos. I am glad I had people in my groups that enjoyed entertainment filming, they really helped me during our filming days. I also loved editing. I love editing no matter what I am editing. It has always been something fun I liked to do and it calms me down if I have had a stressful day. One thing I would change about this semester is I would add more time to film in the future because if the thing that I want to film only meets once a week than I can fall behind if I don't get enough time for the project and then it won't be my best work. One overall take away from this semester is my knowledge of the camera and tripod and knowledge of the entertainment side of film making. 

Music Video Blog Post

The assignment for this project was to create a music video to a song of your choosing. My group and I chose to recreate the video exactly rather than creating our own story to the song. Our pre-production started with watching the video over and over again and writing down every single shot that we would recreate on beat sheets. We also drew the shots on story boards. We wanted to be as prepared as possible. For the actual creation of the video we went to downtown kc and went around to many different locations so all the shots were different because in the video the two actors are walking the whole time in different places to find each other. It took about three hours to get all the shots downtown. Then we went to school and used a white background for the lip singing parts of the music video. We had to alter some aspects of the original to make them easier for us to recreate. Along the way I learned technical skills like how to edit the colors of clips on Premier Pro and how to add a black border on clips. I also learned about teamwork since there was four people in my group. I would't change anything, I think everything went great, except maybe the weather, it was freezing and I was in a dress. I liked how organized we were and how well we worked together, we hardly every disagreed. Overall I really enjoyed this project.

Professional Project Review Blog Post

I chose the song "Make Me Cry" by Noah Cyrus to blog about. This song has a very interesting and appealing. The colors in this video are very aesthetically appealing and neutral which make it simple but intricate.
I depicted the story as a boy and a girl who secretly love each other but are already in relationships are singing about how they're sad that they can't be together. The whole video switches between Noah and Labyrinth (the male featured singer) in their opposite bedrooms with their significant others asleep in the bed as they sing to each other but they can't see each other. It is done very artistically since they are theoretically singing to each other but are no where near each other.
One element from this work that I definitely want to apply to my video is the fact that they used the rule of thirds very nicely. The subjects were never in the very center of the frame for more than one second.

First Semester Video Production Final

Feature Stories

This semester in Video production I was given the opportunity to create three feature stories. With each one I learned more tricks on how to make it even better than the last. My first story was was about sophomore golfer Abby Rist and why she became a golfer and how much her dad has influenced her. This project took two days to plan and write the interview questions, one day to film, and two days to edit. Some challenges I faced were not using a tripod and getting enough footage in just one day. It turns out that i had more then enough footage and the shakiness of my camera was solved because now I use a tripod. I learned interesting shots I could do to make golf look interesting on video. Some of my favorite shots are when I get really low with the camera angle and the shot of her dad hitting the ball from the golf cart. I got great feedback on this project and it was mostly good. One thing my classmates mentioned was that some shots were shaky but I fixed that in my next videos. Overall I am very happy with this video and it won to be on ONW now out of all the sophomore videos so I am very proud of that.

One in 2000 Interview

This project was called One in 2000. I chose to interview Emily Mauk and talked about her summer memories. It took about as long as the feature story mentioned above took. Some challenges I faced were tying to get creative shots and incorporate the six shot system with just an interview. Since I had no footage of what she did over the summer I had to make it an appealing video with just shots of her sitting down. I used all the shots from the six shot system and spread them out evenly to make it appealing. I learned a lot about the actual camera with this project since I hadn't used it very much beforehand. I got the feedback that it was too long so I went back and took out any unnecessary footage and brought it down from 1:56 to 1:47. Overall I don't think this is one of my best edited videos but I am happy with it because now I am more skilled than I was during the making of this video. 

Time Management

In class I try to maximize my time as much as possible because being in e-Comm in general has really improved my time management. I get all my videos done by the deadline because I actually do it in the time that Mrs. Smith gives us. If, for some reason, I get finished editing early, I immediately try to find a way to try and improve my video in some way before I turn it in. Or I just experiment with Premier Pro since I am still kind of new to it. Then I double check everything so that there are no mistakes or jump cuts and once I am sure I've done all I can do for the video and it is the best I can make it, thats when I turn it in. Sometimes, if I feel like I need more time to edit my video to the best it can be I stay after school to work on it. I don't just rush and turn it in during class, I come back after school or before school with a fresh mind and work on it until I am fully satisfied with it. 

