We had to create a Tower based off of Spaghetti and Blu-Tack. Although there was a twist. You had to make the Tower under a budget of $60. Each piece of Spaghetti costing $1, & every gram of Blu-Tack costing $1 as well. You would then have to construct a tower that meets the requirements that are that the tower needs to be a minimum of 60cm tall and at the tip of the tower, it needs to be hold a small 5cm x 5cm square. It would then have to withstand a 10-second Earthquake simulation.
Our First Prototype of the Base of our Tower
The Engineering Process
We first designed several base designs after doing some research, & then once we decided which design we would be using, we created a prototype, & improvised on what we could do to make this design potentially better. We also trialed this method for the remaining sections of the tower, creating designs, & then improvising them once created. Although, this process can be improved. If I were to do this again, I would make it so that we do more thorough research and truly understand the purpose of each material in our design, so we know what is necessary & what is not. I think that if we achieve this, we will have a more successful design.
Teamwork & Collaboration
For this particular project, I was in a group of two. Myself & Daniel Haynes. This meant that we would have more responsibilities throughout the project. The Roles can be found below :
I was the Project Manager & the Speaker, whilst Daniel was the Equipment Manager & Reporter. I like to think that I am quite organised & focused, which is why I became those roles. Daniel is organised & productive, which is why he received the Equipment Manager & Reporter roles. We both contributed to the engineering process by following these roles throughout the project.
How does this version of Macbeth challenge the traditional versions of Macbeth?
Our version of Macbeth challenged the traditional versions of Macbeth as our production was more framed as a comedy rather than a tragedy, using a Blackbox Bow Theatre Round Stage, and including playful songs. The production was directed to be a comedy rather than a tragedy by the usage of playful songs, actions and play of words. This is notable in Michael and I’s scene ‘Is this a dagger?’ which in the end the two Bouffons make playful and comedic actions which takes you off the suspense of the story. We decided to add these actions in as we agreed that we did not have enough actions spread across the script but also to leave it on an action to help suit the mood of the next scene ‘Banquo’ (the song). We also used a Blackbox Bow Theatre Round Stage, which makes the audience more engaged with the play. So, we portrayed our version of the production to be more like a comedy rather, than the more traditional versions of Macbeth.
How do you think they have attempted to engage an audience, given that this is a schools touring production in the UK?
During the production that was done in the UK, they engaged with the audience by their usage of comedy, often breaking the 4th wall and occasionally bringing in a member of the audience to play a minor role for the play. By doing this it keeps the keeps the audience very engaged and the audience could potentially become a part of the play itself.
What are some of the artistic choices you like?
Some of the artistic choices which I liked that we did include the Satire Commentary in our usage of the Bouffons. By doing this, it helps the audience to better understand the general plot of the Macbeth play, but also takes a bit of the weight off the audience’s shoulders by what the Bouffon has said, whether it being comedic or to help understand the plot, and then sending them back to reality by the scene continuing with the actual characters. So, an artistic choice that we implemented in the production which I liked was the Satire Commentary.
What are some of the artistic choices you do not like?
I found that I disliked the lack of Directorial Vision. However, we did use directorial vision fairly often but it was with other actors instead of audience members so I feel as though it could have been more prevalent. I think that if we made the production so that it reaches more audience members, the experience of the audience would have been better. So, overall, I did not like the choice of the lack of directorial vision and how it only really focused on other actors instead of its intended purpose of being a member of the audience.
My thoughts on the Production
In Term-3 of 2023, we created a production of the Shakespearian Play Macbeth. I do think that my experience as an actor was quite fun and enjoyable, and I would like to participate in a production like this again. Although I disliked the fact that we would have to spend time outside of school in preparation for the performance. However, there was not too much we could do about this aspect. The overall finished production, I enjoyed. With the different mash-ups of everyone’s individual scenes of the play to make one big production. Although I think that based off the fact that we did not have all the scenes from the original Macbeth play, it could have potentially been slightly more difficult for the audience to understand what was going on. Not only this but there was a sudden change of plays in the middle of the production. Going from Romeo & Juliet to Macbeth all so suddenly. As well as this, but we also did not completely finish our Romeo & Juliet sequence. However, I did like the fact that in the Macbeth play, there were Bouffons to help with this cause of the audience not understanding what exactly would happen in each and every scene but also explain it as it happens. I like how we used this aspect of Satire Commentary due to this fact. Another factor that I liked about this production was the common usage of songs in the Macbeth production. The reason I like this is due to the fact that it distracts the audience slightly by introducing the feature of music to the play. This can be notable in the ‘Banquo’ Scene, where the three Bouffons sing about the tragedy of Banquo and what follows. This aspect is also beneficial for the play as it relieves the audience of the suspense of the play before dragging them back in again. So, my overall experience of the Macbeth production was generally positive and I would like to partake in a production like it again.
