Monday, May 20, 2013

CAP Hollywood Reflection #3 (probably the last)

So our film is pretty close to being done. the whole group has pitched in and done work, which is pretty great considering how some other groups can't say the same. the film is due on Friday, but the group and I plan on coming into school on Wednesday morning to finish it and make it the best movie possible. Me and Waslu, the two prime editors of the film, also came in on Saturday to edit, which led to us getting a lot done in a very stress free environment. Hopefully, finishing this movie will go smoothly on Wednesday and will allow us to receive a good grade and possibly even an Oskar.

1) The film process has gone pretty smoothly the entire way, from preproduction and scripting to editing. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, we don't have an editing suite, which didn't turn out to be as much of a problem as I thought. The main issue we're facing is people standing behind us watching our magnificent movie and blocking the walkway. It also gives us that free air feeling, which calms us down and keeps us cool while we work.

2) This past week we pretty much redid our entire ending, which changes the entire mood of the film. the good news is we don't have to film anymore, which relieves some stress and allows us to get down to editing for the final week.

3) This week is he final week, and with crazy HSA scheduling, we only have film class once all week. therefore, we must come after or before school to finish this movie in order to make sure it is good and ready for the due date on Friday. We are coming in during an HSA period on Wednesday and maybe Thursday if needed. Also, we might come in after school for a little bit to do some fine tuning, but that's only if we don't finish on Wednesday and Thursday.

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Cap Hollywood Reflection #2

So Cap Hollywood is now in full swing, and I have to say, our movie is looking quite worthy of being played at the premiere. Most of the filming is done, and the editing is soon to follow. The hope is to be done filming and laying out clips in the timeline so that the hardcore editing can take place at the end of this week and all of next week.

1) the film is going really well at this point. Filming has been pretty easy each time we have gone, and the editing hasn't hit too many snags. Besides the one issue with the wrong file format, it's been pretty smooth sailing.

2) last week was when all of the basic editing thus far took place, mainly because we didn't have much to work with before last week. Just about all of our clips are in the timeline, save for the few shots we haven't put into the computer yet. I have done the editing mostly, with some help from waslu, and I have also helped with filming and directing.

3) by the end of the week, all the clips we need will hopefully be in the timeline so that we can finalize it for next week. We will also have to import the sound clips from online since we would like to have them in as soon as possible.

The process so far has been great, and I hope it stays that way. My group has been helpful and great, and with their help, we will hopefully make a kickass movie.

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Cap Hollywood--act 1

Our Cap Hollywood film is about a man struggling to find his way in an unknown city. The story is  a series of flashbacks, which show how the character ended up in is situation. Then, in he present, he is trying to fix what has happened to him without any money or phone or people to help him.

My group is filled with talented actors, cinematographers, scriptwriters, and editors. In my group is Waslu Hopkins, a talented gaffer and the writor of our story, Alex Frandsen, a gifted thesbian and miraculous on screen actor, and he is the star of the film. Next we have Maddie Daly, the alluring love interest to our star Alex, and she plays a big part in the story boarding and audio mixing for our film. Last but not least, we have Cherie Carter, a talented makeup artist and visual affects person. I am the editor in chief of out production, as well as a villain in our film. Together we are an unstoppable team that has already begun the process of creating a masterpiece that is sure to capture the hearts of our audience.

1) We began filming on the weekend of April 28th, and we plan on finishing during first period tomorrow, which we were given permission to do. One challenge is definitely our lack of an editing suite, which could cause much distraction during post production. Also, the camera we were filming on takes video in a strange setting that is not allowed by final cut pro, so we must convert it to mp4 before we edit, which takes time and lowers the quality of the video.

2) As mentioned before, we filmed last weekend with my camera, and we got plenty of usable footage. I have also began editing our film, and going at our current rate, we should be finished with the footage gathered on last Saturday night by hopefully the end of the week. I have done all of the editing thus far, as well as some of the filming.

3) This week, we are planning to finish filming entirely and start the full post production phase. We will hopefully be nearly done with the old footage by the end of the week so that we can promptly begin editing the new footage we will get tomorrow.

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Nationals this season

The Nationals are going to be really good this year.
They have many new players like Bryce Harper, Dan Harren, and Denard Span. With their new talent, they will hopefully be as good of a team as last year, except maybe this year they'll make it further in the playoffs.
Bryce Harper has been good this year, batting above .300 with 7 homers and 32 rbis. Dan Harren has also done well, he's 1-1 as a nationals starting pitcher, and he should do well as the year goes on.
Denard Span, the recently acquired Centerfielder from Texas. He's a solid leadoff hitter who gets on base for Werth or Harper to knock him in.

