MOVING BLOGS

Hey everyone! I'm here to let you know that I am now in 8th grade and I'm still in GT. Unfortunately, we changed emails this year, which means I have a new blog. I am going to link it below so go check it out! I'm still the same person, don't worry! This is going to be the last post of this blog so I hope you enjoyed it. I will leave it up but it will not be active anymore. Alrighty, I'd better be going- go check out the new one!!!!!

NEW BLOG

Music Video Finale

This project is a Music Video. Instead of Mr. Sanderl giving us an outline for our plan, we had to make it ourselves. The storyline that we created is about how we can do whatever makes us happy. In our case, its being lazy. Kacie, Cara, and I spend a lot of time on our computers and phones. In our video, it will show us on our computers non stop. Then someone calls us lazy, which does not make us happy. So we decide to prove to them that we don't care what they think, so we plan a food fight at the house. To show them how angry we are and that we can do what makes us happy, food and internet. We all know that our song, "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor is a fighting song. This music video is supposed to help others understand why we just lay around and why we don't like moving. We just want have fun in the ways that make us happy.

My favorite fast-edit montage is in the beginning where it cuts to the beat of the song and the visuals are just us laying around watching Netflix, specifically Supernatural, our favorite tv show. I love it because of all the different shot angles. There is one from above Kacie's head where you can see a part of her hair and her computer screen. There is another one over Cara's shoulder looking at her phone. There is another one that is just a shot of all the trash on our bed and candy wrappers just laying all over the room. Basically the room looks like a
total mess and then its just us sitting in the middle of it. While we were filming these shots, I wasn't even paying attention, so the things I'm doing in the video are things I normally do. Its all natural. At one point, I didn't even know they were filming. I was so into my episode of Supernatural. This music video was very fun to film and I hope that comes out the video. We spent so much time just laughing and having fun. It was intense because at some points, I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe. It was amazing and yet scary.

This last project shows our best work because we made a really fun Photoshop document. It is a cut out of Kacie, Cara, and I in the middle of singing. The title just says Eye of the Tiger and it has our names on the side. My favorite part of this image is that the background is a .gif. It spins in circles and it is the colors of a tigers eye- gold and light green. This is also a project that displays what we learned because we have shots that aren't shaky (for the most part because no one is perfect) and we have fast cutting sequences. Not to mention, we had tons of fun while filming this. I'm sure it will all come out in the video. This music video will show how we learned to use the many tools of Photoshop, how to use the cool graphics of iMovie, and how to work with others and get the job done.
_________________________________________________________________________________

Song Title: Eye of the Tiger
Artist of Song: Survivor

Lyrics Used:

Rising up, back on the street
Did my time, took my chances
Went the distance, now I'm back on my feet
Just a man and his will to survive

So many times it happens too fast
You trade your passion for glory
Don't lose your grip on the dreams of the past
You must fight just to keep them alive

It's the eye of the tiger
It's the thrill of the fight
Rising up to the challenge of our rival
And the last known survivor
Stalks his prey in the night
And he's watching us all with the eye of the tiger

Face to face, out in the heat
Hanging tough, staying hungry
They stack the odds still we take to the street
For the kill with the skill to survive

It's the eye of the tiger
It's the thrill of the fight
Rising up to the challenge of our rival
And the last known survivor
Stalks his prey in the night
And he's watching us all with the eye of the tiger

Rising up, straight to the top
Had the guts, got the glory
Went the distance, now I'm not gonna stop
Just a man and his will to survive

It's the eye of the tiger
It's the thrill of the fight
Rising up to the challenge of our rival
And the last known survivor
Stalks his prey in the night
And he's watching us all with the eye of the tiger

Results

Animated Life Lessons

Isaac is a social, geek (not in a bad way) who loves acting, possibly bringing bullying to him. Sophia is a chill, laid-back kind of person. She is sometimes a procrastinator and doesn't care what other people think about her. I am a perfectionist, who doesn't care what other people thinks, but has to have everything really nice and perfect. In our story, I am Fantasy, the happy, perfectionist who cares what Isaac looks like and acts like. Sophia is Reality, the one who doesn't care what people think about Isaac and who is always relaxed. We show these traits by saying that once they had switched magic, Sophia starts to think about what Isaac looks like. I, on the other hand, starts to think that Isaac is fine when he is being him. Isaac shown as a normal boy who gets bullied for being the way he is.

