The Product, Presentation, & Team
For our 4th quarter project, we were to implement the skills we acquired from the quarterly rotations (graphic design, animation, and video). We were put into groups based off our personality types. My group was Jenna, Hattie, and Nicole, all of which had different personality types. We decided on the name "E-Team" because we were in e-Comm. Then, we designed the "Cupbrella", a unique cup holder umbrella. We made graphics, logos, animations, and videos off of this idea, and it took until pretty much the last final days that we before presenting to finish it. Some of the challenges we faced were when people were absent and might have been currently working on a certain part of the project. We just had to fill in their spot and continue the project from there. I learned communication skills and project management skills along the way. I also got good presentation skills! I was nervous before the final presentation but ended up doing better than I thought I would. Finally, I got some technical skills in from all the rotations. I was given some feedback on our graphics, so we tweaked them a little bit until they looked just right, such as the color and size of certain fonts or graphics. I also was given information on the audio in my video and fixed that as well by boosting it. Finally, people gave us feedback on our presentation, and we changed the script up a bit to fit their comments. I really liked our work in 4th quarter because it allowed us to see how much we really learned from e-Comm and what we could apply to team skills and project management.
The Website
Our task was to create a website that showcased all of the work we made in video, animation, and graphic design. It took about a week to make, but maybe another three weeks to actually put all the extra things in the website (like the commercial). Some challenges we faced were when the commercial wasn't showing up on the home page. I learned more about the code view and overall web design concept this way. Some feedback given was to just change the size of fonts and layouts on our website, but we fixed this by making the fonts the same size and making the website more organized. I really like our website because its organized and easy to use!
Graphics & Video
In graphic design, we were to make a logo of our team and product, as well as an ad and coupon. It didn't take a long time to make this because of their simplicity and how fast we decided on them. Some challenges we faced were getting them turned in on time. I learned more about the elements of graphic design this way and some feedback given on our colors and overall size of the graphics helped us to change them (the size) to fit the proportions of the logo. I thought our graphics were very strong and good.
Our video was carefully planned out and we wrote the script for the voiceover to detail about the product. It took a day to film, but maybe a little less than a week to edit. Some challenges I faced were the audio quality and color grading of the video. I learned more about Adobe Premiere this way! Some feedback I was given was to make the audio better, so I boosted the sound. I think our video is good, but could be a little bit better.
Animations
For this project, we were to create a 2d animation in Photoshop and a 3D one in SketchUp. It took about the entire two weeks we had to plan them out and make them. Some challenges I faced at the beginning were putting the graphics onto the Cupbrella building in Sketchup. I learned more about 3D animation and design this way though. I wasn't given much feedback, but I did add raindrops later on to fit the scene. I really like our 2d and 3d animation because they explain what the product is.
Time Management
I used all of my time in class to work on whatever the group needed help with or what was responsible for doing. Even if we were thought to be done, I went into some graphics or animations to tweak some things in order to make it look better. I also watched my commercial over and over to make sure it was good. Outside of class, I have worked on short films. I have currently made about five shorts and look forward to continuing them this summer!
Strengths
I think I have strengths in the video category, or at least I hope I do. I also feel like I manage my time well in class so I can get things done on time. I maximized my strengths by working outside of class to create short films and other little projects to implement my skills acquired in e-Comm. I also help others if they need help in class.
Areas of Improvement
A definite area of improvement would be team skills and working with other people. By doing this 4th quarter project, I feel like I have boosted myself in this area and it has really helped me to learn how to work with others. Another area would be animation. To fix this, I volunteered to create the 3D animation, which turned out better than I thought.
Summary
I loved the video rotation most this semester because it was fun seeing what our product would be like in real life and how we could get people to buy it. I would change our 3D animation by making it more colorful and adding more objects to it, as well as change the commercial. I would stay away from the infomercial type of commercial and go towards comedy or something in that nature. One thing I learned, as I said, is good communication skills and presentation skills. Working in groups really pushed this concept. One goal I'd like to set for EVERY year is to win the eMagine festival in the video category. Definitely. Number one goal. This year in e-Comm has really been helpful to boost my technical skills in all areas and teach me more presentation and communication skills.
