The Feral Child Feature Story Review

Overview:

I read the Pulitzer prize winner feature story The Feral Child and it was about a girl that was neglected and was locked in a room, with only a few things. She was treated badly and the conditions she was in were very bad; the room was infested with cockroaches, and she was surrounded by her own filth. She was also very uneducated and didn't understand things kids her age should have known, and she is what scientists call a feral child. The authors argument was stating that the girl they found was a feral child, and feral children are kids that grow up with little interaction and how that is a wrong way to treat people. The author shows what makes a child become a feral child and he went through the story of the young girl and how far she has come since her abuse. The author also talks about feral children and what they are and how they got to be the way they are, the author uses other sources about feral children and he gets accounts from witnesses who saw the girl. The author also uses this story about the young girl as an example of a feral child.

Strengths and Weakness:

The articles strengths are that it has an example that explains what the story is about and it gives good details. Another strength is that the article has many different sources having definitions dating all the way back to the Holy Roman Empire and the most recent source which was 1970. A weakness in the article is that the feature story jumps around too much, there are sources from long ago and then it jumps right back into the story about the young girl, and because the feature jumps around a lot it gets confusing and hard to understand.

Conclusions:

The author concludes the feature story by going to the present to see how the young girl has developed and changed, it talks in detail about how far she has come and while she isn't where other kids her age are she has learned more than they thought she would. The story also ends with what consequences the mother is facing because of her abuse towards her daughter.

Summary:

The article was a very well written feature story and it supported all the main ideas of defining a feral child and showing the different cases of them and how rare they are. The article follows the story of a young girl who was a feral child and her mental growth was stunted due to her harsh conditions. the points were very significant because it showed what can happen when kids are treated poorly and how they deserve the best treatment. The evidence is very convincing because there are so many different examples and cases that show all the different feral children and they are all spread out through different time periods which shows how the have always existed and there have always been a few cases. As a videographer I will use the strengths that I found in the article and can apply those to my future work if I chose to go into convergence as my main focus. I can use what I learned about the format of feature stories and use that to make my work better. While the feature story is very well written there are terms in the article that are more difficult to understand and some prior knowledge is needed just for the basics or what a feral child is and how they become feral children. Overall the feature story is written extremely well and while it is slightly confusing at times everything is explained well and it has details to help you picture the girl's living conditions.

http://www.pulitzer.org/winners/lane-degregory

Graphic Design Reflection

Overview:

Throughout the semester my skills in graphic design my skills have improved quite a bit. Coming into this class in the beginning of the year I knew very little but now after a short semester I have learned about fonts, color schemes, and how to use Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. Not only have my technical skills improved but my collaboration skills have also improved. My collaboration skills have improved because I got the opportunity to receive feedback from juniors and seniors who are in graphic design and my peers. I have also gotten the chance to work with a partner on a project and run ideas past each other.

Projects:

Photoshop Tutorials:

The first project of the year was Photoshop tutorials, the goal of the videos was to help us get comfortable with the tools in Photoshop and apply them later in graphic design. Each tutorial focused on a certain tool so we could learn in depth what it was for and how to use it. The project took around two weeks to finish completely. While most of the tutorials were short and simple there were a few that were more challenging than others. The one that I struggled with the most was removing certain objects from a picture and while still making it look realistic and not photoshopped. As I was going through all the videos I learned a lot about Photoshop and its tools. I learned how each tool worked and when I should use certain tools over others. Some feedback I received as I went through each tutorial was to take my time and not to rush no matter how simple the tool is. I learned that I need to put forth my best effort for every project even if I don't enjoy it because every project has a lesson about graphic design that is necessary to learn. Overall I think I could have slowed down on the design process because I could have cleaned up each project. Even though I feel like I could have slowed done I am still happy with how they turned out overall.

