Category: Maker

Job Shadow Time!

Ah my time has come for the classic job shadow project! I took part in this a few weeks ago. When I was first assigned a job shadow I instantly thought of what I wanted to do. Job shadow a photographer! This is a job I think about often for my future, but never know if I actually want to pursue it. This comes from fear of doing a job that isn’t a basic job like a doctor, teacher, engineer, etc. Being a photographer often comes along with running mostly everything yourself which is the opposite normal jobs, where you have people working for you or you’re working for people.So, I contacted Sherri Koop! Sherri is a Portrait Photographer who gets hired to take pictures of families, events, and individual headshots. I have always wanted to see what a day in the life as a photographer is, so I was really excited to do this. Here is some of her work.

Sherri’s Book!!!

I personally love taking photos of people, so Sherri has always been a strong inspiration for me and my photography. Sherri has taken many photos of my family and I though out the years and I have always wondered how she gets amazing photos every time, so I knew I had to do her for the job shadow.

THE DAY!

After contacting and talking with Sherri, she let me know we were doing a shoot with the lovely ladies and gentlemen that work with Selema Noon! I was excited but nervous as we all know I get scared of talking to new people, but it was all good once we were there. Sherri took photos from 9:30-12:00, and I had the job of holding the reflector. A lot of the time using a reflector isn’t necessary if the lighting is good, but this day the sun was out so I was basically a sun blocker! It felt nice having a small job to do, and it also meant I was standing basically in the photo hearing everything Sherri was directing people to do, and seeing how she does her job.

I genuinely enjoyed every minute of it and tried to soak up as information as I could!

WHAT DID I LEARN?

I was really interested prior to the shoot on how Sherri directs the people in the photos. Every. Single. Photo. That Ive seen of Sherri’s, the people look beautiful. No matter age, hair color, clothing they are wearing, or gender, everyone looks amazing in her pictures. This is really important as people are paying her for photos, and they should like how they look in them. So, I payed attention to the details. I noticed that things like the slightest lean forward, or opening of the eyes makes or breaks a photo. Small things like that are so important!

A big thing that Sherri taught me is that photography isn’t just about charging a cost for the photo, its also for the time connected to taking and editing it, and what they are going to use the photos for. There is so much stuff behind the cost and usages of photos, it blew my mind. I never thought about this as you just assume costs are for someone actually taking the photo, but that’s only one part of it.

I also payed attention to how long and how she got through such a large group of people. I thought taking a good photo of one person would take a while, but she had a strategic way of getting through over like 10 people in under 3 hours! Amazing.

SHERRIS POV

I asked Sherri some questions about being a photographer, and here are her answers.

Q: What classes/schools/programs did you take that helped you get where you are now? 

A: This is not a simple answer! My interest in photography began in elementary school and then kick-started when I took a photography class in high school.  From there, my post secondary education took me in the direction of music.  Once I landed my first “real job” I started night classes to become an accountant, thinking this would provide me with the most stable future.  Fast forward many years, I was working in senior management in telecommunications and enrolled in the Langara Professional Imaging Program, taking night classes to feed my need for something creative.  I worked on the weekends to build my portfolio while exploring the idea of leaving my day job.  When I decided to leave the corporate world, I applied for and received a small business government grant.  This grant gave me 9 months to write and deliver a comprehensive business plan.  The culmination of all these things helped me launch my business and ultimately get me to where I am today.  The moral of the story is, work hard and move in the direction of doing something that fuels your passion.

Q: What’s the best part about your job?

A: The best part of my job is that I am doing something I love to do.  This is extremely fulfilling.  I have also met and photographed some incredible people along the way.  Human connection is what inspires me more than anything else and human connection is also necessary for a good portrait, so I consider myself very fortunate to be doing what I do.

Q: What’s the worst part about your job?

Sherri’s website! Linked in beginning of post

A: What I like least about my job is having to do the tasks necessary in order to run a successful business.  This includes things like bookkeeping, taxes, writing quotes and contracts, organizing files, editing, and marketing.  I am happiest when I am out in the field doing what I love – making photographs.  I could do without the rest, although without the rest, I wouldn’t have a business.

Q: What’s the typical schedule/work hours for your job?

