Teky Girl - Blogs & Vlogs

"From 1994"

5/20/2017

   Hey everyone! It is the second to the last week of school, and this week we get to do a free blog or vlog post. Recently, I saw a short film on Vimeo entitled “From 1994,” by a company called “MINDCASTLE.” There were several aspects of this film that made it very heartfelt, but the main thing that I loved was the way that the story was told. When it was over, I found myself with a lump in my throat, as it was bittersweet.
   The storytelling of this film captured my attention throughout the duration of the video because it was told from a mother’s narration through a letter she wrote to her son. At the time it was written, the year was 1994, and it appears that she may have had cancer or another illness. Her son was five years old and she went over a few characteristics of her son that made her a proud mother of his. The way she spoke in the video sounded incredibly sincere and it warmed my heart to hear the words. Towards the ending, she says “Goodnight,” and is shown tucking her son into bed, but it had a double meaning. Not only did she tuck him in for the night, but it was also a sort of goodbye to her son and the world as she knew that she would be leaving it soon. Those few lines broke my heart, knowing how much she loved her son and I can’t imagine how awfully hard it would be to say those words for your child.
   There were many great parts to this video, like the NAT sounds, the cinematography, etc. but the main characteristic that stood out to me was its storytelling. Having a mother read her letter out loud was definitely a great way to go and made it a lot more emotional, than if it had just been a conversation-style video. Anyways, I think it was an excellent film, and you should definitely check it out! That’s all for this week’s blog everyone, bye!

"From 1994" Short Film from MINDCASTLE on Vimeo.

Top Three Lessons

5/13/2017

Family Night Choice

5/6/2017

   Hey everyone! So the year is quickly ending and I’m both excited to be finished with middle school as well as anxious and fearful for the upcoming school year. As you probably know, I will not be attending high school on Kaua‘i-the only home I’ve known. It’s an immense change and will most likely take some time for me to adjust to the “Dorm life.” But before all of those changes take place, I can’t forget about all that is going to happen before the school year concludes, one being the annual “Family Night” dinner. This blog will focus on the three reasons why I should show the video I’ve chosen.
   I’ve decided to present the Anchoring submission that Mia T. and Ty worked on with me. The main reason I feel it necessary to show to the families is because of the team I had. These two students that I had the privilege of working with were amazing. We got along great in my opinion-didn’t argue, worked out our problems, and supported and trusted one another. It didn’t take first place, however, but I’m proud of it because I had a fantastic co-anchor and a wonderful camera man. They both kept me sane and I was relatively calm (compared to how I am normally) and they made the two hours go by smoothly and without conflict. We each understood how important it was to each other and worked toward the common goal-submitting an entry. I can’t stress how happy I was to be able to work with these two great students who somehow were able to keep my nerves down and still make it a blast to work.
   The second reason I’d like to show our Anchor video is because it placed third in the Anchoring category. Having a video I’ve worked on-especially with the epic team I had, and that placed gives me a feeling of pride and anchoring is something I really love doing. We worked really hard during the two hours of competition and we had to really use our patience and for all of the hard work we put into the video, I think it deserves to be showcased. We put a ton of time and effort into it and had many practices, so it’s a really important video for the three of us.
   This video is the one that I’m most proud of, out of all that I’ve made this year, and that, is the final reason why I feel like I should show it at Family Night. Whether it’s the abundance of time we took preparing to compete, or the great team I got to work with, or just the way we all understood each other, it made the video one of my most prized. Watching it, I see the mistakes we’ve made, but I also get great flashbacks and memories that we made not only on the trip but during practices, and in the class in general. Watching the video makes me happy and so that’s why I’d like to show it.
   Well there you have it! The Anchoring video we made, is one of the most nostalgia-filled videos for me, and it will probably be one of the videos that when I watch it 10-years from now, will be able to remember the stress and joy that I had in this class and on all three STN trips. Anyways, that’s all for this week’s blog! Bye!

