Continuing Research for Second Answer

Hey all, just a quick update on how my second answer is coming along. So my second answer is: utilize best photography practices to capture peak moments that happened during the year. The wording is kind of in progress with my presentation teacher right now. Anyways, after interviewing Rebecca Chai and hearing her stress the importance of "photography first, then everything else," I was inspired to look up the ingredients as to what makes for quality photographs that can be used in the yearbook. That lead me to search up the basic techniques of photography. Here's a video explaining the rule-of-thirds, which to Rebecca and fellow yearbook photographer/pro Symphony Moreno (and pretty much every photographer), is essential in any sort of photography.

Rule-of-Thirds

Other than the rule-of-thirds, other techniques that should be used while taking photos are leading lines and cropping. Below are some videos that explain them.

Leading Lines

Cropping

Blog 16: Advisory Meeting #2

EQ: How can an editorial publisher produce a quality yearbook?
Answer #2: Utilize good photography techniques to capture peak moments that happened during the year.

1. Photography is a vital component in the yearbook, since a yearbook is more commonly or generally known for it's photos of the student body and what happens during the school year.
• Example: People want to see a photo of them or their friends, not a photo of, say, a desk or the teacher during a boring lecture.
2. Good photography techniques lead to better quality photos that will capture the peak moment of an event or events, that can later be used in the book.
• Example: Having a dynamic photo capturing a person mid-kick during a soccer game is better than a photo that doesn't display that type of action/dynamic. The reader should look at a photo and feel as if they are right there when the event happened. 
3. Using good photography techniques will benefit the staff in their photo-taking skills. In other words, using good photography techniques will help staff members develop creative skills that will help them in other projects aside from the yearbook.
• Example: Getting staff members used to using the rule of thirds, where an image is slightly off center. This can come in handy when taking photos in general, or is also when drawing, painting, and other creative mediums.

Resources:

• Sanders, Dolores. "Photography." The Yearbook Bible. By Mimi Orth. 4th ed. Charlotte: Herff Jones, 2012. Print.
• Interview #2 with Rebecca Chai

Concluding Sentence: Utilizing good photography techniques lead to better quality photos that will be vital in the composition of a yearbook, captures the peak moments and events that occur during the year, and benefits the staff's skill sets for future creative endeavors.

Blog 15: Independent Component 2 Approval

1. Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.

• For my second Independent Component, I will be teaching a workshop lesson on the general basics of spread design, effective photography, and compelling copywriting for next year's editorial team and staff in the Yearbook elective, on a Friday or the weekend (most likely April 12, if I am given permission to use a classroom that Saturday) after our final deadline.  

2. Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.

• Throughout this month and next month, I will be creating a visual PowerPoint, 3 activities corresponding to each section, and an oral presentation, where I will present to students coming back into this elective, and those in editor positions for the next year. Often, the Yearbook editor-in-chief/editorial publisher does this as tradition of "handing down the title" to the younger students, and must ensure that they have acquired the basic foundation of what makes a quality yearbook. I will be taking lots of photos and videos of what I will be doing; when I am making the visual, practicing in front of my current senior editors, doing research for the information I will be speaking of, making presentation speaker notes, etc.

3. And explain how what you will be doing will help you explore your topic in more depth.

• After creating my first answer, I figured that I should incorporate more of the teaching or directional aspect of editorial publishing (since I will also be rephrasing my first answer for later). It is important that an editorial publisher advise, direct, and instruct their staff members and editors. Of course, I am not creating the product, the yearbook, by myself. My job is to lead and maintain the creative vision and progress that goes into a quality yearbook. Teaching others how to execute it is key to creating a quality yearbook and proving for a piece of successful editorial publication. 

4. Post a log on the right hand side of your blog near your other logs and call it the independent component 2 log.

• Done.

