The following is my weekly updates of everything my group and I have been doing throughout the weeks leading up to our final performance. Instead of making each one, in different posts, I decided to collect them all into one post. This term, we have to create a performance related to phantasmagoria, a form of horror theater.
Week 1
This first week was where we were introduced to phantasmagoria. We were shown examples of it in different videos and how realistic and frightening it could be. At first, I was quite unsure, how was a group of year 8s be able to imitate something as well done as that? However, I realized that this is why music and art was combined. It was our job to make it look more realistic by combining art and music together. This week wasn't super productive, as we had not been sorted into groups or anything. Instead, the teachers simply introduced us to everything we'd be doing throughout the term and what we were expected to accomplish leading up to the final performance, where we were expected to showcase it to our parents either live or in a digital video.
Week 2
The next two lessons that occurred were where we discovered what groups we were going to be placed in. In the beginning, I was quite worried as we had not been allowed to decide our groups but once I was sorted and got to know everything, my worries were for the most part settled. We were told that this was going to be an interdisciplinary unit, since we were combining three subjects, music, art and English. English was fitting as since our unit this term was phantasmagoria and we had previously done horror stories in English, the two subjects could be combined. This week was where we began to look at each other's stories of Francis Brandiwine and the various horror stories we had come up. We ended up deciding to choose mine as it seemed like the easiest to transform into phantasmagoria and perform. Although, we did add a few tweaks into it to put even more horror into it. Finally, we decided on the format in which we would present it as. We thought that incorporating shadow puppetry would be the best way to present this, however we all had no interest in performing it live as we wanted the music and art to be synchronized and well put together. Instead, we're putting shadow puppetry but also adding in things digitally such as the backgrounds and fitting in the music using iMovie.
Week 3
In this week, we dug deeper into how our performance would go.We looked at the beginning, middle and end and what we could go both in the music side of things as well as the art, in order to make it realistic and well put together. To do this, we went to each section and decided what characters would be created and how to make it look realistic such as drawing different body parts separately so they would move on their own. In the music side, we looked at possible music to be used in each scene, for example in a suspense filled scene, we could add dramatic music to further build up suspense and tension. My group also decided what exactly would happened and how it would happen, as well as the backgrounds that would be needed digitally and every single thing that would need to be drawn, such as the number of characters we would need to draw, vines and trees and other background props to be used. Since this was the last lesson we would have before the winter break, we decided that we'd write the script throughout the break to know exactly how the whole performance would play out.
Week 4
The first lesson of the week was the whole, final one before art and music would be separated to do their own things. So we planned together to decide what should be finish at the end of each week and what our schedule would be so we would all be organised and prepared leading up to our final performance. My group planned out everything such as that we'd hopefully be nearly finished our puppets in the next two weeks and that most of the music would be finished as well and that in the few, final weeks we would intertwine everything so it would all be synchronized and well put together. The second lesson was where we were separated and led away to do our own things. My art group once again planned out everything single thing we'd need, such as equipment like cardboard, pins, etc. We also decided who would draw out what based on our art capabilities and who was the best at drawing and who was quite weak in that department.
Week 5
This week was where the action really began to happen. Our final plans on what the characters would look like were finally completed and we were now prepared to start our shadow puppets and draw them in their correct sizes. This week was focused sorely on the sea creature which will be the main focus of the whole story as that character is responsible for all the horror themes in our puppet show as it will terrorize and murder all the villagers. I drew the whole monster first and then drew the head separately, then the body and then its fin, this is so I could pin them all together to control how each body part moves. I have yet to pin everything together but will do that at the end when everything is completed and put together.
Week 6
In this week was where all the puppets were drawn out. We pinned everything together, all the body parts that were drawn separately were attached together to make it look more realistic and more 3D like while performing. The monster was quite difficult to do and I ended up redrawing the one I did last week as it didn't look as good as the new one I have created. However, it's a lot longer and therefore is a lot more flimsy despite the fact that it was created on cardboard. It was also harder to add a stick to it as it needed more than one and we weren't allowed to use the glue guns so we had to use tape but that kept falling off.
Week 7
All the characters for the upcoming puppet show was finished this week. The girl was created, the puppet that I'm the most proud of as it's beautifully drawn, in my opinion. We didn't attach any sticks yet but we'll be doing that next week. The music side is nearly finished which is exciting as next week we finally get to add it altogether which is perfect since we need to start filming. My group for the most part is co-operating which has lessened the stress off me. I've had to rewrite the script as I feel it's too short and would not fit well with the music and art. The villagers were drawn out and cut out too. I think they turned out well. I didn't do three as I originally planned because I was running out of time so I narrowed it down to two and I guess that's better since the camera can only film so much of the screen as this will be easier since it will allow everyone to be on the screen and showing.
Week 8
The puppets and music is finished. Well, separately they are. However, we are yet to film it. The trailer for our phantasmagoria performance is finished and I'm very happy with the outcome of it and how it turned out since it looks pretty scary which will do well for our audience concerning the tension and fear that should arise within them. The music is a bit too short for the puppet show so we agreed to just repeat and lengthen specific songs that were composed by repeating them against once it had finished. We printed out the backgrounds we're going to require for our phantasmagoria performance and agreed we're going to project it using the acid sheets and the projector that comes with it. We stapled the two big sheets with the two long, large boards and put it in an area that we can go back to later so we can film our performance. Everything's going on track which is a major relief. We've started practicing and our performance is longer than expected but that's okay. I'm worried it will bore the audience though as it is nearly 5 minutes in length.
Week 9
This was the most stressful week we've had so far as it was our final week to get everything finished since next week will be mid term break and we won't be having any lessons. Straight after will be our performance to the parents and since it was too loud during the class we couldn't do any filming. We only managed to film 2 scenes during the class so we had to stay after school to complete it. It didn't help that it was due tomorrow, the same day as my math exam.So I had to return home and edit and narrate it (since it was too loud for my voice to be heard) but luckily I managed to complete it. I'm quite proud of the outcome and how everything turned out so I'm looking forward to showing it. The sticks for the sea monster is too little so we had to remove one from one of our villagers to use on our sea monster since it was too flimsy.
Week 10
I'm very thankful my performance is filmed as I didn't have to do any last minute stressing over the performance to the parents that were happening with the parents this week. I think my performance to the parents was successful since all I had to do was introduce my group and then present my video.
