4th Quarter Final

For our fourth quarter project, we had to think of a product and then make a bunch of different marketing things such as a commercial, ad, coupon, 3d animations, and pile them all onto a sub-par template for a website which we design.

Our team name was BACA. a letter for each of our names (which i will not disclose bc my mama said its bad to give out personal information online)
The product name is the Micro-Fridge (NOT just a mini fridge) its a two-in-one, self powered microwave/fridge combo small enough to fit inside the average locker. our slogan is 'Small but Powerful.' Yeah. Pretty self explainable.

We started with the video process, filming the commercial. basically, we filmed, edited, and added voiceovers and music. i don't really feel like going in depth atm not to mention they don't even read these. so whats the point, really? I'm not doing e-Comm next year. 99 percent of the reason is these stupid blogs. Anyways, then we moved onto graphic design, making a coupon, team logo, product logo, and an add. Animation was probably my favorite rotation, because i could work without having to talk to anyone, which was swell. I created the 3D animation, mainly because i love sketchup. i did not create the website, the b in baca did. she did great, no idea how she did it tho, i hate web design.

What did i learn? Well, first and foremost, e-Comm is not for me. i dropped out, as you know, and I'm taking Spanish and choir in its place next year. Technically, this project was mainly just a refresher course on how everything works. we already learned everything we did, we just needed a refreshment on all the technical aspects of it. Professionally, we learned how to get along with people we normally wouldn't even acknowledge. Sometimes it was hard, because we're all so different, but eventually we learned how to coexist. i learned that I'm most defiantly a lion personality type, i love taking charge and i hate taking orders, not serving them. i get anxious when I'm not in charge, so its good that i was the only lion in my group. We learned how to effectively meet deadlines. (Except for one of my group members. she didn't show up for the presentation. Well now that i look around she's still not here like 6 days later, hope she's ok????)

If i were to do something different, i would think of a new product, cause ill be the first to admit, our product sucked, it had so many flaws and wasn't very practical. whatever. i would also make one of the As in BACA actually do something, considering he did literally did nothing and still received credit. That's alright though, Karma's a-- well you know what i mean.

if i were to do something the same, just, you know, off the top of my head, i would do the 3d animation, i love it. Reading through this, i realize this is an extremely sarcastic blog. thats ok, i remember at the beginning of the year they told us to write how we talk. Apparently i don't talk in capital i's.

Final Exam- 4th Quarter Reflection

Projects

For our fourth quarter project, we had to think of a product and then make a bunch of different marketing things such as a commercial, ad, coupon, 3d animations, and pile them all onto a sub-par template for a website which we design. It took all of fourth quarter, with each class getting a two week rotation.
I faced quite a few challenges with this project, such as getting along with people I wouldn't normally get along with, and adding audio and the 3d animation into the video. Along the way, I learned a lot about embedding, editing audio, and most importantly, how vital it is to have a team that works well together, along with different communication and leadership skills.
Mrs. Smith told us that our product logo needed a little work, so in response we changed the letters from black to white.
Overall, I think we did a pretty ok job at this project. We didn't do Amazing, but we also didn't do horribly. It was right in the middle.

In class, I have worked hard and got everything done that needed to get done. When getting don early, I would work on projects for the other rotations, or, if I'm being honest, I would be on snapchat. Outside of class, I stayed after school for about three days to finish editing my video.

After one year, I have strength in video editing, as well as 3d animation, as I did the animation for my project. I maximize these strengths by working even harder at the rotations I enjoy. An area I would need to work at would be web design, considering I remember nothing about it. I would would watch tutorials and read how to's in order to improve my skills.

My favorite thing about this semester would be discovering Sketchup, and figuring out all you can do with the program.
If I were to do something differently, I would be make sure to get all of our group members to contribute, in order to alleviate the pressure that fell on me, as well as my other group members who actually contributed.
My overall takeaway from this semester is the skill of working with people that you normally wouldn't prefer to work with, as well as very important presentation skills that I will use throughout my life.
Next year, if I were to stay with e-Comm, I would hope to improve my video and animation skills, and try to find a purpose and career that I would like to stick with, but since I'm not, I hope I learn how to speak Spanish and find some new lifelong friends in choir. Adios, Mr. Cooper! You're pretty chill.

My final thoughts? Overall, I enjoyed e-Comm. I don't have a grudge against it, I'm not thinking about the other electives I could've taken (PE, actually, but its whatever, I'll do it over the summer.) and I'm glad I joined. I made great friends, some better than the ones I already had, and they have forever changed my life. while I may not ever use some of the skills I have learned ever again, I have acquired different communication, collaboration, project management, time management, leadership and technical skills. And I most defiantly did not just copy that off the rubric.
Thanks e-Comm, it was nice knowing you.

Bouncing Ball Animation

Project

In e-Comm animation this week we've been working on creating an animation of a ball bouncing up and down. We started by making a ground, and then a sky. We used the gradient tool to add depth to the color. We then made a ball near the top of the page, and then used the gradient tool on it as well. We then made multiple layers of balls getting closer to the ground, and then we made it so the balls stretched out and got thinner towards the bottom to give it the effect of falling. We lined the layers up on a timeline and looped it so it always loops again.

