MEET THE ARTIST

Meggan Greyling

 Photography by Grace Esford

     My name is Meggan Greyling and I am currently attending Holy Cross Catholic School. I am taking a wonderful course called Communications Technology which has been a good challenge for me. I am also a part of the Specialist High Skills Major at our school which focuses on Com Tech where we work with high tech video cameras and learn how to use certain equipment such as a Nikon D5000 Camera, Vixia HF s100 Cannon HD Video Camera, Manfrotto Tripod, Photoshop and Final Cut Pro. It is a great opportunity to discover and learn new things.

      I am unsure of my future at this point in my life but I am leaning towards a field in production. I really enjoy making and editing videos. Photography and advertisement are also interests of mine that could be a possibility of a future career. I have enjoyed Com Tech very much and I have taking a lot out of it.

GRAPHIC DESIGN

Basketball Poster

"Basketball Poster"

Photography by Meggan Greyling

     Our grade 12 Com Tech class were in charge of creating exciting posters of the Jr and Sr Girls Basketball teams for the PH Classic. The PH Classic is where two schools, Holy Cross and Regioplois, have two games in order to raise money in the help of finding a cure for breast cancer. Each student looked on line in search for a basketball pose that we could use in setting the girls up for a photo. I chose a very difficult pose of someone palming a ball, which not many of the girls were able to do. In order to take this shot, we had to duct tape the player's hand to the ball in order for it to stay up. It was fun to pose the player and recreate a photo I thought looked interesting.
     After taking a lot of photos using a Nikon D5000 camera with studio flash and a blue backdrop, I was able to edit the picture in Photoshop. We were given templates of how the poster should look so that all of our posters were in uniform with each other. I had to remove the black background, that was behind her, fixing her hair and jagged edges using the eraser tool and the soften tool. From there we placed the photo into the template and moved the logo around, trying to find the perfect place of where everything will fit and look pleasant. I was able to create an awesome poster of a basketball player for the PH Classic that she is able to show off to her friends and family.

Muse

"Wonder"

Muse created by Meggan Greyling

     Inspiration is a wonderful thing that can come from anywhere or anyone. Having inspiration motivates one to put their heart into something they love. This muse poster shows things that I admire or enjoy doing.
     I created a look that shows a girl crying out colour from her eyes. I started this out with just make up but in Photoshop I boosted the colour of the make up and took a paint line from a picture I created, changed the colour and made it seem as if the colour was coming from my eyes. I changed the colour of my eyes by creating a new layer making an oval shape. I made the shape blue and brought down the opacity so they were still my eyes. The background were butterfly wings turned into a mosaic using the Mosaic effect in Photoshop. This is a great poster to create to tell others how you find your inspiration and show what you like to do.

Advertisement Reproduction

Covergirl Ad Repro

Photography by Meggan Greyling

     This was a grade 11 project where you found a recent magazine ad that looked appealing and recreate the ad to the best of your ability. I chose a covergirl ad that turned out very well. The right picture is the original ad itself and the left picture is my creation trying to match the advertisement.

     This project turned out very well. The pictures look very similar and the writing is almost exact. In order to make Hayley's hair seem as if it was blowing a little bit I rubbed her hair in my fingers to create volume. I also touched up her hair and the photo itself in Photoshop using the Rubber Stamp tool to create even more volume in her hair and fix any blemishes. The text "Pump Up The Volume" was difficult to create as similar to the original text so I changed it slightly by putting a backdrop on it to stand out. I also changed the text of the "COVERGIRL" by choosing a similar text, making it an object in photoshop so i could erase the letters slightly to create the same effect as on the original advertisement. I really enjoyed this piece of work because it made me feel as if I was making an ad for a professional magazine. It was a wonderful experience to recreate this.

VIDEO

Grade 9 Documentary

Grade 9 Documentary 

Video by Meggan Greyling

     

     The grade 9 documentary video was completed by our grade 12 Com Tech students in groups. My group, consisting of Grace, Hayley and I, were in charge of the funniest and most  embarrassing thing that has happened to the grade nine's in high school. Each group interviewed grade nine's, asking certain questions for the documentary in order to show this video to the grade 8's who are about to go into high school.

