Final - My Passion

The goal of our final project was to create a soundslide project displaying our passion, I chose The Narragansett Bay. I was hoping to achieve a multimedia piece that showed the beauty of the bay from all different locations. The pictures I took were from all around campus, over the Mt. Hope Bridge and several locations at Colt State Park. My creating this soundslide I was also hoping to spread the word about the Save the Bay organization. The bay being endangered is something that effects all of us at Roger Williams because it is our backyard. My narration included a description of the bays location, habitat and information about Save the Bay.

What I found most difficult in putting together this final was working with Audacity. I began by working with the instrumental version of the song Such Great Heights by The Postal Service. For the first 26 seconds the pictures start to run with the song before my narration. My narration script is...

"The Narragansett Bay is a designated estuary of unparalleled beauty and national significance. It covers almost 150 miles on the north side of the Rhode Island Sound. The bay serves as a watershed home for almost 2 million people, and more than 12 million visitors each year.
It is a spawning ground, nursery and habitat for more than 60 species of fish and shellfish, more than 200 bird species, plus marine mammals such as seals, dolphins and sea turtles.
The bay provides recreational opportunities to those who live, work and play within its watershed. It offers wetlands and marshes that help shield the shorelines from storms and as a defense against flooding.
Save The Bay is an organization dedicated to protect, restore and improves the ecological health of the Narragansett Bay. Ecosystem based approach to environmental action defends the right of the public to use and enjoy the Bay.
The Narragansett Bay is an environmental treasure. It connects all of Rhode Island’s and Southern Massachusetts’ communities together and to the Ocean. It is the staple of the area’s tourism industry, and the symbol of the region’s history and culture."

What I enjoyed most about this project was taking all the pictures of the bay. Each picture I took I then edited on photoshop. With most of the pictures I simply just made the colors more vibrant or enhanced the colors. With more time I probably would have done more editing to the photos to give them the best possible coloring.

4 The Web

COLT STATE PARK

I was hoping to achieve a simple, easy to read and navigate website offering all the necessary information of Colt State Park. DreamWeaver was not too difficult to work with, it seemed like everything I did was pretty basic. There was no layout I used for each page, although if I made another website through DreamWeaver I would definitely like to play around with those. On the top and bottom of each page is a direction bar to each of the other pages, including: home, about, contact information, directions and park utilities.

The most difficult part of designing the webpage was adding pictures. I figured out how to import a photo, but they never seemed to work when I published the website. With more time I definitely would figure out how to add pictures and make them work. Pictures are kind of important for a website on Colt State Park, to show its landscape, water and environment.

Bibi Card

Creating the bibi card was different than any other project thus far, because there was a template I had to follow, nothing I did was designed by me. So therefore what I was hoping to achieve was exactly what the original bibi card accomplished. The most challenging part in creating the bibi card was making the asterisk seen twice on the front. I first attempted to find a picture of it online to insert on the card, but it was nearly impossible to find one similar enough to use. Finally I began to use the pen tool to create the shape. When I started, it was hard to make it even and in the right shape. So...I drew over the asterisk shape I found online that looks similar to the one on the bibi card. Using that as a template helped me create it evenly.

What I actually enjoyed most was making the spacing perfectly match up to the original bibi card. The only way that was possible was to use a ruler and paper and measure it out. Once I did that, I used the ruler on QuarkXpress to match it up. That is certainly what I am most proud of. The majority of the work that went into the making of my bibi card was measurements. The spacing of every line and the placement of every text was measured out to perfection. Everything else on QuarkXpress was pretty basic. With more time there is nothing else I really would do, considering I did it all by finishing it to be the same as the original :)

6 Panel Brochure

With my brochure I was looking to create a display of 'Colt State Park' that would make people want to visit it. Included several pictures of the park (water and land) to show its beauty. I also would want people to be aware of the great historical context of the park.

What I found most challenging was choosing colors for each panel of the brochure. Whenever I use QuarkXpress I create my own colors. Never have I ever used a given QuarkXpress color. Considering the fact that this was an informational brochure, I did not want backgrounds or crazy colors to take away form the photos or facts. I came to the best conclusion of primarily solid colors with black fonts. Very user friendly I would say. One MAJOR problem I has was creating perfect spacing. This problem arose because of my decision to have sections 4, 5 and 6 (the inside) be all different solid colors. Once my brochure was printed, cut and folded I noticed how easily the spacing could be messed up. After a few trial and errors with printing and folding I created an exact template to have even inside colors.

