Life is a Passion Project

Posted on by

1

The End. That’s it.

Image result for baby crying gif

That is one cute baby. Anyway, this is my last ever Passion Project Post.

It’s actually probably one of my last posts in Year 6.

Actually, you know what, I think I’ll do another post to reflect on the year.

Yeah, the end of the year.

keo-2 img_9593But not the end of KEO! No, you can’t get rid of me that easily. This is only the beginning.

#grease_lightning

My Passion Project this term has been my favourite one yet. I’ve had so much fun and soooo much delicious food that I’m about to burst.

That was a lot less weird in my head.img_9592

But yes, so much has happened to the little girl that started this for fun. And to think she has business cards now? Wow!

There are a lot of aspects to my project.

Like the actual blog for example.

And the promo video.

And the merchandise.

And the quiz.

Wow, I’ve had a busy term! And I would do it all again. Well, actually, maybe some things differently…

I feel I’ve done quite well this term. My time management has been a lot better than the other two Passion Projects I’ve done. Same with organization. But each projects includes different things, and although I’ve improved on those two things, there’s other stuff.

  • Advertising- I know I made business cards and given one to each restaurant, but I feel I could have spread the word more. Tell my friends to tell their friends to tell their friends. And soon it spreads like vegemite on toast(;
  • Images- In posts. I think I could take more of my own photos too. But I can improve on that over time.
  • That’s actually about it!

Hmm. You see, I had a vision at the start of term about how my food blog would set up.

Did it happen that way?

Image result for nope
It was…
BETTERERERER.
Oh yeah.
Everything was better than I imagined. I started striving for BETTERERERER.
That kind of looks like butterbeer if you don’t focus.
capture
Nope?
OK. I am really happy with my project and can’t wait to continue it! Eh-hem.
Image result for umbridge
Image result for i love harry potter

Now, the final product… What you’ve all been waiting for…

Image result for drumroll gif

The Promo Film- This didn’t take me too long to make. I’m going to let you in on a massive secret. The program I used may have been…

Movie Maker. There, I said it. I am ashamed!! Why did I use it? Well, I didn’t have much time left, and I filmed it on an ipad, meaning I had to convert the footage in order to use Corel.

But I have no idea how to convert footage! So I used Movie Maker. But it didn’t turn out too bad…?

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/129868336/

The Quiz- It took a rather long time to collect data and stats to complete the answers. That’s why there’s not many questions! But I’m happy with how it turned out.

https://food4242.wordpress.com/

The Blog- Wow. I don’t know what to say. So let’s skip to the inspirational ending speech!

I have love all the opportunities Year 6 has thrown at me, including Passion Projects. I’ve learnt so much. I’ve had so much fun. And I’ll keep so much. But this is about Passion Projects, so…

I gave a lot of thought into what my final Passion Project would be. But then I realized, this wasn’t the end!! I could continue on forever. It doesn’t have to be called a Passion Project. It could be anything that expressed my passions and made me delve deeper into myself.

AKA life.

Well, I’d best be off. I think I’ll start writing a song maybe. You know, start another passion. Yeah, harness my songwriting.

Thank you for following my journey.

And for the last (or is it the first? What have I been saying?) time…

Emmy out!

 

 

 

 

 

Sculpting the Model

Posted on by

3

Image result for feedback

Oh my goodness, the weeks have flown by! It seems like just yesterday I was planning my food blog!

The due date is creeping closer, and the same with the launch date. Since my production post I’ve added more posts, and I’ve even created a quiz on Scratch, which is a website where you can program games, animations or anything you want.

Now, I want to make my blog better and betterer and bettererer. To do that, feedback from my peers is extremely important.

I’ve asked a couple of people to rate the three main aspects of my project, the promo video, the quiz and the actual blog. Then, they’ve written some positive and constructive feedback.

Phoebe-

This idea you have is really good because most people know that you love food and it’s a really good way to show it. I love how much detail you have put into this project and how you got your family involved. I think it’s really good!!

Georgie:

This Passion Project idea is so cool! I LOVE the look of your blog. It gives off a feel that wants you to keep on searching for the best restaurant. Some of the restaurants you have chosen are my personal favourites.

This is just an idea, but maybe include a photo in each restaurant of something that you ordered, like you did in Uncle Jack’s. Amazing Job!

Evie

I like the idea. I like the way you have done it with you family and have got them involved. I agree with Georgie.

Angus:

Your project is phenomenal! The scratch project has been done well, and provides different information for various occasions. The Film is well directed towards kids, and it motivates you and shows the information needed to pick a restaurant. The website is brilliant and you have lots of different restaurants added commonly. The logo is awesome and I love that you took the initiative to buy merchandise. I hope you continue with this project in the future. Well done!

Abbi:

I really like your idea. The film is really good, although you can’t really hear what your Mum says sometimes. You might want to make the blog page look more appealing as there is little colour, and the tables make it look really professional! Break it up a bit more, so it’s easier to read and digest.

Elsie- I really like the song choice and I love how you included other people in your film. Well done!!!