This year, hopefully, the Nationals will go much further than last year, and maybe there is even a world series in their future.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Sankofa

I went to see Sankofa over the weekend, mainly because of Kalanzi, a fellow CAP student who was in the play.  The play itself is about Black History, and it took place on the last days of February, which is Black History Month.


The play revolved around a central theme of school, where the students were learning about Black History. One by one, the students would share what being black meant to them, either by poem, song, or speech. Some of the actors posed as famous civil rights activists, such as Malcolm X and John F. Kennedy.
 
They play seemed well produced and, although it was a collection of smaller pieces, it was well connected.

There were many talented actors involved, and not all of them were African American. There were several people of other ethnic backgrounds involved, which made it seem like a more accepting community where all cultures accept each other rather than a "black power" event.

At the end of the play, the cast came out and received a standing ovation, and they used that opportunity to thank all of the teachers and students who were involved in the play behind the scenes. After that, the cast invited anyone who wanted to join onto the stage for a huge dance party.

Overall, I'm glad i went to the play because it was a lot of fun, really well produced, and educational. I hope to attend next year's Sankofa, and i hope it will be even better!

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Driving

Just like many of you, I recently got my learner's permit. Almost right away, I was excited with the prospect of driving all over the place and not needing to rely on my parents' schedules or the bus.

I have already driven a few times, and each time, I challenge myself further and further. Sometimes I will try to drive to downtown and back, or over to college park for some buffalo wild wings.  Maybe someday, I'll be able to drive on the highway to the beach, or over to Arlington, Virginia to visit my uncle.

What I also realized that with driving comes great responsibility. I need to pay attention to other drivers and make sure I don't do anything stupid that could risk their lives. I also need to think of my own safety when i drive, whether it's making sure there aren't any distractions (like my brothers) in the car so that I can pay attention to the road.

Although driving can be a fun and exciting part of growing up, it can also be dangerous, so I need to make sure I am responsible behind the wheel. In a few short months, I will be old enough to get my actual driver's license, which is something I can't wait for. But until then, I'll make sure I am the best driver I can be so that I take care of others' and my safety.

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Video Challenge

Nico and I went downtwon recently to film, and at first it started out as a genuine, normal type of thing.  Then, we had the razy idea to film us messing around with some of the stores and people.  After several various mockeries and gags, we left and started editing, and we stumbled accross the music. If you ask me, it adds life and a little more humor to the video. I hoe you enjoy it!



All of our filming was done in downtown Siver Spring, and the video was edited on Adobe Premiere Pro. Our music is from youtube.

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Playoffs!

The redskins are going to the playoffs! Ever since week nine, the bye week, the Redskins have not lost a game, and rookies Robert Griffen III and Alfred Morris have made that all possible.  RGIII is rated amoung the top quarterbacks in the country, and Morris broke the Redskins' single season rushing record, set by Clinton Portis.   Their last game against the Cowboys, a division rival, held the gravity of a playoff game in the sense that the winner would make the playoffs and the loser would start their offseason.  The Redskins had beat the cowboys earlier in their win streak, and they had little trouble doing it again.  RGIII threw for multiple touchdowns, and Alfred Morris ran for 200 yards. 
The Redskins won the game, which started their postseason and marked the first time the Redskins have won their division since 1999.  The best part of this team is it's youth: RGIII and Alfred Morris are both rookies, so hopefully the team will be experiencing success for the future.
The only issue the Redskins may face is the health of RGIII. He suffered a knee injury against the Baltimore Ravens and has had to wear a brace ever since.  Against the Seahawks, he is expected to be near 100% but still not able to run as much as he usually does.  The solution is Kirk Cousins: another rookie quarterback on the Redskins who won the game against the Cleveland Browns.  If RGIII is unable to continue at any time, Cousins is ready to step in and keep the offense going.








Sunday, December 16, 2012

Wrestling Scoring System



Now, since I believe i have convinced you to attend some wrestling matches, I should probably teach you how the scoring works.

