Campaign Postcard

Terry Gilliam

Project Brief.

My project brief is to create an animation in the style o terry Gilliam. Rodchenko & Popova and Gilliam both use photographic montage in their work. Rodchenko uses it as propaganda whereas Gilliam uses it for humour and entertainment. Our animation has to include the UNICEF right we have chosen as a group, which was: the right to be safe around others.

http://www.unicef.org.uk/campaigns/index.asp

This is the UNICEF website where we found our right that we developed. We chose this right because it could be developed to fit a local issue and a worldwide issue. The local issue fits our age category perfectly so we thought it was the one that people (teenagers our age) will be most interested in.

Our particular right is: If children have a right to be protected for conflict, cruelty, exploitation and neglect then they also have the responsibility not to bully or harm each other.

Terry Gilliam

"Terry Gilliam started his career as an animator and strip cartoonist; one of his early photographic strips for Help! featured future Python cast-member John Cleese. Moving to England, he animated features for Do Not Adjust Your Set, which also featured future Pythons Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin."

"Gilliam was a part of Monty Python's Flying Circus since its outset, at first credited as an animator (his name was listed separately after the other five in the closing credits), later as a full member. His cartoons linked the show's sketches together, and defined the group's visual language in other media (such as LP and book covers, and the title sequences of their films)."

Here are a few animations that he created. I viewed them on YouTube and found them highly amusing. He uses real life images and places them in a cartoon animation. Most of his work is based in the 1960s or 70s because that’s when he grew up.

· http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KUqHzk26kI

· http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMpXUd_kesA

· http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IvXNo_5LMk&feature=related

· http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXCpYgd338U&feature=related

MySpace and YouTube

In this lesson we read an article on MySpace and YouTube and how it affects the advertising world. We talked about the language and how we could apply the techniques to our own blog to make it more effective and analytical. After reading the article we were asked to pick one of our blog posts and add the features that we discussed. This was quite hard, as we were never asked to write in this style before. It was a new challenge for me and I think i learnt from it.

Interviewing Secratary of State Ed Balls

On Thursday 12th May Yasemin, Alex, Marley and I were invited to go to the department for education to interview the secretary of state Ed Balls. We went to interview him at guildhall a couple of months ago but he had to attend an important meeting so the date was postponed. We travelled there by taxi and the journey was nerve-racking. While we were there we managed to get a few shots of the building. It was massive! The building as modern and everything was made of glass. As Alex and Marley were stuck in traffic Yasemin and Fiona as well as I and Mr. Harpham were led up to the interviewing room where we began to set up. Unfortunately our planned room was going to be used in a meeting so we had to move last minute. We encountered a few problems on the way, which included

• Problems with lighting in the room
• Sound - for example the boom wasn't working so we had to use the built in microphone.

When we were finally ready the interview began

it was my job to be in charge of the sound but as the boom wasn’t working I just had to pretend like I knew what was going on :) we all introduced ourselves and he was very friendly.

He quickly discussed with us 'what we thought of the Diploma' and of course our response was great. Just before we started, Yasemin directed him and told him to answer in full sentences and to look in the right direction.

The overall interview worked very well and went smoothly. It was a great experience and you could tell we all enjoyed it.

Drama - Record Unit

In class we have been writing monologues as part of our unit "record". At first we were asked to create a character, then we had to brainstorm ideas about the character (e.g. how old they are, what are they doing whilst acting out the monologue). Once we did that we got into role, developed our characters further then started writing our own monologues. My idea was a schizophrenic fifteen year old girl. I got this idea from Hollyoaks, and the character newt. In my book, I decided to add stage directions to fit the style of Jessica my character. My role is based on the character 'newt' in Hollyoaks. He is a schizophrenic teenager. My role fits in with the character newt because they both have similar problems at home and they are both suffering from the same illness. If I perform my monologue I plan to perform it in 3 different areas:

• on location
• in the theatre
• in front of the green screen

As my two different mediums I’ve chosen to focus on photography and record. I’ve chosen these two because I’m not very good at performance and don’t feel comfortable on stage so I will be back stage doing the recording. I also picked photography because it’s what I want to do when I’m older so it would be good to have some experience. Also, because it covers media and that’s one of the subjects
For my monologue I've written everything but just need to do some more background research. I will go onto Wikipedia and other sources to find out about schizophrenia.

Art & Textiles - Campaign

In Class we have to put together a campaign in groups of 3-5. The campaign has to be on children's rights and it has to be inspired by one of the Unicef aims. (campaigns can be checked on www.unicef.org.uk) In our groups, we came up with the topic "health" and applied it in local and worldwide problems. Our worldwide problem was the lack of access to water & sanitation (which is one of the campaigns on the Unicef website) and our local problem was the right to be safe around others (which leads us onto our purple day).
We decided that its easier if we raise awareness to something local rather than worldwide because it applies to us more and people will be more interested in it.
We thought of the problems in our area and how it effects us.
We finally decided to do our raising awareness day on "knife crime" as its the most relevant to the area we live in and the problems going on around us.
As a fundraiser and a raising awareness day we decided to put posters up around the school and have a day where everyone comes in the colours purple & white.
We chose these two colours because they represent the messages peace, relaxation & loyalty.
as part of our planning, we have asked for a date to negotiate this with the head teacher so this day can actually take place in the nearby future. Within the next lesson, in our groups we had completed a brainstorm of:
• the tasks we would take on
• the people in our group
• our actual campaign
• the fundraiser we would hold
This brainstorm ws completed in our group and pictures of it ws taken. the pictures can be seen at the bottom of this post where i have made a slideshow.
In art we did a similar thing, we took a piece of work from rodchenko & popova each and changed it a bit so it fit our theme of campaign.
all of this will come together and complete our unit.

