Geometric Portraits

I believe that facial expressions are and are not universal for many reasons. I think this because there are many facial expressions that mean the same thing and many that mean different things. I think it all depends on the people and their culture. They learn what certain facial expressions represent and it could possibly change throughout their life, especially if they move to a different culture. Even though their is a possibility of facial expressions meaning different things throughout various cultures, I think they usually mean the same thing. Most of the time they have the same effect on people because they are getting to know other cultures and ways.

When I was creating this project, it took a lot of time and focus. There were two different ways we did this project, this is the first way we learned. There are a few steps that you need to complete to make your portrait look awesome. First, you need to take a portrait and upload it into PhotoShop. Then, you use the line tool to create triangles. For the big spaces in the face, you can use big triangles, and for the small more detailed places, you use small triangles. Next, you use the polygonal lasso tool to select the triangle. Last, you go to filter, blur, average, and it turns the selection into one averaged color. You can also choose your own color if you aren't happy with the averaged color it chooses for you. Repeat the last 2 steps until you are finished, add a few different color overlays if you want, and then show off your cool project!

My poly 1 and poly 2 images are very different. My poly 1 was the first time I have ever tried this project. My face isn't really bright, and I have no hair. I should have fixed the lighting and done my ponytail to make it look more realistic. But for my first time, it is pretty good. I stuck to my outline which makes it look more organized, and the colors of my face are pretty close to the picture. I think my poly 2 is a lot better. The colors are more vibrant and it looks a lot more realistic. The hair and mouth look real, but I could have fixed the chin line because it is a little hard to see where it ends. Overall, both images look realistic, but I think my poly 2 is a lot more interesting, colorful, and eye-catching.

Verbal Landscapes

MarvinW_Retime from Kapaa Middle School MEDIA on Vimeo.

Nature impacts my life in many ways. It keeps me calm and sane. I love being outside and in nature because I learn new things every time. I like to walk around and look at all the animals. I like to be outside with my family and friends because it makes me feel happy and thankful for what I have. I also like to watch the sunset because there are so many colors. Nature makes me think about my life and the things that I can do to improve the world.

Time lapses and slow-mos can be created a few different ways. The ways we use are by recording in that specific mode or editing it later. If you record in time lapse or slow-mo mode, you usually don't have to edit the clips as much after. If you record normally, you have to go into an editing app to change the speed. I think it is easier to edit the clips in an editing app so you can choose the specific speed you want it at.

I think the hardest part of this assignment was getting the perfect shot. I had to worry about so many things: the horizon line, lighting, people, stability, rule of thirds, timing. All those components are what makes a stunning shot. I had to have my camera set up flawlessly before I started recording so I wouldn't be rushing. The best part of this project was getting to sit in nature and watch everything that goes on. There are so many amazing things that happen in nature and it is so cool to watch.

I agree with my results. I believe I got some 3's because of a few reasons. Some of my shots were shaky and blurry. Also, my text layers could have been edited more so they would match the color scheme. This project was really fun and I hope we get to do one like it again!

Poetic Personal Statement

Poetry can mean many things. I think poetry is a way to express yourself through words. In poetry, you can show your feelings and thoughts and describe them through a rhythmic way. You can make your poetry almost sound like a song by making it flow with ideas. People can sometimes relate to poems in many ways. To me, poems you can relate to make them much stronger.

I love to explore
I learn everywhere I go and I teach what I know
Every step I take, I feel rejuvenated
All the paths I travel,
All the roads I take,
Makes me as free as can be

I used rhyme many ways and for many reasons in my poetic statement. I made the last part of most of the sentences rhyme so it would make it flow better. I used rhythm and rhyme in my poetic statement to make my poem more intriguing and natural. I love to read poems and poetic statements that use rhythm and rhyme because it makes them so much more interesting. I usually get lost in reading them if they use really good and unique rhythm and rhyme.

Music Video Finale

P2T6 Focus from Kapaa Middle School MEDIA on Vimeo.

