PSA: Wear A Mask

Below is a summary of what I learned in my Audio and Visual Design class and helpful videos that inspired my my PSA.

Wear a Mask PSA:

I learned a lot in this class. I think some of the most useful aspects I’ve learned are how to frame a shot, how to effectively light an interview and the different kinds of shots. I never really knew a lot about filming and editing before I got to this class. I think I took one class where we learned the very basics freshman year, but as writing for journalism was primarily my focus in undergrad, I didn’t get a ton of hands on experience with a camera and editing. I still struggle with editing here and there and am still figuring out how to find the best background music and make graphics, but this class forced me to practice skills I wasn’t too confident about and encouraged me to get better. I really enjoyed producing some of the projects we were assigned and working with my roommates to create them. While I think I still have a long way to go in becoming a good videographer and editor, this class and the book we read provided an excellent foundation going forward.

Research to Inform:

I liked this PSA because it encouraged women to get into jobs in STEM. It showed women of all different ages and women of color and it was pretty short. Overall, I really liked this PSA and if I was better at science, I might consider going out for a STEM degree.

I liked all the B-roll they used here and how it effectively got the message across in a short period of time. I think it’s a good message and not a lot of people are aware of how many kids are hungry in America and it’s the perfect length to air as a commercial on live television.

My Mini Documentary

Below is a summary of the readings I found helpful to create this project and other informative videos that assisted me.

My Mini Documentary:

In Tom Schroepel’s final chapter of The Bare Bones, he says moving pictures are a subjective art. There are no rights or wrongs but there are some things that usually some rules and things that work better and look better than others. As long as you understand what you are doing and don’t lose focus on your project you should feel free to be creative and try new things.

You should welcome the criticism and learn how to grow from it. It’s the only way to becoming great and making progress. Analyze your success so you can replicate it in the future. Ultimately, try to avoid repeating your failures and don’t be afraid to be creative!

Examples:

I liked this video a lot because he showed a good J cut then went on to explain how to effectively edit a J cut and what looks good and bad.

I liked this video because it used popular movie clips as examples and had an overall great explanation of what each cut was.

My Montage

Below I write about what I learned from my class reading and helpful examples that assisted me in completing my montage.

My Montage:

In Tom Schroeppel’s, Bare Bones, he discusses how still film cameras record light patterns on film coated with light sensitive chemicals. Movie cameras work the same way but take multiple pictures each second to make the images appear like they’re moving. “The viewer’s mind fills in the gaps between the individual frames, due to a physiological phenomenon known as persistence of vision”(3). In the camera, the lens focuses on light patterns on an image sensor and the surface of the sensor contains thousands to millions of tiny light sensitive areas called picture elements aka pixels which end up changing based on the color and intensity of the light hitting them. The image formed by all the pixels taken together is electronically collected off of the sensor at a very fast rate. Exposure is the amount of light that comes through the film. Aperture is what controls how much light comes through the camera and can be adjusted with something called the f/stop. The smaller the f/stop, the more light that is allowed in. He also advises to adjust your white balance before you start anything else. ISO indicates the speed or sensitivity of the film. A low ISO means more light is needed while a high ISO means less light is needed. A normal lens is a lens that captures an image and reproduces it with almost the same perspective as the human eye.

There are also different shots you can take with a camera. Using a tripod helps stabilize the images and eliminates distractions. The rule of thirds gives a more interesting look at a picture as the person behind the camera is aligning the subject or object on one of the points in the grid. When a person is looking off camera, it’s important to give enough nose room where they are looking to keep the picture balanced. Angled photos and frames can give more of a three-dimensional view a frame that makes an impression on the viewers. Using a frame within the frame gives more attention to the subject of the picture and makes it more compelling to look at.

In chapter 5, Schroeppel discusses camera moves. A camera move should contribute to a viewer’s understanding of he or she is seeing. If camera moves distract and calls attention to itself, it is being used wrong. Camera moves also limits editing. It can be visually jarring or boring if there isn’t enough audio to go over the shot.

