Movie Poster Promo

Our story's main characters are Catman (Kaz Espina), Professor H2O (Michael Gremse), who are archenemies in the movie. The story is set in a place called Catlandia and in a town called LitterVille. My movie poster is going to have a cat leaping in the middle with the title Cat-tastrophie in LitterVille. For now I only have the title of my movie poster. I still need to make my text pop out a little more.

I used this text that looked like a cat's scratching post and put a yellow and blue text gradient to make it look dramatic. Kerning is a way to make your text to pop out of the page when some one views your creations. When someone is looking at your creation they should see your text first so they have to read it. Kerning includes coloring, spacing, warping, bending, gradient and even more to you text. Kerning makes your text look as good or even better than the image your creating.

On my movie poster I added things like Bevel and Emboss, Drop Shadow and a stroke plus a color around red and orange which made it pop out even more. I'm planning that all my text to have the same effects. I also used a artistic cutout which makes the image using look like a panting but it puts all the colors automatically on it. My last finished product is going to be awesome.

Proactive or Procatination

To be honest I'm both. If I'm feeling lazy then I wont do it that moment but that seems to make me more stressed out. But i'm mostly a procasinator because when it comes to homework on weekends I never do it until Sunday night which then I would have to do it. This wasn't how I always was I used to be proactive and do my homework as soon as I come home. So now I'm basically a procrastinator.

Well in the weekends I would have my free time all the way for two days and then on sunday at night I would do it but only if remember because sometimes I forget. But even if I do my homework as soon as I come home I'll still have the same amount of the work time but I just rather do it later then that moment. The only difference is that if I don't do my homework It'll keep bugging me that I didn't do it. Sometimes on the weekdays very rarely I'll do it as soon as I come back from school. Either way I still have the same amount of free time because I do my homework the same way I do it all the time.

Well my sister used to say the greatest advice anyone give for eighth grade is do your homework and school work as soon you can. Because you might stress at the last minute if You don't do it ASAP. It will effect your grades because if you have a lot of homework then you'll probably wont do it. But I'm probably very far away from that. I need to start changing my habits.

My Visual Poem

KumarR VisualPoem from Kapaa Middle School MEDIA on Vimeo.

My visual poem is about creature and basically how they behave. The visuals made an impact because, some of the clips were funny and beautiful. Some of my lines were very powerful like "Seeing the bright blinding colors of amazing birds." Most of the visuals of my poem weren't that powerful mostly because it didn't match the audio since I couldn't find B-roll at my house that matched.

Since I hadn't had that much time to finish my visual poem I didn't add that much effects. All I added was music which fitted very well with my message. I added one more effect which was the transformation tool but I only did it in one of the clips which was the end clip when multiple ainmal clips were shown at the same time.  One thing I should have added is saturation because some the shots were kind of dull in color. One thing I should have done with the music was create my own sinc the mucis that's on my visual poem wasn't created by me.

Im not completely satisfied with my results for my finished product for many reasons. One if I added more efffects and applicable B-roll my visual poem would have been five times better. I should of worked quicker and harder to get a better final product for my poem. I am glad that I finished in time though, beacause I didn't finish in class and I had to do during lunch recess. That was the only thing I was actually "proud" of.

Finished News Story

P3T6 Science Fair from Kapaa Middle School MEDIA on Vimeo.

My story was about my sister was the only science fair contestant from her school. Her science fair project was about testing streams around Kauai for a pesticide called Atrazine used on plantations on Kauai. She first got the idea of this project when she heard Atrazine was found in school water on the west side of the island. Her story was also about the hard work she had to go through to achieve her goals. The contributors to this project were Lester Garcia Steven Villanueva, Ritikaa Kumar, and Ritikaa's science fair teacher Nicole McKamey.

The final grade of our project was a B. The rough cut grade for me was an A. It looked like I dropped by one grade, this was actually a disappointment for me since I think I deserved at least a low A for what I did. It wasn't a huge disappointment because I still was proud of my grade it wasn't too bad. I think next time I should include all the things he said I had to fix because this time he said I was missing some things.

