Mekanism.

I was thrilled to be able to experience a second visit to a new media corporation because I learned so much when I visited Beyond Pix last school year. This year, I was to visit a corporation named Mekanism. They are a media based company who focus on creative story-telling when creating their projects. As the elevator doors opened, my eyes were pulled in by the vibrant colors painted on the walls, their choice of furniture, and basically the whole interior design. The first thought that popped in my mind was, “I’d love to walk into this environment everyday.” Each room we went into had a whole new different story when it came to furniture and color choice. There was also a room that consisted of the same layout as the DSA lab, just less windows, darker furniture, carpet, and double screens for each worker. I noticed that the employees were laid back and that there were a lot of people that were working on the couches and on other tables that were obviously not their desks. They also had a lot of food in their bookshelves and counters, and also gaming systems in almost every room. The worksite also gave me a sense of ease that if one day I was to work for a company, such as Mekanism, I would be able to feel at home even if I had extended work.

This visit thought me a lot about the media industry itself and the different experiences of various employees that really opened my eyes to the multimedia field. One of the most interesting things I learned is that there are so many other significant jobs in the media industry, such as the people that handle the business aspect, that even if you cannot compete with the creativity of other people you would still be able to surround yourself with media. Another concept I learned that I thought was such a great surprise was that the CEO does not do anything that involves the creative work because he handles the business aspect of the company and he handles the clients. Lastly, I thought it was really nifty to learn that there are people who work at the company who does not like ads in their daily lives even though the company creates ads, but they do like media so they work in the areas of website coding and other underlying bolts of the bringing the media to the public.

Overall, I learned a lot more about the media industry and I would love to go on another visit. I really would love to be able to have more hands-on experiences during the visits instead of basically just watching their work. I think that if there were different activities involved, our minds would also be much more involved. We want to see comparisons of the made project to items which were in the project, employees showing us a variety of the programs they use, and maybe even to share with us their journey to how they got their jobs. However, I really do think these visits help get our minds thinking of what really want to do with our future and by this time we really do need as much help as we can.

What Makes You Happy?

“Who We Are” Photography!

Who Ganda? You Ganda!

The Legacy of Imperialism Project c/o 2012

*About the Competition
As I got ready in the morning, I got to school early to practice my slides. I really expected to being a nervous wreck before my team & I presented, but I was not. I was calm in the beginning, became nervous as the first few groups presented, but after the fourth presentation my nerves had been calmed and I was simply enjoying every moment. In between presentations, I would glance at my huge notecard to read and memorize the key points of the slides that I was having difficulty remembering. I also made sure that my partners were doing the same. Overall, the three of us made sure that we were relaxed and to practice. The moment we had to go outside to practice, reality struck me that we really needed to practice together for the last time. I even stretched! I was making sure that I was relaxed because I usually mess up on presentations when I over-think or I stress too much before I present. I also made sure the rest of the team knew their stuff so I wouldn’t have to worry so much about them. As the applause started for us to go up, my nerves didn’t even start! However, once it was my slide, my body started swinging and my words would come out mispronounced, and it would make me even more nervous, but I kept on going. I was glad that I practiced by myself, with my group, and in front of the class because it sure did give me a preview of how it would feel like to be up there. The judges really did not make much of a difference with my nerves because I did not really know them. At the end, I was simply relieved but I had to say, “we worked this WHOLE semester, sacrificed my blood, sweat, and tears for 10 minutes!” How craaaaazaaay! However, I’m so proud of my team, the DSA class of 2012, and simply for myself, and I never felt so accomplished until imperialism. I’m glad that I was one of the people that were able to experience this project and I will bring this on for the rest of my life. Thank you classmates, thank you teachers, thank you DSA, & thank you Randy! I love you all! (:

Career Exploration Visit: Beyond Pix

Visiting Beyond Pix has really educated me about how a broadcasting and multimedia company works on a daily basis. Before the visit, I created an image in my mind that we would be seeing everyone hustling to get everything done without even pause for breath. I was also expecting to see a really large room that was covered with art, where the workers would all be collaborating with each other. In addition, I thought that I would see all these different editing programs and high-end equipment that I would never have thought would be in this century. I was hoping to learn about the lifestyle of the employees their experiences were as they started their career in the multimedia industry.