Strengths and Weaknesses

Some areas of my strengths are time management. As I mentioned before, e-Comm has really helped improve my time management not only for video production and editing but for all of my classes. Another thing I am good at is editing fast. I know the basics of Premier Pro and that helps me edit. I can edit a whole video in less than one day which helps me with time management as well. One thing that I can improve on is my knowledge of the different accessories that Premier Pro has to offer. I am just not that comfortable with it but I know that by summer I will be because I will have gotten so much more practice with editing and I will have gotten to know it better. Another thing that I need to prove on is filming entertainment videos. This will get better next semester since all we've focused on this semester is convergence, which I prefer. 

Overview

The thing I loved the most about this semester is making convergence videos. I am very much interested in the convergence journalism side to video production so I am very glad that we spent so much time on feature stories. I would add more time to film in the future because if the thing that I want to film only meets once a week than I can fall behind if I don't get enough time for the project and then it won't be my best work. One overall take away from this semester is my knowledge of the camera and tripod. One goal for next semester is to become more comfortable with the entertainment branch. 

Feature Story #2 Blog

My second feature story was about Olathe Northwest's Choir. I wanted to just show how the choir is so successful and how hard the teachers work for its success. In my narrative lead I said that choir is one of the most popular elective at ONW and how hard Mrs. Williamson and Mrs. Cohick work for it. I interviewed Mrs. Williamson, the choir teacher, and Sophie Kebret, who is a sophomore choir student. Mrs. Williamson talked about how everyone who has an interest in singing should join choir and how it is a very inclusive environment. She also talked about the accompanist, Mrs. Cohick. She said that Mrs. Cohick is a great asset to the choir department and how none of the success it has could be possible if it weren't for her.
When i was shooting this video at the beginning i had a hard time trying to find a variety of shots and not just shots of the choir singing. So I incorporated shots of the posters around the choir room and I also incorporated the six shot system. When I edited it I have gotten a lot more comfortable with Premier Pro and the editing time took barely any time.
Some feedback I received was that some of my shots are shaky so I tried to edit them and I ended up changing the beginning to remove some of the shaky shots and it ended up losing a to better.
Overall I think this project well reflected my skills in convergence journalism.

What Makes A Good Feature Story?

In my sophomore video production class the teachers chose one video that they thought was the best made out of all the submissions and mine won. In my feature story I made sure to add in a variety of shots and really got creative with most of the shots I captured. I made sure to keep the six shot system active and present in the feature story. In a strong feature story you need to make sure to not repeat the same angles and clips and always remember to get tons of B-roll and keep the audio loud but not blaring. The concept itself needs to be good because it is the overall foundation of your video and you need to really know what you want to achieve from the final product of your video before you even start story boarding. The whole story needs to tie everything together by the use of strong voiceovers that capture the audiences attention when they watch. 

A Feature Story Experience Blog

My next project in Video Production class was a more convergence journalism side rather than entertainment, which I prefer. My concept was to take a sport that many people know about and find a player and really dive in to the aspects of the sport itself. I chose my friend Abby Rist who recently started playing and took me on a journey of why she started late and how she got into it. I made sure to keep my narrative leads and voiceovers very professional sounding and keep the whole video short and sweet. For my second source in the video I interviewed Abby's dad, Bruce Rist. He is a professional golfer and he's the main reason Abby started golfing. These interviewees really complimented each other because their father-daughter relationship gave the video a certain emotional touch especially when she mentioned that her dad coaches her to get better.
I had a very good experience while shooting and editing the video because it was my first real professional convergence piece that I've done. Towards the beginning of this process I wrote a script which acted as a loose blueprint for my project because it had the order of shots I wanted and what I wanted to cover in the voiceovers and interviews. It was a loose blueprint because I wanted to be able to alter it if needed, which I ended up doing in some parts. Shooting this video was especially fun because I think the sport golf itself has so many opportunities to be yourself in the shots that you can film. I wanted to maintain the six shot system but add my own twist on it incorporating new and interesting shots that catch the eye.After filming and editing my Golf Feature Story on Abby Rist, I moved on to the written portion of the project. I created a written 'roadmap' of my video that showed step by step what I wanted in each section of my video.

