Evaluation

Media Passport - Evaluation

Describe:
First, I started on the cover. The emblem was made by rotating a heart I previously made in Photoshop 8 times using GIMP and putting it back in Inkscape using the 'Trace Bitmap' tool. The "Media Passport" text uses the 'Purple Purse' font. The background has a rather subtle pattern to give it some texture instead of just leaving it 1 solid colour.

I then started on the pattern for pages 2-3. The initial process is listed in 'Skills Development', but I'll say it here too:
First, I used a program called spacescape, a tool for making space skyboxes.
I then used a site, 360toolkit.co, to turn it into an Equirectangular image and opened it in GIMP (A raster graphics editor) and used a plugin called G`MIC-Qt with a filter (out of about 500~) called 'Kaleidoscope Layer Cake' to degrade it. I then used another filter in the plugin called 'Oldschool 8bits' to further degrade the image. I then cropped the resulting image to fit the A4 Landscape template and opened it in Inkscape so I could once again use the 'Trace Bitmap' tool.

Finally, I finished the pages by adding the required text on both pages, a pattern on page 2 and a portrait of myself on page 3.

The teacher said (or at least implied) they were fine with the portrait being manipulated, such as using 'facial filters' (e.g apps that automatically add effects to your face, like bunny ears) so I decided to have some fun with mine.
I took a picture of myself wearing a Mario Hat, a purple scarf and comically large shades because they were the silliest things I had readily available. I then opened it in Photoshop, changed the hue to be purple and applied a cutout filter to it.

Analyse:
I expected it to take a very long time to do, so I was pleased that it didn't. The final result came out better than I had expected, even if I initially used Inkscape instead of Illustrator.

I recieved overall positive feedback and was given suggestions on the front cover, which included changing the emblem's colour and stylising the 'Media Passport' text. The emblem's colour I ended up making purple, but the text remains mostly unedited as any changes I had attempted didn't resonate with me. I didn't want change for the sake of change.

Evaluate:
Overall, I achieved what I wanted. The lessons for illustrator and indesign definitely helped, as I previously only had very basic knowledge using inkscape. The pattern for pages 2 & 3 was the highlight for me, as I wanted to see if I could make something unnecessarily complex instead of directly following the teacher's tutorial/showcase.

Premiere Pro Travel Video - Evaluation

Describe:
This project was about making a travel video of places I would like to visit. It was to be made in Premiere Pro and required the following:

• 5 different places.
• Replaced audio.
• Length being between 2 and 4 minutes.
• Titles, captions and credits. 
  

I took videos of The Moon, Philadelphia, Tokyo, Egypt and Bikini Bottom (using youtube-dl to aquire them) and clipped them together, trying to match it to the tone of the music I had chosen. I couldn't think of enough interesting places I'd want to personally visit, so I included Bikini Bottom as a gag. The Moon on the otherhand is more of a fantasy location.

Analyse:
Choosing the music and the final location were the hardest part of this project. I ended up settling with Bikini Bottom as I loved the early seasons of Spongebob and I was curious to see if I could get away with actually using it. The music was difficult, but I settled on a track from Breath of the Wild because of how incredibly relaxing it can be and thought it would be a perfect fit.

Evaluate:
Overall, I'm surprised this came out as well as it did considering how long it has been since I've touched Premiere Pro, but I could have used footage I shot myself - as impossible as that may be.

Landscape Composite- Evaluation

Describe:
This project involved creating an exotic landscape composite image using Photoshop.
My initial idea was a Japanese, otherworldly-looking image with a purple theme so I researched Japanese locations and looked at different aspects of space I could incorporate into it.
In the end, I settled on these 4 things: Adding a moon, a small plush, a purple cosmos sky and extending the tall building.

• The moon was self-taken using a 3D Moon Lamp/Night Light. It was cracked so I had to patch it up using 'Spot Healing Brush'. I then cropped it using 'Quick Selection' and then added an 'Outer Glow' effect.
• The plush that is on the first roof was self-taken, cropped and colour adjusted in an attempt to make it blend better.
• A Purple Cosmos image was flipped and overlayed over the sky with the opacity turned way down.
• The tall building was extended by a simple copy&paste job. You can actually see the original top sticking out a bit but it surprisingly blended well so I left it alone.

Analyse:
The task was have at least 4 composites but I only have 3 composites total: The moon, the plush and the purple sky. I had initially planned to add another building behind the hills at the back and purple flowers at the very front but decided not to because I thought it would have ruined the image's uniformity and was happy with it in it's current state. As a compromise, I extended the tall building by one story. I'm curious to see if i'll get a pass on this decision. I can always add the planned background building if necessary to bump up the total.

Evaluate:
Overall, I achieved making what I imagined pretty nicely. It was really fun to make and surprisingly one of my parents requested it to use as a desktop background (It's totally due to parental bias).
If I had to improve anything, it would be the small plush. I made it obvious so the teacher wouldn't miss it but still tried to 'hide' it and the result is that it sticks out like a sore thumb.

Magazine Spread - Evaluation

Describe:
This magazine spread involved learning and using InDesign.  It required some details like pull-quotes, picture with a caption, title/sub-title, etc so I researched some existing magazine spreads to get a better idea on where to start. I saw some examples had an image taking up the entire left page and thought it was cool, so I decided to do that for my own. The general theme of it matches the other projects, including the colours and fonts used. The image taking up the entire left page is a render that I took in Blender in the past in my own time and added a filter to it. The image on the right page is the Landscape Composite.

Analyse:
I don't really look at modern magazines, so I had to research quite a bit as im not familiar with them.
Regardless, I tried to make one that I would likely read myself.
Based on feedback I got, I ended up changing a few minor things like lining up text and making the tonal contrast which added to a better looking spread. It didn't take that long once I had the plan worked out, except I paid too much attention to details that didn't need it.

Evaluate:
Overall, I think I achieved what I wanted pretty much perfectly as this is one of my most favorite creations, period.
This was a culmination of multiple programs I have learned currently, including InDesign overall, Photoshop for the landscape and even Blender for the image on the left page.
If I were to change/improve anything, I would probably change the main header as the font used makes it slightly out of place.