How did I implement this feedback? Well, for one thing I added more photos to my posts, to make them look more appealing. I’ve also broken all the writing up into smaller parts. I didn’t really get much constructive feedback, so I’ve made some decisions on my own. I’ve added more questions to my quiz. And I’ve uploaded the video and quiz to my blog.

Thank you to everyone who gave me feedback. I really appreciate it and I’m sure it will help my project.

Watch out for my final post, where you can check out my final product!

 

 

 

SOS10- Lending my Voice

Posted on by

1

For those who can’t speak for themselves, we must stand up and provide them with a form of communication. Many cannot be understood the way we are. And some of these are in danger. Or should I say endangered?

The SOS10. 10 animals that are critically endangered, life running out for them. We must help them.

Zoos Victoria have a great conservation program for these animals. But that alone is not enough. We must raise awareness, to form the biggest army of all, fighting the worst enemy. Extinction.

Who are the SOS10?Image result for philippines crocodile

  • Baw Baw Frog
  • Lord Howe Island Stick Insect
  • Philippines Crocodile
  • Orangutan
  • Western Low Land Gorilla
  • Asian Elephant
  • Australian Fur Seal
  • Tasmanian Devil
  • Helmeted Honey-Eater
  • Lion

Among others, these are some of the most endangered animals on earth.

So we as Year 6 took it into our hands.

The Task-

To create a film that would make our audience feel something, whether anger, care, sadness or guilt. We had to form a connection between the audience and our chosen animal. Yeah, that’s right, only one. But 74 kids were able to cover 10 animals… with room to spare!

The Planning Process-

I’ve talked about this a lot this year. It’s all about planning. Planning takes up 60% of your entire process. So this stage was important.

Firstly we had to choose our animal. I have connections with a lot of these animals, but one that stood out was the Philippines Crocodile. I went to Kakadu a couple of years ago, and I find crocodiles fascinating. Also, I didn’t hear about many people doing the croc, so I decided to give it a fighting chance and lend my voice.

Now, we had to make our audience car, so to do that we needed facts. So… RESEARCH! We looked up facts, stats, attributes and watched countless videos, read documents and looked at websites. I documented everything and anything I could find, before creating a script for my film.

The structure of my script typically went a little bit like this… Almost like a persuasive piece.

First paragraph- Intro. Introduce your animal.

Second and third paragraphs- Facts. Make your audience feel something.

Fourth paragraph- Threats. Bring in why this animal is endangered.

Fifth paragraph- Conclusion. Sum up why, how and when. Tell the audience how they can contribute to the fight.

So, I wrote my script. But, the only problem was, it could only go for a minute and a half. Okay, so 91 secs wasn’t the end of the world, but that was our target. I hacked off around almost half of my script to fit it into those guidelines.

The Production Process-

Wow. This one only takes around 15%. We went on a super fun and exciting excursion to Melbourne Zoo, to collect footage and learn more about are animal.

I had a couple of problems. There were 3 Philippines crocs at the zoo, but they were all behind glass (understandable…). So I got a reflection. Very annoying… I’ve got  some footage reflecting the camera or people.

Next problem- we had to film a piece to camera, you know, just talking live. Noise! Uh! There were lots of people around, but I was pretty lucky because at one stage there was only our group there.

Another problem- Public. We obviously couldn’t get the public in our films. But there was nothing we could do. I just had to wait it out.

The excursion was heaps of fun and I learnt a lot. I also got dome great footage.

The Editing Process-

Editing is around 25% of your time. There’s quite a bit you have to do in editing, Editing is like a box filled with all this different stuff. Kind of.

I culled my footage before sharing it on the K drive with everybody else.

I modified my script a little bit, but not much. I was one of the first to record my voice over, and I had to make sure it was clear, especially with pronounciation. I only did a couple of takes on each paragraph, which was good. It took around 5 minutes.

Next, I put in my footage. I was glad I had recorded my voice overs first, because then it was easier to match the footage in. Speaking of audio, we also could have music, preferably not with words though. I  chose two soundtracks. One was a sort tropical, happy, upbeat tune, to fit with my factual side of content. Then I chose an instrumental version of Yesterday.

I love that song.

It fitted with when I explained the bad side of things. I got lots of feedback that it worked.

Oh! Feedback!

Feedback-

It’s kind of part of editing I guess… We got feedback from 5 students. They answered questions like…

Does the music work?

Is the message clear?

Is the footage good?

We implemented this feedback to make our films even better. And then we went again. This time we got countless students to give us positive feedback, as this was out final draft… we couldn’t change it.

Some feedback I got was…

(Feedback from myself) Actually, I shouldn’t say some feedback. I got a lot!

Here we go…

I liked the film and your message was very strong and clear about that animal. Harry Sadler

I think the music choice is really good and it reminded me of Mario galaxy 2. Don’t know why but anyway-Alex.

