2-17 June, two whole weeks, four of us from the class went on an Amsterdam trip for a Journalistic Student Exchange Program. Sure, we had some fun and loads of work, but even more when we got back and realised what the whole class was working on while we stayed away abroad. One word, really, but enough to make us gape in stressed realisation of the responsibilities crashing into our lives -

FLASH.

On the next day itself I came back to class, and the first lecturer I saw was Mr. Alex who grinned and said 'welcome back'. Oh I knew there was surprise waiting within the screens of Mac computers; big surprises indeed, when we began the class and he resumed working on the students with the amazing software application of Flash.

I only vaguely remember what we did, but the process of how we did it, I can't promise I remember quite well though. I recall learning how to create the masking effect using flash, whereby we could apply a layer which covered the rest of our background, except for a spot where it revealed bits of the background by moving it around. (Okay, maybe that's not the greatest explanation, but perhaps you can see for yourself when I finally upload my portfolio.) Also, the main thing we learned during that lesson was how to create scrollable text, of which there was simple but very necessary coding to be done, and the vital action script provided by Mr. Alex (I swear without that the scrollable text effect can never be achieved, so essentially speaking, we only know half of how to create it).

Nevertheless, it was pretty interesting, and certainly a lesson that got me back into routine, a well-versed reminder of the (possibly torturous) days to come when I have to learn what I missed for the past two weeks. (My friends have actually used the software to draw a human face already!) Thank goodness Mr. Alex will give us an intensive course on Flash itself on Monday, as well as a recap/revision before our final practical exam later on. Oh God help me I just hope everything will turn out fine.

Though we (the Amsterdam exchange students) were physically based in a country 6 hours apart from our own, we still had to work on finalising our PSA video and poster, as the deadline was just around the weekend corner. In other words, we rushed it, both the video and the poster. My other groupmates helped work on the video-editing process, while I was in charge of the poster part. I took a nice evening to sit down on a proper date with Photoshop, and as quickly as possible, completed this poster to accompany our PSA video, both as a submission for the competition and also to serve as a submission for our Visual Communication assignment. After some bits of advice from Ms. Ivy, the completed version was good to go! And here it is, the print version of our message, to compliment the hard work of our video. I only pray hope all's good, including the marks.

Okay so that's what's in my imagination when you mention 'garage band'. Like some messy space where people get together to make music.

But nah, that's not the case of GarageBand in Mac computers. It's clean and organised, even if it's a space for exploring creativity in music. This week we got in touch with this interesting software application. Throughout the lesson, we were taught how to insert music tracks into the making of our song, record real-life sound and voices, alter the volume and pitch of whatever song we were doing, and even play with the piano (literally) on the keyboard. And in times like these I'm kinda glad that I actually do know what I'm playing on the both keyboards!


All was fun with the clicking and mixing and playing. Then. We had to compose our own song of 30 seconds. I can't compose my own song, even if it's 30 seconds; really honestly, this mixing music thing is so new to me that I couldn't grasp how to do it. So I didn't know what 'thing' was it, that I came up with. But the others did pretty amazing, some of my classmates had pretty good mixes that sounded legit, at least. Which proves that, in the end, maybe you don't quite need instruments to make music.

Midterm break was the perfect time to begin shooting our video. Us girls gathered in campus for an early shooting session at 8am, and completed all the close-up shots required in our story. According to plan, we also had a scene where we needed to use the hotel room at Ruemz; unfortunately that plan for the day was cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. Oh well, we would have to postpone those few shots for next week instead. Overall, it was a wonderful experience working with these lovely girls. Can't thank them enough for their patience, understanding, compromising, and going to the airport all the way even though I couldn't make it for the trip. I suppose sometimes all it takes is a collaborative project for people to get together and know each other, just a little bit more at least.

After the lecturer's approval of our group's storyboard, we can actually start the whole process of filming according to our own schedule. Thus is has been decided between us that we would begin shooting after our midterm week, when we will have a break long enough for us to concentrate on this project.

Shivany from our group owns  a DSLR, so that would be used for the shooting process. It is also mutual agreement that she will be the main character of our PSA video.