Reflective Statement

I decided on my stop motion animation transformation when I chose something that represented the beach, a palm tree. Then, I wasn't sure what to transform it too and one of my friends suggested a thunder or a person, I preferred the idea of a person. As I turned my storyboard into a animation everything seemed to be very different. I made a mistake when I changed everything at the same time, it fastened the process. Because of this, I had to add something else to make it longer and get all the pictures necessary. The challenges I faced during this project was trying to make the object hold with plasticine, it kept breaking apart. Besides that, trying to get as many pictures as possible was a bit complicated since I had done all the arrangements already. Even though I had a bit of difficulty, I enjoyed working on the animation. I liked how the transformation occurred and how something so simple became something bigger and complicated. If I had the chance to redo my animation, I would make the transformation way slower to get more pictures and see the changes better. Not only that but, I would have done something more interesting in the background, it was very plain. A career on animation is not for me; I'm not very artistic and I find it's a very long process. Stop motion animation was a great experience and hopefully we will do it later on in the future.

Stop Motion Medium

For my stop motion animation I chose both plasticine and paper. I chose these two mediums because they are both very fun to do art with. Not only that but, I like the design the plasticine gives objects, it makes it look real. Paper gives a good background color, so I will be using that to make it look organized. My stop motion animation is a palm tree that turns into a person with a wig. I decided that the palm tree and the person will be made out of plasticine and everything on them. The paper will be used for the background and things around them, to give it some sort of effect. I think the greatest challenge I will have is using the plasticine and getting it to form the object I want. Also, the small details on the person are going to be hard to make. Finally, I think plasticine and paper are two good mediums to work with.

"Stop Motion"

Stop Motion is an animation where you take pictures and connect them to create movement. The effects it has on viewers is that people get to see something so small into something bigger. Plus, it is long to make and it is amazing to see how simple it is when it is done. I believe people would create videos in this way because it is a fun way to do it and an easy one too. Besides that, it is the way it is done for cartoons, they start out as a drawing and then turn out into a movie. In order to create a project like this it would take many steps. First, you need to come up with something that is going to change into something else. Then, you create a storyboard where you explain what occurs in each step. After, you take about hundreds of pictures to capture every movement. Later, you put them together and there you have it your stop motion animation, that simple. Stop motion is an easy way to animate.

William Kentridge

William Kentridge is a South African artist who is known for his animated films. His work makes me feel sympathetic to the people he draws, since he usually deals with subjects such as, colonialism, AIDS, and apartheid. Besides that, he uses charcoal and it makes his drawings very sharp and intense. The way everything is drawn out and how they move together is just fascinating. If I were to explain his work to a blind-folded person I would start out by telling them what kind of subjects he works with, so they have an idea of how direct the drawings are. Then, I would explain how everything is in charcoal, no color. After, I would say that he is very realistic with people and that with objects he tends to fantasize sometimes. I would say that his art is a masterpiece and very interesting, due to the way he sort of explains a story.

There are probably many ways William Kentridge processes his work. I guess the first thing he does is he chooses a subject and creates a story about something in specific about it. Then, he creates a story board and when he is done he starts on his real drawings. After all his drawings are done and are connected in some way, he takes pictures of every single one. As the pictures come out, since they are connected, the whole story comes out as a movie. I believe this is what he would do before having such an incredible piece of work. This is one of the ways I think Kentridge processes his creative work.

Rain Forest Destruction

Rain forest destruction is one of the most serious environmental problem facing Earth today. As we know, humans are the cause of this disaster. In order to benefit our needs we cut down trees for things such as paper, we use it to fill a whole soccer field, we use the tree trunk's wood for furniture or for chimneys, and much more. Us humans, we tend to destroy things without knowing what effects it has on others, such as animals, and what the future consequences could be. We are losing Earth's biological treasures, in less than 40 years we could be left with absolutely no more rain forests. Scientists estimate that by 2020, 80 percent of it will be completely destroyed, that is why it is such a major problem today.