Blog 14: Independent Component 1

Literal:

• (a) I, Krystal Lam, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.
• (b) Sources used:
• Mimi Orth, my mentor. 
• The Editor-In-Chief, by Benton Rain and Coleman E.P. Patterson. 
• (MLA: Patterson, Benton Rain, and Coleman E. P. Patterson. The Editor in Chief: A Management Guide for Magazine Editors. Second Edition. Ames: Iowa State, 2003. Print.)
• The Yearbook Bible (Chapter: The Elements of a Yearbook Spread), by Dolores Sanders and Mimi Orth. 
• (MLA: Sanders, Dolores. "The Elements of a Yearbook Spread." The Yearbook Bible. By Mimi Orth. 4th ed. Charlotte: Herff Jones, 2012. Print.)
• (c) My log of hours dedicated to this independent component is located on the right sidebar of my blog, called "Independent Component 1 Log." Also on the sidebar is a document titled "Independent Component 1 Completed." Some previous blog posts of mine contains photos and descriptions of what I did while working on first deadline.
• (d) I completed the first deadline of the 2013-2013 yearbook. The first deadline consisted of the cover, endsheets (also known as the "space for signing and signatures"), and pages one through thirty-two.

Interpretive:

• I worked on completing the first thirty-pages of the yearbook, where I had designed a few of my own spreads, brainstormed on coverage ideas, assisted and taught the design team, gathered and organized content such as photographs and writing, and edited or revised spreads before they would be turned in. The first deadline is honestly the most important, because it contains many of the color pages and has the most impact on the school body, being that it contains the cover as well. I was responsible for making sure that all of these spreads would be turned in on or before the due date, November 18, 2013. I dedicated many hours to creating and editing spreads, as well as directing, helping, and guiding the design team on their assigned pages. I had to refer back to my sources every now and then to ensure that the spreads would turn out to be quality ones, where the overall aesthetic of the spreads would be pleasing and interesting. I also spent time going over and checking all of the photos and writing from staff members. Going along with the ideas given by the designers and their respective spreads, I personally picked photos and chose the stories that were suitable for each spread. The evidence can be located on the right sidebar of my blog, titled "Independent Component 1 Completed," as well as in a few previous blog posts where you can view photos and descriptions of what I worked on for the first deadline.

Applied: 

• This component helped me understand the foundation of my topic, Editorial Publishing, much better because it showed me the kind of work an editorial publisher puts into the creation and creative process of their product. In my case, I had to dedicate a lot, and I mean A LOT of time, thought, and creative vision into my product, which was the 2013-2014 yearbook. Being that this was only the first deadline, this independent component also prepared me for the onslaught of more deadlines to come, a main component in an editorial publisher's duties. Independent Component 1 has also pushed me to continue learning how to produce a quality yearbook, by teaching, directing, and working with your fellow designers, editors, and staff.

Grading Criteria:

• Link on sidebar, "Independent Component 1 Hours Log."
• Link on sidebar, "Independent Component 1 Completed," as well as some previous blog posts containing photos and descriptions of what I did working on first deadline.
• This is the LIA, and it is on my blog once I press "publish." (・∀・ )

Blog 13: Lesson 2 Reflection

1. What are you most proud of in your Lesson 2 Presentation and why?

• I'm proud of how strong my content section was, and how my PowerPoint just helped visually support what I was talking about, rather than just relying information to the audience. I made sure to focus on understanding the content I presented today and not read off what was on the slides, so that way I interacted more with eye contact and engaging the audience.

2a. What assessment would you give yourself on your Lesson 2 Presentation and why?

• I would give myself an AE or a P+. I met P requirements, and felt that I went above them. I included a lot of examples, both of what helped me formulate my answer, as well as examples I had created for the presentation itself. I made sure to refer to my mentor, my sources, as well as experiences that regarded the content multiple times. My PowerPoint was also interesting, so it really helped in keeping everyone engaged throughout the entire time.

2b. Explain why you deserve that grade using evidence from the Lesson 2 component contract.

