ameliasblogkingston

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Reflection on LinkedIn Learning tutorial

For one of our projects to create a poster on Adobe Illustrator (Adobe Inc. 2022), we were shared by our lecturer, Phillip Richardson, some LinkedIn tutorials on how to use the software. One I found most useful was a tutorial created by Tony Harmer called ‘Illustrator 2020 essential training’ (Harmer, 2019). This tutorial series allowed me to explore the software (Adobe Inc, 2022) and use it to its full potential whilst creating my poster. I did find it very difficult to use and that is something I will need to work on in the future, so my final pieces are not that good however, I did really enjoy exploring the software and being able to have a play around all the different tools that they have. The tutorials, however, did make it so much easier as the videos were really in depth and detailed, which allowed me to follow step by step and create really exciting work that I never thought I would have been able to do. I really pushed myself on this one by creating more than one poster instead of giving up all with the help of the LinkedIn (LinkedIn Learning, 2022) tutorials that I had access to.  

Bibliography

Gibbs, G. (1988) Learning by Doing: a Guide to teaching and learning methods. London: FEU

Harmer, T. (2021) Introduction to Graphic Design: Illustrator [MOOC]. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/introduction-to-graphic-design-illustrator/about-the-introduction-to-graphic-design-practicals?autoAdvance=true&autoSkip=false&autoplay=true&resume=false&u=56743409 (Accessed: 5 February 2022)  

Richardson, P. (2021) ‘Gibbs Reflective Cycle’ [PowerPoiny presentation]. MD4004: Digital Media Foundations. Available at: https://canvas.kingston.ac.uk/courses/20497/pages/week-7-interactivity (Accessed: 11 November 2021)

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The image above is representing a euphoric atmosphere that I felt when I looked at the sky this day. Despite being taken near the bins at my accommodation, I still felt an overwhelming sensation of magic and an ethereal feeling so much that I wanted to share this enhanced version of the image. To enhance the elegance of this picture I used the skills I learnt from the Digital Media Foundation workshops when we were working on Adobe Photoshop (Adobe Inc. 2022). I increased the saturation to make the colour stand out and I added a faint and subtle blur to the image to really show the beautiful sky that was present in thus moment. I have really loved photography and think I am starting to excel at the skill and my skills in Photoshop (Adobe Inc. 2022) is slowly improving, and I am getting used to the software. I did still have to use the LinkedIn (LinkedIn Learning, 2022) tutorials (Ramirez, 2021) to remind myself of where certain tools are as there is so much to do on Photoshop (Adobe inc. 2022). I like to keep my work simple and minimalistic, not make it too busy as I feel the natural beauty from the photo is enough without having to add too many crazy details.  

Bibliography  

Adobe Inc. (2022) Adobe Photoshop (Version 23.0.0) [Computer program]. Available at: https://www.adobe.com/uk/creativecloud.html (Accessed: 7 February 2022)

Gibbs, G. (1988) Learning by Doing: a guide to teaching and learning methods. London: FEU

Ramirez, J. (2021) Photoshop 2021 Quick start [MOOC] Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/photoshop-2021-quick-start/a-quick-start-to-photoshop-2021?autoplay=true&resume=false&u=56743409 (Accessed 7 February 2022)

Richardson, P. (2021) ‘Gibbs Reflective cycle’ [PowerPoint presentation]. MD4004: Digital Media Foundations. Available at: https://canvas.kingston.ac.uk/courses/20497/pages/week-7-interactivity (Accessed: 11 November 2021)

[ameliasblogkingston]

Reflection on Design Principle lecture

On the 3rd of February 2022, our lecturer Phillip Richardson gave a lecture on Design Principles. In this lecture (Richardson, 2022) we learnt about balance within perception, Movement and Rhythm, pattern, emphasis, unity, line, tone, colour, texture and space. As there was a lot of information to cover, the lecture (Richardson, 2022) was quite long. However, I was extremely fascinated by the amount that goes into design. With this information we were asked to complete a task that was to create a poster. If it weren't for this lecture (Richardson, 2022), I would have struggled to complete this task as I used a lot of my newfound knowledge on design into planning and creating my poster. One thing that I would have found useful would be if the PowerPoint was not so long so that we could have completed more work on our posters during the workshop, however, the information that we gained was worth it in the end because all our designs turned out incredibly. Despite the lengthy lecture (Richardson, 2022), I managed to keep focused on what was said even though that is something I normally struggle with. The lecture (Richardson, 2022) led onto the development of Adobe Illustrator (Adobe Inc. 2022) skills amongst the cohort. We learnt so much from this lecture (Richardson, 2022) and the workshop that followed and I had a lot of fun learning.  