Fall Raccoon and Postcard:

The next project we did after the Photoshop tutorials was to create a fall raccoon and create a postcard, the project was to help us get to know the tools in Adobe Illustrator. The process for creating everything was to first follow a tutorial to design the raccoon and the fall foliage. Once everything was done we began to rough draft our post cards, I decided I wanted a holiday theme. I began to create the things featured in my postcard including the Christmas tree, the fireplace, the stockings, and the Santa hat for the raccoon. Once I had designed everything and had it laid out I started to work with typography so I could include a handwritten font on my postcard. Just like the Photoshop tutorials the raccoon project took around two to three weeks to get all the way through. Some of the challenges that I faced throughout the entire project was understanding the tutorials.
 Since the tutorials were not videos this time but instead they were step by steps pictures it was harder to understand what tools and where the tool were. Throughout the project I learned how to follow directions a different way than before. I also learned the Adobe Illustrator tools and when to use them. I received a lot of positive feedback during this project, I got comments on my handwritten font and how my raccoon turned out. Overall I am much more happy with the process and outcome much more than my Photoshop tutorials. I stayed after school multiple times to get the project done to the best of my ability and I am very happy with
the way it looks overall. 

Vectored Image:

The next project we did in the graphic design was the hardest project and the one that took the most time. Our assignment was to created a vector of ourselves based off of a head-shot we had taken in class a few days ago. The most used tool on this project was the pen tool to trace the parts of the image and the eye-droppper to match the colors as closely as possible. The hardest part of the project was having the patience to finish it. The other hardest part was to get it done in time, I wanted to get every detail in the vectored image and I wanted it to be perfect. I had to learn how to use my time well and get as much done as possible. Throughout the project I learned how to use the pen tool and use a few of anchor points as possible and I also learned how to use tints and shades of colors to show highlights and shadows in my skin and clothes. I am very happy with how my image turned out and I used my time well and I was able to get everything done on time because I stayed after school multiple times to get everything completed. 

Infographic:

One of the last projects of the semester was to create an infographic about a certain topic. Creating the infographic was my favorite project of the entire year. The process of the project was a lot longer than any other project we had done. On the other projects I was able to just jump in and begin designing but for the infographic we had to do research to know what topics we wanted to show on the poster. The project took the longest, we did research for a week, we planned out the layout, and then we began creating the graphics. The hardest part of the project was figuring out the balance between too much information and not enough information. Once everything was created and laid out we had a critique with the upperclassmen. I got lots of positive feedback and constructive criticism. I was advised to change my font and change the sizes of stuff, but overall they liked where I was going with my infographic. With all the feedback that I received I changed the styles of font numerous times and I also changed the sizes of things. The last thing I changed was the icons of some of the movies I represented. Overall I am extremely happy with how my project turned out and I'm happy that with the time that I had left after I finished I was able to go back and change things so as an end result it looks better than it did. 

Milton Glaser:

The last project of the semester was too create a presentation of a graphic designer who impacted graphic design history. My graphic designer is Milton Glaser, we started off the project by researching our person and then we wrote a two paged paper over them and then we started creating the slides. For our presentation we have to create a minimum of five slides to show information about our person. The slides have to show their style of graphic design and highlight the most important facts about them.

Time Management:

I feel like overall I have used my time very well in class, and when I don't get everything done that I needed done I will stay after school to finish the project so I can turn them in on time. When I finish a project early I will go back and clean it up in any way possible and I also get others to look at it to give me feedback. Outside of class when I'm not working on any of my projects and I'm driving somewhere I will look at other posters that are created by graphic designers and I will notice things about theirs that I like so I can incorporate things like theirs into my work.

Strengths and Weaknesses:

Some of my strengths as a graphic designer is time management and putting all my effort into a project to make sure it is my best work. I always try to make sure every project is done to the best of my ability. I also try and make sure that all my projects are done on time even if that means staying after school to get caught up. I maximize my strengths by continuing to think about what can be done better and how can I improve this project. My weakness as a graphic designer is being a perfectionist, I always want every project to be perfect and I will spend too much time working on it if I'm not careful and I always have to make sure that I get my projects turned in on time.

Summary:

Overall I have really enjoyed the semester in graphic design and I feel like I have learned a lot throughout the semester. My favorite part so far has bee creating the infographic because I enjoyed picking my topic and designing it completely from scratch. I wouldn't change anything bout graphic design other than not doing another history of graphic design project. My take away from this semester is learning how to balance my time and manage my perfectionist personality to make sure projects get done on time. My goal for next semester is to have everything turned in on time and put all my effort into every project. 

