Category Archives: FALL 2018

P5 – Wu Xing – “The five types of chi dominating at different times”

 

I do realize that I should have been shooting my own video, and intended to, but couldn’t think of a topic, procrastinated, and then got sick. I wanted to go out and get photos or videos of a flowing creek, trees, I was thinking some kind of rock formation for earth, but there was no way I could go out and shoot photos of videos in this condition, and I couldn’t think of anything that I could do in my house. (It took me long enough to figure out what I wanted to do in the first place.) Vague and ‘open to interpretation’ assignments are always the hardest for me. That being said, all of the videos I used are Creative Commons Zero (CC0) licensed (reuse and modification OK with no attribute required), I wrote down all of my attributions anyway. If anyone wants to see them, CLICK HERE . I did spend a LOT of time editing this video, I knew nothing about Premiere before, and am actually really glad I got this little taste of it.

I chose my subject after days of thinking about it (to no avail), by Google searching ‘5’. I searched around the web for a while, and found a blog that lead me to a Wikipedia page about all kinds of things related to ‘5’ in some way. When I came across Wu Xing, I was immediately interested and decided to make a kind of informational video about it. I found it appealing because I’d never thought about the elements or seasons that way (there is a TON of information about it that I couldn’t fit into a two minute video.) I also already had the format and substance of the video mapped out in my mind just after reading the Wiki article. This was amazing because I had been putting a lot of thought into it and striking out for quite a few days. I wish I would have gotten this idea a few days sooner, so I could have taken my own photos or videos, because, while it would look less professional, I would get a better grade. The most difficult part about this assignment I think was getting the video to stay at 2 minutes (even though I went a little over), because it made the text seem too rushed for slower readers.

5 Past times of mine…

For this video I chose to take the comedy route once more.In this video I talk about 5 past times of mine, that I consider somewhat bizarre and unique. The obvious theme for the video is my obsession with all things anime related, I did this on purpose Since I thought the similarity between all of my past times would add some humor.

The past times I chose for this project were watching anime shows, looking at pictures with the anime aesthetic online, drawing in the anime aesthetic, playing video games with the anime aesthetic and cosplay. I tend to do most of the past times I talked about in the video almost everyday, the only one I do rarely is cos-playing, due to money constrictions.

Choosing the topic for the video wasn’t hard, for some reason the idea of my past times was born within my mind right away, and since I couldn’t shake the idea I decided to go with it. Coming up with the past times wasn’t very hard either, since I’m a very boring person, or at least I consider myself to be, due to my hobbies not being very exciting or active.

I used a lot of music from soundcloud for this project, as well as a camera shutter sound effect and a transparent graphic for my text slides. I took care to make sure that all the extra media I got for this assignment was royalty free and free for use. I really wanted to try to make my own music, since I’ve always wanted to do so, but I didn’t have enough time, plus I would need to get a bunch of musical sound effects from the web since I don’t play any instruments, which would’ve slowed me down a whole lot more.

Thank you so much for checking out my video, I know my humor is very specific but I hope you find it enjoyable regardless.

Citations:

Flower Graphic by:

Chukovskaya https://pixabay.com/en/users/Chukovskaya-5189889/

Music in order of appearance:

OMG THAT’S SO CUTE LOL-Lensy https://soundcloud.com/lensy
Cute Sine Chords-Kuma https://soundcloud.com/xavfalcon
Epic Orchestral-Sky-FloidBeats https://soundcloud.com/floidbeats
Fashion-Tev https://soundcloud.com/t-e-v

Sound effect by:

thecheeseman https://freesound.org/people/thecheeseman/

-by Monica B

Alison Arts 2018-11-06 22:07:27

So for this project, I wanted to create doodles using the number 5 as a base. I didn’t actually come up with this idea entirely on my own. The first drawing of a dog was taught to me years ago by a foreign exchange student who stayed at my house for a short time. I used to draw it on all my papers all the time when I was younger, so it was kind of nice to draw it once more. After that first drawing, however, I was kind of on my own to come up with the later drawings. The snake seemed like the easiest idea, but from then on I had to use my creative talents as an artist to figure out the other three. I did this by flipping and rotating the number, changing my perspective of it helped me come up with new ideas. After that, I had to go in with a screen recorder and my tablet to capture the digital drawings. I knew I wanted to do this digitally, specifically because I wanted to use this project as a chance to do some small animations. Some of them are really short, and frankly silly, but still fun! On another note, I had so much trouble editing this video because Premiere Pro kept glitching on my computer and turning out awfully rendered clips. I finally got it though! And I uploaded it to youtube! Only to realize the maximum time limit was supposed to be 2 minutes, and this video is almost at three.  I’d like to think the content is enough to excuse the excess time, but frankly, even if it isn’t I’ve been playing around with these clips too much to go back again, not to mention resubmit everything.