Final Identity Piece

In our last lesson to finish our identity projects, I was no way near half way through so I was literally PANICKING! I knew there was no way I would be able to finish it but I knew I had to do as much as possible.
These are the steps it took to make my identity piece:

1. screen print my face onto the tie dyed piece of fabric
2. block print the blotches onto the tie dyed piece of fabric
3. once that’s dry, staple the fabric onto the 1m by 1m frame I prepared earlier
4. Stick fabric around the edges of the frame to make it stand out and cover the staples.

In the end I managed to get up to stage 5 but I could only cover half of my frame. I’m hoping to complete it in time and get my grade higher. In those 4 lessons I think I got my artefact together quite well. The only thing I think didn’t turn out how I wanted to, was the screen print of my face because the picture wasn’t clear enough. It’s not something I could change unless I start the whole thing again so I will add that into my evaluation.

Final Woyzeck Performance

On Thursday 14th July & Friday 15th July we had our Woyzeck performance so we were in school for the whole day preparing for it. My job was the set designer. I think the last two days really helped us get everything together on the set because we had loads of little bits; it was just a matter of putting everything together. In the end we didn’t get to perform in front of our parents because we decided we weren’t ready yet. I’m quite happy that we didn’t perform actually because there were actors missing, and we definitely needed more time to practice. When we had put up the whole set I made sure that I helped other people and tidied up the floor as it was full of paper and selo-tape. In the end, we put up all the lights we bought from the cake sale money. It looked amazing once the lights were off. I think the whole class did a really good job seen as we only had 2 days; we really pulled it together even though I didn’t think we would do it. :)

These are a few work in progress pictures we took whilst rehearsing.

Cake Sale

In May our class decided to do a fundraiser for our Woyzeck performance. The money would go towards props, costumes and lighting. The day went really well and I found that I really did enjoy myself. Most of the class was there even though we decided that only a few people should be there. Everyone was really enthusiastic which was good. We decided to sell things like brownies, cookies, fairy cakes and little snacks like that. It was a hot day so we also decided to sell Oreo milkshakes and ice-cream. They sold out really fast which pleased me. We made a total of about £85 and £35 profit.

Bash Studios

On the 30th of June, me and my creative & media class went along to bash studio to help with the "First Date Widening career perspectives day." We all had little jobs to do and my particular job was front of house. This included keeping names of everyone who turned up and making sure the right people were there. Other people had the job of handing out snacks, filming interviews and taking pictures. After about an hour, all the volunteers and students had arrived and so it left me nothing to do. Instead, we went round to the volunteers and asked them the following questions:
Their NameTheir job title

• The company they work for
• What their job involves
• How did they get there
• Why would people want to do that job

By the end of the day we ended up talking to about 7 or 8 people with different jobs. It helped give me a basic idea of the sort of job opportunities there are out there and how to get involved.

Screen Printing

In art and textiles we have been screen printing. I will use this technique as part of my identity piece. these are the steps of screen printing.
A screen print is made of a piece of porous, finely woven fabric called mesh is stretched over a frame of aluminium or wood. Originally silk was used, now most of the mesh is made of nylon. Areas of the screen are blocked off with a stencil, which is a negative of the image to be printed; that is, the open spaces are where the ink will appear.
An image on the screen can also be created by a photographic process. Whereby a screen has a photographic image printed on to it in negative.
The screen is placed on top of paper of fabric. Ink is placed on top of the screen. the operator then uses a squeegee (rubber blade) to squeeze ink through the mesh. the screen is lifted off leaving the ink on the paper or the fabric.
Textile items are printed in multi-colour designs using different stencils and screens.
If the design is no longer needed, then the screen can be reclaimed, that is cleared off all ink and used again. With water based inks, this is easily done by washing with water. The stencil is removed and thrown away.

Identity Piece

In textiles and Art we have started to make our own artefact that represents us. For my piece I have chosen to base it on Andy Warhol and I’ve chosen to do a wall hanging. I chose Andy Warhol because his work is really colourful sand i think that’s the best way that represents me. I chose to do a wall hanging because I think there are many different ways of doing it.
this is how I’m hoping to plan my artefact:
1. make a wooden frame
2. get a 1m by 1m piece of calico and tie elastic bands around it to make a pattern
3. tie dye the piece of fabric in purple dye overnight
4. take off the elastic bands and iron out the fabric
5. screen print my face onto the piece of fabric and go over the outline with silver lining
6. make little pendants using the lazar machine
7. get a real necklace and stick the pendants on it to make it look like a charm necklace
8. stick the necklace onto the neck of my screen print
9. stick it all on the wooden frame and add little bits of glitter and sequins to make it look nicer.