Bibliography

Gibbs, G. (1988) Learning by Doing: a Guide to teaching and learning methods. London: FEU

Richardson, P. (2021) ‘Gibbs Reflective Cycle’ [PowerPoiny presentation]. MD4004: Digital Media Foundations. Available at: https://canvas.kingston.ac.uk/courses/20497/pages/week-7-interactivity (Accessed: 11 November 2021)

Richardson, P. (2022) ‘Design Principles’ [PowerPoint presentation]. MD4004: Digital Media Foundations. Available at: https://canvas.kingston.ac.uk/courses/20497/pages/week-19-design-1-principles. (Accessed: 3 February 2022)

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiHWGFCa-Fc

For this task, the cohort was asked to make a short documentary that follows the poetic mode. The concept was to film our journey to University (Richardson, 2022). The software that we were using to create this documentary is Adobe Premiere Pro (Adobe inc. 2022). Because I have never used this before I used the LinkedIn (LinkedIn, 2022) tutorial by Ashley Kennedy called ‘Premiere pro 2020 Essential Training’ (Kennedy, 2020). Something that went well with my documentary is that I managed to capture my journey to university naturally. However, the quality was not as good as it was filmed on my phone. To create a poetic documentary, one must create a documentary that follows a narrative. My narrative is following an urban teen on a TFL bus making her way to university. To create this narrative, I paired the clips with a royalty free song from a website called Bensound (Bensound, 2022) called ‘All That’. I cut some clips to the beat of the music to make it feel like the viewer is walking with me. One thing that I would do better next time is I would try and film more footage, maybe of some nature shots to incorporate into my documentary. However, I travel to university does not include many scenic routes, only a bus from A to B.  

Bibliography  

Adobe Inc. (2022) Adobe Premiere Pro (version 22.1.2) [computer program]. Available at https://www.adobe.com/uk/creativecloud.html. (Accessed: 25 January 2022)

Bensound (2022) Royalty Free Music by Bensound. Available at: https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music/funky-groove (Accessed 25 January 2022)

Gibbs, G. (1988) Learning by Doing: a guide to teaching and learning methods. London: FEU

Kennedy, A (2020) Premiere Pro 2020 Essential Training. Available at https://www.linkedin.com/learning/premiere-pro-2020-essential-training/welcome?autoplay=true&u=56743409. (Accessed 25 January 2022)

Richardson, P. (2021) ‘Gibbs Reflective cycle’ [PowerPoint presentation]. MD4004: Digital Media Foundations. Available at: https://canvas.kingston.ac.uk/courses/20497/pages/week-7-interactivity (Accessed: 11 November 2021)

Richardson, P. (2022) Week 16- TB2 Introduction. Available at https://canvas.kingston.ac.uk/courses/20497/pages/week-16-tb2-introduction (Accessed: 13 January 2022)  

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In my second attempt at creating this poster for classical guitarist Charlie Richardson-Smith and Anne-Lise Vaumoron I again used Adobe Illustrator (Adobe Inc. 2022) and followed a LinkedIn (LinkedIn Learning, 2022) tutorial made by Tony Harmer titled Introduction to Graphic Design; Illustrator (Harmer, 2021) to navigate my way through Illustrator (Adobe Inc. 2022). I found the whole process really stressful however, I feel I have captured my vision by using an image of the French flag and put the text in French. The font decision process took a while as I was in between bold or elegance. I went with a middle option that had dainty lines but was readable against the background. I still wanted the main focus of the work to be the artists, however I had a really hard time figuring out how to crop this specific image which I feel ruined the piece and is something I could improve on for next time. I really enjoyed learning about Adobe Illustrator (Adobe Inc. 2022) and broadening my repertoire of software I am able to use. In comparison to my first attempt, I think this one looks a lot more professional and meets my standards a lot more. I still had to use the LinkedIn (LinkedIn Learning 2022) tutorial (Harmer, 2021) to help me with using the software (Adobe Inc. 2022) however, I found it easier than the first time I used it. Next time I will be more patient with the software (Adobe Inc. 2022) and figure out how to crop images.    

