My Senior Footprint

Video:

Last week I created a video for my English class. The video was about what I learned in the past 1365 days of high school. I made this video about how time management is an an important thing in high school with the purpose of maybe get a message towards the freshmen. 

Through out the recording and the making of the video I used several techniques of lighting, angles and music. As the film director of this film I made sure each angle of the camera had a meaning. Also I made sure that the music is dramatic as a way of showing my struggle throughout the years. 

High Angle 

Screenshot from “My Senior Footprint” video by: Julio Lopez

High Angle is when the camera is above the subject (looking down). The purpose of why I used this angle is to demonstrate a sense of powerless or trapped. This angle makes the subject look smaller, giving him, in this case myself, an appearance of being weak. 

In this scene Im struggling with my homework and Im just tired of doing it, so I just gave up because I knew I would not finish it in time. 4 years ago I would prefer to go out and play soccer and go to practices instead of finishing homework. So when I got back home I just felt so trapped and stressed out that I ended up doing nothing. 

Side Lighting

Screenshot from “My Senior Footprint” video by: Julio Lopez

In this scene I decided to use a side lighting which is when the actor has one half of the face with light and the other half in the shadows. This can mean that the subject is conflicted mysterious or dangerous. In this case Im trying to show a sense of confliction and struggle. 

In this scene Im struggling with school work and Im really trying to change myself and figure out ways on finishing my work on time but procrastination and poor time management skills keep holding me back from success, hence one side with light and the other one in the shadows. 

Sound:

Photo by Arindam Mahanta on Unsplash

For my video I wanted to have a dramatic song. I feel that orchestras are dramatic so for the start of the video I made sure it was as dramatic as possible because it creates a mood to the video and since Im showing my struggles and failures I wanted to be clear that those were rough times. 

After all the struggles and failures shown in the video I then show how I changed throughout time and how getting better at managing my time help me maintain a balance between sports and classes.  When showing this I made sure to include a more up-beat type song,  in which gives a completely different mood to those watching it. 

Footprint:

Photo by Martin Widenka on Unsplash

The point of all this was for me to show my senior footprint and what I considered to be the most important thing that I learned these past 4 years. I hope this message can go to those starting in High School because I really didn’t think time management was important but now I highly recommend it, it is so important. Specially if you are doing a sport.

I really regret not being organized in my freshman and sophomore year so as my senior footprint I tell you enjoy every moment that you can but always make sure you balance your time correctly. Obviously this message goes to the freshman starting their High School life. 

 

 

 

Alice In Wonderland

Wonderland

I’m going to talk about the techniques used in the film Alice In Wonderland, directed by Tim Burton. I believe that Tim Burton has its own technique, he uses a lot of low key lighting and has a gothic style in his movies.

In Alice in Wonderland, Burton uses a nightmare and scary approach towards the storyline. Alice is a normal girl that as a child had a nightmare about a fantastic world called Wonderland, little did she know that the dream she had was real. She then grew up to realize that wonderland is a world created by her and she had to save this fantastic world by killing a giant dragon called Jabberwocky. 

Alice In Wonderland by Tim Burton

High Key Lighting

In the image above Tim Burton uses the High Key Lighting technique which can be seen because the scene is just flooded with light, Tim Burton uses this to demonstrate and create a sense of happiness, clarity and peace. The scene takes place on the White Queen’s palace where the Queen meets Alice for the first time, it is the most peaceful and joyful scene in the movie.

This scene can help the audience to realize that when ever they see white in a scene or in a character it means that they are with the White Queen or in the good side. 

Light vs darkness

 

Alice In Wonderland by Tim Burton

In this scene Alice has already killed the giant beast called Jabberwocky meaning that now the crown goes back to the White Queen, this scene can be seen as a Good vs Bad scenario, or light vs darkness. 

