Music Videos Rock!

I think that each member of my team contributed an even amount. I contributed mainly in the beginning with my solo act and also small amounts throughout the whole video. When I wasn't dancing or singing, I filmed and edited too. The girls all contributed about the same amount being that they are all the main characters in our video. They were the main dancers and lip-syncers, as well as filmers and editors. Each girl had a solo act and some acts together. Overall, I think that my groups contribution amounts are all about even and we'll make this music video epic!

In my opinion, I think the audience will enjoy the whole video. I say this because I think our video is very funny and has a good story line too it as well. Also, because it is a very old song and cause it's called "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" and of course, i'm not a girl. Other than that, I personally really like my beginning solo act as should the audience. I think my classmates may enjoy this part because it is a popular song and has a funny dance to it that I perform. I'm sure many students will recognize the song and dance and may find it humorous.

I feel that our Music Video will show that we are experienced editors and filmers. The editing may show because we will be using some special affects and sounds to make our video better. To show our filming skills, all of our shots are well focused and have minimal camera movement showing that we are experienced with cameras. I feel that these are the two main, and most important parts about creating videos in iMovie. I personally have learned a ton this year in GT and I'm very glad that I can perfect my camera and editing skills and show them off the other students. I am also very glad I had a good and supportive team to work with me and make it fun. I am sure the final product will be great!

Lyrical Livelihood

When I listen to music, I personally like to listen to the beats and bass more than I enjoy song lyrics. However, when the beats are not very catchy or interesting I do listen to lyrics and try to memorize them myself so I can sing along. Depending on the lyrics, I usually feel somewhat pumped up if it's song that I really like. I enjoy when song lyrics are faster and rhyme more like hip-hop or rap music.

My team mates are Lilio Masi, Leleaka Anakalea, Brooke Kauo, and I, Noa Harrison. I am the only boy in my group, and surprisingly, the song we chose is called, "Girls just wanna have fun", by Cyndi Lauper. Obviously this is a girly song so we figured that I wouldn't really enjoy being a star in the video, so me made a small addition to change that. For the first 10 seconds of our music video, I will be dancing and lip-syncing to a popular song called "Watch me whip". There is special dance that goes with this song that I will be performing. During my dance, the girls are going to come into the frame, and push me out of the screen. There will then be a noise that sounds like a tape rewinding, and all of the sudden the background and song will change into the song "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun". The girls will start dancing and singing, while I am confused and aggravated throughout the whole music video. We picked this song because we thought it would be fun and funny to do since I am a boy. Also, because it is somewhat a classic old song that my teacher and classmates will hopefully enjoy.

Our visual story that our video should inform to my class is that girls just want to have fun hence the name "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun". Besides the fact that that is the name of the song, I think it means that girls just want to have fun no matter what the outcome is or trouble is that they can get into. Also, the song was made back in the time of when women were treated wrongly and unequally compared to men, so it is also kind of a confidence song towards women. I think that back in that day, this song could have been a song that made girls think about who they are and not care about other people so they would just have fun together.

Our Animation Story

Our focus statement is "Noa Explores Dreams". This tells "our story" because it is the basic idea of our whole video. In the story, I am in a dream exploring space and seeing what I can do in while I am there. This is why I am "exploring my dreams".

The lessons in our story are to be careful who you trust, because important things may end up in the wrong hands. Also, everyone is different and special in their own unique way even if you just have an amazingly bold and creative mind. Last, sometimes you must conquer problems independently and do what ever it takes to get the job done. In our film, my friend Miles takes an orb from me in space that is the key to get back to Earth. Noa has to get the orb back by himself using the objects he has in space. Miles gets away too quick, so in order for Noa to catch up to him and get the orb back, he uses a comet to boost himself towards Miles. Snatching the orb from Miles, Noa touched it once again finding himself back on Earth in his class room.

I think the best moments were taking the shots and voiceovers, and listening to them on the computer to see how funny we sounded and looked. I will be honest here, I had quite a lough after watching our clip. I also really enjoyed the Stykz animation app. I enjoy being able to create whatever we wanted using the stick people on Stykz. I love animation all together and had a great team to work on this project with. I think the worst moment all together was that we were behind most of the class. We barely had clips, no voiceover or audio and had to come in every recess to do as much as we could. So, for us, the struggle to get it done, make it good, and urn it in on time was the most challenging part all together in my opinion.

