Hockney Style Joiners

In my Gt class we are learning about Photo-montages and their creator David Hockney. Photo-montages are a collaboration of photos with overlap to create a abstract photo. David Hockney's photo montages are different than mine because his are more professional and since he does this for a living. His Photo-Montages are also probably more advanced colors and definitions in his pictures since he uses a different camera than the ones we use in school. David Hockney is also better at arranging the photos to give them that certain abstract feel.

Images are very complex because they can send positive and negative messages.They can send messages by the subjects in the picture. The subjects could be things that represent positive things like happiness. Happiness could be a bowl of ice cream. Sadness could be a rainy day from a window. The effects in a photo also could send a message. If you have black and white effects it could be sad or if you have vibrant effects it could be happy.

In GT we are making a photo montage of something that is special to us. I took pictures of a flower in my backyard. I used different tilts and angles while taking my pictures so when I put them together it's more abstract. The message I want to send in my photo montage is that without flowers life would be colorless and boring. This means without flowers life wouldn't be fun. No one would be inspired by the beauty and no one would be creative.

Check out these joiners by the man who created them in the link below.
Original Hockney Style Joiners

2016 Aspirations

In 2016 I have many goals I want to accomplish. One of them is getting A's in all of my classes. Another is to do a good job on my school's morning announcements as a tricaster and make very little mistakes. In 2016 I also want to participate more in classes without being asked because I am a really shy kid. I also want to try and get better at cooking and learn more stuff about flavors. My last goal for 2016 is to help out my friends when they are stuck on something.

The most important goal to me is actually two because they counteract with each other. They are to get A's in all of my classes and participate more. I chose these two because part of our grade is based off of participation. Also to have a successful life and a good job to support you you need to be good in class and get good grades. Also if I participated more in class I would gain more confidence in what I do.

The steps I will take to ensure success is to pay attention in classes. I will also need to make sure I understand what we are doing class. Another step will be to study for the tests that we take in class. Also, I need to make sure that during very important tests like sbac tests to stay focused. The last step I will need to take is to raise my hand if class to answer questions and if it's wrong at least I know.

Scratch Game Design

Scratch Chase Game Instructions: Arrow keys to move  Scoring:15 points to win

                 Scratch Platformer Instructions:Arrow keys to move  Object: Get the balloons

                                                                                   

In GT we created a game of chase in Scratch. User experience influenced my game by affecting the character I would have chase the other which is a dog chasing a cat. I thought the people using it could make a connection with what is happening. User experience affected my platformer also by the sprites I chose. I figured someone trying to grab the balloons they lost is something everyone would understand.

My chase game has multiple features. It has a point system where you score a point every 3 seconds. You can also lose points by getting touched by the dog. I also have a timer to show you how much time left till you gain a point. The sprites are a dog chasing a cat. I chose this because I thought it was a classic scenario. The background is a beach because I thought it would match the sprites and the action in a game.

My best code in my platformer was when I made the code that if the balloon's Y position equaled something that it showed another balloon. I had never used this piece of code before and when i found out how to use it properly I was really happy. My most difficult bug was when I couldn't get any of my jumps to work and my balloons were really glitchy. Then my friend Nick said " Are they in forevers". It turned out I didn't have certain stuff in forevers so it didn't go correctly. When I played it again It worked fine.

If you want to create your own games click on the link below:
Scratch

Invention Commercial

Title: Invention Commercial Label: GT Portfolio
I: Describe your team’s main goals for this assignment
B: Explain the best “team moment” during production
C: During post-production editing, who did what & why
Embedded Vimeo, SS Commercial Plan & Results

My team's main goal for this assignment was simple. We decided to create a faster way of transportation. We decided it would be built in the water so there is more space to build. It is also made to be a way hospitals can bring patients to them quicker which could result with their life being saved. We called it Hydro Travel because hydro is another name for it's location the water and you use it for traveling at high speeds.

The best team moment we had during our production was figuring out what to do for the entertainment. We were editing the film we already had when we went to go re-film a part that was cut off. While we were walking to get our plan Andrew did his Arnold Schwarzenegger voice. Then an idea struck me. I said that we should have him say "Get to the chopper" but it wouldn't be there so he would need to use our invention, Hydro Travel.

While we were editing everyone did everything. Some times I was editing, sometimes Will was editing and so on. While someone else was editing the people on the sidelines also had a job to do. They had to make sure the video would turn out good. The way our video turned out except for the fact we didn't explain how it works and at the end there wasn't a need for them to go into the capsule. Also I didn't like the fact that the lego men were floating and gliding on the ground.

Composition Scavenger Hunt

In my GT class we are doing a project on composition techniques. The composition technique that is most important to me is leading lines. This is the most important to me because without leading lines the audience may not be focused on the character or main object. They may be focused on extras or the background. If this happens the audience watching might miss an important event. You can see what leading lines is in the video at the top of the screen at the 20 second mark.

The most difficult composition  to me technique is rule of thirds scenery. Here are some reasons why. You would need to have a certain position where you have scenery in one third of the film. You would also need a spot to have something happen. I can use it more by not using it to film the sky but by using it for film at eye level.

My teammates were Andrew and William.William had glasses but now uses contacts and was behind the camera most of the time except for group shot. Outside of school William mows lawns and plays tennis and soccer. Andrew was the one with gel in his hair and is in the screenshot below. Outside of school he plays soccer and acts. While we were editing we assigned things. I was the person who edited the shots with Will doing it sometimes. Andrew was assigned to the transitions and text layers. Will picked the music and helped with transitions.

Cracking the Code

Hey this is James, hope your fall break was great. Were back in school and in GT we are learning coding. I think that everyone should learn at least the basics of coding. Then if someone is interested they will look further into it learning more advanced things. I believe this because if people get interested in coding they may look further into working with technology.  This may lead to the invention of more advanced technology.

My first experience with programming was a game we played in GT class. The game had three different themes to it. One was Angry Birds where you were the red bird going to the pig, another was Plants vs. Zombies where you were a zombie going to the sunflower, and the last one was the squirrel from Ice Age going to the nut. In the game you had to put a combination of blocks to move the character to the target. There was block where if something was to the side of you or ahead it would do a certain action. After you finish all 20 levels you got a certificate which congratulates you for completing a hour of code which is on my blog.

If I could design any program or game I would design a game that is kind of like Mario that has a Pokemon theme. You can throw Poke balls to catch Pokemon that can help you along the way. You can collect coins to upgrade the level of poke balls. The controls would be basic (Arrow keys and spacebar). The boss levels would be legendary Pokemon.

My Humorous Monologue

As you know from my previous posts, my GT class is making a joke with B-roll shots. During this project I have learned how to edit B-Roll and monologue and put B-Roll over my monologue. I learned how to import film from a camera directly into an event box. I learned how to adjust the timing of film and how to take out certain parts. The last thing I learned was how to add my film into a server.

During editing we learned what pad is. Pad is the extra time at the beginning and end of the video. It is added so no words are cut off. Padding your clips is crucial because if something is cut off while you are filming and you didn't notice you wouldn't have that part fully. If part of a video wasn't there the video wouldn't be good.
 
While we were making our comedic film I encountered some weaknesses and strengths. One of my weaknesses was that I didn't really more advanced stuff because I wasn't here while we learned it.One of my strengths that I encountered was that I was very good at was. Things I could improve on is checking the timing on my film. I think I got a 2 because I was outside of the timezone on my video, that is why I gave myself a 2. It wasn't till after class that my friend told me that since I was absent I could have given myself a 3.

The template I followed while filming my monologue and B-Roll

The statistics after the voting from the vote form. SO close to a 3.