• I had definitely met all P requirements in professionalism by keeping things fun, interesting, and interactive. I made sure not to just read off slides, and spoke nice and casually, so it wouldn't sound like a typical formal presentation. For organization and creativity, I went out of the box with my PowerPoint by adding a lot of relevant photos, graphics, animations, the props I brought which were the yearbooks, my activities, and so on. I really enjoyed how people participated in my activity, not just because of the candy prizes, but also because of how everything I had taught before was made clear by having actual yearbooks to find things in. My justification and answer also met P consideration, but I went more in-depth with referring to my two sources and mentorship throughout the presentation, almost on every slide. Finally, for audience involvement, I went above P consideration by having my hook activity be an attention-getter and point out a problem, and answered the problem we saw in that activity with my other activity. Everyone use what I talked about in my lecture to understand the purpose of the hook activity, as well as understand why my answer of designing a spread that portrays content is prevalent in my EQ and topic.

3. What worked for you in Lesson 2?

• What worked was the templates we had to do beforehand, because it really helped me organize and put together the presentation itself.

4. What didn't work?

• I guess what didn't work was how much time I spent on the lecture content section. It was difficult trying to keep time of myself while I was actually presenting, when all my focus is diverted to talking and whatnot, so I feel like I went a little over time on that, resulting in reaching about 30-32 minutes overall. To better state that, I would say the timing of my presentation.

5. What do you think your answer #2 is going to be?

• This time I think it would be "having emotionally compelling copy about the student body." Still not too sure at this point.

One Deadline Kind of Done. Three to Go.

That's right, the first 32 pages of the yearbook are DONE. Sort of. Unfortunately, as every yearbook publication goes through, we are still in the process of making editing adjustments to our spreads. Our "proof" files are here; the large printouts of what we've turned in to Herff Jones, where we make corrections online and resend it back to the processing plant. In the midst of this all, deadline 2 has creeped up on us, leaving a rush to get things done. I mostly spent today's elective planning out the NEXT deadline, which is in three weeks. Ridiculous right... But that's what yearbook is! Deadline 3 has a lot of spaces to fill, since we don't know what will be happening on campus for the next month. I also spent a lot of time helping each team leader with their assignments. The designers are working hard at and after school. We've had 3 Skype "work" meetings from home, so not every second is wasted. We also got some more new students, so we took a good chunk of elective time to teach them the basics. As I was working in the back, I saw that main issues I've come across lately is the lack of content due to the winter break, as well as there being not much happening at iPoly lately. So I'm going to be busy trying to plan out the content that we will be needing, as well as the two other deadlines that are on our backs. Oh boy.

Anyways, here are some updates regarding Yearbook.

A profile that will be going into the senior portraits. I've revamped the photo to become a cut out of the person, so it's not as boring, as well as a better headline.

Elijah and his spread. He's working on the "all coverage device", which covers what happened during the week in photos and caption, much like Instagram. 

A proof file we got back, of the senior class and the best and most winners... We fixed it, big time! Nathan is in the works of it.

Nitjasin and his layout of a spread. This is honestly the hardest part of creating a spread, because you don't have any content to work off of yet. You've just gotta visualize.

Panorama of the room, busy with deadlines.

Bryan editing some copy writing, which will go into a spread about Model Assembly.

Strand paused the class today to teach a crash course to the newbies. They need to improve their interview skills, so they did an activity.

Hannah, a photo editor, going through each and every spread to mark down people in photos, so that each photo has a different person.

Bryan and I had to go over Hannah's list of people to see who's been in the book too much, versus who hasn't. 

Deadline 3 planning! Still in the works as well.

Blog 12: Third Interview Questions

1. How can an editorial publisher produce a quality yearbook?
2. What defines a quality yearbook?
3. What are all of the components of a quality yearbook?
4. What characteristics in editors make for a quality yearbook?
5. What characteristics in staff members help create a quality yearbook?
5. What are some common issues that result in an unsuccessfully executed yearbook? How can an editorial publisher resolve these problems?
6. What must an editorial publisher do to keep the creative process of the yearbook running smoothly?
7. Where can an editorial publisher draw inspiration for quality spreads?
8. What is the best way to strengthen the overall aesthetic (design, photo, and copy) of a yearbook?
9. How can an editorial publisher best help their fellow editors and staff members in creating spreads?
10. What can an editorial publisher do to make sure that quality spreads will be turned in on time for a deadline?