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Vimeo Video School

8/30/2014

Hi Everyone! For this week's reflective response, I'd like to talk about one of my favorite "channels" on Vimeo, and that's the staff of Vimeo itself, Vimeo Video School! Vimeo Video School is just as the name offers, A Vimeo, Video School! Here on this channel, they offer tips, tutorials, and very effective lessons to help anyone make a successful video. I thought I'd write about this channel in this week's reflective response because I thought it would be useful, with us starting our first quarter projects, and just this year of media in general! Vimeo Video School offers a variety of lessons, from DSLR's, to Gear, to Lighting, and Shooting, and Sound, every lesson is worth watching and reading! It will definite be helpful in the future, with any project you're doing! I spent some time watching these videos to benefit myself, and hopefully you reading this.

10 Steps to Shooting your First DIY Interview:
So because we are currently working on our first quarter project, I thought this video would be of use to some of you. Yes, the interview deadline was this Monday, however, some of us, still have interviews scheduled, or some that are still scheduling. Even if you've filmed all your interviews and are done with this stage, it's still a good thing to keep in mind, just in case you need to film another interview, or even for future reference, like for quarter 2 or next year perhaps. This tutorial/lesson teaches you how to shoot an interview, along with helpful tips to keep in mind. To read the spot-on lesson that goes along with the video, click here.

10 Steps to Shooting your First DIY Interview from Vimeo Video School on Vimeo.

Bounce Lighting
This should be helpful to go along with your interviews. Have you ever interviewed someone and they have massive dark shadows on their face? Well that means you should either A, move to a different location because your background may be too bright and causing the siloette effect on your subject, or B, use a bounce lighting reflector! Yes, we actually have these I'm class (they're located in the laptop room). Anyways, what a bounce lighting reflector does is exactly what the name suggests, it bounces light and reflects it onto the subject. This lessens harsh shadows on their face, but one partner will have to hold it steady the entire time. To read the effective lesson on bounce lighting that goes along with the video, click here.

Bounce Lighting from Vimeo Video School on Vimeo.

Do More With Your DSLR I: Working with Avaliable Light
I found this video and article lesson extremely helpful. Whenever I use a DSLR, I just ignored the f-stop, whitebalance, ISO, the Kelvin temperature, and things like that, because I've never known how to use them! Really make sure to watch this video AND read the lesson article behind it! (I actually find the article way more helpful and informative). This lesson teaches you how to work with the natrual light around you, and how to change the settings to fit and match your subject! Click here to read the article.

Do More With Your DSLR I: Working with Available Light from Vimeo Video School on Vimeo.

After you've watched the video and read the article, try it out from yourself! I embeded this simulator from the CKTV website, More < Class Resources < DSLR Training, just in case you want to go back there!

Quick Focusing Tips:
Just some quick focusing tips I've always used while shooting. I love to magnify the subject because then you can see up close how it looks, and adjust the focus so it's sharp. You can read the article to this lesson by clicking here.

Quick Focusing Tips from Vimeo Video School on Vimeo.

And finally, Directing 101
With ever movie, ever short film, every PSA, there was a director. A director who tells everyone what to do, like a leader or a boss. With every good movie or film, there's always a good director. Watch this video about Directing for some tips on how to be a good director, and also read the lesson by clicking here.

Directing 101 from Vimeo Video School on Vimeo.

That's all the video's I thought I'd share with you, they're very helpful and useful when shooting, so make sure you watch them AND read the article. And there is much more videos, but I didn't want to put up because it'll be too long, so you guys just have to go check out their channel for yourself! It'll benefit you! I hope it helped. That's it for this week's reflective response, Bye!

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Scary.