To be exact, one-half acres of rain forest's are lost every second. That is a huge problem because there is so much diversity. About half the world's species of plants, animals, microorganisms are found here. Each time we damage a rain forest we are destroying their habitat. When we destroy these species home we force them to find another shelter and to star all over; sometimes we might even kill them in the process. Scientists estimate that more than 137 species are lost every single day because of this. It is so amazingly diverse that maybe one percent of it has been studied by scientists. Every second we lose acres of rain forests, we are losing more than we can imagine.

As we know, rain forest's come in handy for various reasons. First of all, about one-fourth of today's medicines come from there. Scientists have discovered certain plants that have enabled people with cancer to be saved. If we continue to destroy, these rare plants would never be found and there wouldn't be a cure for forever lasting diseases. Besides that, it provides fuel wood, charcoal, and paper. If it weren't for these rain forests, we wouldn't have access to neither of these resources we use everyday. In addition, it gives us oxygen and purifies the atmosphere, as well as making man exist in this planet. Without this incredible forest we would have none of these things mentioned above.

There are many ways to slow down the rain forest destruction or better yet save it. At home, you can recycle everything you can, store food in re-usable containers, re-use plastic bottles and brown bags, only burn seasoned wood, don't leave water running unless you really have to, and much more. Individually, you could join a conservation organization, volunteer for conservation projects or give money to conservation projects, and remember to spread the word. While on vacation, make sure you don't litter, watch out for wildlife, don't pick up flowers or keep street animals as pets, and so on. In your car, carpool, recycle your engine oil, use public transport if you can, buy a more fuel efficient model, and much more. There are millions of ways to help rain forests, the only question is, do you actually care?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKIgleUBDdE

Rotoball Sketch

After watching the videos, I decided what I want to do in the Rotoball Project. First of all, I would bring in the ball through the left. To start with, the background would be plain, maybe just like a solid color. I would be in it walking and then I would feel like a ball in my back. I would turn around and grab the ball. After I turn the ball into a Disco Ball I'd throw it at the top. The background would turn into a disco, with flashy lights and a whole dance floor. I would start dancing and after a bit grab the ball back and start playing with it as if it were a beach ball. Then, I would turn into a bird and throw my ball to the right for the next person to use. This is my decision for the Rotoball Project.

Flash Animation

Typing Tracker

This chart is a good representation because it is easy to read. All you have to do is follow the bars and the dates to locate where you when up or down. Besides that, it indicates rapidly which was your highest score and the date.








This Accuracy chart is similar to the one above, the only difference is that the bars are horizontal and the dates are on the side. This is also an easy chart to read because it is very organized and it is very hard to miss which days you did well and which ones you did not.

This chart is one of the best because it has a shade of blue inside which gives it a little more color. Not only that but, the lines that curve are an indication of how well or how bad you did. It is similar to the others because it facilitates you to understand your scores.

Winterbreak 2010-2011

To start off the winterbreak, my parents and I went to Park City, Utah to skii for a week. We went up into the mountains called Deer Valley and that's where all of our skiing took place. We stayed in a hotel called Stein Erikson, and our lodge was very comfortable. Every morning, my dad and I would wake up around nine, have breakfast, and go skiing with an instructor that would take us to visit the whole mountain and take us to the best runs. After a few hours of skiing, we would meet up with my mom and my brother, they would go skii for a bit since they were both beginners and my dad and I would have a delicious hot chocolate. Then, we would skii some more, and when we were all tired we would go back to our lodge and have lunch. Late afternoon, we would always go to the outlets that were 20 minutes away and shop. Everything on sale had a disccount of some sort, nothing was too expensive, and it was just perfect. This was an amazing way to begin the winterbreak, especially in a wonderful place like Utah.

When we got back from Utah, I took some days off just to relax and clean up my closet since my clothes wouldn't fit anymore. I watched movies, I read, I would tan by my pool, and I went last minute Christmas shopping. For Christmas Eve, my parents made a big dinner at home and invited many close friends. At midnight, we all opened up presents and enjoyed eachother's company. The next day, my brother was so happy when he saw what Santa had given him and the whole family just stayed home reccuperating from the night before. After that, I saw all of my friends, we would go to the beach almost every single day. A friend came for vacations and lots of us went to Mita for the day to welcome him back home, it was fun. For New Years, I went to a dinner in Mita with my parents, just like last year, spent the countdown with them and went off to downtown, that was a great night. This years winterbreak was super fun, I wish we were still in vacations to keep on enjoying it.