Animation Outtakes

My team is a group of four boys. We have Russell Fu, Miles Frazier, Michael Anderson, and me. I am 13 years old, Miles is 14, Russell is 13 and Michael is 13. Miles is a really good surfer and skater. He is also a great editor in iMovie and has much talent in many things. Miles and I are great friends and have done some fun things together. Russell, I only met this year but is a really nice person and always has an awesome attitude. He is great at doing his work and using all the tricks taught by Mr. Sanderl. Michael, I also met this year but is very intelligent and funny. I love working with him and hope to work with him on further projects.

Stop motion animation is when you take multiple photos of an object. After every photo, the object moves a small amount. When you take all of your photos, you will create a small repetitive clip, or GIF. The GIF is the pictures of the object that creates a since of movement within the object. GIF stands for "Graphics Interchange Format". The two small repetitive clips below are my examples of a GIF that I created in Photoshop.

The story that we are telling is actually a story of my own. The story that we based our movie off of was a dream that I had a couple months ago. In the dream, I was curiously walking on a beach when I noticed a strange glow in a random bush. I walked over to the bush and found like an orb type of thing. I grabbed it out of the bush and was all of the sudden in space. In space I was really big and was just playing around and having a great time. I was flicking and kicking planets and moons until I found a friend who will be miles in our animation film. Miles and I started playing together until he took the orb out of my hands because it was the key back to Earth. As he was getting away with it, I used a comet to my advantage, as a boost so I could catch up to Miles and take the orb back. I knocked it out of his hands and it started to float in front of me. I finally got a finger on it, and in an instant, I disappeared and went back to Earth. I think that this will be quite an entertaining film and humorous for the audience.

Typography Images

Typography is the design and use of typefaces as a way of communication. Typefaces are used in typography, and are sets of one or more fonts. Typography is based off of handwritten letterforms. Typography surrounds everything from calligraphy through digital type and type on Web pages. It also includes type designers who create new letterforms as well as designers and calligraphers who use the letters as part of their designs. Typography uses typefaces and the whitespace around and through them to create a whole design. Basically, it is portraiture covered entirely with relatable words over a black background. To make a lasting impact using typography, of course, it has to be beautiful. Besides visual beauty, the words must have a powerful and deep meaning that people are able to read and enjoy. Maybe a poem could be in the portrait or a famous quote. This could create an impact if the passage is deep and touching, or relates to the reader.

For me personally, the hardest part was remembering the steps and following a long with the demos. I would usually get stuck on one step, and miss the next steps because I am trying to figure out the step that I missed. To overcome these challenges/mistakes I would either ask a friend for help, or I would wait for Mr. Sanderl to finish his demo to either help me or do another demonstration. Because I do this often, I have learned to just listen to the instructions completely, until I start working on them. This usually helps me finish quicker and more efficiently, because I do not make mistakes forcing me to restart or make everything more difficult than it would have to be.

For my first example, I took an image of Nikola Tesla off of google images. For this particular image, the words covering his portrait was several paragraphs about him and his life. I got the information off of wikipedia. I personally like this one because it is just black and white making the text more visible. Also, you can see more of the words easier because the text was not a brush, it was pasted on in paragraphs that don't overlap. For my second example, I took the photo of my Science teacher Mrs. Bandsma. Like the first example, I covered her portrait with text however this one was a bit different. For the text in this image, I created a brush of text that I could place anywhere on her face. Because of this, I was able to make the words different sizes. Because of the bright colors, I think that the image pops out more however I feel the words are more challenging to read. My last portrait is the "me" portrait. This image is a portrait of my own face, hence the name "me portrait". I personally like this one best because of the vibrance and colors. I was able to adjust the vibrance of my word sections making the lighter parts lighter and the shadows darker creating a more realistic image. Like the 2nd example, the text was created as a brush, yet the words are much more obvious and easy to read, mainly because of the size and vibrance. Overall I think I made quality work and was successful and satisfied with my final outcome.