In Semester 2 of 2022, I participated in the Precious Plastic InnovatED program. In this course we made some objects using recycled plastic. These objects include; plant pots, ping-pong rackets, coasters and other objects which you can use in your everyday life. Throughout the semester we were taught on how to make these different products, sort different types of plastic and how to work in the precious plastic room.
Precious Plastic Logo
Towards the end of the course, we went down to the Junior School to teach the Year 2’s about precious plastic. Some of the things that we taught them included the sorting of plastics and how to shred plastics. The goal was to inform Year 2’s about plastics and I think that the goal was achieved.
In the Year 8 English Curriculum I used various collaboration and learner agency skills to complete different projects. This page discusses how I used these skills from the learner agency and Collaboration through the Year 8 English Course.
Creation of Current Affairs Segment
At the beginning of the Year, we made a current affair segment video about a script that we had made for an assessment earlier on in the year. In this project I used a variety of collaboration skills to create this task. These skills included ‘Contributes to group plan’ and ‘Undertake a Role’. I used the ‘Contributes to group plan’ by introducing new and different ideas which we could potentially use in our project. I also used the skill ‘Undertake a Role’ by taking a role in the production as a canteen cashier. So, In this product I used the skills ‘Contributes to Group Plan’ and ‘Undertake a Role’ in this project.
Creation of Short Story
In this task you had to create a short story based off of a prompt given to you. Some skills that I used in this assessment from the learner agency to guide my project included ‘Seeking Assistance’ and ‘Using feedback’. I used these skills by asking my parents for feedback and assistance in my short story which is part of the reason why I think I did well in this assessment. So, In this task I used the skills using feedback and seeking assistance to help create my overall product.
Conclusion
So, in these projects from the Year 8 English Curriculum I used a variety of skills from the learner agency and collaboration. These skills really helped me to produce these assignments and I think that I should use more of them in the future to aid me in future assignments and other projects.
What were the biggest things you learnt while completing this task?
Before completing this task, I knew that binge-drinking was obviously a bad thing to do, however now that I have done it I realise how badly it can affect you and your life. Some of the things I have learnt from this assessment include how alcohol effects your mental state and your choices. So, if you drink alcohol and are inebriated you could potentially ruin your life if you undertake bad choices or diminish your mental state. So, the biggest thing that I have learnt from this assessment is that alcohol can affect your mental health as well as your decision making greatly.
My Group’s Poster about Binge Drinking
Reference List for the Poster can be found on the Next Page
What one piece of advice would you pass on to young teenagers above all else? Why?
The One Piece of advice that I would advise to younger teenagers is to not take drugs or alcohol. I would say this because of their age and they drink, they could do some things which they’ll end up regretting. But if they do end up drinking, don’t drink much as it will lead to you being drunk which isn’t good for anybody. So, the One Piece of advice I would give to young teenagers is to not drink, but if you do drink don’t drink very much.
My Pledge
I will not consume so much Alcohol that I become Intoxicated, I will follow the established Alcohol Laws and will never get addicted to drinking Alcohol
Why I chose this Pledge
I chose this pledge as if I drink too much alcohol, get addicted to alcohol or if I don’t follow the Alcohol Laws, I could perform idiotic acts or potentially lose my life or mental state. I say this as while you are intoxicated, you could lose your mental state as well as destroying your decision making.
How I will Commit to this Pledge
I will commit to this pledge by having food with alcohol and taking sips of alcohol instead of the whole thing. I will do this as food helps to process the alcohol and taking sips will allow my body to handle smaller portions of alcohol bit by bit making it easier to digest. I will also not drink alcohol too much as it could lead to an addiction and I will also follow the alcohol laws in Australia to help me to not get this addiction. All of these methods will help me commit to this pledge.
In this project, we would have to individually brainstorm an idea for a small business and make it come to life. You would do this by making a job resume and then we would have to apply for one of those businesses. After that, you became an employee for that business and work toward the business by creating products to be sold on the day of the market.
The Production Process
The group I was in was making hand sanitiser bottles more appealing. My group did this by putting building bricks into the bottle. What we would do to make these bottles is that we would fill up empty hand sanitiser bottles that we brought from home or have already filled hand sanitiser bottles. After that, we would place these building bricks into the bottles and our product was complete. Luckily, our product was quite easy to make otherwise we would’ve struggled in this process.
