Wedding bells started ringing in our lives. My dear friend ”Priyadarshini” was getting married in December 2012. She was the first to accept the challenge in our league, and we were so excited about her wedding! Suddenly we had that sinking feeling! What about that trip which we had been thinking of for ages! That was the moment when the four of us decided to visit Kashmir. Wait! Why Kashmir? Many among friends and family members had their apprehensions towards Kashmir. Our families were concerned, and they didn’t ”happily” approve of our choice of destination. Parents suggested that we consider Goa, the beach party capital of India but we were determined to explore Kashmir.And why I’m telling this story in 2021 has a reason. I will get back to that later.
The paradise on earth! Kashmir
After an overnight journey by train, it took 12 hours for us to reach paradise on earth via road. Srinagar was our first stop. Since we arrived late at night, we had no idea about the surrounding areas until the following day! On this trip, I experienced that Kashmir is not what you think or read; Kashmir is what you see!
Amidst mountains, rivers, and clouds!
From tulips to almonds, saffron to walnuts, Kashmir is truly an all-season destination. September is the month when you can sniff apple’s fragrance in the air of Kashmir!
The mesmerizing apple orchards of Kashmir!
Our seven-day trip included hiking in Gulmarg, visiting apple orchards, exploring the villages around Srinagar, the royal experience of staying in the floating houseboats on Dal Lake, the Shikara ride to the floating market, and hiking to Baisaran, Pahalgam, also known as the mini-Switzerland of India.
Baisaran, the mini Switzerland of India!Presenting all four of us!
The last spot we visited was Betaab Valley, which gets its name from the Bollywood movie filmed here.
The Bollywood moment in Betaab valley!
While roaming around Betaab Valley, I asked my photographer friend, Tulika, to picture me with the beautiful Chinaar trees in the background. After previewing this image, I said, “I look like a fresh graduate student from a well-known university abroad!” EUREKA!!! I found the new goal! That evening I announced no matter what, I’m going for higher studies!
The dream which I saw in 2012!
And what happened next?
Living my dream of studying abroad! GO COUGS!
Well, here I’m in 2021, hoping to Graduate very soon from Washington State University! It took a while, but I was determined not to let it go! Whatever you want to be or achieve, stick to it and keep trying! In addition to bringing the best out of me, this trip made our bond grow stronger!
During my career as a News Presenter, I was always on the editorial side of the content. As I started learning COM 561 Multimedia Content Creation, I was thrilled with the knowledge that this course offered me. By Immersing myself more in this course I learned interesting and innovative ways to curate my message. I always believed that only the words can convey the right message, but my thinking was challenged during this course. Now, I understand that Text, image, graphics, logos, design, patterns, shapes, format, and color combination can communicate much effectively than just texts!
Out of all the Adobe programs, I found Adobe Illustrator challenging but intriguing. When I started exploring and learning Illustrator, I was nervous. I never imagined that one day I’ll be creating Logos on Illustrator! I always found the program overwhelming but with the help of the tutorials from the course and various techniques which I learned from multiple channels, I must say I ended up using Adobe Illustrator the most! Adobe Illustrator gives me the freedom to create from scratch.
I am also enrolled for COM 562 Crisis Communication. Last week we were supposed to submit a video presentation and I created various shapes and icons in Illustrator to include in my presentation slides. I also created a logo for an imaginary organization for which I was making the Crisis Communication Plan. Further, I designed a logo for my blog. This logo was derived from an existing design. Again, that was a part of my assignment for which I received excellent comments from the instructor. Motivated by the feedback I decided to modify the design and create a Logo for my Blog. The Earlier version was a Yoga Logo, which I created for my friend who is a Yoga Teacher.
Final Yoga Logo Design From Assignment
I was quite fascinated with the half-ring of the Yoga Logo and wanted to create a design similar to this. My blog focuses on stories or messages which highlight the positivity during this unprecedented time. Therefore, I wanted to bring some shine and zing effect on my Logo. To the half ring, I added a diamond shape on the top. To create this diamond, I used the tracing technique. I downloaded a jpeg image of a diamond icon and then with the help of Pen tool I traced all its paths and arranged them accordingly.