The way the Queen dresses herself is also a way to clarify towards the audience that she itself represents peace and joy. In fact almost every time the Queen is the focus point in a scene, Burton uses high key lighting. It is important for the director, in this case Tim Burton, to use high key lighting because it can show a contrast between scenes, giving the viewers a space to understand what the characters mean in the movie and what “side” are they on. In this case the viewers can make a sense of purity in the White Queen and a sense of horror with the Red Queen therefore going back to the Light vs Darkness thing. 

 

Resolution

Alice In Wonderland by Tim Burton

In this scene Alice goes back to reality and tells Hamish that she can not marry him because he is not the right man. This scene represents a moment of clarity for Alice and a moment of revelation and the director chooses the lighting to be bright because of Alice’s freedom from her mother that tells her what to do and how to act. This is the ending scene and as expected high key lighting is used just like in any other movie with a happy ending. 

The scene gives the viewer a sense of things ending and all the loose ends being caught up. The viewer can also relate with the scene because Alice is giving a speech about how she wants to be free and that no one but herself control her life, therefore it is ideal for the director to use high key lighting so that the viewer can take that message and relate to it. 

 

Impact of High Key Lighting

Throughout the movie Tim Burton plays with both High Key Lighting and Low Key Lighting and it gives a big important impact to the movie because it differentiates from good and evil. This can help the viewer to transition better from the tense and scary type of place like the Red Queen’s Castle and transition to the White Queen’s Castle which is more peaceful and less heavy with the shadows, it can be seen as a place to “breath” and take a break from looking at too many shadows and dark places. 

What I like about Tim burton is that he not only plays with the Lighting of the scene but the way the characters dress can also persuade the audience that the White Queen, well she represents all the happy and good things you can think off and whenever she is on scene then everything is going to be okay even if the scene is with a low key lighting. 

The use of different lighting is important in a movie or even in a picture because it creates a mood to the movie and it makes everything so much interesting since the lighting can represent much more than just light. It can represent the mood of the characters at that moment and the actions that they are doing at that moment as well. 

Zombie Apocalypse: Possible?

Do you think a zombie apocalypse is possible? I would say that there is a small possibility that a disease spreads and makes the world more violent, therefore the world becoming a place of survivors and ill people but I don’t really think that it would be like the movies.

The Diary of a Zee

Recently I read a story called “The Diary of a Zee” by Brian LeCluyse. This is the story of a professor that died and came back to life as a zombie and he is recording everything that has happened in the world and how he is slowly decaying and transforming into a zombie. What destroyed humanity in this story was an engineered organism “that would soon clean the Seven Seas of the Great Garbage patches.” This experiment went wrong and killed dolphins and whales while leaving a virus inside of them. First human cases of these virus was Japan and from there it expanded globally. 

 

Photo by Hoshino Ai on Unsplash

I think that there is no way that a person could make a documentation like this since a symptoms of being a zombie is to be intellectually dead, there is no way there could be an intelligent zombie and if this could ever be possible then all normal humans would go extinct because then intelligent zombies would be able to create ridiculous ways to take over the world quicker.  

Zombie Virus

There is a lot of articles and studies to show if a zombie apocalypse is possible but the one that grabbed my attention was a blog made by Harvard Health Publishing because it explains how a zombie virus might spread.

“Although a pandemic that creates zombie-like symptoms is theoretically possible, a real-life zombie apocalypse shouldn’t be high up on our list of worries, says Dr. Schlozman.” with this in mind, it makes me question how would I prepare for a zombie apocalypse? and would I be able to have a diary or some record while being a zombie just like in the Short Story?

If this happens and I am able to maintain a diary of some sort it would be great because I would documentate my daily life as a zombie, it’s like documenting a the second chance you got to live! Sort of… 

Photo by Scott Rodgerson on Unsplash

I would also write about how differently others reacted to the virus and try to “live” my life at the fullest. I wouldn’t worry about “dying” again because I would be the biggest threat from those who are not zombies, so I would just stay away from real humans and enjoy little perks of being a zombie. 