"Stay"

4/29/2017

Hey everyone! I was too lazy to film and edit a vlog this week, so here’s a paragraph instead. If you know me, and have recently seen me within the past two or three weeks, you probably know that I’ve been obsessed with the song “Stay” by Alessia Cara and Zedd. Well the music video for the song was recently released and I thought it was blog-worthy. The storyline was a bit fuzzy for me, but I thought the shots were really cool. It begins with Zedd pulling a sheet from over his head, and him racing to get into an elevator with Alessia. Each time he reaches the elevator a second after it closes. The video then rewinds until the beginning and plays through again, and I thought that was the coolest part of it all. When Zedd finally gets into the elevator with Alessia, they go on dates and have fun, but the ending has a major plot twist. Zedd gets hit by a car...Let that sink in a bit...It was so out of nowhere! And apparently he dies from the injury, because the white sheet gets put over his head in the end. But anyways, I thought it was a super cool music video and the shots and editing were awesome! That’s all for this week’s blog post! Bye!

How's Kaua‘i?

4/21/2017

    Hey everyone! I was going to film a vlog this week but I got lazy...so. Anyways, this school year is going by EXTREMELY quickly, and in about 4 weeks or so, I will be attending high school! But wait we're getting pretty ahead of ourselves. Meanwhile, with the little time left of the school year, we have a lot of things to take care of before we can say ALOHA to school. For this quarter, we have been split up into teams (I am on the videography team) for the Kaua`i Grown project. The next three paragraphs will contain an explained to-do list, and some difficulties we've been having.
    First of all, we need to film more B-Roll at Ono Pops, and are planning to do that next Tuesday. We also need to finish the script and get that approved so we can begin editing. The soundbites from our interviews were super precise but also detailed and made finding clips to put into the script fairly easy. Also, Mia is great at creating voice overs so she’s been SUCH a big help with wording things nicely. Then we also need to nail a solid date and time in which we can film at the Kealia Farmer’s Market. That has probably been the toughest part of our whole project, and I’ll explain more on why I think it is in the next paragraph.
   So far we’ve had many little conflicts with the projects we’re doing, but they were always resolved easily, efficiently, and we were able to move forward quickly. I’d say the main problem was contacting Mr. Asquith, of the Kealia Farmers Market because emailing was a slow contact process, so I was given a number that I could text him at. That too is giving me problems, as every time I text him, I receive a SMS text saying I need to enter a 10-digit number. So contacting Mr. Asquith has been very tough and long, so I emailed or texted him everyday until I got a response and we still need to find a day that works.
Another issue is our conflicting open days to film. This quarter I’m super busy with three band concerts, a whole week of rehearsals after school, and Kamehameha meetings. Mia is also busy with her own events so it’s been really hard to find a day and time that we are both open to film. The only days that we can film the Kealia people are Monday’s and Friday’s as well, so that narrows it down to two of the busiest days of the week. Hopefully we can settle a day very soon so that we can get started with this project, too.
   Well, that’s an update of what we’ve been up to for this quarter! We still have a bunch of things to get done in these next few weeks. But hey, I know we can do it! Mia and I work great together, and I’m so happy to work with her. Anyways, that’s all for this week! Bye!

