Movie Poster Promo

Hello everyone! Today I am writing about our new project, Movie Posters! We will also be creating a trailer to go along with it. The main characters you see in our film and poster (My team consists of Arianna White, Kasiah Vercelli, and Talia Washington) are Rebecca, the rich and beautiful society dame, the detective Thalia, otherwise known as the best friend, the detective's assistant, and of course, the Thief! The robber, played by Arianna, breaks into Rebecca's home, then steals her precious ring, which just happens to hold the key to her bank account. Then Rebecca and the detective must find the ring before Rebecca's fortune is stolen. There is a great surprise in the end, a little bit of humor and drama.

The character in my poster is Rebecca- well, part of her. You will see her hand, positioned exactly as it was when she fell, after being knocked out, right before the robber takes it off her hand, cold and still against the rich colors of the rug. You see the chicken, draped around her hand, freshly dropped by the thief. The jewel of the poster, (pun intended) is the ring. It sits nobly on her hand, gleaming purple. I really tried for contrast. The gleam of the purple against the neutrals of her skin and the chicken look really cool.

Our title is the Great Chicken Heist because it is about a lady getting hit in the head with a chicken, then robbed. Some other text on my poster include reviews from Mystery Magazine, SpotlightMovies.com, and other fake reviews. There is also the actors and production studios. Getting all that to fit on the page and look good was hard. So to make it look amazing, we use a technique called kerning. Kerning adjusts the space between letters in a word or sentence.Want some first hand experience? Check it out!

The overall impact of my layer effects and filters have is actually rather subtle. I tried to use layer effects to make the eye travel to the ring. I also used a slight color change, I made it a little more red, because I wanted to add drama, and romanticize the scene. I also blurred out part of the rug, using a radial blur. I feel that that helped put all the focus on her hand, the chicken, and the ring. Anyway thats all, I hope you enjoy my movie poster, and when it comes out, (probably after break) my Movie Trailer. Bye!

My final Poster-

Proactive or Procrastination?

Hey Everybody! What's up! Today I'm writing about something that challenges a great amount of people, and it's called Procrastination. I admit it. I am a total Procrastinator. I know the effects this can have on me, and I have always wanted to be Proactive, but well, it's harder than it looks. With my very busy life style, putting things off is pretty dangerous to my grade. I always have at least swim after school for two hours, school itself, and usually something else as well. Robotics, which just ended, was an hour and a half, so I would need to go right to swim afterwards. Then, in a little while there is paddling, and my moms many classes scattered around the clock, so I'm booked around the clock.

I feel that because I have so little free time most days, when I do have free time, I feel like I need to use it the best I can. I am usually going all the time, so when life actually stops for a little while, I seize the moment. However, I do realize when I procrastinate, it leads to nothing but stress and fear, and I end up with less time anyway, and I'm often unprepared for things. I also find myself with less time all together! Therefor, it is important for me to get things done as soon as possible.

For me, the hardest part about being a procrastinator is the fact that it makes me feel like I have no control over my life. It's hard to control things, which as a control freak is an important thing for me, when you are busy doing things last minute. I really need to step up my game, especially if I would like to see that shiny 4.0 on my report card this semester. Semester grades are the ones that really count, so I want to stay at the top.With the end of Quarter 2 coming up I really need to keep up my hard work and stay with the program.

I would certainly work on my time management skills, and be prepared for everything that is going to happen. I will also take more time on things, to make sure I have perfect, quality work. I would also like to learn how to keep that laser focus that helps you get things done. I really need to learn to prioritize a little better, and be more organized. These are the kinds of things I need to hold my 4.0 average, and that is what is important to me. If I could learn about these things, then practice them, I believe that I can finally overcome my procrastination and become a proactive person!

My Visual Poem

Hello everyone! I am excited to share with you my newest project, which we just completed last Monday. It was called Visual Poem, and we wrote poems, then read them on camera. We then spent a week collecting B-Roll, then slapped it all together in Final Cut. (I say slapped; I spent three days editing and making it perfect!) We used effects, transitions, music, and transformations to make it excellent. My poem was about writing, and all that it entails. I explained how writing makes me feel, how ideas bounce around in my mind, how tools of the trade, notebooks, pens, feel in my hand, how they work for me, under my hand and spell.

