Leadership Strengths

Leadership Strengths

Communication (Influencing): 

"People with strong Communication talents like to explain, host, present, and write. Their natural talents enable them to bring ideas and events vividly to life."

This is reflected through me when i am on teams and work in groups by me explaining what is going on in our group and vividly bringing my ideas and thoughts to life.

Woo (Influencing): 

"Woo stands for winning others over. People with strong Woo talents enjoy the challenge of encouraging new people and gaining their esteem."

The woo quality is good to have when working in small groups because you raise up the positive atmosphere and encourage people. 

Positivity (Relationship Building): 

"People with strong Positivity talents are generous with praise, quick to smile, and always on the lookout for the upside of the situation. They bring enthusiasm to people, groups, and organization."

This characteristic has similar qualities with Woo. You want to make people like you so therefor you make a positive vibe. You want people to want to be with you and work with you.  

Includer (Relationship Building):

"'Stretch the circle wider.' This is the philosophy on which people with strong Includer talents center their lives. They want to include people and make them feel like part of the group."

With this strength I can make sure that everyones ideas are being listened to and through this we can be strong in coming up with as many ideas as we can.

Futuristic (Strategic):

"People with strong Futuristic talents love to peer over the horizon. They are fascinate by the future."

This is a strong idea to have when you are working in a group because you want to be able to plan out what is going to happen with your group in the future.

Q & A

Q: What did you find most valuable from the activate on Friday with Mrs. Knight?

A: I was only there for half of it because of an ACT activity i had to attend but i enjoyed finding out who had the same strengths as me and seeing if we were similar to each other. 

Q: What 'Aha!' moments did you have during the activity?

A:I had an 'Aha!' moment when I got my strengths because they described me perfectly.

Q:How might you approach team or group projects differently, now that you know more about the leadership strengths?

A: I don't really know how i would come across group projects differently besides discussing their strengths so i know how to work with them better.

"Are Your Costumes Telling Stories?" Article Summary and Critique

After reading the article, Are your Costumes Telling Stories? Take a Look Inside the Costume Design for 'American Hustle,' ( http://nofilmschool.com/2014/01/inside-the-costume-design-for-american-hustle )I really got a new outlook on how to not only tell a films story but raise the production value. This article is kind of old because it was written on January 11th in 2014 by V Renée but, i definitely learned something and would recommend it to anyone that wants to go into costume design. The three main points that the author of the article used were American Hustle, Hollywood Reporter Article, and American Hustle Featurette video.

American Hustle: 

This movie has a rating of 7.3 out of 10 and has a good plot from what i read. It is about a con man and his seductive partner are learned to work for a wild FBI agent who pushes them into a world of Jersey powerbrokers and mafia. Michael Wilkinson was the Costume Director of the film and in Renée's article she refers to another article where he talks about what inspired him.

Hollywood Reporter Article: This article is about five costume designers talking about what inspired their costumes in their films. The costume designers include, Catherine Martin (The Great Gatsby), Michael Wilkinson (American Hustle), Mary Zophres (Inside Llewyn Davis), Trish Summerville (Catching Fire), and Daniel Orlandi (Saving Mr. Banks).

Critique Q & A

Q: What is the author's argument and what information/evidence and sources does she use to support that argument?

A: Renée's argument is that costume design is more than just dressing someone. Her evidence she uses to support that are quotes and arguments from Famous Costume Designers and how they are inspired through clothing. 

Q: What are the author's strengths and weaknesses?

A: I feel like she does a good job of coming up with a lot of examples for her claims but she doesn't really go into enough depth for me and what i would think for other people.

Q: What are the author's general conclusions?

A: This kind of goes back to where the authors weaknesses are. She has many examples but doesn't end very well or come to a conclusion. 

Q:Does the author's argument support the main point?

A: Yes, she is very good at supporting of her main point.

Q: Is evidence convincing? Are there wider ramifications to the conclusion?

A: In my opinion, it wasn't very convincing until it came to the American Hustle Featurette video because i actually heard the costume designers talk.

Q:What are the applications/implications to you as a videographer?

A: I feel like as a videographer i need to have a passion for what I do. This is what the article was about and really made an impact on me.

Q:What don't you understand, and is this because you lack certain assumed knowledge or vocabulary or because the writer is unclear?

A: I had a pretty good idea of what she was trying to say in this article. I definitely don't have the same knowledge as a professional costume designer but she did a good job of writing this to her audience which was me.

Spoken Word

In this project, I develop a video collage of elements of nature. My video selected a theme and carried out a theme while demonstrating creativity in shots, locations, lighting, equipment use, and style of editing. I worked on the video "Growing Up" with Jayleah. Even though taking video of nature is boring i felt like we made a story and the voice over made you not want to grow up. It made you feel like the narrator did. 