Double Exposed Portraits

Portrait photography is also known as portraiture. Portraiture is photography of a person or group of people that create the expression, or mood of the photograph. Usually when using portraiture, the focus of the photograph is more often the person's face, although the entire body and the background may be included as well. Profile photography is the shape of a head or face that is seen or drawn from the side. This relates to portrait photography because both photos are of faces and are close up photographs most of the time. Silhouetting is a photograph usually of a dark shape or object up to a lighter background creating the object a dark outline or like a shadow. Silhouetting can be like portraiture, because you can take a Silhouette portrait, which is exactly what it sounds like. It is a silhouette of a portrait, so it is a facial image, but it is very dark, so it is basically just the outline of the face and the rest is black, like a shadow.

 When creating a double exposure image in photoshop, first you need to take your photos. One photo of you or your friend. Next, you'll need 2 photos of nature, like trees or other plants. Now, I'll explain the process through the following steps. Step 1: Take your images. Step 2: Download them to your computer. Step 3: Open photoshop and click "file". Next, click on "scripts", and then click "load files into stack".  Step 4: Use the "dodge tool" to make the background of the portrait image all one color, usually white. Step 5: Once you have used the dodge tool to create the white background, you double click on one layer to get the "blending options". When you are there, you will go to "blend mode" and change it to "screen". After doing that, all of your photos will combine into one. From there you can move them around, add layer effects and make it as cool, colorful and beautiful as you can. I would want to make a double or multi exposure image because they are very beautiful and express many feelings in different ways. I love making these and looking at them because of all of the colors and designs within the portrait.

The images within my portrait symbolize what I like to do or my hobbies. For my final, or multi exposure image, I took photos of me skateboarding and my drumset. I love to do both of these things so I put them in to represent me. For the practice I had my portrait and two pictures of plants and trees. The left one is my practice and the right one is my final. If I did this project again, I think that I would take different photos. I say this because, although they are good photos, when they blend into my portrait, I think it looks kind of boring. I would like to have more detailed of pictures to cover up the open space of my face. I could have also added and experimented with more effects to make the colors really pop. I used a lot of curve effects, vibrance and saturation to get my outcome. I am satisfied with my work however it could have been a little better.

HDR Photography

HDR photography is a method, where dynamic range is the ratio of light to dark in a photograph. Instead of just taking one photo, HDR photography uses several photos, taken at different exposures. After you have these photos, you combine all of the photos into one photo and it usually makes a photo with a great amount of exposure. It is used to make a photo with exposure that is not too high or too low. I really like using HDR photography because it doesn't put you in the position of having to pic which one of the photos has a better amount exposure because it chooses for you and is usually the perfect amount. I also like being able to edit the photos after combining them to make the photo even better.

To create HDR image, you can take from 3-6 photos from very low exposure to very high exposure. Once you get these photos, you have to upload them to your computer. Next, you open adobe photoshop. When that opens, you click on "file", then "automate", and go to "merge to HDR pro". After that you hit "browse", find the photos in a folder, click "ok" and photoshop will merge the photos into one. Automatic HDR functions are HDR buttons, on certain cameras, and all you have to do is enable it or just turn it on. When you turn it on, the photo you take will automatically have a good amount of exposure and thats all there is too it. If there is an HDR button, it makes it a lot easier and you don't have to work at all to get a perfectly exposed photo.

My thought process when making an HDR photo is to make the coolest, most colorful and bold photo that makes people say "WOW that's a good photo".  I try and make the photo realistic but still edited to make the colors pop out more. I am so focused and deeply eying the photo making sure I do not enhance it too much or make it look too fake or overly edited. I am usually pretty calm because I enjoy doing it and I'm good so I can take my time. For this particular project I actually tried to make these photos very surreal.

Movie Trailer Critique

P1T2 Plane Ride Home from Kapaa Middle School MEDIA on Vimeo.

 This project was to create an entertaining movie trailer that was appropriate for first graders to watch. We created our project on an app called Final Cut Pro. We used all kinds of cool effects to make it as cool, creative, and as good as we could. My teammates were Sophia Rodriguez, Justice Chatfield, Maceo Cantu and I. Our plan document shows our synopsis, teammates, voice acting script, characters, setting, plot and purpose. This will basically show you everything about our story and how we contributed to the story. I personally contributed as one character in a scene, and I helped with some of the editing and foley.

