Author Archives: Cinder

The Journey So Far

When I first started this class I had simple goals like just becoming more experienced with using digital content since I am not very tech savvy, but I am very impressed by how much I have learned in only a few weeks. I was very surprised when I realized I have published 29 posts so far and almost each one includes a completely new skill I discovered from this class! I also want to include the knowledge I’ve gotten about the creative process like the use of cinematography, sound effects, and even the choices that go into the principles of design.

Throughout every assignment I was challenged to push myself and learn something new. So far I have learned how to use apps like Canva for creating and editing photos like in my post Wanted Dead or Alive; I made audio edits by layering sound effects to tell a story with Audacity like in my post Dysfunctional Family; and I learned how to edit videos using iMovie like in my post called Looking into Cyberpunk Edgerunners. Not to mention how to also use hyperlinks and create a website. Each one of these new discoveries took me about an hour or so just to figure out how to even use many of the apps but I think all my effort was worth it in the end because I think they show pretty well how much I have grown in experience.

Favorite Post

This is from the post called Wanted Dead or Alive where I made a high-tech inspired wanted poster and it was when I started getting more comfortable with creating and editing pictures with Canva. I personally love all the detail I put into it and it is what made me realize I was getting more comfortable with projects like this because I was becoming more experienced with them.

Hardest Post

This is from my post called Eye of the Hurricane which was supposed to tell a story of my character humming while walking past people battling unbothered. This was one of my hardest because it was my first time audio editing and I had to find and layer many sound effects to help tell the story which was a lot of work since I had no prior experience with Audacity. But I think it is a good example of when I challenged myself and thought the outcome was still good.

New Goals

Now that I have a lot more experience with using digital media like photo, video, and audio editing, I think my main goal now is becoming more comfortable and confident while doing it. I feel like I have many fun and cool ideas, but I am quick to doubt my capabilities of bringing my creations to life in a good enough way that it matches how I imagined it. But I do want to point out that I surprised myself each week at the sight of my finished creations, so if I learn to trust myself more then I think I will take bigger risks.

My Creative Journey: Week 5

Summary

This was video week and I was very nervous because I have no experience editing videos, so this week was all about learning and trying to figure out how everything works so that my edited video would come out right especially with making sure the narration was over the correct scenes. More information on my video editing experience can be found on my post called Looking into Cyberpunk Edgerunners

New Discoveries and Experiences

  • Did video editing for first time
  • Used iMovie for the first time
  • Used Vimeo for the first time

Daily Creates

This week I had to create 2 Daily Creates which were posted in Inside My Creative Mind

Inside My Creative Mind: Week 5

East to West Coast

For this Daily Create I was supposed to take a famous landmark and place it somewhere it shouldn’t be. For mine I decided to bring the East coast to the West coast by taking the Statue of Liberty and placing it next to the famous Hollywood sign using Canva.

People Watching

For this Daily Create I was supposed to create a backstory for why a plate of bananas appear on a Beeston street once a month. For mine I chose to write an explanation based on the idea that animals now enjoy people watching similar to how people enjoy bird watching so that’s why they’re leaving a plate of bananas out to lure in humans.

Looking into Cyberpunk Edgerunners

⚠WARNING: Huge Spoilers ahead!

Cyberpunk Edgerunners is a wonderful playground for cinematography. There’s so many amazing scenes I could go into deep detail for, but the one that I couldn’t resist choosing was Maine’s death scene from episode 6 called Girl on Fire. The episode shows how Maine is struggling with Cyberpsychosis, but him and his crew must continue the mission as he gets worse and starts losing control after his girlfriend was killed. Once Maine accepts that its the end for him, he sacrifices himself while the main character David tries to help. Here in my video, I go in a deeper dive into the cinematics of this unforgettable scene.

Video Process

Editing a video for the first time was more complicated than I originally thought. I had to find the exact scene from Cyberpunk Edgerunners I wanted in a good enough length then I had to learn how to use iMovie to edit in the narration of my voice before uploading it to Vimeo. When I was doing my analysis of the scene I originally had a long descriptive script to voice over it, but I couldn’t keep up with the exact shots I wanted to talk about, so instead I chose to say the main points that drove each scene like the fear in certain expressions or how certain shots portrayed foreshadowing that an intense fight scene was approaching. I wanted to keep the original audio alongside my voice with it, but I thought it might be too distracting so instead I kept only my narration for the scene.

Cyberpunk Edgerunner Cinematography Overview:

  • Lighting: Most of the grim scenes use dark lighting with harsh colors like red lining on faces and bodies to set the tone. In the gentle scenes where Maine feels at peace, it is sunny in an open field without the use of any dark color schemes.
  • Angles: The shots chosen are taken from very specific angles depending on the emotion used like David’s fear always being full face or the focus being on his trembling hands while holding a gun. Also in most scenes they are capable of making Maine look overpowered from his cyberpyschosis by using low angles where he’s towering above.
  • Expressions: Throughout the entire scene emotion is used very well from eyes widening and trembling from fear and shock, or Maine’s eyes softening as he understands this is the end for him. Shots showing sweat, tears, and even the shot of David’s pained scream at seeing Maine die tells how the characters are feeling even without the audio to hear their dialogue.
  • Camera Shots: They use various shots to build up suspense like showing how MaxTac is on their way with shots of the aircraft landing or the soldiers heading in. I also think the use of switching between Maine’s hallucination perspective of him being peacefully in a field while David sees the grim reality of their situation helps the viewers understand that Maine is accepting death. Lastly, I wanna add that the final shots being in slow motion makes the viewers feel the impact of everything happening before the shot of his death.

