The final project that we were assigned in e-Comm was to come up with a product as a group and then create a commercial, graphic designs, animations, and web site for it . This project took the entire 4th quarter to create. Throughout the quarter my group faced challenges on the technical side but also on the professional side as well. Some problems we ran into on the technical side were that we lost all the audio in our commercial and it had to be out back in all over again. We also lost our logo animation and it had to be redone. The biggest problem we ran into was that our website had lost all of our graphics that we put on it the day of our presentation. We were to put some back in before our presentation but we were still missing a lot. Problems that we ran into on the professional side were that we had a hard staying focused and on task. This made finishing certain things hard because we weren't using our time to it's full advantage. We were able to work around this by splitting the work up evenly and some people came in after school to finish the website.
What I'm Leaving With
Throughout this project I learned many things. I learned that its okay to have fun and not be serious all the time as long as you get everything done by the due date. I also learned how to work with different kinds of people. This is really helpful because as I go through life I will work with all different kinds of people and I'll have to deal with it and make it work. Working in a group also helped learn how to communicate ideas and collaborate. This allows all ideas to be heard and makes the project even better. Being in a group also opens up space for feedback. Some feedback I received was that the graphic designs were very sleek and clean looking. However, I could've done a little better with the commercial and clean up the audio a little. The feedback I received made me want to change somethings. My teachers telling my group to stay focused more made me take a bigger leadership position to make sure we're staying on track. I also ended up tacking out certain clips of the video because they didn't look good. My overall option of my work this quarter is that I did and very good job, aside from the video. I thought my graphic design and animation looked very clean, professional and well put together, I only wish the video turned out better.
Time Management
While working on the project it was hard to stay on track at times. My group liked to talk and we weren't really productive at times while at other times we gots lots done. Toward the end we used our time more wisely and were able to stay on track more. To help get things done and stay productive we split the graphic designs and animation evenly between the members so that way we could all focus on our responsibility and wouldn't be as tempted to talk. When I was done with my graphic designs I went to check on the other members of my group to see if the needed help or to check in and offer some feed back. After I was done editing the commercial went in and changed the audio levels and added extra background music to enhance it. I stayed productive after I finished my 2D animation by going through frame by frame, cleaning up the animation and making it smoother. Outside of class I came in to try and fix the audio of the commercial and was able to reinsert it.
Areas Of Strength And Weakness
As went through this school year in the e-Communication program I discovered some areas of strength. These ares were being able to collaborate and communicate with people in my group while also being able to work well on my own. I also felt that I was good at coming up with different ideas when needed for projects. On the technical side I thought my film editing was good and kept improving as the year went on along with animation. I tried to maximize my strengths by doing parts of this 4th quarter project that involved film editing and animation and challenging myself to add in harder elements. While I have areas of strength I also have areas or weakness. When going into a group of people I don't know I am also skeptical and start by closing myself off and not really talking. I can improve on this by keeping an open mind and being confident and friendly. I can also work on my understanding of the software because sometimes I get confused and I don't know how to use it when trying to do something. This can come with experience. I can also improve with my understanding of how audio levels work in videos.
Overview of the Semester
The part of the semester that I loved the most was the project. I loved this part the most because I never done anything like it before and It gave the opportunity to use everything I had learned throughout the entire year. This being a group activity also gave me the ability to work with new people and get of my comfort zone a little. One thing I would have done differently is loosen up a little bit and have more fun while creating the project. This would have made my experience even better. Another thing I would have changed is having an open mind to graphic design instead of shutting it down before even trying it. The things I learned form this semester is better time management,collaboration, leadership, and project management skills. I also learned how to use Adobe Illustrator and the principles of graphic design. Another thing I learned during this semester is to relax and has fun more often and not be so serious all the time. One goal I have for next year is to improve on my video editing skills and get better at adding audio. I also want to be able to collaborate with people better and have fun while working. This semester was really fun and I'm so happy to be in e-Comm.