This film was amazing. The footage matched perfectly with the voice over and I liked the use of text on screen. The music also suited this film as it gave a vibe of the tropical Philippines.-Bailey G

You had a clear voice and a strong message it made me care about your

Animal. I liked your imagery too. Great Job. -Issy

I like how you had two different PTC. Your facts made the audience care and the use of two different types of music was a good idea. The credits was interesting because of the moving images. – Abbi

Good music great footage good facts it made me care about the animal great voice – Jesse

Great voice-overs. You used a lot of emotion. I love your choice of music. Your piece to camera’s are very clear. And I love the footage you used. Good job – Steven

I love how you have two different types of music in your film. It started off really happy, and when things went sad, the music also turned sad. I also think the footage you used suited with the voice-overs. -Georgie

The footage was really good and the music suited the mood – Harrison

The music was really good and your script was very well written and you footage was really good. I also liked how you had more than one PTC-Callan

Your voice over was super clear and your facts were really cool! The way that you had two differnt PTCs really helped strengthen the message! – Bridie

I like your peace to camera. I also like your facts. The end was also great- Mia

I love your start it is amazing. Your language is amazing and your script is amazing!! You have made me care about these crocs more than I ever did. I didn’t even know anything about them before your film. Good job Emmy! – Aimee

The script was brilliant, especially at the beginning. The footage really matched the powerful voiceovers, and I liked your piece to cameras. The music suited your film. Well done! – Angus

Tom- The footage is strong and the message blew me away!

Thank you to everyone for that.

Anyway, I had fun and it was a cool project.

Want to see the final product?

 

 

 

 

 

In the beginning…

Posted on by

12

1 sheep. 2 sheep. 3 sheep. 4 sheep. 5 sheep. 1 cow. 2 cows. 3 cows. 4 pigs. 5 pigs. 6 pigs. 7 chickens.

A bump on my arm shook the world. The waitress poured my glass too high and drew the pitcher back against me. Boredness stiffened my body. My foot tapped rhythmically on the polished floors. So hungry! Need food!

Image result for bored quotes

Kids shouldn’t be exposed to such tough conditions! These fancy Michelin star restaurants need to be pushed into the spotlight. No entertainment. No kids menu. No fun.

Ooh! I had an idea! I shouldn’t wait for someone else to help! I should do something now. And fast!

And that was the birth of my blog.

I decided to call it Kids Eat Out, and it would be all about showing restaurants from a kid’s perspective. I created a new blog on edublogs, which is what this blog is. This is what it looked like…

old

I showed Mrs. Stafford and she liked it. But there was one concern. As much as I love this blog, I didn’t want KEO (kids eat out) to be connected with school. But I’m doing it for a school project? I’ll get to that later.

Anyway, I found WordPress, which is amazing! I didn’t really have a clue how to set it up though. Mrs. Stafford and I both tried. It didn’t work. We tried again. It didn’t work. So, I asked a family friend of ours (who is incredible with computers) to help me. Thanks Paul!

We got the sight up and running. It was awesome! I had my own website! It was extremely exciting. Everything was so much easier to edit, and the possibilities were endless!

My site underwent many makeovers. I changed colours, themes and everything in between. I’m now really happy with my layouts.

Speaking of layouts, I’ll talk a bit about how I structure my posts. I’m looking for lots of different things.

So first, I write a paragraph or two about my personal experience. I find this helps me connect with my audience. Then, I have a grid with the more specific stuff, instead of the general.box

It looks like this…

I basically tick off anything that applies. I am always looking for more to rate, to make it easier for my audience.

Then, with the more general categories, I have a grid like this…

box-2

 

 

 

 

I also insert the link to any webpage, ooh, and photos! I source those or take them myself.

Finally, the most exciting thing yet has been creating KEO business cards! I found an awesome website called Vista Print, where you can customize, personalize and create. It started off with business cards, but we went a little crazy… When I paid there was a page before hand with merchandise ready made, based on the design I did for the business cards. I ordered a few things…

img_9592So many possibilities! It was awesome when I received the packageimg_9593
. Extremely exciting! Anyway, another thing I’m going to make is a promotional video for my site. It is starring moi and my sisters, and I’m filming this weekend!

Get ready for my post on my launch. Coming in a few weeks!

coming-soon-2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Plan for Success

Posted on by

5

Image result for planning pictures

Well, there’s a lot to plan for, and the more planning I do for what I have to plan for, the easier the production stage will be thanks to my planning.

What?

I’ve even planned for when to do everything. My schedule is above… Now, I guess there are many elements to my project, and I’ll list them now for your beneficial benefit…

  • Business cards
  • My actual blog
  • The launch
  • KEO merch
  • Promo film

KEO merchandise!? Well, just as a teaser, I’ve found an amazing website where you can customize your own… OK, that’s enough. You should see what I’ve ordered though!! I’ll let you know in my production post…!

For my promo film, I’m going to promote my blog. That’s what a promo film is right?

Note to self- Don’t say the obvious.

So, I’ve jotted down a shotlist. A shotlist is to help me know what scenes I should film, what dialogue’s in them and what order they go in. It’s basically a list of shots. A shotlist!

Note to self- Read previous notes.

The launch! I’ve decided that I’ll do a short presentation at the Year 6 expo. I’ll talk about the making of this blog, my processes… basically everything that will be in my production post. The real bang though will be when I activate my blog and make it live to the world!