Bibliography  

Adobe Inc. (2022) Adobe Illustrator (Version 26.0.3) [Computer Program]. Available at: https://www.adobe.com/uk/creativecloud.html (Accessed: 5 February 2022)

Gibbs, G. (1988) Learning by Doing: a guide to teaching and learning methods. London: FEU

Harmer, T. (2021) Introduction to Graphic Design: Illustrator [MOOC]. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/introduction-to-graphic-design-illustrator/about-the-introduction-to-graphic-design-practicals?autoAdvance=true&autoSkip=false&autoplay=true&resume=false&u=56743409 (Accessed: 5 February 2022)

Richardson, P. (2021) ‘Gibbs Reflective cycle’ [PowerPoint presentation]. MD4004: Digital Media Foundations. Available at: https://canvas.kingston.ac.uk/courses/20497/pages/week-7-interactivity (Accessed: 11 November 2021)

[ameliasblogkingston]

Practice with Adobe Illustrator

To create this poster for classical guitarist Charlie Richardson-Smith and Anne-Lise Vaumoron I used Adobe Illustrator. Adobe Illustrator (Adobe Inc. 2022) was really tricky to understand at first. Trying to figure it out by myself was nearly impossible so I used a LinkedIn (LinkedIn Learning, 2022) tutorial by Tony Harmer titled Introduction to Graphic Design; Illustrator (Harmer, 2021) to help me start off with a practice poster. I gathered inspiration from a Bob Dylan poster from 1988. Using a background image I found online of a vintage textured background, I used the layer panel to place a picture of Charlie Richardson-smith and Anne-Lise Vaumoron on top of the background image. I added text to the poster as well that resembled the text from the Bob Dylan poster but had to cut down a lot of the text I was going to add to make it less crowded. I wanted the main focus of the poster to be the image of the artists. My main struggle with Adobe Illustrator (Adobe Inc. 2022) was navigating my way round the software but once I got the hang of it, I quickly figured out how to use the tools I wanted. I dislike how my first poster turned out as I feel it's messy and boring. However, it was a start to my Adobe Illustrator (Adobe Inc. 2022) journey and it is therefore important for me to share my improvement.  

Bibliography  

Adobe Inc. (2022) Adobe Illustrator (Version 26.0.3) [Computer Program]. Available at: https://www.adobe.com/uk/creativecloud.html (Accessed: 5 February 2022)

Gibbs, G. (1988) Learning by Doing: a guide to teaching and learning methods. London: FEU

Harmer, T. (2021) Introduction to Graphic Design: Illustrator [MOOC]. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/introduction-to-graphic-design-illustrator/about-the-introduction-to-graphic-design-practicals?autoAdvance=true&autoSkip=false&autoplay=true&resume=false&u=56743409 (Accessed: 5 February 2022)

Richardson, P. (2021) ‘Gibbs Reflective cycle’ [PowerPoint presentation]. MD4004: Digital Media Foundations. Available at: https://canvas.kingston.ac.uk/courses/20497/pages/week-7-interactivity (Accessed: 11 November 2021)

[ameliasblogkingston]

Reflection on Documentary Lecture

On the 13th of January we had a lecture on Documentation and Documentary (Richardson, 2022). During this lecture, our lecturer Phillip Richardson taught us the non-fiction documentary modes, most specifically on poetic documentary. I found this lecture (Richardson, 2022) very interesting as I have a great fascination with film and media and the different types of film made. During my A-Level studies across 2019-2021 I studied Film where we had previously learnt about different documentary modes, so this lecture (Richardson, 2022) was not too unfamiliar too me, allowing me to apply previous knowledge into the lecture (Richardson, 2022) to help further my understanding of poetic documentaries. Despite knowing a bit about documentaries, I still learnt a lot of new information on visual language and verbal language. This lecture (Richardson, 2022) helped us as a cohort develop our understanding for an upcoming documentary project that we are going to complete where we produce a poetic documentary on our journey to university. We also looked at Nichols Introduction to documentary (Nichols, 1991) where Nichols talks about the poetic mode and how ‘This mode explores associations and patterns that involve temporal rhythms and spatial juxtapositions.’ This was a quote from Nichols that I found very insightful and interesting in relation to the upcoming documentary project we will be doing.  

Bibliography  

Gibbs, G. (1988) Learning by Doing: a Guide to teaching and learning methods. London: FEU

Nichols, B., (1991)  n.d. Introduction to documentary. P.116. (Accessed: 13 January 2022)  

Richardson, P. (2021) ‘Gibbs Reflective Cycle’ [PowerPoiny presentation]. MD4004: Digital Media Foundations. Available at: https://canvas.kingston.ac.uk/courses/20497/pages/week-7-interactivity (Accessed: 11 November 2021)  

Richardson, P. (2022) ‘Documentation and Documentary’ [PowerPoint presentation]. MD4004: Digital Media Foundations. Available at: https://canvas.kingston.ac.uk/courses/20497/pages/week-17-tb2-koyaanisqatsi. (Accessed: 13 January 2022)

[ameliasblogkingston]

Adobe Photoshop

This picture I took of my friend at Richmond hill during a sunset in winter was edited through Photoshop.  

