Professional Animated Short Blog Post

I recently saw this short animated film.  This film was about a depressed lonely character who was going through the routine motions of life without adventure.  Until one say he say an ad for a company looking to make a flying bike. He was immediately intrigued, and went to work on the bike. On another note, the animation was very smooth and the visuals were great.  The visuals showed that when he was depressed the weather was colder and the sun was never out and there would be snow.  But when he became  adventurous the sun came put and everything got brighter.  In this short film I don't understand why the character is depressed and what made him that way. In conclusion, it was a great film with great visuals, but there wasn't enough background information.

(Citation: Youtube)

Feature Story Review Post

I recently read the article, "Dreams Die in Drought"written by Diana Marcum in the Los Angeles Times.  This article was featured and given Pulitzer prize.  "Dreams die in Drought" was about the hard working conditions (due to the drought) for farmers in the San Joaquin Valley.  It talked about how it is not only hard to find work, but hard to work in the grueling conditions.  It also talked about how people are moving to Washington and Oregon because it is easier to farm there which leaves many workers jobless in San Joaquin. The author interviewed Francisco Galvez and his friend Rafael.   The tow work together and are always looking for work.  The weakness of the article is that the author didn't use much imagery while talking.  The adjectives are very bland. The strength was that the information provided was vital including what type of crops that they grow and what tools they use to work.  The author supports the main points in that workers need more opportunuity to make money and support their family, but they can only wait for it to rain until workers can work.  I followed this article and it made a lot of sense to me and had vital information.

(Citation: "Dreams die in Drought" Los Angeles Times, Diana Marcum)

What Makes a Good Feature Story

A feature story showcases a person's talent or showcases and organization.  The possibilities are endless. A good feature story is very difficult to make and takes hard work.  I viewed many good feature stories in class and saw what they had in common.  They all flowed nicely and had clean cut shots.  They all had a solid topic an they had meaning behind them.  The voiceovers were strong and and they explained the story and brought it to life. A good feature is hard to make, but if you put time and effort into it then it is very possible.

Nick Johnson Story Blog

The idea of this project was to make a story animation through Photoshop and After Affects. I had to plan out the whole idea of the story on a storyboard.  Next I went into Photoshop and created the background and characters.  After that I imported it all into after affects and made the characters move.  Along the way of doing this project I learned how to do a walk cycle again and a multiplane.  If I could do anything differently during this project I probably would have planned out my time better and made the story longer with another scene change.  I liked how I used characters that I have already created this year.  The experiences that I have gained are probably going to help me with making a longer video and being more creative.  Also it will teach me to manage my time a lot better.

Feature Story Written vs Video

In these past three weeks I have shot a feature story and written a feature story on the ONW football team.  In my experiences writing my first feature story I had to learn how to embed quotations into my writing.  I also learned what I needed to do in my narrative to make my story come to life.  This experience has showed me that in a feature story the person asking the questions is not named or in the shot when shooting.

Tyler McCoach takes the snap and pitches it to the running back, Weston Davis, as he finds a hole in the defense and sprints toward the end zone.  Davis trots into the end zone untouched for just another touchdown to add to his season total.  He turns around to celebrate with his best friend and teammate, Tyler McCoach.

                                                        

The Olathe Northwest sophomore football team has been very successful this year and remained undefeated.  They are led by running back and kicker, Davis and quarter back, Tyler McCoach.  The team goes on to pursue an undefeated season and the leaders share their thoughts.

           

“All I hope to gain out of this season is having fun and sharing the moment with my teammates who deserve this,” Davis said.  “We have worked so hard to get to this point, we started working in the summer and we never gave up on each other or the coaches.”

Football has been a part of life for these players ever since they were little playing pee-wee football.  They still remember going to Olathe Northwest football games as little kids waiting for their turn to be out there playing.  They have put in the work and trusted the process and road that they have been on to get to this point. They are here and enjoying every single moment.

           

“Weston is an animal, he never quits and has great ball carrier vision and I think that’s what really allows him to excel on the field,” Tyler McCoach said.  “If I could compare him to someone else I would say he is a cross between Bo Jackson and Steven Gostkowski.”  It’s obvious that the team chemistry is extremely high between this duo.

The teams worked hard and has earned its award. An undefeated season.  Even though they might not have games scheduled for next season yet, the process starts all over in only a few weeks.