Audacity Project 2

In class, we did a mash-up with different sounds that we found on the internet. The most challenging part fort me was to make the sounds blend it with each other. Finding different sounds that go together was also very hard, in audacity it was hard to make these beats sound good together, to make a rhythm. Besides that, I thought making it a minute long without repeating so much a bit hard. I ddin't think a minute was too long but in music many things can happen in a minute. If I could change something about my work I think it would be the beat. I didn't think my "song" had a rhythm to it, it was a little boring. Not only that but, I would make it repeat less and have more spaces so it doesn't sound too jammed up. After listening to the same thing it get's kind of annoying, especially if the sounds are all mixed up. I thought my work wasn't the best one I've done. It was the first time using audacity and I didn't really understand how it worked, plus, Ididn't take enough time blending the sounds together to make it sound the way I wanted. All in all, the different sounds worked their way to make a good mash-up.

After handing in our project, we listened to each other's mash-up. Most of them were on beat and had sort of a story behind them. Others, had different sounds that had no meaning at all but, sounded good with together. I thought the best one was Elena's, she had various beats and rhythms and none of them repeated, except the one sound that was in the background that made it excellent. She also had a lot of pauses which made it longer and let other sounds be heard, unlike mine that each sound came with another and everything was all mixed. In addition, I enjoyed Renata's. Her mash-up had a story behind it that made it even more interesting. She also used many sounds that sounded good with each other, it made her project sound complete. As you can see, all the mash-ups were really good, but only some of them stood out due to their originality.

Mash-Up #1 End Product

For being the first time I use audacity and the first time making a mash-up I thought my final product was good. The two songs I mixed were "The Riddle" : http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_q_qytqgcc and "Stamp on the Ground" : http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHcVU5cGUNE . I thought these songs blended in with each other pretty well. What I really liked about my mash-up was the beginning, the two songs together sounded perfect, you could barely tell they were different songs. Besides that, I liked how the volumes went up and down. You could hear one song louder than the other and then they would switch, but it still sounded good. What I disliked about my mash-up was the middle part, it sounded very caotic. I don't know what I did to make one go way faster than the other one and it made it sound crazy and without any rhythm. After this experience with audacity, i'm pretty sure I can do a much better job mixing up songs.

Mash-Up

A mash-up is when two songs are put together to create a new one. Two mash-ups I like are: http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRHfd9Yto0A and http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VexpDPwAQ2g . A good mash-up is when the song created has a good rhythm to it and it blends in with the other one completely without sounding weird. Besides that, it is a good mash-up when it has a beat and the sound is interesting. A mash-up that isn't good is when it has no sound or beat to it, no rhythm, and it is entirely boring. Also, when the mash-up doesn't have a certain beat and its only many songs playing together, it can sound very caotic and annoying. A link to improve mash-ups is:http://http://mastercom.over-blog.com/article-how-social-media-mashups-will-improve-engagement-and-monetization-54231916.html and http://http://blog.programmableweb.com/2008/08/11/3-ways-to-improve-your-map-mashup/ . Mash-up makers are actually real musicians due to their mixing of songs and creating a certain beat that is in the background. They put a lot of effort in finding a way to mix up the songs to create a totally different one which makes them musicians. Honestly, I think that mash-up artists are the best because they have amazing creativity! One of the musicians I admire and enjoy the most are earworm because he takes all songs to create one at the end of the year. Another one I like is deadmau5 because he always finds a different rythm and makes an incredible remix. http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV8eiSA4vqc