WORLD DOMINATION WILL BE MINE!

MWA HA! HA!  HA! HA!

Image result for kitten doing evil laugh

Eh-hem.

Secret- I actually have a  document that I write down my posts on. That way, I can keep track of  all my data. I also have a folder where I keep every single photo used in my blog.  I have records off previous themes, I have a notebook I take with me to restaurants… I  even have  a list off restaurants I could review! It’s all about organization.

Yeah. Well, I’m all planned out. Stay tuned for next time,, where I will reveal KEO’s label, KEO’s story and KEO’s new look.

The Final Countdown

Posted on by

4

fiji-food

Food is the best thing in the world. It keeps us alive, it is delicious, it is delicious, it is delicious and it’s fun to create.

So, I’ve decided to do my Passion Project on food.

Well, I guess it’s more of a blog about food, but there are lots of yummy meals that are extremely important to the process. Let me explain.

At the start of the year, I was extremely bored whilst sitting at a fancy restaurant. My parents were excited, my sisters were talking, and I was so hungry and bored that I thought I might burst! So, my mind started wandering and it searched through something fun. The menus came. There were no kids meals! Wow, this was a shock. It didn’t bother me too much. I wasn’t extremely surprised. I mean, this was as fancy as you could get. Like, Michelin star fancy!

The waitress came over. She filled up my glass to the very brim. Then, she went around and placed napkins on our laps. “How rude to drop a napkin on my lap!” my sister exclaimed. I drained my glass of water. It was filled up again. I felt obliged, so I drank it. I started thinking again. What if a three year old came here? This wasn’t child friendly! This was torture. It deserved 1 star for child friendliness.

But other people wouldn’t have known my opinions. What if they had taken their three year olds here? That wouldn’t be #description! That would be #disaster! How could I get the word out? Oh! A blog!

I enquired with Mrs. Stafford and she thought it was a good idea. So, I created a blog on edublogs, name Kids Eat Out (KEO). It was all about if the restaurant was kid friendly or not. Was? Yeah, was. I moved the content over to WordPress, as I find it easier to edit my posts.blog

It’s been up and running for a couple of months now. My aim is to help families find the perfect place to eat a meal together. Meals in my house are always a time of fun and togetherness. That’s actually a word. I did not know that.

So, I am going to continue with my blog. BUT IT’S NOT JUST A BLOG! No! There’s more…

I’m thinking business cards, a promo party, some promo films, more eating, food, food, food, oh yeah.

KEO IS GOING GLOBAL!

Well maybe not global. But I’m getting the word out. Please spread! The link is…

https://food4242.wordpress.com/

I’m planning everything already. I guess I had some other ideas, but this one really stood out. I also thought about doing something else like a how-to, an inspirational film about tennis, SCUBA- diving or surfing, a cooking show or even a comedy about animals.

I can’t wait to get started. This will rock!

YAY!

 

 

 

 

Geelong- By kids, for kids

Posted on by

3

So.

How am I going to start this post off? I don’t have any idea for a good intro. An intro for this blog is hard. Intros for films are easy. You just slap together some footage and you’re ready to keep going. Actually, maybe not. Because in this film we had so much footage that it was difficult to even cull it. Don’t know what I’m talking about?

This term, our main filming project has been… (Drumroll) Advertising Films! I’ll explain the process..

a) The Brief

The teachers contacted some companies, wondering if they would like to be our client. Tourism- Geelong and The Bellarine replied with a brief. Our task was to create a film that promotes the Geelong that’s appealing to kids. The film was to be titled ‘Geelong- By kids, for kids.’

To get an idea of what to do we watched some other promo videos and analyzed them on how captivating they were for an audience. They gave us an idea on how to present all of the different footage we would collect.

b) The Plan

After we got the brief it was time for planning! We would be going on an excursion. I couldn’t wait! YYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry.

Anyway, this is how everything would work…

  • We would have a partner from our class.
  • Then, to form our film crews, we would have a pair from the two other classes, so a total or six in our film crew.
  • Each class would go to a different location.
  • Everyone would film.
  • We would share the footage we got with our film crew.

Do you know why each class went to a different location? That’s right! I have no idea what you said, but I’m sure it was great! Anyway, the answer is…

So you got footage from all around Geelong!

Cool.

My film crew was…

Evie, Sophie, Emma, Callan and Barnaby.

And each class’ location was…

6A- Torquay and Supa Tramp

6B- Balyang Sanctuary (and the mountain bike track), Barwon Valley Park and Leisurelink

6C- Eastern Beach

Wow, I had to run those names through spell check like a bajillion times. Stupid red squiggles. Yet I spelt bajillion correctly. Hmm. And ‘Hmm’ comes up normally.

Hmmm.

So does that one.

