Procrastination Studios

How are we ending our films? Here is a neat look at many different ways movies have written The End. Some have even included the logo of the production company. Today you should be wrapping up your shooting and beginning to edit your films. If you are still filming, make sure you have a plan with the teachers involved to complete your scenes.

Your new and improved logos should be appearing on your blogs this week. The blog posts have been improving recently and but please keep these things in mind:

• Use only your first name on the blogs and posts
• Check your speling before posting
• Every group member should be contributing to their blog
• Everyone is responsible for reading and commenting on other blogs

We will finish the editing when we get back. Enjoy the break!

Here is the link to the site we saw the other day. Waitless is a creative site with some neat movies aimed at teaching you how to use your time more effectively with everyday tasks. My favorite is the shoelaces.

Let’s have a look at our blogs and think about making an effective logo. Our goal is to design a logo that represents each production crew. It should be simple and a recognizable link to your production crew. The logo will be displayed at the beginning of your movies and on your blog. We have several graphic design books in the classroom and there are some web resources listed below. Some things to consider when you are planning your logo are:

1. Symbol – What is the shape? Are you using an existing object like a toaster or an orange or are you creating a new object? Will you use letters to form your logo?
2. Colour – Is your logo going to be monochromatic or will it use several colours? What colour combinations are you using?
3. Text – Does your logo require text? Does the text balance with the shape? Is your logo solely comprised of text?

Here are some additional sites to help you design your logo

This article looks at some commonly seen logos to point out some design secrets that you may not have noticed before.

This site has a good summary of the elements of design.

For those of you who didn’t see it, here is the hidden bear in the Toblerone logo. What will be hiding in your logo?

And finally, here is the logo game. Can you beat my high score of 17/20?

Stay tuned for the new logo for Procrastination Studios!

Keep working on both projects this week, remember that it is your responsibility to communicate any plans with the ECLC teacher. I need to see your storyboards for the Mascot and Inside the Teacher’s Class by Friday, October 19th. You can begin shooting anytime after that. All shooting for both projects should be completed by Wednesday, October 24th.

Great work this week everyone! All of the ECLC teachers have been very impressed by your rapport with the kids. I worry that it will be hard to get you back in the MS classrooms as you seem to be having so much fun eating popcorn, reading stories, dancing and teaching. Now that we have established a relationship with each respective class, it is time to start involving the ECLC students in the brainstorming process and being working on the storyboard. Keep communicating with the teacher and don’t forget to keep your blogs up to date!

The objectives of this project are as follows:

• To make some new friends in ECLC
• Produce a 5 – 7 minute video about the class Mascot that will enrich the role of the Mascot plays in the classroom
• Actively communicate with the teachers and students to decide on a plot outline for the video
• Encourage ECLC ownership of the video by having them participate in the planning and filming
• Use still photos to combine stop motion with video clips
• Videos should include your title sequence with your logo, credits, and appropriate music
• Be Creative!

Depending on the schedule of the ECLC class, each production crew will be going into the classroom on either Monday or Wednesday. The purpose of this first visit is to get to know the students, teacher and mascot. You will be participating in a regular ECLC class whether it be circle time or story time so bring your best smile and have something ready for show and tell. Here are your class assignments:

Litte Orange Children – Ms. Higgins

Subdivision – Ms. Cowled

T&N – Ms. Peters

Fur on Fire – Ms. Ayling

Each group must post a reflection of their experience in the class and 2 initial ideas you have for the video on your blog before Wednesday, October 12. And don’t forget to get started on this as well.

Sony has just released an ad campaign that features clay bunnies running around New York. It is interesting to note the combination of stop motion with clay and human subjects. Something creative to consider when looking for inspiration on future projects. The video below gives a little glimpse behind the scenes of the production.

Our next project is a collaborative project with ECLC. Each ECLC class has a mascot that plays an important part in their class. Each production crew will be going into an ECLC class to get to know the students and work with the teachers to plan, edit and produce a video about their class mascot. The real challenge will be to share ownership of the production by actively involving the ECLC students in the process. Stay tuned for class assignments and project objectives. Maybe we need a mascot for our class.

Our latest idea for episodes is a take on the show Inside the Actor’s Studio. We will be contacting teachers to conduct exciting interviews. These won’t be your typical sit down question and answer sessions. Our production crews will get inside the classroom to find out what makes our teachers tick and how they inspire students. Focus on original and creative ways to conduct the interview. Take the teacher’s classroom and subject area into consideration when. Can you also get footage of them in action? Production Crews will need to have the following items ready for Friday’s class next week:

• Teacher Name – Make sure you inform the teacher about the project and your intent to interview them
• 3 Potential Shooting Locations – Remember, we want these to be dynamic interviews. You can have more than one scene in the interview
• 10 Interview Questions – We will start with 10 questions, depending on the length of the answers and the extra footage you add, you may need to edit accordingly.
• Action or event during the Interview – Will the science teacher be interviewed as they are conducting an experiment? Will the P.E. be interviewed as they are running around the track with a class?

Please post these 4 items on your blog by Friday, October 12 and we will then begin working on the storyboards.

Little Orange Children Productions are in the final stages of editing the latest Speaker’s Corner. The theme of this episode is “What if ISM had a theme song?”. It promises to be a musical roller coaster, as we hear students and teachers share and sing some of their favorite songs. If you are helping us out by bringing in music, please remember your files on Monday so that they can complete the video.