Reflection Blog Post

Throughout this course I’ve done many different projects dealing with different aspects of design and media. In my opinion my favorite project during the semester has to be the Premiere or video project because it challenged me the most out of the other projects. With so little time to do film and edit, procrastinating wasn’t an option. In the end, I loved how the final draft looked like.

I plan to see myself have a advertising career in the future because I love making videos or just creating anything visual for people to see. All the projects has been influential in picking my path because it goes into all aspects of design and media. In my case, I want to do all of that and not just one certain thing. I started off enjoying the graphic side, but taking this course it sparked a passion in video making too.

I’ve done design and media for a few years now, but the course has taught be how to import footage, pictures, and music properly. I use to drag and drop the files into the program, but the course has taught me to do the right way. The course has also taught me simple command shortcuts to make editing a bit more efficient. For example, copying and pasting the same effects on After Effects.

The most useful I found useful that were outside the class material was any royalty free image and music website because they have a variety of content people can use. For example, Bensound is a royalty free to use music website and all you have to do is credit the website and song on your project.

In my opinion, this course was really helpful in helping me further my knowledge in design and media. The course provides helpful resources that I used to further my understanding. All around, I’m glad I took this course.

Final Video Story

Idea and Inspiration
In this assignment I wanted to create a motivational type of video. This video will showcase a student waking up early and is getting ready to go out for a run. This project idea relates to my course topic because people needs to be willing to do things that most people won’t do. In this case, people wanting to run more or do more cardio is a common thing that people but won’t do.

Design Process
I love nike and adidas advertisement videos  because their videos tend to be encouraging and motivating which was what I wanted in my video. From looking over some ads I noticed that background music, voiceovers, and text were key in showcasing the companies message. The significance of my project would be how each scene smoothly transitions from one another making it easier for the viewers to follow along. I wanted each clip from my video to be chronological as possible as a way to show beginning and end. In this case, waking up in the morning, getting ready, and going out for a run. The voiceover helps with the motivating part of my video.

Technical Detail
Each clip I collected were chronological order because I felt it was the best layout that will tell my story. The tools I used throughout this project was mainly the blade tool to cut the footage. I also adjusted the audio and added special transition effects to my video. I had an issue with finding the right volume of my voiceover to sound perfectly to the background music.

Feedback
The feedback that was given by my peers were helpful in completing my video because they noticed a few things that I didn’t see in my draft. For example, the video felt a bit too long due in order to portray my message. Another suggestion was to add a beginning title because it felt that the beginning parts of the video felt empty. Other comments were to also make the transition from each scene quicker.

During the revision process I tried my best to incorporate the suggestions that were given to me. There were some things difficult to include due to time constraints, but for the most part I added what my peers suggested.

Sources and Materials
All footage and voiceovers were recorded and edited by me. The background music is royalty free music from Bensound.

Music: Slow Motion from Bensound
Creative Commons License

Draft Video Story

Idea and Inspiration
For this assignment I created a motivational type of video. The video showcases a person who is waking up early and getting himself ready to go out for a run. Towards the end of the persons run he gets an alert saying to get ready for class, and ends with the person leaving for class. This project idea relates to my course topic because people needs to be willing to do things that most people won’t do. For instance, the person is waking up early to run. Running can be considered a tedious workout to do, but if people say they will do it then they have to live up to what their comments.

Design Process
The concept of my project was based on nike and adidas ads because their videos tend to be encouraging and motivating which is the best way for people to do things. Some research I’ve done was going over what video aspects they always incorporate to their add. For example, background music, voiceovers, and text. The significance of my project would be how smooth the jump-cuts I made in my video. The transition from scene to scene makes sense and doesn’t seem to be too over the place. The design process I created was to be chronological as possible. From waking up in the morning to leaving to go to class. It tells a story from beginning to end by adding a voice over and a few sounds.

Technical Detail
The collecting and creating process of each footage was easy to do. I wanted to make each clip chronological order because it’s the best layout to tell a story from beginning and end. I wanted to film stuff that would transition smoothly. The tools I used throughout this project was the blade tool, adjusting the audio, adding special transition effects. The only issue I had was finding the right volume of my voiceover in comparison to the background music.

Sources and Materials
All film and footage was recorded and edited by me. The background music is royalty free music from Bensound.

Music: Slow Motion from Bensound
Creative Commons License

Raw Video Footage and Storyboard

Storyboard: No Excuses

Visual Elements	Audio Elements
0:00-0:10 1-2 second scenes kitchen appliances (toaster, table, coffee machine)	Voice over – “Maybe you don’t feel good or maybe you just don’t want, but there shouldn’t be any excuses on what you say you want to do”
0:10-0:12 transition to room (wide shot)	Silence
0:12-0:20 Mid-shot of person sleeping and alarm rings, person gets up	Alarm sound and sound of bed sheets moving
0:20-0:26 Side view, person passes mirror. Then zooms onto a message on the mirror saying “No Excuses”
0:26-0:34 Cut scenes of person making breakfast (toast with peanut butter, milk and cereal, and banana)	toaster going off, dish washer on, the sound of milk pouring into a bowl
0:34-0:37 Person eating breakfast	Birds chirping
0:37-0:42 turns around and looks outside to see the weather	Voiceover – “Nothing should stop you. It’s either you wish you could do it or I will, and it should happen”
0:42-0:47 Person is in the bathroom washing his face and looks at the mirror	Voiceover – “Life is based on expectations. Are you up for these expectations or are these just comments. Be a doer and not just say it.”
0:47-0:49 person goes into room and grabs his running shoes
0:49-0:53 person puts on and ties his shoes
0:53-0:58 once shoes are done being tied, scene cuts to person running	Voiceover – “Be that person that does what he/she wants to start doing, and not that person that says they will do it and never does.”
0:58-1:01 Person comes back from running and his phone rings.	Phone ringer noise
1:01-1:05 Person looks at his phone and sees a notification saying get ready for [TIME] class
1:05-1:08 person goes into his room and comes out fully changed of clothes
1:08-1:11 person leaves his apartment. It cuts to black saying “No Excuses”