After many attempts to use the software Adobe Photoshop (Adobe Inc. 2022) I finally managed to create an outline of the image and put it on top. To help guide me I used the LinkedIn tutorial (LinkedIn Learning, 2022) called ‘Photoshop quick start 2021’ (Ramirez, 2021). I also altered the saturation to make the colours of the winter sunset more prominent.  

I have previously experimented with Adobe Photoshop (Adobe Inc. 2022) on previous images. However, this one I am most proud of as I believe it has turned out really well. I am very proud of this image which is why I am sharing it on my blog as a development of my media skills and how I have progressed on Photoshop (Adobe Inc. 2022).

I particularly found doing the outline most difficult as at first it was not neat, and it took many attempts to make it up to my standards and I kept trying until I was satisfied. I also decided to keep the rest of the image fairly simple and plain as I did not want the image to be too distracting as I feel sometimes less is more.  

I have started to thoroughly enjoy taking pictures and editing them through Photoshop (Adobe Inc. 2022) since studying media at Kingston University, so I found this personal project very enjoyable.

In the future I will definitely continue to watch the LinkedIn tutorials (LinkedIn Learning, 2022)  

Bibliography 

Adobe Inc. (2022) Adobe Photoshop (Version 23.0.0) [Computer program]. Available at: https://www.adobe.com/uk/creativecloud.html (Accessed: 7 February 2022)

Gibbs, G. (1988) Learning by Doing: a guide to teaching and learning methods. London: FEU

Ramirez, J. (2021) Photoshop 2021 Quick start [MOOC] Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/photoshop-2021-quick-start/a-quick-start-to-photoshop-2021?autoplay=true&resume=false&u=56743409 (Accessed 7 February 2022)

Richardson, P. (2021) ‘Gibbs Reflective cycle’ [PowerPoint presentation]. MD4004: Digital Media Foundations. Available at: https://canvas.kingston.ac.uk/courses/20497/pages/week-7-interactivity (Accessed: 11 November 2021)  

[ameliasblogkingston]

One of the major attractions in London at Christmas is Carnaby street. Its filled up with Christmas lights and all kinds of different people, either looking for Christmas presents or going out for a Christmas drink. This year Carnaby went completely off Christmas theme by filling the streets with butterflies, however they still managed to make it feel festive. The aim of my photoshop was to share what Christmas times looks like in one of the busiest streets in London.

I took this photo by going to one of the places I associated with Christmas , Carnaby street. I then took a photo of this year’s Christmas lights. I edited the photo by blurring out everything but the Christmas light, using Adobe photoshop. I focused mainly on this years Christmas lights because I thought it would bring attention to Christmas and how Carnaby choose to celebrate it.

Due to blurring the background I was able to enhance the beauty and extremity of the Carnaby

Kaleidoscope as the focus is primarily on the extravagant butterflies that attract the crowd. The Christmas lights in London have always been something I loved seeing growing up so seeing them become more inclusive to those who don’t celebrate Christmas has been a very nice change to Carnaby street, therefore I wanted to create a piece of work that depicted the significance of these lights and the beauty behind them.

[ameliasblogkingston]

This animation is depicting a student night out in Kingston.

I wanted to create this animation as a way to portray what a student night is like here at Kingston University and the fun that is to be had in university. The aim of this animation is to reflect on how students in London keep up with their studies and have these crazy nights out that they will look back on in years to come.

To create this animation i used a mobile app called Stop Motion where i combined over 100 images. I created the stop motion by taking several imagines of a Kingston student. To create different effects I spooned the photos around. This was done to reflect on how some nights can get a bit dizzy. I then sped the video up on iMovie and added a song that i really like called Single Finger Killa by Remarc on top to create a cool, urban feel to the animation which reflects the fact that it is about Kingston University students in London.

I enjoyed creating this animation as it allowed me to present my life as a student and show off my friends and my life and incorporate the things i love into my work.

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Ordinary Out Of Place part 2

The idea of Ordinary Out of Place I have decided is in relation t size and height. I decided to use the image of the glass buildings in Central London and add an image of a water bottle uploaded by another student to capture a quirky and alternative depiction of size.

