These first week was my introductory week, we were introduced what we would be doing this unit. Firstly, I learnt the work behind claymation and all that was required to be able to do it. I also learnt how to combine claymation and stop motion together in order to create a movie. We were given a few options on what our theme would be for our combined claymation and stop motion. Since this was an interdisciplinary unit between English, Art and Music, our options were based on things we had taken in English which were the following: Fairytales, Phantasmagoria, Ballads and Private Peaceful.
Week 2
We were allowed to pick our own groups during this week. In Art I grouped with the following: Jana, Sophia and Rakan. For music I grouped with: Sireen and Sam. Including me, this was a group of 6 which will surely be enough for our project. This week was the planning week where we had to research character designs, music themes and what theme we were picking. We all felt that doing a ballad was best suited for us and we picked Sireen's ballad which was about anorexia. I felt that this was a good topic to do our ballad in as with the clay we can easily show a girl getting thinner and thinner as we can rip off more and more clay to showcase the big change. This was also where we designed an action plan so we could decide what we wanted to get done every week and how we wanted the ending result to look like. The action plan is written in my last blog post.
Week 3
This week was the week where we finally separated off into our own subjects. The music part of the claymation went up to the music room (aka me) and the art side of the claymation went to the art room to start creating all the characters with clay. This week was spent looking at our ballad, it needed some extending so that it can fit at least 3 minutes. We decided we didn't like our chorus so decided to write out a new one. We also added in some more repetition in order to extend the length. Once we completed the song, we began to research different ways we could play sad songs as our ballad is quite a depressing once since it is about depression.
Week 4
I brought in various pieces of sheet music to bring in for inspiration and began to take pieces of the ballad to compose music for. In this lesson we did the first two verses and took inspiration from one of my favorite songs to use as the background music for my ballad. We experimented with the drums and piano in order to achieve our final product.
Week 5
Since we figured out a piece of the piano parts, it was time to bring out the ukulele. We experimented with different songs and different chords to figure out how we wanted the ukulele to sound. It was quite difficult at first as the ukulele is a happy instrument and sounds very lighthearted so it was a struggle to play around with minor chords. We ended up composing the introduction by playing around with some chords and strings to give it a calming feel, as if it was the 'calm before the storm'.
Week 6
During this week, we composed the chorus which is a mixture of both the ukulele and the piano which was a bit of a struggle as it was hard to get them to mesh well as it clashed a lot at first. Then we moved on into composing new verses, the next few verses were mainly piano and it was quite
simple to play around with as I knew how I wanted it to sound like.
Week 7
This was the week where we polished everything that we had decided would be our music for our verses so far. We tweaked a few things and finished it so that we could begin recording what we had so far. It was a bit of a struggle as its hard to play something perfect for recording as I messed up quite a few times and had to rerecord countless of times. We also went into a room that had carpet flooring so that the sound would be louder and clearer; this is where we recorded all the ukulele parts as this room had the best quality of sound.
Week 8
We decided that we wanted to incorporate more instruments so we borrowed one of the xylophones to use for a part of our song/ballad. So for two of ours verses we played around with the notes until we recognized a sound that would fit our song. I took down all the notes I played and quickly recorded it before I forgot it. In between the two xylophone verses, I played around with the piano until I found nice, minor chords that would mesh with the other verses.
Week 9
During this week, we decided what our ending would sound like. The second to last verse would be a piece I would play on piano which sounds mournful and sad which is the sound we want to incorporate in our song/ballad. Our final verse, however, is going to be on the ukulele. Sure, the ukulele is usually quite a happy, lighthearted instrument but we figured out how to make it sound a lot sadder. During the final verse, we're going to do some plucking of the strings so it would sound calming but at the same time sad. We made sure to record all of it.
Week 10
The music teacher advised us to rerecord all our music that included a piano as the quality wasn't as clear as it should have been. Recording piano parts on an actual software that was designed to record instruments is very useful and helps bring out a much clear sound which sounds a whole lot better. It was tiring, however, having to rerecord it all over again as it wasn't my original plan but I ended up recording it surprisingly quick. I made sure to save is as an audio file and sent it to myself as I would be able to edit it all together into a song.
Week 11
The song ended up totaling around 3 minutes, I predict that it is going to be too long for the claymation as it's hard to make claymations long. This week was spent editing and helping out the art as they're not finished filming as of yet, therefore we're not prepared to edit it all together as my action plan had originally wanted. As well as that, we still need to add in the narration of the ballad.