I enjoyed using all the different photos. The pictures I had of the park were in all different spots of my brochure at one point or another. Finally after deciding on the cover photos, the rest made sense where to be placed. The photos are definitely what I am most proud of. I feel like each photo displays different aspects of the park. The front shows a greenfield with high trees and blue sky, with a clip on the bottom of a gorgeous orange/yellow sunset on the Narragansett Bay. Two more photos of the bay are on the inside, one of the beach section, close up with rocks and sand, and the other a further away view of the coast of the bay. My favorite picture is on panel 1, (History of the Park) the top photo of the sky over the walk bridge. I also included a photo of the bulls guarding the front entrance, and one of the picnic area.

One thing I wish I could have added was a map of, or to the park. The very few maps i found through my online search were hard to read and not clear. With more time I would create a map to be placed on panel 2 (mailing address).

Citizen Cope SoundSlide

Using SoundSlide I created an animated video of my Citizen Cope PowerPoint, then embedded it into blogger. The SoundSlide was designed to display my PowerPoint for the web. I chose to use simple slide transitions to not take away from the actual slides. The most challenging part of using SoundSlide was putting it into the blog. When the small version would not play I tried embedding the larger one and changing the size by editing the Html. Unfortunately changing the size did not effect the size of the slides, but only the border, so you could not see the entire slide.

I enjoyed how simple it really was to create the SoundSlide. Once adding the slide pictures and the sound, the program did the rest for you. With more time I would like to figure out why only the large video plays on the web.

Citizen Cope Poster

The goal of this assignment was to create an 11 inch by 17 inch poster for a CD release party for our chosen musician. What I was hoping to achieve with this was an eye catching yet informative poster containing the needed information; location, time, price and of course what it was.

One thing I found difficult working with QuarkXpress was configuring the alignment of texts. After a lot of playing around and reading through the book (QuarkXpress 8 Essential Skills) and was able to figure out what I wanted to do. I really enjoyed being able to send my items back and forward. I discovered 'Send to Back' sends the item to the bottom of the stacking order, and 'Send Backward' one moves the item back one level. (Same goes for 'Bring to Front' and 'Bring Forward')

I am most proud of the background I created. Although the poster was developed in QuarkXpress, I made the background in PhotoShop. I played around with the color yellow/orange in order to capture the audience's attention without being an irritating color. I layered two background and blended them to create it. If I was given more time I don't think I would change anything about the poster. I may have added more pictures, but the big picture I used I chose was because I wanted the audience to see Citizen Cope in front of an audience to let them feel like that could be them. I also chose the black and white version of the photo to contrast on the background. Overall I am very pleased with the outcome of the poster.

Citizen Cope Presentation

This assignment was to create a PowerPoint Presentation based on one of our favorite music artists. I chose Citizen Cope. The purpose of this project was to display our knowledge and skill of working with PowerPoint. In the past I have worked with PowerPoint for various reasons, but this was different. This time everything that went on every slide must have been created by me.

What I was hoping to create in this Presentation was all the different sides that Citizen Cope (Clareance Greenwood) has. Each photograph displays him at all different ways and locations. When it came to choosing the photographs I had a lot of fun with it. Since I was already slightly educated in Photoshop I was capable of editing and enhancing most of the images used in my Presentation. I was mainly hoping to achieve a Presentation that flows with connections, but each slide has major differences. For example, in slide two 'Who is Citizen Cope?' one of the photographs I used has an orange based background, so in order to make the Presentation smooth, I created a yellow/orange background for slide three 'Citizen Cope - 2002'.

One thing I found particularly challenging with this project was keeping enough contrast. One of the first things I noticed was that the exact colors and contrast differs on the screen it is seen on. The only way to solve this problem was to create enough contrast that no matter the screen, it can be seen. When selecting most of the colors for my fonts, I used the dropper tool, keeping all the colors on one slide fluent.