Right when we walked into the building, many of my assumptions were proven to be false. We were greeted by a man named Brian O’Connell, who we later found out was the main actor in their introduction video on Beyond Pix website. As we were guided through the stairs and into one of the work areas, I noticed that there weren’t many desks and there wasn’t any commotion. The place just had this laid-back and relaxed atmosphere. The large room and the hustling that I expected were definitely not in there! Our guide was telling us how a man that used to work for KPIX started the company in his living room. What I found the most interesting was our guide’s story of his entry-level job as a Production Assistant, or “P.A.” He was telling us how he would do the weirdest jobs such as walking a famous actress’ dog or running to the store to pick up last minute items. He added, “Almost everyone starts off being a P.A. unless they’re the founder’s daughter or something, but the importance of being P.A. is to experience being around a set when they are shooting.” Afterward, we got to meet the rest of their team, from the Assistant Editor to the Animator. We got to hear their stories of how they had gotten to their position in the company now. It’s amazing how most of the workers told us that even if you were the best at any aspect of multimedia. You would not get anywhere if you don’t have the passion for what you do. Then, we were able to interact with some of their equipment and I was really thrilled! We got to learn about their broadcasting area, where famous people on the news do their interviews so they don’t have to fly across the country to do a 10-minute interview. In addition, we got to test out the teleprompter and I learned that there is someone that controls the scrolling speed of the words.

In one day, I was able to have a preview of how business of multimedia and broadcasting works. I learned that they did not have fixed hours since they could be called in at 4 in the morning to do a live broadcast. I also loved hearing the fact that the company is like a family, since they are around each other so much. In addition, I learned that each worker had his or her individual part for each project, so everyone contributes and everyone has significance. However, I wanted more interaction with the equipment and I really wanted to see the film set in progress or even a live broadcast. At the end of the day, I walked away with so much more knowledge about multimedia business than I could have imagined.

U.C. Berkeley Reflection

In all fifteen years of my life, I had never stepped foot on a college campus such as U.C. Berkeley.  I did not imagine to see and to hear most of the facts that I had learned about U.C. Berkeley’s admissions and campus life. Most of the facts that I learned helped open my eyes to what I am supposed to achieve to attend a college such as U.C. Berkeley. The various facts I learned from research had already been somewhat of an eye opener. In addition, a lot of my astonishment came from the whole physical appearance of the large campus. Also, the tour of the campus really helped to the basic concept of what type of college I wanted to attend.

Visiting U.C. Berkeley made me realize and learn so much more than just reading their website. At first, I always heard that only students who had higher than a 4.0 grade point average were accepted, but I learned that they even take those that have a 3.5 grade point average. However, I’m still glad that someone told me that they only accept students with a 4.0 grade point average because it really galvanized me to take honors classes and to take leadership. In addition, I expected to see everyone in class, but instead I saw protesters, students showcasing their clubs, students eating out, and students just outside enjoying the great sun. What I appreciated learning the most was what the application is like from the perspective of current students attending U.C. Berkeley. Our tour guide told us that there are two personal statements in the form of an essay that is also part of the application. Community service is also asked for on the application. A lot of my astonishment also came from the sight of the very large buildings and structures that inhabit the campus. I was also amazed at the fact that the students could just leave the campus whenever they wanted without being surrounded by large fences. In addition, I was not expecting  the people that you stay with in the dormitories could also be like the Digital Safari Academy, a family that we can rely on for fun and support. Lastly, the tour guide informed us that there were classes that had 900 students! I really was amazed about that fact because I could hardly imagine a class with fifty students.

Through the visit and the preparation for the visit, I have learned such a variety of useful facts that will be with me for the rest of my life and most importantly, my college life. For one, I really had no idea that jobs and colleges looked for students that have done community service. The college visit has also encouraged me to not just try to survive through high school by passing my classes, but to thrive through high school by trying much more challenging courses and to learn valuable skills while I am still in high school. I really hope to expand all of my skills through school and by means of community service. Hopefully, our Digital Safari Academy family will be able to take more tours of varying colleges and universities in different locations.

My First Semester in the DSA <3

My first semester in the DSA was so much more exciting than what I was expecting when I signed up. When I first sat in front of the computer in the DSA, I just expected to learn photoshop and a few other aspects. When we first started learning photoshop, I was expecting to know a lot of it since i’ve been using it at home, but I was soon proved wrong. In photoshop, I learned how to use the clone tool, which is so amazing, as well as other tools that I really had no clue what to use them for! During the first couple of weeks or so, I had learned so much more about photoshop and when we were editing pictures, I learned how to remove the color from certain things in a picture but not affecting the rest.

