Backpack Journalism: Lego Day to Blood Drive

Thankfully Backpack Journalism was a familiar task for me. Last summer in June I had taken a week long Backpack Journalism camp at Olathe Northwest that Bill Gentile had taught. This is where learned the process of filming and editing the first time. My last film of backpack journalism was over a profession and not a experience like Lego Day or the Fall Blood Drive. 

Although I film all the footage of Lego Day but not the blood drive due to timing at my school. We used the six shot system within these films. The first video I filmed was the Lego Day and I was a quick easy task. It was some what a practice round before the Fall Blood Drive. Where you predictably have been put on to be daring to get close and get the shots you want and need to make a successful package. Another task you need to do I asking good question and allowing you subject to speak. Then once you get them to speak you have to make you have quality audio. So you can editing them within your video. Editing is a crucial thing to follow through with the video.

After importing my shots and keyword them to organized the clips. I like organizing them and favoriting them because it allows me to the create my timeline quicker. Personally I think it has always turned out better that way, I had done this with both films. When I organized I looked for sound bytes and b roll  I could use for NAT noise and voice overs. After doing this I construct my time line and my script for voice overs. After I record them I editing them into the video and make J and L edits.  For example this is my timeline from the fall blood drive and you can see you see how I edited the audio.  After doing this to both videos they told the story well through both subjects along the help on my narration through my voice overs. Voice helped me transition well. I regret not being able to film the blood drive but I couldn't do anything about that I had prior commitments. As well as not managing my time as well as I should have. Overall I thought the film came together really well.  I favor the Fall Blood Drive film over the Lego day just because I think the Blood Drive has a better story to tell then Lego Day. 

Maya Ice Cream Shop

Previously getting to know Maya through two earlier projects, for example my Maya Hammer and other small exercises. Summing up everything I know now through my experience, this, piece was my outcome.

Modeling the Ice Cream Shop:

Initially, I start with the setting, is a room with a table. To make the room first I made one plane for the floor and two for the walls. Then added a material for them by holding the right click on the one I was wanting to color, I went to select material and imported a pattern I liked to give it some flare. I then made the table with four cylinders and a rectangular prism. I made sure the pieces matched the grouped them together by going to the drop down mesh to booleans then lastly clicked on union. Then colored it was a glass texture I found.

I started with the five scoops of ice cream. After finding the size I wanted, I made one sphere then copied (Command+C) and pasted (Command + V) the other four. Copy and pasting these saved time for me and made sure all the sphere were the same size. After making these spheres I found steam less pattern and textures for flavors chocolate, strawberry and vanilla. Then assigned the spheres the material Phong then imported the file for the flavors

Next task was making the cone and bowl. To make the cone you must make two, a large cone and a small. Then click mesh to booleans then difference. For the bowl you do the same, but with cylinders instead of cones. Just as the scoops of ice cream you must assign it a material lather than the default grey lambert. For the cone I googled for a steam less pattern for a waffle cone. And for bowl, I choose a color that would complement the rest of the project. Then made the ice cream scooper and ice cream cone stand and colored it a stainless steel.

Something I would do differently would be starting it and sticking because when I first started I completely gave up on using Maya I thought I couldn't do anything! After finishing I got to know Maya better and gained some confidence in Animation knowing I made this. Another thing I would do different would be doing bump mapping on the scoops of ice cream to give it texture. I would definitely use the same colors of everything because they complement each other visually.

Animating the Ice Cream Shop:

Animating the ice cream shop a was shockingly easy task. Once you have the modeled structure. you set up a couple of keyframes one a one and another at 120. Then in the Rotate Y in the channel box and put -359. Next to the render settings and change to JPEG. And both check where all these pictures are rendering out to. Then click Render and render batch.  Bring all the pictures to After Effects and render it out and loop it.