Friday460

My final is a video project focusing on the animal overpopulation issues in Maricopa County. 

“You can either see the half glass half full or half empty. It’s all about perspective.”

For my cinemagraph, I was able to take the raw video from class and create this piece using Adobe Photoshop.

For my final project, I veered away my original idea of creating a complex branding site. Instead, I used this interest to delve deeper into an area of image branding, image presets. I used Adobe Lightroom to successfully produce one. To present these creatives I did so by formatting it onto a website for easy access.

From my site, “Branded Babe”:

“The preset created is entitled "Captured," which is a modern take on a traditional sepia filter. The preset introduces enhanced exposure, added depth and rose tones/hues. Above are the following settings used to create the featured preset in Adobe Lightroom.

Changes were made to the following: Exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, whites, blacks, tone curve, color (tint, vibrance, saturation), effects (clarity, dehaze, vignette), and detail (sharpening, noise reduction). Presets are of great use to introduce "one-click" branding through photo editing; the same settings are used every time.

Although presets add value to photos, presets do not always look the same on every photo. Therefore, it is ideal to use presets as a base and continue to slightly adjust the exposure and contrast as necessary. “

In addition to the preset, I also offered a resource I created on color theory and lead individuals to two educational videos on the “Tips” page. One focused on how to create a preset and another gave tips on how to produce a produce an effective brand.

The site’s purpose is to elevate an individuals branded image while giving them the fundamental understandings to brand themselves like a true professional.

For my final, I composed all of my thoughts and feelings this passed month into a medium article. I did this by writing it out into a story, and I intertwined illustrations that I made in photoshop by hand. I used one Giph, and made four graphics of different styles. The most time consuming style I used was my collage. I cut out shapes in different layers, created stamps, made patterns, and masked my text. I thought this format was appropriate as a journalism student, because in the real world, I’m going to need to match a visual to a story. 

My cinemagraph shows a calm scenery with only one tree swaying in the wind. I thought it would be interesting to show how windy the morning was that day by focusing on how much one of the trees was moving.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and many organizations around campus are using this as an opportunity to increase awareness in the community about resources that are available to students.

Four percent of female students and about 1 percent of male students who were surveyed in the Spring of 2017 at ASU said they experienced some form of sexual assault in the year prior, according to the American College Health Association’s National College Health Assessment.

The Sun Devil Movement For Violence Prevention is aimed at bringing together student organizations to take part in forming a community that is free from violence and harassment, according to the Sun Devil MVP webpage.

Read more in my Medium article!

This past month, I had the chance to interview three amazing guitarists from three different cities who all share their music in different ways. Michael Fulfs from Houston plays at local restaurants and bars every weekend. Sometimes, he’ll play in other parts of the state like Austin, San Antonio and Corpus Christi. In Phoenix, Jeffrey Hack uploads his covers and original content to YouTube, where he has over 1,000 subscribers. Sean Fitz from the Minneapolis-based rock band Sleep Signals, has toured the country multiple times. Sleep Signals is currently touring with Atreyu, Ice Nine Kills and Memphis May Fire for the “In Our Wake” Tour. These three young men described their inspirations, experiences and goals. Learn about them on my Medium page!

Boomer, my pug, is one of the most playful dogs I’ve come across. When he’s not running around or chewing on toys, he’s usually curled up sleeping. He’s very spoiled and receives a toy every time I go home for breaks. Watch my video to learn more about him. 

Carne asada sizzling on the grill, homemade corn tortillas being pressed to order and asadero cheese melting on top of jalapenos and Anaheim chilies.

These are just some of the Mexican culinary traditions that are represented at Tacos Chiwas, a Chihuahua-style restaurantthat emphasizes the importance of regional cuisine. Located on McDowell Road in Phoenix, owner Armando Hernandez said he and his wife try to recreate their childhoods through food — and now ASU is offering a course to teach students about these traditions.

The ASU School of Transborder Studies is offering a new course in the Spring 2019 semester called “Mexican Foods in the Southwest,” which is open to all majors.

The course will allow students to “explore historical and contemporary issues relating to Mexican and Mexican American culinary traditions with a focus on the U.S. Southwest,” according to the course description.