My Creative Journey: Week 4

Summary

This week was a bit rough but interesting. I have literally no experience editing sound so everything was a long learning process. My audio creations I think came out alright though and I enjoyed seeing the finished version of each one including my radio bumper. So in general I think I am now more comfortable doing basic level audio editing with sound effects, but I wouldn’t trust myself completing anything too long without making mistakes.

New Discoveries and Experiences

  • Used Audacity and SoundCloud for the first time
  • Learned how to edit audio
  • Learned how to make an Ai generated voice on Canva

Daily Creates

This week required making 3 Daily creates. All of them allowed me to be creative and make something using Canva, traditional art, and just my creativity for the last one which was a poem. All of them can be found on the post called Inside My Creative Mind.

Assignment Bank

For audio week I made 2 creations and also a sound effect story that required editing with sound effects. For Celeste City I created how I imagined what the place would sound like. For Dysfunctional Home I tried to replicate what a kid hears in a home that has a lot of family drama. For The Eye of the Hurricane I tried to tell the story of my character Runa on a mission.

Audio Reflection

This week I learned about how sound effects can have a big impact on storytelling. I talk more about this in my post called the Power of Sound where I discuss how Moon Graffiti and also the ds106radio’s story of Limetown was able to successfully use sound effects. In it I also showed the Radio Bumper I created.

Radio Show Ideas

I had two fun ideas for a radio show for my character Runa Starr. They can be found on my post called Mission: Probably Impossible

Thank You!

I want to give a big thank you for all the people who voted for my creations this week! I really do appreciate it. The two posts that got votes were Runa aka The Shadow and Minecraft: Cherry Blossom Vacation Villa.

Mission: Probably Impossible

Idea #1: Runa Starr is one of the greatest mercenaries in her rebellion called the Claws. Working solo is how she rolls without anyone holding her back. But this preference gets challenged when her boss assigns her with a random group of people she’s never met on a mission to steal top secret files from a high security government building in Celeste City. This ragtag group with clashing personalities must somehow get over their differences to get the job done.

Idea #2: Runa Starr can take down almost any foe, steal the most guarded treasures, and spy on anyone without leaving a single trace behind, but when her boss sends her on her wildest mission yet she thinks she might’ve finally met her match. She must win a silly game show that requires answering the most bizarre questions. Not only that, but the show is team vs team and her boss unknowingly paired her up with the rebellion member that she absolutely hates working with. Hopefully she can overcome this obstacle and still complete the mission.

Preference: Since Runa is a very headstrong and strategic character I think it would be funny to have her work with a more laidback and nonchalant guy character who intentionally makes mistakes as a way to tease her, but he secretly has everything under control because he cares about completing the mission too. For either idea I would prefer doing a more lighthearted and fun approach to their storytelling.

The Power of SOUND!

Sound is all a part of life. Even with your eyes closed your brain can easily recognize the sound of bacon as it hits a sizzling pan, heels clicking against tile floor, or even splats of rain against a window. This is how so many creators are able to use audio to bring their stories to life without even adding the visuals of a video. So lets test it out and see if you can visualize what I am doing in my room right now with only audio as a clue!

Even without being in the room with me you can use the audio to easily imagine the scene. I am literally listening to music right now while the racing clicks of my keyboard subtly play over the muffled snores of my sleeping dog below me. And that’s the power of SOUND! Amazing right! Film, radio, and even audio books use sound effects like this to help tell a story. Even with all our world’s advances in technology like music apps with instant queue we still have radio . . . why? Well Jad Abumrad explains it pretty well in a RadioLab video, its all about connection. That feeling a viewer gets when they feel like the speaker is talking directly to them. Kind of like a parasocial relationship that makes people feel included and engaged. Its one of the same reasons podcasts thrive so well in current day with apps like Spotify getting over 32 million listeners.

Here are two other good examples of how audio is used in storytelling. The first is Moon Graffiti, on the Truth Podcast they use sound effects to help narrate the story of what if Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin crashed instead of being able to land on the moon. They use radio static, electrical beeping, button clicking, loud explosion sounds, etc to all help their viewer visualize the scene effortlessly. They are capable of making you feel like you’re in the room with the Mission Control team tracking the spacecraft itself. Even in this other example from the ds106 radio, they played the story of Limetown about journalist Lia trying to solve the mystery of what happened to the hundreds of people who disappeared in Limetown. The storytelling and voice acting is done amazingly well and I highly recommend listening to at least the first episode to try it out. But what stands out the most is how they used sound to set the atmosphere and mood for certain scenes. From the how voices start quiet then slowly get louder to portray someone getting closer or the sounds of crickets to show that they’re outdoors at night. Even the shift in the voice actors’ tone helps to show fear which drives the storytelling for many scenes. In other cases besides story, creators are able to use sound effects to make an impact. Radio bumpers are a good example of this. They are only a quick announcement lasting a few seconds reminding their viewers what radio station they are on in between songs, but they can still be entertaining with the use of audio editing.

