Practice Story Assignment Reflection

Our most recent project in  my G.T. class was a practice story. We had to get into teams and choose one of us to interview. That person would communicate a story in the video. My team consisted of Claudia Hanson, Gabby Mahoney, and Me. Our story was why Gabby loves dance. We had top notch Cannon cameras and wireless microphones. One of the requirements was B-roll. This is important in telling the story. B-roll is just video over the interviewees voice. We were graded on the sound quality, the storyline, and the video quality. This assignment was just a warm up for what we're about to do next. An interview of one of our elders telling their words of wisdom.

During the process, I thought my team worked well together. Sometimes we disagreed. I feel like we weren't always working great, but then again we never really butted heads. Claudia worked on the transitions. Basically, just adding some voiceovers in between the interview so that the whole thing kind of ties together. Gabby worked on the transcription template. This is a basic outline of how we were going to shoot the video, what questions we were going to ask, and the b-roll or transitions. All of us did the editing in Final Cut Pro X. We were a little late on the deadline, but I feel like the quality of our video was good. Getting B-roll was tough because we didn't have any props and there is only so much we can do with footage of Gabby dancing. 

Overall I believed that this practice story was great practice for what we have coming up. I do think that it prepared us in terms of working together as a team and meeting deadlines. That is the most important part. Even though the audio and video needs to be a priority too, we can't get that stuff done without cooperation and teamwork.

Polar Panoramas

Here are my two examples of Polar panoramas. First, I went to a nearby location and took some pictures. The only thing different about these pictures is that I had to take them going around in a 360 degree rotation, each having a 10-15% overlap. Then I edited these pictures in Adobe Camera Raw. After that, I compiled them into a panoramic image using Photoshop's PhotoMerge plugin.

Next, the rectangular 360 degree panorama was resized to be square and flipped upside down. Then they were filtered with the Polar Coordinates. Lastly, the final polar panoramas were selected using the elliptical marquee tool, and feathered by refining the edges. A black or white background was applied before saving the finished composite image.

Sperical Panoramas

Here are my two examples of spherical panoramas. First, I took a 360 degree panorama of a beautiful

location. All this means is that I took pictures going in a circle that slightly overlapped. Then I edited these pictures in Adobe Camera Raw. After that I compiled them into a panoramic image using Photoshop's PhotoMerge plugin.

Next, the rectangular 360 degree panorama was resized to be square and filtered with the Polar Coordinates. Lastly, the final spherical panoramas were selected using the elliptical marquee tool, and feathered by refining the edges. A black or white background was applied before saving the finished composite image.

Final Photomontages

Here are my two photomontages inspired by the famous photographer David Hockney. He created what he called joiners. I used a digital camera to take multiple pictures of an inspiring location, Adobe Camera Raw to edit, and Photoshop to compile my finished composite image. Although these joiners are unusual, they tell a story when you take a closer look.

To create these joiners, all I did was take pictures in rows. Starting from left to right, I took about 4 pictures and then moved up a little bit to get the next row. I continued with this method until I reached the top. Then I used Photoshop to place the photos in an imperfect manner so that the viewer needed to use their brain to get the story.

All About Me

Hey viewers! Here is a little background info on me and my life as a 13 year old...

My name is Mia Ricciardi. I am an 8th grader at Kapaa Middle School on Kauai, Hawaii. I am a part of the G.T. program at my school. This program covers all things media. Whether it is taking amazing photos, streaming videos on the internet, or just running the morning announcements at the school, the G.T. program does it all. My awesome teacher is Mr. Sanderl.

I have lived on Kauai my whole life, and I love it. Theres nothing better than spending most of your life at the beach. It is truly an experience that most of the world doesn't get.

Outside of school I love to do gymnastics. My gym is Kauai Gymnastics Academy. There is something about flying through the air that gives me a sweet sensation. I also play piano, the musical instrument that sort of runs through my dads side of the family.

And that pretty much sums up my life! :)

Magazine Cover

This is my finished magazine cover that I created during the fall of 2013 at Kapaa Middle School. I used digital cameras and photoshop to create a multi-layered image that shows who I am.

I love doing gymnastics, so I decided to make my magazine cover all about it. I also incorporated myself in some of the headlines. Some of my favorite magazines helped with the inspiration of my own creation.