My visuals make an impact because they correspond with my poem. While I read it, the visuals show you exactly what I feel. It's like a personal view into my mind. I really challenged myself to show passion in both my visuals and my poem itself. Writing is a special part of me, and I tried to showcase that in my video.

For special effects I used an film roll filter on the very first shot, and an old paper on a different shot. I think that it helped me create the right mood, a kind of dark, deep, but still warm place. I wanted to show my feelings and really help you get inside my head. I wish I had added some more, but with a deadline looming over my head, getting it in seemed most important. I am happy, however, with how it turned out.

I am satisfied with how my video turned out, though I wish I had added more effects. I could have made it better by maybe spending a little longer on it, but I really believe I able to convey my story, which is all I wanted. Another is to maybe use my technical knowledge a little better by refining it in final cut some more.  Despite that, I am very excited for the critique, and I hope others enjoy watching it as much as enjoyed creating it. I enjoyed watching my final video, and am looking forward to sharing it with others.

Thanks for reading! I'll see you next time! Enjoy my poem at the bottom, and in case you were wondering, the visual is my poem plan, the backbone behind my video. Anyway, farewell, and enjoy!

Finished News Story

What was your story about & who contributed to it?
How did the final turn out? Are you happy with it?
Conclude with your critique results, do you agree?

Hi everyone! I'm back from vacation, with a post about it on the way, and I'm excited to share with you our finished Hiki'no video! For those of you who know my blog, you know that I write first and put videos in last, kind of like the seal on a letter. So to get to the video, you'll need to read my awesome info before you get to it. (Yes I realize you can just skip over it, but don't, otherwise you don't get to read my humorous account of creating the video you see before you.) Anyway, I better get started, I already need to write an extra paragraph because I spent this whole time rambling on to you. Oh well.

Our video was about health and wellness in Hawaii, and it turned out really good considering that I left three brand new sixth graders, Denae, Jhoanna, and Kyla, alone to finish it themselves. (I feel really bad about leaving. I was  supposed to be teaching them!) There were some shots that weren't three shot sequences and other technical difficulties, but they did amazing! Contributors were Missy Hoesel, my mom, Josh Nations, co-owner of the Kauai Athletic Clubs, Heidi Tokuda, Computer Teacher at Kapa'a Elementary School, and of  course Mr. Sanderl.

Our critiques were pretty good, I wasn't here for them, as I was still on vacation, but from the chart below I'd say people thought we did fairly good. Comment with what you think. I agree with the majority, that we were in the 3 range. I do think a 1 is a little harsh, and a 4 is pushing it, but 3 seems fair. It could have been better, and I wish I could help the girls with some of the more technical things, but really, their naturals. I mean, this was their first project!

Anyway, thanks for reading through my writing, I really appreciate it, and I promise that soon I will have a post about this summer (so overdue) and I'm thinking another book review. Also, I wanted to ask if anyone would read my writing, and maybe a friend of mine's writing if I started posting it up here. Let me know. Then maybe, if your interested in posting your writing,  I could set up an address for you to send it to me. We'll see. Comment with your thoughts, and enjoy the video! Bye till next time!

-Maddie

T6: Health & Obesity Rate in Hawaii by Maddie, Kyla, Jhoanna, Denae

1	1	4%
2	7	26%
3	12	44%
4	7	26%

Real World Report

Hey everyone, today I'm writing about an article I read about at Google News. Liberia, among other countries, is suffering from a Ebola epidemic. Because of limited beds, many people are being left untreated. Ebola is a disease caused by an Ebolavirus. The US is attempting to build more treatment centers, but no one wants to help. “People are afraid to come — that’s it,” says World Health Association's leader Jean- Pierre.

I believe that people need to volunteer to help these people. But I also believe that the people need to understand that their government is doing their best to help them. Instead of panicking and hiding things from the medical people because they are embarrassed is really stupid, and jeopardizes their country. Ours as well. I just found out their has been a case of Ebola in Dallas, Texas. Scary, right!