So far this semester, I have enjoyed this project the most. Alike to the Photoshop documents in the previous assignments, I was able to use my creativity and imagination. There were no limits in this Presentation as long everything needed was included.

I am most proud of the diversity in my Presentation. Each slide has a unique was of displaying Citizen Cope's different sides. The incorporation of photograph editing was definitely my strongest part of this assignment. If I was given more time to work on this project I may work on the visual effects. Although I am happy with effects I added, more would create a more enticing presentation.

Do You Tube?

YouTube is a video sharing website where users can upload and view videos. YouTube was created in 2005 by three former PayPal employees. [Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim] In the next year Google Inc. purchased YouTube for $1.65 billion. This subsidiary of Google is based in San Bruno, California.

YouTube began primarily by an $11.5 million investment by Sequoia Capital. The initial headquarters were located above a pizzeria and Japanese restaurant in San Mateo, California. The domain name of ‘www.youtube.come’ was activated on Valentine’s Day in 2005.

YouTube uses Adobe Flash Video technology to display the videos. The wide variety of videos seen on YouTube include; movie clips, music videos, video blogging and of course user-generated content videos.

The VERY FIRST YouTube video was uploaded on April 23, 2005 entitled Me At the Zoo. It is simply a video of founder, Jawed Karim, at the San Diego Zoo.

There was a slight controversy with the website name ‘youtube’. The owner of the site, www.utube.come filed a lawsuit against YouTube in November 2006. UTube (Universal Tube & Rollform Equipment) of course lost the lawsuit and resulted in the change of its website to www.utubeonline.com

YouTube has made it possible for anyone with an Internet connection to post a video world wide that can be seen within minutes. YouTube also made it possible for everyday people to gain a celebrity status from doing a six minute dance routine, to charlie biting your finger.

Released on YouTube on May 23, 2008 was the band, Weezer’s music video for their single titled, Pork and Beans. The video itself is a video of YouTube videos. According to director, Mathew Cullen, “the video was to be a celebration of creativity.” Numerous famous YouTube videos were featured in the music video. The list goes from One Man Band, Numa Numa, Dramatic Gopher, Afro Ninja, Diet Coke and Mentos Experiment, Chris Croker, Miss Teen USA, Crank that Solja Boy, Evolution of Dance and many, many more. The YouTube Celebrities who were featured in the video were flown to Los Angeles to work with the band in the making of the video.

Entertainment Weekly put it best when they put YouTube on its end-of-the-decade “best of” list saying...

“Providing a safe home for piano playing cats, celeb goof-ups and overzealous lip-synchers since 2005.”

Animated Font Poem

(Click for full view)

The font poem in animation reads itself to the audience. That's what I enjoy most about it. In the photo version the reader does not receive the story telling when compared to the animated.

I had some trouble uploading the exquisite corpse version of my font poem, so until it is up I will try and describe it for you. After the font words are pasted together, the background switches to my 'forest dancer' exquisite corps. That's what I am most proud of.

The white font on top of the purple exquisite corps brightens it, and gives the reader a chance to understand the poem before the animation begins again.

To be honest, if I had more time before deadline I would not do anything different. I achieved exactly what I was hoping to.

Post Card

I chose three photos for my Post Card. The forest, a ballerina and floating balloons.

I started my post card by cropping just a small section of the forest. I wanted to incorporate a decent amount of trees and leaves, with some of the sky still visibly. I layered the same photo twice, the second slightly to the left creating a blurred look for the background. I did that so my main focus point (the ballerina) stood out. Before I positioned the ballerina I inserted a third layer of floating balloons. I placed each balloon specifically giving the background depth, I also made the balloons transparent on the forest so they were slightly seen. Finally, after cropping the ballerina’s photo, I placed it on the entire background.

When it came to color, I played around, a lot. My first draft with colors was the forest being a strong green and brown, and the same with the balloons. But the background took away from the distinguish beauty of the ballerina. Finally after playing with duo-tone colors I finally chose the pink/purple color you see. The bright white ballerina on top of the faded woods and balloons draws your attention to her, just like I wanted.