Anyway, all complaining aside, enjoy!

Music courtesy of Free Vibes Music

How To Draw a Dinosaur in 5 Easy Steps

 

For this project, I wanted to go real simple so as to not overwhelm myself and bite off more then I could chew. I’ve always wanted to make a tutorial video and instantly thought this project would be perfect for one. But what to do a tutorial of? Well, that was also easy. I instantly thought of Dinosaurs of course! I’m constantly doodling dinosaurs in my free time, and thought I would share my knowledge in doodle dinos with everyone else!

The process I went through with this was actually quite easy despite having to reshoot my footage. Rather than going with the original plan of using actual paper and a sharpie, I knew I could save myself time by using the small white board I have and then spending the rest of my time in Premiere. I’ve used premiere enough to be considered an amateur and put some simple graphics in so it flowed nicely together. I’m quite pleased with how it turned out and I like the music I found. The only thing I don’t like is the ending and how it abruptly goes to the end. I believe in my hurry, I forgot to take a picture at the end and thus the abrupt jump. But otherwise, I enjoy this little video and my Little Dino Steve.

Enjoy and Draw your own Dinosaurs!

By, MaKayla

5 Things That Drive Me Crazy.

I wish I could say I was inspired by something or someone but, I guess I did this video because I was feeling really annoyed by the mess in my house.  I’m usually the only one doing chores, so I wanted to express my frustration. So then I started to think about all the things that drive me crazy and started snapping pictures. Also my three year old son hardly ever listens to me so I definitely wanted to emphasize that. I didn’t want to use my voice because its starting to fade from getting sick, and I don’t like the sound of my voice. I just tried to find some real dramatic music to go with it because everything usually feels like its a dramatic struggle. Instead of putting lettering on my images, I just decided to put pages in between to give a brief glance at what was coming next. I tried to use some transitions in between also to help it flow better. I actually was going to change some things and make it longer, but I had to start over because I went from a previous version of Premiere to a newer one. I could of did more, but I did what I could for the time I had. I think this was a great experience for me. I’m interested into doing more of these projects.

 

P5: Fivie McFiverton Finds the Fives!

For this project, I wanted to have a little fun. My idea was to go around town and film someone commenting on varoius things that are related to five, but with a sense of humor! I called up my friends Maxfield and Emily to act for me, and we were off! We didn’t really have much of a script, instead just filmed whatever came to mind. I really like how Maxfield’s character ended up turning out. The whole video sort of evolved to be a parody of those YouTube “Vlogs,” complete with a somewhat cringy character, the mandatory “like, comment and subscribe” line and of course a dubstep animated intro! Making that intro animation was pretty fun, but also time-consuming. I ended up with more footage than I needed, but it’s always better to have more rather than less! Editing took approximately six hours (too bad it wasn’t five!), and all went pretty smoothly. In fact, I thoroughly enjoyed editing. I had lots of fun reviewing all the clips and making them fit together into a fast-paced Vlog-style video! I also really liked making the “error” effect that cuts in whenever Maxfield encounters something that isn’t five-related.

Anyway, hope you enjoy the video!

Software: Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2018

Music:

https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music/track/dubstep

https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music/track/pop-dance

Bleep Sound: https://freesound.org/people/austin1234575/sounds/213795/

Special thanks to my actors!

Fivie McFiverton: Maxfield

Cheese Lady/Movie Shopper/5th Street Market Bystander: Emily

Directed, filmed and edited by me, Colin Gruener

Sophie Alexander Interview

Screen Shot 2018-11-04 at 11.59.13 PM.png

As we all know, I love photography. Any chance that I get, I always love talking to other photographers. Three days ago, I interviewed a person whose work I love and always look up to. Sophie Alexander is a local photographer who specializes in weddings and travel documentary. She has been in photography for two and a half years, and she plans on continuing with this passion for the rest of her life. Starting off as a hobby, photography came easy to Sophie as she has an eye for what looks perfect in a picture. When I asked her about how difficult her job is, she answered by telling me that what she enjoys is easy, but what she doesn’t is hard. When it comes to taking photos, Sophie loves her job, but as soon as it comes to the business management, she begins to stress. This hard-working student does best under pressure and will always love to have her one-man business. Being able to manage her own schedule and work flow is a massive benefit and she thoroughly enjoys the capability to do so. When I asked her where she saw herself in ten years, she didn’t quite know. She plans on being a successful wedding photographer by then and maybe even have moved to Africa to follow her dream of documentary. Sophie has already been to Africa, and she thrives in the different lifestyles of what is around her. Getting to more of the local side of her work, I asked what she thought was the most important part of making a customer happy with her work.“The most important thing one can do is to fully communicate with your client and always ask lots of questions.” She stated. Making sure you know what the customer wants is number one priority. Over her two and a half years of working in this field, Sophie has gradually increased in skill and business. At times her job will flatline, but it always begins to pick up pace after some advertisement. When it comes to getting herself out into the world of business, sometimes it is very hard her to promote what she has to offer. Publicity is one of the biggest factors for a photographer, so when nothing is being prompted, no business will be made.  The last question I chose for this photographer is a question that is always asked at some point in time. This question determines whether or not this person is your friend or your foe. Do you like Cannon, or Nikon cameras. In this case, Sophie is a Cannon user and maybe that’s why her and I got along so well. Looking back over her business, I can say that she is very successful and very good at what she does. Her passion for this job is what lets her strive and succeed with photography. Along with her positive attitude, Sophie Alexander is by far one of the top photographers that I personally would choose for any work that I need done.