In our story, we were supposed to have humor, but its not that funny. It is supposed to be funny when Reality says "But not until he gets rid of those shoes" and when Isaac says "I hope i'm not all mumbo jumbo in the brain." The lesson of our animation is to be yourself. Even when you think you should change yourself to fit in, stay unique. We want people to be happy, not regular. We think its important to be you and be happy and not care what other people think.

I think our level of productivity was worse than when I'm with friends. There was less communication and when you are with friends, you can go over to their house and discuss things for the project. There were all sorts of issues like people being absent or not committing or not coming in during lunch to work on it. It was a real struggle at some points. In the end, I think it turned out pretty cool. I mean, it wasn't extremely complex but that wasn't something that was required. I hope the critique goes well! Anyways, I'll see you next time. Bye my people!

Character Development

Hey guys! Alina here and I am going to be talking about character. Everyone is so different and unique and has their own special character. I personally think that I am an extremely energetic person who is probably irritating to some, but I don't care. I am a dancer that is very passionate about it and I am a great student who strives to be successful. Although I may seem like an average person, I have some major imperfections. For example, I procrastinate. Like A LOT! I also get up from the dinner table a ton just to dance around. We usually have music playing during dinner and I just can't stop myself so I will get up in the middle of dinner and start dancing. Then my parents will get mad and tell me to sit down, and it just keeps repeating. I am also really slow in the morning! It will probably take me ten minutes just to get out of bed. And I go to bed way too late (I blame you Netflix and YouTube)! Like every night, I'll say to myself "I'm gonna go to bed early tonight!" 8:00, still awake. 9:00, still awake. 10:00, still awake. Then 11-11:30 rolls around and I still haven't showered (whoops). Hey! Don't judge me! I'm human!

While making our animation video, I plan to exaggerate how energetic I am. In the animation, I would constantly be moving and dancing and being wild. I will also exaggerate how much of an Internet fanatic I am. I love the internet so much, so I could be on my phone non-stop in the video. I have so many ideas of flaws that I could bring out in this animation. Like how late I go to sleep. Or my procrastination. Or how my language is literally just sarcasm. Oh my gosh, so many ideas!

We took 3 pictures of ourselves, one of our front, one of our back, and one of our right side. We are using the front picture to make our .GIF animation. Our first step is to cut the picture out using the quick selection tool. Then, we have to save our character as LastF_Character. Next, we crop with a height of 720 pixels and a width of 640 pixels. Don't forget to change the resolution to 300 when cropping. Once that is done, we open the animation frame bar and begin working. Our prompt is to make a looping .GIF. So we make the first 7 frames just our character coming onto the screen. the using the puppet warp tool we make the person do a little jig or whatever you'd like to do. Then the last frames, making your character go back off the screen. I am not a huge fan of making .GIFs, but I love watching them, especially the really funny ones. It's extremely confusing and has to be really precise. I don't really like the way my .GIF turned out only because I felt like we didn't have a lot of time to do  it, considering this is only the second time we've made .GIFs this entire year. My GIF turned out pretty average, it wasn't anything complex. Anyways guys, I'll se you guys next time! Bye!

