Fish

I looked for some inspiration for some plasticine fish. Here are some of the photos I found!

http://files.shownd.com/k/e/r/kerrydyer/uploads/large/191786.JPG
I like how this fish is black, but is like different shades of grey. I like how it looks really 3D and I like fat things. I like how it looks really fat and cute. I also like how the mouth is like a clowns. It would be funny if I actually had a red mouth. I also like how the eye balls pop out of the sockets. I like the fish tail, but I am not so fond of the fins - they look kind of weird!

http://colorificed.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/fish.jpg

I think that this fish is really cute. I like the idea of the patterns on the tail and body of the fish. I like the use of colours, except I don't really like the green bits. I don't know what was used to make the patterns, but I could try different utensils until I find a pattern that i like and that works.

http://rosiemayslater.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/4.jpg

I think that this fish is really funny. I like how the creator created the eyes. I think that this fish would be actually really easy to do, but could take a long time to perfect it. I don't really like the colours though. I think the green is kinda mucky and eewy. But I like how the shades go back into the fishes tail.

http://rosiemayslater.wordpress.com/2010/01/06/plastecine-2/attachment/1/

I think that this fish is really cute. I like the big eyes and how they pop out of the fishes head. I also like the colour of the fish. Orange is so vibrant and fun looking. I also like the teeth. It reminds me of vampires and I also like how the mouth is open. If I do this fish, I can combine it into my stop motion when the fish eats the human. I also like the tongue and how it kinds of pops out of the mouth.

http://artwagon.net/clay_fish.jpg

I think that this fish is very playful. I like the colours that the person has used to create the fish. I like how the little scales stick out. I like how they are not only one colour. I like how they put bits of purple into the pink bits. I also really really like the tail. I like how they stuck some tiny circles on the tail. It gives it a fun texture and I like how the tail is all blue, but the circles are different colours.


Combining all of these ideas and flounder from the little mermaid, I hope to create a fun, energetic, colourful fish that will look really cool. After all, the fish is one of two main characters!

Fish Inspiration!

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBBcyZmP6qLaaQ2dq_6AqA3IBbY85-_GksgTairY5b8WJ8KX8vZbSEjAEo27ItIYtPYBy3h3u9Q-npq42v5kiMZwqWzc66nwwUkjQt1MLHPeqzpEqsXunxOU1bl5lefkgHnl2atBliJqwC/s400/LittleMermaidFlounderPatch.jpg

I have been trying to draw some fish for my plasticine and I haven't been very successful. So I tried looking up fish on the internet - and then I had the greatest idea...
My fish inspiration is....

FLOUNDER!!! OFF THE LITTLE MERMAID!!

So basically, when I mould and make my fish, I will have Flounder in my head! I might try and actually make it, but even if I did, I dont think it would turn out!

Story Board

Mr P has already given the 'OKAY' to my story boards, but I had to photo copy them at home. When I scanned my original story boards in, it didn't turn out because I sketch really lightly. I had to go around the pictures really hard with a pencil to make it show up on the scanned photo. Sorry if the pictures seem messy - they were better before!

I didn't have writing on all of the frames, but you cant really See what I wrote so here it is:

1. Clay man. Shoot from side view. Holding a fishing rod
2. Man walks in front of pond, still side ways
3. NONE (just showing that he is on the other side of the pond)
4. Maybe the man could be sitting? Puts his fishing rod into the pond
5. NONE (showing that the man has caught a fish)
6. NONE (the man is starting to reel in the fish)
7. The man keeps reeling the fish in
8. The fish jumps onto the man's head
9. Zoom in. The fish eats the whole body. The fish doesn't change shape throughout the whole thing.. or does it?
10. NONE (showing the fish eating the man)
11. The fish is the same size as the starting frame of the fish. It waddles back into the pond.