My critique results were reasonable at the most part. Someone put that are team deserved a one but I honestly don't think that we deserved that because we either got a 3 or 4 but not a 1 or 2. We got mostly 3's so i'm happy I think we had some hard struggles, like finding a third interviewer but other than the struggles this project was rather exciting. I think me and my team did a great job and in my opinion I would put myself in second place in the class. This was a great project and i'm glad it did it.

Real World Report

The article is about scientists and astrologists finding water vapor on an exoplanet. Astrologists have found water vapor and clear skies in a exoplanet which may mean life forms can exist on other places than earth. This planet was 3 times bigger than earth. The planet is the size of Neptune and is called alien planet HAT-P-11b. This was an exciting discovery for scientists and they will keep working on uncovering the secrets of alien planet HAT-P-11b.


I think this is exciting for everyone. If there is even one organism in this planet it would be awesome. This planet looks like the best one to have any kind of life forms on it. I hope some day they could send a space shuttle to the planet to explore the planet. I personally think we should send the shuttle now for it to reach there in thousands of years. I think this is a great discovery and Astrologists should keep looking for things like these.


We should all care becaus ehis could mean so many possibilities. We could finally find new life forms, we could also make a new statement to discribe a living thing. Also if this planet is ever going to get destroyed then new habitibal planets are our last resort. This could change the theory of all llife if the life on alien planet HAT-P-11b is different from life on earth. Lastly we can all learn about new elements found in the planet that arent found on earth.
  

Lessons Learned

The most interesting part about this project is probably the interviewing itself. This part is interesting because you get to learn something about the person even if you already know about them. But it is also pretty hard because you have to make sure the shot is perfect before you shoot anything. Another thing is editing. Editing is fun and exciting because your piecing together your artwork into one single, and beautiful piece. Plus it is really funny to see the bloopers that the camera recorded while filming.

The biggest road block our team handled were mostly small ones but there was one big problem. We had to import the interview by Tuesday morning but that meant we had to film on Monday. We were originally going to do my dad but he said he was busy at the last minute so I had to think of someone that contributed to my sister's science fair and was available. Then it struck me why don't I do the interview on someone who gave Ritikaa the idea of her science fair project, her ninth grade science teacher.

The most valuable part of our science fair project is the way you bring people into the story. This is the way you keep someone from switching the channel. You need to make the story visuals and audio COMPLETELY perfect. The visuals need to be clear bright and amazing. The audio need to be flowing flawlessly without any stuttering. The story need to make you fell attached to the story emotionally and has to make sense.  

Hiki No Behind The Scenes

Our story is about my sister Ritikaa Kumar. She was the only contributor in her school last year for her science fair. Her science fair project was about testing streams around kauai for pesticides. This got her tenth place in the district science fair. What my sister did to accomplish her goals and her struggles that she faced to attend the science fair.

When the camera is not at work it turns into a more intense work time. This is because behind the scenes we have to do things like transcribe, edit, fill out forms like the pitch sheet and the writing tools template. This part is also hard mostly because of the transcribing. For the transcribing we have to write down word for word what the interviewee is doing. The editing is hard because it has to be as clear as possible with out cutting out the crucial parts.

One thing I should do to make my team better is include everyone and give a job to everyone in our team. Two of us in our team were the only ones working while the other one didn't have anything to do. So to solve this problem we came up with a solution, since we all did our parts in the interview that one left out person will do the voiceover. We will also show him our finished work to see if he says it looks fine. Other than this our team is perfectly hard working, cooperative, responsible and we dont argue.

The Expirement

In class we did a photoshop expirement. This expirement was about exploring photoshop. We could do anything we want in photoshop to blog about. It was fun but difficult to figure out what I do.

The oh so right thing about this experiment is we had no rules. This meant we could make anything we wanted. I really liked this idea but I never was let to do something like this so it was hard figuring out what to do. Finally I decided to do the symbol of Hulk. I would of put something cooler if I didn't do at the last minute. There was nothing oh so wrong about this.

Back To School

My favorite moment so far is the that our math teacher is awesome. Mr. Hewitt is our math teacher, he is a good teacher because he teaches in a fun way. But it's too bad that hes going away to canada to live with someone else. Another thing is that i'm making lots of new friends. some of them are sixth graders and some of them are seventh and some of them are eighth.