.MOV Film Festival

Hey guys! Our new project in GT is to  make either a movie trailer, sitcom, or an animation. My partners Wailana, Ella (go check out their blogs), and I have decided to do a movie trailer. Its about two hippies learning to do things. It is supposed to be a comedy but if its not, whoops. Some keywords that would describe our trailer would be friendship, learning, patience, determination, and appreciation. These words are important because our movie trailer is not only supposed to be funny, but also very low-key inspirational. Friendship would apply because the two hippies become friends in their journey. Learning is extremely important because these hippies are learning to do new and unique things. Patience is also very important because the friends aren't good at what they are learning at first but it takes patience to continue trying. Determination because they will not stop until they get the hang of the activities and perfect it. Lastly, appreciation because each hippie is taking the time to teach each other the things. The hippies appreciate it. They also appreciate all the work they put in to do this activity because they soon realize that what they are learning is not easy.

Our overall message is to be kind and help. Whether it's something that someone is having trouble doing, or some is wanting to learn how to do it, we want to teach them to be a friend and help. In our movie trailer, our hippies are learning to do activities loved by the other hippie, like surfing or designing. They are taking time and putting all their effort into getting the hang of things. They WANT to learn. Not only do they learn to do the actual things but they also learn kindness and patience. We want people to think of the hidden meanings.

The biggest challenge that my partners and I had to face was scheduling. I have dance Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Ella has soccer Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, with games Saturday. Lastly, Wailana has volleyball Friday and Sunday. So as you could see, finding some time for filming was extremely challenging. We filmed all of it in about 6 hours total, the first three proving to have been completely useless. So basically, all the footage that we are using came from about 3-4 hours of film time. When we first filmed, I had to skip dance because it was a Tuesday. The time that we used was the useless bit. Then we made another time on Sunday morning. I got picked up on Saturday by Ella, then we went to her house. Wailana came over and we spent the night. then, on Sunday morning we got up and filmed. We used all of our time wisely. Then, Wailana's dad grabbed Wailana and I and took me home. The Wailana went to her volleyball game. We got everything we needed!

Tiny Spherical Worlds

Hey guys! I'm back and I wanted to talk to you about composite images and panoramas. Most of us use the app or thing on our phones to take panoramas, where you just move your camera sideways. But do you know what its doing to make the picture? Well, its taking multiple pictures in a row and layering them into one image. This is a composite image. A composite image is an image that is created by layering and combining several different photos. You may be wondering "Why do we have to have several pictures to make this kind of image? Isn't one picture enough?" One image is not enough and that is because when you take multiple pictures, it creates an image that portrays a scene that the average camera can not capture. It is a larger view of the subject. So basically, the point of composite image is to make a wide view, larger than life scene. Thats cool right? Much better than a regular picture.

In class, we are making two different types of panoramas. Polar and spherical- and they may look similar but they are different. If you can tell from my examples, the polar panorama looks like a tiny world. Like everything is being dragged outward. But the spherical looks like its a crystal ball, like everything is being dragged into the center. They will both look very similar, but will mean and portray different things. And my pictures have captions so you can tell the difference if you don't understand.

When we make our worlds, the organic outcome is a world or ball type thing with a harsh line from where the edges of the panorama meet. So, we have to use the stamp tool that can be found in the tool bar in Photoshop. We have to cover that line and make it look natural, like there was never a line before. Also, there is a ring of white on the spherical image and a ring of black in the polar image that make it look convincing and realistic. It makes it seem like there was nothing artificial around it or, for the polar, it looks like the black part is space or something like that. We must make it look as real as possible for the best outcome!

Hockney Style Joiners

David Hockney is a famous artist and photographer that has become well-known for his interesting and unique photomontages. A photomontage are several different photos arranged to create a new picture or abstract art. Hockney's photomontages are different than the ones we are making. In some ways, like they are taken at different times of the day (as seen in Hockney's image to the right). You can see that a part of the sky was taken at night. Or in the picture in the top-left corner, some of the clouds around the mountain are dark and stormy, and others are white and puffy. Also, some of Hockney's photomontages aren't close to the original object. The subject is seen multiple times and is somewhat spread apart.