We should care about this issue because as it spreads into a epidemic, there is less and less we can do to help these people. As I write this, to many people are dying because of this awful disease. Also, the more this spreads, the less chance we Americans have of protecting ourselves from this disease. There are medicines for Ebola, but they are not cleared yet. The longer we wait, the more people suffer. 

Thank you for reading, I hope you learned something, and even if you didn't, that's ok, come back again soon ands I'll see if I can do better! Bye!

Lessons Learned

Hello everyone! Here's an update on the latest and greatest from awesome team six! Our project is going good, (For more on our news story on health and fitness check out this post) and we are really bonding as a team. Anyway the most interesting part of of our project so far has been doing everything from a different perspective. Let me explain. Last year it was my first year with Mr. Sanderl. I spent the first few projects learning, letting the seventh graders teach me. This year, my seventh grade year, I've become the teacher. At times it's hard to be a team leader, to take responsibility of the project, while making sure that my team learns along the way. Even so, I really enjoy mentoring these girls.

The biggest roadblock so far has been getting everyone together to shoot. There's always at least five people, (Team plus the interviewee) and very expensive (and heavy!) equipment that all need to be in one place for at least an hour. And usually someone can't make it. Add  in interviewee's that are 30 minutes late, last minute scheduling problems, and interviews that literally are scheduled THAT DAY, and well, you have a stressful mix. It's my job to make sure everyone is where they need to be, and that we all look semi-professional, and that everything runs smoothly. I'd give myself an A for effort. Yeah.

I'd say the most valuable part of film making is the knowledge you receive. In just two years I've learned so much. Before I was in this class I barely knew how to create a document using pages. Now I'm producing films for Hiki'
No! A big thank you to Mr. Sanderl for teaching me so much, and thank you to my girls for putting up with me, and helping complete this project. Go Team Six!!!

Hiki No Behind The Scenes

Hi everyone, it's Maddie, and I am very excited to share to share with you our very first big project of the year! We are doing a big news story for Hiki'no, a great television program on PBS thursdays. My team consist's of Denae Sacramed, Kyla Bautista, and Jhoana Domingo.  My team's story is about Health in Hawaii. Right now we are doing great, and I love teaching them how to work different things.

When the camera is not rolling, it's mostly a lot of planning. We have two extra documents; one about different requirements, and one for research. This is mainly to keep organized, and also to make sure that we have everything done in time. We all get along really well, and I'm glad that I got the experience to work with them. I really hope we will be able to work together again. (Although I might not be the best teacher)

One thing I can do to help my team is definitely try to stay on top of things. It seems I am making a habit of springing surprise shoots on them, and even though it's not always my fault (surprise cancellations, interviews that suddenly work when they didn't five seconds ago, that kind of thing) I still have the responsibility of keeping track of things. I could also not do as much myself, and let them do more of the work, but still again, sometimes that doesn't work either. The best thing I can do is my best, and just work my hardest, and if that doesn't work, work harder.

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed, here are some pics!

The Experiment

Hello everybody! I'm here to tell you about the very first thing we did when we turned on the computers. It was a Photoshop experiment where Mr. Sanderl let us have free reign and do what ever we wanted. Because my computer was acting up, I didn't do as great as I would have liked, but that's okay. We did this because Mr. Sanderl wanted us to learn about the program the way he did when he first got it, and for us in our second year, review it. It was fun, and would have been great if I could have had longer to finish up. Even so, it was fun to complete.

I made a blue and white gradient background with the gradient tool to represent the sky. Then I drew a sun with the   and wrote smile. I used the layer effects to make a shadow, and to add texture. That's about it. I did another one though, and even though it's not finished, it looks great so far. It's a contour of me, a photo I took in photo booth, another great program. When it's done I will post it here with smiley. (That's what I named my sun artwork)

This project was great because I got to be free Photoshop, one of my favorite activities. Photoshop is actually one of my favorite programs. I love taking things and turning them into artwork. Contours are my preferred choice, by I also enjoy freehand drawing. This project would have been better if I could have started with my contour instead of wasting time on my smile art. But over all, a good way to start off the year.