ONW feature Story 2

Assignment: Our next assignment in Video was to create another feature story. I chose to create a feature story over my dad and my younger sister on how they play the piano on Sunday mornings at Westside Family Church, and how Darren inspired Sara to begin to play the piano and start to play at church.

Pre-Production:

To start the project I researched the topic of playing the piano. I found out statistics and fun facts about pianos and people who played the piano. After researching the topic I wrote out the 21 interview questions for each person and I decided where I wanted to go with the story. I decided that I wanted to show how Darren played the piano for the church and that inspired his youngest daughter Sara to play the piano for the middle school service. 

Production:

Once I finished writing the questions and researching I started to collect B-Roll and interview Darren and Sara. For the B-roll I got a variety of shots with them playing the piano, Darren working with Sara, and them looking at sheet music together. I also went on Wednesday night to go to Darren;s practice to get shots of the band playing together. After I collected all the B-roll and interviews I downloaded all the footage and began to edit it. 

Post-Production:

After everything was filmed and downloaded onto the computer I began getting sound bytes from the interview. I got the sound bytes by taking the pieces of the interview that I needed to put into the feature story. Once that was done I started to write the script for the voice overs, and placed everything together for the final script. Then I went into the studio and recorded the voice overs and then downloaded them onto the computer. The next step was to piece everything together; I started by laying out the voice overs and the sound bytes into the timeline to get a guide of where I wanted everything. Then I started going through the B-roll and choosing which clips I wanted and where they needed to go to make sure that they feature story flowed. Once everything was in place in the timeline I began to adjust the sound levels to get an even sound throughout the entire video. Once the rough draft of the video was done I watched through the video and made sure I had no jump cuts and if I did to make sure B-roll covered them.

Reflection:
Overall I am happy with my project because I had more than enough B-roll and I talked slower while filming my voice overs. If I could change something I would change the variety of the types of shots I had. I would incorporate more of the six shot system, I would et more close-ups, medium shots, and extreme close-ups. I learned how to get more B-roll and edit the sound to make sure the audio levels are even and I also learned how to create a better feature story. For the next project I will use what I learned about B-roll and how I need more than I think I will. 

ONW Feature Story

Assignment: 
The project I have been working on in video was a feature story. We had to find someone to interview and create a story about them, I did my feature story about my friends grandparents Denny and Judy Briley. I interviewed them about a medical mission trip in Guatemala that they participated in.

Pre-Production:
To start off the project I started by writing out my 21 questions to ask them. I decided on asking them things like what is a medical missions trip, what was your role on the trip, what was your favorite part, and why did you want to go. Once all my questions were written out I asked them for any background information that I might need for the project and they gave me the blogs for the trips and I read through both and edited my questions based off the blog. After I had read the blogs I then talked to them about when a good time to interview them was.

Production:
When I started filming the video I started by having them sit in their living room on the couch and I talked them through how the interview was going to happen. When I started the interview I had my mom help me and hold the camera so I could sit to the side and have them watch me instead of the camera. After I asked all my questions I started to brainstorm how to get B-Roll. I decided that I was going to do basic shots like hands of a keyboard, a tack in the location that they went on a map, and a over the shoulder of a Judy sitting at a computer.

Post-Production:
When I got to school on Monday I started the editing process, I downloaded everything and began creating sound bites of the interview. Once I finished that I started to write out my voice overs and then filmed them. Then I started to piece everything together and I used screenshots of the pictures that were taken on the trip and then posted on the blog to put as extra B-Roll on my video.

Reflection:
Overall I think I did okay on this project and if I had more time I would have found more creative ways to get more B-Roll and the other thing I would change is the speed that I talk in during my voice overs. I have learned throughout the last project and this one that I am a very fast talker and that I need to learn how to slow down. The part that I would not change if I went back would be my interview, I really liked how it turned out with the lighting.