Next, I grouped all the shapes and placed them over my half ring. Next, I added text inside the ring. The text fill was bright Golden Yellow as it gave a zing effect to it. The same color fill was applied to the diamond on top. I liked the pop effect in my previous design therefore I added a drop shadow effect to my Text.
I am pretty satisfied with this Logo, which will be added to my blog soon. Also, I am planning to create several video stories that will be focused on my messages of hope and positivity, to be posted on You-Tube the Logo will become an integral part of them.
When I decided to create a video on spices, I was excited about the idea of sharing some Granny’s wisdom with the world! Most of the time we have found these home remedies working for many ailments. I was always mesmerized with the benefits of spices. Truly, the spice world is magical and needs a detailed and thorough study. What I have tried to incorporate in this video is based upon my learning from my Mother’s and Grandmother’s kitchen.
Here, I would like to advise that before starting to include any new spice in your diet do consult an Ayurvedic Practitioner or your Health advisor. Having been grown up in an Indian Household my body had got accustomed to these spices, which are an integral part of our diet. Spice usage is purely based on the principles of Ayurveda. This knowledge transfer happened automatically to me as I observed the ladies in the house cooking various meals. The spice combinations with vegetables and pulses are very specific and defined. Like fenugreek is used with Okra but not with Spinach. Similarly, many combinations are pre-defined. In this video, I have tried to highlight a few of the spices from the Indian kitchen. If I would have attempted to include each spice in the video then I might have ended up creating a Bollywood film of 3-hour duration here 🙂
The purpose of this video is to highlight the aura of Indian Spices. Spices are functional foods, having them like pills don’t utilize their full potential. But spices when used in cooking with proper techniques offer magical benefits. One of the primary advantages they offer is improved digestive health. Good digestion leads to overall health and Immunity. When the world is being fascinated with the word ‘Immunity’ it’s important to understand the true origin of Immunity.
Immunity and good health doesn’t come from a bottle but from eating at home and eating local, seasonal and traditional– Rujuta Diwekar, leading Nutritionist
Therefore, I decided to share this important message during these times. My draft version gave some idea about my message, but it was incomplete. The feedbacks also suggested that I should bring in more benefits and knowledge about the spices. Also, the draft version had a brief mention of Ayurveda but was missing a proper link between Ayurveda and immunity. So I decided to revise my script, I added various spices and their health benefits. In my final attempt, I have tried to establish a proper explanation between Spices and immunity.
For editing, I re-recorded my narration (Using T.J.’s Cupboard method). The voice quality came out well and there was zero background noise. Next, I planned to shoot some of the spices according to my script. With the I-Phone, I tried to create some unique and stable shots(I missed my phone’s Tri-Pod which I left in India). By applying some handy and basic techniques I captured the spices in close-ups. I also created some arrangements with different elements to add details to my Video.
Next, I imported raw footage, my voice over, and other stock footage to the existing draft folder. I didn’t create a new sequence rather I added elements to the existing draft version. For Turmeric narration I realized I needed an Image with Text Information. So in Adobe photoshop I worked on an image and added text to it. Once I was satisfied with the formatting I imported the image to the Adobe Premiere Pro project.
For this video I wanted my logo to be superimposed on the clips. Therefore I added some finishing touches to my Sheen within Logo (this needs revision) in Adobe Illustrator and exported it in .png extension with transparent background, with no artwork option selected.
After importing and editing my voice over using the razor tool on the voice track, I added a music loop to the second track.
Corresponding to my narration I dragged and placed all the footage on the timeline. As there were some images used, I scaled the images to match the frame size. Then in the effects control panel by clicking on the stopwatch icon next to Position I added various effects to the image. This toggle animation button helped me in changing the clip properties and added a zoom effect to the images. By adjusting the diamond icon, I added the new keyframes. I repeated the process with other images.
Some of the shots which I took were not synchronizing with my narration so with the specific clip selected I altered their speed. This helped me in matching the visuals with narration. Further, some of the stock footage was not matching the frame size, therefore by selecting the specific clip I chose ‘Set to Frame’ option with the right-click. Next, I added the Turmeric graphic and Logo to my video. By double-clicking on the logo icon I adjusted the size and positioning of my Logo. For Logo, I took help from this You-Tube Tutorial.
