My LIfe-Final Project

The music I used in my project was Vanity and The Fame by Lady Gaga.  I chose these songs because they completely define my personality and because they're Lady Gaga.  I found my pictures frmo the old photo albums my parents made and facebook.  I used yahoo answers a lot for finding prices on things from 1996.  To do my project i used Power Point and iMovie.  It was easy for me to put get the pictures from facebook into my power point but it was hard for me to use the scanner.  I used Ken Burns a lot because i wanted there to be some movement.  I used a consistent theme.  I can use these skills in other classes such as speech classes were i have to give a presentation.  I used a MLA URL converter for my cited page.  I wouldn't rather do a different project.

Favorites, Least Favorite, and What We Didn't Learn

  My favorite project in Tech Apps was the music genre project.  I really love learning in depth about my passions.  My least favorite project was the PND Club project just because my group didn't know much about the Table Tennis Club.  None of us were planning on being in it and it was hard to find a time to talk to Mr.Smith.  I can't think of anything that we need to know other that what we learned.

Music Genre Project- Gaga Techno Pop

My music genre was Gaga Techno Pop.  I chose Gaga Techno Pop because of my obsession for synthetic dance music and Lady Gaga.  For finding my songs and information, I used my favorite Gaga websites along with the official sites for David Bowie and Boy George.  My music was already in my iTunes so all I had to do was import it.  To put together my project i used iMovie, Garage Band, and a collage creator for my opening slide.  I wanted "Gaga Techno Pop" to be compiled of a bunch of pictures of Gaga, Bowie, and Boy George.  It was very easy for me to get the information on Gaga because i already knew it, it was also easy for me to create the video/ audio montage at the end of my project even though it took a while.  It was difficult for me to get everything to match up as perfect as possible.  I used a few still slides to make sure the information was known.  I could use this for many things, especially in classes like world studies where we do a lot of presentations.  I made sure to site everything i used on my works sited page along with songs.   I played the piano in my ending video so i didn't have a problem with copyright laws for that.  I would love to do another project like this! Anything that can involve Gaga and my love or music.

PND Culture iMovie Project

    Our teams topic was the PND Table Tennis club.  I took part in creating the slides, finding pictures, and finding a cool and fun video of table tennis players.  I think our team really learned how to divide work and  we all did a really good job at listening to each other.  As a team it was very easy for us to work together which really benefited as far as getting it done.  It was difficult for us to find the proper formats at first, and getting good quality videos.  Our ideas transferred fairly well into iMovie.  Table Tennis was originally from Asia so we wanted to create a bamboo esque background to our iMovie.  I hadn't really used iMovie before so it was definitely a learning process.  Almost everything we did in our project we had never done before but I think it worked out really nicely.  We could use the skills we learned in almost every class.  Currently I have a project in World Studies that I can use these skills in.  To get around the copyright law we made sure all sites were properly displayed in our works cited page.  If there was enough time I would do a project like this on my own.  However, I think these projects have enough work for a few people.

Podcast

1.  What tools and techniques did you use to create your podcast?
I used ducking so my music wouldn't over power my voice when I began speaking about my movie.  I also edited the song to fit the length of the podcast and added some special sound affects.
2.  How could you use a project like this in other classes?
If I ever have to create a podcast for another class I will know how.  It will also come in handy if I ever have to make any other project on Garage Band because it taught me the basics.
3.  In the “real world”, how could podcast projects be used (In what careers/businesses, etc.)?
Podcasts are used everyday for the workers at iTunes.  I'm sure some business' use them for presentations as well.
4.  What part of the assignment was easy for you?   What was difficult?
The music was the easiest thing for me.  I thought it was difficult to make sure you could hear my voice ok over the music.  Sometimes it would be very clear, and others it wouldn't be and I couldn't figure out how to make it pretty even.
5.  What part of the directions would you like to clarify?
How to make sure the music gets quite enough while the speaker is talking.

Storyboard Slideshow Group Project

Our topic was Table Tennis.  No one in our group is in Table Tennis but we all agreed it sounded like fun, so we chose it as our topic so we could learn more about it.  The images used in our slideshow included ping pong tables, players, and paddles.  As a team I think we worked very well together.  I think the best team work tool we used was communication.  Early on in the project we specifically laid out what everyone would do and when.  The story boarding helped us create a idea for how our movie would look in many ways.  It's very simple to make a powerpoint but by using keynote we were able to create affects that gave the illusion of a movie.  I think the background of a slideshow storyboard was an good part of creating the imagery of Table Tennis.  

iPhoto Project

1. Which search terms did you use to find images (for the letters of your name and the images that describe you) and why?
  For search terms I typed in things like 'objects resembling the letter __', i thought it would give me good range of lettering.  If I didn't find anything i liked under that search term, I would think of shapes like the swing chain clip for an 'S'.
2. What skills did you use/learn in this project?
  I learned how to use iPhoto.  I had never used iPhoto before this project and i'm really glad I can use it in the future now.
3. Describe how you might use these skills and apply them to a real-world situation.
  You could use iPhoto for a future project in other classes, or if you go on a vacation and want to put together a slideshow to show people you can do it using iPhoto.
4. This was a more creative project than our first 2. Did you prefer it or the more cut and dry assignments in Word and Excel?
  I prefer more creative projects over cut and dry assignments.  Art is a huge part of me, and I like to use it in every way possible.

  For editing on iPhoto, i cropped three of my photos.  The cropped pictures are the D, S, and A.

Charity Appeal Letter

Sicerely,
Morgan Braastad

1. List the name of your business and its charity.
MAC Cosmetics Vivaglam for the True Colors fund.2. What skills did you use/learn in this project?
I learned how to do a mail merge, which I had never done or heard of before.3. What was the easiest part of this project? What was the most difficult part of this project?
I think the easiest part of this project was writing the letter.  I have donated to the MAC Vivaglam True Colors campaign for the past two years and really like being involved with it.  I think the hardest part was figuring out how to convert the file so the mail merge would work.4. Describe how you might use these skills and apply them to a real-world situation other than writing a charity letter.
I would use these skills if I wanted to send a letter to a lot of people.  This way I wouldn't have to type out a ton of letters.5. Did you learn something new during this project that you did not know before?  If so, what?
 [Your response to this question can be related to the information, skills, or process of the project.
I learned how to do everything having to do with mail merges in this project.  I knew there was a way to do things like this but I never knew how until we did this project.

M&M Comparison Questions

1. What is a template?
A template is a electronic file with a customized format.2. What functions did your spreadsheet perform?
Our spreadsheets contained built in functions, like finding the total and average.  It also used the information we had collected and formed a pi chart.3. What skills did you use/learn in this project?
I learned how to create graphs by entering information into a chart, and I learned the basics of using Excel which I had never used before.4. Describe how you might use these skills and apply them to a real-world situation
The skills learned from Excel can be used in a lot of our classes.  It can help us organize our data and show our results.

M&M Comparisons

Allow Me to Introduce Myself

  Hi! My name is Morgan Braastad.  I went to Peoria Academy for grade school, and am looking forward to going to Notre Dame.  I've lived in Peoria my whole life so far but plan on moving to New York or California in the future. Music and Fashion are my life.  I need fashion for my music, and music for my fashion.  I expect to learn some new and interesting things about computers, and I look forward to all the projects.
- Morgan