I liked this project the most I think. It was fun being allowed to play around with the photos I chose and the colors I want. I was very indecisive at the beginning. Starting with what section of the forest photo I wanted to use for my background. The entire photo looked like this... It certainly was challenging. The best way for me to decide how to crop it was to do it several different ways and then select. I arranged them all on the screen and decided by process of elimination.

I was hoping to achieve a post card that with two dimensions and the focus point of the stunning white ballerina. What I enjoyed most of the project was playing with coloring. I had two major color decisions to make, how many and what colors. Ultimately I am happy with the choices I made, and I am very proud of that.

Considering the time restriction there was one thing I didn’t do. I initially began with the image of the ballerina fading away. I tried to accomplish it by layering the ballerina slightly to the left, and slightly dimmer over, and over and over again. I just could not accomplish the look I wanted. Frustrated I gave up. In the end though, I am extremely happy with how my final Post Card ended up.

Font Poem

The second sight project consisted of creating a font poem. The poem I chose to use was an excerpt from 'An American Prayer' by Jim Morrison. (With his poetry he went by James)
Included at the bottom is the entire poem. I suggest reading it :)

















This project was a lot of fun, it gave me a chance to learn how many different fonts, or typefaces, Photoshop offers. I had a few difficulties when designing the layout of the words. There are so many approaches to a project such as this, so many possibilities and so many ideas.

The first draft of my font poem looked absolutely nothing like the final. I am much much happier with the finished product. I must have tried almost every single font choice for each word. The fonts I ended up using are:

• Orator Std
• Kabel LT Std
• Myraid Pro
• Shelley Script LT Std
• Bermuda LP Std
• Flood Std
• Zapfino

I tried to keep a sense of formality with the less significant words and used Kabel LT Std for those. My favorite font was the one I used to recognize Jim Morrison with, Zapfino. Favorite font for favorite poet. The font had a very clear and beautiful script, just as Morrison.

I ran into a few difficulties when doing my font poem, but of course there was a simple fix. At first I was only working with two layers. Once I began to create a layer for more and more words it began to be more fun. A sense of perfection came upon me to have each and every word placed exactly where I saw fit. By the end, I ended up with a layer for almost each word of the poem. I really, really enjoyed this project. It was not much of a struggle, but it gave me the chance to deliver the words of someone else, in MY way. One thing I wish was more involved was color!

An American Prayer
By: James Morrison

Do you know the warm progress under the stars?
Do you know we exist?
Have you forgotten the keys to the Kingdom?
Have you been borne yet & are you alive?
Let's reinvent the gods, all the myths of the ages
Celebrate symbols from deep elder forests
[Have you forgotten the lessons of the ancient war]
We need great golden copulations
The fathers are cackling in trees of the forest
Our mother is dead in the sea
Do you know we are being led to slaughters by placid admirals
& that fat slow generals are getting obscene on young blood
Do you know we are ruled by T.V.
The moon is a dry blood beast
Guerilla bands are rolling numbers in the next block of green vine
amassing for warfare on innocent herdsmen who are just dying
O great creator of being grant us one more hour to perform our art & perfect our lives
The moths & atheists are doubly divine & dying
We live, we die & death not ends it
Journey we more into the Nightmare

Contact Sheet

By creating this contact sheet I wanted to achieve the ability to display basic skills for photoshop. I gained the knowledge of different resolutions and where they are needed. For example, a newspaper or magazine requires 300 dpi (dots per inch) when a picture photo displays a higher resolution; 1200 dpi. When dealing with pixels, they can only be taken away, not added.

I also learned all different ways to edit and play with the visual effects of a photo. Photoshop offers a number of ways to edit a photo and I am excited to continue to learn and play with them all.

One problem I ran into was with resolution. I rushed into the project and even though I knew pixels cannot be added, I did it anyway. I quickly learned my mistake and fixed it the only way possible, going back and doing it over again. Practice makes perfect.

Another problem I ran into was with my contact photo. Although no mistake was really made, I learned what photos work well with what effects. The photo I originally chose was a white snowman with a primarily white background. I fixed the problem by once again, starting over with a new photo of a background playground.

Here is a close-up of my favorite image.


This image is the CMYK color version of pink flowers and a green leafy background. This version of color is normally used when printing, versus on the web.