Category: :)

Thank You Uncle Toyo and Ohana

9/12/2014

September 12, 2014 Dear Uncle Toyo and the Murayama Ohana,

Thank you all so much for your generous donation of laptops to our class. We are so blessed and lucky. Not every student has a laptop at home, and not everyone could edit outside of school. When I was in media last year, we didn't have this many laptops, so we had to do a lottery and draw names from a hat to see who could get a laptop from the eight we had. If your name wasn't drawn from the hat, then you were stuck using the desktops. There is a lot of perks to using a laptop in this media class, so your donation is making a huge difference and will benefit us and our work. Thank you! For instance, with the laptops, we can take it home and edit our radios on Audacity and also edit our video projects on Final Cut Pro 10! Speaking of Final Cut Pro 10, last year we had to use Final Cut Pro 7 on the desktops, and there was only 1 laptop with Final Cut Pro 10. Only three people from the class know how to use 10, but now with a laptop for everyone, we all get the opportunity to work and edit with it! Another thing we will use the laptops for is to write our blogs and work on our websites!

Now with a laptop for each student, everyone can take it home and get work finished. In media, you do a lot of work outside of the class. Often times, I'm working on projects after school at home, and on my spare time. So being able to take home laptops and do work, is extremely helpful because we can get things done and be more productive with our time. My partner and I have to work on our radios soon, so we can both edit radios on our separate laptops and take them home to finish. Last year, there was one designated laptop specifically for radios and advisory games and we called it the Radio Laptop. Sometimes, more than one pair of partners had to use the radio laptop so one group would have to wait until the other group was done editing. Being that there was only one laptop to edit radios on, only one of the two partners could edit, and could edit only one radio at a time. But with these laptops, now we can have both partners editing at the same time, editing different radios and helping each other! Therefore, we should be able to get our radios done on time and submit better work because we have more time to edit (since we can edit at home).

In addition to editing our radios with these new laptops, we can also edit our video projects! Our video news story projects are due in the near future and so we have to start editing very soon! Last year, using the desktops, all editing would have to be done in school, meaning during class, at lunch, or after school. But now we can take the laptops home and edit there! I can't stress enough that bringing a laptop home will benefit me, my partner, and the class so much. Having our own laptop to borrow and use will extend our editing time by a lot so chances are, our video will be better and have little editing mistakes since we have all this time to edit. And the best part about editing our news story projects on the laptops is that the laptop has Final Cut Pro 10 on it! I was looking over Final Cut 10 and it is much better and improved from Final Cut 7. There are A LOT more features on Final Cut 10 that will help make our video the best it can be. Only 3 people from the media class knew how to use it, but Mr. M has provided us with tutorial videos on how to use it, so everyone will get the chance to use this awesome editing program and it's new features!

Another use for the laptops is to write our weekly blogs. Every week we are required to write two blogs a week; one on a topic from Mr. M, and one free-write on something that relates to media. With the laptops in our class, we can work on our websites, designing it and making it look nicer. We can also use them to write our blogs and finish them up at home. Bringing them home means more time to work on our websites and blogs, thus, more effort will be put into them.

Uncle Toyo and the Murayama Ohana, from myself and the class, thank you so much for your extremely generous donation to our class. Your donation will benefit our class and make a huge difference. Because of you, we will be more productive and make more use of our time. It allows us to take home and borrow the laptops, edit our radios and videos, use final cut 10 and design our website and write our blogs! Thank you so much!

Sincerly,

Alaysia Navor

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Introducing, the CKTV News!