My biggest challenge right now is the fact that most of my classes are super boring. P1, P2, P5, P6, and P7 are all boring. I have a good feeling that the classes are going to become better. My teachers are telling me that since some classes have 40 kids each. I didn't like that idea I am hoping I would be one of those kids who didn't change classes. I was just getting used to all my teacher and now
I, might have to change classes.

 In order to succeed this year I will pay attention and be more interested in my classes. Last year the classes that were boring, were the classes I had were the times I talked the most, so this year i am going to care about the classes no matter how boring it is. Mr. Nunn our sixth grade AVID and Language Arts teacher says that seventh grade is the time when the student's grades drop dramaticly. It means that if you had straight A's there was a chance in seventh grade you could get one A and rest all B's or C's. 

Metamorphosis Animation

Our class had to do a animation project where we combine all types of animations to tell a story on metamorphosis. My teams main idea was a wizard that had to go to a wedding but on the way there he had to go through a forest where meets challenges. The wizard's challenges were dangerous creature like a dragon and a lion. 85% of the animation was made in stykz, the other 15% was stopmotion, claymation, and flip book animation. We spent tons of precious time on stykz but it payed of because the stykz scenes looked amazing.

If I were to explain the story scene by scene here's how it would go. The first scene was wizard which was going to his wedding but he got picked up by two fingers by the head and got put in this portal        (flip book animation) which took him to the stykz world. after he gets up and runs out of the screen. Then he sees a lion which he turns into a clay ball. After he walks into the next screen a dragon appears which he defeats also. Finally he goes to the wedding after magically putting himself in a wedding outfit.

Our team would of done amazing if only we put the music in the background. This made our video critique have low scores. 

5 Tips On How To Improve a Kickflip

In Quarter 2 I did a project that was about giving 5 tips on how to do something or improve something. We were supposed to take a video of those 5 tips and edit them in Final Cut Pro. The winning team would be on Hiki No. My team mates were Tim and Oriia. Our original idea was to do 5 tips on how to get extra allowance. But then we were behind so we didn't have time to do that and did Oriia's idea which was 5 tips on how to do a kick-flip on a skateboard. We didn't do so great because the video was more of a "How To," video than a "5 Tips," video. We could have planned out the video more.

Words of Wisdom

In 3rd quarter we did a project called "Words of Wisdom,". It was about choosing to interview someone who was older and had some good advice to share. My teammates were Maceo, Justice, and Oriia. One problem we had was to split the work evenly and two people worked (including me) the hardest while the other one was helping out for a little bit, but the other person was totally lacking to do any work. The words of wisdom for this project was to take care of your community and most importantly family. For this we interviewed Maceo's grandma.

Practice Profile Story

Our practice story was made so we had practice before we did the real thing and it really helped. Instead of just doing our project this helped me know the process of making the interview. Our interview was about Oriia Niitsu. He was going to talk about his experiences with Claymation. Our video went under the time limit.

Profile Project Progress

Our interview was about Mrs. Fernandes, Maceo's Grandma. The interview was about how Mrs. Fernandes loved Kauai and how she cared for her community. The setting of the interview was at Mrs. Fernandes' house. The interview was taken by her TV. The b-roll was taken all around her house mostly of her Christmas decorations that were there all year long. We wanted to show how Mrs. Fernandes cares for her community and how she thinks everyone in the community should care for each other like family.

B-roll is footage usually used in interviews. They use it to show what the interviewee does. But b-roll has a lot of other uses. It’s sometimes used as bandages for cuts in an interview, to grab the viewers attention, to visually describe what the interviewee does, etc. A voiceover helps explain the story of an interview, it also does a crucial part in grabbing the viewers attention in the first scene of the interview. Most of the time voice overs are used to narrate a story.

For our team to do better we need to split the work evenly and everyone needs to be helpful more than criticizing and distracting. 3 people in our group were working fine but one barely helped and always fooled around. We could of made him work on the storyboard. No one came for the filming of the b-roll and voice over except me and my teammates. We didn't finish on time but we turned it in anyways.

