Happy Thanksgiving!

For this Thanksgiving all my Mom's side of the family went to my Aunt Nicole's house.  We started the day with food prep, appetizers, and football.  After that we ate dinner around 3:30 and I couldn't breathe because I was so full.  My uncle and I did the dishes when everyone finished dinner and we stuck my Grammy's famous apple pie in the oven to cook.  After about an hour, the pie was ready and we sat for dessert.  In total, I think we had three pies, 3 gallons of ice cream, and tons of coffee to keep people awake on the rides home.  After dinner with my Mom and her family, I went to my Dad's house where his girlfriend's family was getting ready to eat dinner.  When I arrived they were literally getting ready to eat dinner, so I powered through and ate a second Thanksgiving dinner, which was difficult.  Then we had so much food left, so we brought the left overs to my Dad's police station so he could give it to the officers who were working.  After that we all just sat around and talked until dessert was ready, which was a ton of cookies and pie again.  Finally, everything was cleaned and I was stuffed.  The day was definitely successful and the food I had was incredible.  When we were sitting at dinner everyone went around and said what they were thankful for, but I forgot to interview them about it, so I interviewed some of my teammates like Same did.  The interviews are posted below!

Amy Abdalla giving thanks:

Katrina Geiger giving thanks:

Molly Wolf giving thanks:

Reflection #12

Last class was another great class because Doc Chris invited a guest to class, Cynthia Lyles-Quinn.  This was another class where we had the opportunity to apply what we have learned in class.  Half of the class went with Doc Chris to set up the studio, while the other half of the class, including me, sat and got to know Cynthia before the interview.  We asked her questions like what she did for her job, how she got interested in her profession, and how she helped those who were affected by Hurricane Sandy.  Following this conversation, she questioned each one of us to see what we are interested in and gave us tips for how we can better prepare for our future.  

Finally, they had the studio set up with three lights, a huge camera, and an extremely professional interviewing set.  I was sick so I was put on disability, and because of this my job was to take pictures before the interview began.  Unfortunately, I was unable to stay and witness the whole interview process, but the prep for the interview was extremely intricate.  I found the most interesting part was watching Professor Jay show the Squad how to work in the booth.  Seeing the way they changed the camera views was really neat and I think if I got into production I would definitely want to work behind the scenes.  Below are some pictures from the set up and before the interview began:

 

Reflection #11

Last class was one of the best classes we have had so far because we actually had the chance to put our skills to the test.  Each group was assigned to interview Doc Chris about different aspects of his life - some of the categories included what it was like to be a producer, what it was like to work in the White House/ with Hollywood, and finally my group interviewed him about what it is like to be a professor.  We were the last group to go, so we headed into GreyComm Studio and watched the end of the previous group's interview.  

We chose Paul as our interviewer, while Hemon and I were on the camera, signaling how much time Paul had left.  We asked Doc a couple questions like what inspires him as a professor, what he learns from his students, and if he plans to retire a teacher or if he wants
to finish his career as another profession.  Another reason I enjoyed this class is because it allowed us to truly see how passionate Doc Chris is about his job and teaching.  When we interviewed him he was extremely personable and it is because of professors like him, students become passionate for learning.  I really hope we continue to do hands on work because that is when I feel I can really test what I have learned in the class.  I am really excited to continue the class and hoping we get to do much more in these last couple weeks.  I am still enjoying the direction of the class and love getting to know Doc as a person and a professor.  Below are some of the pictures from the interviews:

Reflection #10

Last class we had a guest speaker, Professor Jay Dunmore, who began the class by showing us some music videos.  After watching the videos, we spoke about what we liked and didn't like about them in order to better test our analytical skills when viewing a video.  Then Jay proceeded to teach us about some ideas that are key to staying up to date and knowledgeable with the video or media field.  Overall, I found this class to be extremely helpful because it showed me how fast the video field is growing and how advanced the technology is becoming.  I really enjoyed learning about all the things Professor Jay taught us.  I thought he taught the material really well and he was a really fun person to learn from. Below are some of the notes I took from the class that Jay taught:

Bit Rates and Pixels

-       Bit Depth: how much color are you going to have in one picture whether it is a snapshot or a picture à how much color allowed in a still image

o   8 bit color: everything deals with the amount of red, green, and blue (RGB)

§  256 available tints in red

§  256 available tints in green

§  256 available tints in blue

o   10 bit color

§  1024 available tints in red

§  1024 available tints in green

§  1024 available tints in blue

o   Currently for broadcasting at eight but moving to ten

o   Most videos are mostly going to be 8 bit color like a video on an iPhone à deals with the amount of dots on the screen

o   With 8 bit color the computer is remembering how much of each color it can use to create the other colors

-       Pixels and Image Dimensions

o   We are not moving to 4k

o   Pixel: (combination of picture and element) thousands in a picture that combine together to create a whole image

o   The less pixels the blurrier the image

o   Full HD (1080p) à 4K Ultra HD (2160p) à 8k Full Ultra HD (4320p)

Video Compression

-       The discarding of excess picture and sound information in order to reduce overall file size

