Visual Literacy

During the second quarter in our seventh period class, we were given a amazing project to complete. Mrs. Sanderl, the art teacher, introduced us to an inspiring art form; book folding. Book folding is when you come up with a word of your choice, choose a font, print the word out on a template, and then start folding away. Trust me, it's a very complicated process. At first I thought it was going to be a walk in the park, but I soon came to realize that I may have to restart a few times. We got inspired to do this project from a man named, Isaac Salazar. This American book artist, reuses books that are going to be disposed or are not in use and later turns them into a work of art. Visual Literacy is the ability to receive  meaning through an image and is the belief that meaning can be produced through reading. This project is an example of Visual Literacy because after the individual picks a meaningful word, image or number, it forces thought and interest upon the viewers mind.

With this opportunity, I decided to fold a book that read "Sing". I chose this word because I have been singing for as long as I can remember and I just simply love to sing. The font I incoorperated, I believe really matched my word. It's a simple font, but it also has a special flow to it that really went well with my word. Singing has a flow of melody, words, and meaning. Singing does not only help me but I know how it also connects to a lot of other people; I wanted my word to have a special meaning not only to me but also to others. For the book, I folded around 337 pages.


I believe my book turned out pretty good and I'm inspired to create a new one. Although I was quite satisfied with the result, I noticed that the I and N were a little smaller than the S and G, so it was a little difficult to read it. If I were to do this project again, I would probably fold the pages more accurately and I would also choose a image next time. Even though there was a lot of frusteration during the process of folding, I had fun and I'm sure that people will want to inspire others to do the same.  

Proactive or Procrastination?

Recently I asked myself, "Am I proactive or a procrastinator?" Well really, I'm both. At times I can be quite the procrastinator; not really with schoolwork, but with home priorities. After a long day of school, all kids want to go home and just relax, maybe take a nap, go to the beach, eat some ice cream accompanied by a movie, or we may just not feel like starting up our school brain again. And sometimes I feel like that. But usually right when I get home I begin my homework so I can finish it ahead of time and don't have to worry about the assignment later on. But it's another thing when it comes to chores. I usually put it off and wait until my parents remind me about it. Trust me I do plan when I'm going to do these things but sometimes it just slips my mind. But over-all I think I'm more proactive than a procrastinator.

The amount of free time I have always depends on how proactive I am. For example, I sometimes put my work aside so I can have free time for the afternoon but that always back fires. I then have heaps of homework to do the next day, from putting my previous assignments aside. But at other times, I'm really determined to finish my homework right when I'm assigned to it so I can have extra time during the afternoon or weekend.

If I were to change my work habits, I would most definitely try to be more proactive. Although I always find a way to finish all my assignments in on time and get good grades on them, it does cause me a lot, and I mean a lot, of stress. If I were to finish my assignments right when I got home, all of that stress would slip away. To fix my procrastination, I would try to forget about all of my distractions, and just focus on what had to be done. I will now try my best to always be proactive, and hopefully have a lot of free time after making my homework my first priority.

Lessons Learned

So far this project is going quite well and we are producing great work. During this project my team and I are becoming well aware of how preparation is key when warned about a hurricane. I find it very interesting that we are getting feedback from people that actually experienced Hurricane Iniki. The stories just amaze me! From these stories I believe my team and I are going to be well prepared if a hurricane does happen to approach Kaua'i.

Our biggest challenge that we had to over come was editing our interviews and filming applicable
B-roll.  It took us quite some time to edit, due to filming seven interviews; when editing these interviews we had to cut out any mistakes including the little ones. So, when editing our interviews there were numerous cuts in them so we had to film lots of applicable b-roll. We didn't only need b-roll to cover the interviews but also for our voice-overs. So, my team and I are still planning to go out and film more. Most of our b-roll are pictures of the destruction from Hurricane Iniki and we need a little more video for our b-roll. We also took b-roll of the roads and places that were hit so it was pretty hard to keep the camera stable while traveling down bumpy roads.

I believe the most valuable part of the film making process was going out to the community and getting information from several different individuals and a wide range of age groups. I also loved getting to work and edit with my group because we got to work problems out together, get great ideas from one another, and got the work done by cooperating. I can't wait to finish and produce our final product

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Back to School

I had such a wonderful summer filled with happiness, family and friends but now, it's back to school. So far my 8th grade school year is going great, I have amazing teachers, wonderful classes and fantastic friends. My favorite moment so far was being picked to be one of the two anchors for our daily KMS news. To get this job we had to participate in an interview with a couple of other classmates, so when I was chosen to be an anchor I was very excited and anxious of what laid ahead. Another exciting but scary moment was when we were given the mission to start a project in photoshop by ourselves, using our prior knowledge of photoshop, without asking questions. With this opportunity to create anything our heart desired, I decided to do an animation of myself appearing on the computer screen. By having this task we are practicing a couple of our GLO's; Self-Directed Learner, Complex Thinker and Effective Communicator.

