A Hike For Food

The class was assigned to make a 2-D animation with three different shots. In order to create this animation, we had to combine everything we learned from the past assignments. When brainstorming for story, it is important to think of an idea that is not too complex as it would take too long to make. I started doodling characters on a piece of paper and tried to get inspired. I personally liked my drawing of a bunny. It was simple and I thought I could create a good story inspired by that drawing. I decided to make my bunny try to pull a carrot out of the ground. When he does, things get more complicated.The carrot will fly onto the mountain behind him forcing himself to climb the mountain to get the carrot. Once I planned that out onto my storyboard, I was ready to start the project. First, you had to scan your drawing of your character onto the computer. Then you must color it on Photoshop. Also you have to create the background settings on Photoshop. After this, you get to drag the layers of your character into Adobe After Effects. This program allows to move your character and make the story you want. You use key points to help position or rotate your characters. I learned how to make pre-compositions. They help you stay organized with all your layers. I had to make sure that all the compositions were put in the right place so that each clip would move nice and smooth. I also learned something about myself. I am a perfectionist. Usually that's a good quality to have but in this case, it kept me from completing my project on time. Project deadlines are very important. You can't become a professional animator without completing your work on the day it is due.
If I could redo this assignment, I would look back at my leg compositions and change it so that you can't see the top of the back leg when it goes up. I would also make sure all my layers of my character in Photoshop have a completely deleted background, While editing my animation, I noticed that some of my layers still have little spots from the white background. I think doing this will make my animation look better and more professional.
I would keep my story the same. I like how it is creative and simple. I would also keep my character the same. My bunny is a simple character and goes with my story very well. I like my close-ups of bunny's arms pulling the character. I think it is a cool shot and helps the viewer focus on what the bunny really wants.
 This experience has made me a better animator by pointing out what I need to work on for our next project. I am one step closer to becoming a true animator and reaching my goal.
I will take what I learned from this assignment and use it for our next project. I loved this activity and can't wait to do the next one!

Break Free

Our assignment was to create a music video. The video would have to tell a story and last at least ninety seconds. It also had to go along with the music and made sure the shots went with the beat. We had to think of these things before we started story-boarding.

Our group decided to use Ariana Grande's song Break Free. We used beat sheets to brainstorm idea's of what we wanted our song to be about. We watched music videos related to Break Free and pulled out ideas. We thought it should be about bullying and how the person getting picked on finally fights
back and break's free. We also created mood sheets, a collage of pictures that was supposed to show the mood of your video. This process gave us a general idea of what we wanted our video to be about and we were ready to storyboard. While story-boarding you have to think of the six shots and the 180 degree rule. Our group formed a group message on our phones and organized what we would film each day. This process made things a lot more easier and I felt my group was ready to film.

I learned many important things throughout the process of filming. On the days our group was filming, we had strange rainy weather. This was a problem for our lighting. The shots became yellow and dark. I learned that it is important to shoot your scenes in an environment that has good lighting. I also learned that it is important to not have any continuity errors otherwise, the viewers will become confused and not know what is going on. In our editing stage I learned how to show multiple shots at once. This gave my video a dramatic effect.
I felt that my group worked well together. We communicated outside of school to help us stay on task. We worked very hard on this video while also having a lot of fun!

If I had the chance to redo my video I would definitely film more shots. In the stage of story-boarding we edited to the lyrics instead of the beat and that messed me up later while editing. I would also redo the first super hero shot and find a way to make it look more dramatic. While planning this video we originally wanted a silhouette shot of us superheros but; it came out too dark and ruined the scene. I would redo any shots that were darkened from the weather to make the lighting better.
I would keep our story in the video the same. I believe it went well with the song. I also would keep i the flashback shots in the video because it added to the effect. I was very cool the way each shot changed with the beat. I would keep the shot of Jessica running toward Eric, the villain about to punch him in the face and the shot right after that  where it shows her hand punching Eric in the face. The two shots were the view points from the villain's eyes to the superhero's eyes. I believe these shots were the best out of all and I would certainly keep them.

This assignment was very informational. I learned about digital effects when editing such as; showing multiple shots on a screen a once and adding a slow motion effect. I learned how to give a shot the ghost effect and make it look see-through. I also learned how to add markers to the beat of the music. This helps me when transitioning from one shot to another. I will use my new skills for our class's next project.

It was very fun to film this project. I learned about teamwork. I also learned some new effects I can use on Final Cut Pro. The whole experience has taught me a lot and I can't wait to use what I learned on our next project!