I also wanted to be creative with the title and the credit roles. I wanted some disappear effect for my title text. For this, I explored Adobe After Effects. With this You-Tube tutorial, I was able to create my desired effect for the title. I began with opening a new composition in After Effects. Then I added my text to it. After formatting and selecting the color fill, I selected Animation> Effects and Presets> Text> Evaporate Animator. Then I rendered my text graphic with the transparent background selected. For my Credit Roll, I applied Animation>Effects and Presets> Text> Bullet Train Animator, this I rendered with the black background. Next, I imported both the files to Adobe Premiere Pro and added them to my timeline. After multiple alterations and adjustments, I finally exported my clip.
I hope that keeping all the feedback in mind and applying my skills learned so far in the course I had been able to bring out my message clearly. For this project, I tried to apply multiple effects. These effects were created in various Adobe Programs which we have learned till now. As always do let me know in the comment section, what you liked or where do you see the scope of improvement. The suggestion of my peers has helped me to bring the best out of me throughout the semester. Thank You!
The magical world of spices has a lot to offer. Spices are much more beyond just adding aroma and taste to the foods. Having been grown up in the North Indian suburbs I developed a deep interest in Spices. You’ll be surprised to know that many Indian spices have medicinal properties. For instance, Cardamom, which is also known as the ‘Queen of Spices’, has very soothing effects on the mind. I remember before long travels my Grandmother used to give me a small bundle of Cardamom and Clove. Cardamom reduces acidity and aids digestion. For me, cardamom works like a natural anta-acid.
In this Draft story, I decided to highlight the aura of Indian Spices. Later in the final version of this story, I am planning to focus on the real potential of these spices. The story will talk in detail about the immunity boosting spices from the Indian kitchen. Immunity is becoming the new buzzword and nowadays everybody is talking about immunity boosting activities and food. What we are least realizing is that immunity doesn’t work like weight loss. The approach towards building immunity and a healthy body demands perseverance, lifestyle change, and patience.
Most of the footage used in this video has been shot by me. The immunity animation and concluding shot have been taken from pixabay.com. This site has limited free to use stock footage. I tried to be really creative while shooting spice videos. Since not much movement was possible I tried adding variation by placing spices in different formations.
To edit the story, I started with creating a draft story folder on the desktop. Then I created an import and export folders inside it. It really helped me in managing my content. Next taking a clue from T.J.’s efforts I tried doing the voice-over for the story from inside my closet. I must say this idea really works! The voice quality came out really well with almost zero background noise. After importing and editing my voice over using the razor tool on the voice track, I added a music loop to the second track. The music track has been downloaded from bensound.com.
Once I imported all the raw footage, I created three bins in Adobe Premiere Pro, which helped me in arranging my data. Corresponding to my narration I dragged and placed all the footage on the timeline. As there were some images used, I scaled the images to match the frame size. Then in the effects control panel by clicking on the stopwatch icon next to Position I added various effects to the image. This toggle animation button helped me in changing the clip properties and added a zoom effect to the images. By adjusting the diamond icon, I added the new keyframes. I repeated the process with other images.
Next, I added a title and the credit to the video. I applied various effects to highlight the text. To the end and beginning of the credit, I applied the video transition ‘dip to black’. To several clips, I applied the ‘Cross Dissolve’ effect. Last I exported my video in the export folder.
I hope you all enjoy it and I look forward to exchanging ideas and growing our knowledge even more in video production and editing.
Half of my professional life had been spent on the editorial side of content. Playing with words, creating compelling-narrations is something that I did for a long period. Whenever I worked on a story, I would brief the technical and production team about my imagination and requirement. Until now, I never realized how difficult and tedious it is to work with the audio and video part of a story!
To give a beautiful shape to the imagination is not easy. This is where the technical tools and features come into play. As I’m exploring and learning more about them, I’m realizing that there are no boundaries of powerful storytelling. Earlier, whenever I worked to create special reports for News, I used to be cautious about experimenting in my production. Not knowing in-depth about special effects that can be applied to audio, limited my creative skills. But now it is fun and liberating to work towards accentuating my concept in the way which I planned.
