Otautahi - Social Studies

 For the past few weeks, we have been researching our region, Canterbury/Otautahi. We learned the history and such significant and important places within Canterbury and was given the task to make Prezi(A slideshow platform) about it and answer a few questions we were given by the teacher and present it onto our blog.

Workshop 3: Costumes - English

 The Reaping Scene -District 12

• The children of the district have gathered together for the reaping to select the tributes

Costumes used:

• Boys - shirts - buttoned/collars, shorts, pants, white, colourless, faded, dull, overwashed
• Girls - dresses, shirt & skirt
• Best clothes, probably only worn once a year, worn-out, colourless, faded

Affect on Viewer:

• We feel sorry for the people, they seem powerless, they live in poor conditions

Directors Purpose:

• Shows us how bad their conditions are, wants us to see them as the weak, hopeless

Techniques adding effect:

• High Angle - With the faded colours makes them seem vulnerable, helpless

Capitol - Arriving in the city

• Katniss & Peeta have arrived by Train in the Capitol
• The clothes are extravagant!
• Over the top
• Colourful, vibrant
• Accessories - hats/earrings/make-up/wigs/shoes/bags/dogs
• New - looks like only worn once, Fashionable
• Access to good quality fabrics, patterns

Affect on Viewer:

• Makes them seem of higher ranking, privileged, relaxed, we don't like them - attitude

Directors Purpose:

• Shows them of imbalance of power & rich vs poor

Techniques adding effect:

• The setting is crowded, people are happy, buildings are modern, big, well kept, shows that Capitol is privileged

The Countdown

• The tributes have just arrived in the arena and are waiting to start games

Costumes used:

• Survival gear, brown, black, dark colours, jackets, pants, t-shirts, designed to look good, to be practical, lightweight

Affect on Viewer:

• The tributes look prepared, fit, athletic

Directors Purpose:

• They are going to die(become the "fallen"), the outfits are just for the audience(the Capitols), which makes it seem more pageant like

Techniques adding effect:

• Silence - warned, excited to see what happens, anxious, builds tensions, makes the audience focus

MRS GREN - Grizzly Bears | Science

 Yesterday we started on what is known as MRS GREN(Movement, Respiration, Sensitivity, Growth, Reproduction, Excretion, Nutrition). The class got to write down any living thing and put it in the box so it can be shuffled and handed out to everyone a random animal someone else has written. Afterwards, we would have to research or/and make a poster that includes MRS GREN's and some information under each of those sections. I used Canva to make my Infographic Poster, My finished poster is shown below:

Grizzly Bear

Workshop 2: Angles, Movements & Shots - English

Brainstorm

The Reaping Scene

• Katniss volunteers as tribute when her sister is chosen
• The children/parents of the district give her the 3 finger salute
• Peeta is chosen as the male tribute

Hope & Rebellion - 3 finger salute - it is a sign of respect for katniss

from the people of her district

- Katniss is a symbol of hope for a district victor

- Katniss is a symbol of rebellion because she steps in 

for her sister (a weaker character) when she is reaped

Rich vs Poor

• Effie Trinket(Character) - extreme, make-up, wig, hat, overly colourful, and flashy outfit, proper accent

• Technology - Use of blood readers/scanners, projectors

Poverty-

District 12 - Children's outfits for reaping are the best clothes,

dresses, shirts-collared, Boys - Shafts to pants, colours

of clothes are very faded from washes & reusing.

- The village is falling down around them. 

Camera Angles/Shots Included:

-Close-ups- faces- Primrose when is reaped- terror, fear

- Effie - Joyful, confident, excited - close of lips when reading names

- Katniss- Panic when Prim is reaped, shock when she stands with Effie

- Peeta - fear, panic, shock

-Shallow Focus- the people in the background are in shallow focus(blurred) when Prim & Katniss

hug. This forces the viewer to watch the characters in focus.

Viewer feels - sorry for the tributes - Primrose - it was her first time

- Katniss - she volunteered - a selfless act

- Anger towards the Capitol for the reaping

- We consider Effie is annoying, happy, stuck-up, clueless

Director Purpose - need to be invested in their journey/suffering

- need to be angry at Capitol so that we judge them &

their decisions later

- Effie is depicted as a symbol of people in the District,

they are clueless-don't see the suffering

Music -Starts as we move to picking the bays

Minor key, tempo-slower, dynamic

Starts quiet then gets louder to build intensity - Mood - tension, morose

Lighting- Bright, grey, natural light, cold

Mood - sad, depressed

Colour - Dull, cold, palette - grey, white, blue, faded, washed out

Atmosphere - despair, sorry for the people, poverty, run-down

Facial Expressions are dull, bland & sad matching the lighting & colour

Workshop 1:Themes & Ideas - English

Rich vs Poor - some people have more - Capitol
 - money                - Privileges / respect
 - food -variety      - resources
 - proper housing   - technology
 - medicines           - clothing / make-up
 - transport             - childhoods