Link List

• That first link takes you to a Photoshop experiment that I found fascinating. Even if you are like me, and don't really like leaving the webpage, I highly suggest everyone, especially the girls and women, go and read this page.
•  The second link takes you to Mr. Sanderl's blog. It's pretty cool, and has links to all the student blogs, not just the student's in my class.
• The third link takes you to a Gradient tool user manual.

500 Viewers!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello everyone, yes I know I'm back, it's exciting! Let the streamers fly, because believe it or not, this blog just made 500 viewers! Yes, I know to some of you that might not seem like a lot, but I'm really excited, because knowing that 500 people around the world have seen my work, well, that's amazing to me! So keep the views coming, I want to make 1000 before this school year is up! If we make it, then I will give virtual cookies to everyone ever. See you later!

Back to School

HEY everybody!!!! I am so sorry that I haven't posted in two months! It's just that summer vacation was very busy, what with all the sports and exciting things I did! (I will do a post on that. Eventually) Anyway, I'm back at school for my seventh grade year at K.M.S! It's already the third week of school, I can't believe how fast time flies. This year Is going to be great, I can already tell.

Anyway, because this is a school assignment and stuff, I need to follow the requirements, and that involves telling you about the most challenging part, and best part so far. Well, the most challenging thing so far is getting up in the mornings at 6:30 and actually functioning. Like I need to get dressed and not just lounge about in my pajamas all day. Also challenging has been figuring out how to find everything. My pod is different this year, so I've gotten lost several times, and been late too. Oh well, I might be a slow human being, but eventually I'll get it!

The best part so far is defiantly my two elective classes, Gt, which you will be reading about a lot, because most of my posts are about it, and Art. Gt is always fun, and Mr. Sanderl is a great teacher. I love art because when I go into that classroom I just relax instantly, and I always enjoy the lesson. I know that it is important to have that stress free class where you can just breath. I tend to stress, (a lot) so it's important to have a "calm class" so I don't have a heartattack by the time I'm 16.

To be successful this year, I will try to stay on top of things. I just need to know what I'm doing, then everything can get done, faster and easier for everyone involved. Using my planner more would probably work too. Lots of things to help me not run around in a blind panic day after day! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this little insight into the mind of me, I hope you'll come again and be dazzled soon! (Joking) Leave a comment down below, and if I like it, I'll publish it! See you later!

Me and my bestie Kasiah Vercelli. (She is the one on the left)

Metamorphosis Animation

Hi everyone, I'm so excited to be posting again. Sorry it's been so long, we have been very busy with our newest project, our animations!!! That's right, we did animations!! It was most definitely the best project so far, as we got to work in garage band and a whole lot of new programs!! Garage band was so fun, I love music!! So anyway, our animation (And by our, I mean my group, Lani, Talia, Kasiah and me) was about Artemis, Greek goddess of the hunt, being turned into a puppy by the horrible titans. We used Stykz, claymation, and stop motion to really make our story come to life. Our project was to make our characters morph into something else, and to grow and change. According to our scores in our class critique, we did pretty well. The video is underneath, if you want to see it.

Our first scene was of Artemis sitting on her throne, when the titans come bursting in.  They turn her into a dog, and then Zeus kicks her off Olympus. In the second scene she must fight a horrible sea monster, but then they become friends and the monster gives her a ride. Then she is trekking through a huge forest when she is attacked by an evil hydra! After facing a spider demon in our forth scene, she finally comes across the cave of the oracle of Delphi, where she begs to be turned into a goddess again. After Delphi complies, Artemis and Zeus defeat the titans, and succeed.

Our first scene was done in Stykz, by our brilliant digital animator Kasiah. (For those of you who don't know, Stykz is an animation program) The second through forth scenes are done in claymation, which is animation done with clay. All our monsters were made by Kasiah and I, and Talia made the dog with some assistance from Lani. As you probably have realized, our fifth and final scenes were done in Stykz, and our last few in stop motion, and claymation again. Talia is an excellent stop motion animator, and between Lani and I we managed to get every stop motion scene done, to say the least. Thanks to my whole brilliant team, you are all wonderful, and we really worked together well. I mean, we got second place for overall video right? but seriously, I'm so happy we got to work together, it was a great experience. And now for the video.