9/5/2014

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Hey Everyone! So, as I talked about in my other blog post, "The First Week of Another Year!" because of the new bell schedule, Advisory has been placed in the middle of the day. This new change has caused us to no longer have what we used to call, the morning announcements. Instead, we have the new, the improved, the CKTV News! In this constructed response, I'll be talking about my experience so far working the CKTV News and what it's been like training some of the new students. I think working the CKTV News has been good because I already know how to work each job being that this is my 2nd year in CKTV, I wasn't so nervous, and lastly because I started off with a pretty easy job. So far, working the CKTV News has been good for several reasons. The first reason is because I started off with a pretty easy job, I already know how to work each job, and because I wasn't very nervous.
To start off, my experience working the CKTV News so far has been good because I had an easy job. I started the year off by working the technical director. The technical director is the person who sits in the middle of the titler and the audio person. They have control of a panel of lit up-colored buttons. They are the ones who controls the transitions of camera A, camera B, DDR, Net 1 (for the hanamakai slides; I'll talk about that later), and also "cross fades". If you are unfarmiliar of what "cross fading" is, don't worry, you will, as the year goes by. You can't go in any of the two rooms while a team is practicing and not hear the word, "Cross-Fade!". Cross Fading is when you are merging two screens, normally Camera A and Camera B in this case. This allows whoever is working the camera's to adjust the camera's and match the announcers eyes. Anyways, one reason is why my experience working the CKTV News was good, is because I had an easy job, but that's just my opinion. I bet a lot of people would disagree, however I think it's an easy job because all you have to do is press button to switch when one announcer is done speaking, when to switch to the credits, and when to end the opening. Speaking of the opening, that kind of complicated the titler and the technical director's job, but after a couple of times, we got used to it. Instead of last year where we faded the hanamakai winners as a title, this year we have a slideshow powerpoint of all the Hanamakai recipients. We play this powerpoint while the opening is playing, so we now have a permanent elmo job! The opening has to be playing in the background while the hanamakai slide's are going, so to do this, the titler and the technical director have to cooperate even more. When DDR is playing, the titler makes sure that Auto-Play is off, then the technical director switches to Net 1. The elmo person then goes through the slides, then the technical director switches back to DDR and finally, the titler turn's Auto-Play back on and the technical director switches to camera A. It was kind of confusing at first, but after practicing, we finally got it down.
The second reason why working the CKTV News has been good is because I already know how to work each job! Because I am a second-year student, I have an advantage over the new students, and that is knowing how to work each job. I already know how to work the camera's, floor manager, audio, director, technical director, titler, and the elmo! Last school year, I was taught how to work each job so I have experience working each of them. We worked each job at least once and so working the CKTV News has been kind of like a review, minus learning how to keep the opening playing while the slide's are running. When I was a sixth grader, learning all these new jobs was complicated and very confusing, so now that I'm a seventh grader, It's easier because I don't have to re-learn everything. If anyone is having trouble or is confused about what any of the jobs do or how to work them, you can come see me or your partner, Mr. M, or anyone in the class! We are all about helping our CKTV Ohana! But from what I saw so far, everyone seems to be doing good, especially for their first time working! Teaching the new students have been pretty good also, everyone seems to be knowing what to do and have been doing a good job, again. What's ironic is that last year I had the hardest time working the technical director, and in my second paragraph, I just talked about how I found it easy, Ha! And even more ironic, I think camera would be the most challenging job for me. Also check out a blog I wrote about the "morning announcements" or now called CKTV News, last school year!
Lastly, working the CKTV News has been good because I wasn't so nervous. Last year, you could ask any returnee-I was so nervous before the live broadcast, I was practically jumping. My palms got extremly sweating and I was so afraid that I was going to mess up and make a mistake, but this time it was different for some reason. I'm not as that nervous now; I still am, but just a bit. I guess I've grown some kind of confidence tied into my knowledge of how to work each job, that make's me not that nervous. If you are extremely nervous as I was, the best advice I can give you is to Practice. You can never get enough practice you know! Practice, Practice, Practice. If the team you're on isn't practicing when you have time to, tell them so! If I learned anything last year, Always practice when you can! If you make a mistake during the broadcast, don't feel miserable about it the whole day, instead strive to perfect the error, and don't let it happen again the next day!

In conclusion, I think my experience working the CKTV News was good because I had an easy job (in my opinion), I knew how to work every position, and because I was calm and not that nervous. The CKTV News is similar to the morning announcements, except we're in new teams and I get the oppurtunity to work with new people and know each other better. Believe it or not, you actually bond while working the CKTV News. I'm excited for my team's turn...which reminds me, I have to make some credits! Thanks for reading,

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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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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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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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Words of Advice.

5/24/2014

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Hey Everyone! There will be only one assigned blog topic for this week, and sadly this is my last blog for this school year. Unfortunately, the school year is coming to an end, and so has my first year of media. This year has been very exciting, stressful, and fun. I've had the privledge of getting to meet so many new people, make new friends, and also learn so much! And of course, with new knowledge comes mistakes and advice for the future. So this weeks assigned blog topic will be advice I'll be sharing with you for next years media class. Keep reading to find out words of advice!

