As I stated in the last blog, this one is going to be a very long one. I know you are really eager to see the final product, but you will need to wait a bit... unless you decided to scroll to the bottom. To those who didn't immediately scroll to the bottom because you are actually an amazing person, here is my thoughts about the project as a whole.
You've probably already read my other blog posts and the thoughts I had with each specific step. I didn't know what the final product would look like, so most of the time I was just commenting on how I felt at the time. Let's start from the beginning: Decision Day.
Technically the "Decision Day" blog isn't the first blog post I did, but it was probably the most important blog I created. It was the turning point of the entire project. Just to recall your memory, decision day was when I decided whether to create a short two minute opening of a film or four pages of a magazine. At the time, I thought that the magazine would have been more doable than the film. I can now confirm that the film would have not only been harder, but also borderline impossible for me to accomplish. I know that I could come up with a killer plot for a film. Heck, I could even storyboard in the same day. But the problem was getting the videos. I had no time during winter break to film.
I traveled to Las Vegas and Arizona with my family for the majority of the break. When I did come back, not only was I tired, but it was also New Year's Eve. I don't know about you guys, but my family takes the whole day to celebrate the new year (even though we couldn't invite anyone). So what would that leave me with two to three weeks to do all of the shooting, editing, and polishing. Yeah... no. That would not have worked out. I'm very happy that I saved my self all the trouble and chose the magazine project.
I'm going to go over this next session pretty quickly because I already covered most of it before. When I was deciding whether to pair or not, I really had to consider the pros and cons to each side. I know that I don't work well with most people; but I also, knew for a project like this, I needed someone who could help me if I get stuck. Paring up was a very good decision. It actually worked out for both Bailey and I. Every time someone needed help, 99% of the time the other could help out. If I didn't have Bailey, I probably would have had to rush this more than it already is. So thank you so much Bailey for being my partner for this project.
So when I was choosing a topic for the magazine, I needed to make sure that it was something both me and my partner, Bailey, could do. By that, I mean it has to be something we could both write about and get pictures for. That is why we quickly jumped to doing a magazine about pets. It was a good idea since both Bailey and I have pets and we know people who own pets. It would be easy to get pictures and interviews. And it was.... for Bailey. For me, I had to rush it a bit with the pictures and interviews. Thank God for the internet to get the interviews. Even though my parents surprised us with the trip, I probably should have seen it coming (even though we are in the middle of a pandemic). But, I was still able to get it done.
I think I should have chosen something easier, like home living, but I'm honestly happy we chose animals. It let me go out a bit in a time where we can't really go out much. So that was nice. I had a blast getting the pictures and interviews. I know you guys couldn't really listen to the audio from one of my interviews, but if you did, you would know that if was fun... mainly because Maddie kept climbing on my mother and I during the conversation. Fun times!
When writing the article, I wanted to make it like a scientific review with a few personal stories sprinkled throughout. If you have read my previous blog post, then you will know that I said that water dripping from a pipe is much more interesting that whatever the heck I wrote. The reason I went for a scientific approach first was because I only know how to write two things: journal article reviews and argumentative essays. I can also write very detailed non-fiction fantasy stories, but that doesn't apply here.
Anyway, after realizing my mistakes, and getting the interviews, I started to change the writing in my article from a journal article review, to a semi argumentative essay. For starters, I ditched pretty much all the scientific research but one. I figured that one was enough to get my point across. Then I used most of the interviews and had that as the center of my article. After all, the magazine was supposed to show how pets helped their fellow humans. What better way to show that than having their owners go on and on about how they positively changed their lives. If I ever need to write another article, I think I will take it on as an argumentative essay to prove something. It won't be anything that will change the views of the audience drastically, but definitely something to get my point across.... you know, maybe I should have chosen a hot topic that people are constantly debating on.... oh well...
On to the editing. So I probably waited longer than I should have to start the editing. It did seem like a very VERY big obstacle so I knew I put it off when I shouldn't have. Eventually when I did muster up
the courage to start editing, I found that it wasn't as hard as I originally thought it would be. Sure, I did feel better with Premier Pro when contrasting it to Indesign; however, after doing some research, I got the hang of it. I do think that overall Premier Pro was easier for me, but it wasn't too hard to adjust to Indesign. I should have just been open minded about the app; it would have saved me a lot of time. Never the less, I still finished it and I think it looks great! I've been rambling for a while so without further ado, here is the almost finished product!
Now when I say "almost finished" it just means that I'm happy with the product I created and I'm still making a few more tweaks for tomorrow. So when you see the four magazine pages tomorrow, there will be a few changes to make it look better. I'm not sure what I'm going to change at this point. I guess that we'll just wait until tomorrow's blog post.
I have to say, I never thought that I'd be kind of sad to stop these blog posts. I know that after tomorrow's blog post, I won't be posting anything else because the project is done. There's nothing left to do. It feels... weird to say the least. I enjoyed doing this project, even though some of it was a bit rushed and made me feel a bit panicked. These blog posts have become kind of a weird project journal/diary to me. I know that's the point, but I've never thought of it like that until recently. Huh... I guess that's just how things are. Funny. Anyway, if you've made it to this point of my rambling, I just want to say thank you for coming on this trip with me. Even if the final product isn't the best out of the bunch or if I get a bad grade on it, I can say that I'm really proud of it and I'm glad that I was able to share it with you. Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. Until next time, farewell dear viewer.
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