After lesson

I still haven't bought any of the equipment that I need yet - (clay or plasticine) so I cannot start playing with it and making my objects. So in today's lesson, I am going to try and work out what I want in my set - trees placing of objects, how far away I want the people to stand etc.
I think I will have a box for my set, so I will need to buy a large box and also buy some cheap lamps from somewhere.

I think I want my fish to be a peach colour, but I am not sure, depending on the colour clay/plasticine I get. Or I could dye the clay stuff with food colouring.
I also have to remember to use clear fish wire if I have to use it for the fish

I really cant do anything until I have the plasticine which i will be getting this weekend (and it is thursday and it is our last lesson)

Other stuff

I forgot to blog before about my decision. I played with both stop motion and animation-ish and I thought that stop motion was way more fun and would be cool to play with and do for my assignment. That is pretty much how I chose which program I wanted to use. For my story, I could use either animation-ish or stop motion, both programs would be fine to use for my idea. If I find making plasticine too hard, I can always change if I really want to (even though it would probably be a really bad idea!) So Mr P also said that only the story paragraph analysis had to be done by today, but I thought that I had to also have he story boards done, so I was ready to start today, however, I dont have any plasticine with me today, so I will have to buy some and bring it it to school so that I can start playing with it and making my human and fishies.

My idea is a go!

Today I handed Mr P my story board and he said it was all good and that I should use other materials other than clay to make the video set. He said that it was a good story and that I could start now.

Materials I could possibly use:
- cellophane
- crepe paper
- maybe some natural materials such as bark

THE final decision!

www.istockphoto.com

So, I just posted heaps of ideas that I thought of doing, but the one that I chose didn't come from that list, but came from my intelligent brain. This is a summary of the story:
A man goes fishing, (and you see him walking until he gets to the pond) and sets up his fishing rod. The fishing rod sits there for a while until you see the fishing line pulling. So time goes by when the man pull up his fish fully so it is right at the top. When it is at the top, the fish jumps on the man's head and starts eating the man. The fish eats the whole man and then you see the fish dive back into the pond.

The breakdown:
- You see a man walking (with a fishing rod) (on a side view)
- You see him walking and then you see the pond. The man walks in front of the pond
- You see the man getting his fishing rod ready
- The line of the fishing rod goes into the pond
- You see a fish at the bottom of the fishing line
- The man pulls up the fish
- When the fish is right up the top of the fishing rod, the fish jumps of the man's head
- the fish eats the man (head to top) (leaving nothing, no clothes, no shoes, no bones)
- You see the fish on the ground (it hasn't changed size since it ate the man)
- You see the fish waddling to the pond
- And then you see the fish dive back into the pond


What I will need:
- clay (to make the pond, trees, (and other stuff in the background) the man, the fish, fishing rod)
- string or some sort of thread (to act as the fishing line)


Other stuff:
As I posted before, last year, people used like a box as there set. Since I am definitely doing stop motion now, I think that it would be easier to use a set so that I wont have to set up every time I start filming again. I will also need to buy some lamps, because Mr P said that to have consistent lighting, the best way to have the same amount of light every time, to use lamps.


Title: (!?)
I don't know if we need a title for our movie but a possible title is:
Super fish
I don't know, its just a start, I have a whole term to think about it!

Ideas for the final decision making

So today (which is Sunday) I still had no idea what I wanted to do for my stop motion. I looked around the Internet and on YouTube and looked at some pretty cool videos. Some of them are: (I'm not gonna post them cause we cant look at them at school anyway)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGoOhZN_PR8
this one is about someone making a clay person. I thought it was pretty cool because at the start of the movie, there was like nothing, and then at the end, the person made another person! It is pretty cool. That gave me the idea of clay. I thought of clay before, but I don't really like using it because it always gets into my nails and annoys me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UG5gO4nlLRQ
this video is sooo coool. it is of this guy making pancakes. it reminded me of the one that Mr p showed us from last year. But no offense, but this one was heaps cooler. when the person got the flour, he like made words and pictures with the flour. I was really tempted to do this idea, and I thought about it heaps.