What I Learned

From this project, I learned the basic layout of Adobe photoshop and the tools within it. I learned how to make new layers, gradients, shapes, how to edit those shapes, how to create a timeline and save something as a GIF.

Overall

As this was my first animation assignment, I was fairly proud of the end result. If I was to do something differently, I would made the background into a deferent gradient and maybe used a different color for the ball, or changed its size.

2nd Bouncing Ball Animation

Summary

     These past few weeks, we have been working on creating a second, more detailed animation of a bouncing ball. We started by making a sky layer, and then a ground layer. we drew out the path the ball would follow, and then drew out two balls: one for when the ball was in the air, and one for when it hit the ground. Both of the balls had different faces drawn on them. We then made the balls follow the path we had drawn out by making multiple copies of the balls and placing them on the path, using principles that we had learned like squash and stretch and easing. After all that, we placed the frames into the timeline, and made them into an animated Gif.

What I learned

From this project, I learned how to make a realistic pathway for an object to follow. I also gained a better understanding of how to use Adobe photoshop, and different animation principles such as squash and stretch and easing.

Overall

In the end, I was fairly ok with how this project turned out. I could've made my ending better, but I was working on a time limit and was out of creative ideas. If I was to do this again, I would refine my ending, and draw different faces on my balls.

e9 Semester 1 Reflection

Some of my areas of strength this semester were my video skills, like using all six shots, and the ability to tell a complete story. I'm also pretty good at sketching original ideas, and color theory.

However, I do have areas where I need to improve, I'm defiantly not perfect by any means. In video, I sometimes forget to use the rule of thirds, and often times my shots go over a few seconds. In graphic design, I need to improve in using adobe illustrator and time management.

I loved exploring my different abilities in these fields, and I especially loved the different classmates and teachers I met along the way. I met great, long lasting friends through this program who I am extremely thankful for.

If I had to change something, I would make sure that I use my time more wisely, and make sure all of my assignments get turned in on time. Other than that, I wouldn't change a thing.

Overall, I learned to put myself out there, gain friendships and be as creative as possible. These classes have no restrictions when it comes to creative possibility, which I find great.

My goal for next semester is to use my time wisely, and to improve my skills and develop more connections and friendships. This program is about more than just using your creative skills to make videos, animations, and graphics. It's also about important interpersonal skills that I will learn and carry with me for the rest of my life.

e9 Web Design

Our latest project in e9 was to design our own website using Adobe dreamweaver. We first started by downloading the template for our website from our teacher, which had lots of technical difficulties but we persevered. We then brought the template into Dreamweaver and did a few of our own edits, like adding our name and picture. We added our elevator pitch into the home page, and on the side bar we added a few links to the e-Comm website, the school website, and our blogs. We then created a seperate page for our projects, which would contain, you guessed it, our best projects from quarter 1 & 2. I added my dandelion design, and my six shot film from first quarter. After that, we added the text to the side of the projects, explaining what they were and what we learned from them. We linked the project page to the home page. We then personalized them by adding our own choice of color and fonts.

This project took about three days. We watched videos from one of our instructors on how to do it all, and some times there were issues that would slow us down, such as the problems with downloading the template zip file. I used my time pretty productively though, and still got everything done with my website that needed to be done.

Again, I faced the challenge of downloading the zip file, as the file wasn't on the file where it was supposed to be because another student accidentally took the file for themselves instead of just copying and pasting it. Another challenge I faced was getting the exact colors I wanted, and the font as well.

From designing the web page, I learned the basic principals of coding and a little of how to use Adobe Dreamweaver. I also learned a bit about Adobe Photoshop, as we used that program to size our pictures.

Overall, I find web design fascinating and would like to learn more about coding and how to do different things involving Dreamweaver. I'm considering going into the web design branch later in my e-Comm years. Im also pretty proud of my Website's fail outcome and I feel that I did a pretty good job.

Presentation

     In class, we learned about the importance of presentation skills. There are many important aspects to a good presentation, including eye contact, professional appearance, vocal and facial expression, a loud voice, and posture. All of these components make the difference between a presentation that is completely terrible, and a presentation that is completely fantastic, no matter the information that is being presented.

     As a class, we watched three Ted Talks presentations: one of Bill Gates, Bjorn Lomberg and Jaime Oliver. We then had to rate them based on the afformentioned components listed above. Gates scored high on eye contact, voice, and posture, but fell just a bit short with facial expression. Lomberg was great with eye contact, and loud voice. but lower on professional appearance and posture as he moved around just a bit too much. Oliver was amazing with expression, and great with eye contact, but was dressed very casually and moved across the stage WAY too much.

     Then the time came when we were to present our personal logos to the class. Overall, I feel that I did a pretty good job. I had a loud, clear voice, and made eye contact. However, I sometimes turned my back to look at the screen, and felt I could use more expression and a better posture. These are things I know I can improve on to make any presentations I give in the future much better.