The project required a 1min and a half to 2 min show, five scenes, voice acting, foley, dialogue, text-lay overs, effects, and a movie poster. This definitely sounds like a lot of work but we got it done good and to our surprise it was exactly one minute and thirty seconds. We did complete all of them however some could have been better if we had more time to work on it. I think the overall trailer came out pretty good. It was humorous and had a plot which our audience loved. In fact, our class voted our video number one to show the first graders.

The majority of the classes critique comments were saying how funny it was. They liked our transitions and most of all our settings. Using our editing skills on Final Cut Pro, we added our own backgrounds in the trailer to match our voice over and plot. I agrees with the critique results because it was a very humorous video and I think we did a great job on the editing part. I learned a lot more editing skills during this project and got more comfortable with Final Cut Pro. I think I could make a pretty good video on my own using the things I learned, if I had a subject.

Movie Poster Promo

When you look at my movie poster  you see an airplane. I did not share the characters, but the plane is representing the main idea/setting. Our title is Plain Ride Home because it was going to be a normal plain ride home until bill realizes that he has to do crazy, exciting tasks to get home in time for christmas. Kerning the process of adjusting the spacing between words. I use this to make my presentation dramatic, easier to read, and better looking for the person looking at it.

The effects that I use make my poster pop out so when you look at it, it should make you say "wow, I want to watch this movie trailer". I used bold colors and outline effects so all of my words are booming off the screen. I used colors that are very easy to see. I put the stroke effect on several of the words to make the words pop out even more. I also but the cutout filter on the airplane so that it looks more animated and interesting.

Proactive or Procrastination?

To be honest, I am sometimes both proactive and a procrastinator. I say this because sometimes I get lazy and restless and procrastinate, but other times I am very anxious to get my work done and complete it with greatness. Usually, if i enjoy the project I will be very proactive, and try hard to get my work done, and turned in on time. However, if I do not like the project, it is more likely that I will procrastinate. Overall, I think I am more proactive rather than a procrastinator.

I think that my level of productivity relates to my amount of free time, because when I get my work done when I am focused, it does not take long where as when I am getting side-tracked and taking a very long time on my work that I could be getting done quickly. When I finish work with authority and I focus, I am provided with more free time to do fun things. When I procrastinate, I can take up to an hour on assignments that should only take me a half an hour, and that gives me a lot less time to enjoy the rest of my day.I would change my work habits by getting my work done quicker but still focus and get it done right. I will do my best on all subjects and assignments and will not procrastinate.

My Visual Poem

  

My poem topic is overeating. I start with explaining how good food makes me very happy. Then, I tell a humorous fiction story about overeating and becoming highly overweight. The B-role that was included is me acting out the story of the little boy that overeats. I think that several audiences would enjoy the visuals because there are some funny actions that I act out.

Although I did not use many special effects, the effect I applied make it more intriguing to the person watching. It makes the watcher want to possibly watch it more than once, and makes it better overall in many ways. I am satisfied with my final results but I do feel that I could have improved it a lot too. I could have done this by adding more effects like music, special fades and other things like that. I am very glad we did this project and would love to do more activities similar to this one.

Finished News Story

My story was about the hurricane season in Hawaii. We had interviewed people that were effected by hurricane Iniki, and hurricane Ewa that occurred in 1982 and 1992. We had the interviewers talk about the effects, aftermath, and how bad hurricanes really are. In our group, it was Seth Kostelecky, Russel Fu, Leleaka Anakalea, Lilio Masi, and me, Noa Harrison. The interviewers were Leleaka's dad Blake, Russels mom Tracy, Lilio's mom Sheleah, and 3 little girls named Mahealani Bryan, Ili Anakalea, and Leilani Weber.

In my opinion, the final video turned out great. I think that we worked to the best of our ability to make it the best Hiki No that we could. I was very happy with the final outcome. I think that it was very good, but not perfect. I feel that it is actually good that is was not perfect, because nobodies stories were perfect and that is a good thing. Its good because we know that we need to spend more time on our projects to improve them in  every way we can. I definitely agreed with the critique comments because they were all good points on how we could have made it better. 

