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“A Day In Her Life”–Adobe After Effects Project

For the last round of the year, we were given a three weeks project to complete. It’s an independent project, where you have the option to learn something new that is related to multimedia or improve on a lesson that we’ve covered on.

 

I chose an Adobe program to work on called After Effects. After Effects (AE) is known for great visual effects, motion graphics, animations, etc… It’s usually used in film making, television production and a lot more. I already learn some of the basics of After Effects, which is why I really want to learn even more about this Adobe program. In addition, I love cool motion graphics and creating animations, so I wanted to include these components in my video.

 

I first learned the basics of this program from my best friend and it was very helpful. However, for this particular video, I need to learn something new by watching YouTube videos. It was pretty challenging to learn it by myself, especially when I need to execute the procedures at the same time I watched the video so that I won’t forget the steps. Sometimes I skipped a step, which ends up having me to redo the whole thing again. Even though I’m learning After Effects, I also need to film the videos that I need to edit too, so a big challenge was the camera quality. The camera I used wasn’t that high quality, which makes it hard for the video to look great, so while I was editing, I was trying to adjust the graphics and the quality of the original video, in order to make my final product look great. Another challenge I faced was that this program is perfect for creating cool motion graphics, but I actually used this Adobe program to edit my whole video, which causes a lot of glitches and slow down my editing a lot. There wasn’t quite a solution for it because it was close to my deadlines for this project, so I just bare with the problem.

 

I really enjoy learning this Adobe program because there’s always something new that I could learn. It helps me to go beyond my limitations because we can create cool effects with combinations of different things. As I mentioned, I could always learn something new in Adobe After Effects and I’m so proud of myself, whenever I learned new cool motion graphics.

Link to my  video:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1l4CeFlO4JpYnkwQC3Ir7YYYS7-_UnOK1/view?usp=sharing

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What is Ecotourism?

Do you know what “Ecotourism” is? Well, if you don’t (even if you do know), this is a place, where you could find out more about ecotourism, a project that I was involved in for seven weeks.

Ecotourism comes from two different words, ecology and tourism. Ecology is part of biology, but in this case, it means living organisms or things related to nature or the environment. Tourism is the act of going on holidays or visiting fun places. Overall, it’s a tour, where you involve and participate in hands-on activities in a community, where you would be in a homestay and doing activities with the local people. An ecotour also includes interaction with the nature, like trekking, etc…

 

The goal of this project is to create an ecotourism in Bangkern Phal village, Romtum commune, Rovieng district, Preah Vihear province. It’s an indigenous community with about 800 people living there. They have a few hectares of forests as well, which is being preserve and destroy at the same time. Therefore, creating an ecotourism site there will bring more tourists there and people will start to preserve the forests the environment, also their indigenous culture and traditions.

 

In order to create an ecotourism site, there are so many different things we need to confirm and get done such as:

  • The community opinions (How do they feel about having an ecotourism site?)
  • The tourists interests (Are they willing to go, if we were to create one?)
  • The tour companies (If we create one, will they recommend the tourists to visit?)

Theses are just three main things we need to know, but there are tons more work to get done. For this round, we mainly focus on the market research and the community opinions. That should be the first thing to do as well, because if the community doesn’t agree or doesn’t want any tourists to visit their community, then the project is over and if the tourists aren’t interested, then the project is also over. That’s why these two questions are so important.

 

After interviewing about 250 tourists in Phnom Penh, more than 80% of them wanted to go. This data shows that this project might have a chance to go on and actually develop the place to be an ecotourism site. We also went on a field trip to the place that we’re planning to create the ecotourism site and they seem to be very happy and interested in this project. In addition, they are willing to help and make this project actually happened.

 

This round ends with a report, where we write what we did in this round. Next round will be another group of students, where they will study the feasibility of the location. We need to find out about the potentials of the place that we are going to create the ecotourism site, so that will be next round’s main goal. Finally, learning about ecotourism didn’t just teach me about ecotourism, but instead it taught me a whole lot different things like market research and business report proposal.