The basic camera moves are zooms, pans, tilts and a combination of the three. Zoom ins direct attention to the thing being zoomed in on and it’s important to make that subject or thing something interesting or important. A zoom out reveals new information and sometimes tells the audience where they are. Pans and tilts also can be used to reveal new information. One potential issue with panning is vertical lines like fenceposts, doorframes etc. will strobe and leave a ghost image behind if the camera person goes too fast. If you want to use a long pan, follow a smaller object like a person walking or a car so that it’s more visually engaging for the audience. Camera moves are interesting in terms of composition purposes but it’s important to begin and end every move with a well composed static shot or else it’s going to be very distracting for the audience. Another rule Schroeppel writes about camera movement is to always move from an uncomfortable position to a comfortable position. If you start in a slightly uncomfortable position and end in a comfortable position, your muscles as a camera person will loosen up and be relaxed by the end of the shot. This can make a shot look cleaner.

When editing the videos together it’s important to focus on the interesting aspects of the videos. Decide what your establishing shot is and go from there. As a film or video editor you are essentially editing the reality of the audience, you have control over what they are seeing and hearing so make sure it’s interesting. Making sure the viewers have enough time to absorb and process the shot is important and when you introduce new information in a shot, give the viewers enough time to understand and absorb it.

Researching to Inform:

I thought this was a cool informational video about the different types of editing techniques and it gave a lot of cool visuals and how to’s in the short four-minute period. I think for a beginner this would be a good video to watch to understand the basics of editing and shots.

I thought this was a great video explaining some basics of film editing. The shots he included were cool and I thought the narration was awesome. There were some helpful tips like getting the intention of film before you start editing and he included some things that happened in the past that can be avoided. Overall awesome video for beginners.

This guy talks about the different types of cuts and how to edit them. I thought this was a great short video that didn’t have too much overwhelming information in it and could really help beginners.

My Podcast

Below is what I learned from what I read for my Audio and Visual Design class and some of the examples which inspired me to make my podcast.

My Podcast:

This was an interesting project to create. I really liked interviewing and talking to the girls I had on and I thought it was an interesting topic. I edited it in Audition which was slightly challenging for me because I had never used Audition before and I wanted to take on a new challenge. I used my phone’s microphone to record the audio because I have had success with using it in the past, but this time it was a little more difficult to edit the interview portion because everyone’s audio was slightly different. I think my audio came out a little weird if I’m being honest because I couldn’t quite get the levels right but other than that I had a great time making this!

In chapter 8 of The Bare Bones, Schroeppel discusses sound waves and how to effectively capture sounds for any sort of project that includes audio. There are three different kinds of microphones that capture sounds different. Lavalier microphones are best used in sit down interview kind of situations because it can isolate one voice in a small area. It gets difficult when your subject is wearing loud clothing because if the mic moves during the interview, there will be static. A shotgun mic captures all the sound in the direction it’s pointed. This can be advantageous and also disadvantageous. Sounds that you want to capture can be muddled by background noise and it can pick up too many outside sounds if there’s a lot going on in the direction of your subject. The hand mike is one of the easiest to use in interviews because the user has almost complete control over where it’s pointed and how much sound it picks up. He also discussed using different audio devices to pick up different sounds in your scene. If there’s certain background noise you want to add to your audio that’s not coming in clearly, re record that background noise so you have better flexibility when editing the audio. He also advises rerecording any wild effects like car doors slamming or doors opening to get a crisper and cleaner audio in the final product. Lastly, he discusses voice slating and keeping a sound log so it’s easier to keep track of the good takes and sound you have. This makes the final editing process a little easier and more organized.