Other ideas I thought of today were:
- A similar idea to Dora the Explorer, where a person goes for an adventure, but she has all these obstacles before she can actually get to her destination
- getting my toys to make my bed - it was pretty boring and the idea came from a YouTube video. But I am not going to post it because it was pretty boring to watch (it was kinda a last resort just in case)
- making a music video. I got the idea from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98Mp6RSkzN8 . this video is pretty cool. and I thought making this video would be really fun and I could be really creative in what the objects were that made the sounds.
- where toys come alive. Its kinda like 'done already', but I was going say that when people aren't in the room, they can like dance and talk and stuff
- make the piano play it self. I thought this idea was pretty cool, and it would be quiet easy, but I would need someone to help me do the whole thing.
- there are 2 girls, and they both have the same size box. The first girl opens hers and something really big comes out. The other girl opens hers and something really small comes out. The girl gets really sad, and she looks in the box again, (she like fully sticks her head it) and then this time something massive come out. (My inspiration for the box was the chinese takeaway boxes)

Decision Making

Today is Thursday, and by Monday, we have to blog if...
- we are doing a stop motion or an animation
- we are doing it solo or in a pair
- what my story is going to be about (synopsis in words) (it doesn't have to be long)

ALSO:
- Good films have characters. These characters have to show emotion and like appeal to you. They need to show emotion, you need to have an emotional connection with your characters and the audience. The characters have to make you feel something (sad, joy, angry, comedy, drama, thriller etc). You should have heaps of different emotions throughout the animation.

While looking for inspirations by looking up random pictures on google, I came across this picture. I thought it was really cute, and it also shows emotions on 'dead' objects. The tree has a face!

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsf-p1QlIEgvhlLvt5fyAOhMKIZfj9cnXfmQdKsMTGsNqF6NL_qL0v7E-tw0KEc9xzyi-ZpYH2DBnGt5tAQ7buC41eEif05jvHiZIDz6XcwkxDTMI3F1WyAo3QCH_KheNKv9CHyQkr3Ug/s400/Slide1.jpg

No more playing!

http://www.newmoonmovie.org/images/twilight-directors-notebook.jpg

The topic of today: Story boards! ... and the Twilight: The Director's Notebook

Today, Mr P told us that we are pretty much going to stop playing with the programs and that we have to start thinking and working on our assignment. At the start of the lesson, he talked about storyboards. He said that you do not have to be a great drawer, and that you just have to plan out everything.

"You don't make a film and then get someone to write the script!"

So basically, Mr P said that we cant start until our storyboards are finished and that if he finds out we started, he will pretty much delete it. He also said that you need a plan, and that if you have a plan, it will work out better and you will know what you are doing which will make it easier for you.

"Last year, the people who did better, had their idea on their mind and knew what they wanted to achieve. The others didn't know what they wanted to do, and they just kept playing with everything and then their stories weren't as good as the other stories."

I have to remember to look up the link on blackboard which will help me if I get stuck. Storyboards are pretty much look like a comic strip. I don't think mine will turn out like a comic strip, but more like a kindergarten's drawings. He also said that if you do your storyboard, and then you are half way through, you can change your mind and then just add something else into it. This reminds me of like movies and how they draw out everything that they want their movie to look like. I have a book at home which is the note book of a Catherine Hardwick (The director of Twilight) when she was filming Twilight. It shows everything that she had to do in order to complete the movie. It has sketches of what she wanted the characters to wear, some of the scenes, where the characters would move and land and pictures of the scenes were she wanted that specific scene to happen. Actually, I think that this book would help me heaps. I wouldn't have as much planning as her, but the basic idea is there that i could follow.

We have two weeks to think of a story and to plan out our story boards. We also have to write what is happening in the scenes. What I need:
- A story (one or two paragraphs)
- Story frames - Stick figures are alright (but need eyes and legs and mouths etc), about 8 - 10 frames maybe.

"Both of these are going to pile up to half your evaluation. The other half would be from your blog. Also at least 80% (1/5th) of your story board planning should end up in your actually real assignment."