A wrestler can score by:
  • Taking their opponent down (2 points)
  • reversing control (2 points)
  • escaping control of their opponent (1 point)
  • holding their opponent on their back for a certain amount of time (3 max points)
  • holding them there for 2 seconds (2 points)
  • holding them there for 5 seconds (3 points)
  • note: if one holds an opponent on their back for five seconds, they only get 3 points, not 3 plus the 2.
  • any technical violations (full nelson, locked hands, illegal headlocks, unnecessary roughness, etc.)
  • the first technical violation is a warning, the second is one point, the third is 2 points, and the fourth is disqualification. some may vary due to the referee and/or the severity of the violation.
  • Stalling (similar to technical violations, but the scoring and definition varies per ref)
  • pinning the opponent is an automatic win for the pinning wrestler, no matter the score
Some of this may seem a little strange, but you will see the referee awarding points, so you can see what is ment by some of these. 

Now, the team points are different.  The team points are what decide who wins a match, and how a wrestler wins is taken into account.

A team scores by:

  • pinning their opponent (6 team points)
  • winning by points but by less than a ten point margin (3 team points)
  • winning by more than 10 but less than 15 points (4 team points)
  • winning by over 15 points, results in disqualification of losing wrestler (5 team points)
  • a forfeit, which happens if a team doesn't have a wrestler for a certain weight class (6 team points)
  • unsportsmanlike conduct towards the other team, may result from unnecessary roughness (deducts one team point from offending team)
After every weight class has wrestled, the team with the most team points wins. 

Now that you know how a wrestling match is scored, I urge you to come to our next match.  we have one at Blake at 6 on Tuesday, and our next home match is the week after winter break. Hope to see you there!

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Wrestling Misconceptions

As many of you may know, I am a wrestler for Blair. We have already started our season and had a few teammates place at a tournament this weekend.  We graduated a bunch of good seniors last year, but we still have a good team that is looking to have an even greater role in Montgomery County wrestling in the future. Wrestling is a tough but rewarding sport, and once you get into it, you just can't get enough.

Most of you, however, have not even considered wrestling to be a sport and have forgotten about it.  Many of you believe it is too weird to watch, even though you probably havn't seen a match. You probably think the sport is too harsh and violent, and maybe even slightly homosexual. Although it could be those things, (except for that last part) it is really interesting and it helps build character. 

Wrestling is one of the toughest sports because not only does one have to go to practice like other athletes, but they also have to cut weight and make sure they don't gain too much.  Someone could argue that hockey or football is tough, but like the link says, those guys get to have a heaping plate of dinner after practice while wrestlers go to bed hungry.  Wrestlers sometimes lose a crazy amount of weight (myself included) just to face smaller people, which makes it more likely they will win. 

Since the sport is extremely tough, wrestlers build bonds with their teammates who are facing the same situation and they create tight friendships through it, as well as respect for each other for sticking with it. 

The sport is also very rewarding because its not your team beating another team, it's you beating one man in a fight.  On a hockey or football team, your team could be winning games without much individual contributions; but wrestling is a completely solo sport.  If you win or lose, it's all on you and not your teammates.

Wrestling is a tough sport, and it's also really fun to watch.  Sometimes, people get slammed to the mat, or there could be a sudden death overtime match that draws down to the wire.  It's cuper exciting to watch, and because of this, I urge any of you readers to go out and see a wrestling match or tournament or something.  You won't regret it, and once you get past the initial strangeness of the sport, you'll find yourself loving it.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Redskins making a comeback




On Thanksgiving, the Redskins pulled out their second consecutive division win against the Dallas Cowboys, 38-31.  The previous sunday, the Redsking beat the Eagles 31-6, and they looked really good coming out of the bye-week.  Quarterback RGIII threw for 311 yards with four touchdowns and only one interception against the Dallas defense, and running back Alfred Morris scored the other touchdown.

Although the Redskins looked outstanding, their defense didn't do as well in the second half.  At halftime on thursday, it was 28-3, but the defense gave up four touchdowns in the second half.  This leaves room to believe that although the Redskins are looking strong, their defense needs to get stronger and deal without key players such as Brian Orackpo and Brandon Meriweather. 

The Redskins have to face the strong giants, who have already defeated them earlier in the season.  If the Redskins do win against the Giants, they will be tied for first place in the division, and possibly with Dallas as well.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Capture The Fall



This is my capture the fall video, and it's called Fallen Leaves and Baseball. In it, there are some shots of trees turning red, orange and yellow, as well as some postseason baseball.

The point of this video is to describe what fall means to me personally, and whenever i think of fall, i think of the trees, but also postseason baseball.

This year, i had the good fortune to go see two local teams play in the postseason: the Washington Nationals and the Baltimore Orioles.  Those games were the first of playoff baseball i have ever been to, and both teams havn't really been that competetive until this year.

Before, the Nationals have never made the playoffs or even got second place in their division.  The orioles have been to the playoffs before, but not in at least the last decade. It was pretty cool seeing them both develop and become such great teams, and also the games were awesome (even though both the games i went to, my team lost).

