Scratch Game Design

         Scratch, a website to make games with code, is a website our class has been working in for the past week. The game we have been making is called "Chase". The idea of the project is to make a character automatically controlled, chase another character controlled by you. User experience influenced my game in many ways. With people playing the game, they gave their opinion and the opinions they gave were helpful things to improve on, or at least something I could do better next time.

            In both of my games, each one has a special feature for it to stand out. In my 1st game,  "Chase", I made it so the larger the shark, the more points lost if they managed to touch you. In order to balance that, the larger the shark, the slower they were. I made this since everyone else's game seemed so basic. I wanted my game to stand out more than other peoples. In my second game, I made a special feature that included a bar moving up and down. If your character hit that bar, you would restart. I incorporated this for a challenging game that you actually want to try again if you lose.

       

 In my opinion, my best code was the coding of the actual sprite in my platformer game. There was many different colors I had to include that if the sprite touched, the game would restart. The movement of that sprite though isn't perfect, it rolls in a slightly odd direction. The most difficult bug fix though, was figuring out how to make it so the portal says a different message after each time. I finally fixed it, by using a slightly different portal sprite and that sprite makes it says a different message after you touch that specific one.

Invention Commercial

       The invention of the shovel was ground breaking. However, the invention of the broom truly swept the nation. However, we all know it was the invention of the wheel that got things rolling. Okay, enough bad puns. In our GT media class this week we had put the finishing touches on our Invention commercial plans, and viewed our entire classes commercials. Our team (Tim Blum,Kynan Ledee, and myself) had a main goal to accomplish for the end of the commercial. That goal was to make something that could people could actually use. We somewhat accomplished the goal, it IS something that people can use, but it's very simple. Our idea was to create a device that allows people to pour drinks without the worry to spill anything. What we did end up making was simply a hole in a bottle cap. It works, however it wasn't to the best of our abilities.

   
      Our teams best moment within production was a pretty awesome one if I do say so myself. We were trying to make something for the end of the video, and Kynan sang a song and the lyrics were "1-800 spill saver, do do dooo". It was very funny, and it was unfortunate we decided not to put it into the final cut. If we had decided to put it into production, our entertainment factor would of gone up, however another score could of potentially went down, and I feel that in commercials entertainment is not always the key for people to buy your product.

During post production, it was mostly me who had done the editing in my group. I had put all the clips together and voiceovers, however it was Kynan and Tim who helped me in putting things in certain places. In addition to that, I had difficulties exporting the movie, and it was them who helped me complete that task. Overall, I feel as if we did a very good job on this project. Of course, there is always room for improvement. The next project that we do, I intend on honing my skills even more.

Composition Scavenger Hunt

Last week, in our G.T media class we got into teams of 3 and started a project on composition techniques. It personally wasn't my favorite project, however I got through it. The most important composition technique I think our team filmed was rule of thirds (subject). Although I say this, it only pertains to our class. In our class, we have two periods in which we have to film a lot. So our class tends to use a lot of rule of thirds subject, and thats why I believe its the most important.

The most difficult composition technique for me to do is rule of thirds, subject. I also said this was the most vital however it is the hardest. So many rules apply to this technique, and so many are required to make it appear flawlessly. First of all, you need to align your subject in rule of thirds which isn't all too hard if you turn on the grid part of your camera. After doing so, you need a background that applies to whatever your story or what your doing is about. (Example, story about ocean might have a background of an aquarium or fish species behind it). Along with the background applying, you can't have a wall behind your interviewee. That's only the basics of rule of thirds though. Many more in-depth features are out there, and you can find some right here if it interests you.

     
My teammates were Kynan Ledee and Timothy Blum. All of us played an important rule in our video, but perhaps the most important was Tim's, because he filmed nearly all the shots and had ideas for some of them. Kynan was the subject of most of our subjects, and did the voiceovers. and I was the person with the ideas for shots (more so than Tim) and filmed the shots Tim did not. Over all, I feel as if our group was even in the amount of work we had done, and thats really important in group projects.

Cracking the Code

In our G.T media class this week, we have been learning basic coding. We also were presented with a question, is coding really required in life? Well, I don't think so. It all really depends on the career path you want to follow. For example, what if Lebron James had been into coding  but still wished to follow his career path as a NBA superstar. He couldn't of done both. Other people in the world probably are torn between the two. So, what I say about coding is simple. If you like it, go for it! If you don't want to learn it and have your career path planned out, I say go with your gut.

