Movie Trailer Review

Assignment: Recreate the trailer of a movie that takes place in a high school. The goal was to create the trailer line for line and scene for scene. We chose the movie The DUFF, which is about a girl named Bianca, who discovers she's considered the DUFF (Dumb, Ugly, Fat Friend) in her friend group.

As always, this project had to start somewhere. We used a really cool website called Celtx.com to write our script. The storyboard took a bit longer because I had to find the trailer on YouTube and it watch it in slo-mo in order to screen-shot every camera change. After I had all my screen-shots, I put them in order in a word document. I then went through the word document and typed out all the details for each shot such as, characters feature, the shot size and movements, and the time each shot is held. During this time, we also cast our video, which was done mostly by Mackenzie Jefferson.

Because our trailer has so many shots in a variety places, it was very complicated to shoot. Another complication came from our actors. Many of them aren't in class with us, so trying to coordinate everyone was hard and involved a lot of back and forth between place in the school. In the end, we were able to get it filmed, but just barely.

 The last part of the process is editing. This was the hardest part for me because it was when I realized we were missing some of our shots. Luckily, with some creativity, we were able to make a sufficient trailer with what we had. Editing was also really complicated just because it's the last part and we were pressed for time. 9 times out of 10, the way you film something during production affects the editing  process. My team only used one camera which caused us to do scenes several times to get all our shots, this made for a jumpier editing job between lines.

Overall, I believe that this by far not my best project, there is lots of room for improvement.

Watch the trailer below:

Portfolio Reflection

        This first semester e-Comm was definitely not what I expected. It was a lot tougher than I expected it to be. It wasn't the classes that were tough, it was the struggle of not having the correct resources to work outside of the classroom. All in all, it's been a very entertaining semester. Below are five of my favorite projects so far.

MultiPanel Scenery

       

       Animation was not always as advanced as it is today. During the beginnings of Walt Disney Studios, animations and moving scenery were created using multiple panels that all went together. They would get lined up and then a photo was taken, then each panel was moved a specific amount and the process was repeated. This is what I did, except it wasn't as complicated. I learned how to make scenes move as if you were driving by in a car. It was super simple, just time consuming. I began in Photoshop where I created each part as a layer. the ground layers were split into front, middle and back. Once everything was how I liked it, I moved it over to AfterEffects where animated it with keyframes. I picked this project for my portfolio because I love the way it turned out and it was a such a huge success for me. This will definently help with future animations by making it seem more realistic. I would change the speed that it moves because it seems a bit fast and I would spend longer on it. In the end, this, by far, is probably my favorite project.

Ice Cream Animation

   
        My IceCream animation was also very fun to make. I learned how to animate in Maya and other useful skills. I picked this project to showcase because it is one that makes me proud because I struggled and it turned out really well.  The part I had the hardest time with was the bump textures. They wouldn't turn out how I wanted them to. As you can see in the animation,  my texture rotate as the model rotates.  Animating in Maya will help me in the long run because it's easier than AfterEffects.  Next time I do a project like this, I will change the lighting so it's not so dark and the textures will not move. Nevertheless, I'm proud of this.
     

Goblet

This goblet was the easiest thing I've ever created in Maya. All it took was a lined profile and the revolve tool.  It's very helpful when creating circular objects that are the same all the way around because it starts out 2D and ends up in 3D. I've found it very useful, especially when making my pen.





Castle


Maya is a program used by animators everywhere, usually for 3D renderings. My castle (to the left) is my introduction project to this platform. The whole point of this simple venture is to familarize myself with Maya.

        To start out, we (my class and I) began by creating the towers on all four corners.  We made 2 cylinders and combined them using the difference and union tool to make a tower.  Then, we added turrets by using the Extrude tool. I took a creative license by adding a cone to the top. Command-D (duplicate) came in handy because it allowed me to do less work.

         The walls came next; they were much easier. They were just the cube tool. The turrets were made  the same way. The door opening was made with a cylinder and a cube, using the difference tool.

        This was very helpful in learning the beginnings of Maya. I learned how to create shapes and other different techniques.


Pen Model

 This pen was my final project for this semester. It was the hardest project I've had all year. The pen itself wasn't the hard part. This lid was a nightmare though. The clip gave me a lot of tears and stress. This is a great success for me because it looks a lot like the real thing. This as a way to showcase all I've learned this semester into one project. There isn't a lot I would change because i believe, for my skill level, that it turned out very very well.

Final Exam and Reflection for Video

         This semester has been a focus on Convergence Journalism and it's been hectic. We've done feature stories, news stories, and a video title ONW 1:2000. Part of our final project is putting together our own ONW Now news program and that has taught me so much about the production of news programs and film making in general.

The GSA: Josie Hilton

       My favorite video from this semester was my Gender-Sexuality Alliance feature story.
I set my focus on Josie Hilton, an asexual, biromantic senior who is a leader in the GSA.
 I got a head start on the project and also ended up being one of the last people to turn it in.
 It took me about a week and a half to two week to film and edit.