Radio Bumper

Here is one I created myself inspired by the assignment bank for the ds106radio. Since this radio station is used by a college class I wanted to keep that theme by making mine based on a wild college party. For my audio editing I used Audacity and added rave music found from TikTok. The voice acting is Ai generated from Canva where I wrote out his script and spent like 30 minutes searching for the closest voice I could find that matched similar to young laidback guy. Lastly, I added the effect of party people cheering while he was making his announcement. Originally the cheers triggering early was a mistake in editing, but I kept it because in real life situations young college students would probably interrupt him with their cheering while partying anyway so it made it more realistic.

The Eye of the Hurricane

A day in the life of Runa as she finishes another mission with her rebellion.

This post was interesting and fun because it was inspired by two people so I combined the ideas together. The first was the Sound Effects Story where the directions said to tell a story without words and the second inspiration was Elizabeth Byrd who gave the instructions to hum a song stuck in your head for her assignment called Humming Away. For mine I edited audio using Audacity and I added a twist to mine by making my character Runa hum a song that she is listening to in her headphones while she is walking through a battle completely unbothered. The humming is upbeat but there is still a slight tone of sadness showing that she is aware of the violence happening around her. The humming audio is from TikTok, and for added sound effects I used angry mob yelling, boot steps on sidewalk, gun shots and also laser gun sounds because in a futuristic city I am sure they would also have futuristic guns. To portray movement I used the boot step sounds and also stopped the gun shots sound effects midway of the audio as a way to show that she passed them and when she makes it to the end she stops humming before she leaves to signify that she doesn’t need to drown out the noise anymore. Also the title of my post is called The Eye of the Hurricane because Runa is calmly walking and humming along while fighting is happening around her, and the eye of a hurricane is known as the moment of calmness during the storm.

Dysfunctional Home

You can’t choose your family nor control their actions as things easily go from bad to worse in seconds. Being a kid while hearing your family fight can be unbearable so I dare you to spend a few seconds under the roof of a dysfunctional home. Beware that the sounds chosen may be slightly triggering if you’ve been in this child’s position before.

So how do you feel? Stressed? Overwhelmed? Those are the first words that come to mind after listening each time for me. For this post I got my inspiration from the assignment called Auditory Hell where the directions said for you to create your worst sound ever. For me, I hated family drama growing up so I tried to replicate the sounds using Audacity. I used the sound of adults arguing, a baby crying from hearing all the loud noise, a fire alarm blaring because no one is paying attention to the food burning in the kitchen, and a dog barking as a reaction to all the high energy of the drama around him. My original audio clip was supposed to be longer but I found the sound upsetting and thought the short version still proved my point about how stressfully overwhelming a dysfunctional home can be.

Celeste City

Welcome to Celeste Cit- HEY! WATCH WHERE YA GOING!

Listen come here. I’m gonna give you a little tip. This bustling city ain’t for the weak so you better toughen up or get eaten alive. If you see anything, no you didn’t. Its none of your business so stay out of it. The cops come snooping around like starving hounds on the prowl every now and then so it might be in your best interest to avoid ’em unless you wanna be interviewed every time to see what you know. Any secrets about the rebellion and what not. Oh, speaking of the rebellion, their name’s the Claws. They do underground work tryin to overthrow the government and their members are scattered all across the city. Trust, you do not wanna get in their way. Especially that smug brat they call the Shadow, she may look young but I witnessed her easily take down three cops with my own eyes. Aye don’t give me that look, there’s nothing to fear. They’re good folk on an actual righteous mission to save people like you and me while those rich pigs in the government try to keep us beneath their boots. But that’s all for now. So once again, welcome to Celeste City. And good luck . . . you’re gonna need it.

The Inspiration

This post was inspired by Create a Place from the assignment bank which gave the directions of using sound to create a place. For mine I chose to bring Celeste City to life since that is where my character Runa Starr aka the Shadow lives. I used Audacity for my audio editing. Since it is a cyberpunk themed city I thought it would be cool to make it based off of New York city so I used audio sound effects from the city like sirens, people talking, car alarms, and the sound of footsteps are also included to portray walking on the sidewalk. Lastly, I added in spaceship sound affects in the background because in a futuristic city I am sure they would have highly advanced technology like aircrafts. My script above was originally supposed to be included in the audio with an Ai generated New York accent voice, but none of the free voice generators sounded realistic enough and the other apps like Canva required payment for using long scripts for voice acting. So instead I just made the script readable while the Celeste City sounds play in the background.