“Malevolent Creatures: The Making of a Monster Guide” Part 6 – Reflection

I am really proud of the work Mitch and I did.

We had some problems. Communication and face-to-face collaboration was the biggest issue. The other was allowing each other to put our ideas forward and not taking total control. Mitch and I are often at loggerheads and we had our doubts. At times we thought it was going to be impossible to actually work together. We pushed through though, and created a fantastic project in the end.

I had some issues with making the actual book. As I stated in one of my previous entries, I had problems with getting the tea-stained pages to dry in time. Waking up at 5:30am to find that my assignment was still soaking wet made my stomach knot up. I spent a good 20 minutes folding alfoil to put between pages, and then using baking paper because I ran out of foil. I spend another 20mins or so turning each page, supervising the oven, making sure each page was dry. I then took another 10mins taping up the torn pages. This was all while having breakfast, getting changed and doing my hair, all done in front of the oven. I’ve gotta say, I was very, very stressed.

My anxiety couldn’t have risen up at a more perfect time. I am so thankful that Mitch stuck by me and helped me out when I was panicking. That goes for making the zine, too. With his support, I managed to get my side of things finished. Anxiety is something that affects my daily life and it gets very hard. I wouldn’t have been able to do this assignment without Mitch. I know this would have been prevented if we had started earlier. It took a long time for the ideas to come, and even longer to execute them. We got it done in the end though, and that’s all that matters.

I’m happy with the end result. I’m proud of my work. And I’m proud of Mitch. Whatever mark we get, it won’t change the fact that this is one of the most awesome projects I have ever done.

“Malevolent Creatures: The Making of a Monster Guide” Part 5 – Presentation

The day of the presentation was fantastic. I was fairly anxious but Mitch imbued me with a lot of confidence. I brought the table, tablecloth, fan and radio; Mitch brought the props and photos. My best friend Gee helped us set up (she was also our lift in), and helped me make some “demon’s blood” to spatter all over the place. She even did the hand print on the tablecloth.

I was really impressed with Mitch’s props, so much so that I ended up taking them home and using them in my Photography assignment. He really worked hard and I was very impressed with what he did. I have the eyeless teddy bear sitting in my room. The photos were really cool too – he used a combination of his own photos and pics from Google Images, and edited them all himself with Photoshop. He also did all the descriptions for them. We pinned them all up around the walls and put some on the table. We argued a little bit on the day (and during the presentation, how embarrassing) but all in all, I think we worked well together. I would definitely work with him in the future.

“Malevolent Creatures: The Making of a Monster Guide” Part 4 – Making an “Atmosfear”

Mitch and I love installations, so we knew we wanted to present our stuff as one. We wanted to create a scary atmosphere (or “atmosfear” as I like to call it) that looked as though monsters might be present. Our first idea was to create a miniature bedroom with evidence of monsters, but it proved too difficult for a small installation. We ended up coming up with a smaller scale setting – a table with a blood-stained table cloth, a radio with white noise playing, a fan underneath to look like a monster moving, and photos and evidence pinned to the walls. The book would sit on the table, able to bee viewed by passers by.

I wanted a flickering light to be included, but to make one would have needed a special circuit to be built, which was way too complicated. We scrapped that idea, and stuck with what we could easily use and transport. The end result looked fantastic. Again, I don’t have the photos, but Kim does, so if you get a chance, see if you can have a look at them. Mitch and I were very proud of our work.

“Malevolent Creatures: The Making of a Monster Guide” Part 3 – Making The Book

While Mitch worked on his evidence, I put all my effort into the book. With my research done, I began constructing a page-by-page guide on monsters in alphabetical order, with accompanying pictures from Google Images. I had originally wanted hand drawn pictures, but I can’t draw people very well; I also asked some friends but I didn’t want to rely on them and get my pictures late. So I spent a lot of time finding images that would not only fit my descriptions, but would also look as thought they were sketched in a book.

At the beginning of the book, I included a letter from ‘The Illawarra Monster League’, a term I coined (with Mitch’s approval!) for our monster-hunting organisation. I also made sure that the writing was in Courier New font, so it looked as though it had been done with a typewriter.

