Our final project required us to create a film that portrays an emotion of our choosing

For my project I decided to do the emotion or feeling of anxiety. At first I thought about doing a lot of quick and short shots of maybe someone running or being pursued. I decided to change this when I created my sound track.

I created and put together my sound track first. I wanted my soundtrack to have a calming and slow start which would slowly build up over time. This was also my idea which I wanted to display in my video as well.

The first half of my video contains calming and simple clips of everyday life or nature. Throughout the beginning of the first half I used the elevator floor display as a count down to the build up.

When the build up did come I used short and quick videos to represent this overwhelming feeling. I shot clips where its subject was moving quickly or in an unpredictable manner.

My final shot as well as the end of my soundtrack represents that kind of alleviation from the anxiousness through the video.

I chose anxiousness because I thought it would be a fun video to use a lot of quick cuts and slow transitions during the editing stages. I also thought I could make the soundtrack a story itself.

I enjoyed the places this project took me. I got to get into nature more and looked at the world through a new lens. I was constantly looking at movement and what I could film. I also enjoyed making the soundtrack. It was very enjoyable and interesting to portray an emotion through a soundtrack.

I did find this project challenging though. I found myself needing more clips than I originally shot. I kept returning with my camera to keep shooting more and more footage. I also tried to make my film flow. Finding the flow from clip to clip that also follows the soundtrack was a bit difficult.

My inspiration came from many quick scenes in movies or other short films. When you see chase scenes or fight sequences the shots are shaky and move quickly. Some of the clips even feel disorienting. I tried to use that method in my film.

Overall I liked this project. I did take a lot of trial and error to complete but I like the result. I’m glad I gained this skill to use in the future. Using Premiere Pro showed me It’s easy to make video and has maybe even encouraged me to make more videos outside of class.

The link to my video:

Project 3 asked us to create an island with a maze on it in unity, and give the player a target ( a coin ) and have them traverse the maze to find it.

For this project, we were assigned to create the terrain and maze outline of an island using Unity. We created an FPP character and guided them through the maze in search of a coin.

I definitely learned to use Unity a lot better, and how many of the objects and components of a game coincide to work towards the creation of a game. I learned in more depth how to connect events to certain objects and characters, how to incorporate audio and effects better into my scene, and how many parts create a whole when it comes to game design.

I find Unity’s default interface a little overwhelming at first. But, once you learn where everything is, you can more easily navigate the interface. Unity’s interface is very easy to use, so I found creating and placing objects to be quite easy. The tools Unity provides allows the user to create objects, effects, audio and textures with ease. Applying these items was very easy.

Although the interface for Unity guides you to the point you can create good looking games, many of the more complex settings and items in Unity can be hard to find and understand. Many times throughout my project I found myself wanting to add more to my scene to make it a bit more impressive. The easiest way I found to do this is to just mess around and see what you can do. And, at times, it was difficult to make your game show what you had applied or added. The extra settings for every unique object can be confusing and trying to find your problem can be time-consuming.

I could definitely improve my submission a lot. For the majority of my project, I was creating my terrain. I was aiming to make it as realistic as I could. But I learned I had to pick my battles. I tried for a while to apply a skybox texture I had downloaded and everything I tried didn’t work. I also wanted to smooth out the transitions of my mountains in my terrain but I found it difficult. Also, I found that my character sometimes collides correctly with the coin to initiate the event and sound effect, but not all the time. I would like to fix many of these issues and with more time I could improve my submission in the way I had planned.

The assignment was well laid out and easy to follow. I believe a lot of the project though required the student to do exploring with the Unity applications themselves. I also followed the directions and like I explained earlier, my character only sometimes collides correctly with the coin. Overall, I found the project a lot of fun and a great way for students to understand and play around with Unity.

I will definitely be applying my knowledge that I gained in this project to earlier projects and work situations. I plan to do game design and development as a full or part-time job in the future. Using Unity and the other software attached to beginner and amateur game design gives you a leg up when creating projects or assets. Unity is used for many app developments and indie games now. So learning more about Unity in this project will better prepare me for my future.

I reminisced about my adventures in the Elder Scrolls series and other open-world games. Seeing and exploring their terrain and landscapes really influenced my work as well. I looked more into Skyrim and its many mountains and texture choices. I believe my submission reflects Skyrim’s terrain the most.