In the article, “7 Secrets for Getting Pro-Sounding Vocals on Home Recordings,” Gaetani gave some great tips for how to make a podcast in the comfort of your own home. Some of his tips included getting comfortable in the space you will be recording in, recording in a neutral and dry room without a lot of reflections and reverberated sounds, using pillows and blankets to make the room more soundproof, positioning your mic and pop filter correctly and doing several takes to make sure you have the best sound for your podcast. He also advised to be careful with your vocal editing, that is, make sure your focus on the performance and not on the pitch. It’s important to use the parts of audio that have personality as well as are said well.

In the article, “Sound Advice: Editing Audio for Video,” Robertson discusses some of the very basics of audio and video editing for rookies. He explains that A-roll is a phrase that indicates the primary footage in a video. B-roll is supplementary footage that could or could not be used in a finished product. B-roll is more of filler pieces to help reinforce the topic of the video. The same applies for audio. He explains the snip and clip method of preparing video for audio and making sure the video is how you want it before you put in any audio transitions and adjustments. If you can’t make the audio line up with the video, adding some background music under your video could help. He advises to look for jump cuts and to make sure your pictures and audio is exactly how you want it.

Some of my favorite scenes:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

This is one of my favorite scenes and the first one that came to mind when I was thinking of examples. Between the music and the sound effects, this scene holds such deep emotion because it conveys how tough times must be if McGonagall is deploying soldiers she never thought she would have to use. I thought the music did a perfect job capturing such a wide array of emotions this scene is trying to portray.

Almost Famous

This is probably one of my favorite scenes. Almost Famous is by far one of my favorite movies and the way music brought together this band who was previously fighting shows the impact and power of songs and music. I really liked the way the actors’ voices were threaded in with the sound to make it smoother and like there wasn’t any sort of gap between the audio and video.

Chasing Mavericks:

This is also one of my favorite movies. It takes place where I grew up and this scene as actually filmed at one of my favorite beaches. The incorporation of the narration, music and waves made me cry the first time I saw it and makes it even more emotional knowing that this was all based on a true story.

Visit Iceland

For my brochure, I decided I wanted to make one for Iceland. A little over two years ago, I took a trip there with one of my best friends Brooke. This was one of our first solo trips out of London, which was where we were living while we were abroad. We spent an entire day with a private tour guide who took us all around the Golden Circle and it was one of the best trips of my life.

I knew immediately when I began designing this brochure, I wanted large images to be the focal point and display the stunning scenery. I thought about the column intervals or the space in between columns and I decided I didn’t want any empty space that showed any clear separation between the three panels. In “Graphic Design Solutions” Robert Landa discusses the importance of creating grids when designing brochures. I knew I wanted to have three panels on each side dedicated to separate text with an image stretching across all three panels. I knew the front of my brochure had to have a strong image to display how stunning Iceland is and entice people who have never been with stunning images.

When I was thinking about the content in the brochure, I knew there was a lot I could do with all the stuff to do and see in Iceland, so I narrowed it down and focused on only the Golden Circle. My brochure is meant to be part of a larger comprehensive information system about Iceland because there are so many tours and so many things to see.

I knew with an image base, my typography needed to be strong and so I chose a font and color scheme that went along with the general aesthetic of the pictures in the background. I liked on the front of brochure how the blue of the text complimented the color of the water of the background image. It made it feel like that whole brochure flowed a lot better together. The white boxes surround the text, and the white elements complimented the snowy mountains on the second page, and I think subtly pulled the whole brochure together. I originally designed the second part of the brochure without any elements and only text, but it felt really empty, so I tried to match the elements to the text they were over, and I think it turned out really nice.

Overall, I wanted to highlight some of the high points of my trip and tour around Iceland and with this brochure, I think it would be a great starting resource for anyone who wanted to travel to Iceland. While trifold brochures are typically printed out and folded, I think the format of my brochure would allow it to be either printed and used in travel offices or posted on social media sites. The images I used really highlighted Iceland’s stunning scenery and I’m happy with how the pictures are the primary focus while the text is compliments them and adds some information and even color to the brochure.

Shrike

This is a typography assignment I completed in my Visual Design Course.

