#aestheticprosthetic

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Sculpted, painted, and applied by none other than me!

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Just a quick snippet of our transmedia.

Bloop Studios Website Bloop Studios Facebook Page Bloop Studios Youtube Channel

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Bloops Around

Here is an example of a few of the Bloop Around. Click on the photos and it will take you to where the QR codes would take you. You can only find these videos with the link (so on my blog or if you scan the QR code).

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Setting the Set

We had decided to use a blank backdrop for the set and were contemplating what medium would suit our project the best. We decided to go for blue paper with an infinity curve because is will be a contrasting medium to the characters and other set. We started to have issues with the paper because it was too small and that limited us to a small amount of camera angles and shots. We then got another, different shade, piece of blue paper to make a horizon and to make the set bigger. With this set up we found that working with the horizon was difficult and unattractive. At this time we also noticed that the plasticine was leaving greasy marks all over the paper which looked messy and unprofessional. So once again we ventured to Gordan Harris, this time we found a huge blue piece of card and then discussed options for stopping the plasticine from leaving marks, still allowing it to stick to the base and to create minimal glare from the lamp for the camera. All our options seemed really expensive with not much chance that it will be perfect, so I used my DIY mind and thought that we may as well have a go at trying to coat the card with a thin layer of PVA glue (free from the 3D Labs). And that is how we ended up with our set that we are now using to shoot.

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Reflecting

To be completely honest, I am glad the project is over. I have had a lot of really great times during this assignment, but I have found out that I don't have a patience for stop motion. In the first four weeks I throughly enjoyed not just working with Caitlin and Simon, but I started to think about a future in stop motion production for myself. Now, at the end when my patience have been tested, I have decided that maybe stop motion is not for me. I am still very interested in other types of production though.

I feel that our group worked really well together. Looking at all the other groups stop motions I have realised that our groups is the only childrens based concept. All three of us always thought 'kids show' from the get go and never once did it cross our minds to make a serious or comedy show for adults/teens. I feel that this proves that we are all similar in our thought processes which helped up move the production along fast with minimal debates.

I believe that we have meet our original intentions – to make a 2 minute children's stop motion animation using transmedia, that teaches kids adolescence issues to stop the problems before they have arisen. Targeting the youth at an age when they are still defining their personal morals could potentially help the issue of bullying, eating disorders and other such issues at a later stage in life.

Bloop does not focus on prosthetics as it's main theme but it does include multiple aspects. The first aesthetic prosthetic is how the bloop creatures can pick another bloop up (when it's in it's ball state) and use it as another eye with the extension of the schnozzle. Because bloops only have one eye and that eye can not move, it makes it difficult when they are searching. When the ball bloop is connected to ones schnozzle they have full movement and control over their temporary second eye. I feel as though this prosthetic worked well for our story and characters but that it could have been a bigger part of the tale.

The second physical prosthetic is the body of the bloops. I decided to get away from the typical human-like body shape and make bloops more like blobs. I thought of this because the typical prosthetic is usually an item that we add onto our bodies to enhance ourselves, but do we really need all this extra 'stuff'? Do we need four or more limbs? Or can we survive with just one, that doubles up as a mouth, a nose and ears as well? This is the idea that I wanted to explore and share. While everyone is thinking about extensions I am here thinking about reduction and getting rid of all the excess that holds us back from meeting our full potential.

I also decided to use a non-physical, but I still feel it counts as an, aesthetic prosthetic. I enjoy the beauty of expression. I feel that no matter what language you speak, if you want to express yourself you can, in a way that everyone can understand. Expression is an art. That is why I believe that having bloops speak with noises alternatively to words, doesn't just mean that it can be a universal webisode for people of all ages and languages but also an art.Again it is playing with the idea of reduction that I mentioned above. That less is more. By reducing all the different languages we unlock a world of better communication and less misinterpretation.

At first I don't believe I really understood what transmedia was or how I should incorporate it into our project. At the beginning of this project I thought we had transmedia sussed, but I have later come to realise that those were more marketing techniques. Transmedia is to tell a story using multiple platforms, which I do feel is a very hard task when our final goal is to have a 2 minute stop motion webisode.

Originally our three mediums/medias/platforms were our Bloop Facebook page, Bloop Youtube channel and our Bloop Studios website. Since then I have made it my project to come up with two other (better) transmedia concepts.

Seeing as we were targeting young children for our audience I decided to write and create a children's picture book which told more of Little Bloops story and gave the audience a bigger picture of Bloo Planet and what they might expect in the webisode. We get a strong sense of the characters which I feel helps tell the story of Bloop. I then also decided to expand from that and record an audio book which featured me reading the story but also some sound effects for each page. I believe that this helps bring the story to life even more by adding the sound effects in. Now if a child is listening to the audiobook and reading along with the physical book they will be able to really get a sense of the world and story and use their own imagination to fill in all the blanks. You can find a hard copy in the studio and the digital copies on my blog.

I decided to also focus on 'Bloops Around' our other main transmedia. 'Bloops Around' was to get bloops and things from the world of Bloop out and around the place with QR-codes that will then show scanners that item coming to life in it's natural habitat. I thought this was a really cool concept and is interesting because I am mixing reality and synthetics. This willalso allow for Bloop to extend into an after life once this project is completed. I made all the video clips and QR-codes and fixed up the objects before I set of with Simon to set them all up. You can see this in the transmedia video.

Our third transmedia is our website (www.bloopstudios.co.nz). The story is extended with the different activities on the fun page. This is an interactive platform which makes children use their imagination to see the story. We have set up mazes and word searches that hint to the children more personality traits of the characters which also builds the greater story.

We did also have our Facebook page and Youtube channel but personally, reflecting on them now I don't feel as though they really add much to the story of Bloop.

I am over the moon with the outcome of the project and can't wait to share what Bloop Studios have created over the last eight weeks.

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Editing and Final Days

As we have been shooting, we will want a break from the tent so we will spend the day editing. Simon and I had to edit out all the wire in the scenes where we had something in the air, which would take a long time. Other than that at the end of every few scenes we would put all the images together so that we would be able to see our progress which would excite me. Simon did most of the editing but I was able to get him to let me do a few scenes. Then my favourite part of editing was adding all the sound effects. Simon and I did all the sound effects using only our mouths, Caitlin would give her opinion on what sounds we should use when she could. When I could watch what we had made so far, especially when the sounds were added it gave me motivation to get back into the tent and take more photos. This editing process started from our very first day of shooting.

Once we finished shooting the last scene we pulled the tent down straight away. It was such a relief to get out of there, to have room and air again. At this point all our stress had gone. It seemed that we were so close to finishing while others were a long way off finishing. We felt ahead of schedule and calm.

After having a break for a few days from the production side of things (focussing on the transmedia) we had a very late night to finish recording all the sounds so that we could export the webisode and have it all done. This was a great idea because it will now allow us to focus on our presentation and transmedia to be ready for hand in on time.

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Our final Webisode and Transmedia Presentation.

Links to Bloop Studios' online medias: Website Youtube Channel Facebook Page

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Our final webisode