Lessons Learned

So far this project has been quite interesting. I think the most interesting part was getting to hear people talk about their experiences through different hurricanes. I enjoyed hearing their stories and it made me realize that we need always be prepared. One of the interviewees stated that for hurricane Iniki, they did not get very much time to prepare because the hurricane was supposed to go pass the islands, but at the last moment it took a 90 degree turn and headed straight for Kauai. I love hearing all these different stories because I now feel I will be more prepared and ready for a hurricane if one happened to come.

Our biggest challenge to over come was editing all the interviews and getting B-roll. It was hard editing the interviews because we had six, and they were all pretty long. It was a struggle editing out all the mistakes and even the little ones because there was a lot and we wanted it to be perfect. The B-roll was alos a really hard thing to overcome because we had to catch videos of going down streets and roads which was very hard to film because of the camera movement. I did but the camera on a tripod but with the car moving and bumpy rods, the camera still shook a little.

I think the most valuale part of the film making process was interacting with my group. It was very nice being able to work with each one of them individually and listen to their different ideas. I loved how the group I was in was/is very full of spirit and always smiling. Although we ran into some problems, we were able to keep smiles  throughout it all.

Back to School

My summer was filled with many laughs and great memories, but now its time to go back to school. So far this school year has been good, Ive met many new people and made many new friends. My favorite moment so far was hanging out with all of my friends at recess at lunch. I love talking story and having laughs with them all. My biggest challenge was when my class and I got assigned to start our first project in photoshop. For this project, our teacher Mr. Sanderl let us do anything we wanted to, but there was a catch. The catch was that he was not going to help us at all, we just had to use whatever knowledge we already had. Many people had a lot of experience with photoshop, but many students had no knowledge what so ever with photoshop. Many of the students helped each other and used our different tools like safari to learn how to use the application. For my first project, I chose to do a deface animation. I learned how to do this last school year in this same class. Although I learned how to do this "Deface" project, my memory was faded. I had a hard time remembering a lot of the steps, but with deep thought I was able to figure it out.

Deface Project (Unfinished)

This year I will be successful by doing all my work on time and stop procrastinating. This year I plan to be more aware of my grades and stop focusing on other unimportant things. I am going to make sure to be early and on time to every class. Before school started I made sure to be prepared with all my pencils and paper, so now I just have to put it to use.

Profile Project Progress

For our project we decided that Dave Stewart, Leleaka Anakalea's grandpa had a great story to tell, so we chose him to tell his story. We chose him because not only was his story very interesting, but it also had some great words of wisdom for viewers watching. His story was based on how he got to Kaua'i and the struggles he went through, and even after all the hardships he has had great success. To show some of his successes, we took some video footage if his kayak business and interviewed him. His kayak business is located in Hanalei, so we figured that would be the best place to interview him. So we interviewed him right outside of his business and it was also great because his story brought out Hanalei a lot.

In order to show footage of Dave Stewarts company, we shot some B-roll. B-roll is video footage that adds interest to the story. It also shows whats happening instead of telling. Some people also use B-roll to patch up edited voiceovers. When interviewing someone, its best to have B-roll over the interview because it helps the viewers understand more. You should always remember that there is never too much B-roll.

Leleaka Anakalea, Hershel Weiner and Loren Weiner are the members in my group. Overall our group is good when it comes to working together. We could do better though. Some parts we could work on, is communicating. Instead of letting each other know how everything goes we usually just chat a little here and there.

My group and I turned in our rough cut of our video and got critiqued. Not only we got graded but we also got some suggestions on how to make our video better. Some suggestions we got was to film a lot more b-roll to cover up more of the interview. Another suggestion we got was getting more interesting shots on our b-roll. I'm glad I got critiqued and graded because it helps me know what people wants to see. On the grading part, we did not do very well, but that is why we have got to shoot more b-roll to make our video go from okay to great!

Practice Story Reflection

Our practice story was based on Lele's passion for singing. We chose this topic as our practice story because of her beautiful voice. We also chose this as our topic because her love and passion for singing. We interviewed her and asked her some questions about her singing. Then we caught some videos of her singing and writing songs. Then finally after editing everything we made it into our practice story.

Some positive things about our story was the amount of information we had from Lele's interview. Another positive thing we had in our story was our shot of the interview. The lighting of our shot was perfect and we were also available to have a microphone in our shot. The microphone was a great add in because it added to the topic. Although we had a lot of positives, we also ran into some problems. One of our problems was that our transcript was created after we filmed, so when it was time to film we weren't as prepared on what we were filming. Another problem we had, was that we didn't have enough B-roll to keep the story interesting.

Overall, I think we did good for our first video making in a short period of time. Next time we are making another video, we will just make sure we know what we are filming before just filming random things that we may not use. But to my team members, Hershel Weiner, Loren Weiner, and Leleaka Anakalea, good job team. I hope that I will be able to do more projects with this team.

All About Me

I was born on January 19, 2001 on the island of Kaua'i in Wilcox Hospital at 4:04 a.m. I was born three months early and the doctors thought I was a boy throughout the whole pregnancy. So while my mom was going into labor, the doctors told her that I probably wouldn't cry because boys don't develop as fast as girls. But as my mom gave birth they heard loud cries and the doctors told my mom it was a girl! Surprised, yet happy, my mom was glad that I was fully developed.  I was actually double the weight they intended me to be. Usually a three month early baby is about two pounds, but I came out to be four pounds. Everyone was happy that I was fully developed and in pretty good health.

 There is 4 people in my family including myself. My mom, dad, little brother and I. My little brother is 3 and so far he is the only sibling I have. In age, my brother and I are nine years and nine months apart. Since our age difference is big, I am able to help my parents with him. My brother, named Mo is very, very hyper and loves to just jump around and play. I really wish I had as much energy as him.

My family and I love going on outdoor adventures. We mainly hike up mountains, swim in different salt and fresh water places, and just cruise. Sleeping giant is one of the mountains we like to hike because its not to hard and not to easy, so its a great family spot. Once you reach the top of Sleeping Giant there is a beautiful view of Kaua'i. We also like to hike to a waterfall in the mountains called Secret Falls. Its a famous tourist spot with a beautiful waterfall. The walk in is about 15 minutes and then you get to the falls. The water is very cold and makes you feel so fresh. There are a lot more places we like to go but it would take a while to write about.

My favorite hobbies are playing basketball, swimming, hiking, and taking photo's. I've played basketball from a very young age. I think I enjoy playing basketball because not only my entire family loves basketball, but also because of the rush it gives you. I love shooting the ball and watching it pass through the net. Also, I love swimming and hiking because it's a good exercise. Also because its able to relax me and have a great time with family. Lastly I love taking photo's because I love to look back at my photo's and reminisce back to that day. Although I don't have a great camera yet, I am able to capture beautiful photo's thru my iphone 5. In the future I want to buy a nikon camera and take more beautiful pictures and edit them on adobe bridge.

This is my second year in the Gifted and Talented Program at Kapa'a Middle school. This program lasts three years and so far has really helped me improve my knowledge about technology. I love G.T. because not only do we get to learn about our newest technologies but we also get to do group projects and we get to explore the many wonderful things about the internet. I also love this class because of the different programs we get to use (photoshop, adobe bridge, garage band ect). At times I struggle to finish projects because of the advanced technology but Mr. Sanderl, our teacher is really helpful and always gives us time and shows us "how to" demo's. I recommend this class to all people because it not only helps you in school but also out of school.