When I started thinking about this project, I didn’t know what word I wanted to work with. In undergrad, I was a journalism major, and I’ve always loved to read so it was a little overwhelming to choose just one to focus on. I decided the easiest way for me to pick a word I liked for this assignment would be to browse my favorite artists and pick one of their songs as inspiration. I decided to go with the song “Shrike” by Hozier.

Hozier’s music has always felt perfect to me. His lyrics are poetry that can be analyzed in any beginner’s English course because there are so many different meanings for each of his songs. Instead of basing my design on the interpretation of the song, I decided to add some vines and simple text because vines, wildflowers and nature were always something I associated with Hozier. While the vines didn’t turn out exactly how I wanted them, I had fun making them and it was certainly challenging at times when I was trying to navigate the pen tool.

The power of typography is something I really learned about in this module. Simply tracking headlines and spacing out uppercase letters versus lowercase letters in a sequence was something I was considering when making my piece. Ellen Upton writes on her website, “Adjusting the overall spacing of a group of letters is called tracking or letterspacing. By expanding the tracking across a word, line, or entire block of text, the designer can create a more airy, open field.” As I was picking my font for this assignment, I was also playing around with spacing, uppercase versus lowercase letters and how much space I would need in between each letter to make the vines. Initially, when I would look at text either in a design piece or even in a textbook, I wouldn’t even consider the spacing between the letters or what would look more aesthetically pleasing when people were looking at a piece with text.

Another thing I really struggled with was not filling all my whitespace on this project. Kim Golombisky and Rebecca Hagen write in their “Beginner’s Guide to Communicating Visually Through Graphic, Web and Multimedia Design,” “After centering, the other beginner’s temptation is to fill up all four corners of the layout, along with every other available bit of space. This results in a cluttered, thus unappealing and confusing, visual message. White space is not your enemy.” I wanted to take up the entire space and make more vines and flowers and go absolutely crazy, but I remembered I wanted this to be simple and emphasize a feeling. Ultimately, this project was really fun because I felt like I was able to create something that expressed how I felt and what I thought and use a song from one of my favorite artists to do it.

Tok Followed Tik

I was really excited to begin this week’s project because I had created a movie poster before when I was a freshman in high school and wanted to challenge myself a bit more. I used different images from my time abroad and really wanted to focus on the depth of the poster. Because the instructions said to include seven different elements, I wanted to make something that incorporated all the elements of design while maintaining a clear focus and flow of the overall poster. When I was looking at my pictures, deciding which ones I wanted to use, I immediately found a picture I took at the Guinness Factory in Ireland that was perfect which I put below.

I was thinking about what I wanted to name the movie and when I saw the picture of the clocks, the title came to me: Tok followed Tik. With the growing popularity of the app TikTok, I thought about how the interesting pun could also apply to the names of the two best friends. I thought it was interesting with the text behind the clock and I will admit that it was part of the original picture which is even better because it adds an interesting element to the poster that I love.

When I was considering the depth of this poster, I knew I had to incorporate three elements to make a background, mid-ground and foreground and add shadows where they were needed. Here are the original photos I combined in the poster:

Processed with VSCO with c1 preset
Processed with VSCO with kk2 preset

I did struggle with the orientation of the poster because I was upset with how it looked being horizontal. Most of my pictures were horizontal and I didn’t really have an option where it looked good in portrait, so I decided to stick with that orientation.

In regard to the typography, I wanted the main focus to be the title, so I put a smaller text in white in the corner. There wasn’t a lot of room once I put in the background and wanted to have a clear emphasis on the hilly background without much text obstructing that. I really liked how the type was integrated with the clocks and I originally was going to try and remove the text but after many failed attempts and stepping back to look at the poster, I really liked the text in the clocks, and it was a happy mistake that my title ended up being the focus of one of my photos! I wanted to make sure that the text that was in the clocks was the main focal point and while my decision making towards specific typography ended up being limited, I knew I wanted it in the mid-ground and manipulated the other elements (like dropping shadows on figures) to make sure that element was exactly where I wanted. The text in the clock was awesome because I think it was pretty indicative of time traveling without any other description and that was my original goal when I was planning the typography of this poster.