Artifact

I went through many different processes on the future artifact. One of the processes was that I had to make the tattoo look real on Justin Biebers body. It wasn't as hard as I imagined it, all you had to do was make the tattoo go from normal to multiply. Another process I went through was that I had to make the machine, I took a vending machine from the internet and modified it so it would look like a "Tattoo Machine". What I didn't like about the tutorial was that it made it sound so complicated when it was so easy. What I liked was that it was easy and very simple, it took me less than 20 minutes to complete. I don't think I would change my artifact if I could, maybe I would just erase parts of the tattoos to make it look even more real. All in all, I went through different stages to complete this amazing artifact.

http://https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiixJkUtpLREa2EYsagZkv9vLQ-ZNh4OfSS8F2xAL3aPAWeX-KbWXvtG7EW7-aiAFDoLpfmP67HVUmIoE6DesR4XhtKlXsN9Y5WAHwEVAgO_G8kcy_a6Z4MbtuaUQvxqR6FI7CnP3_soD1Y/s1600/Future+copy.jpg
Erika's project was very interesting, I thought she did a very good job. What I liked about her project was that it was very realistic, someone could actually use this in the future. Also, I liked the way she changed the appereance of the person in a way that it still was the same but it specific details were modified, it made it look professional. A photoshop skill I see in her artifact is the one she used to change the eye color. I would like to learn this because maybe later on someones eyes are red in a picture and I would want to change it to their natural color. Not only that but, it was be cool to change peoples eye color in a picture so they look better. She also used a tool to change the background to make it look more antique, I would like to learn that too. As you can see, Erika's project is completely real and fascinating.

If this artifact would be out for people to use I would totally like it. To start with, I would use it every once in a while to change my appearance to look better and to feel prettier. Personally, I think this artifact might be out in the future since there has been different machines and tools invented for people to use to look more glamourous or different. Plus, as time goes by, people are buying more and more products for their face and skin so it would be popular buy. I would be the favorite costumer, I would buy this artifact and if it get's wrecked I would buy a new one over and over again. I would even buy extra just in case. This artifact would change everybody's life since people would be looking so much better and more alive all the time. As you can see, I would like this artifact same as everybody else.

Artifact

Artifact From the Future

I want to create an artifact that would be used by people all over the world. This artifact would be a machine that can make tattoos for $100 each tattoo, usually it takes 45 minutes per tattoo, and it is completely safe, the needle is cleaned up after every single tattoo is made. People would go into something like a clinique where this weird looking vending machine will be standing waiting for you. After you put in your money like if it were a "vending machine", a door would automatically open leading you inside the machine. While inside, you have many different options of tattoos, after you choose one you press the button beside it and then you choose where you want it and press the button beside it. The moment you press the button start, the tattoo will start forming wherever you want it. The good and incredible fact of this invention is that you can get as many tattoos as you want without undergoing pain. When you are done, a door at your left will open leading you out of the machine. This artifact would be used by everyone since it isn't too expensive and there are millions of people out there dieing for a tattoo but are scared of getting hurt.

Family Gathering

About two years ago, my dads whole family gathered together for Christmas. It was the first time we had all spent Christmas together in France and it was very nice to see everyone assembled in such an important celebration for the first time. My grandma, her sister, and my dad were in the kitchen the entire day cooking delicious foods for us. We were all sitting on this very long table enjoying ourselves as a family. This was such a memorable Christmas because it was my great-grandmother's last one and it felt good to be with most of my dad's family members. My great-grandmother was delighted by everything, the food, the tree, the gifts, the people, and just by looking at her I could feel the same way. Besides that, I hadn't seen some of my cousins for a really long time and I was pleased to see them. My grandma and my grandpa had gotten great gifts just like everyone else and it was all pure joy and happiness. I hope someday this gathering will happen again, I had never seen my dad's side of the family this happy in a very long time. All in all, this Christimas was the best so far.

