5366 Digital Graphics Reflection

Over the past several weeks I was taken into a journey of the general overview of graphic design principles and animation. This course was a little bit challenging in the fact that I never thought of branding, creating a logo, animation, and a newsletter. In order to create a professional and aesthetically pleasing product I was introduced to the basic design principles.

The principle we were introduced to was C.R.A.P. and it stands for contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity. The contrast is probably the most important element of the design principle in that it allows things to stand out and is easy to see and captures the eye. The second principle is repetition and it brings unity and similarity to the product. The third principle alignment allows the elements to have a visual relationship. The final principle proximity dictates that items that belong together should be placed proximate to each other.

Along with the C.R.A.P. principle we learned about self-branding. We learned about marketing the individual. It is the message that we want to be associate with us. In branding we want to create a positive image that set us apart from the rest, and the message that we want conveyed.

I will be honest and admit that I have never created a logo, animation, and especially a newsletter. In order to address the principles outlined in the course I had to delve deeper into the products that I had occasionally used before. I found that my level of knowledge in the Microsoft Office was adequate, but not up to the level required in order to create these projects. I found that in utilizing the applications a whole new avenue of possibilities opened up. I realized the more the knowledge and exploration process continued that I keep saying to myself “I did not know you could do that.” This process reinforced my mindset of a lifelong learner. The more I explored the more I wanted to know. I know that I expanded on my knowledge of the products and learned to use GIMP and it allowed me to create the logo with ease. I am positive that any challenges in creating animation and graphics will be easier for me to use than those of the teachers that I assist, since I use have used these products in the past and I am responsible in the transfer of knowledge in the form of training.

This knowledge has empowered me to mentor the teachers in our district. I will train them on the principles that have been learned. They will be showed concepts on utilized this knowledge to incorporate student engagement for diverse learners. Graphics and audio is an awesome method to address the needs of all students.

References:

Goldsmith, M. (August 2007). Authentic personal branding. Retrieved from http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/sep2009/ca20090929_228578.htm

Wahl, L., & Duffield, J. (2005). Using flexible technology to meet the needs of diverse learners. Retrieved from http://www.wested.org/online_pubs/kn-05-01.pdf

Yearwood, J. (2009), Basic Elements of Page Design. Lamar University

5366 Digital Graphics Week 3 Animation

This week was a little challenging.  I have never attempted animation much less work with it.  I downloaded the Stykz program.  I tried playing with it and was confused.  How am I going to accomplish this assignment.  I when through the tutorial and I still had questions.  I saw one of the demo sites on their website and downloaded their animation and looked at it frame by frame.  This all let it fit together.  The animation that I completed took a total of 78 frames.  In looking at the rubic it showed that we needed 10 or 12 steps.  This does equate to frames.  So to make sure that motion did indeed come through it took me all 78 frames.  This all amounted to just several seconds of video.  I have so much more respect for those people developing animation professionally.  Well please take a look at the animation at the bottom and feel free to comment.

This first one is in QTime, which was requested for the assigment.

CRAP About An Ancient Manuscript

I viewed the “The dedication of a church, in a Missal” and the border arraignment looked exquisite.  It gave it a vibrant and colorful look.  It is quite different to the readings found in our church which is mostly text, I guess this is to help you focus on the passages than get distracted by the design.  The colors are stood out from each other.  In viewing the manuscript, I found that it incorporated the C.R.A.P. principle.  There is black and red text on a white background for contrast.  There are varying colors on designs on a white background.  The black and red texts are repeated throughout the pages for emphasis.  The images and colors that constitute the border are repeated throughout as well as in the center of the columns of text.  The columns of text are aligned left and to the right. The prayers are aligned with the bishop in the first letter of the passage.  The titles are in red and the readings which are in black are aligned below.   The proximity of the designs on the border gives a symmetrical look.  The image of the bishop is the start of the readings.  All red lettering which could be titles or instructions are followed by black text which signify the start of the prayer.   The author used techniques such as the artistic border design, the use of the image of the pope encapsulated in a letter, and the red and black lettering to signify the important of the ancient manuscript and its relation to the church.

Week 5 PSA Post Production Reflection

This was a great collaborative effort on the part of the team. During week 1 Lawrence posted on the discussion board an invitation to create a team, obviously Roman, Melba, and I jumped on the chance to get an early start on the project. In pre-production phase I offered up a suggestion to do the Public Service Announcement (PSA) on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and the team agreed that a positive PSA to work on. We all agreed that it was for a K-12 educational setting. During this phase we proceeded to assign responsibilities, project description, and schedule of deliverables. We continued to brainstorm and came up the script outline and narration. We this in hand we completed our shot list. During the production phase we proceeded to get pictures of a school setting like school entrance, hallways, lockers, CPR related equipment, and finally a video of me fainting and receiving CPR. The team met once a week on Skype to collaborate on selecting appropriate content for each of the shot list. We continued to communicate via Skype and e-mail several other times to continue to fine tune the script and shot list to provide a smooth and professional appearance for the video. During the post-production phase we reviewed the video several times to check for continuity and for the assignment rubrics. Since Lawrence was the editor and he used a Mac the web format was in QuickTime, which was uploaded to YouTube.

