Author Archives: Live It Up with Liv

Week 7 Weekly Summary

Starting Off

This is rare for me to say, but I was actually motivated to start the week. I started off with commenting on other people’s posts, as well as starting to think of ideas for the assignments this week. My mind started flowing with ideas for what to do, so throughout the weekend, I will start narrowing it down to the story and propaganda poster that I truly want to do. I also started on looking at other people’s creation in order to find ones that my course character, Veronica Malone, would love! I talk about it here, Vee’s Favorite Digital Projects.

Making a Scene into a News Story

For the news story, I decided to do a article about the Black Mirror episode, Hated in the Nation. I talk about it more in my blog post, Social Media Turns Deadly, but I used Canva in order to create the poster itself, and then wrote out the article basically summarizing the events of the episode, making it sound like an actual newspaper story.

Propaganda
A photo of Lady Liberty with her scales tipped by money, and a large silhouette behind her.

I knew that Veronica Malone would appreciate a poster that talks about the justice system. Specifically the corruption that comes with it. I go more in depth about it in my poster, Propaganda, but I created the design on Canva, and used an iconic symbol of justice, Lady Liberty, with her scales being tipped by money as well as the powerful people behind it. She would support it because she has worked in the justice system, and seen the corruption first-hand. She believes in standing up for the forgotten, as well as making sure that those who do not have power or money have a voice.

Daily Creates

Daily Create #1

A photo of the state of New York in districts, renaming the city of Buffalo as "Snowfalo".

For the first daily create of the week, we were asked to rename a place on a map, which sounds pretty familiar as to something that happened recently. I decided to rename the place where my parents grew up, as well as I did for practically half of my childhood, Buffalo! I renamed it to ‘Snowfalo’, which as you can tell, implies that there is snow for pretty much most of the year.

Daily Create #2

A gif of Chris Evans in the movie Knives Out.

For the second daily create, we had to make a gif from our favorite movie! My favorite movie of all time is Knives Out! I love murder mysteries, so when I saw Knives Out for the first time, I was immediately in love with it. The cast is stacked with stars like Christopher Plummer, Jamie Lee Curtis, Chris Evans, and so many others. The details behind it truly makes it shocking when it is revealed who the culprit is, but yet you are mad that you didn’t see it sooner. For the scene I picked, I did a scene that I quote a lot, which is Chris Evans just saying “…yup!”. A simple, yet effective line delivery!

Daily Create #3

A photo of a chair, with a computer and keys on it outside.

For the last daily create, we were asked to take a photo of what it would look like opposite of our own perspective. I was sitting outside since it was so nice out, so I thought this picture was cool!

Overall

Overall, it was a pretty good week! I was able to manage my time wisely, and I had a lot of fun making the propaganda poster, as I could relate it to the times we live in now, as well as something my character would support. So ready for spring break (and hopefully) warmer weather!

Social Media Turns Deadly

A newspaper clipping summarizing the events of the Black Mirror episode, Hated in the Nation.

For this assignment, I wanted to do the Black Mirror episode we had to do a video essay on last week, Hated in the Nation! I found this episode to be very interesting, so I knew I wanted to do a news article as the events in the episode sound realistic to me (which is very sad). I used Canva in order to find a template, and then from there wrote an article that summarized the crimes committed throughout the episode. I found a photo of the main character, Karin, off of Google. The photo is of her in the courtroom, to show that the article happens after the events of the episode. I then created a title, which is pretty relevant to our class theme, Tech-Noir Times. Overall, it was fun to experiment with this template in order to get my message across!

Vee’s Favorite Digital Creations From the Week

When scrolling through everyone’s creations and work throughout the week, I was able to pick out a few of her favorites! Whether they are entertaining or if they convey an important message, here are a couple of Vee’s favorite digital creations.

Propaganda

I think Vee would really appreciate Flower Bed’s propaganda poster! The messaging behind it is very important, as nowadays a lot of people are stuck to their screens. Technology was made in order to make our lives easier, but has it created an addiction among some individuals that can’t be reversed? This is something Vee would acknowledge, as she prefers old-fashioned methods when it comes to her missions.

PSA

Another favorite of hers is a PSA that Rylie made! It replicates the emergency broadcasts that we hear today, but added a fun narrative of the several voice assistants such as Siri or Alexa going rogue. It goes along with our theme for the class very well. Vee would appreciate the story of the voice assistants taking over because again, she likes relying on herself instead of technology. The idea of technology taking over isn’t a stretch for her.

