End of Week 27 - Happy Easter!

Happy Good Friday.

Yesterday went by very fast.  In Intro to Comics and Graphic Novels, Katie allowed us to work on while she was being reviewed.  I looked up Lord Snooty and Tintin, although I must admit to have read Tintin more than his lordship Snooty (but his pieces were amusing to read).

While we were having a break after the class, and discussing what we're doing over the holidays, and reviewing Kieran's jokes, Alison found us and told us the her class was on after all.  She was being reviewed later in the day.  So, in class, I made a start on Outcome 3, by creating a workbook document for the outcome, and double checking everything with Alison's classes, and so far so good. All I need to do is find theme for Outcome 3 and take the photos to work on in class.

Today, being Good Friday, we have begun out Easter Holidays, and we are off for two full weeks.

I hope that we enjoy our holidays and that college goes well when we get back.

Wish us all luck and Happy Easter.

Week 27 - A Two Day Week For Us - And One Day Left

Just one more day before the Easter Holidays begins.

In Page Layout, I started planning the text layout for my leaflet project.  Just need to decide which books (three of them) to do for the leaflet.

In Animation, I didn't get to do more scenes as Alison was concerned that the images I took didn't seem right, she set me the task of resizing the images.  Thankfully Alison has asked us to work on the animation over the holidays.

Just tomorrow left, then we're off for two weeks, and I'm looking forward to it.  We'll see what Katie wants of us for Intro to Comics and Graphic Novels.  Alison's Digital Imaging class may not happen as Alison will be doing a review with another course tomorrow, but might take the register for us.

I hope that the last day before the Easter Holidays goes well.

Wish us all luck.

160th Blog Post - End of Week 26 & Easter beckons

This week has been interesting with attendance, with only eight of in class at the end of the week.  Thankfully nobody has dropped from the course.

Thanks to Kieran on Tuesday, I managed to do well with my presentation in the Intro to Comics class.  But I still hate the theory, just wish to start on the practical side, and maybe make a comics strip, or a couple of pages of a graphic novel.  In Digital Imaging, I finished the workbook for Outcome 2, and handed it in.  Then I downloaded the images from my animation project and put the images into Windows Movie Maker, with the duration of the images 0.2 seconds long, removing the blurred images, giving a video length of about ten seconds and I was impressed with the result.  Just 3 more scenes, and sound to finish the video.  But that will be next week and after Easter.

Today, since I had my PAT meeting last week, I was given permission to come in later than usual, but I still can in all the same.  In Media Project, we were busy sorting out the workbook for both projects.  Thankfully Brian helped talking our way through it all.

We will be in for two days next week, with Friday off because it will be Good Friday, and the first day of the two-week long Easter Holidays, and I'm looking forward to it.

I hope that next week goes well for all of us.

Wish us all luck.

Week 26 - Not Bad A Start

Today was not too bad a day.

In Page Layout, we started to plan our projects, I'm doing my project on making a leaflet for my book review website I created last semester in Web Page Design.  For what will be typed into the leaflet, we might use Word, then Notepad, then put the information into our projects.

In Animation, I've made a start on making my animation video.  Allison helped create the background, set up the camera and I started taking photos.  The end of class came quickly and I'll need to see the photos tomorrow.

For tomorrow, we have a presentation for Intro to Comics and Graphic Novels.  Thankfully Kieran was more helpful in telling what I needed to do for the presentation than Katie was, so I feel more hopeful for the presentation.  In Digital Imaging, I just need one more photo to play with on Photoshop, then the little workbook for the Outcome will be ready for handing in.

This week will be the last full week at college.  Next week, we're in till Thursday as Friday will be Good Friday.

I hope that this week goes well for all of us.

Wish us all luck.

Review of Week 25 - PAT meeting and Mini Beast

This week seems to have been blown away.

Thursday was a mixed day.  Intro to Comics wasn't the best part of the day with instructions very unclear as to what was to be done.  Thankfully Digital Imaging was by far better, was the instructions was clear and we had fun with Photoshop, taking images I found online or we took on Photoshop and altered the images, logging them and working on our workbooks showing the images before and after the alteration with details of the changes.  Just one more image to do for next week.

In PAT this morning, I had a one-to-one meeting with Iain and told him of what I thought of the course so far.  Then in Media Project, we went outside the college building to take video recordings of an outdoor exhibition near the pond/"loch", taking shots (such as panning shots) of the college and the photos on display.  The only downside of the whole thing was the Mini Beast from the East blowing cold winds.  We've had a quick look the videos, I think that they weren't too bad.  The exhibition is done by FLOW Photofest, which has done exhibitions at Eden Court Theatre in Inverness, and is called In This Place.  You can keep up with current projects here.  I hope that you'll enjoy the projects.  There was about a dozen photos, but one caught by attention, a photo of daffodils protected by a wired wore used at a construction site with some grass with a grey background and diggers.