Vectored Image

The second project we did in graphic design was to create a vectored image of yourself based off of a headshot we had taken. I used to pen tool to outline and trace most of my face and shirt while I used the brush tool to do my hair. I also used the eyedropper tool to get close to the colors that I would need to have realistic shades of color for my skin, hair, and clothes.

Fall Raccoon and Postcard

The goal of the next graphic design project was to create a raccoon and make both a fall scene and a postcard. I started out by creating the raccoon and placing it onto a solid colored background. The next step in the project was to begin creating leaves and foliage to put into the fall scene. I created different types of leaves, acorns, and branches. Once everything was done I began to add them altogether to make the fall scene. I decided to have the raccoon the main focus point by having him on a pile of leaves with the foliage I created behind it.

Once I finished the fall scene I had to make a postcard and somehow incorporate my raccoon in it. I decided that I wanted the theme of my postcard to be a Christmas card. I started out by creating the tree and ornaments with the presents, then I made the fireplace and stockings, and then I created the santa hat for my raccoon. The last thing I added on the postcard was my handwritten typography, I wrote it out on paper and then scanned it in on the computer. Once the front was done I added the presents and type onto the template of the back of the postcard. 

ONW 1 in 2,000 an Audio Interview

The assignment was to interview someone about something interesting about them, so for my project I interviewed CJ about the high school football team. The project guidelines were that it had to be an audio file, it had to be 60-90 seconds long, and it had to have sound bites and voice overs in it.

Pre- Production:
To start the process to create our interview we started by getting to know them. While getting to know them we had to find out something interesting about them and pick what the focus of our interview was going to be. CJ was my partner and while I was talking to him about what he liked to do I found out that he was on the high school football team and he really enjoyed playing. After we had picked what we were going to interview our partners about we had to write out our 21 questions. The layout of the 21 questions is:

• 1: Asking their name and how to spell it
• 2-4: Background questions
• 5-8: Who, What, Where, and When questions
• 9-18: How and Why questions, asking them to describe and explain things
• 19-20: Greatest hope and fear
• 21: Asking if there is anything they want to add

Production:

After all the questions were written we started production by filming our partner and asking them our questions. We had to take them to a place that is part of their story and since I was interviewing CJ about the football team I took him outside and onto the football field to interview him. Once I had the video I went back inside to start the editing process.

Post- Production:

Once I was inside and had uploaded all my videos I started to edit them. In the video I found the answers to the questions I had asked and I saved them as sound bites to use in the final audio file. After I found and saved my soundbites I started to write my script for the voice overs. When writing my script I kept that we had to do more talking than our partner in the video in my mind. After writing my script I filmed my voice overs and inserted them into my video.

Reflection:
As I made the video I learned about editing audio and how it is harder than it looks. The other thing I learned was how to correctly film a interview and once it was imported only use the sound and not the video part. I also learned collaboration because I had to work with my partner so I could interview him. If I could go back and change some things I would change the speed that I talked at, I talked really fast and that is not good for interviews. The things that I would do the same would be the transitions between voice overs and sound bites. The experiences that I learned this time and that I can use next time is how to set up an interview starting with the 21 questions and then asking them in one long video. Overall I learned a lot about interviewing someone and editing audio that I will use in later video projects.

Photoshop

During the past week and a half I have been working on multiple photoshop projects to expand what I know about Photoshop. Going in I knew very little but after I have finished them I can use Photoshop more fluently now. I have learned how to increase the canvas size, use the different tools, add and remove areas of pictures, and make collages of multiple pictures.

Finished Projects:

Project 1- Content Aware:

For the first group of projects that I did was using the content aware tool.  The content aware tool is very useful because if the photo has a unwanted area then the tool can be used o remove the unwanted area. Each photo had a blemish or an unwanted spot in it so I used the content aware tool to select and change the unwanted spot into something that was already in the picture. For example, the surfboard had a logo right in the center of it so with the content aware tool I was able to remove the logo and replace it with the background of the surfboard. For the man standing against the white wall picture I had to remove blemishes from the wall. The wall was covered in scratches and holes so I used the content aware tool and was able to clean the wall up and make it not look beat up. The content aware tool was very helpful when I needed to use some background to cover up a unwanted area. 