Anyway, my partner from my class, 6B, was Evie. We started planning using a Shotlist. We documented our point of interest at a location and what angle we would film it from. You want to see the Shotlist? Okay…

There it is. We tried to put heaps of detail in, and were rewarded with a camcorder, which is a pretty decent camera to film with on the day. I also took my GoPro to get some awesome waterslide shots.

c) The Production

The day of the excursion dawned bright and beautiful. Sun sparkled across the damp grass as I nudged the soccer ball through two thick tree trunks. Evie knelt next to me as my foot passed before the camera, the ball flying off the tree.

We got some awesome footage at Balyang Sanctuary and Barwon Valley Park. Barwon Valley Park (I’m just going to call it BVP) was a much more active vibe than Balyang Sanctuary (BS). We went on the playground, played soccer, rode bikes…

BS was much more relaxed. I mean, the footage looked like we had a relaxing time. Walks through the park, watching ducks glide across the water… But, truth be told, I was quite hangry. I mean, how could I be happy not having eaten in four hours? Luckily, Mrs Stafford saved the day by suggesting a food break.

Thank goodness for common sense.

So, with full stomachs, we set off to the mountain bike track. We got lots of awesome action shots there, especially from some GoPros. It was heaps of fun!

Finally we got to the part I was most looking forward to- Leisurelink! Waterslides, waterparks, water… What’s not to love? Anyway, I think I went down the slides about twenty times, and I got some wicked GoPro footage. Then, for the second half of our time, we just relaxed and had fun.

d) The Editing

We were extremely careful to get heaps and heaps of footage, so we had too much, not too little. Unfortunately, that caused another problem. Which footage would we use? Which wouldn’t we use? It was time to cull all of our footage.

It took some time to get all of our footage onto my laptop. I had very limited space and I undertook many trips to I.T. and hours of deleting. Finally I was ready to piece the puzzle together.

 

I actually started by choosing the music, so I could get a feel for what I wanted to create. I chose Lush Life by Zara Larsson. The song has a really nice feel to it, it’s super awesome.

Then, I created the intro, showing all the footage from Eastern Beach. The next thirty second section was from BS, BVP and Leisurelink. Finally, I finished with Torquay and Supa Tramp.

We were encouraged to use some awesome editing techniques. I used…

  • Split screen
  • Time lapse
  • Slow motion

I also timed the footage with the music. Then we got feedback.

e) The Feedback

To gather feedback and sculpt our films to perfection, we looked to our peers. We walked around and wrote feedback on some forms next to laptops. We put three ticks if this area was covered, two if it kind of was, one if it wasn’t the best and none if it didn’t apply. I got pretty good feedback, but I was told that I could add in more special effects.

win_20160913_100025-2At the eleventh hour I changed my music, as I felt too many people had the same song, and I wanted to be original. So I used The Best Thing by Boom Crash Opera.

After the final render, we got feedback again. I’m happy with how I went (see left).

 

 

f) The Final Countdown

The teachers will pick the best three based on their opinions and thoughts, and then send them to Tourism- Geelong and The Bellarine. I’ve seen some really good ones, so I’m sure that everyone is proud of their work whether it’s picked or not. I know I am!

g) The Finished Product

You want me to insert it now? Okay. Warning- it’s probably a little blurry, I rendered it a few times in Movie Maker so it would fit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Complete! Finished! Done! Ended!

Posted on by

13

Complete! Finished! Done! Ended!

I knew we could do it, and I’m so proud of our little team. It’s been tough, we’ve faced injury, hiccups and some difficult opponents, but Geelong Cats have made it to the AFL Final!

Oh… You thought I was talking about our Passion Project? I guess I could blog about that, but wouldn’t it be more interesting to write about footy? No? Not even a little bit? Not even a tinsy winsy little bit?

Okay. Here you go…

Wow, what a ride. This journey has been bumpy, pocorny and delicious… I mean awesome. I have learnt so much, and have felt stress, relief and joy (get it? Joy?(as in the feeling Joy (can you have a bracket in a bracket?))) Ha. Ha. Plain on the outside, funny on the inside… like an egg! I crack myself up.

Oh, you want me to upload the finished product? Yeah, later… But now, how about I share what I’ve learnt? Let’s do this…

I’ve learnt…

  • More about Garage Band.
  • How to manage time well.
  • I love popcorn
  • I already knew that, but still…
  • How to play guitar. Well, only one note…
  • How to make things more interesting for your audience.
  • How to create a lyric book.

Hey, that’s quite a bit. Did I enjoy learning all of that? Yeah, I did. What else did I enjoy? Hmmm…

  • Banana bread.
  • The creativity involved in making the lyric book.
  • Recording the songs.
  • Seeing everything come together.
  • Working with Joy.

This Passion Project has been awesome, but if I did it again I would probably change a bit. Biggest change? Time management. We left it for three weeks and then continued. This didn’t really matter, except it did not help with my stress levels. Also, we used different recording devices for each song, and you can really tell the difference. Next time we should make everything more consistent.

I am so proud of our work. All the effort we’ve put in are the bricks that we’ve structured our beautiful wall with. This term’s Passion Project has been my favourite ever project, my favourite ever outcome. I’ve loved working with Joy; everything has been incredible and so much fun. Thank you so much to everyone who helped, including our peers with all their support and feedback! but most of all, thank you Joy. You’re not only an amazing friend, you are incredible to work with and extremely inspirational.