A: As a freelancer, there is no typical schedule/work hours which is both a blessing and a curse.  I love the flexibility and freedom although at times I do wish I had a more structured and predictable work schedule

Q: What inspired you to become a photographer?

A: One of my instructors at Langara really inspired me to create meaningful work which ultimately ignited a passion in me to become a full-time freelancer.  I also realized after many years in the corporate world, that I wanted a career that was more personally fulfilling.

MOVING ON…

Sherri gave me an amazing experience this day, and I am so grateful for it. This really helped me clarify or replace my assumptions having to do with portrait photography, and showed me its even more amazing than I thought. This whole blog post is a big reflection on this day, and I’m happy it was an assignment because I most likely wouldn’t have had this experience without it. I loved this project and I wish I could thank Sherri 100 more times! Thank you Sherri!!!!!!

Circle Around BC!

Welcome! This blog post is about the Circle Around BC trip I took a part of in may! We went into this trip knowing the driving question, “How can you convince your neighbor that their life is not complete until they’ve experienced what you’ve experienced.” So, as someone who hasn’t explored much of BC besides south east areas like Nelson, I was very excited to do a circle around a very historically important area. We created many artifacts from the trip, but first I’m going to give you a run down on the trip, then dive into the Exhibition and Podcast!

THE ACTUAL CIRCLE

The actual route of the trip!

As you can see on this map here we started from Vancouver, went up Cariboo road, stopped at Prince George, drove up to Nass Valley, then to Prince Rupert and took a long ferry ride to Vancouver island which we then travelled back to North Vancouver from. It was a two week trip and was genuinely an amazing experience. I can’t break down these 2 weeks in a section of a blog post, so I’m going to talk about some of the biggest learning experiences and turning points in my learning.

PORT OF PRINCE RUPERT: Being honest, I was not excited to go to this because I was like eh, boring port stuff… But I remembered to how we needed to keep our minds open to all new information during the trip so I went ready to learn. I was beyond surprised to how interesting and amazing the story of the port is. The people working there talked a lot about trade and that’s really what interested me. They discussed the trade going on now, and the trade in First Nations. I then realized that trade was everywhere on this trip. This port brought together all my ideas into something I was happy with which ended up being my topic for the podcast and exhibition! Ill explain all of this more in detail in the exhibition part of this post. 

BARKERVILLE: This part of the trip stood out for me because we basically lived in the 1800s for 2 days. Besides having iPads/phones and being dressed like 2019 teenagers, the experience was very authentic. From the skits that were preformed, the buildings, and actors working there, it felt like I went back in time. I don’t know any time in my life where I’ve done something like this. We were immersed into the gold rush and it felt like we were there. I’d recommend this to anyone learning about the 1800s in BC! 

NASS VALLEY: When people ask me what the most beautiful part of the trip was, I tell them Nas Valley. This is where the Nisga’a people live and thrive. They have a treaty signed with the government that lets them have their own government and control over the area. The community and culture in Nas Valley is just as beautiful as the mountains, water, and volcanic rock! This was the first time I’d been in an area this large with mostly only First Nations living there, and it was amazing. If you’re ever near Nisga’a, do stop and take a look at there wonderful area!

Beside some specific places, the overall trip opened my eyes to lots of the perspectives in British Columbia that I wouldn’t have heard in just Vancouver. BC has so many stories and culture intertwined in the trees, ground, ocean, and buildings, and not many people recognize that. From First Nations to now, there are thousands of stories of BC that people need to hear. That’s why we created the podcasts and exhibition to open the eyes of BC to everyone and inspire them to take a deeper look at our province. 

THE PODCAST

My podcast script outline!

This was a smaller assignment in this whole unit, but still very important. This was the first step to our exhibition project. The goal for this podcast was to tell the story of how you came to the conclusion you did. For mine, it’s the story of trade in B.C, and how important trade is to B.C.I  noticed this throughout all 3 phases of the trip, and took note of all of it. Going back to the driving question, I needed to share with my neighbors on how important trade is to B.C. We all live life in B.C. doing our own thing but never think about how we live and how our province is thriving. It’s because of trade. Trade isn’t just a simple thing that happens at ports, it has stories and thousands of years connected to it. Trade doesn’t just happen in B.C. it IS B.C! In this podcast I explain how I came to realize this. 