I found this project very fun and exciting to do. It’s very satisfying to create games and landscapes to explore. I look forward to more projects with this amount of freedom and expression in the future.

Project 2 asked us to edit a website template. We were asked to edit the website to make it our personal resume, complete with our custom logo and new fonts and colors

In this project, I edited the given template to feature my information and logo. I learned to code a bit more in HTML in order to design and customize my resume website. I also learned how to insert a custom logo and images onto my website.

I found the majority of the project easy. I’ve had prior knowledge in HTML so I understood how the formatting worked in the code. HTML formatting in general is quite easy to me. I found the user interface of brackets easy to use as well and easy to understand. I could implement and view a preview of my site easily.

I found at some points the code wouldn’t work, which is due to my input being incorrect or incomplete. This was challenging to deal with at some points. I also found adjusting some of the fonts and colors challenging due to the assignments in the original template.

I believe I could improve my submission by including more information about myself. I was uncertain what would be appreciate to add to my submission. After seeing other submissions, I believe I could add more of my skills or experiences into my resume, which I plan to do.

I believe the assignment itself was easy to do and understand. I think with no prior knowledge to HTML, I could’ve been a bit more confused. I believe a lot of the project requires us to teach ourselves how to format in HTML. which I have no problem with. I believe HTML is easy to learn and understand. I also recognize that this is not a programming class.

This knowledge will most definitely be used int he future. I will probably find myself making websites for my work in the future. I will probably end up editing this file for my actual resume. I use HTML formatting a lot especially when formatting and creating websites. So this knowledge will be used in the future most definitely.

My inspiration for my design came from other monograms used by celebrities. Many companies or celebrities themselves make their monograms into some sort of picture. And as seen in my last blog post, My monogram is described as a picture as well.

Here is a link to my resume:

http://127.0.0.1:52178/index.html

Lab 4 asked us to create a monogram of our initials and create a business card with it

In this lab, the objective is create a monogram of our initials that fit together well, and use it on a business card. For my monogram, I used a blocky font. I found that my initials could fit together, but not in a way the letters would be distinct.

During the time I spent in this lab, I learned how I can use different fonts to create pictures. I created a picture as my monogram using fonts and circles. I also incorporated the invisible square into my monogram as well.

I did find this lab easy. I had a dun time exploring different fonts and how those fonts can blend together to create an artistic monogram.

Although I found this lab easy, creating a new way to incorporate my initials into a picture, and make each letter distinct was a bit challenging. Each letter shared a straight line but it was challenging to represent each letter and still blend them together as well.

I believe my submission could improve if I changed the fonts of my name and other details on my business card. Everything seemed very blocky and I tried to break that up with thinner fonts, but I believe I could’ve improved.

I can apply this knowledge to my job in the future. This may be a creative way to make my business cards in the future. To create a unique and distinct looking monogram to get your name and occupation out there is very important. And, creating a monogram is a greta way to set yourself apart.

I took my inspiration from the group and in class discussion. We looked up famous or well known monograms. I noticed how they all were incorporated into some kind of symbol or picture. So my monogram, looks like a person. So I used my initials to make a picture.

Project one asked me to design a Halloween card

Throughout this project, I’ve learned how to better blend fonts and images to a background. I’ve also learned how to manipulate images to Loog certain ways using effects, overlays, and other means. I’ve also learned how to use artboards, and how beneficial they can be to a project.

I found the majority of the project easy, but time-consuming. I did learn more about some of the tools more in-depth. The project itself was easy and left me with a lot of creative freedom.

Although I found a lot of the project easy, there were some challenging parts. Making effects consistent throughout the whole image was a bit tough. Also trying to make someone some of the effects less harsh against other images without just turning the opacity down. I also found fonts following a path to be a bit challenging.

I could improve my submission by making the effects I applied to some of the fonts more consistent. Also, I could improve the paths my fonts are set on.

I was happy with the assignment altogether. I think it left us with a lot of creative freedom while still leaving us to complete the assignment in a uniform manner. So I won’t want to improve the assignment at all.