      

     There were three roles per a group: the audio person, the producer and the video or camera person, which was my job. My job had quite a bit of work. I was in charge of filming the students, editing the video in Final Cut Pro, and making the text and titles for the video using Verdana text. I also put effects on the text which made the text travel across the screen and with making it bold and putting a slight drop Shadow on it, the text stands out. The editing was a bit difficult because I had to make the blue screen in the background disappear. I did this using tools in Final Cut Pro such as Spill Suppressor, Feather Edge and Colour Tolerance. It was difficult to use the correct values so the image did not look disproportionate or seem like part of them is missing. The students tended to move a bit naturally which would reveal some of the blue screen. Over all it was a great experience to learn how to use a blue screen, put a background video behind another part of video and discover new things in Final Cut Pro.

HCTV Introduction 

 

     

HCTV Bumper

Edited by Meggan Greyling 

     We created a bumper to present the Holy Cross TV logo that could potentially be the beginning intro to HCTV News. This project was quite interesting to do because we were introduced to a new program that we have never used before. In this project we used three programs: Final Cut Pro, Soundtrack Pro and Motion, which was the new program. This 10 second video took me about an hour or two to complete.
     In the making of this Bumper, our class discovered how to put motion on a still picture in Final Cut Pro, which was quite difficult to complete. I had to select the logo separately and change the size of how it began to how large I wanted it to end. I wanted my HCTV Intro to be fast paced and upbeat so that it would catch peoples attention and have them continue to watch. It was a lot of fun to be creative and see what I could come up with.

Highlights Video

 Highlights Video of Jr Boys Basketball

Sports Highlights Video

Filmed and edited by Meggan Greyling

     For this assignment we had to choose two events that were happening at our school and film and photograph each event. I chose to do Junior Boys Basketball and the Peter Carty Memorial. For the Jr. Boys Basketball highlights video I wanted it to look exciting and show just how great our team is. For the game I shot, HC against QECVI, Holy Cross came out on top with a score of 52 to 19. For this video I had to create text, shoot the game itself, edit and choose my own music to fit in with the feel of the video. 

     For the Peter Carty Memorial I was in charge of the history of the Memorial. I did not film but I had an interview with one of our students, found old archive videos to use and created my own story. I did a voice over for the video and did quite a bit of research to learn more about the Memorial all together. After long hours of staying after school, working on it during spare and putting everything together, I made my masterpiece, which was aired on CogecoTV and was posted on our school website. 

 

Peter Carty Memorial

Edited by Meggan Greyling

PHOTOGRAPHY

Architectural Photography

Alley Way/Downtown
"Pipe Dream"

Gr.12 Com Tech

Architectural Photography Unit
By Meggan Greyling

      Any person can go out with a regular camera and take photos and they will look like a snapshot. Some of those photos may turn out quite nice by chance and most will show soft focus, incorrect exposure or poor composition. By using a high quality camera, knowing certain techniques and diving in to our imagination and creativity, we can turn a regular picture into a beautiful photograph. In the month of October, my grade 12 Communications Technology class experienced a field trip downtown to explore our inner artists and creativity by taking unique photographs of architecture with interesting angles, lighting and details. My best photograph that I took displays detail, colour, pattern and using Photoshop image manipulation enhances the photo to create a bold graphic communication.

      This photograph displays a pipe in an alley way that has been graffitied on. As I took this photo I wanted it to look like a type of advertisement, aimed at the younger generation. The detail of the graffiti on the wall in the background shows bright colours that attract the eye of the young, and becomes a very interesting photo. The pipe itself is bright yellow and being the only yellow in the photo it stands out. The use of bright colour creates an attractive image.

      Anyone can go out and take an average picture or snapshot, but it takes a good camera and artistic ability to create a masterpiece. Some people can think outside the box and sees things that most people wouldn't think twice about. This picture is very unique and the average person would not have noticed the pipe as being interesting and worthy of recording in a photograph. With a creative mind and powerful technology, you can discover beauty in common objects.

 Headshot

 

Photo of Hayley Dykins

Photography by Meggan Greyling

Peter Carty Memorial

Basketball Memorial 

Photography by Meggan Greyling