Hey Everyone! For the last reflective response of this school year, I thought why not end the year by sharing a great short film with you all. So today, I'll be talking about the short film, 'The Camera" by Peter Lewis on Vimeo. This was the first short that he made, and it was all filmed on a Canon T2i with a $50 budget! This goes to prove what Andrew Jenks said at the STN 2014 Convention; It doesn't matter how much good gear and expensive equipment you have, but what matters is your drive and passion with your idea. This short film is about a young girl who finds a Polaroid camera in an abandoned house, but finds something unusual about it as she starts taking photos. I absolutely love this video and everything about it. It's superb! The lighting, cinematography, audio, music, etc. Let's start with the lighting. The lighting was excellent and consistent throughout the video. I think this might have been a challenge for the camera operator since a lot of the shots they filmed were outside, in the daylight. This means that they had to keep the amount of light even and steady, or else you could run into continuity problems. Although the lighting is really nice, my favorite part of this short film would have to be the cinematography. It's just really amazing! Even on a short budget, they managed to get really smooth tracking and moving shots. When I first watched it, I thought they filmed it with a DJI Ronin! It was that nice! They had lots of compositions and angles, and I was especially fond of the over the shoulder shot of the abandoned house. I also really liked how the screen went into a white shade of color really quickly to show the flash of the camera, it was unique. The visuals were great, but lets talk about audio now. I don't think that there weren't any dialogue, but there were NAT, or natural sounds. I remember hearing them while opening doors and taking photos. Most of the audio was purposely overpowered by piano music. The piano music that filled the video really set the mood. It gave the video a kind of mysterious, creepy yet curious atmosphere. It's truly amazing what music can do to a video. Those were the main points of what I liked about this short film, although there are plenty more. If you'd like to watch this 8 minute film, I embedded it below! I hope you like it as much as I did. On a side note, I hope this video inspires you to create your own films or do anything, no matter any restrictions or limitations. Remember what Andrew Jenks said! Well, that is it for the final reflective response of this school year! I've loved this year of media, and I am very excited for more! Thank you so much for reading! Bye! Hope your summer is fantastic!
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Hey Everyone! For the last constructive response for this school year, I will be talking about some things that surprised me the most in CKTV. I've had many unexpected surprises, but the three I'm going to share with you has had a positive effect on me. Three things that surprised me was the amount of friendships I made, my improvement, and how much more I learned.
The first thing that took me by surprise was that I made lots of good friends in media. At the start of this school year, I just confined myself to a couple of people that I knew and were comfortable with. However, as the year progressed, I forced myself to talk to new people and socialize, which is one of the best decisions I have made. I was surprised by how many new friendships I created and how much closer I became to each person. I still remember initializing a conversation with Taylor, Napua, and Serena at the golf tournament while lei making. At the start, I was nervous and shy since I didn't really know a lot of the people in the class, but I am now proud to say that I've became friends with pretty much everyone, and that's a good thing. We all shared that common thread of being in CKTV, but as I got to get to know each person, it was more than that. I am glad to be surrounded by great people each day at school. They're all very kind, sweet, and caring, and you know that they'd have your back. The CKTV Ohana is the best! One thing I was surprised by was how many new friends I've made this year. The second thing that surprised me was how far I've come and how much I've improved. Being totally honest, I didn't have much confidence at the start of the school year. I guess I was just anxious about being mentoring another student and having more responsibility than last year. I really didn't expect much accomplishments. When I started the year, one of my goals was to get one of my news stories onto Hiki No. At the time, I thought that I wouldn't achieve that goal, but I was just setting them high to lead myself on. However, I can proudly say that I did meet that goal! I was actually kind of surprised by that, but am very happy that the story I worked on with Herenui was aired. Despite that, what surprised me the most was that the same story placed 1st in the STN Spring Nationals! How crazy is that! It surprised me because we were up against lots of tough competition, especially since it's nationwide. Another achievement that I was surprised