Reflection

This semester in Com 210 was definitely challenging. It was one of the most difficult classes that I have taken because I have trouble with technology in general, but I know that It could possibly help me in the future with my career. I am planning on going into Public Relations, and the things that I have learned in this class could help me because PR is related to advertising and I may need to make some graphical features or come up with something like it.

My favorite project overall had to be the final step, which was making the final video. Being able to incorporate all of the segments that we have learned into one was super cool. Also, the freedom to film whatever and wherever you want was so cool to me as well. I was able to add in little things that signified large and important parts of my life.

There was no tool that I wish I would have learned because I felt as if everything that we had learned had so much incorporated into it. I felt like I had learned every possible aspect of these Adobe systems that I had never ever been familiar with until now. I realized throughout this class that I did not use a lot of website/outside inspiration. I looked at professional pages but nothing stood out and made me want my blog to be like that. The most inspiration that I got throughout this whole process were from my peers blogs. Being able to see how everyone decides to approach this whole overall blog process was amazing to me. It gave me some inspiration and helped me learn more about the people in my class. This class was so hard for me, but I am so proud of the outcome and my work ethic throughout it.

Final Video Story

(This video says 2:42, but it is actually 1:56. There is blank black screen at the end that would not delete, and when it did, my whole entire video was deleted as well, so I re did it, and it appeared again. My tutor also could not get it to go away, I am so sorry.)

My final video story differs from my draft video story quiet a bit. The suggestions from my peers swayed me to  include more detail such as, footage of my teammates actually working out, and more detail toward the areas where I spend my time such as the strength and conditioning room. This final video story now relates more to my topic and to my point of this video post which was “The Daily Life of Gabriella Crenshaw.” The footage of my teammate grabbing a snack from the snack fridge and walking the route to Bohler gives my audience a bit more of a realistic look into what I do and where  I go.  This video is just a snippet of my daily routes and destinations. In the background of this video is ambient sound, which includes the wind blowing through the trees, cars driving past, people conversing and walking, as well as skateboards hitting the ground. Also in the background of this video is my Audio from Unit 3. I did a recording of me asking my fellow teammate Aaqila McLyn about her experience at Washington State University. I thought that this added a very nice flow, yet rawness to the video. It felt more realistic and authentic. I chose to split up the audio for it a little bit because It did not flow at all. It ran together in an unsettling way. I talk for a little bit, and then ask some questions. Then maybe 5 seconds goes by with ambient sounds of peacefulness, then Aaqila McLyn begins speaking again and answering the questions that I had asked. She states the question again in her answer so there is no confusion. For this portion of the project I did not exactly have a design influence. I knew I had a vision of what I wanted to do and what I wanted this to look like, so I went with it.

Draft Video Story

I decided to do a video that includes the main building and structures that I spend my time in. The video starts off with me walking out and away from the Northside residence dorms that I stay in, and toward/past bohler where I workout and recover for soccer. Then I take my audience on a trip with me to my favorite the place…THE SOCCER FIELD. This video is just a snippet of my daily routes and destinations. In the background of this video is ambient sound, which includes the wind blowing through the trees, cars driving past, people conversing and walking, as well as skateboards hitting the ground. Also in the background of this video is my Audio from Unit 3. I did a recording of me asking my fellow teammate Aaqila McLyn about her experience at Washington State University. I thought that this added a very nice flow, yet rawness to the video. It felt more realistic and authentic. I chose to split up the audio for it a little bit because It did not flow at all. It ran together in an unsettling way. I talk for a little bit, and then ask some questions. Then maybe 5 seconds goes by with ambient sounds of peacefulness, then Aaqila McLyn begins speaking again and answering the questions that I had asked. She states the question again in her answer so there is no confusion. For this portion of the project I did not exactly have a design influence. I knew I had a vision of what I wanted to do and what I wanted this to look like, so I went with it. Of course things got a little out of plan as time went on, but I went with it and continued to do my best and stick to my vision as much as possible.

Raw Video Footage

Sample Storyboard: Daily Life of Gabby (my walking routes from class)

Visual Elements	Audio Elements
0:00-0:12 Coming out of cub, view of football practice field and athletics building (bohler)	Ambient sound such as the air blowing
0:12-0:19 Transition from football practice field to Martin field (on bridge)	Air blowing, hear a few people conversing
0:19-0:30 View of people walking and Martin Field. I arrive at elevator.	People conversing, footsteps
Video #2
0:00-0:12 Walking my route back home (northside)	Ambient sound like cars driving through and by, and the air
0:12-0:19 Passing bohler athletic building	Air blowing, people conversing, truck parked and loud on side of walk way, honking horn
0:19-0:30 Large green tree in site, northside residence directly in front of me, arriving to cross walk	Air and people walking by

 