Newspaper

Lastly, she would love Coni’s newspaper clipping from The Terminator! The design of it, as well as how it describes the event makes it sound like it actually happened! Vee likes the Terminator movies, and would love the thought process and creativity behind the clipping itself.

Propaganda

A photo of Lady Liberty with her scales tipped by money, and a large silhouette behind her.

Vee Malone would back this poster because she’s seen firsthand how justice isn’t blind, it’s bought. She’s worked cases where the powerful walk free while the innocent get buried, and she knows the system isn’t built to protect everyone—just the ones who can afford it. This poster speaks to her core beliefs, fighting for the forgotten, exposing corruption, and making sure no one gets erased just because they don’t have money or influence. She doesn’t trust institutions to fix themselves, but she believes the truth can still make a difference. With making the poster itself, I used Canva in order to design it. I knew I wanted to include Lady Liberty, as she is a symbol of justice. I found a photo of her holding the scales, yet they are tipped due to money being on one side. Then, the large silhouette behind her is to represent the rich and powerful people who tend to tip the scales in order to serve themselves. Also, I did a “money green” background to emphasize the meaning behind the poster. Finally, the powerful message, “The System Protects The Powerful, Who Protects You?”. It is pretty self-explanatory, but it is also a call-to-action for people to take notice of what is going on in the justice system.

Week Six Weekly Summary

Starting off

I went home this weekend! So I did not get an early head start to my work, but I was able to throw a few comments onto people’s blogs, as well as start looking at possible video assignments to do. After I got back to school, I was pretty motivated after my quick break to get started.

Revisiting Goals

The first assignment of the week was to revisit the goals we made at the beginning of the semester. I go more in depth in my post, Revisiting Goals, but overall, I feel that I have achieved becoming a bit more adversed in digital media and projects. Also, I have been able to think outside the box more and use creativity in order to make my projects stand out.

Daily Creates

Daily Create #1

A teal bicycle

For the first daily create of the week, we just had to post something about bikes! Whether it be our bikes, someone else’s bike, or just anything about bikes. I chose to add a photo of my bike (although it is from google but it looks similar). Also, I saw a fun fact that there are roughly about 1 billion bikes in the world. Which is crazy to think about cause thats about an eighth of the population.

Daily Create #2

For the last daily create of the week, we had to share what our “safe haven” was. My first thought went to the beach that is about 10 minutes from my house, Sandbridge Beach. If i haven’t mentioned it before, I grew up in Virginia Beach, so I spent my whole childhood by the beach. Whenever I am bored or need something to do or need a place to think, I always go to this beach.

Video Assignments

Assignment #1

For the first assignment, I decided to make a TikTok. The prompt was to just make a TikTok featuring your pets doing anything funny and to add a famous sound or music behind it. I decided to show my dog Jolene playing with one of her favorite toys. This was fun to do, as I miss my pets, as well as I love TikTok, so it allowed me to revisit some fun memories I have of them, as well as use one of my favorite apps to document it.

Assignment #2

For the second assignment, I made a video explaining a bit of Veronica Malone’s backstory, in order to flesh out her character a bit more. I go more in depth in the video, but she starts off working in the criminal justice system, but realizes how corrupt it is after losing a loved one to it. I used ClipChamp in order to edit the video and found free photos and videos from pixabay and canva.

Assignment #3

For the last assignment, to give Veronica more personality, I had her make a Top 10 Movies video. They mostly stay in the genre of crime, thriller, action or murder mystery, but range in time period and style. I voiced over acting as her, which was a challenge as I am not much of a voice actor, so it was hard trying to make it sound natural, but I did my best. I also used ClipChamp for this, as well as found movie posters on google, and other free images on pixabay. This was my favorite assignment of the week, as it was challenging, but fun to figure out her character even more.

Overall

Overall, I found the work this week easy to manage. The daily creates kept me on my toes, and I was quick to find some good assignments that I could do, but also would challenge me. Video editing is something that I have always wanted to work on, so I am glad that I could step out of my comfort zone for this week. Ready for next week!

Vee’s Top 10 Movies

When I saw the Top 10 assignment, I knew I wanted to do it, especially with movies. But, I thought I would make it for Veronica where she could share her Top 10 favorite movies.The genre tends to vary, but also falls under the same theme, with it being crime, thriller, action, or a murder mystery, but they differ in style and time periods. It did take some research in order to find the best rated movies under these genres. They range from Kill Bill Volume 1 to Miss Congeniality. In order to make the video, I used ClipChamp to edit the video and add the audio. I recorded the audio on the voice memos app on my phone, as well as made a script to stick to throughout the video. I tried (emphasis on tried) to act like Veronica would in the audio, but I did the best I could. I then found movie posters on google, and then created graphics on Canva to make a visual for the video, as well as found the background music on Pixabay.com. Overall, this was super fun as it allowed me to think outside the box, and imagine myself as Veronica in order to find her favorite movies.