by was getting an honorable mention on the PSA I did this year, "Don't Burn Your Life Away" at the STN Spring Nationals. I seriously didn't expect all these awards, but am very humble and lucky to have gotten them. Kudos to my partner Herenui and all her hard work on our story. I am very satisfied with my improvement, and hope that I can improve even more as the future progresses. Another thing that surprised me was how far I've come and how much I've improved. The third thing that surprised me was how much more I learned. This year, I've learned a lot of things that I didn't know before. This includes technical things, advice, and life lessons. This surprised me because I thought that I knew most of the basics that there is to media. It turns out that there is much more. I learned all these things from my own personal mistakes and experiences, and from other peers who have helped me along the way. I've learned that there are two ways that the Zoom receives the audio, and that it may not be picking up your mic's audio because you're not on the right setting. Yep, I've learned that one the hard way. Not only did I learn technical things, but I've also learned more life lessons. Yes, we all know that 'do not procrastinate' is a biggie, but something new I learned was the importance of patience, productiveness, and cooperation. I was very lucky to be given great advice from great people. I really enjoyed all the breakout sessions during STN because it gave us guidance on how to become better. Improvement is how you succeed. Another thing I liked was receiving constructive feedback from my peers, Mr. M, and even the Hiki No people. Again, improvement is the way to success. A classmate and friend of mine once told me, "Rejection is motivation to work harder." I think this is something everyone should hear. It works with lots of situations, like your media projects. I'm sharing that quote because it's my favorite and because it might give you some inspiration. But probably the most important thing that I've learned was about myself. I realized that I really enjoy creating videos, filming and especially editing. The third thing that surprised me was how much more I've learned. In conclusion, I have had many unexpected surprises, but the top three would be meeting new friends, how much I've improved, and all the new things that I've learned. Thankfully, all three has impacted me in a positive way. We will always have surprises in life, but what matters is how you react and what you do about it. This has been the last constructive response of this school year. Hopefully I'll be writing to you again next school year! As always, that is it for this week's constructive response! Thanks for reading! Bye! Have a great summer everyone! Stay Safe!
Hey Everyone! For this week's reflective response, I will be sharing with you a little short film called, 'Brainstorm'. This short is about a boss giving his idea and his constructive criticism to two other men in a brainstorm or pitch party. This film was shot entirely using the 3-axis handheld stabilizer, the DJI Ronin. As you probably already know, our class recently bought the Ronin, and used it for a couple of projects. The footage taken by the Ronin is absolutely superb! It is so smooth and not shaky at all. It allows you to get so many different types of shots. In this short film, it relied on a lot of action and a variety of scenes. Lets start from the beginning. It shows a medium of two people, but then moves back so you can see the whole frame. I really like the transition from the pitch party to the idea of the two friends working together. It was like a fast movement between the walls, which was very unique and eye-catching. During the friends scene, it had a tracking shot. With a tripod, you can't really do that as it mainly captures static shots. A dolly could get that, but the Ronin can get tracking shots, and other types too. I really like how the camera glides down as the two friends descend on the stairs. Even while they're moving around fighting, the camera is able to rotate around them to capture every angle. If you noticed at the beginning of the scene, the camera started at a very high angle. As the situation progressed, it became lower and lower, until it was floor level. That just goes to show how much flexibility the stabilizer has. In the next scene after that with the couple, I loved how the camera revolved around them kissing. You usually see a lot of shots like that in movies, because it adds drama to the mood. The transition to the next scene was also unique. The camera actually went through an open window, while still capturing the man walking down the steps. I could go on and on about how great the shots are! But the actual message, or moral, of this story is to make the most of every opportunity you are given by being more creative. I think this is a great message because you can accomplish so much more by just going the extra mile. That is what differs from a good, and a great story. I hope I'll have the opportunity to use this incredible equipment sometime in the future. Until then, that's it for this week's reflective response! Thanks for reading! Bye!