I'm sure you will hear this in everyone's blog but, NEVER EVER EVER PROCRASTINATE! Yes, I admit, procrastination can be and is very tempting, (especially when you have wifi!) but you have to remember, you can do something productive, and get work done. You see, procrastination is just like a snowball effect. Everytime you procrastinate, the work builds up and more work is stacked on and on, progressively ending up with a big snowball of work. Once you break your habit of procrastinating, your life will be so much easier and stress-free, not only in media, but throughout the rest of your life-in anything, really.

Going with no procrastinating, use your time wisely! All projects have due dates and deadlines, and Mr. M even makes our lives easier by setting markers in our planners! Be productive, stay on track, and concentrate (and don't procrastinate!) and you should be able to follow through with your markers. Think ahead! Find multiple ideas, choose your best one and have a back-up just in case your first one doesn't work out, and so you won't just be stuck there thinking, "now what do I do?"; it just wastes time. After you have a strong idea, and make sure it's an idea you can carry out now, get it approved and start working on your shot list or script! It's always best to start early and get ahead rather than being late. And during class, if you have nothing to do (assuming your radios & projects are done) do something productive with your time instead of being unproductive and doing nothing for the whole period. Class time is Precious time! Remember that! In your spare time, do your blogs! If you're already done with 2 of them, start writing reflective responses for next week! You could even help other people and lend a hand.

Another piece of advice is to be honest. Honesty is very important, not only in this class, but also in life! Be a candor [divergent reference] and tell the truth right away if you've lost something or have broken something, and even I'm critique sessions! Don't try to hide anything, because all it is, is you gaining guilt and losing trust. And trust is a big thing in this class. If Mr. M doesn't trust you, or if your classmates don't trust you, it'll be an awkward and uncomfortable school year. So just tell the truth, because lying doesn't benefit yourself anything.

If you don't understand something or if you're confused, ASK! Feel free to ask me, Mr. M, or anyone in the class for help! We are all an Ohana and need to help eachother out. If you don't ask, you won't be benefiting yourself or your knowledge. Don't be embarrassed or shy! If you ask, you will learn more, thus, doing better. And you never know if your gonna return next year and have to teach another student, but you won't know how because you didn't ask!

Always listen. When Mr. M or a guest or a classmate is speaking, listen to what they have to say. Most times it'll be very important and significant, and will help you throughout media and with your projects. At STN, listen to what the people in the breakout sessions say. They are professionals. For example, I learned this lighting trick in one of my breakout sessions at STN by listening closely and being attentive to what they say, and it has helped me especially with my fourth quarter project! And in our little critique sessions, listen to what Mr. M and your classmates say! Don't get hurt or offended, because all it is, is advice to improve. But make sure you actually take their advice and make a difference, for the better now!

Don't be shy. Be outgoing and make friends! I was like really shy in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd quarters but now I'm not afraid to speak up! It's really important to get along with one another and be friends because there are very likely chances that you'll need their help whether it's support, acting, or advice on your project!

Be punctual. Be early and never late to anything really. Because if you're late, not only is it a bad reputation, but it's also disrepsctful to other people's time. You'll also miss out on important information!

And just some small advice...NEVER EVER use CKTV tripod 8. Justice and I learned that the hard way while working on our fourth quarter projects. The head is very shaky, thus, making the shot shaky. Well, all I'm saying is check your equipment before you check it out. Check your tripod (check if it's sturdy, and ALWAYS check if it has it's shoe), get extra batteries for your camera and for your mics, make sure you have room on your SD card and also grab some extra SD cards just in case it gets full (trust me, it actually happens), and other equipment too. This goes for any other piece of equipment too; not just tripods and cameras. Make sure the mic is working properly, bring the laptop charger, etc..

Annnnndddd that was all words of advice I could give you! This media class can be very difficult and challenging (but also very fun) so you have an advantage by getting this 'heads up'. Thanks for reading my blog! As I said before, this week and next week I will only be posting one assigned blog. Oh and did I mention next week is the last week of school? Meaning, it'll also be my last blog of my first year of media! Bye!

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The Final Update

5/17/2014

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Hey Everyone! As you all know, the year is coming to an end and we have about around less than 2 weeks left of school. Not only does school get out on May 29, but our final fourth quarter projects are also due on the 21st, next Wednesday! Although I have done like three updates on the music video I'm doing with my partner, Justice, this weeks constructed response blog topic is a final project update! I'd say Justice and I are pretty much on track and will get it done by Wednesday. Keep reading to find out why!

So just a review, I'm working with Justice for our fourth quarter project. We decided to do a music video on the song, "One Step At A Time" by Jordin Sparks. Our music video basically shows different scenarios in which people are taking what the title suggests, 'one step at a time'. So we have a girl trying to make friends at school, a boy riding a bicycle, and a girl shooting a basketball..

