.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.'

Scratch Game Design

Our teacher had us critique each others games. We critiqued them in a sandwich style format: compliment, constructive criticism, compliment. User experienced influenced my game by setting the standards high. They commented what I needed to fix and I took that, leveled it up and applied it to my game. Their comments also helped because it gave me more ideas to put in my game. It helped me to add different ideas and make my game more fun.

Both of my games were really different. My chase game was more simple and easy. The code was not as complex as my platformer game. It seemed like my chase game was more "2d" and my platformer game was more "3d." I definitely had more experience when I created my platformer game so it turned out a lot more complex. My chase game just uses the arrow keys and my platformer game uses the arrow keys, space bar and it also has a gravity engine.

My best code was on my platformer game. This code was for my gravity engine. It definitely helped change my game a lot. One of the hardest bugs I had to fix in my game was getting the gravity engine perfect. I had to get it so it would float down slow and not keep on floating up when the space bar was pressed. I fixed this by researching about gravity engines and getting help from my peers. Hope you enjoy my games! :)

Invention Commercial

P2T5_Invention from Kapaa Middle School MEDIA on Vimeo.

For this project, our team set many goals. Some of the main goals we set were to get all of the audience engaged in our video, have them learn more, and get in the top 3 best video chart. While we were filming, we kept these goals in our heads. It defiantly helped to go over what we wanted to achieve during the production of our commercial. When we showed the video to our class, we definitely got them engaged. After the video, they gave us feedback that they learned a lot and loved our video. Our last goal was to get in the top 3 best videos, and we did. We got 2nd best video in the class, and that showed that our work definitely payed off!

I think our best team moment was filming our b-roll at the beach. We had a blast filming together and we really bonded. We got to put all of our ideas into one video that I think turned out awesome! We really focused on our goal and had fun filming. After we filmed everything, we went out and surfed. We all had fun together and really bonded. I definitely want to do this project again with my awesome teammates. :)

While we were editing, we all worked together. I did most of the cropping of the videos, Kali put the clips together and Blossom added the finishing touches. We put all of our ideas into one video and it was fun to make. We spent a lot of time making it quality work and engaging for the audience. I think it helps if we plan everything ahead and choose what jobs we each want do. If you set your goals before you start it will help achieve them in the end!

Composition Scavenger Hunt

P2T5_Composition_2015 from Kapaa Middle School MEDIA on Vimeo.

I think the most important composition technique
 in photography and videography is the "Rule ofThirds." Whether it is rule of thirds subject or scenery, they both are equally important. The rule of thirds is a powerful composition technique for making images more interesting and dynamic. It is perhaps, one of the most well known composition techniques. I think rule of thirds is important because it make the pictures more interesting and "alive." It also adds perspective to the picture.

I think the most difficult composition technique is "Unusual Angles." Unusual angles is the most difficult for me because I find it hard to come up with abnormal perspectives. You could take the image upside down or from behind an object. It is a great idea to practice your photography skills and put them to use whenever it is possible. Have fun with it, you can't mess up! It will make the image more exciting by changing the different point of view.

My teammates are Kalista Brigante and Blossom Novoa. They helped a lot with our project by adding fresh ideas and making our video as great as possible. We had many ideas that were impressive, and we blended them all together to make our video. In the beginning of our project, Kali and Blossom were absent. I did most of the shots by myself and with the help of Mr. Sanderl, my teacher. When my teammates came back, we edited it all together to make sure it came from all of us. Make sure you check out their blogs! :)