8/29/2014

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According to the Oxford online dictionary, the definition of the word 'scary' is "frightening; causing fear". You must be thinking, well, why am I telling you this? There is an actual reason behind all of this non-sense, and that reason is this week's constructed response! This week's blog topic is, the scariest thing you've ever done. Hold on, let me think of all the times I've been scared and frightened...wait, that's too much to count. It's true, I get scared very easily. Too easily, I admit. I'm not sure if you heard me screaming at the school evacuation the other day because of a bug that crawled onto my shoe. I have a lot of fears, and when I say a lot of fears, I mean a lot of fears, (including bugs and insects). And the scariest thing I've ever done, dealt with one of my biggest fears. Heights and Falling. The scariest thing I've ever done was riding the Tower of Terror. Yes, you read that correctly. The scariest thing I've done was gone on a ride at Disney. It must sound really lame compared to everyone else's scariest experience because theirs is so much scarier, and mine is just a ride gone on for enjoyment and fun. Well, don't worry, I have some reasons to back this up. Going on the tower of terror was the scariest thing I've ever done because I didn't know we would ride it, I've never been on the tower of terror before, and because I'm afraid of heights and falling.
The first reason why riding the tower of terror was the scariest thing I've ever done is because I didn't know we would actually ride it at first. It was sometime early in the morning when we all arrived to Disney's Hollywood Studios and we had a tour planned out. So we went on the tour with this Disney Imagineer and he was talking about the gravity and kinetic and potential energy in roller coasters and rides at the theme park. Well, guess what? I guess the tour guide was more of a hands-on kind of person, so he suggested that we ride the Tower of Terror to understand the lesson better. I panicked. We were close by the tower of terror and part of me wanted to go, and part of me didn't want to go. I was like 99.9% that didn't want to go, and 0.1% who kind of wanted to. I did not realize we would actually ride the rides in this tour, and so that's why I panicked, I was very surprised. I've seen those commercials on Disney channel about the tower of terror and, it didn't really look like the people were having fun. Plus, it was still pretty early in the morning. This scared me, a lot. That wasn't really a pleasant surprise. Try understanding something when you're in a room full of people screaming their heads off. Just kidding, not about the screaming people though, but I totally got the lesson, and I did it the hard way. I went on the tower of terror.
The second reason why the scariest thing I've done was riding the tower of terror is because I've never been on the tower of terror before, or any of the other rides at Disney Hollywood Studios at that point. So that was my first ever time going on the tower of terror, and on any ride at Disney Hollywood Studios. First Impressions, right? The only thing similar to it, and was not even close to the tower of terror would be that little blue ride at the county fair that goes up and down. So, I was pretty freaked out and very nervous. I've seen those videos of people riding the tower of terror and I strongly advise you not to wear earphones while watching them because all you can hear is screaming. People screaming for 3 minutes straight. That pretty much scared me to death. They seemed very frightened, and the room was pretty much full of adults or older teenagers. Which meant, I would be way more frightened, terrified is the word.
The last reason why riding the tower of terror was the scariest thing I've ever done is because I have a fear of heights and falling. You must be thinking, "then why would you go on it, Alaysia?" And I actually have no clue why. Experience maybe. Curiosity? Facing my fears? To say, "yeah, I went on that thing". I guess I just wanted to feel the actual experience of riding 'The Tower of Tower' (as Disney adverts put it) and even though I knew that it was very high up and it dropped down, my curiosity and bravery also went up (whoa, was that a word play?!). My mind tricked me into thinking it wouldn't be so bad. In fact, some of my classmates told me that it's not scary at all, but instead, very fun. And so, I went on it. And regretted every. single. second. The tower of terror is 13 floors high, which is 199 feet up! I didn't know this before I got on, all I knew was that it was very high. Things are much bigger up close. When the "elevator" reached the final stop, at the 13th floor, you could see the whole theme park, which indeed was frightening and definitely caused fear. Here's a tip: if you're afraid of heights, do not ride the tower of terror. To some, it may be a nice view, but to me, it is not very nice when you realize you're like 200 feet in the air and you will drop down any second, and those seconds were ticking And that's when it happened. Everyone was looking at the view, scared, and probably me the most because it was my first time going on it, and that's when it happened. We dropped. It was like everything was in slow-motion. I felt a sudden blast of air meet my face and my body. We were falling. Did you know that the tower of terror has lap seat belts like car seat belts? My body flew up to the ceiling; gravity taking the best of all of us. Did you also know that I absolutely dislike the feeling of falling? My stomach dropped while we dropped with it, blinded with darkness and unable to know what was going on. I was screaming very badly, along with everyone else. We were a chorus of screaming people, and I was the lead. I'm pretty certain that my scream stood out from everyone else's, Mr. M even posted an Instagram video and you can clearly hear my scream, load and never-ending. I remember myself yelling, "IS IT OVER????" No surprise, it was not done yet. The ride only lasted a couple of minutes but It felt like eternity. All that curiosity and bravery escaped with my screams, and all I wanted to do was get off the ride. The ride was finally over and I was so relieved. Everyone in my class seemed to like it, and they wanted to go on it again. I do not understand their thinking at all. I did not want to go anywhere near that 'thing' again.
In conclusion, The Tower of Terror was an actual 'tower of terror' for me, and the slogan, 'Fear Every Drop' described my ride experience in a nutshell. Riding The Tower of Terror was the scariest thing I have ever done because having to ride it was a surprise, I've never rode it before, and because I have a fear of heights and falling. You guys most definitley have scarier experiences, and I'm interested in reading them! But for now, thanks for reading, and make sure you read my reflective response, about Vimeo Video School! Bye!