 

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Acid Vs Base

Did you know that there are acid and base in your body? Well, now you know. You might not fully understand what acid and base would do to your body yet, but after reading this you’ll understand deeper.

 

When we talk pH, it’s basically just about acid and base mainly. The pH scale is between 0-14. Seven is the neutral, under seven is acidic and above seven is alkaline or base. Something that I learned in this round is that, you should never taste or smell anything you don’t know, especially when it comes to experimenting, because some chemicals might be harmful and it could cause other illnesses as well.

 

Acid and base could be defined by many ways. First of all, acid tastes sour and base tastes bitter, but never taste it without knowing what it is. Acid and base both conduct electricity, but acid produces positive charge, while base produces negative charge. There are many other properties of acid and base as well, like base is slippery. Let’s get back the first question about what acid and base do in your body. Acid is what is actually in your stomach. It helps to break down your food and when you have sickness, relating to your stomach, it might be because the acid in your stomach leaked. The role of the base in this case is just to balance out the acid in your body, because there shouldn’t be too much acid or too much base. Did you know that base is usually used for cleaning? Like soap?

 

There are a few ways to find out if something is acidic or alkaline. One of the way that we actually experiment was the red cabbage indicator, where we have different liquids and apply red cabbage indicator to the solution to find out if it’s acidic or alkaline. One other way that we learned was litmus. It is a piece of paper that will change color according to the level of pH something contains. The picture above already explains the color it might change to, regarding the level of pH.

 

This is just a little description about acid and base, but in class, we actually look at it in depth and try to understand and ask further questions to understand even better.

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Need a Random Team Chooser Machine?

Have you ever played any Role-Playing Game (RPG)? One of the tasks in last few weeks of this round was to design my own RPG in Python programming language. This game that I’m working on is basically there are rooms and you need to choose to go within the four directions. This game is based on memory and luck, because the monster will stay in the same room, so your memory would be a definite help. To win, just avoid the monsters and have some required weapons in your inventory. Click here to play the actual game.

We always have struggles, while trying to achieve something. One of the challenge I had during this project was adding doors between rooms. I didn’t know how to add doors at first, so I tried different strategies to add doors between rooms. I actually tried to rewrite the code again, because maybe there’s something wrong with the syntax, but that was not the problem. My second attempt was to try to add details to the code, trying to let Python understands my code better, so besides just telling that the north to the living room is the kitchen, I added all four directions; what’s south to the living room, what’s east to the living room and what’s west to the living room. After I tried to run the code again, it worked! It’s always to add details while you do coding.

This is also one of the other project I worked one. It’s called the Team Chooser code club project. It’s like when you input names and want a totally random group, this link will definitely help you to do so. Just open the link and do the following steps:

1. Click on players.txt

2. Change the names in there and replace with any name you want

3. Click Run! (The play button on top)

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How to Neaten Your Closet

The theme of this round’s literacy class is Happiness. It’s one of the best theme yet this year. I find it super interesting and wanting to learn more. During this seven weeks round, we did a lot of writings related to happiness. One of my favorite writing piece is the “How to”. It’s basically a piece, where you write steps of how to do something that you would do everyday. Mine was about “How to Neaten Your Closet”, so if you want to organize your closet, keep reading.

How to Neaten Your Closet

 

Materials: A closet and everything in your closet

 

Making everything is tidy and neat is one of the priority for many people and one of the messiest place in your house might be your closet, because it’s a place where you store all your hair ties (probably) hair combs, bags, books, and mostly almost everything. If you find yourself not organized, this tutorial will help you to make sure that your closet will look tidier and it’ll make you easy to find things in your closet, if you’ve ever needed to find a lost item in your closet.

 

Step 1: Take everything out of your closet and keep it in a big space

In order to make your closet neat and beautiful, you should always take everything out of the closet to actually know what are the things that are kept in there, probably for decades.