The podcast surprised me. I was quite happy with it and felt lost on where to revise, but after long conversations with the teachers I knew where I had to fix things. This whole overall podcast taught me that even if you feel something is great, that’s not going to be what everyone else thinks all the time, and that’s ok! It’s about taking the surprised-ness, and working even harder to make it better.

THE EXHIBITION 

The exhibition night! For my project I painted a map of B.C. and all of the trade routes we saw on the trip. It is split it up into 3 time periods which also represent the phases of our trip. 8000 BC – 1700s (First Nations.) 1700s-1950s (Fur Trade, Gold Rush.) 1950s-2019 (Ports in our Province.) These titles are really important as they are what makes the map make sense. I made this as a visual representation of all the notes I took on the trip of the trade routes I saw.

 

There are so many more trade routes in B.C. but these are the specific ones I myself took note of at museums, by asking questions, and just looking around! I had fun explaining my project to people who asked about it, as not many people know much about B.C. besides Vancouver!!! 

I’m really happy with how my artifact came out, and how the overall room ended up looking. Everyone in the class was very passionate about their topics and this exhibition which made the overall experience a lot better. We came to creating our artifacts using the launch cycle which was helpful on organizing our ideas! It also makes the reflecting process easier as It can show you where you succeed and failed. I think I did well in creating a creative visual representation of my answer to the driving question and I’m proud of myself. 

The exhibition luckily all came together, but I definitely did do it pretty last minute. While this is ok as I’m happy with the end product, I wish I had started actually building and painting earlier. Beside my own procrastination, I felt the launch cycle slowed me down a little. I found myself wanted to skip steps as I didn’t feel they were important, but I didn’t as I know I’m being marked on the process of creating just as much as the end product.

I walked away from this exhibition with a deeper understanding and love for our home province British Columbia. Without being in PLP I wouldn’t have this. I have never met anyone who has explored B.C. as much as my class, and that’s not a good thing! People need to realize they don’t need to go to Europe or America to see new things, we have it right in our backyard. The culture and history is so deep and beautiful, and it deserves to be recognized just as much as places around the world. I genuinely am grateful I have heard so many stories  and facts about B.C. in during this unit, and that I learnt so much about trade. I’m proud of myself for stepping out of my comfort zone while choosing topics to focus on (trade.) I could have chosen something artistic or more creative, but I chose industry basically, which was really fun! I think it was definitely the passion I had for my topic which made my project and learning thrive.

Working Safely

AN IMAGE I MADE USING PHONTO

Did you know you can deny to work if you feel unsafe or not properly trained? I didn’t know that until in Maker 10 we started discussing WorkSafeBC! WorkSafeBC teaches students and workers how to say safe and educated. Luckily I am being taught this all before I go into the workforce, but some kids weren’t as lucky. We watched a short documentary based off 3 kids that were brutally injured. These injuries were easily preventable through proper training, but they weren’t given that and that’s why WorkSafeBC is looking out for us! If you want to take a look at the video, here it is. (Beware its very gory)

THE HAZARDS!

As a class we each were assigned with a topic surrounding around injuries that can occur in the workplace. We made small keynotes and took notes on them, Let me explain some of them off what I learnt in the presentations! 

The slide Luca OG and I created!

 BIOLOGICAL HAZARDS. The grossest one out of them all. This includes HIV and AIDS and can be transferred through multiple things like needles left on site, drinks or food eaten by a stranger, etc. This hazard is pretty simple and just explains, don’t touch other peoples gross things. 

MSI. This is the most frequent and common injury in BC. This includes things like tendinitis, strains, back pain, carpal tunnel, etc. Most of these are treatable, yet they are very annoying and can cause loss of workers for small amounts of time. 

SUN HEAT AND COLD.  This is the area I focused on in my presentation and it’s mainly about the employers needed to educate their workers on proper clothing and important things have to do with weather. Sun can cause to extremes amount of stress, skin cancer, burns etc. Cold can cause hypothermia which can damage your body, specifically toes, nose, fingers, etc.