Codecs

Codecs stand for compressor decompressor. Examples of a Container are .mov, .wmv, and .avi. These are not Codeecs. There are four types of Codecs, These Four types are Capture, Edit, Delivery, and Archival. Deep bit=depth is when there are no lines in gradient so that is looks smooth. The lower the bit depth, the less shades there are for every color in your picture. The real world is approx. 8 bits. Chromo Subsampling can be shown with a ratio of 3 numbers.

• 4:4:4 (4 out of 4 pixels have a color value/each pixel has it's own color and it's own value.)
• 4:2:2 (2 out of 4 pixels have a color value/one pixel get it's color value from another.)
• 4:2:0 (1 out of 4 pixels have a color value/three pixels get their color value from one pixel.)

"Codec is a technical name for "compression/decompression." It also stands for "Compressor/decompressor" and "code/decode." These all mean the same thing. A codec is a computer program that both shrinks large movie files, and makes them playable on your computer. They are required for a media player to play downloaded music and movies.

Project Management 101

Producer: This is the person who will organize the film and keep it on schedule and under budget. The work for this individual is very front heavy, meaning their work will be hard up front before the production gets shooting. Once the shooting begins the workload will lighten but not by much. You will want to choose someone with a great deal of energy, responsibility and desire.

I would not make a good producer because of many reasons. I am very organized but if i was in charge of keeping everything under budget i would probably fail. I would not want the stress of this job.

Director: The director is usually a creative person with a knack for telling stories. Traditionally, everyone wants to direct but take my word for it, once you have tried directing your opinion may change very rapidly. As a director, you are the only person on the crew who will never have a chance to sit down and relax.

I would probably be a good director because i can think of good ways to tell a story through film. I mean i am in this class aren't i? I would be okay with not having relax time because i always have high energy.

Director of Photography (Cinematographer...in our case, Camera Operator): The majority of the DP's work takes place once the shooting begins. He is responsible for making both the frame and actual image that you see on the screen look fantastic. The person in your group that is most inclined to photography should take on this role.

I be a good Director of Photography because I'm a very artsy person. I could come up with good ways to tell the story. I am inclined to photography.

Editor: The editor is brought aboard to piece together the various camera angles and assemble the scenes of a film. The most simplified way of doing this is by using computers with video editing software. Most of the editor's work will take place during post production, but it is a good idea to have someone scheduled to take on this burden when the time comes.

I would not make a good editor with a big group of people. I would if i were working alone. The stress of the video relying on me would stress me out. I am not good under insane pressure.

Project Manager: A project manager is the person responsible for accomplishing the stated project objectives. Key project management responsibilities include creating clear and attainable project objectives, building the project requirements, and managing the constraints of the project management triangle, which are cost, time, scope, and quality.

I would be a good project manager because i am good at keeping people on schedule. I am so organized which is a good quality to have with this job.

Obligations: My obligations are Dance Team, Work, Musical Practice, Church Band, and Church Youth group.

My Team: Producer- MaryAnn Traxler Director- Quinn Self Cinematographer- Jayleah Johnson Editor- Emily Kemp & Abbie Paikowski Project Manager- Megan Osborn

Techniques

Whip pan/Whip Cut: The camera is on one scene and to go to the next it whips creating a spinning motion. 

Whip Zoom Look: Zooming in fast into a subject.

Search Up: This is a technique that starts at the subjects feet and makes its way to the subjects face. 

Back to Front: The camera is focused in on something happening in the background and changes its  focus to something closer to the camera.

Focus Out/Pass out: This is when the camera blurs out to a fade to black. This is somewhat like the subject passing out.

Focus Transition: This is when the lighting is altered to create a focus in effect. An example would be someone waking up to a really bright light that slowly dims. 

Overexpose Fade: When the scene gradually becomes overly exposed to the point that the image is too bright.

Underexpose Fade: When the scene gradually becomes under exposed to the point that the image is too dark.

Ceiling Twist: When the camera is pointing upward toward an object of interest and rotates. 

Shifting Angle: When the camera is tilted back and forth between scenes. 

Sleepover: A birds eye view looking down onto the subject.  

Plot and Story

When you think of Story and Plot you think of them as the same thing. Many people make this mistake. They are very different things. After reading the article "Martin Scorsese Breaks Down the Differences between Story and Plot" and watching the videos attached, I have learned the difference. Scorsese starts to explain the difference in the first attached video. He describes how he enjoys story over plot because when he watched major pictures over and over the characters are what draws him in. Scorsese says that a good way to tell a good story is with your camera movement and that it becomes more interesting to him. We can predict that any famous director like Scorsese would say Story over Plot because of the way they look at movies. They think this because they think that photography and soundtrack is what draws in the audience. Throughout this article they basically give different definitions and examples of Plot and Story. My favorite description is very short and simple to understand.

Plot is what happens 

Story is why it happened and how

In my own opinion I agree with Scorsese. Story is more important than Plot. The reason i think that is because I am a film maker. In the eyes of someone who is not a film maker, they are the same thing.