 

Step 2: Sort them by labels or just spread them in teams (read step 3 before do this step)

This step will help you to just know how many of the same or similar things you have in your closet and by having them in teams will make your closet even more tidy and beautiful. Also when you want to pick a pair of earrings, you can see more options in the same space, you don’t need to pour everything from your closet to find another pair.

 

Step 3: Choose a bunch of important clothes or uniforms to hang them up

If you are a student, you should always hang your uniforms up, because it’ll make your life easier, when you need to choose your uniform of the day. In general, putting your important clothes (party dresses, outgoing outfits, etc…) elsewhere would be time consuming, since you are a busy person (I bet you are one) you will need to choose very quickly and won’t have time to search through your closet.

 

Step 4: Fold your clothes into its type then put them back in your closet!

After hanging those important clothes, then you can start folding the clothes you already sorted out in Step 2. You can sort it out in different ways, I won’t be going into detail in this tutorial. Afterwards, just put them in your closet. Make sure that you pile them differently, not all over each other.

 

Step 5: Organize extra things

You should have extra things beside your clothes in your closet, obviously. If you do, you might want to have a section of your closet just for those things, such as; your bags, your jewelry, your hair accessories, etc… I suggest combine similar things like your jewelry with your hair accessories, since they are pretty much similar things. Also you could also have a book section with your bags, if there are space for them.

 

Note: If you find things that don’t go with other things in your closet, for example a cup or a teddy bear that your friend gave you, then you could have a section just for things that you don’t really know where it belongs, but always make sure to clean that random space area in your closet once a month or so, just to make sure they aren’t dump in your closet.

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ទឹកដីដែលបាត់បាត់ទៅប្រទេសថៃ

 

ប្រទេសកម្ពុជា បានឆ្លងកាត់ការឈ្លានពាន នៅក្រោមអាណានិគម និងសង្រ្គាមជាច្រើន ដែលបណ្ដាល ឲ្យមាន ការបាត់បង់ទឹកដី ជាច្រើន ទៅប្រទេសជិតខាង ដូចជា ប្រទេសវៀតណាម និងប្រទេសថៃ​ជាដើម។ ដូចនេះហើយ ទើបលោកគ្រូ ណេន សុខា បានឲ្យសិស្សានុសិស្សទាំងឡាយ ធ្វើការស្រាវជ្រាវ ពីទឹកដី ដែលបាត់បង់ ទៅប្រទេសថៃ និងវៀតណាម រួមមានខេត្ត ប្រាសាទ វត្ត ភ្នំ កោះ។ល។ ក្រុមរបស់ខ្ញុំ បានសិក្សាស្រាវជ្រាវ ទាក់ទងនឹង ទឹកដី ដែលបានបាត់បង់ ទៅប្រទេសថៃ។ ខាងក្រោមនេះជា ពត៌មានខ្លះ ដែលពួកខ្ញុំ បានរកឃើញ អំឡុងពេលធ្វើការស្រាវជ្រាវ នៅក្នុង ប្រាំពីរ សប្ដាហ៍នេះ។

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Data Analysis

It’s never been better to get to try something new, especially when it comes to academic learning and this round is it. In these 7 weeks, we were taught about volume of cubic objects, percentages, angles and data analysis. I found Data Analysis most interested, because this is one of the school lessons that could be applied to real life, so by paying a lot of attention to this topic is worth it and it makes the most of the my learning as well. We actually did a project with three members in a team and we chose a question to ask to collect data and complete the project as seen below. 

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Learning Programming Language

We are currently learning about programming language, Python in particular. We clearly didn’t learn everything about python in just 4 weeks. We only focus on conditionals and if statements. We studied a few data type in python such as; booleans, strings, integers, etc… and different comparisons. Every language clearly has its own grammar, how you would speak or write correctly, so does programming language. Python has its own “grammar”, meaning that if you want it to do something, you need to write it in a way that it could understand in a particular format that’s created for just this particular programming language. “Indentation” is one of the most common error. It’s basically the spacing in front of a statement or condition. It’s really important, because that’s how the computer knows which code belongs to which statements, etc…

We then learned about “if” and “else” statements, it’s mainly about checking if a condition is true or false and giving a result as an output. To add on, we also learned about “And”, “Or” and “Not”. It’s like a word that connects two different statements together to check. We use “and” if we want to check if both conditions between it are both true. We use “or” when we want to check if one of the condition is true and we use “not” to flip the value around.