Recapping the Trip

4/15/2017

6 Days!!!!

3/17/2017

   Hello everyone! I was going to film a vlog this week, but lazy me procrastinated again… So here I am, writing a blog. Anyways, there is six days left until we leave for Anaheim!! I’m really really really reallyyyyy excited! This week’s topic was really hard to do, so I’ve generalized my top three things I am looking forward to on this trip.
   First of all, I’m excited to compete! I know you’re probably reading this and thinking, “What?! She’s excited?? She’s always yelling, though!” Well, true. But the reason I’m always yelling is 1. No one listens to me when I talk like a normal person, and 2. It’s because I want to make the deadline, and also place. When I’m competing at STN, it’s like I feel a rush of adrenaline from the time the competition starts, until the final second. Also, during Crazy 8’s, the editing room is filled with students and teachers all going through the same thing and it’s like an unspoken bond between all of us. We all can relate to what everyone else is going through, and know what we’re all going through. Everyone from all of the schools try to be respectful and courteous to one another, as they too understand what being in our shoes is like, and vise versa.
   On top of competing, I’m also super duper excited to meet my pen pal! I still stay in touch with both Becca and Susan and it’s always been really cool to meet people from another state, and even better to meet someone who has been to this amazing competition. The Castaic students that I have met were absolutely wonderful and I enjoyed going to breakout sessions, having dinner, and still enjoy texting them. Also, from what I can tell and have heard, Megan and I have quite a few things in common!
   Last but not least, I’m pumped for the theme parks we have planned! The last time I’ve been to Disneyland was when I was about four or five years old...And I’d like to think I’ve grown a bit since then :). Also, in sixth grade when we went to Universal Studios, it was so fun and exciting! The rides were so exhilarating and scary, and so fun! So I’m really looking forward to going back in a few days!!!!
   I know, this blog seems short, I’m not sure why. But I’m extremely excited for everything on this trip! It’s so fun every single year and it’s absolutely indescribable. I know this year will be amazing, and I’m looking forward to it, as it will be my last convention. But anyways, I hope you all are starting-or finishing (like me) packing your bags! Have a great, stress free Spring Break everyone, and to my classmates, I’ll see you on Thursday! Bye!

So How Was It????

3/9/2017

   Hey everyone! The day that I’ve written this is Thursday, March 9th. That means we are officially two weeks out before our STN trip!!!!! I’m super duper duper duper excited!! The past two trips have been even more awesome than I thought. This first half of my blog will be focusing on recapping the Crazy 8’s practice, and the second half will focus on our regular STN teams.
   I feel that the Crazy 8’s practice would be given a C for a letter grade. This is because we all worked fairly well with our little teams in the News Magazine. However, throughout the duration of the eight hours, no one listened to each other when we’d ask people to do certain things, so I found myself yelling at people to keep quiet so that I could focus, or to stop messing around, or to take it seriously, etc. It made me very very angry to be ignored and made fun of for taking it seriously. I do take it seriously, and the level of pressure I put on myself may push me to get extremely stressed out. Moving on from Crazy 8’s, our Anchor team I feel works great with each other. We come across many problems, mainly revolving around our audio, but we never really argue with one another. Ty is a great camera man, and is very helpful and kind, so I haven’t had any problems with him. Mia Thompson is a wonderful team mate and anchor, and I enjoy working with her as well. I don’t feel the need to stress out as much, being that they take it just as serious, and when I do, they are there to calm me down and help me. Overall, I think we work fantastically together, and I thoroughly enjoy our STN practices with my team.
   Our Crazy 8’s team has many areas that need improvements. From teamwork to stories to editing, it needs work. We have team leaders for each little team of three, and that is how our anchor team gets the information about their stories or PSA ideas. I think we work well within our mini teams, however, as a whole News Magazine team, that’s when it gets hectic. First of all, there are more than 10 of us on the team, so editing is very frustrating because some sit over my shoulder, or play around, or make unnecessary/rude jokes and it makes everyone’s patience go out the door. Second of all, some students do not know how intense the actual competition is and the terrible disappointment that will come if we do not make the deadline, so they play and play and play around, and in the end their videos have obvious mistakes. A third aspect we as the anchors need to focus on is our script writing. We had problems bridging stories and figuring out which story would go first. I like doing that though, because it gives our Anchor team an extra, unofficial practice for our competition.
   Here are a few ways we can fix the problems that I previously stated. One: Our Anchor team can call in whoever we need in the moment to talk about improvements or advice or help on something. That way we don’t have a large crowd of people just taking up space and messing around. Two: We take it seriously, and make sure everyone is aware of how real and intense competing is. Three: We practice, practice, practice! Our teams need to also be aware of what other teams and students are going through. We also need to cooperate with each other, accept criticism, and make sure we all make our deadlines! I’ve made a document for our News Magazine team which states all of our deadlines throughout the 8 hours. If we all stick to those deadlines, that should be one less problem!
   To conclude, we have numerous improvements to make before our STN Convention, but if we stick together and work towards our common goal, we should be able to create amazing videos. We have talented students in our class, it’s just the teamwork that needs help. With good teamwork comes good results! Anyways, have a fantastic rest of your days, bye!