Speaking of thank you… I’m going to insert our finished product now. There are quite a few different parts to our finished product, so I’ll insert all of them.

a) These are all of the lyric book pages.

b) Front and back covers.

front-cover

Front cover

back-cover

Back cover

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

c) The CD.

win_20160909_064132-2

d) The songs!!!

Fall to Fly- Emmy

Listen- Emmy

Riptide- Vance Joy

Remember- Emmy

Two of Joy’s songs are also on the CD.

I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again, I have loved working on this with Joy. Oh, wait. I haven’t revealed the album name. I bet you’ve already guessed it though…

Drum roll please…

MY STORY.

Ta-da! Do you like it? Oh, another thing I’ve enjoyed is all of these blog posts. Everything’s been amazing!

And that’s my story.

The end.

Feeling the Feedback

Posted on by

4

This journey has almost come to an end. So let’s party!!

Well, yes. I am excited that it’s almost done. But I’m also disappointed. It’s been so much fun. But, when Joy and I land the record deal, I’m sure I’ll have plenty more opportunities to record!

That’s my feedback on how I’m feeling about doing my second last post for this Passion Project!

AAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cool.

Now, the time has come to ask for feedback on our album. So, this is how I’m going to do it.

I’ll list the name of the person, what feedback they gave and a short description on how I’ve actioned these comments.

Mum- “I think you should make a lyric book.”

This conversation was inspired by Carly Rae Jepson’s KISS Album (2012). Joy had come over to my house and it was lying next to me while Joy and I were editing our songs. Mum asked if we were making one. We replied no, that wasn’t on our TOP, MOST HIGHEST PRIORITY list. She said that she thought it would make the whole album, and promised she would help, so we thought that we would have enough time to pull it off. We started by emailing her the lyrics to all of our songs. Mum formatted them to the right size. And then we had a photo shoot!

That was fun.

We took photos for the front cover, the back cover and the double-page spread in the middle of the book. It was lots of fun, but also challenging, as Joy’s hurt her leg and she needs crutches, so we got Mum to be the photographer (it just made things easier).

More emailing.

We sent the pictures to Mum. And then we wrote down thank-you’s and credits. Then we printed everything out and constructed a (quite professional, if I may say so myself) lyric book!

I’d say we actioned that feedback.

Steven- “Maybe make the words a bit louder.”

I didn’t actually action this one because I thought the words were at a decent volume. But I appreciate Steven’s constructive feedback. His positive feedback was that he really liked the songs so far.

Paul (Joy’s Dad)- “I think your work has really paid off.”

Abbi- “I really like the tune to your songs.”

Time to give my own personal feedback.Image result for feedback

  • All we need to do now is make 20+ copies of the album case, record Riptide and burn the CD. It sounds like a lot, but it can be done in a lunchtime.
  • I’m really proud of Joy and myself.
  • Thank you Mum for all your help!
  • I can’t wait to present our album.
  • I think all of our hard work has been worth it.
  • I really love all of our songs.

This is my last blog before I post my songs, pictures and reflections. In that post I will also reveal our album name. I’m feeling generous, and you’re going to find out soon, so in this post I’ll reveal the two next letters!!

Recap. First three letters are…

MY S

Next two letters are…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

T

O

So now we have…

MY STO

Can you guess? I reckon you can. Anyway, keep looking out for my post on completion, where I will upload songs, lyrics, photos… You name it, I’ll probably post it.

Banana bread?

Yep.

Monkeys?

Uh-huh.

Sounds good.

Watch this space!

Book Trailer

Posted on by

7

I’ve been thinking. We’re making promotional videos about Geelong in Inquiry, and I’ve decided to create a book trailer to promote a recently read (really awesome) book.

If you’ve read this book, then I’m sure you’ll agree that it’s action packed, with so much storyline shoved in between the covers, that it’s just oozing out into your brain and… well, I think you get the point.

This book has taught me many lessons like…

  • Be nice to your friends.
  • Avoid amnesia.
  • Always be honest.
  • Our biggest enemy is ourselves.
  • And…
  • Aphrodite is a silly goddess.

Yeah, well, I’m sure you understand. Or maybe not. But if your read the book you will!

The three main characters in the book are demigods, half-god, half-human. Introducing…

 Name Godly parent What godly parent is god/goddess of Power 
 Jason  Jupiter  The sky, law and other stuff.  Can control wind and fly.
 Piper  Aphrodite  Love and beauty.  Charmspeak and very beautiful.
 Leo  Hephaestus  Fire and blacksmithing  Can make/control fire.

If you haven’t already, then you should read the book. Or if you have, read it again. I hope you enjoy it!

About a month ago I made a book trailer about EJ12 by Susannah McFarlane. I really like it, so I hope you don’t mind, but I’m going to insert it as well. This was filmed when we went to the Whitsundays. Actually, the exact filming location was at the Great Barrier Reef, where I tried SCUBA-diving for the first time ever.  I entered it in a competition, but I haven’t heard back. I hope you like my film???