NOISE HAZARDS. Hearing is something that you can’t tell most of the time is affecting you until long term damage. One out of four people are affected by their hearing quality lowering because of loud noises coming from construction, kitchens, traffic, loud music, etc. This is definitely something to watch out for.

CHEMICAL HAZARDS. This is a super scary one to me as my dad is a painter in the film industry and I’m always worried about the toxic stuff he is inhaling. Beside things like paint there is dust and asbestos and they can all cause lung cancer and breathing problems. 

This unit is extremely important as safety is a thing you shouldn’t ever avoid. As teenagers we sometimes feel pressured to do stuff as we are younger and just want jobs. That’s why this unit is educational as it teaches us we HAVE a voice and that even if it’s scary we still need to use it. STAY SAFE!

Who is Luca?

Hi I’m Luca and I have no idea who I am and what I want to do when I’m older! That’s okay though. Not an excuse to not wonder though! My class and I in maker (planning 10 included) have been using my blue print to start a conversation with ourselves on who we are and who we want to be. This made me thinking about the future as well as breaking down the way I think and work now. Self awareness is a main part of what I took out of this all and ill explain later in the blog. So, before I get into what I want to be when I’m older, let’s take a look at a keynote I made about who I am currently.

A part of my blueprint is focusing on NOW. In the keynote I talk about the quizzes I took to figure out what learner I am and It really opened my mind to how my brain works!!  This chart here is a chart of the classes I’m taking now, and what I want to take in the future high school years. The chart got me all excited for what I’m going to be learning about in the future, and made a good visual for my brain to picture. 

THE FUTURE

Using blueprint past the tests I talk about in the keynote, it suggests some jobs and universities for you! While I may not agree with some choices they give me like funeral planner or actor….. The website gives me some good ideas. Lets take a look at a chart I made that shows some of the jobs I saw/was suggested by my blueprint. 

I think out of all the jobs I saw on my blue print that I was interested in was film/business related. While those are drastically different, I’m making sure to pay attention to how those grabbed my attention.

SELF AWARENESS!

A collage I made to represent me!

So, I’m going to discuss some stuff with this prompts! How do self-awareness and knowledge of skills, talents, and challenges contribute to career-life choices? Personally for the future I think equally about my happiness, money, and work consistency. It’s rare to find a job that includes all of those, but I might as well try. I feel knowing myself and being self aware will strongly influence my future as I know what I want and don’t want. I’m a creative person, yet am not afraid to go into something like business. I am trying to keep my mind open and not stick to one thing because hey, maybe that will lead me to my future amazing job! 

Overall, my blueprint made me think about something I often hide from thinking about, as the future can be quite scary. I think The Who am I keynote was my favorite part of this work as It really opened my eyes to who I think I am, which surprisingly I don’t think about that often! 

The Destination is Our Imagination!

Welcome! This is the last blog post that will be dedicated to the one and only Destination Imagination… It feels like yesterday when I posted my first one 2.5 years ago… Before I start rambling, if you want to hear about my DI Regionals read it here. I don’t want to repeat the same stuff I say there!

WHAT WE IMPROVED

Scientific Seycove team grade 10!

OK, getting into the provincials talk… For provincials my team and I really needed to focus on the aircraft and the aircraft only. Besides having to move around the script because Logan couldn’t come, we didn’t change much storyline/props related. We did revise our team choice element #2 by explaining better what we meant. But, the aircraft and payloads were top priority. We used the same drone and figured out why it didn’t work the previous time, and came up with a payload technique we liked more than the last one. Although the aircraft/payloads might have not worked at provincials 100% (payloads not aircraft) but the effort was visible. This part of the challenge on the last week before provincials is where Logan, Jamie and Daniel stepped in and worked hard.

A BURN CHART, PIE CHART AND DESIGN FOR PAYLOADS WE MADE BETWEEN REGIONALS AND PROVINCIALS

COMPARING GRADE 8 TO GRADE 10

My first blog about DI posted, March 2017

So, as this is my last blog post of DI I want to revisit my grade 8 DI blog post and see what I thought about it, what I learned and any skills I wanted to improve on. Let’s take a look. Ok I just re read my grade 8 DI blogs and jeez was I hard on DI. I never fully “loved” DI, but it definitely grew on me each year. This year I definitely tried my absolute hardest to go into it with a positive and excited outlook, and It definitely helped. The negativity I have towards it in the grade 8 blog post is fully understandable as DI is super frustrating and will make you cry at least once… (HA) Anyways, as the 3 years went by I tried to almost take the DI part out of DI and just look at it as an awesome team learning experience that will help me grow my tool box of skills. I definitely am happy my blog this year isn’t a “I hate DI” type this year, and I’m happy about how my perspective has changed majorly.

