e-Communication Reflection

e-Communication Reflection

     The current school year in which I have participated in the e-Communication 21st century program is now coming to a close. over this year, due to these classes i have been allowed to grow creatively as well as gaining technical ability and valuable skills such as teamwork and problem solving.  As we wrap up this freshmen class preparing them to sophomores next school year, In abel for us to truly grow we must reflect on what we've learned.

           Coming into e9 with an 8th grade mindset and the experience of an ipad and cheap family PC, the new exposure to quality technology was extremely valuable to me. I learned the importance of listening attentively to directions... or else you've completed the stereotype of the little lost freshmen. Learning how to maneuver programs such as photoshop and adobe illustrator was a struggle, of course, but thanks to my friend, "Command Z"  I was granted free exploration that got me comfortable with the programs.

        Most of things I learned were directly from the teacher, but also by making a lot of mistakes. For example if you are unaware of how to save your documents correctly, you're going to make sure you know how to save works without loosing them. So, through this, the more things I did wrong was something I learned not to do again. another tip, if you have the inspiration or an outlandish idea, ask an administrator, they might just know how to do it and be able to teach you.

       This education is important, as one of my favorite characters from Parks and Recreation, April said. "Time is money, Money is power, power is pizza, and pizza is knowledge." So it's importance is a bit, obvious.  the more you know, the more you can do.

     My greatest weakness coming in was definitely was technology side, me always being a creative thinker, as an insane little child, I assumed I would be fine. listening and knowing what to do is key. yes, it's great to have your creative juices take over, but sometimes a structure is needed before you actually make your project. I've improved because of previous bad planning, and spontaneous inspiration is okay, but before you take action you need to know what steps you'll take and how.

   I'm going to do a lot with what i've learned, in my future years of this program, my knowledge will only grow, and my ideas will only get crazier . But that's okay because i know i'll have the education needed to properly execute it.

   I would have changed my organization from the beginning of the year, yes the technology was new, the school was new, and most of all I was the newest newbie this freshmen class had ever seen. For my personal logo I just assumed I would fiddle around on the computer, and BOOM! I would have my personal logo. but then I was indecisive and my logo lacked the theory and deeper meaning that we had learned about in graphic design. If I would've gone in with that in mind ,I feel like it would have been a better representation of my ability to create something with significance to something else.

    in conclusion, i messed up a lot, and will probably continue to do so, till the day I die even. But from this program, I am getting the education I need to let my mind be as weird and outlandish it wants, and maybe by looking at my work people can somehow comprehend how it works. a little bit, at least. Next year e-communication will be even better, so,

see you then.

-Courtney Honors

        

         

Summer Sound

      

 Summer Sound Project

  One of the biggest projects of the year in e9 was the was the group final. put into a group of four based on out Meirs Briggs personality types, our goal was to create a product along with a logo, animation, video website. while exercising the new skills we learned throughout the year, we also had to use our leadership and cooperative teamwork  everyday. through healthy collaboration and constructive criticism of our team, we were able to get our product to the professional we aimed to meet.

    the product we made was SUMMER SOUND, sunglasses that have built in headphones, creating a whole new way to listen to music in the summer time. the headphones can play bluetooth, radio, podcast, and personal music that can connect to a phone or ipod.

        It was known from the beginning of our work together that we possessed personal interests in the strands of Ecomm, due to this we were successful in creating the material, the hard part was deciding what to use and where. while we split into our individual strands, in classes like graphic design, we produced many advertisements, logos, and other visuals regarding summer sound.


      The summer sound official logo chosen was the I worked on, but the whole team worked together in deciding exactly what we wanted the logo to look like and make people feel at first glance. overall we wanted a chill and summery logo that included music and the sunglasses. this out of all that we made seemed to say that the most.

For the animation, while of my group member worked on the  sunglasses Model themselves, I constructed the beachy background.

For the summer Sound commercial I collaborated with another one of my group members, using two ipad to maximize our time and shots. Using both of the ipad's footage we both created commercials, with the same overall plot, but stylistically different videos. the video i edited was made to appeal to teen and give off a "summer vibe". made simply I made actors and shots carefree and almost like a party.


This project to me was a success.  all of our group members contributed in the way we decided, giving product the material needed.  we got everything done, the website, animation, video ,and logo.

House Animation Project

      For our final in animation, we made a house in sketch up.   First we went to Mr. Olson's blog to get to a home construction website where we would be getting our house layouts. Once I found an appealing floor plan we started to imitate measurements and building techniques used in real life, transposed into the sketch up software.

        Throughout this process i have become better and more improved at making roofs, and using the tape measure tool needed to get the correct length and width of the house.

       I think it's a good skill to learn to be able to follow instruction and measurements, and i will continue to try and match my creativity to the ability to follow directions.  

    when he build aspect of my house was complete, it was time to turn it into an animation. we simply took frames captured in a screen shot related way following the house in 30 degree view, around the house.

Dreamweaver

Creating Our Own Web Page

    For half of our semester final in e9, we were asked to make our web page using adobe dream weaver. it's similar to my " about me page" because it features my bio as well as my elevator pitch.

At first, this project was difficult for me to do. it's always a little harder when there written instructions, especially with a new software.

but after a couple days, i was able to become more comfortable at connecting ti the e9 server and also the design and code aspects of dreamweaver.


file:///Volumes/e9/1st%20Hour/Lofquist%20hour%201/Honors%20Courtney/e9WebProjectQuarter2/yournamehome.html

My free time

beside working on class projects in e:Com, i take advantage of the programs avalible to me each morning. Most of the things i've made are short animations, using frame animation. i've become very comfortable with duplicating frames and layers to tie them into one moving picture.

In this animation I did a full face. I wanted to use the features of the face to show emotions so i can use this skill in the future. I used the same blinking process as i did below,but also used new muscles in the face. this animation used a lot of layers, this was helpful for the reason that the muscles that needed to stay the same would remain unchanged, and the moving parts could be realist.






This eye was one of the first animations i made on my own. i'm always drawing eyes everywhere, so decided that making an animation of one would be successful as well as represent myself .

i had to be cautious of what layers contained
what part of the eye.  after i was pleased with the formation of my eye, I added shading and other detail to make it more realistic.

 I wanted to do something with horses, but it was harder than expected. After making one layer of the horse, I realize I would have to make many more if I wanted it to appear running. to do my best in keeping the horse's shape in each layer, I would trace the torso and then draw a new neck, head, and legs. Many times I rearranged the order of the frames to get the look  I wanted. though I am happy with this animation, it is not yet finished, i like it too much to expirement on it's mane and tale, but i definately will in the future.

10 Words

This week we used video timeline animation instead of frame animation, using out "10 words" project. I enjoyed it because it really allowed each student to make it personal and a representation to their selves. we played with timeline animation by changing each word's opacity, position, and size, also when they entered or exited. We also posted the first animation to youtube.

Table and Chairs

       After seeming to master the basics of photoshop, Mr.Olson's class ventured into new landscape, the world of sketch up. important factors of this software include the shape tool, push pull, arch, and orbit. another that was helpful in this project was the "follow me" tool, it helped us personalize our table and chairs by creating the apearence of different designs cut into the wood.

this project took a little longer time than i would have hoped, i struggled making the lines for the follow me tool to trace, and also creating a design i liked. one thing that helped this precess of making the legs of the table and chairs was the component tool.

i like how my table and chairs turned out, it took some time, but the skills i've gathered from this project will help me in the future of sketch up.