This picture from Twilight: The Director's Notebook by Catherine Hardwicke shows a page from the book where Catherine had take pictures of the scenes and drawings of what she wanted to happen, labels and some screen shots.

http://i44.tinypic.com/2rppa9e.jpg

Another thing that I learnt today is I CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT THE CUT, COPY AND PASTE BUTTONS!!

A trip around school

In today's creative media lesson, I did a double video with Meghna. We took one laptop and used stop motion to document every step that we took. We went around to the chapel, down to the science building and then back up to the creative media room. This lesson was really fun and it was funny to see how the video turned out. We also had some actressess! Meghna and Izzy are the big stars in the movie, and Annie and I are minor actressess and only have a supporting role. Next lesson, I need to ask Mr P how you can make the computer or the program like click by its self so that you dont have to keep pressing the button by yourself. There are a few buttons and stuff on stop motion that I have tried, but none of them work for me! I might be doing something wrong or just totally not doing it right at all. I still havent decided what I am going to do for my assignment. Also, Mr P said that we can work in partners. He explained that if we worked in partners for animationish, we could both do equal amount of the drawings. I dont think this would turn out, because most poeple have very different differnt styles. But when I did stop motion for art, it was more fun and heaps easier with more than one person. It is easier with one person because one person could move the items and then the other person could click the button, and then swap jobs. This is the movie we made today!:

The Walking Calculator

So just to do something with stop motion, I didnt really have an idea, so my fantastic idea was.... The calculator!!!!! The video is pretty bad. It is really simple and boring, but its a start! Basically, on some of the other stop motions i have seen, you have to be really careful not to get your hand in the shot. Also, I have been thinking about what I want to do, and I was watching TV and the video for Billie Jean by Michael Jackson came on. At the start, when I think the person is Michael Jackson steps of the square block path thingys (I forgot what they are called) when his foot steps on the block, it lights up in a different colour. There is only one coloured block at one time. Thats just one idea, but it is kinda the same as that other girls from last year. I still really dont know what I want to do yet! I have to decide soon!

iStop Moion

Today Mr P taught us about Stop Motion. Stuff I learnt today:

- a 30 second film will be 300 frames
- you need consistent lighting. You can do this by having two lamps. This will keep the lighting the same every time
- last year people did their stop motions with clay, people, Lego etc
- Mr P said that someone also had a mini film set in a box. I think that this is a good idea, but you would need a big box which you could take apart. So you could move all the props and get the right lighting
- you need to have slow shots
- you can get other people to help you - then it will be fun as well
- the stop motion from last year which and the magic powers was really cool
- you should not have photo booth open as the same time as stop motion
- we made a class stop motion with the lap top moving and being magic!
- also the principal came to class today

Question: Is stop motion and istop motion the same thing?

First lesson after Annie - week 4

We haven't had a Creative Media lesson for agggesssss! With all the Annie rehearsals and stuff like that, we haven't done much in like a week. So today, Mr P said that we should have already started our blogs. I have :) This is what he said we had to include:
- the bouncing ball plus 2 other animations
- walking / moving (with key frames)
- with sound
- any other animations or stop motions we have done

Also, we are suppose to be spending 10 minutes, three times a week (which is 30 minutes) on our blog. In the coming weeks, we will be blogging two or three stop motions and then.... WE GET TO DECIDED!! Mr P said that 30 seconds will get you an A. 'Its not about length, its about quality!'

Pros and Cons

istop motion - you have to be really really organised. You have to have all your stuff at school, then take it home if you need to work at home. You have to remember that if you are working outside in the sunlight, that the weather and lighting might change which could affect your final product. But istop motion in my opinion looks easier and more exciting and fun.

animationish - you dont have to be AS organised because all the equipment that you need is at school - lap top, bamboo, music, etc. You dont need to worry about the weather or lighting. Also, if you arnt a good drawer, your animation will be kinda eewwy and not very good.