Premiere Tutorials

Final Audio Story

The feedback from my peers were very helpful in pointing out things I needed improve on. One major thing was the tone of my voice. My tone was really monotone and not that interesting in my draft. So I tried being more enthusiastic with my voice during revision. The other suggestion was trying to include something that notifies the listeners that the audio started and ended. People felt that it ended abruptly, and I wanted to fix that. I added sound affects that would signify the start and end of my audio.

For this project, I decided to create a interview or podcast type of feeling. I enjoy listening and watching podcasts, and I wanted to create something similar. This relates to my topic because I want to know how peoples opinions on running. As well as the reason why they like or don’t like running.

Like I said before, podcasts done by people on social media platforms inspired me to do this assignment. The only research I’ve done was analyzing what questions to ask the person being interviewed. The significance of in my design is to show peoples opinions on running smoothly. I feel that my final flows well based on the content I put together. The design process was simple to do. I started with recording my individual parts and then interviewees. After that’s done, I cut parts that i didn’t need and arranged the audio files in audition. It’s important to remove things that are unnecessary and distracting because it makes it easier for the listeners.

The elements that I collected and created was all recorded by me through my external microphone. The tools I used to construct my project was the razor tool and adjusting the volume. Throughout this project, I didn’t encounter any technical challenges because audition is simple and straightforward to use.

Most of the content in my project was done by me, but I also added one of the chimes that was provided in our tutorials.

Link

Draft Audio Story

Idea and Inspiration

I decided to create a podcast in which I compare different opinions on running questions. For example, how they feel about running or do you run.One of the interviewees are not that into working out, but the other is. This relates to my course topic because my topic is literally running and getting back into running.

Design Process

I listened to many podcasts and interview like videos, so I figured I would try to replicate that type of structure. The structure was me asking questions and having different opinions or perspectives on running. One interviewee would be someone that close to never works out while, other works close to a daily basis. The significane of the elements in my design is showing the different perspectives that people have on my topic. The design process for my draft was to records my bits and pieces of transition phrases and then interview the people. After that, I imported all audio files to audition and chopped or removed most of the unnecessary sounds. I final had to raise the volume on certain segments because it was too soft to hear.

Technical Detail

Recording the audio and the interview, I used my external microphone to record all of it. It’s really helpful in recording because the quality of the audio is better than my phone. After getting my audio files, I imported them into audition. From there, I chopped up the extra parts that wasn’t needed. It was easy to structure because I had a beginning phrased followed up by the interview. The tools I used was the razor to because there were many unnecessary audio that needed to be removed. I figured to be careful when alignment multiple audio files because both files may mix together which will sound weird. I also need to raise the volume on certain parts of the audio file because some segments were softer than others.

Sources and Materials
There were no copyrighted material used in this draft. All audio files were produced from me. The interviews were also done by me.

Raw Audio Footage

Here are my raw audio files I recorded. I plan to create a interview or podcast type of format.

Audition Tutorials

Here are my Audition tutorials

Final Logo Project

Here is my completed and revised logo.

The comments was really helpful and encouraging. Most of the suggestions was about the running man figure in the middle of my design. Which is why during the time I revised my logo, I mainly focused it on trying to resemble the number four and making the text pop more.

The company name I went with is called “Run for Fun” which is related to my topic of running. For my inspiration, I based my design on marathon running. The whole idea of people training to compete in marathons and people participating for fun seemed interesting to me. The whole creative aspect of my design is to represent the end of a marathon in which a person runs through a banner when completing the whole thing.

As stated before, I based my design on marathon running. This can been seen from the person running in the middle and the big banner that ran through by the person. For creative purposes,  I designed the man running to resemble the number four. I didn’t want to fully resemble it, so I curved most of the edges. The other aspects of my design, like color and text was easy to choose. I wanted colors that complemented each other and stand out. As seen in my logo, I ended up going with different shades of red and the color black. These colors felt the most eye catching and most related to my topic.

The significance of my design would be how uniform the logo looks and how it visually shows an image of a man running through a banner.

I started by tracing my running man figure that I  sketch with the pen tool. Then I separately created  the banner with the pen tool too because I decided to create a rectangle from scratch with the pen tool. Next I added the texts run and fun to finish of my design and added a big stroke to the banners. I also created a drop shadow effect to my text by duplicating the text layers and dropping the opacity, this makes the text in front to pop out more.

The main tool I used the pen tool, which was used to create the running figure in the middle and the banners that surround it. Other tools were the stroke and color palette because I was experimenting with different strokes sizes and colors throughout the process of designing my logo. The opacity bar and text tool was also used.

No outside material was used to make my logo, but there were a references that I used to help me

. For instance, I made a banner that is very similar to the tutorials we were assigned in class. The font I used was “Arial Rounded MT Bold” because I felt it was one of the few fonts that were simple but stood out the most. I also used the outline of the number four to create the person running.

DRAFT

FINAL