        Being in my second year of e-Comm, this was the first year I was allowed to use cameras and
 not just an iPad to film. This presented some struggles by itself. Firstly, I hadn't learned how to
 correctly set up the built-in mic, so I had to attempt some extra editing for one of my interviews
 because sound was only picked up in one channel. So, of course, I learned how to set that up.

Final Product:




Using Your Planner: a Tutorial
       My second favorite video was my tutorial for the freshman on how to properly ask a teacher to
sign your planner. I filmed this with my partner Ariel Seemann.

       This took us two class periods to film, two classes to edit and a class to revise. This was my first
project for sophomore year, so it's not the best quality. Editing faced a greater challenge than anything.
My freshman year, we used Final Cut Pro, but this year we used Adobe Premiere, which has a different
set up, but is slightly more professional. It took some getting used to.

Final Product:






       I believe I used most of my class time to the max. There have been some cases where I've messed
around a bit when I could have been doing work, but not too many. I try to spend as much time editing
as possible to give out some of the best work I can. If I have a little down time close to the end of class,
 I usually work on designing my blog or playing around with Adobe Photoshop.

      I believe my greatest strength is my passion and creativity. I love what I do, I just struggle sometimes.
 My biggest weakness is choosing my equipment. I always seem to choose equipment with some fault,
mainly the tripods. I'm pretty mediocre in choosing my shots and editing. I could work harder and
improve my blog too.

        Overall, I believe my videos could be better if I worked harder. I like to think of myself as a
creative person, but I'm also very visual. Convergence Journalism prove a challenge to me because
it's close to impossible to plan out what shots to film because anything could happen. Hopefully in
Entertainment next semester, I can showcase some better work

Bully Breed Feature Story And Script

For my second feature story assignment, my topic was Bully Breeds.

        These dogs will always have a special place in my heart considering I own a PitBull (Featured in video).

       I wanted to do my best to portray these dogs in the best light. My narrative lead was dry because my original was too long. I was hoping for one that would have a better impact.

       For my video, I interviewed Cassie Webber from MABBR and Alondra Marquez from Unleashed Rescue. My dog, Phoebe Cate, was adopted from Unleashed, so it was an obvious choice. I found MABBR online while doing a little research. Cassie ended up being more accommodating than anyone from Unleashed.

Shooting was a nightmare. My entire portion with Cassie was filmed outside with no wind guard. There was a lot of background noise that was very bothersome. Before getting this assignment, i misplaced my 16 GB SD card, so I ended up using my dads 8 GB. Five minutes into filming B-Roll with Cassie, I ran out of space because I had Alondra's interview and B-Roll on it. We ended up having to wait almost an hour for my dad to bring me a new SD card before continuing to film.

       Editing was relatively easy, but after uploading it to YouTube, I got a message asking me if I wanted them to fix the video shakiness. Of course, I said yes, but the outcome is not wa=hat I was expecting and it looks terrible. I'm not sure how to fix it without taking down the video, so I'll have to figure that out.

        Overall, I enjoyed this project and although I'm not the biggest fan of Convergence Journalism, it's growing on me. I strive to improve in both filming and editing.


Final Product (with weird YouTube editing):






Script:

 NL: When most people hear the words “bully breed”. They think of a big scary dog that is potentially dangerous. This is common as the media portrays these dogs in a wrongful manner.

NG: There are many people who dedicate their days to changing this.

Cassie Webber from the Mid-American Bully Breed Rescue talks about their goal and what it's like to own one of these magnificent animals

Interview 1: Well, so our mission statement that we facilitate the rescue and adoption of any Pitbull, bully breed looking dog and our goal is to get them

in a stable home and of course, somewhere where they are going to thrive and it’s a good fit. Because people think that adopting a bully breed is the same as adopting any dog and it’s really

not. You know, the family has to be ready

to possibly move at any point. Cities are

overturning their breed specific legislation but

any time somebody can come in and reinstate it. You know, we were dropped by our homeowner’s insurance, so at any time, somebody

to come in and say “you know you're not allowed to have this dog anymore” so, you

kind of have to, you really have to

know what you're getting into and also be willing to advocate for your

dog to friends and family members and people that don't necessarily understand.

 VO1: Unleashed is a rescue organization that focuses on bully breeds. Alondra Marquez talks about the struggle of adopting.

Interview 2: We started off as a Pitt organization and after that, we started off rescuing more dogs, but on-site we do have a lot more Pitts than any other breeds. We have families coming in here who do want Pitts, but they can’t because in their city, they don’t allow Pitts or

apartment they're like “oh no we don't allow Pitts because there’s kids here and there’s other dogs here. Their evil, they’re not safe” and stuff like that.

Outro: This has been Lizzie Swartwood. Now back to the desk.

Howl's Moving Castle Trailer Review

        One of my all time favorite animations is the movie Howl's Moving Castle by Hayao Miyazaki from the famed Studio Ghibli. Miyazaki is best know for his movies like Howl's Moving Castle, My Neighbor Totoro, and Academy Award winner, Spirited Away.

        I decided to watch the Walt Disney trailer for HMC and review it.