Premiere Tutorials

Audio Final Draft

I decided to take the news story approach of making use of the interviewing process. I asked a fellow teammate of mine, Aaqila McLyn about her experience here at Washington State University while playing on the women’s soccer team. I asked her questions relating directly to soccer, how soccer has impacted her time here, and also I asked her about the mental part of this journey we are on. This project idea relates to my course topic of, “My Collegiate Soccer Experience” because through my blog, people are only hearing my side of this difficult process of being a student athlete. I thought it would be a good idea to let people hear what another person’s feelings and thoughts about all of this are. The feedback that I received varied in different areas. Some of the feedback I got was complimenting the structure of my interview, which was asking the questions all at the beginning, and my teammate answering them all together in that order. Some people thought that I should chop it up and have the question, and then answer immediately following. After a lot of thought, I decided that I liked my set up. It was not typical nor confusing because when Aaqila would answer the question, she stated the question in her answer. I did not feel like following the norm. Another suggestion that I received was to have a “wrap up” to end my Final Audio Draft. Then I realized that that was a great idea because it ended so suddenly. I decided to add a tad bit at the end that ties me and Aaqila’s experiences together. Something else that I changed was equaling me and Aaqila’s voices out, so that there was not a change in volume when combining the first and second track’s. In my last track where I tied it all together, I decided to up the volume a little bit because I think as final summary for it, that really puts a stamp on it and brings it all together and to an end nicely. This Final Audio Story really helps compliment my blog. I think this because now the blog has a different layer to it. A personal voice for people to connect to, along with another experience other than mine to hear about.

Raw Audio Draft

For my Raw Audio Draft, I decided to take the news story approach of making use of the interviewing process. I asked a fellow teammate of mine, Aaqila McLyn about her experience here at Washington State University while playing on the women’s soccer team. I asked her questions relating directly to soccer, how soccer has impacted her time here, and also I asked her about the mental part of this journey we are on. This project idea relates to my course topic of, “My Collegiate Soccer Experience” because through my blog, people are only hearing my side of this difficult process of being a student athlete. I thought it would be a good idea to let people hear what another person’s feelings and thoughts about all of this are. This process from start to finish was not too difficult, but I did run into a little stutter when trying to get the full track to process on sound cloud. The first thing I did when putting this whole Raw Audio Draft together was record myself introducing my teammate, while stating the questions that I wanted her to answer. Then, I recorded her answering the questions in order. I made sure she included the question in her answer so that no one would get lost and confused about what question she was answering. Talking clearly, and slowly was something that I struggled with at first. I would play the tracks back and realize how rushed I was being. But as time went on, I learned to slow down and pronounce my words clearer than clear. The news story approach worked well for me I think, especially with my topic. Getting other peoples interpretations of this experience is essential to a productive blog. Yes, the blog is about my experience here, but it is also good for me to know of others experiences.

My raw footage includes me asking questions and introducing the person that I interview, and then her answering the questions about playing womens soccer here at WSU. By recording this, people can get an inside look on a personal experience with soccer here other than my own.

 

Final Logo Project

For the soccer ball, I looked online and searched how to turn a picture into a vector. I then image traced the photo and then expanded it. The place where I got the photo from was, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Soccerball.svg. The logo design is a little bit different from my sketch that I did before, which I was very happy about actually. It improved a whole lot! The soccer ball and placement of my soccer number is the same, but instead of the G and C being connected more to the outer part of the circle, it is now more of an overlay lettering. The G and C form Go Cougs, but also it draws the logo back to me because my first name starts with a “G”, and my last name starts with a “C.” Coincidence? I think not!  For my words, I just used the simple text tool and played around with my sizing and fonts.

After reading the amazing feedback that I received, I realized that a common theme of suggestion was the need for color in my logo. My suggestions were to add a splotch of color within my soccer number within the center of the soccer ball, to add color only to the isolated “o” and “ougs,” or  to just add it to the “G” and “C.” I liked all of those ideas, but I later decided that I would add color to the whole “Go Cougs” because that is what I want to stand out. Also, I was told that my letters were too close together, so I decided that I would spread them out so that  it was not such a distraction to the eye. My inspiration for my design came from a variety of places. I looked specifically at Nike, Adidas, and the wording of major sports stores and companies. I realized that what they all had in common were special fonts, simple black and white, and a sharpness about them. So as I was creating my logo I took that into consideration. I think I did a good job at putting my own style into my logo, but I also did well at strongly taking into consideration what has worked so well for the popular, high end companies like, Nike, Adidas, Soccer west and so many more. I am excited to share my logo.

Draft Logo

 For the soccer ball, I looked online and searched how to turn a picture into a vector. I then image traced the photo and then expanded it. The place where I got the photo from was, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Soccerball.svg. This logo design Is a little bit different from my sketch that I did before, which I am very happy about actually. It has improved a whole lot! The soccer ball and placement of my soccer number is the same, but instead of the G and C being connected more to the outer part of the circle, it is now more of an overlay lettering. The G and C form Go Cougs, but also it draws the logo back to me because my first name starts with a “G”, and my last name starts with a “C.” Coincidence? I think not!  For my words, I just used the simple text tool and played around with my sizing and fonts. My inspiration for my design came from a variety of places. I looked specifically at Nike, Adidas, and the wording of major sports stores and companies. I realized that what they all had in common were special fonts, simple black and white, and a sharpness about them. So as I was creating my logo I took that into consideration. I went with the black and white, added my signature look into it with my “G” and “C”, and then gave it a sharp texture to top it off. I think I did a good job at putting my own style into it, but also did well at strongly taking into consideration what has worked so well for the popular, high end companies like as I had said, Nike, Adidas, Soccer west and so many more. I am excited to keep advancing my individual logo.