This story is based on a true incident that happened to me and my husband. Based on our meeting with a Palestinian young man, who gave us an Uber ride back to the hotel. He gave us a perspective about cherishing our blessings. So, when this audio assignment was announced, I was almost sure that I’ll be working to create an account of that incident. As this is the kind of message, I’m trying to disseminate through my blog Sheen within.
I began by writing a script. Once I found my script within the permissible time duration, I started arranging various elements. The crux of the story is the dialogue part between two male characters. I request my husband and his friend to do the voice acting. With a couple of tries and rehearsals, they gave their best, then I recorded the narration using I phone in my voice. Then I created a draft version of it, adding some background music and Foley sounds which I downloaded from the Epidemic sound. They allowed me to download three tracks for free beyond that they offered several subscription options.
Based on the feedback of my peers, I aimed towards adding more effects and polishing the voices of my characters. I realized that an appropriate transition from the narration to dialogues was missing in my story. I wanted variation in my story, so I asked my friend Shaili Saini to record the narration in her voice. Shaili is a Canadian News Presenter, based out of Toronto. In the draft story, the narration was in my voice. Further, re-recording the male voices was not possible, so I decided to eliminate the ‘Echo’ and other background noises using Adobe Auditions.
Before double-clicking the dialogue track to open in Waveform view, I right-clicked on the clip and selected the convert to a unique copy option. This allowed me to experiment with various effects by avoiding any possibility of destructively modifying my media files. Then with the help of this YouTube tutorial, I applied the DEreverb effect to the clip. This effect estimates the reverberation profile and helps adjust the reverberation amount. This tool helped me in controlling and removing the Echo. Further, I wanted to simulate the inside car conversation between my male characters. Right above the DEreverb was the DEhummer effect which is used to remove those AC Hums and those distracting drones. Out of curiosity, I applied the Dehummer effect on my clip. In the preview, I observed that it gave an enclosed environment effect on the voices. I further adjusted the levels until I got the desired output.
In the multitrack view, I assigned the SFX tag to the conversation which allowed me to add special effects to the voices. On the Ambiance track, I added the outside mall sounds first, then the opening of the car door followed with the closing of the car door, then the noise of keys and car engine starting. This is going with the natural flow of my story. All the ambiance or Foley sounds which I used here are downloaded from Freesound.
For the Narration, I removed my voice clip from the track and inserted my friend’s voice clip. The clip had certain background noises and plosives. This YouTube tutorial explains in detail about the tricks to get rid of plosives. In the waveform view, I selected that part of the clip which contained mic rumble with the time selection tool. Then going to Effects>Filter and EQ>FFT Filter> Kill the mic rumble, I god rid of the rumbles. To get rid of plosives I switched to Spectral Frequency Display, then I identified the problematic areas. With the help of the Lasso selection tool, I was able to lower the db. beyond -11 for some specific points. To eliminate background noise, I followed a YouTube tutorial which was suggested by my batchmate T.J. Under Effects>Noise Reduction/Restoration>Denoise helped in cutting those unwanted sounds.
I thought that this story has the potential to give a beautiful and meaningful message. I have tried to create a realistic version of it. I may not have achieved the professionalism and the technicalities of storytelling yet, but I have learned the essentials. Listen to it and as always feedbacks are most welcome.
I often ask myself, what is the problem! Sometimes, I experience moments of self-realization – like a cool breeze of gratefulness they take away all my stress, problems, and worries – when I consider myself fortunate for everything. Often, we are just too distracted to notice the little things around. Although, all it needs is a little bit of effort and commitment to observe the positives life has to offer.
A few months back, when we landed in the bay area, a major transformation for the whole world was beginning to unfold. Moving to a new country is equal parts exhilarating and scary. Within a week or so, I started missing my family and friends. Embracing the new beginning seemed difficult. Then, we crossed over someone who challenged our attitude. He made us realize to appreciate the little things. Unknowingly, he gave us a perspective that kept us strong and grounded during this tough phase.
This Draft story is an audio account of our meeting with a Palestinian young man, who gave us a Uber ride back to the hotel. We were in a bad mood, but his uplifting voice and words changed our approach. It was like a Eureka! Moment, and we desperately needed that level of wisdom. The truth is that life-insights can come from anyone, they are not at all dependent on theories written by big authors only.