I used Adobe Photoshop to overlay the ordinary water bottle over the buildings as a way to show an alternative perception of the buildings, almost as if you were an ant!

I also decided to use the image of a water bottle as a way to signify the brief ‘Ordinary Out of Place’ as it is something you would not expect to be the same size as the building but by doing this, I have shown how bizarre this would be if the image was real.

I found navigating my way round photoshop extremely difficult as this was the first time I had used it, however, after many attempts and hours of staring at my screen, I finished this piece.

I found the task of combining two images a challenge as the image was not my own and I had to really think outside of the box to come up with an idea where I could combine these two images, making it perfectly fitting for the brief ‘Ordinary Out of Place’ as that is how I felt while completing the image.

Both images are low angle shots which I think made it work as they fit into place well.

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The sonic tour brief was set to promote Kingston Upon Thames through the use of sound for a company that is wanting to promote Kingston and the highlights of the area.

I decided that I would keep the focus on the town market as it is a small part of Kingston that many people, local or visiting, forget about and miss out on.

To compose my advertisement, I went into the Kingston Town Market and waked around, recording the sounds on my phone. The market was busy the day I went to record so I managed to capture a natural and honest take on the everyday life of the market. This way, my sonic tour advertisement would be an authentic and real portrayal of Kingston Upon Thames and the market. I then recorded my voice speaking about the town and found some royalty free music to add as an extra layer. I then used iMovie to combine all three aspects of my sonic tour advertisement to create my final piece.

I wanted to create a piece that ensured the listeners of a happy and uplifting environment which I managed to do through adding the soothing music. I also wanted to capture the business and excitement of the market which I believed was done through keeping the recordings authentic. I wanted to encapsulate the market this way as I feel that Kingston Town Market is a place that is easily associated with happiness and excitement yet is also a busy location.

[ameliasblogkingston]

The short animation that I have created is advertising a suspicious new book that will be released soon at a book opening. The animation project was to produce a promotional animation where we have been asked to advertise a particular event. I decided to create my own book release event that is promoting and selling a magical new story book that had been discovered in a graveyard. To distribute and publish my advertisement I decided the platform I would use would be a web browser. I have formatted it so it could be uploaded onto social media. More specifically it would be an advert on Instagram or Facebook.

To show and market the book opening event I have done a stop motion animation where I took 136 pictures. I then combined the pictures together on an app called Stop Motion. I then sped it up on iMovie and cropped it to create the stop motion styled animation. I also added a dark filter on iMovie and lowered the brightness to achieve my goal of presenting the advertisement and to fit the theme of the book.

The setting I chose was a graveyard. I chose this setting to coincide with the ominous product I am advertising for. The story behind m animation is a creepy book appearing in a dark graveyard that is calling the girl in the film. This was done in order to highlight the sinister book that is being advertised in a foreboding way to prepare the buyer.

[ameliasblogkingston]

The photos I have created would be for a student living magazine photo spread. The photo essay project was to create five images that follow a story for a magazine publication, therefore I decided to follow a story of student accommodations and to show the reality of living in student halls. The images show the settings of the seemingly dull and isolated halls that contrast with the reality of the partying and the festivities that go on within the dorms. This would be shown in a magazine that is aimed at students and young adults.

I decided to follow this story to present the lives of students and how we are put in these conditions with flooding bathrooms and overflowing bins, yet we make the most of it and live our lives. The topic of Student life is relevant to me and my age group as we are all freshers starting university in 2021. A lot of accommodations have stayed the same over the last couple of years and appear run down, which panics parents on moving day, however, I chose this story to convey how fun and exciting student life in halls can be for younger people thinking about university.

To edit my pictures, I used photoshop. In photoshop I overlayed images to portray the contrast between the two differing scenes constantly present within all student accommodations across England. I also made the images brighter and more saturated to show how what you see is not what you get.

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Ordinary out of place

To follow the brief, I took a picture of two different buildings in Central London near Waterloo Station. I decided to interpret the idea of Ordinary out of place as normally you would not notice the extremity of the buildings in London until you look up, making you feel out of place in an ordinary London setting.  

I took the picture on my phone and edited it slightly, adjusting the colours to emphasize the bleak feeling London’s towering buildings have on someone. I have grown up in London and visit Central a lot, so I am used to seeing the skyscrapers, however, I was in London with a friend of mine who has never been up to Central before and is from a small village near Bath so seeing this was not ordinary to her and a new experience. This made me think about the magnitude effect London's glass buildings may have on someone who is not used to the area, therefore following the brief of ‘Ordinary out of place.’