Veronica Malone’s Backstory

In order to flesh out Veronica, or as I like to call her Vee, as a character even more, I thought I would give a sort of backstory as to why she is in the field she is in now, or why she is the way she is. To give context (but not too much as you will have to watch the video to see), she starts off in the criminal justice system working as a detective, but realizes the corruption that comes with it, and decides to go rogue. This was a bit difficult, as I am not very good at drawing, so visualizing her as a character was hard. So, I decided to keep it ambiguous for now, but still include realistic images and videos in order to accurately recreate her backstory. I found most of these images and videos either from Pixabay.com or from Canva and downloading it. I edited on ClipChamp which is included on Microsoft 365. It is simple and gets the job done as far as completing this assignment. After, I was proud of what I made. It isn’t perfect, but I think it doesn’t look too amateur and gets the story across perfectly.

I Love TikTok

@liv.kern

she has been playing with this for hours

♬ original sound – Jay

As the title very proudly states, I LOVE TikTok. You probably could guess that I was devastated by the potential ban (and did not know what to do in my free time when it was banned for like, a day). But, I enjoy it in the sense that everyone can enjoy it! Any age, any fandom, there is everything for everyone on it. When I saw the video assignment to make a TikTok of your pet to any sound, I immediately wanted to do it. I have four pets, 2 cats (both boys) and 2 dogs (both girls), so I thought I would feature Jolene, the youngest of the bunch. Jolene is still a puppy, so she entertains herself with toys and treats all day. This specific toy is a puzzle/maze that you could hide treats in, and dogs could sniff through and move pieces around in order to get to the treats. When I say that she loves this thing, it is an understatement. She could spend HOURS sifting through the pieces and spinning the wheel in order to find treats. Even if there aren’t any treats, she could still just mindlessly fidget with it all day. One day I decided to take a video of her playing with it, and speeding it up a little just for comedic effect. The music adds to it as I feel this is what plays in her head, 24/7. Overall, I did not really see this as an assignment, more as a fun side quest.

Revisiting Goals

“What I want to get out of this course is to expand my digital presence, as well as get more practice using different softwares to create videos, podcasts, or graphics! I also want to be able to juggle and plan accordingly with my work since I tend to procrastinate! Otherwise, I am pretty excited for the course!”

This was my original statement for what I wanted to achieve in this course! I look back and it feels so long ago (even though it was literally a month ago). Looking at it now, I feel like I have definitely expanded my creativity when it comes to these assignments. When I first saw the prompts for the daily creates or the assignments, at first I would be stumped. But now, I feel like the ideas flow to me pretty easily. If I had to pick a favorite project I have done so far, it would to be either my Bills graphic or the sound effect story. I felt like I had a lot of freedom to do whatever I wanted with those assignments and I was able to do something I was passionate about. Overall, I feel I have semi-achieved my goals so far, and I can’t wait to keep thinking outside the box and creating more digital projects.

Week Five Weekly Summary

Starting Off the Week

I did not want to do ANY work during the snow days but I persisted. Starting off, I commented on my classmate’s posts, as well as just scrolled through some of their blogs.

Daily Creates

Daily Create #1

For the first daily create of the week, we had to edit a national monument in a different environment. With growing up by the beach, I wanted to put Mount Rushmore under the sea! Sort of an underwater monument or Atlantis type deal.

Daily Create #2

For the last daily create of the week, the prompt was pretty silly. It was to give a backstory on why plates of banana’s are randomly appearing in Britain. A lot of people had a similar thought as me, that monkeys had something to do with it. I thought it would be funny to say it is a underground resistance movement by them to take over. This daily create was definitely unique, and it was fun to think outside the box for this.

Video Essay

Then, we had to make a video essay. I decided to watch the episode of Black Mirror, Hated in the Nation. I go more in depth in my blog post linked above, but overall, I really enjoyed making the video essay, and analyzing the shots themselves and how they impact the story. I used Clip Champ on Microsoft to edit it, and I found the scene on YouTube, which is a little low-quality but it was the only one I could find. I then recorded myself talking on the Voice Memos app on my phone, and inserted it into the clip.

Overall

Overall, I think I handled the work this week pretty well, as there wasn’t as much as the past couple of weeks. Making a video essay was very fun, as I love to watch them on YouTube, so being able to make my own was pretty cool!