Rhetorical Appeals in Movie Trailers

Rhetorical Appeals are three different elements of the art of persuasion, defined by Aristotle. One of them being “Ethos” which is an appeal for credibility, it establish trust to the reader. The author is trying to portray this credibility with citations and also in some cases by his background, if he/she has a college degree and awards related to the topic. The second appeal is called “Pathos”, this type of appeal is to demonstrate emotions to the reader or viewer. The last and third appeal is “Logos” this is the appeal to logic. 

 

Pathos in Movie Trailers.

Pathos is generally found in movies that are dramatic, this type of Appeal connects to the audience emotions and what makes the viewer feel emotional are the visuals and the music. Personally what makes a movie great is the soundtrack, in the trailers the author is trying to reflect what the movie is about and it is trying to convience the viewer that this movie will make you feel emotional, and he does this by choosing the right soundtrack. Usually Drama Movie Trailers have some kind of slow and inspirational music which comes fluently with the visuals. Trailers often show the viewer the most exciting, funny, dramatic moments of the film and the trailer usually end in the climax point of the film. An example of this is “Collateral Beauty” the trailer portrays sadness, love, happiness and fear (death) this emotions are what make the viewers watch the movie, the music on this trailer is on point and what the producer shows in the 2 minute trailer leaves the viewer wanting more, wondering what will happen. 

 

A Drama film starring Will Smith

 

Ethos in Movie Trailers

In movie trailers is a great way to create credibility towards the viewers that this movie will be the best, by listing famous actors and producers. In this case the main character is Will Smith as Howard Inlet in “Collateral Beauty”. Will Smith is one of the best actors in the world he has done great movies, what else does the viewer need in order to believe that this movie will be great. Besides the actors, the trailer introduces the producer which in this case is David Frankel, he is known for his drama films like “Hope Springs” starting Tommy Lee Jones, this creates credibility towards the viewer. 

 

Logos in Movie Trailers

Trailers can also appeal to Logos by listing the previous awards of the directors and actors to logically persuade the audience. For example in the trailer of “Collateral Beauty” at the end of the trailer the characters are introduced individually by their real names along with their awards or nominees in the oscars or academy awards. Also trailers have different film companies promoting the movie, like lions gate or universal studios. 

 

 

 

Top 5 Tips for Freshmen in High School

Freshman year can be scary at first, since you are new to the school or just because you need to be more mature and start thinking more about your grades. I think these 5 little tips might help you overcome that fear and help you socially and academically throughout high school. I think that if I knew at least these 5 tips things would have been different.

1. Time Management

In freshman year you need to learn better study plans than the ones you had in middle school, high school is a tough year if you don’t manage your time well enough. When I was a freshman I procrastinated a lot, and left homework to pile up, this just got me to stress more and do poor in tests. Procrastination is a bad habit and it can stick with you throughout high school and is no good.

“Some people claim they purposely leave things to the last minute because they work better under stress, but true procrastinators get stressed out by the delay.”  Wall street Journal I agree with this quote because as an “exprocrastinator” I used this as an excused and told my parents that I work better with less time, but it’s not true. It is possible to finish a 2000 word essay the night before it is due but it will not be the same as if you have started a week before, it will be a mediocre paper with big errors since you don’t have time to revise it. Procrastination led me to barely pass freshman year and this habit stayed with me until 10th grade. Until it finally hit me, all I was doing was hurting myself and my future, I changed immediately so that I couldn’t waste the opportunities I had. Time management is key in high school, you need to focus and get organized with school work.

fighting procrastination concept – do it phrase on color sticky notes posted on a cork bulletin board

2. Get To know Your Teachers

     If you get to know your teachers better and your teachers get to know you, then you build a good relationship and that teacher can help you with letters of recommendation or help you with anything you need. Make this possible by participating more in class, don’t be shy. 

For me Freshman year was not easy because I have just moved to the US and besides that english is not my first language and since I was shy at first, I didn’t communicate that to my teachers so they were grading toughly my participation and my writing skills. For those who are new in high school, communicating to your teachers is vital and besides at some point you will need to talk to them, high school teacher won’t be looking for you or pressuring you for a homework. In high school you work independently. 

