For this unit, the Profile Unit, we had find and interesting person in the community to profile. We had to interview and take pictures of them. Then we had to interview two other people who knew our profile star. We used these interviews and other research to write a profile paper about our profile star. We had to find a researchable topic related to our profile star and research that, and incorporate our research into the paper. In Design we created a magazine, which can be viewed on this website. We put the paper we wrote in English into the design we had created for our magazine. In WebAudio we created a website and a commercial. In this unit we started learning how to use Adobe After Effects. This is a challenging program because there is so much you can do, the possibilities are endless. In Design we learned about typography and the elements of design such as contrast, repetition, value, balance, color and a lot more. We also used Indesign again. In English we had to do research as well as read a nonfiction book related to our researchable topic. Then we had to write our paper and include at least two interviews with our profile person, and at least two outside interviews. We also had to incorporate our other outside research in the paper.
You can watch my commercial below. This includes a reading of part of my paper, with pictures. I created my commercial in After Effects, which was interesting to learn how to use. I used a lot effects in my transitions to add some interesting visual effects. I also tried to keep the colors similar to those of the pictures I was using. I kept the text simple and limited, but enough to guide the listener. One of the main effects I used was text writing on the screen. This was not a difficult thing to learn, but it was very useful and creates an interesting composition. I added music by picking something simple to fit with the simple theme of the overall commercial. I used other easy yet useful things such as fading images out, or just changing the position to make it look panoramic.
In Design we created a magazine about or profile star. We used Adobe Indesign to create the magazines. We learned a lot about typography this year, which was something new. We had to create several letters, and use at least one of our created letters in our magazine. We also had to create small symbols that represented our profile star and use them in accordance with the principals of graphic design.
The Magazine was difficult because, while we used InDesign last year, it is still a fairly new program. Certain tools, such as the pen tool, always provide some frustration. However I found that I feel much more comfortable using InDesign after creating another piece with it.
You can view my magazine by clicking on the image on the left.
