Still Image Video Project: How To Survive a 7:50

Video Project: How to Survive a 7:50

Concept:

For my final Mediated Com project, I am going to produce a still image video detailing how students can prepare themselves for a 7:50 AM class in college. Those that have experienced 7:50's know that they can be grueling. Coming into college I had never had a class that early before therefore it was definitely an adjustment. My video will give details into how incoming freshman and generally anyone who has never experienced a class at 7:50 AM can survive till the end.

Altering the Video:

If I were to create the video using a different form of media, I would alter it to the form of text. Similar to our photo story projects, I would alter the video using InDesign to create a guide including images with steps for how students can survive their 7:50's. 

Targeting a Specific Demographic:

If the video had to be targeted towards a specific demographic for age, sex, race, etc I would make sure the video included actors/models that fit those specifications. If the video was being marketed towards middle class college students, I would avoid including anything fancy or people that were younger/older so that it could better relate to that demographic. If it had to marketed to a specific region or country I would include people native to that area - maybe even have the actors speak in the native language or accent so that they could better relate to it and find some value in it. 

Elena's Story

What is this you ask?

Above is my audio project which I have worked diligently on for the past few weeks. Throughout this Project, I interviewed freshman Elena Lewis on how she started her very own fashion blog. I sat down with Lewis for about 15 minutes to get the full story and then edited it into a 2 minute podcast for your listening enjoyment!

COM Week: First Amendment Food Festival

Being a COM major and having a whole week filled with interesting events for us to attend, it was hard for me to not find one that interested me. Per a suggestion from a friend, I decided to attend the first amendment food festival. I often think as Americans we take this right for granted, sometimes forgetting that there are people who are not allowed to have conflicting opinions or be able to share those opinions throughout media. 

My Expectations:

Coming into the event, I assumed that it would just be a forum for speakers to discuss how we exercise our first amendment rights in modern culture and why it's so important to fight for our right to speak out. I also assumed that they just added the food festival part so people would show up. Boy was I wrong. 

What Actually Happened:

The event was essentially a real time simulation of what it would be like if we didn't have our first amendment rights to freedom of speech. From the moment you walk in things are a bit odd. You ask for a sandwich and they end up giving you the opposite of what you actually wanted (I later realize this is done on purpose). Stuck in a classroom in Cottrell, we were not allowed to speak out or say the wrong thing. If we did we would be escorted out of the classroom and taken to be re-trained to basically keep our mouths shut. 

Even though I knew it wasn't real, as I watched some of the students be escorted from the room because they said the wrong thing, I couldn't help but feel anxious for them. I became lost in the idea that this could actually happen. 

Why This is Important:

Of course we can talk for days on end about why freedom of speech is such an important issue, especially for those who want to work in Media and Communication, one becomes much more aware of it's importance after seeing first hand what would happen if we didn't have that right. I've often come across tumblr and Wikipedia campaigns urging users to sign petitions to stop online censorship,  and while I never signed them in the past - I surely will now. 

Working in the field of COM encapsulated careers in the field of Journalism which is where I found this simulation the most relevant. Being able to report on events without being forced into a reporting propaganda or bias is so incredibly important because it allows us to learn all the facts and create and express our own opinions.

Couch or Congdon Audio Project

Couch or Congdon?

For this assignment, I polled the students of High Point University on the issue of whether or not they liked the fact that the building currently known as Congdon is being renamed to Couch. Listen the the clip to see what they have to say! 

The Logistics:

For this assignment I used Adobe Audition to take what was formerly a 1:15 long interview into a 60 second clip. I went through the audio and cut out awkward pauses, screw-ups, and other flaws in the audio to make sure the interview flowed nicely and was concise! I also played around with the fade in and fade out functions to ensure that the audio wasn't choppy. While there were moments where my mic was louder and a bit fuzzy - I think overall it turned out great! 

Conclusion:

In all, it was really interesting getting to play around with the audio tools in Audition! I found it really cool to see how one could manipulate the audio to remove and fill in spaces to make it appear as though someone said something when really they didn't. While that might get a bit tricky ethically, it was really intriguing to see how it's all done! 

Best,

Ally Pratapas

Meme Project

Hello All! Today I'm debuting my meme as part of the class project for this week! I chose to use a picture of my good friend Taylor as part of the project because I felt that it was all to relevant and hilarious not to meme-ify! 

The Concept:

Basically, I created this meme after having way too many "hangry" conversations with my peers over the kiosks sometimes only having banana nut muffins in the morning. I mean c'mon, what's a gal gotta do to get a double chocolate chip muffin every morning?? 

The Method:

I added various layers to create the background and used the magic wand tool to take out just Taylor from the original image and insert her on top of the background. I also played around with the spot healing brush tool and the text effects to make it all come together perfectly. 

Conclusion:

So should we check our privilege? Probably, but I guess we'll just add this one to the extraordinarily long list of #HPUprobz. 

Swatch and Learn

Hello all! Sorry for the terrible pun made in the title, just trying to keep things entertaining! For this weeks assignment we are learning about creating different color tint swatches using InDesign! I was lucky enough to step outside at just the right time in order to snap a pic of the glorious sunset one night. 

The Muse:

I used this image as my inspiration for creating the swatches in today's post. Something about those orange and yellow hues just gives me the warm fuzzies. Ahh HPU at sunset, you never fail to leave me breathless. 