Hey Everyone! As a second year student in CKTV, I have learned many important lessons that will help me through the class and my life in general. For this week's constructive response, I will be sharing with you three of my most important lessons I learned. Three of my most important lessons I've learned are, use your time wisely, don't be shy, and be prepared.
One of the most important lessons I've learned is, use your time wisely. When I say use your time wisely, I mean, be productive and do not procrastinate! Procrastination is the project killer! It will leave you stressed and anxious, rushing at the last minute to finish a project. This being, start early! As soon as you come up with an idea or get assigned a project, start on it! It's better early than late. Make sure you remind yourself of deadlines and your due dates, as they are extremely important! We usually write down little markers in the planner, but you can also go onto the CKTV website under 'Class Curriculum', where you can click here. There it'll tell you when your scripts are due, when to stop filming and start editing, and overall to just check if you are on track. Even if you don't procrastinate, it is also very important that you are being productive with your time! To be productive, you need to make sure you prioritize correctly! If you have scripts that are due that day, don't spend your class time doing your blogs! Make sure you're using your time in class in an efficient way. So don't be playing on your phones, or talking to your friends during class and advisory when you can actually be getting things done! One important lesson I have learned is to use your time wisely by being productive and not procrastinating. Another important lesson I've learned is, don't be shy. In the media class and in life, you cannot be shy! You will be forced to talk to people that maybe you are not comfortable with, or do things outside of your comfort zone. But you have to be able to do so if you want to succeed in life! For our news/feature story projects, you will have to call people who you haven't met and just talk to them! If you're shy, you might not land an interview. Being outgoing is a very important trait to have. You'll meet new people, make new friends, and learn so much more. If you have a question, do not be afraid to ask! It will only help you become better with your new knowledge. In STN for Crazy 8's Broadcast, you will need to go out into the community were you're most likely not familiar with, and go up to strangers and talk to them. Don't be afraid, and please, speak up. Another important lesson I have learned is to not be shy or afraid to talk. The last lesson I have to share with you is to be prepared. Being prepared covers so much things, especially in this class. If you're going out to shoot an interview, make sure you have a list of questions and that you know what you're going to say. You don't want to have to ad lib it on the spot because you'll probably forget important details, or be stuck and don't know what to say. You also need to make sure your equipment is ready and checked. The last thing you need is a camera to not work or your SD card has no memory. You always need to make sure that you have spare batteries, your SD card has memory, that your tripod has a shoe and works, and that your camera is working, mics, etc. If possible, scout the area that you are planning to shoot at. How is this lighting? Do you need an LED Light or light bouncer? Of course if you're shooting interviews at a night time event you need to make sure that you have that LED ready. Is the background or environment busy, distracting, and loud? There are many things that can affect your shooting, and many things that can go wrong. Make sure that you are prepared so that you can try to prevent anything bad from happening. The third lesson I have is to always be prepared. In summary, those are just three important lessons I have learned, but please be sure that I have learned lots from this class and the people in it. I am very grateful that I have gotten into CKTV because not only has it taught me about film making and journalism/storytelling, but it has also taught me many life lessons that I can benefit from. In a year when I leave this class sadly, I will still be able to enforce everything I have learned. Maybe I'll go into a career into media, but if not, I can still use the lessons I've learned there. It is always important in any situation to use your time wisely, be outgoing, and to be prepared, right? Well, that is it for this weeks constructive response! Thanks for reading! Bye! Oscar Wilde, once said, "The only thing to do with good advice is to pass it on. It is never of any use to oneself." Hey Everyone! For this week's constructive response, I will be sharing advice about CKTV to you all! Coming from a student in the media class with 2 years of experience, I have learned many things, and made many mistakes. I have made many great friendships, saw new places, and experienced amazing things. I can proudly say that I am apart of the CKTV Ohana. Although the topic asked for 3 pieces of advice, I have many more to share. You can read them below!