Trailer:






       I love this style of 2D animation. Hand-drawn animation is always very special because of of the level of difficulty. I've seen the entire movie and it's just as good as the trailer.

       The story takes place is a fictional monarchy called Ingary. Think of a mix between Olde England and Treasure Island.It's about a young girl named Sophie Hatter who is a hat maker. She is turned into an old woman by the Witch of the Waste. Along with aging, part of the curse is that she can't tell anyone about the curse. The only person who can change her back is the elusive, narcissistic wizard Howl. This is the story of the war in Ingary and the curse on Sophie.

        Being a first year animator, I can't critic a professional piece very much considering I don't know much.

       One element that I would definitely add to my own work is the authentic feeling of hand drawn animation vs computer modeled animation. This was actually animated on a computer, but hand-drawn.

        Though it fits the tone slightly, I wish some of the more light-hearted scenes would have been lighter in colors. The entire trailer gives me an anxious feeling with all the vibrant shadows.

        Miyzaki is truly a master of his medium. He brings these stories to life with his artwork and animating.

Source:

MadmanOnline. "Howl's Moving Castle - Official Trailer." YouTube. YouTube, 16 Sept. 2014. Web. 15 Dec. 2016.

Worm Animation

        The worm animation was one of my first projects this year. I learned how to use the puppet pin tool in Adobe Aftereffects and create a cycle animation.

        The worm itself and the scenery was created using Adobe Photoshop by utilizing the paintbrush tool. I then, moved the saved layers into Aftereffects to animate it. A new composition was created then, the selected layers were moved into it and onto the timeline.. Using the puppet pin tool and starch tool to create the squiggly shape of the worm. 

       In the timeline, there are key frames. By setting a keyframe, you are allowed to change the shape of the layer and the computer will save the keyframe shape. This is what creates the animation. Once, I had two set keyframes, I just copied and pasted unil I filled in the timeline.

      Once I filled the timeline, I added a null object. This is an invisible shape. I parented the worm to this null object which I had added keyframe to, moving it across the screen. 

Next time, I hope to be able to add more movement to my worm and create more action in the animation itself. This was a great stepping stone to future projects.

Final Product:

        

Feature Story Experience

ONW is a very unique high school. One of our greatest accomplishments is the forming of the GSA or Gender Sexuality Alliance. 

          Josie Hilton, a senior here at ONW is a leader of this amazing group and I was able to interview her about it. This has been my favorite project so far as I am a huge advocate for LGBT+ rights and I'm very passionate about the goal of the GSA, to create a safe space for all LGBT+ students and allies.

   

         For this project, we created a video feature story and a written feature story. The written part was probably the most complicated part for me. I am a visually creative person and it's kind of hard to imagine words on a page. I can easily visualize a video or animation, but papers are harder. 

         The video was my favorite part. I'm quite happy with how it turned out considering how many technical difficulties I had. My sound wouldn't record, or my tripod was broken.  It was mess. It cam out strong though and the GSA really loved it.

 

Gender Sexuality Alliance at Olathe Northwest

By Lizzie Swartwood Hour 6

The students walk through the empty halls after school towards an empty English classroom. This room will soon be filled the laughter of old friends and new friends as these students take their places facing the front of the room towards their leaders. On the projector screen is a page with big letters spelling out the words “Let’s to join together to end the hate”. Behind it is a bright banner of genders and sexualities. This mirrors the room which is filled with people of all shape and sizes, genders and sexualities.  This in ONW’s Gender Sexuality Alliance or GSA. It’s a club where both LGBTQA+ students and Allies can join together to make the world and the school a better place.

            LGBTQA+, more commonly referred to as LGBT+ or just LGBT, is an acronym for Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans, Queer, and Ace. The plus refers to all other sexualities and gender identities not represented by the acronym.

            Josie Hilton is a senior and leader of the GSA who fall under two parts of LGBT+, Bi and Ace. Josie identifies as an asexual, biromantic female. This means that she doesn’t experience any type of sexual attraction and is romantically attracted to both males and females.

            This is her first year in the GSA as she joined by the recommendation of a friend. She has the privilege of leading this amazing group before she graduates.

“I’m in charge of setting up all the meetings, coming up with the new topics that we’re going to talk about and for me, that’s been the [best] part” She said.

            Ms. Powers, the sponsor this year, is very impressed with Josie and her leadership skills and elaborates on her stance.

“Josie is an amazing leader. We didn’t have elected officers. Basically, I just asked who was interested in leadership and what qualified them…based on that I put together five people and she has consistently been one of the people who shows up to the meetings prepared…she runs the meeting with the help of the other leaders. She’s great.”

            The GSA used to be called the Gay Straight Alliance, but they decided on a a name change this year in order to make it more accepting and open.

“We are a safe place where a community of people who’ve come together to embrace the LGBT community and to also help both those in the community and allies learn more about the different parts of the LGBT community and what it all means,” Hilton says.

            The GSA has been around Olathe Northwest for about nine years now. It was created by the students in order to create a safe place for anyone. Whether you are straight, gay, questioning or anything else, this is place you can go to find community and acceptance.