Then after, we started on our own projects that symbolized our individual selves such as the triptych and the ‘I am From’ poem. Personally, the triptych was one of my favorite assignments because I had so much freedom when it came to what my heart wanted to put on there. It was truly a great assignment to begin the year with! However, the ‘I am From’ poem was when I had difficulty because the illustrations had to represent the words and the whole concept of the poem that I had written. But overall, it came out some what the way I wanted it to come out. Next in store for us was photography, which was really fun since we got to see how we worked with other people when it came to who was taking the picture and who or what we were taking pictures of. At first, I really wanted to take pictures but I realized I had so many pictures and the rest of the people in my group barely had any, so I gave up most of two days of taking pictures so everyone else could catch up. Now, we’re in the process of learning Bryce, which is my second name by the way! (HAHA, it’s weird hearing that over and over) I think Bryce is so awesome because it’s in 3D! We also get to make different scenes of nature and it just seems so cool. However, with coolness comes difficulty and indeed it’s difficult because you have to be patient when it comes to moving the objects and adding shapes with other shapes, this truly tests my patience!

All of the assignments we did were so fun, but what I really enjoyed doing the most was the ‘Histories of Our Families’ project. I feel like this project brought up so many things out of me that always bottled up. I also think that this project helped so many other people appreciate someone in their lives that they never took time to appreciate. I also loved seeing all the pictures of my family and everyone else’s. Also, during the time we were working on the project I got to talk to Randy more often, which I really needed at the moment. Last but not least, I really loved the presentation days, watching everyone’s projects, and semi-dressing up. Thanks DSA, thanks Randy!

Photo Portfolio #1

It’s been a while since we really posted something big, but here are the pictures that I’ve edited that I took  and other people have taken. I chose to put these three pictures because the serve a main purpose of showing most of the steps I did to the rest of the pictures. For the picture on the upper left, I fixed the contrast and brightness by adjusting the “curves”. I’ve also used the process of creating a new layer, filtering it with gaussian blur, and changing the layer mode to ‘overlay’, which I done for multiple photos. To top the icing on the cake, I’ve added lighting that mainly focused on the center. Next, on the bottom left picture I simply posterized and masked. After, I fiddled with the curves and put a little of the gaussian blur process similar to the photo I just explained, just that I lowered the opacity. Lastly, the third photo was just a process of messing with the curves, messing with the saturation, and adding a lighting effect. Overall, I feel like I’ve done a good job with the photographs just that there are some that I’m not that thrilled about. I also think that I could’ve made a wide variety of different effects on the different photos, but what held me back was that I didn’t want to hide the main focus, which was the person, under all the effects. Simplicity is just quite delightful to me.

The Rest of the Photos

Thankful Wednesday

On this Wednesday, I am thankful for J’mar, the little kid I babysit. I love this kid because he’s like a little brother I never had and never wanted, haha. But anyway, he gets really annoying but he knows how to comfort me when I cry. He’s only 6 but his dad was a scientist that abused the drugs in his lab, so now he has no dad other than a “dad-figure”. His mom only graduated high school so his life is pretty hard. He’s a strong little boy that has a big heart, but a lot of his teachers and people don’t see it because they just see a greedy, hypher little kid but during the years that I’ve babysat him, I’ve seen a nicer side. So I am thankful for J’mar.

Thankful Monday

I am thankful for Japanese people! First and foremost, I’m thankful for Japanese people because of their food. I absolutely love Japanese food so much that I could really be Japanese. Seriously, I like cuisines from Thailand, India, China, Mexico, and of course, the Philippines, but Japanese food is what I could live on. I love my culture’s food but there’s dishes I don’t really like. But anyways, I love sushi! Eddie and I go to Japantown in San Francisco just to get our favorite dragon rolls since the taste is much more different. Plus, I live on tons of udon when I’m at home. The noodles, the teriyaki, tempura, origami, and those pretty cherry blossoms. Japanese things are great. So that’s why I’m thankful fon Japanese people because of all the great Japanese things and food.

P.S. I missed the blogging for yesterday because Eddie and I were doing so many errands for my mom, then he dyed my hair back to black for me! Then, we tried making our [boy/girl]friendship bracelets which were super hard. Later that day, he fixed this towel that was hanging in my bathroom like the towels in hotels where there’s a little pouch, haha. He’s amazing!