PNG Summer 2013 Day 2

Today we had a slightly different group then on Monday so we did some introduction Q&A and got to know each other a little better. We also continued our Photoshop endeavors and below are the results:

Summertime And The Livin's Easy

Today was the first day of PNG's summer session.  Apparently the livin' is easy because only half of our students showed up for class.

Most of the kids who did show up already knew each other so we skipped our usual ice breaking activities and went ahead and jumped into our first project.

This was a simple one where the kids were directed to take a picture of themselves and then throw them in Photoshop and add crazy stuff to them.

You can judge the ridiculous results for yourself.

You'll always be second best....

The second to last day of PNG, that is! It will always be second best to the very last day which will be filled with pizza and video games and ponies and unicorns and stories about people most of us have never met.

Most of the students engaged themselves in filming a new movie written by Chris and then editing it. The filming took a while so we may not have any full edits yet but we should have some partial edits next time.

Don't forget to look for the next quarter's sign up for Summer PNG! Its sure to be a blast.


Thanks for coming, everybody!

Animated Ghost Town

Today there was a lot of rain and a lot of flooding in Elmwood Park and the surrounding area.  School was closed and the library was even closed for a little while too!

The only one to show up for class today was Chris and he finished his animated gif and it looked awesome!

Unfortunately, we weren't able to get it saved in a usable format before we ran out of time, but there's always next time!

Return of the Gif

The kids made animated gifs today.  We don't have any to show you.  But stay tuned for a big post on Thursday.

Music Video Showcase

So most of the kids finished their videos today.  Let's take a look!


Brian's Video (Brian schooled all of the kids and showed them how to do things)







Connor's Video



Nick's Video



Daniel's Video


Christopher's Video

"We both know there's no film in this camera."

Today the kids took the songs they had finished in the last class and began to build a music video around them.  We don't have any footage to start out with so we're getting a jump on things by using some free stock footage from www.videvo.net.  We also figured out how to download some clips from YouTube.

We don't have anything to show you today, but next time we'll be using the camera to film some more in front of the green screen and hopefully uploading some of our works to YouTube!

The Day The Music Died

Today was the last day of music making for Spring PNG.  Some of the student's projects were pretty amazing in their creative remixing of the original song elements and blending with new samples from the Mixcraft 5 library.

Other projects were kind of OK, I guess.  Whatever.

http://www.elmwoodparklibrary.org/nicksremixmp3.mp3

http://www.elmwoodparklibrary.org/Beginningoftheendchrisstyle.mp3

http://www.elmwoodparklibrary.org/Connorsremix.mp3

 http://www.elmwoodparklibrary.org/dansawesomesong3.mp3

http://www.elmwoodparklibrary.org/mateoremix.mp3

Re-Re-Mix

The kids continued their audio journey remixing Nine Inch Nails today.  Their skills increased 10-fold when they discovered how to insert a new beat over the song's existing one.

Judge the results for yourself.

http://www.elmwoodparklibrary.org/derplol.mp3

http://www.elmwoodparklibrary.org/dansawesomesong.mp3

http://www.elmwoodparklibrary.org/dansawesomesong2.mp3

Nine Inch Fails aka REMIX Project!

Today we decided to change gears entirely and get out of the green screen business and into the music business.

The kids all became producers for hire with the task of remixing a famous Nine Inch Nails song.

They took to editing the stem files of 'The Beginning of The End' like fish take to water.  Meanwhile, Brian & Ahren tried to catch their breath after having found out that only 2 students had actually heard of Nine Inch Nails before today.

The kids are still hard at work on their creations, so here's a brief taste of their work.

http://www.elmwoodparklibrary.org/mymusicsteve.mp3

Here is a sample that Brian put together as an example:
http://www.elmwoodparklibrary.org/ninsin.mp3

Fun with Green Screens

So today we tested out our green screen in earnest.  We had some fun taking pictures in front of it, but that was child's play.  The real fun is with video!

We started out slow with some test footage of a few of our brave students and putting up static images behind them.

Left over project from last time

Finishing Touches

Today we finally (almost) finished our drawings.  We used our brand new green screen to make inserting the students into their drawings a little bit easier.

Check out the amazing results.

Drawn Together

Today we continued where we left off with our drawings.  Luckily, not a whole lot of projects were lost when the power went out.  Except for one... god speed little pony.

Today we concentrated on finishing up our drawings and a few students moved on to the next step.  We photographed them in front of a green screen.  Eventually, they will "cartoonify" themselves in order to hang out with their other cartoons!

 

POWER OUT!

On Tuesday 3/12 we were all working quietly and diligently when the power went out the building!

So this blog entry is being written days later as a place holder, but rest assured we all had a great time and were super productive working on our drawings!

Drawn Out

Today the class continued their drawing activities.  They took their hand drawn pictures, scanned them into the computer and then used MS Paint to add a splash of color.  Here is a sample of their work.  It's looking good!  We'll continue with more on Tuesday, by adding more shading, colors and nuance.

First Day of PNG Spring

Today was the first day of PNG Spring 2013.  Although, it didn't seem very spring-like considering the massive snow storm that closed the library early.

Despite the weather and the low turnout of students we jumped into our first lesson of the session.  We're starting out with the kids showing their artistic talents by drawing whatever their hearts desired.

Once the drawings are done we're going to scan them into the computer and work some magic with Adobe Photoshop Elements.

Today was just the tip of the iceberg and we're excited for the rest of our students to join us and catch up on Thursday!

Spring is in the Air!

Project Next Generation is gearing up for a "Spring-loaded" session of fun and learning for middle schoolers.

This time around we're going to try our hand at drawing (and then tweaking our drawings in Photoshop), green-screen video and music remixing!

Classes will be held Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4pm to 6pm.  Starts March 5th and continues to April 25th.

6th, 7th, & 8th graders only.  Only 10 spots available, so sign up online now!

Remember, PNG is totally free!  For more information about the program and what we're all about, go here.

More questions?  Email us at png.eppl[at]gmail.com or give the Youth Services department a call at 708.395.1237.

Last Day!

Today was the last day of PNG Fall 2012.  We started class with a fierce competition playing Ribbon Hero 2, the Microsoft Office game that scores how well you know your MS Office.

We declared a winner and there were fabulous prizes!

After that it was time to go back and take a look at some of the cooler things we did this session and, of course, EAT PIZZA!

Smell-ectric Your-agami!

Today the kids are putting together a simple circuit using foil and paper to conduct electricity from a small lithium battery to an LED light.

Thanks to EvilMadScientist.com for their inspiration:

The Show Must Go On!

The students got started editing their videos last class and the results were great, but there's always room for improvement.

Today we pushed them to make their movies bigger and better and hopefully the results were even more impressive.