My work in progress

My biggest challenge so far was remembering what tools and steps I had to do to complete our first project. Luckily I remembered where most tools were located and the correct order to finish things in. I will be successful this year by completing all given assignments, giving it my all, and staying positive throughout the year!

Profile Project Progress

G.T.'s new project assignment is, "Elder Words Of Wisdom". During the pass couple of weeks we have thought of an individual that has an inspiring story, and one who can influence young children. So my group and I decided to interview a man named, Dave Stewart. Dave tells us about his life and his risk-taking. He explains that, though at times you will come face-to-face with some hardships, if you have motivation and work hard one day you will live up to your dream. At a very young age he took a risk, and now knows it was the right decision because he owns successful business's, Kayak Hanalei, and Hanalei Wave Riders. After school my group and I checked out cameras, and first interviewed, then we filmed our B-rolls and voice-overs.

What are B-rolls and voice-overs? Well, B-Roll adds visual interest that assists and compliments a story. When it is placed over an interview the addition of fascinating imagery can help the viewer relate to the story. B-Roll can also be used to hide any cuts in an interview and classify what is being said through similar visual details. When used correctly, Voice-overs help narrate a certain story by first grabbing the audience’s attention, filling any gaps with great transitions between any mistakes, and lastly summing up the overall message of a story. But if used incorrectly, voice-overs can make a story hard to follow or dull.

My team and I have been working great together, we have made great progress with our editing in Final Cut Pro-X and Production Plan. One thing that the whole team could work better on is communicating. Communicating is key if you want to finish anything successfully with others. The thing that was hard was, our whole team meeting after school to film and having some team mates not coming to help edit when given extra time to.

After turning in our interview's rough-cut my group and I were critiqued. While reading through my classmates comments, I've noticed that our interview would be much better if we gathered more B-Roll. My group will go from good to great by filming more B-roll that goes along with what the interviewee is stating and also use our knowledge of composition techniques and sequencing and apply that to our "Profile Project."

Practice Story Reflection

For this project my classmates and I had to brake-up into groups of 3 to 4 and think of an inspiring or interesting interview story. Before filming all groups had to decide on a topic, my groups topic was, "Lele loves to sing", this video would show my passion for singing. My group members were Lilio Masi, Loren Weiner, and Hershel Weiner. We all had one day to film our B-roll and one day to film our interview, and another two days were given to record a voice-over, complete our transcripts and edit our interviews. This project was constructed in Final Cut Pro X.

Some things that I believe my group and I could have done better was planning ahead of time and I believe if we all had set jobs we could have prevented last minute edits. Also when we had the time to film our B-roll, we should've came up with more "scenes" to compliment our video. But over-all I think my group and I worked together well and accomplished what was needed to be completed.

From this practice story my group and I now know what we can do better for our final interview project. For our next story, we will be more prepared, we will also plan ahead of time and we will work together as a team!

All About Me

Hi, I am Leleaka Anakalea, the producer of this blog. I am a former student of Hanalei Elementary School. I am now a seventh grade student at Kapa'a Middle School and new to the G.T. program. This blog will include my finished projects that I created in my Gifted and Talented program ( G.T. )

I am very lucky, I live in a beautiful place called Kaua'i. In Kaua'i there's is nothing but blue and green. The breath-taking ocean surrounds this island and the tall lush mountains compliment these oceans. I was born and raised on Kaua'i and have gotten to see it's beauty for 12 years.  

Here are a few other things about me, I love being with my family, I believe that family is the most important thing in the world! I am so grateful that I have such an incredible family! I also love to sing! You can find me singing day and night, day after day, every minute every second. I sing while working on homework, surfing the web, while walking around my house... I sing everywhere. The songs I enjoy to sing is, R&B, Hawaiian, pop, and old school. I believe singing and music creates a positive atmosphere for everyone!

As I said before this is my first year in G.T. and I have loved learning about new technology and how to use it. I have enjoyed getting the opportunity to learn new techniques and getting to explore many things on a computer... and only in G.T. will you be able to do these things!