I hope that next week will go well for all of us.  Hopefully, we might be able to start on our animation pieces, I just need to know if we're using audio and soundtrack in the background and what software to use.  And we have two weeks before we break for Easter.

Wish us all luck.

Week 25 - Day of Assessment, Printing and a Loss for Science

Today was a busy day at college.

First, in Page Layout and Design, we had an assessment, and Iain had the door closed and locked so if anyone was late they couldn't get in.  I think that I did my best for the assessment.

Then in Animation, I was writing up the plot for my new idea for the animation piece, then, using copyright free images of seascapes I had found, had them turned to look like a painting then had them printed for A3 size.  The method was easy, I'll just have to remember the method if I have to use another background image.  In the animation video, I'm planning that a police boat is transporting a criminal, when the criminal is helped to escape, and taken to a hideout to open a safe, but the police soon catch up.

I've got to get a minimum of 3 images for Digital Imaging tomorrow, so I'll better get a camera for that job.

A sad day to hear that Stephen Hawking has died.  Fly among the stars Mr Hawking.  Lets hope that his science research continued for future generations.

I hope that this week goes well for all of us.

Wish us all luck.

Review of Week 24 - Is the end of Winter in site?

Quick end of the week comes to college.  The only snow in site of Inverness is on the high mountain around the city, but there is still a chill in the air.

Thursday seems to have gone by very quickly.  In the Intro to Graphic Novels and Comics, we were talking more about reviewing comics and graphic novels.  In the Digital Imaging, the class was playing catch up from last week while we experimented more with Photoshop.  For next week, I need a minimum of three images to work on in class.

For Animation, I have decided, just make the naming of the animation piece easier, I'll be using Lego for the animation piece, using a couple of Lego sets I have.  They are a police boat that transport a prisoner and an island hideout for a bugler.  Have told Allison, and she says that if I'm for it, go for it.  And I hope that I can make the piece a good one.

Today, PAT was quick, and Iain has started one-to-one interviews with us.  Since I didn't have an interview today, I went to the LRC and worked on another animation piece called a Tiff using Photoshop.  In it I have library scene with books flying across the screen's scene.  It wasn't easy, but I managed to make something.

In Media Project, we went to a talk in the Lecture Theatre from a man visiting to talk about virtual reality and it's development today.  He has set up some for the local area.  I can't remember his company's name, but when I do I'll let you know.  For the rest the class, we were told of some drama students who need help in filming a scene or two and types of shots they'd like to have.  The only down side of the class was the slowness of the computer and how the screen worked.  Hopefully it'll be better next week.

I hope that next week goes well for us all.

Wish us all luck.

Week 24 Begins

This week of college has begun well.

In Page Layout we worked on another task given by Iain with an assessment for the class next week.  I think that I managed to the task well, but I might still need more practise.

But the fun part of the day came after Page Layout.  Today at college we were having an "Apprentice Week" event, we many groups coming to college, some were of the college.  But one of them caught my eye, and it was a company that dealt with slate, and it reminded of a holiday in Wales near a narrow gauge railway, where the dressing of slate was shown to the public.  I told the man at the event about it, and he allowed me to have a go at dressing the edge of a slate.  It was fun.

In Animation, I started to build on some of my characters for the video.  I might need to sort out the scale of the characters and sort out the story of the piece.

I hope that this week goes for all of us.

Wish us all luck.

Review of Week 23 - The Beast From The East Lingers

The Beast From The East has given a cold end of the week here at college.

Yesterday, there was only four of us, with a fifth joining near the last class.  In the Intro to Comics class, Outcome 1 is almost due.  In Digital Imaging, we worked more with Photoshop, but we didn't want to go too far ahead of everyone off due to the snow.

Today, we started with, but lost one due to feeling unwell.  In PAT we discussed more about the course and our views of it.  We asked what was in store after this course.  In Media Project, Brian started showing us Adobe Premier Pro, which was quite interesting.  During my time on the Digital Media courses, I was taught how to use Windows Movie Maker, which is now being discontinued, I just don't understand why, it worked perfectly! All we did was take abut half a dozen videos and experiment with them on the computers, editing the pieces and placing where we thought they suited well.  I'm beginning to look forward working with Adobe Premier Pro more.

I hope that next week well go well for us all here at college, and it won't be as cold for us.

Wish us all luck.