P.s this was supposed to go out like two months ago, so count this as last years work.


P3T6 Metamorphosis from Kapaa Middle School MEDIA on Vimeo.

Percy Jackson Series Part 1

OK, hey everyone, I'm very excited to share with you the first ever post of my new label BOOK REVIEWS!!!!!! After a long time trying to decide what to choose for my first ever issue, I decided on one of my personal favorites......... The Percy Jackson Series!!!!!!!!!! When I first read the books, I was like 9, and I never wanted it to end! Now I'm twelve, and to this day I have reread it about a million times, and can literally recite all 12 major Greek gods. For those of you who haven't read it, and so I'm actually reviewing the book, it's all about these teenagers who are the sons and daughters of Greek gods.

The first book is all about Percy Jackson, and his normal human life at his boarding school. Then, when monsters begin attacking, he must leave his mother Sally and cruel stepfather Gabe to go to a demigod training camp. On the way there, his mother is taken by Hades through the minotaur, and Percy kills the monster before being knocked unconscious. When he wakes up, he is surrounded by challenges such as the bully Clarisse, a daughter of Ares trying to stuff him down a toilet, and game of Capture the Flag which got unexpectedly dangerous when someone (SPOILER) cough, cough, Luke, cough cough, summons a hell hound. When he is claimed as Poseidon's son, though, his whole new life changes.

He is forced to go on a quest to find Zeus's lighting bolt before a war breaks out. He must find three pearls before going to see Hades, where the bolt is believed to be. His mothers life is also on the line as he is also headed there to find her- although no one but him knows about his secret agenda. After facing monsters, and gods, he finally saves the day, returns the bolt, and saves him mom. Gabe gets kicked out to. Percy finishes the summer at camp, before deciding to live with his mother for the rest of the year. Another perfect happy ending!

I know this is super over due, and I'm really sorry, it took me a lot longer than I thought. You know how life gets in the way. I hope you can all forgive me, and I will make sure to publish another one as soon as possible. (Which, since you know me, could be a little while.) See you soon, hopefully within the month!!!

Words of Wisdom

Hi everyone it's me again, and I just wanted to tell you a bit more about the last project we did in class for Hiki No, and it's called Words of Wisdom. What we did was we interviewed Kasiah's mom, Katie Vercelli about her time in the Peace Corps, and got shots of her pictures of her time there. We had to ask her questions, and turn her answers into a story. It was hard with the four very opinionated people in our group, but we did it! It took a lot of team work, but eventually, and just in time, we got it finished, and it was a great experience even though we didn't win.

The words of wisdom we got from Auntie Katie were great. She told us to always follow our dreams, and to work hard and find a way to work your dream out. Her words of wisdom are so important because no matter what, your dream should come first. She tells us all about how she wanted her whole life to be a part of the Peace Corp, and when she met Uncle Jason, Kasiah's father, they went, and signed up, and say it's the best experience. Her advice is truly inspiring, don't you think?

Here is our video, and it is utterly fabulous, so you better watch it!!!

Five Tips For…

Hi everyone, today I want to tell you about a project we did a while ago, our first group project actually! What we did was a five tips video for Hiki No. My group, strange as ever, did a minute long video about how to friends with your cat. The reason we chose that topic is because it was really the best one out of group, and because it was pretty funny. We also chose this project because we thought we could get some pretty good B-Roll of it, seeing as I have two cats.

So what I think we definitely done better was choose our tips better. Maybe something a bit easier to get B-Roll for, instead of how not shaking your cat from it's tail is a very good idea. (Don't worry, we used a fake cat for most of the daring stunts.) We also could have had better filming, but who can blame us, it was one of first videos, so it's not as good as some of the newer ones! Overall, it was pretty good for our second official film project!

Well, for those of you who are incredibly interested in our fabulous kitty video, HERE IT IS!!!!!!!!!
 
P3T6 Five Tips from Kapaa Middle School MEDIA on Vimeo.