Our filming is basically done, except for the fact that we are missing literally one shot-which will be filmed tomorrow. So I have Tia, Devin, Sterling, and all the other extra's who acted in our video to thank for helping us. And our editing is pretty much done also, all we have to do is import that one shot and edit it into the timeline. So yeah, I'd say Justice and I are on track with our project, all we have to do is touch up some shots.

I think Justice and I will submit our music video on time to meet the deadline on Wednesday. All we pretty much have to do is touch up the video and then present it to Mr. M for feedback (hopefully on Monday). And with his suggestions, we will correct our mistakes to make our video the best it can be, then re-show it to Mr. M.

Overall, I think Justice and I are on track and ready for the deadline on Wednesday. Thanks for reading! Bye!!

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Family Night Video

5/12/2014

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Hey Everyone! So for this weeks constructed response , I will be writing to you about what video I chose to showcase at Family night. Family night is a night at the school where we come together as one big CKTV Ohana. But instead of just this year's media productions class families, it'll also have the new students families, the new students that will be coming into the class next year. It's a potluck where we all watch our best works, meaning our best videos, and give a few words about it. Each student is required to show one of their videos that they worked on throughout the year; it could be a news feature story, from 1st and 2nd quarter, or it could be a P.S.A. from third quarter. It could even be your fourth quarter project (which is any type of video)! But each person is supposed to show one video-meaning, no one can team up on one or share a video, even if you have worked on it together. I chose to showcase a music video, for the song "One Step At A Time" by Jordin Sparks. It's actually my fourth quarter project that I am working on with my partner, Justice. I chose to showcase this video because I thought it was the best work I have done all year, because it's a music video, and because the video has a message to it. Keep reading to find out what I mean!

One reason I chose to show a music video at Family night is because I feel that it is the best work I have done. It being fourth quarter and all, I have learned a lot from previous mistakes I have made throughout the year. So in my fourth quarter project that I'm working on with Justice, I think is where I can fix all those mistakes and show improvement. I have now had a year of experience and advice, and I can put all that knowledge gained from the school year and put it into my fourth quarter project and make it my best.

Another reason why I chose to show my fourth quarter project is because it's a music video! I think a music video is fun and upbeat, and will put the audience in a good mood, and plus, you get to listen to music! I think a music video just settles everything in, makes it less awkward, and sets the tone. It makes it okay to laugh, and the song Justice and I are doing is not a sad or depressing song, but more of an inspirational song with a happy beat. Besides the 'listening to music' part, music videos tell stories...which leads me on to my next reason.

With a story, comes a message. The last reason why I chose to do my fourth quarter project, a music video, for my family night video is because I think the overall video has a strong message to it. The song title, "One Step At A Time" explains it all-taking one step at a time. Meaning, even when some tasks are difficult and may be challenging, you just have to take baby steps and don't haste it. You crawl before you walk and you walk before you run, right? Or at least, that's the way Justice and I see it, but you know, everyone has a different perspective and how they view the song itself. Justice and I tell the story of the song the way we perceived it, and I hope people will understand the message as well as story of the song that we are trying to portray.

In conclusion, I have decided to show my fourth quarter project, a music video for the song "One Step At A Time" by Jordin Sparks, that I am working on with my partner, Justice. I chose to play this video because I feel it's the best work I have ever done throughout the year, it's a music video, and because there is a message to the whole song and the overall video. Family night last year was fun, we shared smiles, and laughter and I still remember watching a music video for the song "One way or another" by One Direction, and there was like a boy with afro hair riding a bicycle or something; it was pretty funny. But I still remember myself as that fifth grader in an unfamiliar school, seeing unfamiliar faces. But now, with the school year almost over, those unfamiliar faces are no longer unfamiliar, but very, very familiar (maybe too familiar). But I can't wait to be an unfamiliar face amongst the crowd, share laughs, and see all the new faces. I can't wait for Family Night. Thanks for reading! And also make sure you read my reflective response, another update, now my 3rd update on my fourth quarter project with Justice! Thanks again! Bye!

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What Time is It? School Time!

5/4/2014

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Hey Everyone! So recently, Mr. M had been talking to us about "checking out too early", meaning, thinking more about summer and other things, and not so focused on school and our work. Yes, I assume we are all looking forward to summer break and school to end, but we still have a month to go, and we should be putting in our best effort and best work, because it is fourth quarter and because it's the end of the year. So to prevent from checking out to early and to stay on task, I will avoid procrastination and do my best as a student in the class. To help my classmates stay focused, I will give them friendly reminders. Keep reading to find out what I mean!