Ways we can improve our rough cut is by getting more b-roll. In the interview we also have a lot of cuts we need to fix that by putting b-roll in the middle of the cuts. We also need the video itself longer. We could put in a interview of someone else who is going to talk about our interviewee. We also have an out of focus interview but we can't fix that or re-shoot it because if we do then we wouldn't have time to finish it.

Composition Techniques

Videos and pictures mostly have Composition Techniques. Composition techniques help make photos and videos more interesting and attention grabbing. Composition Techniques are important The four main composition techniques are Rule of Thirds, Framing, Unusual Angles, Leading Lines. Rule of Thirds is putting the main subject not right in the middle but in one of thirds of the video or picture. Framing helps focus the subject of the picture or video. Unusual angles are angles that give you a unique and interesting perspective. Leading lines are lines in a image which lead to the main subject of the image.

Three Shot Sequences

In September I had to team up with two people to make our project it was called 3-shot sequences. I teamed up with Oriia Niitsu and Tim Blum. We had to make a video with 3-shot sequences about a boy drinking water. We did a large shot on Tim picking up the water bottle. Then we did a medium shot on him bringing it to his mouth. Lastly we did a close up of him drinking the water. What we could have done better is show Tim bringing the water bottle closer to his mouth then take a close-up shot of him drinking it.

Practice Story Reflection

In GT we got assigned a project on doing a interview. We had to do it on someone in the group for the practice story. We did it on our team mate Oriia Niitsu. It was about him making animation. We were team 6 and my team mates were Oriia Niitsu, Maceo Cantu, Justice Chatfield.


Our team had a bit of conflict throughout the project. We didn't really agree on the same things and so we were behind a little bit. We didn't import correctly so we had to redo the B-roll. That meant we had to come in recess to finish it. Then we had to finish the transcription.


At the end we luckily finished the practice story. We were rushed and wanted to finish before the bell and we did. Our story wasn't that long so it was unfinished. Our team had a quite a bit of conflict. Overall this project was kind of stressful.

Polar Panoramas

These are my Polar Panoramas from P3 GT. this is how to make a polar panorama. First we connected the pictures to make an panorama. Then we warped the panorama until it was perfect. Then we made the panorama 500 pixels by 500 pixels. After, we turned it 180 degrees. Finally we went to the distort menu and clicked on polar coordinates.

Spherical Panoramas

These are my Spherical Panoramas that I did in P3 GT. First we took the panoramas we made and made them into a square. Then we went to polar coordinates and clicked OK. The polar coordinates is located in the distort menu. Then we took the Blur Tool and fixed the seam. It was a fairly easy project in some parts but in other parts it was pretty hard.

Final Photomontages

I created this photomontage of a microscope in P3 GT. I first went Adobe Camera Raw and edited my pictures. Then in Photoshop I put together the pictures. I had to tilt some of the images to make them seem more interesting. My practice photomontage went all over the place and wasn't that good, but my second one which was the microscope turned out perfect .This photomontage was inspired by David Hockney.  

All About Me

Hi I am Raghav Kumar from Kapaa Middle School. I am 11 years old and also in the GT (Gifted and Talented) program.This blog is mostly going to be about my projects from P3 GT. My posts are mainly going to be finished projects. But I might post some other things if I can.


I have lived on Kauai for 4 years. I have a farm with goats, and 2 cows, which I milk. I was born in Texas but my family is from India. In Texas I went to a school called Blue Bonnet Trail Elementary. I went to that school 'til 1st grade. I am in the sixth grade now but arrived in Kauai in January 14, 2010 and I was seven.


 One of my favorite hobbies is fishing. I don't catch huge fish but go fishing for pan fish to fry and eat. My other hobby is riding my bike. Though I don't really do this a lot it something I like to do. I am 5ft 4in tall so my bikes wheels are 2ft high. I am a begginer at surfing but don't do that alot. And I know SUP which I am good at but still dont do alot.

Magazine Cover

This is my magazine cover from P3 GT. We took pictures of our selves and made a contour out of it plus a painted layer. We used digital cameras and photoshop it took about 3 weeks to finish. We also made fake barcodes from a barcode generator. Then we put different logos though we dont have to have an account on that site.