Practice Profile Story

Hi there everyone! It's me again, and I want to tell you all about this piece, an interview! It was done as practice for the next project we did, the biggest one so far. The one we were practicing for is a competition to get on Hiki No, a television show produced by kids on PBS Hawaii. This one, however was much smaller, and only with our class. My group interviewed my best friend Kasiah, and it was about gymnastics, her favorite sport.

We chose her because we had a really good B-Roll opportunity. (Look at my last post for more info about  B-Roll.) Her doing gymnastics in the field really was a great visual.  The sequencing we could get for our B-Roll was great, and it was nice knowing that we had B-Roll that applied without having to waste a ton of time thinking about what to do. Interviewing her was a great opportunity because we had a really clear story, and great questions. It really helped shape our overall story.

Thanks for reading my blog, I hope you enjoy learning all about my G.T media class, and I hope you try some of it out too!

Profile Project Progress

Hi everyone, it's me! What I want to talk about is the newest project we have been working on, an interview for Hiki No. We have interviewed Kasiah's mom, Katie. She volunteered for the Peace Corps, and was stationed in Senegal, West Africa. She and her husband, Jason spent a lot of time working in their village as agricultural extension agents. They helped the people there to use their resources to help themselves.

To shoot interviews, you definitely need to use this thing called B-Roll. If you don't, your video won't be interesting at all! B-Roll is extra visuals besides the basic interview shot, the head and shoulders. The visuals have to relate to the interview, meaning if your interviewing a cow herder, don't go off and shoot B-Roll of the wildflowers in his garden. Go out there and take some sequencing shots of his cows!

Also, to have a great interview, you need to have great voice overs! A voice over is a narration for your video. Unlike the interview itself, the voice over faces the camera, and talks directly in to it. They are usually used as transitions, or intros and conclusions. The B-Roll's job is to cover the person talking. We needed to take lots of B-Roll in order to cover our very long interview.

My team can work together better by being less stressed and more focused. We got this project rough cut turned in on time, unlike the practice one, and when we were shooting it, it was a much calmer environment. Now we have a week to edit it again and get it ready for the final project. We have to try and keep it together though. No stress allowed here!

To improve our video, and to take it from good to great, we plan on re-filming some B-Roll to reduce very shaky shots, and to edit our story. We also plan to improve our audio and shorten our story. The most important thing to remember though is to split up the work and be a team, not just a group of independent students. As long as we stay calm, and plan carefully so we use our time to the fullest, then I know we can do it! Use those time management skills! We plan on working hard to finish on time for our class film festival!

Composition Techniques

There are four main types of composition techniques, and they are; Rule of thirds, Framing, Unusual Angles, and Leading Lines. Rule of thirds is when you get a shot with the subject's eyes on one of the grid lines. It really helps to make your stories a lot more interesting. Framing is when you frame your subject with trees or something. Using Unusual Angles is when you take a shot from an unusual angle. (DUH). They help create interest, just like Rule of thirds. You use Leading Lines by pointing the lines to the subject.

We create

d a video about this in the beginning of the year, and our videos showed how to use certain composition techniques, and how not to. Our video included both Framing and Leading Lines. We showed examples on how to use them, and gave descriptions about them. For Framing we used two trees, and put Kasiah in the middle of them, and for Leading Lines we used Preston, and had him sit on these lines on the sidewalk.

Three Shot Sequences

Three shot sequences are very important parts of visual story telling. When you are making a great video, sequencing is key. A sequence is three great clips with changing perspectives from wide to medium then to a close-up. It is important to have great sequencing skills because it makes your movies better and more interesting. Sequencing helps to show detail in the closest shot, gives you an establishing wide shot, and helps give you an idea about the details that will pour forth with your close up by giving you a great middle!

At the beginning of the school year, we did a project about sequencing, just a nice short video to prepare for the bigger one we did later. It was a sequence with a wide, establishing shot of a boy picking up a piece of paper and a pen, a medium shot of him writing on the paper, and a close up of what he was writing. It was one of the first one's we did, so it's not exactly the best video we have ever done. But it's a good example of a sequence!