Hey guys! This is our last project of the year and it is definitely the most fun. We are making music videos and we get to chose our groups and our song. My group is Jaesha and Ella and we chose the song Focus by Ariana Grande. Our storyline relates to our lyrics in many ways. We interpret the song as a self-confidence booster. The lyrics say that the people can talk bad stuff about us but we won't listen to them. If someone has something negative to say about us, we don't listen to them because we are happy with ourselves. The lyrics relate to our storyline because we act confident and happy in the shots. We don't care for any hurtful things people have to say about us because we are confident and focus on ourselves.

In this video, we has many fast edit montage sequences. One of my favorite was when we took one shot and switched it up back and forth to another shot to make it look like a moving shot. One of my other favorites was when we switched from a storyboard shot to a lip sync shot. This was really fun to edit because we got to choose how fast it changed or what we showed on it. It also was hard to edit because the shots were so close together that we could barely move them.

This music video showcases our best work this year because we can be creative with it. We are allowed to choose our own song and we can make up what we want to show in the video. We plan to spend a lot of time editing our video and making a PhotoShop document to put in. We are making the video fun and fast with clips that switch quickly. The PhotoShop document is going to show our best work because we are using almost all the techniques we learned throughout the year.

Animated Life Lessons

Hey everyone! My team and I just finished an animation project for our G.T. class. My teammates were Malia Alo, Kiana Dea, and Micah Miller. Malia's character traits are happy and adventurous. She always wants to discover new things. In our animation, she is the one that convinces me to go into the forest where we meet Kiana and Micah. Kiana's character traits are cheerful and magical. In our animation, Kiana can grant wishes and always keeps people from being sad. Micah is shy and funny in our animation. He tells jokes and overcomes his shyness with the help of Malia and I.

In our story, humor was shown a couple times. When Micah enters the talent show, he tells a few jokes that gets the audience to laugh. Also, some of the things we say in the animation are funny. The message of our story is to always help no matter what. It shows that you should always help people even if you don't get anything in return because it will help someone no matter what. People need to be happy and care about other people besides themselves, and if they do that, you will get positive things in return.

This project was definitely different because we had to be on a team with people we have never worked with before. Honestly, I did not like this method. I feel that our team didn't work together and didn't do their job. When we had a deadline, some teammates were not even close with their scene that they had to do, which made it stressful because we had finish it as soon as possible. The work was split evenly in the beginning, but with some people not doing their job, it ended up to be the total opposite. That was probably the biggest challenge, having to do all of the work so last minute and not working as a team. I think the best moment during production was planning what our animation should be about. We had many ideas and we were able to put it into one video. Hope you like it!

Character Development

How do I define myself? My character is an important feature that makes me who I am. Although I may have some weaknesses in my character, I am basically the upbeat type. I try to be as happy as I can most of the time. Everyone cannot please each other but if everyone pleases themselves and are happy most of the time, I feel that it is a better place to be in your life.

When I create my animation self, I plan to exaggerate my adventurous, happy and passionate side. I love to do things that I have never done before. I don't like to be sad because it makes me feel that I'm not making the most out of my life. I like to do things with my friends and family so I plan to exaggerate that through my animation. I love to spread good vibes and make other people feel happy! Let me know in the comments what character traits you have that stand out!

The process of making my animated character was pretty hard to grasp onto in the beginning. First, you have to take a picture of yourself. Then, you load it into Photoshop and cut yourself out using the quick selection tool. Next, you open the animation board and start making frames for your GIF. Finally, when you have all the frames you want in your GIF, you save it and show your friends! Hope you have fun making a character GIF! :)

.MOV Film Festival

We are starting a new project for the .MOV film festival. I am in a group with Ella Beck and Alina Puig. As a part of our project plan, we had to come up with a few keywords. Our keywords were friendship, knowledge, patience, determination and appreciation. I believe these words connect with our audience because they are all a big part in life. If we didn't have friendship, we would be alone and not have someone to do things with. If we didn't have knowledge and patience, we would be going nowhere in life. We wouldn't be able to accomplish thing the way we are supposed to. Determination and appreciation are two of the biggest things in life. We need determination to complete our goals and get where we want to in life. And appreciation... wow. Appreciation is the best thing in the world to have. To show that you are thankful for something and that it has made a difference in your life is huge. Even if it is a minuscule change, we still appreciate it.

