Evaluation

When I first read the brief I felt I could not engage with the project easily, and even throughout the project I found it very challenging. However, to try and find a way of connecting, I chose a context that I can relate to a lot, this being media pressures.

Creating puppets was a completely new thing to me and I was not looking forward to that element. However, making them was very fun and I was very pleased at the professional outcome.

Creating the intro and video was something I found less challenging, as I had much practice in this area. But my skills developed slightly through the experimentation in this project.

Even though at the beginning of this project I did not have a positive outlook, I am pleased with the outcome and I feel the video portrays the message of media pressure well, especially with the use of my humorous and parody tone.

If I had more time, I would have created more puppets and scenes, of the waiting room and more interviews of the judges accepting the puppets that look like them and turning others down even. This may have made the message clearer. 

The Only Way Is Puppets - Final Video

This Video is also available as a higher quality on Vimeo. Link Below:
(Ensure the HD option is enabled)

https://vimeo.com/64519066

Putting It Together

I used the software Adobe After Effects to create the final video. 

Voices

As ‘The Only Way is Puppets’ is based on my home town of Birmingham, I needed the voices to reflect this as well as the characters style.

For example, Abigail  will have a very strong brummie accent to give the impression she is common, whereas the judges will still be brummie but will put on a fake posh voice to give the impression they are higher class.

I was fortunate to be able to use professional radio recording equipment, this created a clear voice over.

Filming

I had help from 3 people to perform the puppet show; I found this quiet a challenging task, getting across how I wanted it to go etc.

As the voices of the puppets are very important at getting across their characters, I decided to record them separately to the filming. 

When I began to film, I noticed that it was hard to capture everything in one set camera angle (like a puppet show). Therefore i decided to use various camera angles, very similar to the filming used in TV shows which included full scene and close up shots of the characters.

Kim's Boobs

When I began to film, the boobs of Kim didn't look right or sit correctly on the arm and as the puppets where behind a table they weren't very clear, so I decided not to use them.

The Set

I decided to use a plain black background for the set as I wanted the emphasis to be on the puppets. However to create the office setting the auditions would be in I included certain props, E.g. a desk, pens, pads and posters.

On most TV auditions shows e.g. X Factor or Britain’s Got Talent, the Judges always seem to have a drink on the desk, usually a can of coke a cola which is also for advertisement. Therefore I will include a cola can. 

Final Story Board

I took the advice from the group crit and developed my story board, creating a bitchier up to date script and adding a humorous climax at the end. 

My Intro

From looking at the intros for ‘The Only Way is Essex’, I used the software’s Cinema 4D and Adobe After Effects to create a parody title into.

Group Crit

Below is some of the feedback I had from my group crit:

•       Edit script, make them bitchier and mean
•       Have a climax at the end. ( have them being hypocritical, eating donuts.)

Story Board

The Only Way Is Birmingham

In the summer of 2012, there was a lot of advertisement and hype about a Brummie version of reality show the Only Way is Essex that was due out soon. Billboards and buses were plastered with posters and trailers were made viral. Many people from Birmingham (The Only Way Is Essex fans) got excited about this new series being based in their home town.

However, the “show” was a nothing more than a stunt to mark the founding of a new super-college in Birmingham.

Below is a link to the trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QPjYADVx8Y

The Only Way is Birmingham hoax, The Birmingham Mail, Website, Veiwed  30/03/2013.(http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/the-only-way-is-birmingham-is-a-hoax-college-189714)

Finished Puppets

Amy 

Kim

Abigail

Final Puppets

As the process of making the finalized prototype was going really well and the puppets looked well-made and professional I decided to use them as my final puppets. This decision was also made as cost and time was running low.

I created the puppets head first, while all the face of the puppet was at a good standard, I unfortunately came across a problem with attaching the polystyrene balls to the breast area on the Essex style puppet. They wouldn't sit right on the arm and when I removed them, some of the polystyrene stuck onto the fleece. 

As I was already so far in the making and time and cost issues, I chose to improvise and covered the stuck polystyrene and stitch the outline of the breasts. It didn't turn out how I wanted and I wished I had tested it out before hand, but now I will use this incidence as future reference. 

As I had to stitch on an extra bit of fleece to cover the mess, the stitch was on show, so I chose to apply a bead necklace around her neck to cover it. 

Kim

 As I designed this puppet to only have lips and boobs to connote how much work she had done, I could only use the YouTube instructions for creating the mouth as a basis which then I experiment and worked until I created the lips that I was happy with.

As I didn't have any advice how to create the boobs, I had to just experimented using covered half’s of a polystyrene ball and a bikini top.  Fortunately, they both worked out well. 

Abigail - Continued

I also used hair extensions for on Abi; however I rolled the strip to create a pony tail style which I then wrapped a feather ribbon around to make a hair bobble.

As I've created character Abi as being  chubby, I created this effect by layering wadding in-between the body of the puppet and her t-shirt, putting a few tacks to secure it place.

I chose to replace her black eye lashes with brown to make the puppet look more natural, as from a previous crit it was brought up that black lashes represents mascara.

Amy - Continued

I stuffed the felt lips with wadding to make them fuller, and then hand stitched the edges to ensure they were secure. This also defined the lips.

For the hair of the puppet I used real hair extensions, this is so I was able to style it how I wanted before filming.  I stuck 2 strips of the extensions along the middle of the head, which created a parting. 

Finalized Prototype of Amy & Abigail

I began to make a finalized prototype using all the final materials.

The  making of the head and bodies of Amy and Abigail.I carefully stuck to the instructions of the YouTube video.
(I mainly used a glue gun to attach different parts to the puppets)

Patterns

From the instructions of the YouTube video, I created my patterns for the puppets.

Then I knocked up a quick prototype to test if the patterns where correct and if I could follow the instructions clearly.

The prototype went well, however I needed to alter the pattern slightly at the Back of the head, as it was too big.

Essex Intro

As well as having the puppet show, I wish to create an intro parodying ‘The Only Way is Essex’ intro, shown below.