Anyways, i hope you guys enjoy my video about what fall means to me.

Sunday, November 4, 2012



Although the Redskins were supposed to be noticibly better this year with rookies such as Alfred Morris and Robert Griffen III leading the offense, they have fallen short of their expectations.

The defense has been terrible this year, ranking just about last in the NFL.  This could be due to the losses of Brian Orakpo and Adam Carriker, two cricial Redskins defenders.  Orakpo suffered a torn pectoral in week two, and Carriker a torn quad, and both won't come back this season.

Players such as Ryan Kerrigan and London Fletcher have been trying to carry the weight of the defense on their shoulders, but have been unsuccessful in doing so without Orakpo and Carriker.  Since the defense has been unable to stop opponents, the offense has to deal with the pressure it presents. 

When the defense is giving up long drives and touchdowns, the offense can't afford to waste possessions.  They have to score as much as they can every game and often with less time than they should have.

The Redskins have so much potential but are under .500 due to a lack of a strong defense and a huge amount of pressure that the offense cant handle.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

 
Last year, Blair's varsity football team went 0-10: one of their worst records in the past twenty years.  After that, everyone has developed the opinion that Blair football is going to be terrible forever and that there is no hope. 
 
This could not be further from the truth.  This year, the players have been working as hard as they can to make sure they dont repeat last year's record. We have already won two games, and in both of the games, the team looked really strong.
 
At the beginning of the season, teams like BCC and Quince Orchard had no trouble at all defeating us, which left many to believe this year would be bad too.  But, we defeated long-time boulavard rival Northwood, which helped boost our spirits after 15 straight losses.
 
The JV football team, unlike their varsity counterpart, has been playing strong both this and last year, which leaves us to believe that the varsity teams for our junior and senior years are going to actually be competetive within the county. 
 
At this point, all we can do is work hard and make sure we get stronger as a team in order to bring competetive football back to Blair.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Maryland Sports Pt. 2

Well last week I talked about how the DC- Maryland area was very excited over the nationals and orioles being in the playoffs and RGIII. However, Both the nationals and the orioles were eliminated from the playoffs within two days of my post.

Although it may seem bad, it is foreshadowing of what is to come.  The Nationals organization has even stated that they didn't plan on going anywhere this year, but in years to come they would.  With such young talent in Bryce Harper, Stephen Strasburg, and others, it is nearly impossible to imagine they won't make the playoffs again.  Not only will the talent get even better, but now they know what it takes to play pennant baseball.

With the Orioles, it is a very similar story.  They have a young team with people like McClouth leading their efforts, and there's nowhere to go but up. 

The only part of my post that was proven true last weekend was the excitement building around RGIII.  Not only did he lead the team to a home victory over Minnesota, but he also ran for two touchdowns, and one of them was for over 70 yards to seal the win.  Today they are playing the Giants, a division rival, and Griffin has already thrown for one touchdown.  Another rookie, Alfred Morris, has been phenomenal as well. He has led the ground attack with nearly 60 yards in the first half alone and has been breaking tackles and staying afoot like I've never seen.

Sadly, the Redskins are the only one of the three teams mentioned to still be playing. However, with all the young talent on all three teams, the next decade of DC and Maryland sports will be overwhelmingly exciting.

Friday, October 12, 2012

Maryland Excitement

Now I'm sure all of you are aware of the situation with professional sports teams in the area.  Both the Nationals and the Orioles made the playoffs, and the Redskins have a new, Heisman trophy winning quarterback in Robert Griffin III.

For the Nationals, most fans are extremely excited because not only is the team less than ten years old, but it is also the first time a Washington baseball team has made the playoffs since World War II.  The team, led by Davy Johnson, are achieving something that was not supposed to happen for a few years to come.  The team shows hope and promise, with members like Stephan Strasburg and Bryce Harper dominating the playing field at such a young age.  The Nationals finished with the best win/loss record in baseball, which is extremely exciting because only too years ago they were losing more than 100 games a season.

Harper, a rookie, is only 20 years old now, and he played most of the season at 19 years old.  I don't know if you realize, but that means he could have potentially been a senior in high school just last year and he is now a starter for a major league team.

Strasburg isn't too much older, but two years ago when he was first brought up, he suffered an elbow injury that required tommy john surgery: a surgery that requires someone to lose a substantial amount of time in recovery.  He returned this year from his surgery, and he dominated the playing field whenever he got the chance to start, with barely any exceptions. 