Project 2- Patch Tool:

The next project I did was editing out more unwanted areas using the patch tool. Just like the content aware the patch tool also removes any unwanted areas quickly and cleanly. For the picture I edited, it was a picture of a dad and his daughter and on his shirt was an unwanted logo so I used the patch tool to pull out the logo and replace it with the plain blue shirt. 

Project 3- Cloning and Healing:

For the third project I used another tool to get rid of areas that are not needed. I used the cloning stamp instead of he patch tool and content aware. Although an one of those tools can get rid of unwanted areas the clone tool can be used for small areas. The clone stamp is very helpful because you copy an area that you want to use and when you color over the unwanted area with a brush the area you copied goes over it. So for this project I had a picture of a girl wearing a coat but the problem is that there is a large white tag on the coat by the pocket. So I used a combination of the clone stamp and the healing brush to get rid of the tag and to go over the area and make it look real.  

Project 4- Clone Stamp and Patch Tool:
The next project I did was a combination of using the clone stamp and the patch tool. I had to start with the clone tool to take out the distractions in the picture which would have been poles and buildings behind the picture of a dad and his daughter. After I had gotten rid of the distractions the next step was to use the patch tool to make everything blend together and make sure it looks unedited. I had to blend the parts of the sky to make it completely even across the entire picture.

Project 5- Spot Healing Brush:

On of the last projects I did was learning how to gt rid of blemishes on a face. I used the spot healing brush to get rid of dirt on a black and white closeup of a little boy. I learned that the spot healing brush is for smaller blemishes that someone could tell that it was edited. So on the closeup I had to make small selections with the spot healing brush that would blur it and change it to what the other parts on the picture looked like. 

Project 6- Portrait Collage: 
 The hardest project that I did during the entire week was making a portrait collage. It not only was the hardest but it was also the most time consuming. I had to combine everything that I learned in previous projects and use it to finish this one and it took multiple days and lots of hard work. There were many steps to finish this including editing each picture individually, putting them all together, blending the background with the clone stamp, and then adding background to the ones that needed it. On top of all the editing I also had to make sure that it didn't look messy.  

Project 7- Products:

For project seven I learned how to put a graphic onto an image and how to advertise it. I had an image of a bottle and I had an image of the graphics that needed to be put onto the bottle so i learned how to insert them and make them transparent like thy would be on a bottle someone could find in a store. I also learned how to change backgrounds and add a shadow and a light effect behind the product. The other thing I learned in this project was how to insert an image onto a blank billboard. I ad to insert the image and then warp it to fit onto the corners of the billboard to give it a 3D look.

Project 7- Challenge:

Project seven was the last one and it was an optional challenge piece, I received a group of images and had to use what I had learned and create something. I used the clone stamp to get rid of rocks in the background and I also used the transform tool to flip the background to create an even backdrop. I also create many layers to create a double exposure effect on his suit coat and I used the spot healing brush to get rid of small things in the background. 

Reflections:
My favorite project was the challenge because I really enjoyed the freedom and being able to create anything with what I knew and there were endless possibilities. My favorite skill that I learned was learning how to use the spot healing tool and that is very important because I love photography and if I take any pictures and the subject in the photo has a small blemish or I don't like one area I can use that tool and correct it. Overall my strengths were being able to catch on fast and understand the use of the tools. While I do have strengths I also have weaknesses and my weakness was probably perfectionism, I am a perfectionist and I want something to meet my standards even if I haven't completely learned it so that was hard when I was trying new Photoshop techniques. If I could go back and change something in any of my projects I would probably go back and touch up on patch tool project. The shirt doesn't look as real as I would have liked and I would want to go back and fix up the edges. On the flip side if i could keep anything the same I would want to keep how I did the portrait the same. I feel like I did a good job on that one and I am happy with the way it turned out. Overall I really enjoyed the projects because I learned a lot about Photoshop that was really helpful. I only had a tough time with two of them and I feel like I did a good job on the projects overall.