Our Final Products on the Day of the Market
What Went Well
One of the things that went well during this project was the production stage of our group. I found that our group did this part particularly well as, during this stage, some of our group members got COVID-19 and were in quarantine. Which meant that they could help much in the production process. So, we only had two members actively working on the production of our product. We managed to finish the production of all our products within two weeks. So, I found that we worked particularly well on our at this stage of our experience.
What I would Change for Next Time
Some of the things that I would change for the next time I do this project I would attempt in making my group a bit more organised. I say this as it took the group a while to buy some of the materials which we need, myself included. This delayed our project, fortunately, it didn’t hold us back too much. So, I can make my group more organised next time I do this project by constantly reminding them about what they need to do and make sure they take note of it. So, next time I do this project, I will attempt in being more organised as well as making my group more organised.
Kanye West has shown to be racist, ignorant, and has the “I can do whatever I want” attitude. Kanye (or Ye) is a singer and a song artist and has been in the songwriting industry for a while time now. Some people in my generation look up to Kanye West as a good figure, however, he is somewhat known for being a sore loser and a bully. Which is part of the reason why I don’t see him as my idol and I don’t think others should look up to him as well. However, this is information I have gathered up from the media, meaning that not all of it could be essentially accurate and correct as the media tends to position certain icons in a specific manner. Making them either look like a good person or a bad person.
Our idea is to make a fridge run around the city causing terror, then these superheroes called the ‘Fridge Catchers’ will come to stop the fridge and end its chaos.
Alexander Brustur
Inspiration
My group’s idea of the fridge catchers sparked when one of my group members made a joke asking if our fridge was running. This then sparked the idea that we could then make this our project idea. Of all the other ideas in which we brainstormed, it was probably the best as well as the funniest idea that we had.
Documents needing to be created
The first document and the most important document we made was the script for the ad. This helped us during the filming stages of the process. The second document we created was the storyboard. This was another important document that needed to be created. We included a plethora of scenes that needed to be created. A platform that helped us create these documents was whiteboard and word, this helped us create both the script and our storyboard were made by using these platforms.
Advert Script
Our Storyboard
The Documents that we created when doing this project
The editing and filming
It took us a while to finish all the scenes which we needed before editing. This was mainly because all of the scenes heavily relied on the use of a green screen. Not only that but we used strict dress codes to make sure that the ad’s characters looked better and the scenes we didn’t take also didn’t help fasten the filming process.
When filming this ad, we couldn’t use our phones or personal technology which belongs to us. We had to use special tripod cameras which were supplied at the school then upload our footage to our computers. We would then sample the good parts of the cut and insert it into premiere pro. These cameras benefitted our whole project as if we didn’t have them, the camera quality would be very poor.
One of the things which worked well when creating this ad was the editing and the inconvenience was the usage of the green screen. When filming this ad, our script was heavily reliant on the green screen. This was a big inconvenience as some other groups wanted to use the green screen as well. However, when editing, I found it an enjoyable experience although it was also challenging as it was the first video I had edited. So, I had to learn some of the triggers and how to use them effectively.
Editing
I would say the hardest part of this process was the editing. We used Adobe Premiere Pro to edit our ad. We used multiple effects when creating finishing this ad. These effects included ultra key (green screen), motion (moving objects) and crop. However, it was difficult to do this as my group had to learn how to use these tools effectively. This generally made it harder to edit our ad. My group was a bit confused as they didn’t really know how the different triggers worked. However, we functioned well and eventually, the ad got where we wanted it to be.
Next time I would do a more simple filming process, and not rely on the green screen or green screen effects as much as we did in our ad. So, I would find different settings where we can film to make the editing stage easier. Something I could’ve done to make the editing process quicker was to be more organised in my folder of all the footage, as I would constantly get confused between the good cuts and the bad ones.
The Final Overview
The things which we did best in this production was our editing and green screen use. This benefitted our ad production, making it look generally better than it could’ve looked without the green screen. From this production, I learnt how to use a few tools on Adobe Premiere Pro and how to upload footage from a camera to a computer or other device. These skills can be useful for future use.
Some areas of our production that could’ve easily been improved were in one of the scenes, the green screen is completely dark and wasn’t projecting the required image that it was supposed to. Another thing we could’ve done to improve our production is that when we were using the green screen, we could find an area with equal lighting sources so when we would apply the “Ultra-Key” effect, the picture would more smooth. Whereas with the different lighting levels picture had lighting points on the screen with uneven lighting.
However, overall, despite the difficulties that my group came across when making this ad, I found this experience very enjoyable and would like to do something similar to this again.