Back to School

My favorite moment about coming back to school is seeing all of my friends again. I also like meeting my new teachers for new classes. For me, since I came late in the first quarter, it was very interesting but also exciting meeting new people and going to school with friends I have not gone to school with before. Once I chose my classes, met my teachers and new friends, I felt like I made a very good decision to come to KMS. The biggest challenge was going into the classes and getting straight to work and having to figure out what to do on my own. Also finding my classes and which period was next was quite a challenge

To be successful, I will work to the best of my abilities to get good grades. I will work on not getting sidetracked, and I'll focus so I can exceed in my classes. Another thing I will do is not get sucked into doing bad things that will get me in trouble. Therefore, I will hang out with kids that won't distract me from keeping my grades up. I will listen, behave, and be the best student to the teachers as I can to overachieve in every subject!

The Experiment

I think that we did this experiment to learn how to work on programs on our own or get out of our comfort zone. Also, I think since it is a very fun project, it was good to start out with it in the beginning of the year to get us students used to one of the computer programs since we are in a tech class. I am glad that I learned to use the photoshop app, because now I can use it on my own to make other designs. Lastly, it is a very fun way of learning because you can make your project very colorful and put cool designs in it.

Real World Report

News Story Link

The "lost and found dog" that is in a video for the Dutch airline KLM does not actually do work for the company. The video was advertising a dog who sniffed misplaced objects, and returned the items to their rightful owners. The world loved the adorable dog, but learned on a Wednesday that the dog in the video is not connected with the airline at all. It was only in the ad for marketing purposes.


I think that the situation is disappointing. I say this because many family's, especially children adore this dog, and thought it was really connected to its airline while doing really important work. But then everyone realized that it was only in it for the sake of attracting people to it so the airline could get more customers. This is bad because everyone then found out that the airline is just using this adorable dog to get customers which give the workers more money. Although this puppy is very cute, it is not in the airport for the most appropriate purpose.


We should care about this dilemma because this dog is attracting people to give more money to one airline which for one it is not fair to other airlines, and two, it is a bad way to use and treat such a wonderful animal. I think that even though everyone loved this animal, it was good that the people found out that it was for marketing purposes. I say this because now people will not get attracted to one airline just because of one cute dog. Also, I feel that maybe the airline should get fined or punished somehow for basically bribing people to use their company and give them money.

Hiki No Behind The Scenes

I really enjoy working on my project with my team Lilio, Seth, Russel, Lele, and I. The subject of our news story really effects a lot of people, on the 2014 hurricane season. I think it is a fun, and good way of learning about things while getting other people feedback about the subject. I think that the project has gone very well because my group and I get along very well and they taught me how to use the equipment so that I could help them with the project. Coming late in the year was definitely a little bit challenging, but now that I know how to do all of the work it is turning out to be really good.


When the camera is not rolling, we are discussing and editing our project to make it better. We are usually editing our interviews, and adding B-role into the Hiki No project. We like the B-role to match what the interviewers or voiceovers are saying. We also do a lot of rehearsing, planning, testing of the audio, trying to find good shots for B-role, setting up the camera tripod for good angles, and work as a group to improve our Hiki No.


What I can do to help my team is incourage them to get more footage, and also give them compliments on the work that they have done. This could build their self-esteem, and let them feel good about their work. I can also help out on editing the interviews and adding B-role to them. I think that we have a really good team because we all get along very well, and if we keep that going by being kind and positive, we will exceed in our project.

Lessons Learned

In my opinion, the most interesting part of the project are the live interviews to see how other people feel, and what they know about the subject. I find this very cool because, with the different people, you get different information, different opinions, and different perspectives on the subject.


The biggest roadblock in our project for me so far was probably just figuring what was going on since I came into the class late in the year. This was hard because I was put in a group and was told to do what they were doing so I had no idea what I was supposed to do to help my group with my project. Now I know what to do to help and it is going very well.


I think that the most valuable part of the filmmaking process is that when you are filming something you want to be focused on what you're filming, and that the camera is not shaking or moving around. Also, it is good to block out other sounds like wind if you are filming someone speak so that it is easier to hear the person. Last, if the person talking has a microphone pack, you really don't want the people watching the video to see the mic because it will remind them that it is a cast and they wont feel as connected to the subject in the video.