When I was done, my mum helped me print it so that fit together as an A5 size book. It took a while to get the pages in the right order, and we spent quite a whole printing, cutting, rearranging, photocopying and re-printing all the pages. It was frustrating but we got it in the end.

Once all the pages were finished, I went about tea-staining the pages. This was a challenge as I had about 18 pages to stain and had to soak them all at the same time. Unfortunately, I didn’t leave them in the oven long enough and the next day (which was presentation day no less) they were all still sopping wet, so I had to spend about three quarters of an hour putting alfoil (and the baking paper because I ran out of alfoil) in between every page and individually turning them so they all dried. It was pretty intense, but the end result was fantastic. Unfortunately I didn’t get any photos, but Kim took some on the day, so be sure to have a look at them.

“Malevolent Creatures: The Making of a Monster Guide” Part 2 – Assigning Roles and Researching

Because Mitch and I live far apart (I’m at Nowra, he’s at Jambaroo) and neither of us drive, we had to rely on communicating via Facebook and over the phone to be able to collab. So we thought it would be easiest to assign each other roles and then go ahead and do our work seperately. I focused on the book and the installation, while Mitch did the photos and the artefacts as evidence. We met up at the uni one day and showed each other our progress, and gave each other pointers. It allowed us to have the creative freedom that we both needed, but also included elements from both of us.

We both agreed on what monsters we wanted to study and started researching. We picked some stereotypical creatures like vampires, werewolves and zombies; some of the more sinister legends like harpies, succubi/incubi and the bogeyman; we also picked some popular monsters in the media, including Slenderman and the Weeping Angels from Doctor Who. We ended up with fifteen monsters. We studied each one thoroughly and compared different myths and legends to compile an archive, which we split into four sections – Description, Whereabouts, Signs of Presence and Killing Methods. This information would then go into the book, and would also help Mitch with making believable evidence.

“Malevolent Creatures: The Making of a Monster Guide” Part 1 – Pairing Up and Early Ideas

When Mitch and I paired up for our final assessment, we got a lot of weird looks and confused comments. The things is, Mitch and I are both very strong personalities. We’re both leaders, we’re both stubborn, we’re both loud and we both want the last word. But we both have the same interests, so we knew we would work well together and produce something amazing.

Straight away we knew what our theme was gonna be – monsters. We both love horror. Calling on our own personal inspirations – H.P. Lovecraft for him and Joshua Hoffine for me – we got to work brainstorming what we wanted to do. Mitch loved my Mapping assignment and I was interested in his Experiment. So we thought about combining the two and making something cool.

At first we thought about doing a zombie apocalypse pamphlet, as though a zombie virus had spread throughout the uni and this was a warning issued by the UOW admins. Then Mitch suggested we do something with lots of different monsters. He had originally wanted to do maps and stuff, as though it was a game, whereas I wanted more realism. We ended up deciding on a guide for monster hunters – something you would find in Supernatural or Charmed. Once we came up with the idea, we picked it up and ran with it.

Assessment 2B – Olivia Corletto (4653695)

EXPERIMENT: To observe how food dye travels through different beverages of varying consistencies.

RESEARCH: I did a trial experiment in class using different beverages to the ones used in this video. I also used diluted paint instead of dye, as I had no dye available. The results using paint were significantly different to the results in this video, as paint is obviously thicker and of a different consistency. I also noted the ingredients of each beverage to aid in my conclusions.

FINDINGS:

WATER: Dye travels down in ropes, forming pretty blooms. Blooms quickly dissipate and completely dye the water.

BEER: Dye travels down in ropes, then shoots back up from the bottom. I believe this is due to the bubbles in the beer.

COLA: I couldn’t see anything because the liquid was too dark. I should have used a lighter soda like lemonade, but I didn’t think of that. However, in my trial, the paint I used stayed at the top of the liquid and formed small ropes which stretched down about a centimetre. I think this has something to do with the sugar content and the carbonation of the drink.