I didn’t love the authentic titles where I placed them, but again, the orientation of my poster made placement a little tricky. Thankfully, I was able to find a template online that replicated those credits and ended up filling in the names with people I knew which was fun.

Lastly, for the two human elements, I wanted them to appear as authentic as possible and not look like cutouts on a page, so I kept the lighting of the background in mind when I was editing the two girls. I immediately dropped two shadows of the girls at a 90º angle because I wanted to make sure the shadow distance from the body and the angle were the same on both girls. I was focused on consistency in this poster, so I edited the brightness and contrast levels of both girls to try and match the background and mid-ground. While it’s not perfect, I think it’s pretty good and I’m happy with how it turned out for my second time designing a poster.

vCISOs United Logo

This is a logo I created for a LinkedIn page I was beginning to create at my internship for vCISOs.

Logos are super important for companies when they are thinking about branding and marketing. Besides an initial original design, designers need to think about color and font presentation as well. This week was interesting because my boss proposed an idea to create a LinkedIn page for Virtual Chief Information Security Officers (vCISOs) and we wanted to create a unique logo for the page. As Robert Landa said in his book “Graphic Design Solutions,” “A brand is not one thing. It is not just a logo or a package. It is a complex set of visual, verbal, and experiential cues supported by media messages.” I work for a cybersecurity company called TrustMAPP that provides security assessments for companies who handle thousands of people’s personal information. vCISOs are responsible for keeping all this information safe and my company works almost exclusively with them to sell them this security assessment software. We wanted to create this group so vCISOs from all over the world could share tips and tricks with each other in an exclusive environment that is sponsored by TrustMAPP.

I initially discussed with my boss the concept of a shield being the base of the entire logo. Our idea of vCISOs are the superheroes of the tech world so we wanted to have a logo that said as much. They are the ones that keep everyone safe from hackers on the internet! vCISOs work primarily online considering part of their title is “virtual” so I added a spiderweb as a representation of this virtual aspect of their job.

I struggled with the last element because I didn’t want the logo to be crowded. I thought about adding a spider with a lock hole on its back (like a black widow) but my boss thought it might be too much for such a small space. So I reworked the idea on my own and came up with just a lock hole in the middle of the web. It represents this information that normal people give websites access to and how vCISOs keep it locked away and safe.

While I wish I did an initial sketch of my own, my boss moved some different elements of this design around on his computer when we were talking on Microsoft Teams so I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to create going into this project. I first created a basic black outline with all the elements I wanted to combine in this logo and then pasted nine different prototypes on a sheet and made 9 different logos with the four TrustMAPP colors and tried different combinations of the colors so I could see which version I liked best.

While it was really difficult choosing just one for this project, I really resonated with the blue and white option I created. To begin, this color was sponsored heavily on TrustMAPP’s website and I thought it would match TrustMAPP’s simplistic theme. I didn’t want the logo to be too loud and I thought the red and yellow logos were a little too much for a logo being displayed on LinkedIn. While we do want the members to know the group is sponsored by TrustMAPP, it’s also important that it’s not too obvious or obnoxious. The primary focus of this group is to promote and support vCISOs and possibly sell our software on the side.

Lastly, when I was playing around with the text around the logo, I ended up deciding it looked a lot cleaner without it. I was thinking about the target audience and where this would be seen and when I was considering the small circular box the logo would be in, I thought it would look too crammed if I tried to add text. I really like how this turned out and am really excited to see what my boss thinks.

TPWK: An Iconic Color Scheme

This is a Milton Glasser Rendition I created my second semester of my Master’s program.

Color is an important part of any product or brand you’re trying to advertise or even create art for. When I was thinking of someone for this project, Harry Styles came to mind almost immediately because of how he’s used specific iconic colors in his outfits and hidden on his new album.