It's already the end of the week, and as you can tell by the date, I've only finished my blogs today. I admit, throughout the week I have done other things when I could have been more productive and finish up my blogs. So to keep myself from checking out to early, I will do my best not to procrastinate. Meaning, as soon as the blog topics are posted, I will start on them the very day and continue working on them progressively on my spare time until it's done.

Another thing I can do to keep on task is to do the best I can. Even though summer is almost here and school is almost out, we have to remind ourselves that it's not. We still have one more month of scho left, so let's make it our greatest! When I say "do my best" I mean that I will try hard, give my best effort, and strive to make my project good.

To help my classmates from checking out too early, I can give them little friendly reminders, like "Hey did you finish your blogs?" or "did you finish your text dependent questions?". It's important to remind them because they migh have forgotten, as do I, and when some people forget and don't do their work, not only does it affect them, but also the whole class. For example, with the text dependent questions, if a person didn't do it, the whole class would have to do another article! So to prevent that from happening, because it gives us less time to work on our own projects, we can remind our classmates about their work.

In conclusion, to prevent from checking out too early, I won't procrastinate and I will do my best. To prevent my classmates from checking out too early, I will give them gentle friendly reminders to make sure their work is being done. That's all for my blog! Make sure to read my reflective response, an update on my fourth quarter project! Thanks for reading! Bye!

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Community Service

4/26/2014

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Hey Everyone! So this weeks blog topic is on community service. As Mr. M stated in his blog, we have had so much support from our community around us and I do think it's a good idea to do community service. Some community service ideas for our class to do is clean up the beaches, help the less fortunate, and do something for the elderly, troops and our veterans. But I think we should do community service maybe once every quarter because us being a media productions class and having our own projects to work on, we all have different and busy schedules.

I think that doing Community Service is a great idea! Besides giving back to our community, I think Community Service will do other terrific things! I believe that community service will help our class bond even more! I mean, this is a group activity and it will help us to get to know each other better. It also makes a difference. Even if it's just a small food drive or something, it makes a difference somewhere, to someone. Community Service also makes us realize how lucky we are. I don't think a lot of us realize this, but we are really lucky to have education, a home to live in, and a meal everyday! Thus, less food and other items won't be wasted as much. And another benefit of community service is that it builds character; you learn life skills and teaches good traits to have. For example, community service teaches you to be empathetic, unselfish, and to feel good about yourself. So yes, I do think that having our media class do a community service deed is a great idea!

Some ideas for our class to do community service is to do a beach clean-up! I mean, we are so lucky to live in Hawaii where we are able to go to the beach, swim freely, and play in the sand! But we want to make sure that this paradise can stay a paradise. Meaning, we should pick up any litter or trash at the beach! Not only is trash not a good sight for the beach, but trash also ends up in the water, where animals think it's food and might die from eating it! An example would be a turtle eating those soda can plastics and getting it stuck in their throat, thus, suffocating. Another idea for a community service project is to help the less fortunate. When I say help the less fortunate, I mean help those in need of support, those who are not as lucky as us. To help the less fortunate, we could have a food drive, or even a "soup kitchen" where we could prepare and serve meals. It would also be pretty cool if we did something for the elderly, our troops, and our veterans. I mean, it's good to help the elderly and we should give back to our troops and veterans! Maybe to help the elderly we could go to like a nursing home and help out there, or just talk to the people there! Maybe for our troops and veterans, we could make/write letters or send care packages or something.

I think our class should do community service maybe once a quarter. I would say more often, however, we are all very busy, working on our projects quarterly. I mean, we all have our different schedules so it would be hard to schedule one day that everyone is free.

In conclusion, I think our class should do community service because it helps us bond, it makes a difference, it makes us realize how lucky we are, and it teaches is life lessons and traits. We could do a beach clean up, help the less fortunate, and do something for the elderly, our troops, and our veterans. And we could do community service once a quarter because of our busy schedules. Thanks for reading! And make sure you read my reflective response, "Optimism is Key". Bye!!

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Thank You Uncle Toyo and Ohana

Introducing, the CKTV News!

Scary.

First Quarter Project!

The First Week of Another Year!

Words of Advice.

The Final Update

Family Night Video

What Time is It? School Time!

Community Service

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