Hope & Rebellion - 

hope is the belief that something will get better
- Rebellion - to fight against something, protest, surprise, usually against government
Symbols of Hope - Katniss, Melodic Motive, Mockingjay, 3 finger salute

Struggle for Power - 

Currently, the Capitol has power - President Snow
- Katniss becomes a rival for power - people look up to her for guidance, becomes a threat because Snow sees her as one.
'Hope, it is the only thing stronger than fear. A little hope is effective, a lot of hope is dangerous!
Fear - the people are afraid of rebelling because the last time they tried they failed and they were punished with the Hunger Games.
Little hope - becoming a victor
Dangerous hope - that the districts deserve to be treated better.

Power of Propaganda - 
information especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote a political cause or view.
Messages being told - It's not worth rebelling - The Capitol is the strongest.

Peace keeper -

Propaganda - people to keep peace & help you

Reality - soldiers, violent, keep people in line.

Victor - 

Propaganda - glorious, someone who wins, wealthy, respected

Reality - Violent, to win 

Fallen -

Propaganda - people who die in the games, takes away from the reality of the situation

Reality - teenagers who have been killed/murdered, violent

Tribute -

Propaganda -brave young people, an honour

Reality - sacrifice, punishment to the 'districts'

Rich vs Poor - people in the Capitol vs people in the Districts

                      - Compare opening shoot in District 12 vs Peta looking out the window of the Capitol

- District 12 - Poor - houses are run down, wooden

                               - food - very little, see old man picking at bone*

                               - clothing - 1 pair of good clothing, worn out, old, colours are faded, grey/black, easier

                                                to not show coal dust

Capitol - houses -large, concrete, metals, accents of gold/silver

             - food -variety of choices, don't have the same things, more from enough- excess

             - clothing -fancy, suits, extravagant, fashion, extreme, excess

Hope & Rebellion - Convo President Snow & Senica Craine

                              - Convo between Hamich & Senica

                              - Gives them something to root for, young love!

Struggle for Power - Katniss & Peta eat the berries.

                               - Death of Rue = riot in District 11

Power of Propaganda - Subtle 

                                   - Hunger Games film strip

Fossils & Vestigial Structures - Science

Today this post is going more in-depth about Evolution and the evidence shown behind it, this is another given task which we had to work on independently. We were given a video explaining how Evolution was shown through fossils & body structures and how that made many hypotheses or/and theories about all the life forms that live within our planet which led to many discoveries we have so far uncovered. Below shows the provided video we had to learn from a little to answer a few questions which will be listed below. If you have not looked at my previous post, Natural Selection I'd recommend having a look at that first as there is a video included in that post that explains the myths and misconceptions about evolutions.

Evidence for Evolution

Reflection: The theory of evolution states that individuals within a species should provide of variation and those individuals which characteristics best suited to their environment are more likely to survive & reproduce.

What is a transitional fossil?

It is the fossilized remains of a lifeform that showing features from 2 distinct groups, it is a term called 'Misisng Link'. Transitional forms, organisms or fossils show the intermediate or midway states between an ancestral form and that of its descendant(offspring) can be referred to as a transitional fossils. It can indicate the types of animals and plants that existed in the past which is done by comparing fossilized body structures and fossilized tracks of movement, later on which they can peice together and tell how animals & plants have changed, developed and evolved overtime. 

By comparing fossils from different species, we can look for similarities in structure to try and work out which species are related to others. This visualizes how some species have evolved from others & gives us an understanding of how the evolutionary process works for example how many theories and evidence suggest we humans have evolved from apes.

Name 3 interesting discoveries we have made from fossil records?

• Around ten thousand(10,000) years ago, fossils of single celled organisms such as cyanobacteria from Australia have been found in rocks that are more than 3.5 billion years old.
• In 1998, scientist found a 317 million year old fossilized fish with a hand-like fin which suggested that it went through an evolution from being a sea dwelling creature to a land creature.
• Our lost common ancestor lived about 5-7 million years ago, during those times over 20 hominid species have been discovered.

What is a Vestigial Structure?

A vestigial structure or vestigial organ refers to an organ or a part of the body feature in a species which has lost the functional role or/and that has no longer have a purpose of use due to going through a evolutionary process, it is where the vestigial structure/organ had played a functional role which performed some important role at a point in the past, where at a time when it was useful for our ancestors for them to survive and adapt. Example: There are evidence and theories gathered that we humans once had a tail, our coccyx or tailbone were once our tails. The tail slowly shrunked, but the tailbones helped our ancestors with balance and mobility until we learned how to walk upright. Afterwards along the year the tailbone or coccyx served no purpose in human anymore and lost the functional role.