Week 12
This was our final week to finish off our claymation. It was quite stressful because we still had to shoot our final scenes, as well as edit it and film the narration. It didn't help that it was due the next day. However, we needed up staying after school and completed our editing, shooting scenes and recording then narration. There were issues as Sophia's laptop kept freezing and we were editing on her laptop so it was stressful having to sending it to miss. It has taught me to manage my time better as it is not fun finishing things last minute.
Week 3
This week was the week where we finally separated off into our own subjects. The music part of the claymation went up to the music room (aka me) and the art side of the claymation went to the art room to start creating all the characters with clay. This week was spent looking at our ballad, it needed some extending so that it can fit at least 3 minutes. We decided we didn't like our chorus so decided to write out a new one. We also added in some more repetition in order to extend the length. Once we completed the song, we began to research different ways we could play sad songs as our ballad is quite a depressing once since it is about depression.
Week 4
I brought in various pieces of sheet music to bring in for inspiration and began to take pieces of the ballad to compose music for. In this lesson we did the first two verses and took inspiration from one of my favorite songs to use as the background music for my ballad. We experimented with the drums and piano in order to achieve our final product.
Week 5
Since we figured out a piece of the piano parts, it was time to bring out the ukulele. We experimented with different songs and different chords to figure out how we wanted the ukulele to sound. It was quite difficult at first as the ukulele is a happy instrument and sounds very lighthearted so it was a struggle to play around with minor chords. We ended up composing the introduction by playing around with some chords and strings to give it a calming feel, as if it was the 'calm before the storm'.
Week 6
During this week, we composed the chorus which is a mixture of both the ukulele and the piano which was a bit of a struggle as it was hard to get them to mesh well as it clashed a lot at first. Then we moved on into composing new verses, the next few verses were mainly piano and it was quite
simple to play around with as I knew how I wanted it to sound like.
Week 7
This was the week where we polished everything that we had decided would be our music for our verses so far. We tweaked a few things and finished it so that we could begin recording what we had so far. It was a bit of a struggle as its hard to play something perfect for recording as I messed up quite a few times and had to rerecord countless of times. We also went into a room that had carpet flooring so that the sound would be louder and clearer; this is where we recorded all the ukulele parts as this room had the best quality of sound.
Week 8
We decided that we wanted to incorporate more instruments so we borrowed one of the xylophones to use for a part of our song/ballad. So for two of ours verses we played around with the notes until we recognized a sound that would fit our song. I took down all the notes I played and quickly recorded it before I forgot it. In between the two xylophone verses, I played around with the piano until I found nice, minor chords that would mesh with the other verses.
Week 9
During this week, we decided what our ending would sound like. The second to last verse would be a piece I would play on piano which sounds mournful and sad which is the sound we want to incorporate in our song/ballad. Our final verse, however, is going to be on the ukulele. Sure, the ukulele is usually quite a happy, lighthearted instrument but we figured out how to make it sound a lot sadder. During the final verse, we're going to do some plucking of the strings so it would sound calming but at the same time sad. We made sure to record all of it.
Week 10
The music teacher advised us to rerecord all our music that included a piano as the quality wasn't as clear as it should have been. Recording piano parts on an actual software that was designed to record instruments is very useful and helps bring out a much clear sound which sounds a whole lot better. It was tiring, however, having to rerecord it all over again as it wasn't my original plan but I ended up recording it surprisingly quick. I made sure to save is as an audio file and sent it to myself as I would be able to edit it all together into a song.
Week 11
The song ended up totaling around 3 minutes, I predict that it is going to be too long for the claymation as it's hard to make claymations long. This week was spent editing and helping out the art as they're not finished filming as of yet, therefore we're not prepared to edit it all together as my action plan had originally wanted. As well as that, we still need to add in the narration of the ballad.
Week 12
This was our final week to finish off our claymation. It was quite stressful because we still had to shoot our final scenes, as well as edit it and film the narration. It didn't help that it was due the next day. However, we needed up staying after school and completed our editing, shooting scenes and recording then narration. There were issues as Sophia's laptop kept freezing and we were editing on her laptop so it was stressful having to sending it to miss. It has taught me to manage my time better as it is not fun finishing things last minute.