Fourth Quarter Choice

3/4/2017

Hey everyone! Unlike this year, for the fourth quarter we usually have a choice in the type of film we do. This year, we will be all pitching in for the different occupations offered by the Kaua‘i Grown companies. This blog will list and explain the three reasons why I feel I should be on the videography team.
   First of all, I am a terrible photographer… My photos are honestly terrible. The ratio of good to bad photos is around 1:50. Sorry Mr. M, it’s not that I don’t pay attention when you’re teaching us how to use a camera, it’s just that I can’t take a good picture! My photos are a l w a y s blurry. They look awful! It’s just not in my genes to take good pictures. I really don’t think Kaua‘i Grown people would appreciate blurry, out of focus photos!
   The second reason is because I have less experience with the other categories. Although I have Instagram, I really only go on it about once or twice a week. So you can say I’m still learning the reins around the app. I also do not have Snapchat, or any other form of social media.
   The third and final reason is because I do like to produce short profiles. Although I’ve only done a couple, if you count a personal profile from last year, I enjoyed it! Also, if I do short segments, I could possibly have time to help out other teams (if they’d like my help) with their projects or with making flyers.
   Well that’s all for this week’s post, I know it’s very short. Also, we are less than three weeks out until our STN trip!!!! But I hope you have a great day, and remember: it’s only a great day if you make it a great day! :)

And Let the Countdown Begin!

2/24/2017

   Hi everyone! There is always a certain tension in the air when it is the week projects are due. It’s very noticeable, as that is most often the time in which equipment gets signed out, laptops are taken home daily, and you ultimately have no time for dilly-dallying (but procrastination is quite persuasive at times). Luckily, the PSAs were due this week and we have a bit of a breather now. Many of us have worked intensely on this project and are overall satisfied with the final product. This week’s topic is to write or talk about the three reasons why we are, or are not satisfied with our videos.
   Looking at my finished product, I believe it is a decent final draft. I think my audio levels were equal for the most part, and the balance between the background music and my voice overs were balanced. In my experience, equalizing audio levels takes an abundance of patience, which as many of you know, I do not have. Thus, when they are steady throughout, it is a cause for celebration. The hardest part with stabilizing it was the music that’s playing in the background, and ensuring that did not overtake the message. Luckily, I was able to use a trick that I learned at the media camp last year!
   I finished a first draft about a week and a half or so before the final deadline, and that helped with improving my video a bunch. It helped me notice many issues that were found in my video, as it does for most people. If I’d turned in just the first draft I would most certainly be unconfident in submitting it for a grade. As it turned out, I re recorded all of my voice overs after I turned in my first draft, and made my lines rhyme to catch people’s attention better. Watching my first draft, and then my last, I can definitely tell the difference.
   Although I am overall satisfied with my final product, one thing that I wish I could change is my message. I am not sure what I’d change it to, but if I was able to think of something better, I definitely would. That’s always the hardest aspect for me, because I tend to overthink things. When it comes to PSA’s, simpler is usually better, and that thought hasn’t lodged itself into my brain yet, as I always make things more complicated than needed. And as for PSA’s, my messages are always confusing and technical.
   Well that’s all for this week’s blog post! I’m definitely relieved that PSAs are finished and it is time to count down (although I started as soon as we returned from last year’s STN…) until our Anaheim trip! Anyways, have a wonderful rest of your day and week!

My mini bio:

My name is Taylor, and I am 14 years old. I'm in CKTV and this is my website. As you can tell, this is a very generic and boring "about me." Go see my About page for more interesting facts about me!

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