Her website is- http://www.sophiealexanderphotography.com

Holt International Interview

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Holt International Children’s Services

I chose Holt International Children’s Services for my informational interview because it was the agency my parents chose when they wanted to adopt. They chose Holt International because their first priority is to serve the children in their care. They work to support birth families and children so they can stay together, and if needed, they help find adoptive families for children in their birth country. Only then is international adoption an option they consider for a child. As an adoptee, I thought it would be interesting to talk to someone who works there.

Before I contacted Holt International, I explored their website and blog for various media. I found many articles, videos, and photos that talked about different adoptive families’ stories. I liked how the written articles told the stories and then in the video, the child or family would talk about the story from their own point of view. They were very professionally done, and very meaningful.

HLT 2017-Historic Display
Photo by Holt International

On October 30th, I interviewed Brian Campbell. He works at Holt International as a manager in the multimedia department. Travel is a part of this job because Holt provides services in many countries. As I interviewed Mr. Campbell and asked him my questions, he told me some interesting stories about his trips. One story he told me was when he was in the Philippines. He saw a group of young boys and wanted to take their picture. The youngsters followed Mr. Campbell and as soon as he turned to take their picture, they instantly started smiling, laughing and dancing for the camera.

PH 2015-Holt International
Photo by Holt International

Mr. Campbell also told me about when he was in Thailand and had to cross a lake to get to the other side. The only way he could get there was to walk on this very “dodgy” bridge. He told me it was not very wide and when several people were walking on it, the bridge started to waver and bend. He couldn’t afford to get the camera wet, so he handed it over to his assistant before carefully balancing his way across. I enjoyed hearing about his experiences in other countries.

TH 201&-Holt International - 1
Photo by Holt International

When Mr. Campbell goes traveling it’s not always with the whole crew. Sometimes it’s just himself and the writer. He takes the photos and videos while his assistant writes the stories. Afterwards they bring their work back home to the Eugene office and do their production work with the rest of the team. In Eugene, on a day-to-day basis, Mr. Campbell prioritizes current tasks and also plans ahead for the next week. Like most people, I didn’t know how much time, effort and work goes into making everything look professional and presentable. It takes a good amount of time to get all of their work done and finished by a certain deadline, which is one of Mr. Campbell’s daily challenges. One of the biggest opportunities in the department includes digital marketing for social websites like Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram. Mr. Campbell mentioned they’re always open to offering internships because their job requires many hands and their work is very intense. Holt’s staff also looks for employees who are motivated to help children and families. They care about why people want to work for them.

CH 2017-Holt International - 1
Photo by Holt International

 

F18-P4 Audio: Pandas not…….

You in for a laugh? watch my embarrassing freshman year story about high school theater! Just before you judge my picture I love pandas a lot and have nothing against them the picture is a symbol of my story. I had a lot of fun finding effects to my audio gathering ideas from radio stations. Being able to create my own project was a really fun  experience to express myself not just on stage but behind a microphone now which, I could get used to.

All my effects were found on freesound.org this includes the ironical drum beat, The electronic baby laugh, and the school hallway. The story itself was done in two different takes using my own speaker and mic plugged to my computer.

How did I bring this embarrassing story from a long time ago you may ask? I was listening to a lot of comical podcasts recently. It was very surprising remembering that sometimes that comedians are open about sharing their own embarrassing stories really  get the best laugh out of the audience.  So knowing that boosted my confidence to share something very immature and embarrassing from high school because there is not a better time to show off yourself going through puberty than high school.

 

Life of a Workaholic.

With this assignment I originally thought I’d add sound effects to some amazing slam poetry i recently found but being unable to willingly write my own poetry for class I decided to add sound to a short story I wrote. I morphed the story into a recital form so it didn’t sound like i was reading an essay aloud. With sound added to a story I hoped to add depth into the basic acts of the day. The story wrote itself but it became difficult to find the exact sounds i wanted.

The story involves the surroundings and the ambient noise in the background. i wanted a more real life feel instead of cartoon-y background music. with this story i hoped to take the listener into the head of a single guy that is often called a workaholic. Always moving with something to do and minimal breaks, I hope this might be relate-able to at least a few others out there.