My first experience working with code was an interesting one. It was in sixth grade, when our class was working with chromebooks. It was on code.org and most of our class understood at least the very basics of coding. I believe it was the angry birds activity that we attempted to do. I personally enjoyed it, however some of my other classmates had hated it with a passion. Ever since then, I have forgotten about coding. Until now, and once again I enjoy it!

If I could design any game, it would be a game similar to clash of clans. The goal of the game would be to level up your character, and the higher your level is, the more freedom you get for the game. For example, let's say you start off and your a "Novice Ruler". As a novice, your "kingdom" will only be entitled to a few things, such as basic walls and people living in your village. You can level up by your resource producers that villagers operate. That's the basics of it, and if I could design a game I would design a game like that one.

My Humorous Monologue

In our G.T class, we have been working on a project. The project is a comedic monologue in which we need to memorize, and film b-roll over our audio. I've learned a lot about writing comedic ideas due to this project. Most of them include the basic idea of working off of what makes you laugh, but other ideas are more complex. One of the more complex ideas of writing comedic work is that you are not going to make people laugh at every joke. To be a comedian, you have to be able to accept the fact that sometimes people will not think you are funny.

Describe pad & why padding your clips is crucial. Pad, is a very important aspect in filmmaking. It ensures no footage gets cut off at the beginning and end of your clips. Pad is really just adding 3-5 seconds extra before actually filming so while importing, none of your clips will be cut off. I used pad often in my clips, with the exception of a few of the clips. Those few clips I needed to adjust because they were cut off.

My main weaknesses in this project were the lack of productivity I had. I could of finished alot more if I had been more productive. No, it's not my best project however it's my first project of the year. I hope to do better on our next project. My main strengths though, were my speaking. I spoke loudly and clearly in my monologue. I also think I had really creative ideas, however I couldn't apply them in the best way possible. I think this is a good first project though, and I really liked it!

Comedy Writing

As of late, I've been laughing a lot. It's a good thing really. Anyways, I wanted to explain how a sense of humor is a good trait to have. A sense of humor is a good trait to have because humor is really a life skill. If you have a good sense of humor, you can light up people when they are feeling down. A sense of humor also can relieve stress from not only you, but others as well. Even in my life, when people have cracked a good joke on a bad day, it made me feel somewhat better. So, having a sense of humor can be really vital, for many reasons.

5 tips for writing a humorous essay? Okay then! First tip, have a voice in how you read it. Don't talk in a mundane tone. Raise your voice, lower it, talk in an accent, whatever your story relates to, attempt to talk in a tone of voice that makes sense. Second tip, think of what makes you laugh. Build off of that, think of what makes you laugh and try to expand the joke to support multiple types of humor. If you don't understand what I'm saying, ask a friend what makes them laugh. Assuming what makes them laugh is different that what makes you laugh, try to incorporate humor in your joke that suits both you and your friend. Third tip, don't make the joke too wordy. Making the joke too long can make the audience lose you, or become bored. Don't be all too descriptive. Get to the point, get laughs. Fourth tip, is a fairly obvious tip but a good one. You can be inspired by other people, however don't steal from them. All comedians had to start their jokes from scratch and it's not Monopoly and you can get a free pass. The 5th and final tip is be yourself. If it's not you, then you are doing something wrong.

My comedic monologue includes a variety of high humor. Most of my jokes require some thinking, because you usually won't understand it right away. The rest of my jokes are puns. They are funny because of thinking required to understand them. Once you do understand them however, they can be quite enjoyable. I'm really proud of the work I have done on this project. I hope I can maintain that pride for the entirety of the year.

Personal Manifesto

Five interesting facts about me? Well one I enjoy to play basketball every day ranging from 1 hour-3 hours. I do this because it is my strongest passion, and my favorite thing to do. Another thing that is interesting about me is that I like to read in my spare time. Mostly at night, I will lie awake, with only a book and a lamp. Sometimes, I wake up at 4:00 during school days, just so I can get a early start and be full awake by the time school starts. As stupid as this seems, it gives me plenty of time to get ready in the morning. I've lived in 3 different states, California, Arizona, and now Kauai. To end it off, I went to Disneyworld this summer, which was really great.

Don't create good habits. Create great habits. S  t  r  e  t  c  h your limits to the breaking point. Take a step in your new life. Do more, learn more, be more. The day you stop believing is the day you stop breathing. Live your life the way you want to, not the way people tell you how. Everyone has their limits, but its up to them to find them. If you want to be successful, you have to take chances, and you have to rely on your gut. Follow your passion

My manifesto applies to my reader in the sense that everyone in this world has dreams, however not
everyone has the motive to go chase those dreams. My manifesto encourages these people to go and chase those dreams with helpful phrases and things for them to think about. If you can make a impact in someone else's life, I feel as if thats a success in your own life.