The first piece of advice I have is, DON'T PROCRASTINATE! You'll probably hear this in everyone's blog, and it's true. Save yourself the worry and stress, and just don't do it! Yes, sometimes it may be appealing or tempting, but trust me, you will regret it! It will bite you in the butt! If you have work to do, do it! I cannot stress this enough, because I have been a victim of procrastination, and it is not fun. When you avoid doing your work, it will build up into a large pile of mess. It will lead you to be stressed, anxious, and overall worried. When you rush until the last minute, your work won't be very good. Most times, It'll be sloppy and lazy, and that is not great. So listen to me when I say, do not procrastinate! The second piece of advice I have is, Don't Be Afraid To Ask For Help! We all don't know everything about media, or anything for that fact. So do not be afraid to ask! Ask questions, seek advice, ask for help! It is very important that you do so! You will not learn much if you don't. If you're confused, do not be ashamed or shy to ask for clarification! I am sure that anyone will be pleased to help you! If you're confused and you don't ask for help, then you wouldn't know how to do it. Then you wouldn't know what to teach someone else. No one got anywhere without some help. Ask questions, too! If you're curious about something, ask someone about it! Seek advice from others. Coincidently, I just asked Kelli for advice on music videos, since she is great at that. Her advice has helped me improve my knowledge on techniques while filming. But you need to remember, take, but you must give back. This means, when someone asks you for help, make sure you help them! Ask for help, seek advice, and ask questions because it will help you in this class and more broadly, in life. The third piece of advice is, Always Check And Test Your Equipment! This is a mistake I have made too many times. I was rushing and I didn't check and test the equipment. This left me with tripods whose legs were stuck, mic's that didn't work, and batteries that were not charged. Trust me, save yourself the regret and check it before you sign it out! Speaking of the sign out sheet, make sure you confirm that everything is there because if not, you could be liable and responsible if something isn't there. Check your tripod. Make sure it has a shoe! Once as a 6th grader, I signed out a tripod, but it didn't have a shoe! This meant I could not film. Another time, I checked out a tripod but did not test it. One of the legs was stuck! Always check each leg and your tripod leg! Speaking of tripods, ALWAYS USE ONE! As Mr. M said, "Even if you say that you can 'hold it steady' you can't!" Tripods are your best friend! It keeps your shot nice and steady, and you won't have to stress about shaky shots later. Check your batteries, too. Make sure your batteries are fully charged, and that you have a spare. Also be sure that you have spares for not only your camera, but also for your mics and DXA-SLR Mini box. When you have all your batteries set, be sure to turn everything off! Don't forget an SD card! Also, make sure that you have enough memory. Test it, too. On some SD cards, it will display a message saying, "Movie Recording Has Been Stopped Automatically'. Check your SD so that you won't be wasting anyone's time while out to shoot. This means test your mics. Make sure it actually records sound. Test your DXA-SLR Mini Box. Something I learned that hard way: Just because you can hear the audio in the Mini Box, Doesn't always mean it's capturing the audio! So, take a test recording and PLAY IT BACK! Always check and test your equipment, it'll help you while shooting. As a 2nd year student in the CKTV Media Ohana, I have learned so much. I've learned from others, from Mr. M, and from my mistakes. Here are some pieces of advice that I hope you'll follow with. If you are a new student, or a returning student, to the class, Congratulations on getting into the best class ever! Remember to work hard, but also have fun! Well, that's it for my constructive response. I may be adding more to this post as the year comes to an end. Thanks for reading! Bye!