“With their help, not only will you have them to help you through the college application process, but you will also have a reliable resource to help you beyond the classroom.” (Get schooled )   Teachers are the best source you will have throughout high school and the like the quote stated, teachers can also be helpful for other things that are not academical. Remember that teachers are also mentors, guides, and also sometimes if you keep growing your relationship with them, you might even consider them as friends. 

Teacher helping out students.

3. Talk To The Upperclassmen

I understand that for freshmen this tip might seem crazy, since seniors, juniors and even sophomores may seem intimidating, but also take in mind that upperclassmen have much more experience than you in high school. Besides it’s impossible to avoid them.

Upperclassmen may be the best source for you to know the type of people you should avoid messing around with, they can help you out on which teacher you should talk to if you have a problem and with what teacher you should never misbehave. You can start talking to the upperclassmen if somehow you have a similar class or if you both have the same teacher. Start with small talks and don’t be too sticky or pushy with them instead try to be outgoing. Upperclassmen are not as bad as they seem.

If you play a sport then it is most likely that you interact with them, since the varsity team is full of seniors and juniors.Without me asking they even gave me some tips, academically and how to get coach to like me, so that i could make the varsity team. This is actually how I made friends with the upperclassmen. Since we were a team we had to support each other. During practice or warm ups, I started to talk to them, that’s when I noticed that being an upperclassmen doesn’t necessarily makes you more special than others besides having more experience.

4. Join clubs and sports

Joining a club may be helpful for you to communicate easily with people and expand your social life. It can help you to know people better, to know yourself and to improve some of your skills.

“Soft skills are essentially “people skills” — they’re the skills that allow us to effectively interact with others, like communication, attitude, and work ethic. Participating in a student organization not only teaches you these skills, but also helps you broaden and improve those you already have.” Bently

By joining a club you can increase your community service hours in a fun way along with your friends. Also if you start in a club since freshman year and if you stay in the club until senior year, you can become the president of that club or other important place. This is important for you to put in your resume. For sports is the same thing, as a freshman is difficult to make it to the varsity team but if you commit yourself to the team by going to all practices, by being on time and by impressing the coach  you will be a good candidate for the varsity team for coming years. It is also something important for your resume. Not necessarily you have to choose one or the other, with good time management you could do both things, I highly recommend it. 

A player takes a free kick, while the opposition form a “wall” to try to block the ball.

5. Carry a Snack and Water Bottle

It is important to carry a water bottle and a snack because sometimes between classes you might feel anxiety or if you have a test next period it might help you to relax. Also you avoid going out of class and miss something important while you are getting water from the water fountain that is probably far from your classroom. You also need to keep in mind that some teachers don’t like students eating in their classrooms, so be sure to ask the teacher if it’s ok for you to eat during class.

Since we are teenagers and are in the process of growing we tend to have cravings for food. “Most teens need more calories than adults because they are still growing, have a higher metabolism and are more active.” (eat healthy). This means that it is normal if you are hungry between classes even though you have already had lunch, but be carefull with the food you choose to consume this does not mean you need to eat junky food. Be smart on the food you choose to eat between class or during class. 

Examples of healthy snacks you can eat throughout the day or between class

The Art of Presenting Soccer

 

Picture by deport.com

How Cristiano Ronaldo presents himself.

Cristiano Ronaldo is known to be the best soccer player in the world, he has won 3 ballon d’or which is the price for best player in the world, with his team Real Madrid he has won more than 8 major cups. Although some people have a bad image for him for example people think he is  arrogant, not supportive with his teammates, selfish and cocky. But Cristiano Ronaldo is just believing in himself, he is trustworthy. 

Carmine Gallo wrote a article titled “70% Say Presentation Skills Are Critical For Career Success”  and he said that “The fear of presenting is very real among professionals in corporate America today” this quote is related to Cristiano Ronaldo because since he is known to be the best in the world then he needs to perform well at all times and carry the team throughout the games and when he doesn’t then his image comes back to the one who is arrogant, selfish because he doesn’t pass the ball to his teammates and that is why people fear to present themselves, because of the negative responsiveness people might have towards them. 