Here it is....

Practice Story Reflection

My GT class had a project this past week. We were to split into groups of 2-4, pick one person to interview, and ask them questions. My group consisted of 3 other people (Talia, Preston, Kasiah), and we were going to interview my good friend Kasiah about her gymnastics class. Now, this was just a practice story, and the real one would be done about a wise person we knew. We had to shoot an interview, collect B- Roll (Extra Imagery), record transitions with a narrator, and piece it together in Final Cut Pro.

      

My group had many challenges along the way. We were a group of 1st year Gt students, not that has anything to do with it. Non of us react well with stress (Especially me), and this was a very high stress project. Arguing was a common noise around our workspace, and although we tried to avoid it, the stress caught up to us, and we bickered about dumb things that we could have just ignored, and lost a lot of time that could have  been spent more efficiently.
     
I will take away a lot from this experience, stressful as it was. I hope that everything stressful I go through will bring me a little closer to my altimeter goal of being able to handle a high pressure environment better. Next time I know my group will be able to work together better, and I am looking forward to that. It is an amazing experience to be able to do the things we do in Final Cut Pro, and what I learn everyday with Mr. Sanderl is awesome. Can't wait to tell you about our next project coming up!!!

Polar Panoramas

     These are my two finished  Polar Panorama's. The very first step to making these was to learn all about them, so we could choose a perfect location to create another composite image. Just like with our Spherical Panorama, we took 10-15 perfect images with a 10-15% overlap. The next step was to use PhotoMerge to combine all of our pictures, and to rotate our new image 180 degrees. That step is the only thing that differs from my earlier post about Spherical Panoramas. Then we used the same Polar Coordinates filter to turn it into these masterpieces.
   
      Once we were done with our Polar Panos, we went out and took beautiful photos of ourselves , and used the Quick Selection Tool  to select just our portraits, and not the backgrounds. Then we pasted ourselves onto our favorite Polar Panos, and created a shadow by copying the picture of ourselves on. After that, we brought the hue down to black, and brought the opacity down to 40%. Next we feathered it, pasted it to a background and saved to our files. The final step was to turn it in, although you probably won't have to do that!

Spherical Panoramas

Spherical

This is my final spherical panorama!!! We made three overall, however we only turned two in. The very first step was to take 15 images to create a Composite 360 degree scene with an even amount of sky and ground. Then, after some editing in Camera Raw, we took our pic's into Adobe Photoshop and turned them into a perfect panorama. Next, we stretched them into perfect rectangles, and cropped them to fit. We changed the size of the images so they became perfect squares. Then we used Photoshop's Polar Coordinate filter to change them.

After that, we used the quick selection tool to select our spheres. We compressed the selection, and then we feathered it. Using the blur tool, the stamp tool, and a few others, we touched it up, and made it fabulous. Once we had touched it up a bit, the seam from connecting the panorama was
gone! With a background from the paint bucket tool behind it, it was ready to be turned in!!!

Photomontages

These are my two finished GT photomontages, inspired by artist David Hockney, who invented these images. They added abstract to plain old photography, which creates interest. We started this process by taking pictures from different perspectives and naming and editing them in Adobe Bridge and Camera Raw. Them, we took the "cooked" (Edited) photos in to photoshop and glued them back together. What we finished with were these great images. (We being Mr. Sanderl's GT class)

After finishing these up with a background, we covered them in a four point stroke, and then did another one. Well at least I did. I didn't like the first one I did, because I feel like it didn't really express me. So when Mr. Sanderl showed us a documentary about David Hockney, I was hooked. That's probably the best I have ever done on a project so far.

I took my camera and took a lot of pictures of my sister coming down the stairs, and just knew that that was perfect. Hockney always says to tell a story with the photomontages. Well I sure think I accomplished it! When I heard the critique on my "Joiner" as Hockney used to call them, I was so proud of what I had done. I had become an artist.

ALL ABOUT ME!!!!!!!!!!

Before After!!!

Hi, my name is Maddie Hoesel, if you didn't already know that from the title of my blog, and my URL. This blog is my way to share all of the fabulous, fantastic, projects we do in GT media. But I talk enough about GT in my GT Portfolios. What's this one labeled! Personal Updates!!! So it's all about me. I guess.