Learn more about Tacos Chiwas and the new course being offered in the Spring 2019 semester in my Medium article:

Loving Vincent was a film about the circumstances of Vincent Van Gogh’s death. One year after Van Gogh's suicide, postman Joseph Roulin asked his son Armand to deliver Van Gogh's last letter to his brother. The movie is the first fully painted animated feature film. The film has 65,000 frames and each frame is an oil painting on canvas using the same technique as Van Gogh, created by a team of over 100 painters. That is crazy to me! Everything looked so detailed, elaborate and precise. I definitely was into the artwork a lot more than the story. To me, the story was a bit slow and dry, but the art kept me staring at the screen. It looks like it shapeshifted. The change of scenes in some frames made me a bit dizzy, not going to lie. A lot of Van Gogh’s work had a lot of texture in a circular motion. When seeing it move, it can be a bit much. Each brush of oil had its own motion throughout the picture.

The photo I chose is a photo of Armand sketched in a yellow jacket. To me, his facial pretty much sums up the mood of the entire movie. As does the color yellow. Van Gough used a lot of yellows (and warm color) during the day and blues (along with cooler colors) at night. To me, this photo symbolizes Armond’s journey through the eyes of Van Gogh. Shown above I placed Van Gogh’s original photo, the photo-drawn in the film, and the characterized man that was painted for the film.

For my final project I focused on how PR is done by bands themselves versus a PR firm. I interviewed local bands All New Hopes and Nothing On The Moon. They gave me insight into how PR is split up between band members and how they book shows. I also interviewed Rey Roldan of ReyBeeInc, a PR firm in New York. He has worked with artists and bands such as, Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, Dashboard Confessional and No Doubt. He described how PR for a local band is different from national bands. It was interesting to hear his view on bands and social media. Check out my website to see how PR varies for bands.

For my final project, I combined elements of Photoshop, Quicktime, Premiere, Medium and Instagram. I took six photos and edited each of them in Photoshop. I explored the idea of the dissolve feature on the app and used it for a couple of my photos. I took a video of my screen while Photoshopping to show how I applied the dissolve feature.

On Medium, I used the “series” feature to create a small slideshow of photos and stories/poems. Each photo represents a color. With the photos I included a small poem-like story describing each of the colors using the five senses and never mentioning the actual name of the color.

I posted the photos on Instagram, and included a link to the Medium post in my bio. The video is featured in a stand alone post on my Medium as well. I embedded the video onto Medium after uploading it to YouTube.

Instagram

Medium slideshow

Medium video post

I took the video of my cinimograph while my friend was driving. I figured, wow the moutains look pretty in the gloom I should take a picture....or better, I should take a video and make it a cinimograph! How aren’t these cars moving at th green light but the cars behined them are? I was able to stop all of the cars outside of the window with photoshop. Check it out here!

When you think of gourmet you may not think of food trucks, but that is definitely not the case when it comes to the cuisine that can be found at the Food Truck Friday at the Civic Space Park in downtown Phoenix.

Our Cronkite journalism class was able to check out all of the juicy details about the food trucks featured last Friday.

With options like Belgian waffles from Marcell Waffles, flame broiled burgers from the New Flame Cafe and Cambodian street food at the Lemongrass Shack, making a decision is not an easy thing to do on a Friday afternoon.

We spoke to a couple visiting for a writers conference who said they were using the tactic of sharing items from each food truck in order to be able to try more of the trucks that were available.

Read more or listen to the podcast I created from these interviews on my Medium page!

For my extra credit, I scrolled through various Instagram posts and chose four that I liked from the following categories: music/concerts, pets, fashion/modeling, food, sports, illusions, skylines/cities, macro photography, nature and reflections (refer image). Check out all my favorites on my personal Tumblr!

I thought pouring eggnog into my Christmas mug would be appropriate for my cinemagraph. Honestly, grocery stores should sell it all year long but it’s one of those holiday beverages that’s worth the wait. I made the cinemagraph at my house over Thanksgiving break, which was perfect because eggnog reminds me of chilling by my cozy fireplace back home in Texas. 

For my cinemagraph I decided to take coffee grounds and showcase it being poured into a coffee maker. Coffee is such a vital aspect in my life in getting through days, so I loved making the beginning process of making a  cup of coffee. I had a lot of fun making this and will definitely being making more cinemagraphs in the future!