BIG REFLECT TIME

We won 1st and 2nd place!

Before I get into full reflection, we got 2nd in the overall challenge and 1st in instant challenge. (We did really well in the instant challenge and feel very proud of it. ) Anyways, being genuinely honest, this DI was the most frustrating out of all 3 DI years, personally for myself. I sometimes felt my time and effort put into the presentation was hidden by the other side of the team not doing what they said they would. I really worked my butt off this year for DI. I found myself prioritizing it over everything else, and spent the most time I have on DI in all of the years writing, painting, making, practicing etc. Being honest, I would get upset about how I worked everyday after school for a few weeks while some others did nothing… But I sat and thought about how if I removed grades, DI, school from this experience, I’m leaning new valuable skills. My grade may get lowered, my team may not win but I’m gaining new patience and persistence that I probably wouldn’t have without DI.

I didn’t think the best part of DI was the performance, I think it was the new outlook I gained on my work ethic and how to perceive an experience. While I am proud of the things I did for our DI presentation, we didn’t complete our challenge fully which was make a flying aircraft that dropped payloads. It wasn’t a EPIC WIN, it was more EPIC LEARNING MIND EXPLOSION. Learning how to deal with frustration in group projects, and to continue to work super hard is something I’m going to have to know for all the future grades, university, and whatever career I’m in.

So long, Destination Imagination!

 

Destination Imagination — Year 3

DI, DI, DI. That’s been my past few months. Ive done Destination Imagination in the previous years and you can check out my posts for them here. (DI grade 8, DI grade 9.) My goal for this years DI was to learn something big and new. And well, I did that while being reminded of important other skills which ill go in to depth later. If you want to learn more about Destination Imagination and see why they are doing these tournaments, check out this link. 

Grade 8 on the left, Grade 9 in the middle, and Grade 10 on the right.

WHAT IS IT?

This year’s DI I was given the group consisting of Isabelle, Melika, Logan, Daniel and Jamie. We had the technical challenge, ON TARGET! The point of this challenge was to have a aircraft that could carry payloads across the stage while having a story that incorporate the other factors well and uniquely. So, instead of breaking down each little thing my group did and how we did it, watch the video of the presentation then I’ll explain what I created and what I learned from it. 

THE PRESENTATION

WHAT I TOOK FROM IT

I’m going to breakdown some parts of the presentation I worked on and what I left from creating them. First, the script. This wasn’t actually my job to write it, but I ended up doing it for… some reason. Well at first we had a script that Isy wrote but I had to reword everything to make it shorter, faster to the main point, and simpler. Script writing always strengthens my patience and wow they take a long time. They aren’t necessarily hard to write, just time consuming and you have to make sure you’re timing it, reading it aloud, and making sure all the words flow together like its not a scripted presentation (which it is.) 

Another aspect of this experience I learned from was the assignment of roles. I discussed this in my PGP, and in my DI self assessment, but I’ll go over it here too. The part I think we failed at the most was the consistency in everyone’s individuals dedication and time given for DI. Some were spending weeks working everyday after school, and others didn’t really do anything. This is one of the most frustrating experiences Ive ever had as when someone promises me and says they CAN do something, I believe them. And when it doesn’t happen, and there isn’t time to fix it, its kind of “heartbreaking.” This teaches me to not always fully trust others with extremely important tasks even if they volunteer and promise to do it. 

Something I also learnt from, is that not leaving things last minute, is….. AMAZING. Isy, Melika and I had done the costumes, script, backdrop, props, and more all before the week of. Coming into the week before DI is already stressful enough, and having all the things done beside the aircraft made me feel a little better. The girls including me did well on time management, and we made sure to have it all done before the week of so we could practice with everything. I’d definitely use this same technique for anything similar to DI in the future as it lets you focus on other things while still having something important going on.