Bahamian Culture

Posted on by

2

Image result for the bahamas

My thoughts on if I very suddenly moved to the Bahamas….

  1. Well, actually, I think I would secretly love it.
  2. But for the sake  of those who want to hear it, I  don’t want to move there. No, not at all.

Well, the Bahamas has it’s differences, but what about similarities?  Oh, and BTW, I mean big similarities. Not like Australia and the Bahamas both have people living on them.

  • The weather is usually hot, but when it rains, it rains.
  • If the weather is hot, then surely there must be ice-cream, like us, because ice-cream and hot weather are like chocolate and more chocolate. Perfect.
  • Most of the traditional food is the same as what we eat.
  • All the sports they play are the same as the ones we play.
  • Most people are Christians, like Australia.

Yes their are a few more similarities but those are probably the main ones. So now let’s discuss differences

  • The weather. I know I said this was a similarity, but I reckon it’s much hotter in the Bahamas. Maybe because I live in Victoria.
  • There’s a lot more tourism.
  • Oh, yeah. Maybe I’m forgetting the big one. Australia is basically one island, right? Whereas the Bahamas is made up of only…
  • 700 islands and 2,400 coral reefs.
  • Not much, is it?
  • I reckon the attitude of the people. All these differences effect the attitude.

Now, if I very suddenly caught notenoughsunitis, and I had to move to the Bahamas, I wonder what I would love about it…

  • The weather. I know I’ve said this in every list so far, but when I think of the Bahamas, my mind says sun.
  • And ice-cream.
  • There are so many festivals throughout their calendar. Bring it on!
  • The food.
  • Scuba-diving everyday! Best thing ever.
  • Meeting all these new people.

This list will probably be short. What wouldn’t I like…? What would be hard to adjust to…?

  • The weather. Just kidding!
  • The time difference.
  • Language would be easy. The main language is English.
  • I’d miss everyone in Australia.

The Bahamas must be a wonderful place to live, and researching their culture has made me see that it actually isn’t too different from Australia.

Kind of.

Now, we had to write out a double-page spread about religion, social behaviours and customs. I tried to scan it in at school on Friday, but that didn’t work so I will scan it in when I get back on Monday.

Bye!

 

I love banana bread

Posted on by

9

Bread

One Passion Project. Two people working on it. Three blog posts to do. Four different instrumental loops in each track. Five original songs. Six different songs. Seven letters in the album title. Eight days until due date. Nine choruses. Ten takes on each song. Eleven verses. Twelve different piano chords.

Does that put things in perspective? I must say, I cannot wait to present our album. I’ve had at least ten people (not including grandparents!) ask for it. Popular demand! This has honestly been one of my favouritest projects ever. So much so I have invented a new word…

Wait, what’s this post about again? Oh, yeah. Editing. To be honest, the editing stage has not been extremely difficult.

The program we’re using for editing is called Garage Band. Joy’s used this before, so she’s taught me the basics; and now that we both know, the editing process has been as smooth as a strawberry milkshake. Oh, actually, there have been a few chunks of strawberry. But that’s what flavours the milkshake, hey?

  • Some of the separately recorded instrumental loops had different timing, so we had to record them again.
  • Then they didn’t match up with the other loops, so we slowed them down, sped them up… you know.
  • One of my songs requires a bit of echo. I don’t know how to do echo.
  • But Joy taught me!
  • Thanks Joy…
  • Well, also, we didn’t have enough time to record everything… So we had to keep organising times.That’s all I can think of off the top of my head. Now, we’ve done pretty much everything except for…
  • Recorded Riptide *
  • Burned the songs onto a CD
  • Created the album cover

*But we’re doing that this weekend. It’s okay, though. Not a sleepover…

Pause. Mum’s just served warm banana bread.

Un-pause. I’m ba-ack!

Note to self- Banana bread is like popcorn.

Note to self- Next Passion Project should be on food. Maybe a food blog…?

Note to self- Are orcas, killer whales and whale sharks all the same thing? Are they related to Free Willy?

Note to self- What are the other names for sweet potato?

Note to self- If you answer those questions correctly, I will give you the largest, most delicious, amazingest, best…

Virtual block of chocolate!!!!!!!

Note to self- Will Mrs Stafford be angry if there are banana bread crumbs all over my laptop?

Note to self- Focus. Centre your attention. Wait. Do I smell strawberry milkshake?

Hello? Anyone there? Wait. I know all the answers. I win! Mmmmm… Virtual block of chocolate…

Note to self- I must edit this blog post.

Hey! Aren’t I writing about something like that?

Let’s do this!

Yeah, so we’re pretty much almost finished. Looking forward to eating choco- I mean, sharing this project with you! Cool…

Oh. Also, here’s the next letter of my album title. So far we’ve got…

MY

And the next letter is…

S

Can you guess?

Apart from Joy.

Okay, I’m stopping now.

Bye!

Bye-bye!

Like, leave now.

Bye!

Seriously.

Bye!!!!

Editing

Playing Producer

Posted on by

4

Image result for production

Of course, the sleepover was entirely productive.