ENERGY DRINK: Dye fell in thick clouds and quickly dissipated. In my trial, the paint shot down and rose up in a continuous cycle, similar to the beer. Again, I believe this to be because of the carbonation.

ORANGE JUICE: Dye stayed on top of the liquid and formed a layer about a centimetre thick. In my trial I used apple juice, which had a different effect, similar to the water. I believe the effect with the orange juice had to do with the thickness of the beverage, and possibly to do with the citrus.

MILK: Dye mostly stayed on top of the liquid, and streaked down a small amount.

Changes I would make:
I would probably use lighter-coloured liquids, and use a darker dye to start with (probably blue instead of red).

I really enjoyed this experiment and would be keen to elaborate on it 🙂

Zombies! Run! UOW’s been infected!!

You heard right folks: the university has been overrun with flesh-hungry zombies! Or maybe they’re just students. Anyway!

This is my final map, the one that ended up becoming my assignment. I know it’s crude-looking (I’m still not very good at digital art), but it took me ages and I actually like it. The concept behind it was fun and I really enjoyed making this map.

For this I used an app on my phone, called ‘Zombies, Run!’ The app is designed both for fitness and entertainment for those who love a good zombie apocalypse. The game is set in a post-apocalyptic world, where the player (affectionately named Runner 5) finds themself crash-landing in the township of Abel (based in the UK) and having to fight their way through a zombie-infested hospital to gather supplies. The story is very in-depth, using a combination of radio transmissions, notifications, warnings and your own personal music playlist. There are many different missions and side quests to choose from, each one following along from the last with the plot progressing new and exciting ways. You can choose from GPS or Accelerometer tracking, which comes into play when the player gets chased by zombies. You’ll have to really run if you want to escape them. Once the mission is completed, the player can expand their home base using the supplies they gathered on their run, ensuring the survival of their townspeople.

I decided to use this app to make a “real life” zombie apocalypse map. It shows my run and where particular events occurred, I traced a map of the campus from a picture on Google Images and edited it to look as though it’s been bloodied and battered. The legend shows a key of what each symbol on the map stands for.

My inspiration for this particular map, and the reason I chose it to be my main project, is because I have always had a fascination with the undead and whether or not it could be a real-life possibility. I wanted to express that interest in this map by making it as realistic as possible. I’ve decided to turn it into a sort of semi-interactive thing with creepy music and maybe some props or something. I want this map to make people almost think that it’s real, and think about the “what if” that has seemed to be a running theme for me during this whole project.

I hope this is enough for a pass, even though it’s not pretty. I worked hard on it! I hope it gets some good reviews 🙂

My Experimental Subject – Loki

This is Loki, the rabbit I used for my last mapping experiment.

As you can see, he’s a bit of a derp.

I love you Loki. ❤

Loki’s Journey – A Rabbit’s Map

This is the third mapping experiment I have done for my research. I decided it would be interesting to map a living creature and how it behaves. So, with the help of a good friend, I took my rabbit Loki out of his hutch, put on his harness, and allowed him to run around the garden.

As my friend ran around the garden with him, following where he wanted to go, I observed and mapped out where he went. The dots represent spots where he stopped, and I labelled some of the ones where he did something other than just standing. It was interesting to note that some areas he actually designated for particular activities, such as digging, sleeping and grooming. The activity took us about an hour. He had a particularly fun time playing in the garden at the top left corner of the map, so we stayed there for quite a while. Funny how rabbits spend more time playing than sleeping.

I’ve labelled particular landmarks in my garden to give you a rough idea of where everything is. This is a pretty simple map, as I needed to be quick to keep up with Loki’s antics. He’s rather energetic for a bunny!

My inspiration for this map was animal tracking. I have a thorough love and interest in animals, and tracking their patterns is one of the most intriguing things ever. Animal tracking, and the maps made from those tracks, is an important social/biological experiment in order to keep track of animal populations in the wild and where they move to. I wanted to try and recreate this in my map, thinking about whether wild rabbits share the same traits as my domesticated rabbit has.