This photo is of Harry in the same outfit he was seen posing in for his album ‘Fine Line.’ This is one of his staple outfits and one of the staple colors of the entire album and Harry Styles as a brand. It breaks gender norms on so many levels and one way he’s able to do this is by using pinks and light blues to his advantage. This was something I took into consideration when I was choosing the colors for my project.

I looked up color swatches on the internet because I wanted to try and recreate nearly the same exact colors as his album and this was the photo for reference that I used:

I thought the silhouette would be the most difficult part of this project, but it actually turned out to be created the hair. I really loved how Milton Glaser used Dylan’s hair as the color part of the image and I wanted to challenge myself to use different colors all around his hair for the middle silhouette. I thought it would be a really cool way to incorporate all the colors of his album into this project and not worry about picking just three. I had a really difficult time adjusting the hair and making all the lines look curved perfectly. There were also some fine details of this project, like wisps of hair in the front that took a lot of planning and were very frustrating at times to figure out. I ended up getting the hang of the pen tool by the end and I feel good about the final product.

Hand of Fate

Each year The Grammy Awards honor some of the most legendary artists in history. It solidifies an artist’s place in the music industry and confirms that the artist had a substantial impact on the music industry and the people they reach. As music progressed, some iconic bands have been left in the dust and forgotten as a new era of music takes over society. Yet, some early rock and roll bands are still holding on and continuing their profound impact on society.

The Rolling Stones won their third Grammy on Sunday, Jan. 28, 2018 for Best Traditional Blues Album. Their album, “Blue and Lonesome” is their 51st album released since the band formed in 1962. The Rolling Stones won the Lifetime Achievement Award and won Best Video Music Video, Short Form for “Love is Strong” in 1994.

The Rolling Stones newest album, “Blue and Lonesome” has reminiscent vibes of Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley and Jimmy Reed. The album pays tribute to the Stones’ favorite artists.

In the description of the album, The Stones wrote, “American blues has long been part of the Stones’ DNA, and ‘Blue and Lonesome’ is a greasy, grimy tribute to their blues heroes. Deep cuts by the likes of Jimmy Reed, Howlin’ Wolf, Magic Sam, and Little Walter are delivered with soulful reverence, showing that even rock ‘n’ roll legends are still just music fans at heart.”

Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Woods and Charlie Watts masterfully put together an album that connects back to the roots of jazz. Jagger on the harmonica and vocals, Richards as lead guitarist, Woods as bassist and Watts as the drummer makes a dynamic album full of a mix of records. “Ride ‘Em Down” combines Jagger’s vocals exquisitely with the drums and guitar breaking off midway through the song to give the spotlight to Richards’ legendary guitar skills to give the song more of a traditional blues vibe. Their song, “Blue and Lonesome” portrays the desperation of the song through the harsh guitar and intense lyrics.

While the Stones did win the Grammy for Best Blues Album, “Blue and Lonesome” has reminiscent feels of their albums “Hot Rocks” and “High Tides and Green Grass,” some of The Stones first albums. The Rolling Stones came to the rock and roll scene in 1962, when rock was just starting to firmly establish itself in society.

Some of the first rock and roll bands such as The Who, Big Brother and Holding Company, The Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles and Jim Morrison weaved their ways through homes all across the world and created a generation that would soon be inspired to change the ways of conventional societal standards and challenge the status quo. “Gimme Shelter” by The Rolling Stones was an intense statement to the Vietnam War through revealing and harsh lyrics and intense guitar progression. “Sympathy For The Devil” is a statement on the atrocities committed throughout history sung through the viewpoint of the devil. These songs are only a few of the political and social statements The Stones made through music.

Music has always been a safe haven for artistic expression. It has given artists a way to connect with a larger audience and has given people an escape from reality. It has started many social movements that progressed our society and has been an outlet for people all over the world. The Rolling Stones were only one band out of so many that helped shape society. Their newest album, “Blue and Lonesome” was a reminder of the music that helped shape music and facilitated some of the movements that changed our world.