Introduction

Elena Dsouza

Mr. Bowers

HoHum

December 11, 2015

Lefty

I broke my thumb. It happened while playing field hockey of course but that is in the past now. I was put in a cast on my right hand from my thumb to my elbow with my other 4 fingers sticking out. “ It can’t be that bad” I thought as I had left the hospital. As the day went by I found myself struggling to do normal tasks with my right hand. I never really thought about how much I use my dominant right hand instead of my left. Everyday tasks like combing my hair, tying my shoes and writing down homework took longer than usual. This got me to thinking “ what if I could write with both hands?!?” If I  was proficient with both hands then I could do everything normally and much more. For my dream big project I greatly explored video editing and  in my video I showed how my life gradually became easier when using my left hand for everyday tasks. This project was challenging because I have never edited a video until I began this project and my right hand is dominant so I really had to work on my left. I wanted to show the world that when you’re impaired you just need to get back on your feet and find another way to continue living your life to the fullest. Some people write a book about how they overcame their struggles but I would rather watch a video than read a book! For this project I created a video showing the pros and cons to having a cast and then showed how I practiced in order to master my left hand and use it in my everyday tasks.

Lefty #12

As my journey ends I complete my last post... Last night I completed my Lefty Dream Big Project by filming and editing for 2 hours. I went to Alli's house to film the final scene and it was a bittersweet finale. The uploading to YouTube took most of my time but other than that the editing and filming were like a breeze. I am really proud of the work I have done and I am really grateful to have been able to discover so much in this project. I was able to teach myself and learn on my own. I found that in order to succeed I have to be satisfied with the work I have done. Luckily I have set the bar pretty high for myself and it sure feels good to reach my goals. Thanks for all your support and be sure too check out my video!! I hope you like it!!

https://youtu.be/PwNNQu_PSfE

Lefty #11

Last Friday I went to Mackenzie Hemming's house for 3 hours!!!! I helped her film and showed her how to use movie maker. It was really fun and I feel like she too learned a lot I can later attach a link to her awesome video when it is finished!! We filmed a lot at school and at her house. She has a really nice camera that took me a little while to master. It is really useful and it has a nice zoom. After filming at her house we uploaded all the videos to her laptop. That process took a while because her WiFi kept turning off and on. After the videos uploaded we had fun reviewing the videos and editing the first few before I had to leave. This week we will definitely have to continue editing but at least the filming is complete.    

Lefty #10

More filming and editing! I filmed most of the ending of my video which took about 2 hours and it shows how I have mastered being a lefty sadly a lot of the video I took I cut out of my video because it was too long and sometimes the film quality was bad. I also went and edited that video which took me about an hour. It is progressively getting easier to edit and I know how to edit and where to go and click on. I now just need to film and edit one more scene to complete my video.  I am pretty happy with the work I have done so far I just want to make the ending as funny as the beginning so the viewers are left laughing after the video is over.

Lefty #9

Hey y'all! It's break which is awesome!! It gives me enough time to complete my video. I just finished 3 hours of filming, uploading and editing. Finally the second part of my video is complete! I just need to film and then edit the finale!! I am excited to present my video and I am really proud of the work I have done. Unlike my video last year this video is going to be really good!! Well, hopefully... you will see because I will attach a link to my finished product :)

Lefty #8

Yeah baby I am hired!! Mackenzie Hemming just hired me to help her edit her video for Bowers! This will be fun to help her out. My favorite part about video editing is adding music... I just love picking one song out of millions that fits with the theme of the video! The finished video is also great because you can watch all your hard work come to life. I am so excited and can't wait!

Lefty #7

So far I'm at 10 hours... I got the chance to go to Taylors house and film!!! It was super fun and I was able to film myself practicing things with my left hand. We played a bunch of games like ping pong, basketball and calling people on her retro telephone. It took about 2 hours to practice and film at her house and then download all the videos to my computer. I am hoping to complete my full project over the thanksgiving break. All I have left to do is edit the second part of my video and then film and edit the last part of my video.... AND THEN I WILL BECOME A MASTER!!

