What I got from it all (AKA Culminating Blog Post)

     Initially, I had intended to base my capstone project off on the video game industry by itself, though I was never able to find anything. Fortunately, my mother had worked for an advertising agency and was able to get me an internship under the creative department of the business. I was skeptical at first and being the quiet person I am didn't lead off to a great start on the first day. Though I had learned a bit about myself in that I am capable of doing things if I try.
   Through my interning, I was able to discover certain skills I never knew I had, Though there is one skill that seems to stand out to me among the rest: I am a self starter. When I began interning for Hofman|Lewis, I was only given a program and told what to make with it. The program was the professional Adobe applications. I had no previous knowledge of such products, though I had done some experimenting with them on my own in order to learn how to use it, and when I got stuck, I'd ask for help or search for tutorials or other information. Additionally, I had also gained skills through my time there as I have learned to step out of my comfort zone and I've learned of how the creative industry works considering the video game industry is a part of it.
     I've had some challenges that I've faced throughout my time as an intern, though there wasn't anything that I couldn't overcome. I had already known that certain things were essential in life after high school. Things such as working with others and asking for help, staying in contact with fellow employees, setting the right times for work, etc. I've had a fun experience and it's given me a sort of insite of what's to come on the path I'm currently leading.
     Above all, I support the capstone project as it has helped me understand what life could be like when I finish school.

The Final Job

Friday had been my last day, not many people were in office due to the Giants home game. I went over the few final projects I had worked on with my mentor, although the creative director wasn't in the office so we couldn't make a final choice. I ended up sending all the files to both my mentor and the director to look at a later date.
Additionally, I had sat down with my mentor again to better understand the creative field. From what I learned, coming up with ideas and building on the ideas until the right project is created. It's the general trend that is done at work in the creative industry and it's something I will be doing and after my experiences interning for an advertising company, I know I'll enjoy it.
I don't believe this to be my last time working with Hoffman/Lewis, I had told my mentor and the Creative Director that I'm open to work on anything they have for me in the future and look forward to anything (if anything) is given to me.

Time logged (4/5): 5 hours
Total Time logged: 37 hours

The 5th Job

Yesterday I had managed to sit down with my mentor and see what it was that gets done in a regular business day for graphic design. It seemed very similar to what I've been doing throughout the week, form ideas, build on the better ideas and create visuals of them, pick out the more preferred visuals and form projects with those, choose the best project and then fiddle with it until it's perfect. When I sat with my mentor, she had been working on the visual of an idea that will later be recreated as a project. Visuals are like comics of what will be done while projects are the more solid videos or animations that are based on the visuals.
Additionally, we had been able to choose which project was the best and I changed messed around with different color combinations and sound for the logo. My mentor had stated that it would probably go up on the lobby's monitor. I can't help but feel achieved for doing something that seemed so enjoyable and have it receive praise from the person who put me up to and feel a little sad that I'm almost finished with it. Although I'm sure that the field that I'm aiming for will be exactly the same, if not, better.

Time logged (4/4): 7 hours
Total time logged: 32 hours

The 4th Job

Though, I hadn't taken the time to sit with my mentor yesterday and see what it was that people do in graphic design, I was able to work in the same way most people do in the field. I had already made some other projects, but my mentor and I had chosen the best one to be used for the logo. I had spent a lot of time working on the one project. I would go to my mentor to see what there was to be done with the project (fix some errors, change timings to fit preferences, etc.) and get to work. I'd keep repeating the process until the project was finished. It may sound dull and boring to some people, but I felt as though I could get used to it.
The concept and what I've learned so far has given me an idea on how I can do my presentation for the end of the school year.
On a side note, the projects I've been working on are mostly confidential so I can't put much of what I've worked on in any of my posts, though I may try to put up something on my own.

Time logged (4/3): 6 hours
Total Time logged: 25 hours

The 3rd Job

Yesterday (4/2), my mentor had returned allowing me a chance to further improve myself in the project.  Not only had I greatly improved my previous works but I had also created a project that looked rather profesional. It looked like the kind of logo that gets presented after an advertisement, like how the McDonald's logo gets shown at the end of every advertisement. My mentor was impressed with it as well and even gave me some helpful tips and ideas on what to add to it.

Yesterday, I had mostly worked more on the projects for improvement and new ideas on what to do with the new logo. It takes almost an hour to come up with a project that doesn't even last more than 10 seconds, yet the amount of time and effort that gets put into creating the projects isn't really that stressful or boring, in fact I enjoy it as long as I like the outcome.
The next thing I want to do is sit down with my mentor and see what it is that they actually do as a part of graphic design.

Time logged on 4/2: 7 hours
Total Time logged: 19 hours

The 2nd Job

Yesterday, my mentor wasn't at the office though that didn't keep me from doing what I was supposed to be doing (which is working on the company's new logo), and after a while of messing with Adobe Flash, I got the hang of it and had at least 5 projects done. It's not that it's hard, it's just very time consuming, though I really enjoy it and some of the other people at the office seem to be impressed with my work. I even based one of the projects off of the intro to the song "Robot Rock" by Daft Punk.  Compared to when I first started out, I've greatly improved and even came back to some of my weaker projects and made them better. The next step would be to show my mentor what I have done and what I can get done from there. A side step would be figuring out how to put my work up on my blog for people to see it.

Time logged (4/1): 7 hours
Total Time logged: 12 hours

No Room to Think

In my opinion, the biggest problem that Winston faced so far in the book would be writing down his thoughts into an old book that he purchased from a junk shop. Even though such an act was not illegal, "if detected it as reasonably certain that it would be punished by death, or at least by twenty-five years in a forced labor camp." Taking such a risk just for thinking for himself is more than enough to make such a task a major problem. The task itself was also difficult to hide considering the fact that Winston along with everyone else was being watched by the Thought Police who gave no remorse for personal space. "It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time." Winston knew the consequences for what he was doing and yet he himself didn't know why he was doing it. He wrote "in sheer panic, only imperfectly aware of what he was setting down." It's understandable that the entity in control of Oceania's society believes that order can only be held if they are the ones to think for everyone.
I can't imagine living in a world of no freedom. I'd rather kill myself than to have someone think for me all my life.

The 1st Job

Last Friday was my first time actually working in an office building. I can't explain how nervous I was, yet I was sure it couldn't be bad at all. And it wasn't! Though I know that I could have gotten more done had I been more confident enough to confront my mentor about what I should do after I completed a task (at least I know that now!). Anyways, during my time at Hoffman Lewis, I met another worker who would be there to help and guide me as my current mentor is really busy and I also learned about Adobe Flash, its basics, and how I'm going to use it for my assignment. My first task as an intern was take the new logo (Which is confidential, I might add.) and make it available for use as a three dimensional icon for PowerPoint and something that could be hung up on the office floor's lobby. I managed to make a few attempts at the two and only found one that I thought was good enough to put onto the company's server. My next task will be to confront my mentor on how my attempt on the PowerPoint icon was and try for the logo in the lobby.

Time logged for this session: 5 hrs

Total time logged: 5 hrs

-Milo Abril

In Control

To be an author is to form an idea that explains something, to be a narrator is to tell the idea - to let others know about it. In "Stranger than Fiction", the author of Harold's life acted as two different people when writing and narrating.
When writing a research paper or any form of formal draft, I learned that it's not very professional to write in first perspective as it seems more opinion-based. My paper was written as a third-person perspective that gives facts and doesn't necessarily benefit anyone other than the people who read it. Those that do read it could learn a few good things that may help them in some cases.