Doing voice-overs had been a routine thing for me. I had been a News-Presenter for 10 years. But narrating a story is different and challenging when you are habitual of modifying your voice for News Programmes, documentaries, and news reports. Well, I must accept that audio storytelling is a new chapter for me. I kept my voice for the main narration. For the dialogues, I requested my husband and a friend to lend their voice. With social distancing norms and masks achieving the desired level of audio quality was not possible, but I am satisfied with the output.
I began with writing a script, and then I recorded the whole story in my voice. This was to check the duration of the story. If we want to produce a story of 3 minutes, then the written script roughly should be around two minutes or less. Well, this trick works for me, and this is how we keep a time check while producing news reports where every second matter. Once I found my script to be within the permissible duration, I started recording the dialogues of two male voices. I briefed them the whole idea, gave them a gist of what I was looking for. I made sure to give them two print-outs, where they marked their cue. With a couple of tries and rehearsals, they gave their best.
After I had all the dialogues recorded, I got an idea about the pace of the lead voice. Earlier it was tricky to decide whether the pace should be fast or normal. Once the voice recording part was done, I started looking for a suitable background track. For this story, I have used a track from Epidemic Sound. They allowed me to download three tracks for free, beyond that they offered several subscription options. For the talking part, I wanted an ambiance of inside a car. To achieve this, I used my old Vancouver trip footage. From those videos, I extracted traffic and inside car ambiance.
In Adobe Audition, I launched a multitrack session. After I edited the dialogues and lead-voice using the Razor Tool, I added the music file to an unused track. I cropped the initial part of the track and then created a loop of it, keeping it 10 seconds longer than the talking part. So there were 5 seconds of music before the narration started and 5 seconds of music after the narration stopped. Then by dragging the small square box on the top right towards left and the square box on the top left towards right I added “Fade In” and “Fade out” to the music file. Further, I worked on adjusting the volume by bringing down the yellow line.
For the final version, I am planning to change the lead voice. This will add variation to the story. Also, I may try to change the way this story is being told currently. I may plan it like an interview – where the lead voice is interviewing me, and I am telling the whole story can make it more interesting. Like always, the feedback from my peers will help me in consolidating my thoughts. So looking forward to those valuable suggestions, which will help me in creating an intriguing audio story.
Capturing the essential elements of Yoga in a single design was a challenge!. For me, designing this logo was more than an assignment. As the world prepares to celebrate 6th International Yoga Day (21st June), I wanted to craft something that reflects my love for yoga. Yoga is a way of living; if practiced profoundly, it serves as a gateway between the mind and the body. During this pandemic, people around the world practiced and learned yoga to overcome panic and anxiety issues, as reported in Global times. Personally, yoga helped me a lot to maintain my health and mobility. Therefore, I wanted my logo to be inspiring and intriguing.↑ Continue reading “Let it Go!”
I was done with my News Presentation Shift, thankfully my reliever was on time (It sucks when your work hour gets extended). While removing my make-up I got a call from my room-mate, she forgot to carry the home keys, so she wanted me to come a bit early. As nothing was pending on me, I decided to head home immediately. As I was walking towards the metro station on one of the busiest streets of Delhi, I heard a car honking ceaselessly! Furiously, I turned back and then bang!!! I was hit by a car, I fell on the road; my right leg swelled from the thigh.
A few hours before, I was on my toes-delivering updates of the day to the nation covering all the breaking news as it happened and then lying helplessly unable to move even an inch. The pain I still remember was excruciating. Later that day, I underwent major surgery. My femur was crushed and the hip ball was dislocated.
From an independent, hopping around girl to this total dependency phase, it was a 180-degree turn. I was bed-ridden but still determined to walk normally again!
2 Months Later
After this incident, my family moved in with me, and I was fortunate to see my mother’s smiling face every morning. For the next seven months, I walked with the help of a walker and then graduated to an elbow crutch. I resumed office amidst many challenges. Among them, the biggest was to walk normally.
3 Years Later
For the next three years, I tried every form of exercise in fitness centers and at physiotherapy clinics, but all in vain. My gait was still bumpy.