I go to school at Kapa'a Middle School, on Kauai. Yes I do live in Hawaii. I am the luckiest girl in the world. I live in the most beautiful place on earth, and I have a wonderful happy family and a cozy house. I was born here and have been raised here and will most likely live here till my senior year. I love school, and it a very important part of my life. I'm one of the geeks you pass in the hall and see carrying the big stack of books and the huge bag and is always bickering with her friends about whether or not Pluto should be a dwarf planet.

My favorite color is light blue/green, just like the color of the ocean. I love water. Any water, whether it be the ocean, a lake, a waterfall, whatever. I compete on the Mokihana Swim team, and also during the summer paddle canoes for Pu'uwai canoe club. I love the feel of the water rushing past me as I try to crush the enemy with my fabulous speeds. Actually, I just started about three moths ago, so I won't be doing a crushing as of yet. I hope to be a marine biologist when I get older, and I want to build a submarine that can withstand great depths so I can see the midnight zone. That has been my dream for as long as I can remember.

I also love writing, and I especially love cranking out a great story just as the bell rings. I usually write about twice the amount needed in English; just today I wrote 10 pages instead of the required 6 paragraphs. I also love science, except for the fact that my class is a little loud in that subject. Math is harder for me, but I still work hard and do pretty good. I am in honers Math and English at my school, and would be in honors science and social studies, but they don't offer them at my school. I want to go to college, and have already started researching for schools.

A few months ago I decided I wanted to make a difference. I thought about, and in turn rejected, many ideas. However, after thinking and thinking, I decided I should donate my hair to locks of love! It was perfect. I just wasn't sure I would have enough hair! So after going to a salon, and having it measured, I chopped off 10 inches and gave it to a cancer victim. It felt so good to do something for someone like that. So great that I plan on doing it again!  I am going to grow it out and cut it off again!

I have a dog named Dancer, a 16 pound muscle bound terrier mutt who is the sweetest best dog ever. She is black with brown and white spots, and she loves cheese. I also have two cats who go by the names of Yoda and Emmy, one of whom is a very fat, old, grumpy Siamese whom I love to distraction (Yoda). He's big, weighing in at the same as our dog, two times as much as the normal cat does, and who used to go outside and get beat up by cruel neighborhood cats, but being gone for three weeks and loosing an astounding half of his body weight, he no longer goes out, and is back in fighting shape. The other, Emmy, is just barely out of kitten hood, and has too much energy for something with claws. She recently spilled a cup of water on our family keyboard, and we were forced to replace it once keys E, A, D and a few others stopped working. Made it wicked hard to look things up, and of course, blog. She constantly breaks things, and picks fights with everyone, but is too cute to get in trouble, the little devil. She is a tabby. All our animals are either former residents of the Humane Society shelter, or were saved from it. All cats have claws intact. (we believe it is cruel to De-claw)

We also have a lot of fish, from guppy's in the kitchen tank to our pride and joy, our golden talapia's  in their tank upstairs on the front balcony/porch, and they fertilize our homegrown strawberries and kale. We use hydroponics to grow our produce and we built the tank and it's frame ourselves. For those of you who don't know what hydroponics is, it a form of gardening using water instead of dirt. We also have an orange tree, a papaya  tree, banana trees, and lots more.

Thanks, this was me!!! I will see you later with more posts.

Magazine Cover

This is my fabulous magazine cover that I created in the 2013 fall semester at Kapa'a Middle School!!! We started out with a blank template in Photoshop. (Of course) Then, we wrote our titles, our article teasers, and our headlines. Then we went out and took pictures of ourselves. The pictures would relate to our covers. Then we cooked them up in Camera Raw, and they were on their way.

Next, we worked in Photoshop, putting our pictures in. Then it gets interesting. Our next step would be to do a contour of ourselves, which is really just a fancy way to say trace over the outline. After that we had to use the paint brush tool to add color, and to make it look more real. After warping our backgrounds, we changed the hue to match our color scheme, and we were done!