PC: Mr. M!

Here's a video that Mr. M took on his GoPro of us on the ride! (You can hear me yelling, "Is it over?") VC: Mr. M again!

Here's the crazy group who went on the ride again!

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Silo.

8/24/2014

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Hi Everyone! For this week's reflective response, I will be talking about Nat sounds and a video I watched. Nat sounds are Natural sounds that come from a specific object or person. They actually talked about Nat sounds at the Hawaii Creative Media summer camp. Nat sounds help the audience or the viewers, feel like they are with you and experiencing part of the story. It is clear audio of one specific object, not like ambient sound, which is capturing everything. To learn more about Nat sounds, watch this informational video by clicking here. Anyways, today I watched a really interesting video on vimeo, with incredible audio. The video is a short film called Silo. Silo is about an engineer who failed his maintenance service test, so he is determined to pass it, but has some bumps in the road before he can get to the end of the track. Silo has amazing nat sounds; perfectly clear and solid and no dialogue which is pretty unique. I think pretty much every shot had nat sounds in it. Shutting a door, writing, ripping up paper, a liquid dripping, and that was only a very tiny portion of the nat sounds included in this video. Along with that, it also has some music that matches to accompany the nat sounds and set the mood. For example, when the engineer was determined to get a satisfactory pass, the background music was inspiring. The video itself is fantastic. The shots are very well focused, with the background compressed and they used a bunch of different angles to show one action. Some of the angles were unusual type of angles, which was also pretty interesting to see from that perspective. Other shots were at different levels of heights, low angles, high, medium, and also the tightness of the shot was changes quite frequently. In most of the shots, they used a slider to move the camera from one distance to the other along with the music that I was talking about, it made a really nice shot. We should learn how to use sliders and get them to use in class because then we can get some really cool shots. Overall, I think this video definitely needs some recognition for the awesome video. Never before have I seen such a video with great nat sounds, great audio. Every single shot had some sort of nat sound in it, the angles changes a lot, had nice framing, and the story itself was compelling and somewhat humorous. That's it for my reflective response, thanks for reading, you can watch "Silo" below, bye!

Silo from David Soll on Vimeo.

Also watch the Silo production breakdown! At first, I thought they actually built a set of layers, but you can watch this video to see how it's actually done.

Silo VFX breakdown from David Soll on Vimeo.

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First Quarter Project!

8/21/2014

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Hi Everyone! As you know, the school year has started back up again, which means another year of media! Which also means, we are blasting straight into our first quarter projects, full speed! Like last year, our first, along with our second quarter projects, will be news story videos. Third and fourth quarter however, we'll get to that later. A news story is any problem or an issue, or something interesting happening, in this case, on Kauai. Our topic was finalized last week Monday, and it is about the new Department of Health rating system that will be affecting supermarkets, hospitals, restaurants, lunch wagons and carnival food booths. law affects everyone; restaurants, food trucks, supermarkets, and the public! I'll tell you more about that in the next paragraph. My partner is Herenui Punua and I am very excited to be working with her, teaching her, and for her to experience the making of this project, with it's stress and fast-paced schedules. I'd say Herenui and I, are on-track with our first quarter project on the new DOH placard system and are trying to keep up. First, I'll tell you about our project and then I'll tell you why I think we are on-track. I say that we are on-track because we have interviews filmed, and are still scheduling more, we've started transcribing, and because we are keeping up with our planner markers.