-       Results in a overall reduction of file size to enable quicker transfer of information

-       The Frame:

o   30 frames of vid per second on TV

o   First part of the discussion between two sources

o   INTRAframe Compression: analyze information within a frame of video to determine what information can be discarded

o   INTERframe Compression: Analyze information within a series of video to determine what information can be discarded

o   Redundant picture information is discarded

-       There is no such thing as uncompression à RAW

-       Raw information opens the camera to receive more data (0 and 1’s)

-       Cinema DNG: captures Raw data à breaks a shot into frames so you can individually edit

High Dynamic Range

-       the ability for a phone to capture more information because of Raw data

-       What is color?

o   Different wavelengths of light

o   Something we see

o   Electromagnetic Spectrum à visible part of the spectrum that is seen when reflected off different objects

o   Object rejects certain colors and keeps certain colors

o   Additive (light) add light and Substrative (light) subtracts light

§  When it is a screen it ususally adds light, but when something printed you subtract light

The Human Eye

-       Cones

o   Discern the difference of the colors in the color spectrum

o   There are BLUE cones, RED cones, and GREEN cones that see the respective colors

o   The mixing of the red, green, and blue images create the other colors in the spectrum

o   The light that is reflected off the object is what is perceived as the objects’ color à ex. The leaves on the trees rejecting different colors

-       Functions

o   Iris: the ability to regulate the amount of light that enters

§  Pin size dot that open and closes that allows different amounts of light in

o   Shutter: the exposure amount f a captured image

§  Think of blinking your eyes or taking pictures of a lacrosse game

§  When you are capturing faster events you want a faster shutter speed so you can capture the stills

§  The faster the shutter speed the less light is allowed in the shot

§  Default if 1/60

o   Focus: the ability to adjust clarity of images near or far in distance

§  Macro focus: closer focus

§  Frontal focus: allows you to see further away

o   Zoom

Halloween Reflection

Last Thursday too many people were sick again to hold class, so Doc held class online.  We decided that because it was Halloweekend we would hold a class contest to see who could  take the best pictures and have the best costumes.  We all confirmed this on the Facebook page and then chose the categories for the competition, which were: best single shot, best outdoor shot, best indoor shot, most original costume, best costume, SMH costume, sizzler costume, and scariest costume.  I think the class went extremely well and was very efficient way of handling a class we couldn't have in person.  I also think everyone really enjoyed the costume contest and I know I enjoyed seeing everyones' costumes!  Having class online was great for Halloween and I had a really fun time taking the pictures...just sad the weekend went so fast!  Here are some pictures from when I was Dino from the Flintstones on Saturday night and a storyboard following them:

Establishing Shot of Bellarmine

Key Light

Fill Light

Back Light

                                                                                                                                                                 

Story Board for Halloweekend:

Reflection #7

On Thursday, we briefly remained in the classroom until we set out to go location scouting for our upcoming project.  Jackie is going the be the interviewer and since we didn't have the client that is going to be interviewed we used Brandon as a stand in.  We first traveled to the bridge where we took a couple shots of Jackie and Brendan walking towards Tam as he was filming, while other people from the class were walking naturally around them.  Then we traveled to the main quad where we stopped to take more pictures of Jackie and Brandon with other students were walking around them.  They tried shooting from the top of the stairs to get another angle, which came out great.  Then we went right next to DGA to have Jackie and Brandon walked from the Jenkins lot down towards Starbucks as another location, which was also shot from a high angle.  Lily did a great job directing and was constantly rethinking the shots to either get better angles or make the scene look more realistic.  Finally, we finished up in Starbucks where we discussed what will happen on that day and other aspects of the project we have to prepare before shooting the real event.  This was a really fun class and I enjoyed getting to learn more about the location scouting!  Below is a storyboard of the class:

Reflection #6

Last class was held online because majority of the students were sick or unable to attend due to other circumstances.  For class we all logged onto the Facebook page and discussed the roles each group will have for the upcoming class project, which will be shooting a couple of interviews.  Once group will be working on production and shooting, another group will be working on making sure the interviewees arrive at the studio, and finally my group will be location scouting and determining where the best places would be to shoot.  After our chat, Doc Chris then posted the homework on the board for the following week and listed the jobs on the board.  

Over this Fall Break my team had the opportunity to travel downtown to the Under Armour headquarters to do a workout and then tour the facility.  The workout consisted of multiple mini circuits with a difficult finishers of plate pushing shuttles.  After we showered in the locker rooms, we toured three of their main buildings which offered us with the opportunity to see the innovative tools they use to keep track of their company.  One of these was the smart screen, which was a 10,000,000 pixel touchscreen that was 20ft by 10ft.  In another one of the buildings we visited their basketball court where they hold an annual 3v3 tournament for the employees and following that we saw their mock store where they duplicate everything from the smells to the dressing rooms.  Finally, we ended the tour with a delicious lunch from their cafeteria, which consisted of sandwiches, fruit, pasta salad, lemonade, and cookies.  Below is my 30 second storyboard summarizing the trip.