Inspire Videos

In media we had to make a short film for year 4s as part of their work week. In my group we had to go to the bakery and interview them. The purpose of this was to show year 4s how literacy and numeracy work in the real world. On the 3rd April our films were due in and a few members of inspire came in so we could present our videos to them. We hadn’t quite finished it so we were really scared to present it. when it was our turn to present, I was really surprised because a member of staff from our school had kindly helped out and finished it off for us. I was relived that he done this. It would have been so embarrassing if we hadn’t got it finished. Next time, I know that I have to meet my deadlines. The work was really difficult but I know I should have been more focused in editing. I think we did really well whilst filming in the bakery, but it was our editing that brought us down. Overall it was a really fun project. :)

Design Museum

On Tuesday 21 April me and my creative and media class went to the design museum to see Hussein Chalayan’s work. Hussein Chalayan was born on 12 August 1970 in Nicosia, Cyprus. I found his work really interesting and unique because he uses netting and electronic materials rather than plain cotton. His clothes are very versatile. In one of the rooms, the walls were surrounded by pictures from the ottoman empire and the fight in Cyprus (1821-1829). There was also a short video of random things in the Turkish culture. e.g. olives, Sünnet, feta cheese & watermelons etc.. The exhibition was quite scary though, the rooms seemed really isolated and bland. I drew one of my favourite dresses of his in my textiles book and I hope to research him in more detail in the future.

Tate Modern

Tate Modern
On Tuesday 21st April me and my creative and media class went on a trip to the Tate Modern to see an exhibition by Rodchenko & Popova. I hadn’t done any research on it before so i didn’t know what to expect. when i got there it was quite simple and everything was quite basic. I picked out my favourite two and drew them in my sketch book. i picked these two because they were the ones that stood out most to me and they were quite colourful. We stayed there for around two hours. the exhibition was interesting but a bit boring. Overall the day was great because it was a nice sunny day and we got to walk around and see other things.

Working With Photoshop

In art we are looking at photographs because it’s another way of expressing art. We were asked to take pictures of each other and edit them on Adobe Photoshop. We're studying certain artists and were asked to edit the pictures in the style of that particular artist. It’s a very complex program but I think I’m getting used to it. I think it’s really good for this course because it’s electronic so it’s not fully practical.

Planning Our Woyzeck Performances

In drama we have been studying the play Woyzeck. It is about a man who murders his wife because she cheats on him. We were put into groups of around 4 and asked to pick a character and study them. My role was to be Marie (Woyzeck's wife) and I had to pick out 10 lines throughout the play. The point in this exercise was that the 10 lines we picked out should be able to tell the brief story form that characters point of view. Then we were asked to plan out the death scene and think about lighting, set, audience, shape, positions on stage and costumes. I’m looking forward to performing in front of the class and getting the whole production done!

Making Clay Heads

In art we have been studying quite a few artists such as Francis Bacon, Julian Opie and Andy Warhol. As part of our course we were shown different ways of producing art and one of the ways of doing that is by sculpting. We were shown how to make clay heads.
Steps:
1. Get a wooden stand.
2. Wrap paper around it to create a basic head shape.
3. Stick it together with selotape.
4. Start adding clay onto the head bit by bit.
5. Mold in all the features
I found it quite hard. When sir was showing us an example he made it look much easier which got me quite worried. If I were to do it next time I would probably make it more abstract as my head was really smooth, unlike others in the class. The only down side of it was getting a little dirty, but I guess art is always messy so ill get over that. :)

Work Experience

For work experience I worked in mahogany's costume design shop, which is located in Harlesden NW10. Basically the make most of the costumes that appear in carnivals (Notting hill) etc. when I first got there they explained the reason they make all the costumes out of foam and why they use certain glues, paints and so on... it was quite a lot to take in but I found all the practical work easy. On our second week, we were asked to design our own headpiece and make it. I loved designing it but didn't enjoy making it as much. I thought cutting the foam was quite hard because it was quite thick and it was hard to cut circles out without making any jagged edges. The painting was probably the best part of it because there was so much to do with it, you could barely go wrong. Overall I thought it was a really good experience but not quite to my taste. I would recommend it to someone who is quite practical. The only down side to it all was the travel, as it was too far.

Guildhall

On the 21st of January, me Alex Yasemin and Marley had the chance to go to guildhall and interview the secretary of state Ed Balls. When we got there we took a few establishing shots of the hall itself and took some photos. We set up our cameras and everything and went downstairs to have a talk with some of the people. There were teachers, journalists, photographers and more there. Having the chance to interview them was really good because it was part of our scene course so it added onto my work. Unfortunately we didn't get to interview Ed Balls because he had an important meeting he had to attend to, but we still managed to listen to his speech. We will be going back to his office in the summer to interview him due to the slight inconvenience. Our school was mentioned in his speech which I was very proud about :) a brilliant night!