Famous quote from Cristiano Ronaldo presenting himself

Credit to ;Google images

This quote can refer to the video “Avoiding Death by Powerpoint” since the presenter says that “If it isn’t written, Write it yourself”. Cristiano Ronaldo has become the best player in the world and he is still doing more impressive things that the world has not seen in soccer before. A lot of people criticize him for being arrogant and selfish but outside the pitch he has donated billions of dollars to charity. He even said in a interview that he will never do a tattoo because he constantly donated blood, the saddest thing is that many people don’t see this but the good thing is that he is not doing it so that people see that he is actually good but because he wants to feel good with himself and coming from a poor family, now he can do something to help those people that are in situations similar to when he was a kid. I think thats the image and the presentation soccer players need to seek in order to be successful, without humbleness you cant be successful.

WHAT IS SUCCESS?

Success is to accomplish a goal wether if it is a personal goal that only satisfies ourselves or an accomplishment that  effects others, it is also a feeling of satisfaction that you have accomplished something and move ahead from where you were before. I believe that you don’t need to let other people determine your success or make your success depend on others.  Success can be measured in different ways, for some being successful might be having a big house and a net worth of millions for others it might be having a small apartment with a stable job that he/she enjoys.

Courtesy of Unsplash 2016 Dino Reichmuth

Success in my athletic life (Soccer)

In my home country (Honduras) soccer or is a very popular and common sport for a young kid to play, so since I was a kid I was fascinated by it. But throughout the years of learning how to play it I’ve had a lot of failures that made me think if this sport was meant for me.

 

Some of my “friends”, told me that I wasn’t good enough to play, because I wasn’t strong enough or quick enough to be a defender and that I was crazy thinking that I could make it to the team. This reminds me of a passage in the book “Success Principles” , the author Jack Canfield states “Don’t let anyone talk you out of your vision” (Canfield 36) my vision was to play as a defender for my school team, I didn’t pay attention to those who wanted me to just give up. Long story short, with hard work and dedication I accomplished my goal and made it to the team as a starting player, not only that we had a clean sheet season, meaning no goals conceded. This was a success for me and the team.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

THE YELLOW NOTEBOOK 

In the book The Success Principles, there is a short anecdote that talks about Canfield going to a self-esteem workshop in which he had to seat in a chair that had a color notebook, some were blue, yellow, red, or blue. The one he sat on was yellow and he thought to himself “I hate yellow. I wish I had a blue one” then the coordinator of the Workshop said that if they don’t like the color of the notebooks then “trade with someone else and get the one you want. You deserve to have everything in your life exactly the way you want it.”

The first time I read this I remembered that I have taken decisions in which I didn’t like the position I was in so I did something to change that. For example last year I tried out as a goalkeeper for the varsity team, it was a tough challenge for me but I knew that I could overcome it even though I wasn’t tall enough. I made it to the varsity team as a goalkeeper but as a back-up, I had failed in my goal and all I wanted was play time. So I talked to the coach and told him that I didn’t like to be a backup goalie and that I would like to play as a defender, which was my original position. He agreed but with the condition in which i needed to work twice as hard so that I would not be in the bench, so I did. I worked hard and that’s how I succeed to have what I wanted the way I wanted.

Since I started reading this book I have been applying principles like “the yellow book” in my life and it has worked well.

I have learned that people, including me, don’t do things or ask for a “blue notebook” because he/she is afraid of failure or of people telling you “no”. People telling you no is already a chance but the way how you can turn it into a yes its better than saying “I would have say that, I would have done this” but “would have” its an inexistent time, the time is now and the past is past and the future is uncertain, so its better to do things the way you want it and ask for them for you to have a better future than just to think of a future in which in your mind that person told you “no you can’t do that”. Its better to change that imaginary “no” in your head and turn it into a certain yes or no answer by actually asking for the things you want in life. Taking no as an answer is not failure. 

 

 

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