I will use the knowledge I gained in this project to alter and edit projects in the future. All the requirements of this project made me use the essential tools for any project in photoshop. So I will use these tools consistently in areas of work that require me to use the program.

My inspiration came from just the spooky aspect of the original Halloween atmosphere. I took the contrast of a scary object ( puppy heads) and altered it to be more spooky. I did this by giving the puppies hats and edited it to look like they are ghosts. I also included a graphic on the inside page to make it look like the puppies drew a message, adding to the oddly cute and pleasant theme while still keeping it spooky. I also based the font on the inside of my project on the signature font from the movie Shrek, typically seen as a spooky movie with all the monsters and such.

Overall, this project was fun to do and insightful on what tools I could use more practice on.

Lab 2 asked me to cut out an image and apply it to a background

In this lab, the objective was to cut out an image of a leaf using Photoshop’s magnetic lasso tool. After completing the objective of then taking the leaf and applying it to the background provided, I decided to play around with levels and effects. I learned more about the levels, how they work and how I can isolate the levels to different layers to create different effects.

I found this lab easy as well. I used the same method on the leaf as I did in my last lab to the apple. The magnetic lasso tool is very easy to use to cutting out the leaf and simply applying it as another layer over the background.

I didn’t find the lab or the aspects of it challenging. What I did find challenging was trying to make the image blend into the background. The assignment didn’t ask for me to do this but I thought I would try. I used different layers and levels to make it blend into the background with similar colors. I had an especially hard time blending the hand. I felt like my execution was sloppy.

I could improve my assignment by being more precise when using the magnetic lasso tool. I was pretty picky with cutting out the leaf originally, but I did cut some corners. So, I could zoom in more to cut the leaf out more precisly. I could also get picky, and add that I think the mountain range now looks a bit over saturated, so I would probably go back and clean that up a bit. I also feel that I didn’t make it seem like the hand was really part of the picture. I would probably go back and mess with the levels a bit to get that hand to look like it belongs in the image.

I can, and most likely will, use this method nearly every time I create a complex image with one or more items or foreground. The use of the magnetic lasso tool itself is a very useful tool to use and arguably the best option for cutting out images to use in a project or image. Many scenarios I will use Photoshop for with ask me to create assets, make an ad, form the image for a poster, etc,. Similarly, all these projects will most likely require me to cut out images or patterns to use. Therefore, using the magnetic lasso tool is very useful in these situations.

My inspiration for the image and my choice or effects stems from the distinction between reality and fantasy. Both images used are actual photos from the world. They aren’t drawings or clip-art of a leaf and a star-y background, they are accurate and actual depictions of the leaf and background. For this reason, a giant leaf peeking out behind a silhouette of a mountain range isn’t realistic. So, to preserve the realistic aspect but to also incorporate a fantasy aspect of a giant leaf, I blended the colors of the leaf to the background, but also preserving its shape and shades of the leaf. I tried to bring in that fantasy aspect of the leaf being a similar color to the sky but the hand still appearing realistic.

This first lab called for me to manipulate a file of noise. I then chose from that noise a 6×6 block of color.

While doing this project I learned that creating a background or mask can be as easy as selecting a block of colors and then enlarging it.

This lab was quite easy for me. I’ve had a lot of prior experience with Photoshop. The steps to complete the lab were quite straight forward and easy to execute. This was an easy representation of photoshop’s basic tools.

I didn’t find the assignment challenging itself, but this lab could be artistically challenging. Selecting a sequence of blocks that appeal to the eyes and rest them as well can be challenging. I went with the approach of a colorful group of blocks that followed a pastel palette.

I could improve my submission by making it a bit more simple. I added a cut-out of an apple to act as the foreground of my submission. I went along and added some overlays to the image, giving it a simple color-pop effect. I would’ve liked to play around with the colors a bit more to possibly turn it into something that I could use in the future. For the next assignment, I will take this knowledge into account.

I can use the knowledge that is emphasized in this assignment to create easy overlay gradients for images or to easily grab a colorful and interesting background that will guide the eye.

I took my inspiration for the assignment from Japanese vapor-wave designs and Japanese 70’s funk-pop covers. They tend to be colorful and pastel, and also have words or phrases in a blocky and bold font. I will probably use this same inspiration in future projects or assignments.