The first section was the narrative link. This is a short section that you use to caption the audiences attention. If your narrative link is weak then no one will want to keep reading/watching your project. My narrative link was about how student show favoritism to certain sports and the sports that they choose to play they dedicate they time and effort in it. Abby dedicates her time to golf and follows her father's lead and trusts him to coach her.
The next section was the nut graph. This is where I formally introduced the who, what, when, where, and why. Who- Abby Rist, sophomore golfer. What- Her journey through high school golf with her dad, who is a professional golfer, who coaches her. Where- Olathe northwest high school. When- Sophomore year. Why- Abby loves golf. Also in the nut graph I added 3 or 4 of Abby's quotes that she said in her interview with me. Next I added one of her fathers quotes as well. I explained both the quotes and explained how they were relevant.

Abby Rist feature story

Hearing the snap of the 52” wedge club against the ball and seeing it fly through the air fighting the wind to get to the green. That sigh of relief when it takes less than two hits to get it in. The cheers of the fans in the distance while you see the ball go in the hole. That’s all a day in the life of sophomore golfer Abby Rist.

Many students choose favorites when it comes to playing sports. No matter what the sport is, the players always devote their time into it. Rist devotes her time to golf.

She says she was introduced to golf through her dad who is a professional golfer. Even though her dad has played golf for over 20 years she just started playing golf this year.

“I didn’t start playing golf until this year because I didn’t really think it was a sport for me, but my dad pushed me into doing and and I have loved it,” Rist said.

She puts in hard work to make the golf team and wants to keep pursuing golf throughout her high school career. She believes practice leads to vast improvement.

“I like getting better and seeing how you progress over time,” she said.

Her dad, Bruce Rist, a professional golfer, is very supportive of her golf journey and is glad she decided to join the team. “It’s something we can do together,” he said. “Playing together is something we can enjoy together.”

Abby has enjoyed her time in golf so far and talks about whether it’s more mentally or physically challenging.

“I think it’s a little bit of both but definitely mentally because you have to push yourself and strive to get better,” she said.

Abby Rist and her family are glad she chose to take after her dad and play golf and hopes that she improves all throughout high school. She has high ambitions of herself and works hard to achieve her goals.

Overall I am very pleased with my video and am excited to dive deeper into the world of convergence journalism!

How to Organize Clips in Premier Pro

Premier Pro is a necessity for any videographer: young and old, but sometimes it can be a a bit confusing to manage and organize your files. There is an easy way to do this; by using bins! Bins are found in the project panel and can contain source files, sequences, small clips, and other bins. So lets get started on the tutorial on how to organize your clips using bins.

                                                                                                                                                                   

First open your project panel (it should already be open when you open premier pro) and have your clips ready to be organized.

Now click on this button at the bottom of the project panel that looks like a file folder to make a new bin.

Now your new bin should look something like this

Now you can rename it to anything you want.

               

If you double click on the Bin you get the bin's properties where you can view the contents and change anything

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and it made your time on Premier Pro much easier. Happy Editing!

1 in 2000 interview

Today I interviewed Emily Mauk about one of her most memorable summer experiences. She talked about how she counseled at a camp for middle schoolers. She told me about how she went canoeing with her campers down a long river and then all of a sudden there was rapid water and logs sticking up out of the water. She explained how she feared for her safety and the campers that she was leading. At the end she told me that she stood up to push the log away but ended up cutting her leg. But in the end, Emily explained that everyone was okay and went back to having fun.

To make this video I had to use two voiceovers using the app Voice Memos. I maintained a professional voice in these voiceovers and tried to be clear and precise. It wasn't my first voiceover but it was my first one in a while and I had forgotten a little on how to import it so i asked some fellow classmates to assist me and it all ended good.

Shooting this video was fun, but challenging. Usually filming an interview video you use a medium shot the whole time but Mrs.Smith wanted us to add some more pizzaz to it so we tried to incorporate other shots. I like starting with extra wide shots and then just adding in some more varieties of shots.

I am really happy with my finished video. I spent a lot of hard work and time on it to make it just right. I personally really like my ending, where I added the final voiceover. Emily and I laughed a lot while making this video so I wanted to show the viewers all the fun we had by incorporating some shots of Emily laughing. I sort of treated it like a 'bloopers' reel. The one thing I wish I could fix was to make it a tad bit shorter. The video started off at two minutes and ten seconds and I cut it down to one minute and fifty seconds. I would've liked to shorten it up more, but I felt I couldn't because I wanted Emily's full story to be featured in this video so I kept it at that length.