Eating popcorn’s productive, isn’t it? Maybe? A little bit? Well, we did do some work.

Decisions we made before we started…

  • Popcorn is awesome.
  • We would start with recording my songs first because it’s Joy’s laptop we’re recording on, and she could record her songs at home if needed.
  • We would record the vocals with piano because it’s easier to match those two up. We could then record extra instruments later.
  • We were going to do three covers, but we haven’t learnt two out of three yet. So we’re only doing Riptide by Vance Joy.

We started by recording my song, Listen. Correct me if I’m wrong Joy, but I think I did about a dozen takes?

Some of the problems I encountered…

  • My Dad, right outside, chopping wood.
  • The television blaring a couple of rooms away.
  • My voice sounding really bad. Hey, I was on six hours of sleep.
  • Playing the wrong notes on the piano.
  • My laptop, the lyrics on the screen, going to sleep.

There were a couple more, but those were the basics. After a breakfast break for crepes, we continued and I found my voice had improved with all that maple syrup. I recorded my other two songs and then Joy and I had another break. We watched a movie, but I assure you that while we did that, I typed up the lyrics to Riptide and we chose what parts we would sing.

Now, last post I revealed the first letter to our album. Recap… It was…

M

I did promise I’d tell you the next letter. It is…

Y

Hey. That’s a word. I wonder what the second word could be. My popcorn, my friend, my chocolate.

MY

Goodbye for now. I’ll be back…

yO

 

 

Reverse Psychology

Posted on by

2

How do I explain this one?

Well you probably don’t want to hear about it. I’m sure you wouldn’t, actually. Now that I think about it, it’s sooooooo boring. You have better things to do. Oh well. I guess maybe another time.

Now do you want to hear my post? If you do, then my reverse psychology worked! You see, reverse psychology is when you might do something to get someone to agree with the opposite. Or it’s also when you agree with someone to get them to do the opposite thing you’re agreeing to. Don’t understand? Yeah, it’s pretty confusing.

I’ll give you three examples and hopefully they’ll wipe your glasses clean.

When you were younger, did you ever run away from your parents? You wanted them to run after you and play- and your parents might have- but if they didn’t they were probably trying some reverse psychology.
You suddenly understood that your parents were going in the other direction. So you ran after them. This is reverse psychology because your parents did something to change your mind to go in the opposite direction.

2. If you reeeeeaaaalllllyyyy wanted to go to a party, your parents wouldn’t let you, than what would you do? This conversation might be what you do…

You- Mum? I really want to go to this party.

Mum-Well, sorry, you can’t

You- Oh, you’re right. Oh well (sigh).

Mum-I’m glad you agree.

You- I’m sure you have much better things to do than take me to the party.

Mum-Well…

You- It doesn’t matter.

Mum-Okay. I’ll take you.

You agreed with your Mum and she decided to take you. How does that work? Well, human brains can be extremely interesting to study. I don’t know. But have fun at the party!
3. This example is like the last one. You and your friend are in a really important argument. Is chocolate or ice-cream better? Suddenly you have an idea. Reverse psychology might persuade your friend to agree with you. So you go along with her and pretend ice-cream is better. Her brain starts to think about all the pros of chocolate and all the cons of ice-cream. Finally she admits chocolate is better.

And, Mrs Stafford, or any other teachers out there, I reckon we should do heaps more maths and English. They’re the only fun subjects. All day we should just do long division.

Did it work?

I hope these examples un-fogged your vision a bit. If you’re still confused, ask me and comment.

Who/what am I?

Posted on by

14

Who needs 20 clues when you can have eight? This guessing game should be great. If you don’t guess that would be a shame. Now these are the rules to this game…
  • I will give you eight clues
  • You have to guess who
  • Be the first to guess
  • Or you’ll come out second best
  • I guess that’s not really a rule…
  • Rhyming is cool…

This book is good, this book is great. I reckon to become a classic is it’s fate. Anyway, I think I’m done. Now let’s have some fun!

Clue 1. There’s a massive hint in the intro.

Clue 2. I read this book with my little sisters.

Clue 3. The character is also the name of the book.

Clue 4. The character always wears a piece of clothing.

Clue 5. The article of clothing appears in the characters name.

Clue 6. The article of clothing is red and white.

Clue 7. The book is written by a doctor.

Clue 8. Eht naim hacrtcera si a tca.

I hope these clues help, I hope they work well. You can comment to tell…

The answer you think right, and I will reveal the answer Friday night. Can you wait until then? The anticipation might turn you into a chicken.

You should know by now that I always write about three words that I think shine out bright. This week the starring book is…

Yeay

 Word Definition   Sentence 
Cavalry   Soldiers who fight on horseback.

 The cavalry marched up the hill.
Gazebo  A small house with a wide view of the surroundings.  She sat in the gazebo.
Confederate  A person who works with an accomplice.  Where was his confederate?

I had fun, I hope you did too. Guess and comment or I will show you some kung-fu. Kidding, I have to go. Bye- bye don’t be slow! I can’t think of any other rhymes. Anyway, look at the time!