The team did an awesome job on the project considering that we were all over the state of Texas. We could have improved on the PSA given more time to collaborate I understand that we all have busy lives and have to attend to family and work. There is a lot of talent in the group and I could not have asked for a more committed team barring the time constraints. I have to applaud Lawrence for doing the editing, Ramona and Melba for doing the narration, and I provided the some of the content and maintenance of Google site. This was a great team and I hope to have the opportunity to collaborate with them in the future.

The team provided references for the video of a beating heart for the closing, audio of beating heart for background sound, and the model release form.

References:

Medtronic. (2008). The visible heart: the normal heart beat. Retrieved from http://www.visibleheart.com/videoLibrary.shtml.

The Free Sound Project. (2007). Herbert boland heartbeat enhanced. Retrieved from http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=32731.

University of Hawaii. (n.d.) Model release form. Retrieved from http://careeraccess.hawaii.edu/uhccnews/pages/Model_Release.pdf.







Team PSA Project by Salvador Huerta, Ramona Lincoln, Melba Morales, Lawrence Anderson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

Based on a work at sites.google.com.

Week 4 PSA Production

It is has been a tough week for me, since I was out at Round Rock for a Center for Leadership and Student Success (CLASS)workshop with the executive team from our district. The team has been collaborating quite well since we joined forces in week one. For this week we met via Skype at about 3:30PM on September 19, 2010. We discussed the time limits, the pictures, videos, script changes, shot changes, updates to the copyright section. For this week Mona helped in making sure that the video is under 60 seconds and to the point. I provided video, pictures, audio sounds, Google site updates, and attended the team collaborative session via Skype. Lawrence and Mona have worked on the video. Mona, Lawrence, and Melba are providing narration for the PSA. The team members are all from section ET8013 and consist of Ramona Lincoln, Melba Morales, Lawrence Anderson, and Salvador Huerta.

Our Collaborative site is located at https://sites.google.com/site/edldprojectpsa/

I attended the Web Conference at 5:00PM September 19, 2010.  Dr. Abernathy clarified many issues for us today.  She made up connect to real world application when it came to the time limits, for example those in commercials.  Many of the participants volunteered their PSA topic.  One item that came out of the Web Conference was the inclusion of a creative commons licensing information.

Reflection of Week 3 PSA Pre-Production

Our team consists of Mona Lincoln, Melba Morales, Lawrence Anderson, and Salvador Huerta. We decided to do the PSA on CPR: The Act That Saves Lives. We got together via Skype and communicated about the project and came up with the project proposal, scripts, shot list, and copyright information. Thanks to Mona for pointing out important facts in keeping the storyline in order. We have already taken video, photos, and audio. We are currently working on the edit portion of project. We are on schedule and it is turning out to be a good collaborative and fun project. I communicated with our district nurse and in doing this was able to take several video clip of CPR in action with a mannequin. This allowed me to take videos of the mouthpiece and AED when in use. I took several videos to make sure that the project had sufficient content to choose from. I when out and took several photos and audio to add to the project. The week pre-production has been done and now I leave it in the capable hands of Mona and Lawrence to do the editing.

I have learned so much on the basics of editing. I really like this class.

EDLD 5363 Week 2 Web Conference Reflection

I attended the web conference with Dr. Abernathy along with several of my peers on August 31, 2010 at 6:00PM. In participating in this activity, we were able to connect and collaborate with our professor and peers and share insights. Dr. Abernathy’s audio was not working so we all had to exercise our fingers and do some typing. There was some confusion as to the requirements for the week 2 assignment. In our understanding, we are to use the e-mailed assignment instead of the one in the courseware. The assignment needed future editing, as it referred to video, which Dr. Abernathy cleared up and mentioned that it was only audio. We addressed the upcoming weeks and we were informed those in weeks 3 through 5 the assignments remained the same as in the courseware. I am glad we have our four members in the group. I have made a suggestion to do a PSA on CPR. I have spoken to the district nurse and we are going to collaborate and do one for the district. With this, said one of my roles will be as the camera operator. I will have to provide some of the script when talking to our Health Services coordinator. The web conference has prepared me for next week’s assignment and I look forward to enhancing my video editing skills.

In participating in the web conference this included standard TL-V.D.2. Organize, coordinate, and participate in an online learning community related to the use of technology to support learning.

Reference:

Williamson, J., &. Redish, T. (2009). ISTE's Technology facilitation and leadership standards: What every K-12 leader should know and be able to do. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education

Podcast for Week 2 Assignment

Video Editing Made Easy by Salvador Huerta is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.