My trampoline covered with memories, with my feet and another mysterious pair of feet.

Images can be powerful things. They can make you feel things. They can make you think things. And sometimes, some make you do things, all of these things both positive and negative. An image can send positive messages by using warm, light, and pretty colors and combinations. Or by presenting happy things like sunsets or someone smiling or a wedding and being humans, we have the urge to be happy when others are happy. If an image uses dark, colorless, and bland things, it tend to make people sad or angry. Or by depicting negative things, like funerals or death, humans will feel and think negatively.
My final photomontage is of my trampoline. This trampoline means so much to me. I've had so many great memories on there with all my friends and family. It represents me because I'm always so jumpy and hyper and constantly moving. I do dance 5 days a week and I still always have energy. But behind that, there is a deeper meaning that I want people to notice. It is that you should jump to reach your goal. Don't just stand there- try to jump ahead and reach for your dreams. And most of all... have fun! If you don't enjoy what you are doing, don't do it then. Its your life. You can jump anyway you want. While your up there, do a front flip. Why not? Just do what makes you happy and have fun. Be active... BE YOU!




-My friend Cara sitting under a tree at our school outside of our
 GT classroom.

2016 Aspirations

Happy New Years everyone! It's 2016 and it's time to start thinking of New Years resolutions. Everyone makes New Years resolutions but sometimes they don't complete them like they hoped they would. But, I am hoping to attain at least one of these goals (hopefully all of them). I am constantly tired in the mornings and have a hard time getting up, so one of my goals is to go to bed earlier and get more sleep. Another, resolution I have is to end my 7th grade school year with straight A's on my report card. Its always a good feeling to know that you have improved over the year. As you guys may know, I take dance. I am taking classes four days a week and training to go en pointe (the picture to the right is a dancer who is en pointe). So one of my goals is to get my pointe shoes sometime this year and start getting comfortable with them and possibly start dancing in them. On the topic of dance, even though I take lessons four days a week, I want to go more often and longer. I started ballet only a few months ago, and I am behind everyone of the skills and training level since I started so late. I want to learn more and more so I can get to the same level as all my other dance friends. Lastly, I want to eat healthier. Being a dancer requires a lot of strength and I eat a lot of candy (whoops). So, I want to start getting into shape and stretching more often at home to get more flexible. Anyways, I hope I didn't bore you with that long paragraph.

The most important goal for me to reach this year is to eat healthier. This is because I dance a lot, and if I don't eat healthy, it makes it a lot harder for me to dance. It drags me down in a way, plus I have to get more flexible and eating junk food will not help. Eating healthy is a hard thing for me because I LOVE candy but if I want to be successful in dance and get better, I need to switch a few things up in my daily diet. For example, have one piece of candy every three days instead of everyday. And yes, I am very serious about dance and love it a lot so you are going to be hearing about it very often. Anyways, eating healthier is also extremely important because not only will it help me in dance, but it will help me feel a lot more active and happy. I know, I sound like a crazy person talking about dieting and eating healthy but I'm not a crazy person (well... not completely crazy)! Alrighty- enough of that!

My most important goal is to eat healthier and stretch more, but I can't just snap my fingers and BLAM... I'm eating healthy. It will be a challenge but if I take certain steps, I can do it. First of all, I'd have to tell my family about this goal so that they could help me stay on track. Then, I have to set a limit like eating only one piece of candy or one bowl of ice cream every other day. Then, I will continue getting stricter, by saying like only one piece of candy or one bowl of ice cream a week. But it will take a while. The second part of it (stretching more) will be achieved by me stretching at home and in my free time. I'm pretty flexible but I need to be more flexible to be successful in dance. This one will be easier that eating healthy because I watch a lot of YouTube, so I can do some stretching while I'm watching videos. the hardest part of achieving this goal will probably be to continue doing these thing throughout the entire year. That is why I have to let my friends and family know what I am trying to do because then they can help me and keep motivated.