This was the time when my dear friend Shaili, introduced me to Yoga. And then it was a new birth for me. Initially, I struggled a lot with the balance, lacked strength in leg but inch by inch I plunged into all the multiple profundities of my soul. Regular practice of Yoga not only brought my walking gesture to normal, but it also gave a new height to my inner strength-a way higher energy then it was before the accident itself.
Reaching there inch by inch
Present Day
What is Yoga? For me, it is an inward life-long journey. It is not just an exercise but a change of consciousness. After years of practice, I am still a student, enhancing and exploring my strength. Yoga healed me physically and spiritually. During this pandemic, yoga helped me to stay calm and maintain my Sheen within. The benefits of Yoga are endless and every time I practice Yoga, I thank Shaili (now a Canadian Yoga teacher) for introducing me to this path of life. This logo (draft) is gratitude towards her.
Strength…Power…Discipline…Determination
‘Shakti Yoga’ is her brainchild. A news presenter and a trained Yoga teacher, this is her effort of giving it back to the world. ‘Shakti’ is a Hindi word which means strength and power. This logo is centered around a big glowing red dot. In Hinduism, the red dot is worn by ladies (mostly married) and is considered as an auspicious sign. It also relates to Goddess Maa(mother) ‘Durga’ who herself is the form of ‘Shakti’. In the center of the red dot, there is an icon of a man sitting in ‘Padmasan’, also known as the ‘lotus pose’, which is a mandatory posture to meditate. Surrounding the red dot there are multiple fist icons that here depict strength and determination-essential to practice yoga.
Having such a profound impact of Yoga on my life, I decided that I want to design something around Yoga. I started with scribbling and sketching some theme ideas by arranging the letters in ‘Yoga’ differently but nothing came out convincing.
Yes! Sketching is a task for me
I thought that maybe it will come out well if I start working on Illustrator. But after working on the sketched ideas for two days, I realized that it was not going anywhere. So, I went back to the pen and paper and this new logo design came out.
Lotus petal to a red dot
I started by creating a new document (800 x 800 pixels). The first thing which I wanted to design was a fist. So, I created a rounded rectangle, the corner radius was around 25 px but then I wanted them to be more curved. So, with the help of a direct selection tool, I pulled in the corner anchor points until I got the desired result which was around 65 px. Then with the ellipse tool, I created a circle, divided it into two by using the scissors tool, and with the pen tool completed their paths. Again, with the direct selection tool, I pulled in the corner anchors to give a curve. Then I placed them on the rectangle to create a thumb.
With the rounded rectangle, I created fingers. I wanted the two big fingers to look a bit round from the bottom, so again I repeated the semicircle process and placed them on the fingers. By using the shape builder tool, I combined them into one. As the desired composition was achieved, I grouped all the elements of the fist icon. Next, I created the red dot, by using the gradient tool; I mixed two shades of orange to give it a glowing effect.
Then the challenge was to position the fist icons around the red dot uniformly. For that, I selected both of them and selected horizontal align center. Then, I went into the outline mode by hitting (command+Y) on Mac. Further, I clicked on my fist icon and pressed the ‘R’ key. By pressing the ‘option’ key I clicked on the center of the red dot as I wanted my rotation to be derived from that point. Once I did that a dialogue box opened. Now, I wanted 8 icons around the red dot so I divided 360 by 8, which is 45. Therefore, I set the rotation angle at 45 degrees and selected option ‘copy’. By hitting ‘Command+D’ on Mac, I got the icons placed flawlessly. For reference, I followed this YouTube video.
Next for describing the brand name ‘Shakti Yoga’, I wanted my text to be Golden. For that, I created two new swatches, Golden Yellow and Goldenrod by using the key combinations as indicated in the chart. Then by applying a linear gradient and setting the angle at –90 degree I turned my text into a glowing golden texture. As a final step, I created a stickman image of Lotus pose by using the Polygon and Rectangle tools.
For my Final Logo, I am planning to work more on the center image. Which could be an enhanced version of Yoga pose. Also, I want to add some more effects to my text. I hope that based on the feedback which I am looking forward to, I’ll be able to create a distinctive and unique logo.
Sheen Within 