Music Videos Rock!

           I think all of our team has contributed equally so far, except Nathan Gardner. I'll explain more later, but as for now I will name the people who have done their part. The first person is, Logan Noble. I think he has contributed the most in our group, he does the lip-sync's and started the song idea. The next member who has done their part is Leilia Panui. They have done nearly all of the filming so far. Myself, I have been almost a director, instructing my group. As for Nathan Gardner, I feel as if he could contribute more. He has mostly intervened with our group and slows us down. He also refuses to film outside of school. We are a fairly balanced team, but Nathan is weighing us down.

               I think our audience will enjoy the chorus the most, since it has "kick" and "push" and it will show us as it says, kicking and pushing. It is funny, or at least I find it personally. I think the audience might also enjoy the parts when we include our special effects, that all are different. Creative angles are another aspect to consider, because the angles make our music video stand out. Over all, I think the audience will enjoy the music video.

               Our music video shows what we learned this year because it has a poster which includes "some" of the things we learned in this class. We also tried to incorporate creative angles, rule of thirds, and effects. If you compared this project to my first project, the improvement would be very noticeable. I wish to take this class next year, to learn even more. Goodbye blog, I hope I will be able to see you again soon!

Lyrical Livelyhood

My favorite song lyrics make me feel, encouraged. I like to listen to music while I play basketball, so it helps me practice. It puts me in a state of complete focus, with no distractions. I usually like the songs with lyrics about encouragement and different varieties of sound. It makes me feel better, if I'm feeling down most of my favorite songs help significantly. Basically, music is quite a large aspect in my life.

The song we picked for our music video was "Kick Push" by [Lupe Fiasco]. The reason we picked this song is because it is a very energetic song, and we all have good ideas for a music idea that match with the lyrics. One example would be, in the point of the song when it says, "Kick, push" we will have a skateboard, with only the feet showing, and it will be kicking and pushing. We are all familiar with this song so we know almost all of the lyrics.

The visual story we will tell is a boy, wanting to learn how to skateboard. At first, he will fail. He will fail many times before he learns how to succeed. He gets to the point of always skating, and having his neighbors yelling at him. Due to this, he moves to other places, and becomes pretty popular. Most places he skates, people tell him he can't skate here. Yes, it seems somewhat meaningless, but we enjoy the song.

Our animation story

Our focus statement is "Cyberbullying effects Tu". The focus statement tells Tu's story, because she had experience with a cyberbully in the past. I'm also sure people in this class have had experience with bullying in general. We also want to get the message out, plain and simple, Bullying is a bad thing. Even though you might not realize it, you could be more of a bully than you intended. That's our main message.

The lesson we are trying to teach our audience is, don't be a bully. Bullying can lead to depression and even in extreme cases, suicide. It's very sad, and we wanted to at least share Tu's experience to encourage others. Be kind, stand up for yourself. While this might sound like every other thing you've heard about bullying, yes that is true. However, if that many people say negative things about bullying, don't you think you should listen?

Our teams best and worst moments as a team? One of them was when we first started out, tossing out ideas. This was probably our worst moment. One of our best moments was after we got our ideas together, we were able to start working together with ease. However, after we got to that point, things became shaky. At some points we were doing good, and at others we all couldn't seem to agree. Overall, I think our final outtake will be good.

Animation Outakes

To begin, in GT we started a new project. It requires using photoshop to animate. It is an animation project. My teammates for this project are Tessa Jensen, Tu Nguyen, Leilia Panui, and Dylan Niide. Interesting facts about them are, Tu really likes minions from the movie "Despicable Me". She also really likes to eat. Seriously. Even as odd as it seems. Tessa has a lot of siblings, four to be exact. And she's apparently best friends with her mom. Leilia is related to large amounts of people at school. As well as she gets Pono market very often. Dylan is a very talented artist. He also has a fan club called, Dylan-Nation.


A stop motion is a sequence of multiple pictures that are taken frame for frame and put together to create a interesting form of video. It's a very long process that is overall worth it. My photo booth shows fake emotion.  A .GIF(Pronounced Jif or Gif) is a short, compact file that repeats itself forever. Some of them loop, and it looks like its just happening over and over again. My bouncing ball GIF is not a loop.