Overall I am very happy with the video and am glad it looks as great as it does.

ONW Procedures Reflection Blog

The assignment for this project was to make a video about showing good behavior at Olathe Northwest High. This video shows how to help a friend open their locker. I added a touch of humor to make this more entertaining to watch.

I first started out with the pre-production stage where I came up with the idea and storyboarded. This stage is a necessity because it helps you sort out through all of your ideas. Then I went to the actual production stage where I filmed with my two other partners and followed my storyboard. And finally I went to the post-production stage where I edited my footage using Premier Pro. This stage is my favorite because it really starts looking like a professional video.

Throughout this process I learned many things; technically and professionally. This was my first project using Premier Pro so I learned many things on that program such as shortcuts and professional editing skills. I also learned new aspects of teamwork while working on this project. I learned how to work well under certain circumstances.

I think next time I will time manage my week better to make sure that I will have enough time to succeed. Something I will do the same for the next project is working with people i know i work well with. My team for this project was amazing in helping me and filming our videos and acting.

Overall iI think this was a positive project to start the year with and I will use what I have learned from this project in later project throughout my next three years at Olathe Northwest and also in my later career.

Below are four screenshots from my video that roughly show the beginning, middle, and end of my How To Open A Locker video.

BabyVac Product

Our group (group 1) came up with the product BabyVac. It is a vacuum backpack connected to a baby's onesie than vacuumed the ground when the baby crawled around. I think our group worked well with communication. We relied on each other when we were struggling and we helped group members in need. We struggled the most with time management. We sometimes got carried away with talking and didn't finish on time, but in the end it all worked out well. Next time what i would do differently is to get all of the projects done sooner so we would have some extra time to embellish anything that we've already made. I would've worked more on our commercial, to get more shots and more time spent editing. I have improved on my animation skills.

This is our commercial, I was the voice over and I recorded most of the shots.
This is our animation, I animated the couch.
I also made the business card, and helped with the making of the advertisement and the coupon.

Ten Words About Me; ANIMATED

This is an animation made using Adobe Photoshop. I picked ten words that describe me and a background photo that described me and i animated it. This is different from the bouncing ball animation because for the ball i used frame animation and edited it frame by frame. And for this I used video animation because it is a little easier. Something challenging was just the shirt from frame by frame to video. I had gotten so used to animation done frame by frame and then having to learn video animation was sometimes hard, but in the end turned out to be simpler.

Chase Scene

                                                 

This project is called "Chase Scene". Our goal was to record a chase scene with the actors in our e-Comm class. We captured moving shots without moving the camera. First we planned what we were going to film. We made a storyboard and drew pictures about the different shots we will be using. Then we started to film, while following our storyboard. After we filmed all the shots we wanted we went into editing mode. We edited on Final Cut Pro. I learned a lot throughout this experience.  learned a great deal about time management. I learned everything about editing on Final Cut Pro. Next time I would get a lot more shots than necessary to make sure I have more than enough. What I would do the same would be that I would also listen to the ideas of others. Some experiences I would draw from this would be to never underestimate how much time we have to film. Overall the "Chase Scene" was a fun and challenging experience.

E9 Commercial

Printing Project

This is a video that we made called "Printing Project"

Six Shot System

Six- Shot System

By Lina Sattarin

This is the six- shot system. It is used to get a variety of shots using one model and/or one area.

This is a close-up of the face. This shot shows the emotion of the subject. For a photo to be considered a close-up of the face, it has to show someone's face from chin to forehead.

This is a close-up of the hands. This shot shows the action of the shot. In this shot it shows the subject's hands are writing or studying.

This is an over the shoulder shot (OTS). This shows what the subject is looking at; their point of view. To take this shot remember the rule of thirds, and put the subjects head on one rule of third line and what they are looking at on another.

This is a medium shot. It captures a general perspective of what the subject is doing. To be considered a medium shot it has to be of the subject from the waist up.

This is a wide shot. This shows the subject's physical characteristics. To be a wide shot it has to be of the subject from head to toe.












This is an extra-wide shot. It shows everything around the subject. It gives you a great perspective on what is around the subject.