ONW Procedure Video

Pre-Production:
The assignment for our video class was to create a video of an ONW procedure with a partner. We got large amounts of information crucial to our video so we started by taking notes. Our video guidelines were that the video had to be 30 seconds long, no voice overs, and have minimal talking. The video also had to incorporate all of the six shots: extreme close-up, close-up, wide, extreme wide, over the shoulder, and medium. The next part of the process to create the video was mapping it out on story boards. When we started to do the storyboards we drew the scenes that we were going to film onto the storyboard and underneath we also wrote what type of shot that it was going to be. The reason that we all wrote everything on storyboards is so the filming process goes smoother. After we finished out storyboard we checked out out equipment, the equipment we used was a camera and a tripod. Once we had gotten out equipment we headed to the library to start filming. I was the person filming the video while my partner was the one acting in it.

Production:
We started with out an extreme wide shot of the library so the viewers know where the video took place.

Our next shot was a wide shot of a girl looking at books. 

We then went from the wide shot to an extreme close-up of the girls hands pulling out a book and opening it. 

After the extreme close-up we changed back to a wide shot of the girl looking satisfied with the book she chose.

Our next shot was a medium of the girl walking around the corner of the bookcase towards the librarians desk so she can check out the book. 

Our last shot in our video was a medium shot of the librarian asking the girl for her ID and it ended with the girl handing her ID to the librarian.

Post-Production:
After everything was shot and we were happy with them we imported them onto the computer to start editing, the software we used to edit the clips was Adobe Premier Pro. I named all the clips and started piecing them together and once that was done I added music and exported it onto the computer.

Over-all:
Throughout the process of making our video I learned how to use the cameras and how to adjust settings on them and I also learned how to to use Adobe Premier Pro to edit my video. I also learned more about teamwork while working with a partner because making a video is very hard to do by yourself. Some things I would do different next time is make sure I included a over the shoulder shot and more close ups. I would add those because it is essential to include all the types of shots in your video, and I was missing some shots. Some things I would do the same next time is keep the exposure the same because the shots in the video are correctly white balanced. Experiences from this time that will be important for next time is how to use the cameras and learning how to use Adobe Premier Pro. I enjoyed the project even though my video could use a little bit of work and I enjoyed watching everyone else's videos.

Throughout the year I have been in three different rotations and have learned four big topics: Graphic Design, Animation, Video, and Web Design. I have done many project relating to the stuff I have learned.

Graphic Design:       

For our last graphic design project we had to create a logo for ourselves. We had to come up with an idea and why also had to figure out what it symbolized. I chose a bird because it symbolized closeness to God and thats what I strive for and I chose the arrow because I do archery and have won a national tournament.

Animation:

One of my favorite animation projects was the bouncing ball. We had to slowly make shots of the ball falling while also making sure it looked somewhat realistic. 

Video:

For our final project in E9 we had to create a project and we had to create a video, a graphic design, and a website for our product. The video was fun to shoot while also complicated. Our product was the BabyVac.

https://youtu.be/LyP3nWhyPQQ

Web Design: 

Our website that we made for the BabyVac was the last part of our project and one of the hardest parts. 

BabyVac

BabyVac

What is our product? 
Our product is the BabyVac by Team 1which was a small vacuum in a backpack that fits on the back of a small young infant.  The people on our team was: Me (Becca), Lina, CJ, Chris, and Brenna.

What did we do well together? 
We worked really well together with communication. We all got assigned a part of the work and we made sure to ask the rest of the group to see if the work was getting done.

Where did we struggle the most?
We struggled the most with the technical skills. We were able to use the sites to work on it but the hardest part was getting on the server and being able to work on someone else's computer.

What will we do differently for the next group project? 
I think what I will do differently next time is get the stuff to work on the server and on other computers.

Is there anything you would change?
I would change our ad. It was the last thing we did so we ran out of time and it wasn't the best so I would go back and make it better.

How have I improved? 
I have improved on using all the technology and putting everything together.

What did I work on? 
I worked on the logo and the coupon for the graphic design part.

I also helped edit the video

https://youtu.be/LyP3nWhyPQQ