OVERALL REFLECTION 

Although we won first place, I wouldn’t call this DI a full victory. We never ended up creating a aircraft, and that was half the marks so realistically beside the first place, we didn’t complete the challenge. I hope for provincials we can get it all together and finished (I’ll update you in the DI provincials post.) Im happy with myself in the aspect of I went into DI with a positive attitude, and although not getting the challenge I wanted (scientific) I rolled with it and tried to enjoy it. This DI was definitely the hardest for me out of all 3 years as I was frustrated, worked a lot and still didn’t have a fully working presentation. If I was to redo this whole DI experience I would make the aircraft a group challenge instead of only half the group working on it. This might have resulted in lower quality script, story and backdrop but at the end of the day the aircraft is more important that any of those. 

The crowd we presented in front of!

Looking forward but stressed for provincials. I’ll update you once the day comes! 

Winter Exhibition 2018

Pecha Kucha. Most of you besides my teachers and peers will have no idea what this means. This is the way I presented my learning at the Winter Exhibition 2018! A Pecha Kucha is similar to a keynote or power point, but each slides automatically changes every 20 seconds and there is 20 slides. 20×20! So, that means a 6 minute and 40 second presentation. What did we present about you ask? Well, this unit our driving question in Maker and Humanities was…

WHY DOES IT TAKE A CRAZY PERSON TO CHANGE THE WORLD? 

We wrote a essay on the question, presented a mini Pecha Kucha about someone in the “Think Different” apple campaign (link to that blog here), made a short documentary type video on our trip to Seattle on the mission to answer the driving question (blog post link here), and so much more. So, to end off the unit we presented a almost 7 minute Pecha Kucha to 40+ people with NO SCRIPT or NOTES! Oh and we got to focus on anything that we were intrested in that has to do with the driving question! So, let me show you the slides I used and then ill get into what my presentation was about.

The lesson I wanted people to leave with after my presentation was DO WHAT YOU WANT. I focused on Bill Gates, Dale Chihuly, and Paul Allen. Why? Because after Seattle, I sensed a theme through everything to do with those guys. They all did what they wanted. No matter what happened they always followed there instinct and well, it took them down a great path. Gates and Allen have been the richest men on the earth at a point in time, and Chihuly’s art is worldly known. After seeing their life accomplishments like Microsoft, MoPOP, and Chihuly’s Garden and Glass, I knew I wanted to focus on these individuals. I felt it was important to this project that I chose people that I was really interested in. This presentation was probably the scariest thing I’ve ever done in my almost 3 years of PLP because…

  1. No script or presenter notes meaning I had to remember everything I want to get across!
  2. Presenting in front a FULL room of family, people I don’t know, and teachers…
  3. Little prep time and lots of unexpected rule changes!

Looking back, I knew if all went to the worst, and I forgot everything I wanted to say, I knew deep down I’d be okay. Why? As I like to say it, I “overstood” this topic to the point I could fully talk for 7 minutes about why Allen, Chihuly and Gates did what THEY wanted, without a script or even reminders.  And well, that’s what happened. I genuinely forgot mostly everything I had planned to say because I was so nervous. And well, it went good. Unlike some of the other presentations, mine didn’t feel scripted. Because it wasn’t… Haha. The scripty sounding ones were really good as they got everything across, but you could tell it was scripted. Some presentations I really enjoyed were Lucas’s and Jamie’s. Both of these guys did a really good job at this task. 

Also, our space where we presented was cafe themed! It was very cozy and cute.

Some skills I gained/improved on during this unit were…

1. How to overcome the fear of public presentation. Being thrown into a presentation like this you develop a strength and feeling of “I can do this.” This doesn’t mean other presentations wont be scary, but I’ll know behind the nervousness I’ll be okay.

2. How to relate information to another situation. There are so many projects we did with this driving question so I took information from my essays, mini Pecha Kucha, the Seattle trip, the Seattle video, etc. I used the fact I had done so many projects on this question to my advantage to enhance this presentation.

3. How to move past the anger or stubbornness, as nothing will change if you don’t. I was really against the things we had thrown at us during this project but as the presentation  date came closer and closer, I gave up on being stubborn and got to work. Next time something like new rules or new restrictions come up, I’ll make myself think back to this project.