The Baltimore Orioles have become a pretty surprisingly good team over the course of this year.  Unlike the Nationals, they do not have much young talent and many believed they would be lucky to not finish in last place.  However, they came out strong with Buck Showalter leading them to a wild card victory and an exciting playoff berth against the New York Yankees.

Lastly, Robert Griffin III is a star college quarterback who won the Heisman Trophy for being the best college player that year.  The Redskins drafted him and he is now the main guy lining up under center.  However, he suffered a concussion in the game against the Atlanta Falcons last weekend, and he will be forced to miss a few weeks to recover.  His backup, Kurt Cousins, is also a rookie the Redskins picked up in the draft, and he is a great filler while RGIII recovers.

All three teams cause everyone who is a fan to be ecstatic over the new talent that have shown.  I have been lucky to see the explosive talent they bring to the table first hand by going to Nationals and Orioles Playoff games, as well as a Redskins regular season game, and it was amazing.  On Friday night, the Nationals face the Cardinals and the Orioles face the Yankees for game 5 of the Divisional Series', and the Redskins play the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, so tune in to witness the excitement yourselves.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

5x5-- Redskins game from the fan's perspective


  • Car driving towards FedEx Field
  • Tailgate party grill
  • Bengals running out of tunnel
  • Redskins running out of tunnel
  • Opening Kickoff
I used my I-Pod Touch 4th generation to film the 5x5 at the Washington Redskins v. Cincinnati Bengals football game.  I then edited my film using the youtube video editor, which worked mostly except it was not able to stretch the video, so there are bars on the side. 

 Although there is an obvious cropping error, I feel as though the 5x5 is well done and shows a good story of what the average fan goes through at a Redskins game.  Next time, i hope to get my hands on a better camera and also a better editing system that will allow me to fill the gaps on the side and make the video look cleaner overall.  I probably won't get the chance to go to another Redskins game before the next 5x5, but who knows? I could go to a Nationals game because they may be making a post-season push, and that could be my next video.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Dystopia trailer



The Matrix-1999

The Matrix is about a man named Neo who is "the one" who can restore balance to the matrix-a virtual world made by machines.  Neo finds himself as a part of a team that is trying to destroy the machines and have the humans take over again.  Neo must go into the matrix to save a team member, Morphius, from the machines, and it is there he learns how to truly use the matrix to his advantage.

The trailer uses dramatic music throughout the whole trailer to add to the suspense.  The trailer also has important lines from the movie to portray the plot, instead of a voice over.  It also had a montage of shorter clips to add dimension to the virtual world of the matrix. Overall, the trailer did a good job of describing what the world was like in and out of the matrix, and how Neo would be the one to bring balance to both worlds. 

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Education personalization

The article I recently read and annotated goes into detail about how a more custom approach to education is better than a one-size-fit-all style of learning.  Ever since No Child Left Behind, standardized testing has taken away the personal aspects of education that are ever so important to learning.  Not all students are the same, and many of them can't learn from constant testing just to make sure we're on track.

The article explains how some schools have already taken steps to raise the personal level of teaching, such as school sponsored blogging, or working with individuals to teach them while keeping them focused the whole time.  The author of the article, Will Richardson, used an excellent example, where he used basketball to teach his son math.  He would use basketball examples to teach his son math equations, and that way, his son was both learning and having fun. 

Almost every student learns in a different way, and teachers and/or school systems have caught on to this and have started adding more personal lesson plans, such as encouraging student blogs and interactive games.  Also, many students don't learn well with the typical lecture; instead, they need interactive ways of learning such as scavenger hunts or group activities in class to create a better learning experience.

This blog is already an example of a teacher adding a more personal aspect to the class, and many other teachers are doing the same things across the nation.  Every student is different, and it is not only the job of the teachers, but also the job of the student to identify how they learn the best and what they can do to learn as much as they can to prepare themselves for further education and eventually getting a job.

Monday, September 10, 2012

The Movie Review

The writer of the review for Prometheus started out with a quick description of the plot then immedietly went into what they thought of it.  They commented on the actors' skill, writing, and technical effects and what they could have improved on.  The writer split it up into three sections: the plot, what I thought worked, and what didn't work, which effectively covered all aspects of the film both good and bad.

The movie review assignment should have a basic layout (such as a plot synopsis, an opinion on the film, improvements, and analysis of the theme) but should not be restricted furthur to such an extent that w are filling out a guideline to score well.  It should be a loose assignment with little resrictions, but a set of simple aspects to be sure to have in the review.