Day to Night Conversion

With the help of videocopilot.net (Andrew Kramer is a GENIUS) I learned how to do some Day-to-Night conversion. To learn this technique for yourself, watch his tutorial HERE.

I've provided some screen grabs of what I did to end up with the final result. I just used a still image for practice, but the real one I'm going to do will be video. I just need to FILM the video asset still *sheepish grin*.

1) Original photograph.

2. Crushed the brightness, made it kind of bluey.

3. Made the sky even more inky blue than the rest of the photo. Used a feathered mask to make it blend in with the road.

4. Added some spots on the ground where the street lamps will hit.

5. Added some glow to the street lamps as well as a the fall-off from the light. This wasn't necessary but I liked the look better with it than without.

6. Added some lights to the traffic lights and cross signal.

left behind (spring awakening cover)

Spring Awakening is my favoritest play EVAR. This is a song from it.

Check out the following links to learn more about Spring Awakening!
Touring Cast's Blog
Touring Cast's YouTube Channel
Extended Run (Touring Cast's Webisode Series)
Official Website

lauranicole.ca

Actually, uh, it's up. Click the picture above to check it out or copy and paste the web address: http://www.lauranicole.ca/

It's full of bugs and and stuff and I haven't made the "Projects" page yet, but it's up. Also, it doesn't have a pre-loader right now so if you're on a slow internet connection I'M SORRY. You can either let it load or not bother and stay here instead because there's so much more content on my blog than there is on the website.

Anyway, leave a comment here if you do look at it and let me know if you encountered any problems or whatever. Feedback is appreciated especially since I suck at Flash and I want to know what I did wrong.

xoxo
Laura

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"Can We Talk About...?" 'Glee'

If you haven't heard about Glee then you've been living under a rock.

I'm sorry to be harsh, but it's true.

Honestly, I can't believe that it has taken me this long to write about since I've probably watched the Sneak Peek Premiere episode about 10 times since it aired. Not kidding. And it's also currently sharing the throne with several other television series that are my favorites even though only one episode has aired thus far.

It aired on May 19th after the American Idol season finale and the rest of the season will continue on Fox "in the fall". The only reason I'm using quotes there is because I don't know the exact date in the fall it will be starting up. Personally, I hope that Fox's version of "in the fall" means "next monday" but I'm pretty sure that's what they call "wishful thinking".

Anyway, you've been reading this and you're probably thinking, "Laura, get to the point. Why should I watch this show? Why is it so apparently awesome?" Well, let me lay it out for you.

1) It's Not High School Musical
Whatever you think Glee might be, it's not. And I know lots of people who think it's going to be like High School Musical. But in those movies, characters have been known to break into song for absolutely no reason. With this show there's a reason for the music: the Glee Club. Also, the music in Glee is about 10 kajillion times better than HSM. In the premiere alone: 'Respect', 'Rehab' and 'Don't Stop Believing'. And believe me, I can't stop listening to the show's version of 'Don't Stop Believing'. It's incredible. Which brings me to my next point...

2) A Talented Cast
Most of the cast in HSM are marginally talented (kind of. Personally I think nails being scratched on a black board is preferable to Vanessa Hudgen's so-called singing) but the cast of Glee is WAY WAY talented. When you listen to the show's reditions of the songs mentioned above, that's the cast singing. There's no stand-ins or lipsynching to another singer's voice. Nope. That's their singing. Lea Michele, who plays Rachel Berry, has the most gorgeous voice of the cast (IMHO). She was in my favorite musical, Spring Awakening, as the lead Wendla and in the show she sings a song from Les Mis called 'On My Own' and it literally has given me chills every time I have watched the premiere episode.

3) Interesting Characters
OK, sure. You've got two of the high school standards: The Betchy Cheerleader and the Cool Quarterback. But they're with a twist. The Betchy Cheerleader is also the president of the Celibacy Club and the Cool Quarterback wants to sing and can play the drums. But there's also the cast of misfits that is the Glee club; Emma Pillsbury, the teacher who's a germiphobe but also has a huge crush on Will Schuester, (the lead adult) who's the spanish teacher but really wants to turn the Glee club around. The cheerleading coach, Sue, is coniving and enjoys the fame that the Cheerios (that's the name of the cheerleading team) have brought upon her. My personal favorite is Will's wife, Terry, who I am pretty sure is ligimately crazy.

4) A Good Message
I'm going to get cheesy for a moment, so prepare yourself. The message that this show is sending (so far) seems to be a pretty good one. It's all about being true to who you are instead of what other people expect you to be. Like Rachel says to Finn (who's the Quarterback, by the way) "You need to stop caring what other people think of it. You're better than all of them." The show is about fighting and working for your dream and what you believe in. And when they sing 'Don't Stop Believing' at the end of the episode, it's a really frigging uplifting moment.

Is that still not enough to convince you? Watch this:



Have I got your attention now?

Now, hurry over to Hulu and give it a watch. Of course, if you're not in the States, you'll need to find some other means to do so. Please? I'll mean a lot to me. Thank you.

xoxo