Family Tree

This assignment was harder than I thought it would be, many things were challenging for me. One of them was simply how to use Photoshop. I had used photoshop once in sixth grade and I had completely forgot how to use it. For this assignment I would constantly mess up and had to re-do everything again, Photoshop is just not my thing, I have no patience for it. Secondly, arranging the pictures with their frames and their names was really complicated for me. There was just so much to do and you had to constantly be changing the sizes of everything so it would fit into the tree. Another thing that was hard, was having all the pictures be the same size. I had to estimate the sizes by their looks and tried fixing them up. Something I would change about my final project would be to have more pictures. There is still a lot more to my family and I wish I could've filled it up. As you can see, this assignment wasn't too easy for me.

Family Tree

This is my Family Tree base. I chose this tree because I love the sunset, I admire it so much and think its one of the most gorgeous thing in our world. In addition, I like anything that has to do with water, like a river, a lake, the ocean, the pool, or just even natural water that we drink, it is very pretty and entertaining. Besides that, I like hills or a scene like in the picture, I think it is very relaxing and peaceful to be in a place just like that. Also, I have families from different continents and I didn't find a specific tree that would relate to all of us so I found this one and thought that it was right in the middle, it is beautiful. As you can see, sunsets such as the one in the picture mean a lot to me.

J O Y

This summer was one of the best summers of my life. At the beginning of June my parents and I went to LA for a week to see some of their friends and to do a little shopping. When we got back, like two weeks later, my cousins and my uncle from France came to visit us. They stayed here for two weeks, we went to the beach, swam with the dolphins, and visited. After the two weeks, we went to France with them to visit my grandma and my grandpa that have a beautiful house down in Marseille, south of France. My cousins and I were getting ready to go to a sports camp in Vichy. We were all so excited, the camp had class in the mornings and sports in the afternoon and I had a feeling it was going to be great and ,of course, I was not wrong. We met such amazing people over at the camp, the activities were incredibly fun, and everything was just perfect. We stayed there two weeks and I honestly still think it was not enough. After the camp, we stayed one more week in France so I could spend some time with my grandparents and visit with them for a bit. Later on that week, I was back home as fast as I knew it. This summer was just super! There is no words to describe it and it was not enough.

One thing I would like to do for myself, even though we just came back from summer and a whole two months of pure relaxing, is rest. It's only been three days of school counting today and I am awfully tired, my eyes are almost closing in every class and we wake up way too early. Plus, it's only been three days of school and we have had loads of homework and its just the beginning. Not only that, but those boxes we have and these new rules from school are really scarying me out, now I MUST finish my homework completely and obey every single rule. Not only that but, in the day I have different sorts of sport activities and I finish around eight so I'm already very tired before I even start my homework. In addition, the weekends are not enough, two days to sleep late is nothing, we should go on weeks sleeping late.These are the reasons I need to rest, I am so tired, I just wish I could go a whole day sleeping.

A part of me that makes me very special is my heart. My heart is the simplest pumping thing you will ever meet. It is huge and fits many different people that are important to me in there. Also, it is very sweet and outgoing, it talks to everyone, smiles at people it doesn't even know,
its always nice no matter what, and its always there for you in any situation. My heart is open to everybody that deserves the chance to be opened to or if that person deserves it, you hurt it once you won't ever get to talk to it again, you are good it will treat you the same way. It is patient, some people have a hard time to really get to know this thing but after some time they realize there's only good in it. It will never hurt you, the last thing it would do is that, it only wants to spread out that good vibe. My heart makes me a very special person and it always has, if it weren't for that I'd be nothing.

Spring Map Testing

A week ago all highschool had MAP testing for the third time this year. All my scores improved, which means I've learned many things this year and that makes me very happy.
My feelings of this last testing we had are much better than the October MAP testings. In October my scores weren't that good, they were pretty average and I wasn't very proud about myself. I think it was because of the week, there were many things going on like halloween and my mind was just set into something else. Besides that, I wasn't getting that much sleep since we had loads of homework, I guess it was just the wrong week. Also, the process seemed different, in October it was going kind of slow. Unlike this spring, it was just much harder and boring to have to sit infront of a computer answering 52 questions. Spring was very easy for me and it went very fast. Not only that but, it was in a perfect week, we weren't having any tests nor any homework. Plus, its the last one this year, what a relief! In conclusion, last weeks MAP testings were the best this year.

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