Hey Everyone! For this week's reflective response, I'll be sharing with you a PSA I stumbled upon on YouTube. The PSA is about conserving water. I think this is a big issue that everyone should be aware of. Everyday, millions of gallons of water are wasted, yet there are some countries that do not have any. If we could all conserve water, then we could make a difference. The PSA starts of with a man getting ready in the morning. He does his usual routine and starts to brush his teeth. However, he leaves the faucet running the whole time, even if he isn't using it. After he finished brushing his teeth, the faucet won't budge shut, so he just leaves it flowing. He goes about his day, making his breakfast, with the faucet still going. He sits on his couch and starts to read the paper. There he sees an article with the title, "The World's Next Challenge: Water", with a photo of a young boy waiting for water to come out of a pipe. The man realizes that he is wasting something another person could have, so he goes back to the sink and tries his hardest until he stops the water. We cut back to the boy and he finally gets water, and you could tell by the expression on his face that he was very happy. Overall, I think this PSA has a good plot. As the message goes, "Stop the drop. Save the life." I thought the opening shot was pretty cool. It showed the world, and it's animated to go to the man's house. It makes me wonder how they did that! The scene had a variety of angles, even if it was just of one subject. I liked how the camera was blurred, but gained focus as the man stepped into the shot. That's a good technique to use when filming. However, my favorite shot would have to be at the end, when the young boy finally gets water. The running water was in focus with the bokeh in the background. If you haven't noticed already, I absolutley love bokeh. What I found really unique about this PSA is the newspaper idea. You see the man reading the newspaper, and it actually cuts to the scene of the photo. I was pretty surprised when I saw that, but it helped the story greatly. What also helped the story was the music. The music was inspirational and determined, and it really set the mood in this story. You can watch the PSA below. Well, that's it for this week's reflective response! Thanks for reading! Bye!
Hey Everyone! For this week's reflective response, I'll be talking about a suspenseful short film I came across. This short film is called, "Awake', from the YouTube channel, "Danny Blackstock". It is about a boy who has been all alone in the world for 93 days, just wandering aimlessly trying to kill boredom, until strange things start to happen. He keeps claiming that he saw things, and that things around him keeps changing, which is weird since he is the only one there. But what if he's not alone? There is A LOT of foreshadowing in this film! He talks about the first time he tried to drive, and his car was full of water. In another scene, he's playing with a toy car and he drops it into a lake. This gives us hints that something with him driving and water will happen consistently in the future. Foreshadowing is also a very good technique to use in writing, and film making, because it builds up suspense within the story. The narrator, who is the boy, talks about his grandfather, and how he never knew what happened to him after he got sick. This gives the audience hints that this topic will present itself later on in the story. In the middle of the film, the strange things that I talked about earlier starts happening. The music changes, and it starts to get creepy. They did a good job of choosing music to fit the mood and atmosphere, in my opinion. This part of the film gave me the chills! *Spoiler* In the end of the film, we see find out that the strange person was his grandfather. We also see a news article about the boy, who drove into a lake and died. This was the main event that the foreshadowing was hinting towards. With this information, we can infer that both the boy and his grandfather had passed away, and so this world is their afterlife. *Spoiler* This film built a lot of suspense and sparked curiosity, which made it's plot and direction good. It's cinematography was great, too! They filmed with a T2i, with a 'nifty fifty' lens, which is a great 50mm lens. They also used the kit lens, an 18-55mm lens, and a telephoto lens for zoom, the 55-250. Using a variety of lenses was a good idea because it allowed them to get different types of shots and compositions. For example, I assume they used the nifty fifty to get the thumbnail eye shot, since that's a great lens to get the circular shape in focus with the background blurred. I also assume they used different rigs. I noticed static shots, but also shots taken with a slider. Overall, this was a good short film. The plot was interesting and suspenseful, they used music well, and their cinematography was great. You can watch the film below! Well, that's it for my reflective response! Thanks for reading! Bye!
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AuthorHi! I'm Alaysia Navor, a third year student in the CKTV Media Productions class. I'll be publishing 2 blogs each week, posted to the left. You can also check out the tabs, "Inside Scoop" and "Projects" for some of my other work. "A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor" Categories
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