We should sometimes work smart than work hard, like how the “for” loop works. You could give it a fixed number for it to run just as how many times as you want. You could also use “break” to stop the entire loop or “continue” to skip to the next repetition. For even easier, you could use the “while” loop, where it continues forever until the condition is false, which means as long as the condition is true, it’ll continue to run, but you need to make sure that it won’t go forever, there should be something that would stop the loop.

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វេយ្យាករណ៍-គុណនាម

គុណនាមមានន័យថា ពាក្យ សំដីសម្រាប់សំដែងសភាពលក្ខណៈរបស់នាម ។

ប្រភេទនៃគុណនាម

  • គុណនាមប្រក្រតី
  • គុណនាមចំនួន
  • គុណនាមកម្មសិទ្ធ
  • គុណនាមចង្អុល
  • គុណនាមសំណួរ
  • គុណនាមមិនច្បាស់

 

  • គុណនាមប្រក្រតី គឺសម្រាប់ប្រាប់លក្ខណៈរបស់នាម។

ឧទាហរណ៍ៈ គោខ្មៅធាត់ជាងគោស។

គុណនាមប្រក្រតីមានៈ ល្អ កខ្វក់ ស វែង ខ្លី សម្បូរ ខ្សត់…។

  • គុណនាមចំនួនជាគុណនាមសម្រាប់រាប់។ គុណនាមចំនួនមានពីរយ៉ាង:

    ១. ចំនួនរាប់សម្រាប់រាប់ឲ្យដឹងចំនួន

    ឧទាហរណ៍ៈ​ ឪពុកខ្ញុំមានគោប្រាំនឹម។

    ចំនួនរាប់មានៈ ពីរដំបរ ប្រាំរយ ប្រាំខាំ ប្រាំឡូ…។

    ២. ចំនួនរៀបសម្រាប់រាប់ឲ្យដឹង ទី ជាន់ ថ្នាក់

    ឧទាហរណ៍៖ ដាណេ រៀនថ្នាក់ទីប្រាំបី

    ចំនួនរៀបមានៈ ទីដប់ ម៉ោងប្រាំ ជាន់ទីមួយ…។

  • គុណនាមកម្មសិទ្ធសម្រាប់ប្រាប់ម្ចាស់កម្មសិទិ្ធ ។

    ឧទាហរណ៍ ៖ រាជរដ្ឋាភិបាលជាអ្នកសាងសង់ផ្ទះពួកគាត់ ។

    គុណនាមកម្មសិទ្ធមានៈ ខ្ញុំ ឯង វា គាត់ នាង យើង ពួកគាត់ គេទាំងអស់គ្នា…. ។

  • គុណនាមចង្អុល ប្រាប់ទីកន្លែងនិងពេលវេលាណាមួយ ។

    ឧទាហរណ៍៖ សាលារៀននេះជាសាលារៀនខ្ងុំ ឯខាងនោះជាសាលាឃុំ ។

    គុណនាមចង្អុលមាន ៖ នេះ នោះ ទីនេះ ទីនោះ…. ។

  • គុណនាមសំណួរ គឺប្រើប្រាស់សម្រាប់ចោទសួរ។

    ឧទាហរណ៍ ៖ តើមិត្តទិញសៀវភៅអ្វីខ្លះ?