This rating system posts food eateries health inspection grades outside of the food establishment. Meaning, if you get one or less critical violation, you will get a green placard posted, if you get two or three critical violations, then you will get a yellow placard posted and have 24 hours to correct your errors. But if you get a red placard, that means your buisness will be shut down. The thing about this rating system, is that the public will be able to see the placards and they will know how clean a restaurant or a food truck or a supermarket is, and they will take more pride in their sanitation. Our video idea is not just specifically on the placards affecting restaurants, which was my mistake that I need to fix on our T.I.A.S. and on the board, but, our real story is on how this law affects everyone; restaurants, food trucks, supermarkets, and the public!

One reason why I think Herenui and I are on schedule with our first quarter project is because we filmed interviews. I showed Herenui how to schedule an interview, although she was pretty good at it already. Herenui and I filmed interviews this week and last week and are still in the process of scheduling more. The more the merrier, right? We filmed a total of 4 interviews so far, but I think we'll only use 3 of them in our video. That's something I learned at the summer camp a few weeks ago. Although you interviewed someone, you can't promise them that their interview will end up in the final video. Our main interviewee would be Darren Tamekazu, Sanitarian 5 from the DOH, or the Department of Health. We interviewed him last week Wednseday and his interview went well. He said some things and I can already spot some sound bytes. You can read more about him and his interview on my Quarter 1 Page. We also filmed the manager from Fish Express, Kelsey on Tuesday and on Wednesday we interviewed Robert Kubota, the manager at Pono Market. We didn't get much b-roll which I'm really worried about, since the law won't take affect until sometime around September so we'll have to rely on restaurant b-roll. Darren Tamekazu gave us some examples of the red, yellow, green placards, which I am really grateful for, except I'm not sure how I should take b-roll of it but I'll figure that out. We are waiting on some replies back and we are still scheduling interviews, hopefully with some sushi restaurants because they'll be affected by the new glove rule. I also want to get an interview with some locals and the public's perspective, because they're affected greatly by them too.

Another reason why I think Herenui and I are on schedule is because we've started transcribing. Although, transcribing won't take too long, because we only have 3/4 interviews and they're pretty short. I transcribed Darren's interview and I want to teach Herenui how to transcribe as soon as possible, so she can start transcribing the other interviews. After we get all of the interviews transcribed, we can start pointing out some sound bytes, and thus, have a peace of mind on how the script and video might look out. However, we can't tell for sure because we haven't finished all our interviews.

The last reason why I think we are on-track is because we are following the little markers we set to follow through with; the little due-date deadline things we wrote in our planners. We are currently in the interviews phase, according to the planner and Herenui and I are! We still need to get loads more b-roll though, so I hope we can catch up on that. I think the little markers really help, or else everything would be un-organized and all over the place; it really keeps things in order. The only part I'm confused about is how Scripts are due on September 2nd, but the "Finish Filming/Start Editing" is like two weeks after that. Anyways, our final project is due on October 1st, and just our luck, we have radios due on October 2nd! I hope we can get good quality work on both our quarter project and radios. To do that, absolutely no procrastinating this year! One of my main goals!

In conclusion, Herenui and I are on-track with our first quarter project on the new DOH placard rating system because we filmed 4 interviews, we've started to transcribe, and because we are meeting the little markers we set in our planners. The quarter is going by fast, even thought the school year just started, so I want to stay on track and get ahead! Being early is way better than being late. Thanks for reading, bye!

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Unique. Interesting. Impressive.

8/14/2014

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Unique. Interesting. Impressive. That's how I would describe this music video I watched today. For the first reflective response of the year, I'd like to talk about this really awesome video I saw today on Vimeo. If you don't know what Vimeo is, Vimeo is the same concept of YouTube, sharing your videos online, except, Vimeo is more professional and serious and is dedicated to film-making and creativeness and art, rather than YouTube which has all kinds of videos out there. Anyways, As I was saying, I saw a really awesome and cool video today and I think you guys will like it as much as I did. The video was a music video for the song, "Save Me" by Cameroonian singer-songwriter, IRMA. You guys probably don't know the song or who the singer is, and neither did I until I stumbled upon this unique music video. This music video is much different from most kinds of music videos. Instead of multiple shots in a sequence to tell a story as you probably would do when creating a music video, this video does not do that at all. Here's the kicker: This music video is a total of one shot. One shot to fill 4 minutes of the song. Pretty crazy, right? You may be thinking why I'm so excited to talk about a music video that is a total of one shot. Well, never underestimate that one shot. This one shot is so special and interesting because they used projectors! They used a total of four projectors to project designs in this cube-like room that reminds me of the green screen room we saw at Full Sail University in Florida and It was like optical illusions, with 3-dimension objects and everything was just very mind-blowing. You just have to see the video for yourself! You'll be amazed as what 4 projecters, some camera movement, and one shot can do. Never underestimate a single shot (like that PSA from Searider with one shot using a slider on eating healthy). You can watch this video below. Other than that, that's it! Thanks for reading guys, Check out the video below and have a nice day!