Our overall message for this movie is to always be kind and help no matter what. If you watch our clip, you might think the message is something else. You might think it is making new friends or respecting someone else, but we think the biggest message is being kind and helpful. In our movie, Ella and I taught each other how to surf and how to be a fashionista. If you see someone in need of help, just help them. Whether it is giving tips on how to do something or just telling them it'll be okay, it always helps.

What was one of the biggest challenges our team faced? We definitely had a few challenges along the was, just like any other film teams. I think the biggest challenge was working together in a limited amount of time. Since we all have very busy schedules, it was hard to meet up in the first place. When we finally had the chance to meet up, we weren't as prepared as we should have been. The camera that we signed-out from our teacher died half way through our filming, so we had to use Ella's GoPro. Once we got all of our filming done, we had to edit. We didn't work that well together while editing because our ideas didn't quite match. On the due date of our movie, we finally agreed on the editing issues. If you ever do this project, make sure you have enough time. We definitely had a limited amount of time, resulting in not-so-perfect work. :( Other than that, we had a fun                                                                                                  time! Hope you enjoy!

Tiny Spherical Worlds

Hey guys, I'm back and I'm going to tell you about my new project. There is a huge difference between composite images and just 1 picture. I believe that composite images are way more powerful than just 1 photo. If you take one photo, it only shows a specific part of the whole scene. If you take many photos and put them together, it shows more of the scene.




The difference between my polar and spherical images might not seem big, but it is. My polar image looks like a tiny world and my spherical image looks like a glass ball. In my polar, the sky is around the world as if the photos are taken from above. In my spherical, the sky is in the middle while the land is on the outside. These 2 photos are very different once you think about it. In the beginning of this project, I never knew how much of a difference there was. But now that I have been making these images for a while, I see the difference and it is huge.







What makes my tiny worlds convincing? I believe that you have to edit your photos realistically and thoughtfully. If you edit your photos unrealistically, it looks fake and people might think that it is not real. Also, you have to make the seam almost invisible to the people who look at it. If there is a seam in between the 2 end photos, it looks fake. Hope you enjoy!

Hockney Style Joiners

David Hockney's photomontages are different from mine because he has more experience and a "different eye" than me. He also has more of an ability to capture fantastic shots compared to me. My photomontages are very easy to detect what the main message is and his are more abstract. Having abstract photomontages can make the photo more interesting.

Every image can send positive or negative messages. It depends on how you take the photo and how you make it positive or negative. If you send a positive message it helps people be happy. If you send a negative message, it can make people sad. You need to send positive messages in your photos to make others happy.

In my photos, I want people to see happiness. I want people to see what they want to see. They have to be happy with what they see. I want them to see light and life. I want them to see abstract photomontages and the world from my point of view. I hope people see love and life in my photos. I really hope people enjoy my photos because I spent a lot of time on it!

2016 Aspirations

Happy New Year everyone! Hope you have a great year!

What are five different goals I wish to attain in 2016? This is definitely a hard question for me to answer because there are so many goals I want to achieve this year. Some are to better myself and others are just to make me happy. My first goal is to get off my phone more. I want to spend less time on my phone and more time in nature. My second goal is to read more. I would like to read more because it makes me more smart and calm. My third goal is to go into the ocean more often. I love spending my days floating around on my surfboard or just laying on the beach. This makes me realize how lucky each of us are to be living on this beautiful planet. My fourth goal is to travel as much as possible. I want to travel all around the world and go to every place possible. I believe this will make me a more humble and appreciating person. Lastly, I want to go to as many concerts as possible because I just want to have fun in life and just live.


The most important goal for me to accomplish is to travel as much as possible. I want to travel with my family and friends to see how other people live and how much they appreciate life. If I travel a lot, I believe it will help me grow and prosper in life. It will make me a better person. I also believe that it will make me help other people to see what they might have to go through.

To make sure that I travel all around the world, I will take every opportunity I have. I will just do it and not hold back. Once I grow up, I will travel everywhere I can. I will prepare myself for traveling and learning new things. I will plan where I want to go and what I want to do there. I will also go with my friends and family to make sure they can experience traveling the world too. One day, I hope to be able to say 'I've been all around the world.'