    គុណនាមសំណួរមាន ៖ អ្វីខ្លះ ប៉ុន្មាន អ្វី ស្អី ណាខ្លះ ណាមួយ…. ។  

  • គុណនាមមិនច្បាស់ គឺជាគុណនាមប្រាប់សេចក្ដីមិនជាក់លាក់ មិនប្រាកដ ។

    ឧទាហរណ៍ៈ ខ្ងុំ មិនដឹងថា គាត់ចង់បានចេកមួយណាទេ ។

    គុណនាមមិនច្បាស់មាន៖ អ្វី  ណា អ្វីខ្លះ មួយណា ណាខ្លះ ឯទៀត ដទៃ

    អ្វីមួយ….។  

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A New Theme-Identity

A new theme is always chosen for a new round of the school year. This round’s theme is “Identity”. Before going deep into Identity, I was questioned by some simple questions, but not simple answers. “Who are you?”, “What defines you?”, “What makes you who you are?”. It couldn’t get any harder when it comes to understanding yourself. I was borned in a family, where I’m the youngest and we adore dogs. To my family, dogs aren’t just pets, but family; they are part of us. I’m from a place called “home”, a warm, cozy place, where smiles and joy are shared. I’m from a place, where I first see sunlight, a place where I’m taught to be a grateful child, a loyal friend, a great student and a respectful leader. It’s the genes I got from my parents and the environment around me that made me who I am today. They are the ones who shaped my personalities, my behaviors and my actions. We then wrote a vignette about the meaning of our names.

 

My Name by Mealea Mang

My surname, Mang Rathanak Mealea, is quite a long name to have, but I love having a long name. My first name was given by my grandfather and my middle name was given by my aunt. I don’t really use my middle name, “Rathanak” a lot, just because it is really long, so I usually just use my first and last name.

My name has a really beautiful meaning, Rathanak, my middle name means diamond or gold or something valuable and Mealea means floral or flower. Interesting fact about my first name is that, it could be found on the Khmer dictionary! Most of the Cambodians have their last name named after their grandfather’s first name, like me. Actually, my last name is written in a French way, “M-A-N-G”, if I could I would change the spelling to “M-O-N-G”; it is still not the right pronunciation, but at least close, closer than “M-A-N-G”.

People sometimes would pronounced my name “Melea”, instead of “Mealea” and no one has pronounced my last name correctly on first try yet. I am not upset when people called me “Melea”, but I am not really happy when people pronounced my last name incorrectly, but I am used to it now. People also say that my name sounds really aggressive. I am kind of aggressive just like how my name sounds like, because my mom has the personality of kind and aggressive at the same time. That’s how I get this trait of mine.

Fun facts: my name is actually the title of one of the most famous Khmer novels called “Mealea Duong Chet”; it means “florals in someone’s heart”. My name sounds really familiar to most of the Cambodians, since the novel is really well-known all over Cambodia. Surprisingly, my name is the name of one of the temple in Siem Reap. It is a really old temple built in the early 12th century.

Despite from opinions from others, I feel like this name doesn’t represent me that well, but I love it and I really don’t want to change my first name, because it is something that my grandfather left for me before he passed away and I would never change my name to anything.

Afterwards, we learned about literary devices, elements that a great author uses to create fascinating effects to the story. I found it really helpful, because these elements are just things that we need in a story to make it amazing and with literary devices, it just makes the atmosphere when you are reading more realistic and able to visualize. These literary devices create imaginary images in our mind and extend our creativity.

We are currently in groups of 3-5 people reading the same book with the theme of “Identity”. There are four different books to choose from; Outsiders, Wonder, Looking for Alaska and Monsters. I chose to read Monsters, because it’s totally a different taste of reading for me. Every week, we have a book discussion, where everyone in the team is assigned for a role, such as; the summarizer, the word detector, inferencer, symbolizer and visualizer. We switch roles every week and we basically just discussed about the book as one of the five roles listed before.

An author always has his/her purposes of writing the books. They might want the book to be educational, entertaining, informative, persuasive or descriptive. They might choose to add some opinions or facts or add different literary devices to give some amazing effects to the book.

This round’s theme has caught my eyes so much and I am really looking forward for next round’s theme. I could guarantee that it’s going to be another exciting theme.