The story we are telling is Tu's. As well as others probably in this classroom. The reason you (the audience) should care is because Cyberbullying is a major problem which can lead to distress, physical and mental harm. Our team mate has experience with this, and we want to make sure that people get the message. Either don't mind cyberbullies, or don't be one. Sometimes, you can be a bully without realizing.

Typography Images

Typography is using words over a persons portrait.The words are words that represent that person, and it's just a long list. It can be used in many ways, positive, and negative. More so positive, as it's used to make a positive impact on that person. Speaking of impacts, a typography can make a very long-lasting impact. It can do this by, well let me put into perspective for you. If you see a picture of you and a lot of positive words that represent you is a good feeling. Not saying I've had one made for me before, but I have a good idea that is what is feels like.

The biggest challenge I've faced through this project? Well, the hardest part for me is the beginning, soaking it all in to put it to work. My first typography(see below) didn't turn out the greatest. I feel as if I'm improving as I go along. I get along with it by figuring out how I can improve, or how I can work around the obstacle. Most of our assignments we receive in G.T are difficult and we still work through it. The reasoning behind this is because we are persistent and don't stop trying.

For my first example, I have a typography image of  Thomas Edison. This one is probably my worst work because I rushed it, not putting forth my best effort. In my second typography, I feel as if this one is the best because the picture was already taken with good highlights, shadows and midtones. I added a bevel and an emboss to the picture for the words to pop, if I didn't add one, it would look much less realistic. For my third and final picture, I find it ok, but not the best. It took me a long time to posterize the image and fix it.

Double Exposed Portraits

Portrait photography is when you have a group of people(or one person) displaying emotion or a feeling. Usually, you will have the full body showing, and background, but the main focal point is the face. It can relate to silhouetting because, well first of all, a silhouette is a shadow of a persons face. And a silhouette is a profile, which is a outline side view of a persons face. Also, once you finish your double exposure, its a silhouette of your face, All three, profile, silhouette, and portraits are closely bonded to each other. Although at first it's confusing, once you actually try to do these three, it becomes much simpler.

Double exposures are created in photoshop when you get three images, two of which represent you, and a profile of your face, preferably. Once you get all of these, you go to photoshop, file, automate, load into stack. This will load of the pictures on top of each other. After putting your profile on the top layer, you dodge it, you can change the strength of it as well, around your face. After you finish putting the dodge around your face, you can go into blend mode by double clicking the layer, and screen it. This way, it makes the background visible. To add some "originality" to your double exposure, click layer, new adjustment layer and explore with options. Some reasons you would want to do this is because, well first it represents YOU. Also, its just a cool thing to print out and keep.

The symbolism in my two pictures are steel, and sports. The steel represents my strength, and how I can pull through things. The sports represents the lightness, and something I'm very passionate about. I think I did a pretty good job of working, and it's almost my highest quality of work. I could of dodged better, and I could of used the curve to make it lighter. However, I still really like it, it has proper head room and it overall seems really awesome.

HDR Photography

HDR Photography stands for High-dynamic-range. It is a technique used to increase or decrease exposure for the image to seem more appealing. The camera takes 3-4 pictures usually then combines them into one stunning picture. What I like about HDR? Well, it certainly makes the picture seem much, much more vivid in detail and in most aspects. The part I do not like about it is how much time it takes to accomplish one, amazing picture. It takes precise editing, and good instinct to make the picture surreal, and just look, well nice overall. 

To create a HDR image, first you need a camera, obviously. Then, after turning it on, make it into autofocus, so that it stables more efficiently. After doing so, you must turn up the little numbers on the knobs on, and you can see the numbers on the LSD screen. Turn that number up to the one that makes the image seem the best and snap. If you wish, you can take the same picture and use one exposure after the other. Ex: -3 to start, then -2, -1, 0, 1 , 2, 3.

I will update this soon, obviously but for now I have no pictures, except for the portrait. The thought process behind the pictures I'm going to take is to include more green, scenery foreground and less sky. Since the landscape I wish to take doesn't really suit for a superimposed picture, I will take another landscape that suits the portrait. With the picture I'm going to take (sunset at beach) I want to angle the sun more to the right, within the rule of thirds, and the water ever so slightly at the bottom, along with the sand. I want the setting sun to be the focal point.