4. Proper presentation skills! From trial and error I learnt how you should never pick one focus point, always smoothly look around the room. Don’t talk too fast and leave appropriate moments of silence to let the audience think.

5. How to use images to there full advantage! Because we had to use our own photos, I dug deep into my Seattle photos (and other photos) to try to find photos that speak what I’m trying to get across without words. This way of using media will be helpful in anything I do as anything I do has photos or videos!

I have learnt so much this term, my brain is filled with the answers I have to the driving question. Seattle and the discussions we had in class truly educated me. While I didn’t enjoy some of the rules of the Pecha Kucha like how it was 20 seconds not us tapping the screen to change the slide, and how we didn’t get presenter notes… I’m happy I did it because it was different and out of my comfort zone. And: I found a strong theme within extremely successful individuals of “DO WHAT YOU WANT.” Which I think will help me stay true to myself for all of my educational career and after educational career. Next tine if I have to do anything like this, I want to have a more open mind towards intimidating projects like this, because that will just make my and my teachers lives easier! Overall, this project was very successful in my mind.

 

Luca Making Music?

Yes, it’s true. I have made a song. Although it may not be perfect (or close to perfect) I love it. Why you ask? Because its the first song in garage band I’ve made! When Ms Willemse introduced this project, I was a little confused as I was thinking, why is she making us make music that’s going to be bad anyways? I soon realized its harder to make a bad song on garage band than a good one. The app is formatted in a user friendly format, and there is plenty of help on the app if your confused. 

I started by creating a new project and chose the theme ELECTRO FUNK because, why not? Before I started making the song, I wanted to go for a 70s disco energy. I then started tapping a bunch of random buttons and soon got the hang of it. I listened to all the sounds and figured out what I liked, then practiced a bit. Once I was ready to record, I pressed record and tapped the same buttons I did while I was practicing. I then used the FX button to warp and filter the song which sounds pretty cool, and then listened through it a few times to make sure I was happy with it. In between all of this I did a lot of playing around with the app which was a lot of fun!

Looking back on this experaince, I will definitely start using garage band for future videos I make in PLP. It’s simple yet fun and sounds good yet is easy. I’m excited to play around with this app more in the future.

PLP Pancake Competition

Let me explain the title… My class and I was assigned to plan out, film, and edit a Live Event. The point of this assignment was to have to plan and then work with the clips you have when editing, for an event you have no control over. I had never done anything like this, so I was excited to tackle the challenge. 

I immediately ran into a problem… I had no live event to film. Then I realized Ms. Willemse said we were allowed to make our own! Maggie, Isy, Adlih, Melika and I decided to make a cooking show. Our goals were to have the event as little unplanned as possible so it was as close to an Live Event, and less as a thing we planned. We first decided our rules for the PLP Pancake Competition. 

I then made an action plan for what photos and videos I needed to take. 

Then we filmed at Maggie’s house after school. It was a very busy and stressful 2 hours as I needed to cook for Isabelle and  Maggies video, and then had to film them cook for my own video. There was a huuuuuuuuge mess at the end of filming. (Sorry Maggie’s kitchen.) We paid attention to detail to things like lighting, audio quality and overall mood of video, while still keeping it real like a Live Event.

Now, the hardest part of this all. Taking my 45 minutes of footage of interviews, cooking, judging etc and turning it to a 2 minute video! Luckily, I had everything I needed thanks to my action plan but it was still hard. I really struggled with cutting down the clips, but I did it. I made three different drafts, and I would show them to you but that would be a waste of time as the only thing I changed between all of them was things like one video glitch, or changing the time of a photo being shown. 

Here is my final video.

I am overall quite happy with it. I think it shows the real ness of the event while still being funny and entertaining. I learnt from this that the planning before hand is really, really important. Without that action plan I would have been lost when filming!

Compared to the other videos I have made in maker like the Choice Recreation Video, is that they are challenging in different areas. The recreation one was challenging in the filming part (paying attention to detail, acting exactly like the actors, etc…) And the Live Event was challenging in the editing, as I had no video to reference on how I should make a 2 minute video including the interviews, cooking, and judging!