Lefty #6

WOOOOOOHOOOOOOO I finally figured out how to upload my work to YouTube!! I took me an hour because at first I thought I could just email the video to myself. When I got to school I tried to show my friends @MackenzieHemming but it did not work... :( so I went home and attempted to upload the video on YouTube but my account was not working. I gave up after 30 min and I did not make any progress... I asked my dad to help me and he said that I had to first save the video to the computer and then to upload it and email the link to myself... It was harder than it seems but I did it!!! No I can show everyone and they be jealous :)

Lefty #5

I'm sorry everyone. I have been getting really lazy and I have been procrastinating a lot. I was suppose to go to Taylor's house and film some more left handed tasks. I am planning to go to her house soon and then once I film I will edit. I am thinking of playing ping pong and using the remote control at her house. So far I think I am getting better at using my left hand but it just takes a long time too do thing the right way... not too shabby..

http://www.anythinglefthanded.co.uk/being-lh/lh-info/advantages.html

This link shows some of the advantages of having a dominant left hand. Playing sports, multitasking and being more artistic are a few of these advantages. I definitely agree with the one about playing sports because while I play field hockey I feel stronger and I can rely more on my left hand to take control of the ball in tight situations.

Lefty #4

So far I have spent about 2 hours practicing every day tasks with my left hand I have even moved the mouse from my right side to my left! I has not been an easy transition. it required much more focus and time. I now have to actually think about forming letters instead of memorizing sentences. I have also started combing my hair with my left hand which was a lot harder than it seemed. I realized how weak my left arm is and that I cant easily move a comb through my hair. Opening doors with my left hand requires brain power and it is unnatural but hopefully by the end of my 20 hours these tasks will be easier.

Lefty #3

I started to add music to my video!! It was really exciting and I choose the song according to what each clip was about. I figured out how to cut the music to a specific place in the song and to place it in time with each video clip. It was fun finding the type of music that fit the theme of each clip. Unfortunately I found out the hard way that if you change the music in the beginning of the video then all the music after it changes. That was really annoying because I changed the music multiple times over the course of 3 days and that made the other music messed up so I ended up correcting my whole video... Over the course of 3 days it took about 3 hours to properly crop and edit the music to my video clips. From now on i am going to make sure that i perfect the videos in the front so i wont have to change it later and mess up the music.

Lefty #2

I have uploaded the video clips onto movie maker which was hard to find at first. I have never used movie maker before so I had to learn how to transfer videos from my phone to movie maker. Once I figured that out I had to rearrange the videos into the right order. I started to fall in love with movie maker because when you click on a video it automatically gives you options of trimming the video or transitions which make the clips easy to edit. Although it was simple it took me a long time to figure out how movie maker worked and to trim all the videos to the right size. It was about an hour to complete these steps.

Lefty notes #1

For my Dream Big Project I have decided to become proficient in everyday activities with my left hand. To add to that I will also research about video editing so I can make my video interesting and fun! I am getting my cast off soon so Allison Miller helped me record challenging things I do with it on. It took about an an hour and a half to create all the video clips plus some extras just in case. Allison's acting added a lot of humor to my video and I  am really excited to upload and work on the video clips in movie maker.

Lefty for dayyyz

"Life is tough" is what my dad always says. It was #Game Day for field hockey against Mission Hills. We were winning by 1 and it was the second half of the game. I was running to the ball when a Mission Hills player stepped in front of me, she turned around and swung full force I quickly saw the ball and hit it out of the way. It was so fast that the player did not realize the ball was gone. She ended up hitting my right thumb. At first it hurt but I didn't think much of the injury. I had been hit multiple times in the same spot but it always healed by the next morning. After winning the game I  went home and inspected my thumb. It seemed as though my thumb had become pregnant because it was purple and swollen. The next day I went to the doctor and he confirmed that it was broken and that I needed a cast for 3 weeks. Life with a cast was no as easy as it seems. Yes, I did get out of coping notes in class but it made everyday life activities much harder.