IRMA / Save me from SUPERBIEN on Vimeo.

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The First Week of Another Year!

8/14/2014

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Hi Everyone! Yes, the school year has started back up again and I am officially a seventh grader. Not only a seventh grader, but also a returning 2nd year media student! Wow, summer has gone by so fast! I hope you all had a amazing summer! Well, we are now one week into the school year and this week has been very hectic, but also exciting and interesting. I think this first week back has been both a positive and a negative week. It's a negative week because of the new bell schedule and longer school days, however, it's also a positive week because I got to meet my media partner and see all my friends again.

One reason why this week has been negative and so hectic is because we have a new bell schedule and longer school days. Last year, I was so used to the regular Advisory, X-block, Period 3/6, Recess, Period 4/7, Lunch, then Period 5/8. But this year, the schedule is completely different. Advisory was put into the middle of the day; thus, complicating our used-to-be morning announcements schedule. It is no longer morning announcements, obviously, and is now called "CKTV News". Because of this new schedule, Upstairs, Team A, and Downstairs, Team B are split apart regarding Advisory and Lunch. Upstairs Team A has Advisory first (all media students are Upstairs, Team A) while Downstairs Team B has lunch; and then the other way around after Team A Advisory finishes. So while we are having advisory, we are now running AND recording (to play later for Team B) the announcements. As you might tell, this new schedule complicates a lot of our regular habits. They altered it a lot to fit the new law of longer school days. Yes, you read that correctly. School days are now longer! School starts at 7:45 and ends at 2:45 on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. On Wednesday, however, we start at 7:45 and end at 12:30. Because school starts earlier AND ends later, it's less time for me to do my homework; especially now that we have 10 periods. But the good news is, is that we have extra time on Wednesday's since school gets out earlier than usual.

On the contrary, it has been a positive week because I got to meet my media partner! Yes the all time important partner, the one I will be teaching and mentoring throughout the year, the one I will be doing my First and Second quarter projects with, and the one I'll be on FM97 with for the Inside Scoop! And this all time important partner is.....*drumroll* Herenui Punua! It is an absolute privilege to have her as my partner. I met her last week Thursday and she is very nice and really sweet! I enjoyed the past few days I've spent with her and I look forward to spending this year with her! I hope to teach her everything I know about media. We are currently working on our first quarter project together and we have filmed two interviews as of today and will be filming more in the future.

Another reason why it's been a positive week is because I made new friends and I got to see my other friends too. Although we still talked during and throughout the summer, It was really good to see everyone again. I also really liked meeting the new media students (I didn't really meet them at the camp), and I can't wait to spend a year with them, a year with our CKTV Ohana. Everyone I met seems very kind and sweet and I think this year will be fun together.

Wow, this first week back has been very confusing, busy, interesting, and exciting, It was a very emotional week for all of us. Overall, this week has been both a negative week because of the new bell schedule and longer school days and a positive week because I got to meet my partner and see my friends. It's a new year, a new start, so lets start this year off strong with good habits and intentions. I am genuinely excited for the school year, even though it may be tough or difficult with the bell schedule and longer school days, I read this poster on my math class and it said "If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. -Maya Angelou" Everything depends on your attitude; your outcome especially. Having a positive mind, a positive attitude, and being optimistic can and will affect your final end product in a good way. Who knows what's in store for the year? Thanks for reading, Have a nice day. :)

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Vimeo Video School

Scary.

Silo.

First Quarter Project!

Unique. Interesting. Impressive.

The First Week of Another Year!

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