Movie Trailer Critique

Our project, or film "Catastrophe in Litterville" was supposed to be a simple everyday comedy about, well cats. My teammates were Kaz Espina Michael Gremse Raghav Kumar .We seemed to work well as a group, and we all were cooperative. Our trailer plan document was basically revolved around our final project, with the main idea in it with some minor details changed. Since I wasn't actually in the film, I helped with the filming, and the ideas for it. Overall, I felt as our group did fairly well.




The requirements for this project? Well, the time minimum was 1minute and 30seconds. Also, we had to have an amount of five scenes, at the very minimum. Dialogue, music, and the trailer rated PG were also required. We met all of these requirements, and some of them were better than another. With our teamwork being really quite productive, we were able to get them done. If we hadn't cooperated as well as we should of, then our trailer would of turned out worse than the final result that we produced.

The class critique is always exciting, to see how people react to your trailer, and how you react to your classmates. The results turned out to be, not our team having the best trailer but another team who really deserved to win it. I agree with the results, because you could easily tell the difference between those who wanted it badly, and those who didn't care as much. I know our group could've done better, but I feel as we did pretty well, at least, for a new group of GT students. I learned that if you go all out on a project, it turns out really well and its mighty impressive. If you don't try as hard, well I plan on trying so lets stay on the bright side of things.

Movie Poster Promo

The main characters are Professor H20, and Cat man. Yes, this may seem silly, but bear with me. Professor H20 will be played by Michael Gremse and Cat Man will be played by Kaz Espina  (links to blogs below). Professor H20's character is supposed to be sort of a "bad guy". He is supposed to have an odd personality and he keeps to himself. Cat man is supposed to be a social person who just rushes to the scene where crime would be. He is somewhat odd, but he is the protagonist.

The title Catastrophe in Litterville is supposed to be a somewhat decent pun that relates to the story. The text all around the poster is the characters and the "critiques" from big-time magazines and publishers. We try to use kerning to our full advantage in the poster, it makes the text more appealing and likable than if you just use plain text. It's a way to spread out the text, to make it more, "pop-out".  That's the main reason that we use kerning, just to add an appealing touch to the text.

The overall effect of layers and filters used is just to make it more appealing. It came out really good, if I do say so myself (and I do!). It made a really positive impact on our poster, it added a really nice touch. I tried to use kerning, filters, and layer effects to make it look more appealing, and it did, quite a bit. Progress has been slow on the image, but it has been productive. I'm really happy how the poster came out, I could of done some things better, but overall, I really like it.

Links to blogs: Kaz Espina
                         Michael Gremse

My Visual Poem

The title of my poem is name "Determination". It says in about 15 lines what determination is and how it impacts our lives. The visuals of this poem are actually next to none because I hadn't done my homework and kept track of it. It could of been a lot better, as I planned it to be, but overall it was just my fault. The main reason I had done this was to express how we get the best of ourselves and push ourselves to our limit.

 The special effects, audio and colors are supposed to make the audience relate to it. I know I've done this in the past, the whole reason it is being written. I wished to make the audience feel as if this is their life, as if they have been in this same scenario before. When writing the actual poem I related to my feelings, and everything I've written in the poem was true. I hoped it would be for everybody else, thus the entire idea behind the poem.

No, I am not happy at all with my results. I am 100% certain that I could of done better, I didn't put forth my full effort. I am aware I could of done MUCH better, however I didn't do my homework and shoot with the camera every night. I wish it turned out the way I wanted it to, although it didn't and thats why I am not proud of the poem.

Finished News Story

Our story was about YesI skate shop. We interviewed Cameron Lovelace (Owner of YesI) and several of the kids he sponsors. In the story, we went behind the scenes to see what it is like to be the only skate shop on Kauai, and how it is to run a shop. Cameron Lovelace, Kyle, Kaloe Aguair. For the members of our team, it was Nathan Gardner, Oriia Nitsu, Logan Noble, and myself, Tyler Pagela.

The final cut didn't turn out as well as we hoped for. We wished to include more b-roll, and a better interview, but we ran out of time, entirely our fault. Im somewhat satisfied with the final cut, I saw "Somewhat" because we spent a lot of time on it, and Im proud we were able to produce something. I wish we would of been able to produce something of "Higher quality" but Im learning, along with the people in my group.

With the critique results, I agree with them. We didn't deserve an entirely high score, but not a particular low one. I thought it was "so so". It could of been better, but it could of been worse. (See results below) I myself voted a two, as that was our avergae number, out of four. Fifty five percent of people voted us a two, which I can agree with. Overall, I wish I could of been able to make this project better, but I'm proud of it. It was my first time doing something like this, and I can't ask for much more than just the experience.