The Swatches: 

As previously mentioned, the orange and yellow hues of a sunset really get me going, so I absolutely could not leave those out! I also decided to create some swatches of the brown-ish hue coming from the clouds in the background. I thought they would complement the other shades nicely when making the nameplates! 

The Nameplates: 

I found this to be the most fun part of the assignment as I loved looking to see which colors would complement each other nicely! 

I chose my font based on the fact that it reminded my of the font that is generated when using a type-writer and I really liked the look of it. The secondary font I used for my headline was chosen because I felt that it gave the nameplate a more professional look when used with the type-writer font.  

I felt that the colors had very warm qualities to them which really attracted to them. Even the lighter tints still had some warm aspects to them which really attracted me to them. I know contrasting is important so I tried to pair up darker shades with lighter shades so reading the typeface would be easy on the eyes. I took more of a risk on the last one by using a light swatch as the base and an ultra light tint for the font - nevertheless I think it still turned out nicely. 

Concluding:

Overall I think the project turned out nicely, and I really enjoyed playing around with the tint swatch tools in InDesign. I can't wait to play around with them some more and use them on future projects! 

Best, 

Ally Pratapas 

Resizing Images in Photoshop

Howdy readers! Today I'm going to be illustrating the differences in images I have resized using the program Adobe Photoshop! It's important to know how to resize images when using Photoshop because you want the resolution of your images to always be top quality, especially when you're working on an important project. 

Original Image:

Here is the original image I will be working with throughout the post. I have not made any alterations to the size or quality of the image yet. 

Image with 1" Width:

Here is the image after I resized it to have a width of 1 inch. I changed the Pixels Per Inch to 72 and left the resolution at Automatic because I liked the quality of the image just fine without adjusting that aspect of the photo. You can see how much smaller the image is compared to the original one!

Image with 5" Width:

Here is the image after I resized it to have a width of 5 inches. I changed the Pixels Per Inch to 72 and also changed the resolution setting to "Preserve Details" which was one of the suggested settings for enlarged images. I think the image's resolution turned out spectacularly and am shocked the clarity despite enlarging it so much. 

Concluding the Project:

I really enjoyed learning about this aspect of Photoshop and I know it will come in handy when working with images in the future. Being able to know the best way to ensure your image is clear while altering its size is definitely a skill that will serve me well while working on projects in the future. I am still amazed at the fact that all three images look perfectly clear despite all being altered in a different way. 

Best,

Ally Pratapas

Working The Shot

For this set of photographs I took a shot at "working the shot" and aimed to create the perfect angle for my photographs (I didn't really intend to make these terrible puns but oh well). I used photography techniques of cropping, rule of thirds, viewpoint, balancing effect, and background throughout these photographs to capture the ever so exciting images of my fitbit watch using the right kind of framing. 

This is an image of my fitbit watch taken from regular eye-level angle. Basically it's just a regular old photo of stuff laying on my bed - nothing too interesting. 

There is a lot of whitespace in this image that I would eliminate using the cropping method to really hone in on the object that I want to be the subject of my photograph. In this image, the fitbit watch isn't really defined and the excess space takes away from the subject of the photo. Moving forward I would crop the bottom half of the photo out to focus in on fitbit.

For this image I tried my hand at using the rule of thirds. I tried lining the fitbit up with what I imagined to be the first column of vertical lines as well as the third row of horizontal lines if there was a grid over the photo. 

For this image I employed the strategies of viewpoint to move in on the subject matter of my photograph and highlight it as the main part of my photo. Rather than just taking the photograph at eye-level I moved in closer and took it from a side angle.

For this image I used the balancing effect to balance out the empty space of the notebook by adding a pair of scissors in the back left side of the photograph. I think it added dimension to the photograph and balanced space nicely. 

In this image I noticed took the approach of pointing out what was bring with the image. The background is very busy and takes away from the photograph. It bothers me that you can see the clutter of my bathroom sink as well as the tag of my notebook in the background and moving forward I would most definitely eliminate these aspects from the image. 

Overall there isn't really anything exciting about these photographs and I'll be the first to admit I probably could have chosen a more interesting object. I did find it interesting watching the dynamic of the photograph change as I moved through using the different techniques described in the reading such as cropping, rule of thirds, viewpoint, balancing effect, and background.  

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All About Ally

Hiya!

Welcome to my little corner of the internet that will be dedicated to Comm 1111 for the next few months! For those that don't know me, here's just a little bit about myself:

I'm from Winston-Salem, North Carolina which is approximately 25 minutes away from HPU's campus. Contrary to what you might think though, I rarely go home and actually had no intention of choosing a college so close.

I'm obsessed with any kind of gummy candy, from Sour Patch Kids to Gummy Bears just give me a bag of anything fruit flavored and sugary and I'll be good to go.

I also have a deep-rooted love for Charleston, South Carolina and without a doubt would tell you that it's my favorite place on earth. My family goes every summer and it's easily my favorite part of the year. I love all the historic buildings and authentic southern restaurants that add the city's charm. I could definitely see myself living there in the future!


I look forward to posting here throughout this semester! Be back soon! (not sure what the appropriate send off is for these types of post but oh well)

- Ally