- october 10th 2018
The group was formed, consisting of three creative and chaotic students:
Meera Patel, an animation veteran and the girl with the boldest lip colour, plus a sense of style, that will leave you shaken. She is also a vivid lover of both pineapples and Alfonso Davies.
Denise Nguyen, another animation veteran whose hair never stays one colour. She is described as a breath of fresh air and although she has a mouth of a sailor, she can be one of the most sweetest and genuine souls you'll ever meet.
Last but not least, Breianne Casilang, an animation newbie who tries her best and is also the one responsible for these logs.
Together, we planned out rough ideas for our project, which includes possible props, our plot, actors/actresses, sets and locations, possible ending, 'cute couple stuff' and references.
- october 11th 2018
As our weapon for recording, we have decided to use Denise's iPhone X! We have also rough-drafted some storyboard scenes, added more smaller and refined details to the story line, and began to design the dolls we are using as props.
- october 12th 2018
Since we decided on using dolls in our pixilation video, we made up various concepts for their designs. The most difficult part was figuring out a pattern for Gareth's hair since his hair is crucial to making the doll look a lot like him. We also chose to stick to one permanent facial expression since having to change the expression will be too difficult and repetitive and also lead to a lot of inconsistencies. Our designs were loosely referenced off the Love Live! puppets featured in an April Fools episode, except the mouths of ours won't move since there is no dialogue. At the end of session, we quickly decided on our official group name: Brenira Bread Productions! Brenira being a mix between all of our names and Bread coming from how Brenira is close to sounding like Panera from Panera Bread. Although our name gives off an impression that we produce and sell bread, we certainly do not do that, instead we're just a bunch of teenagers who happen to be friends and love to meme.
- october 13th 2018
Now that designs were made, Breianne and Denise went off to Michaels to buy supplies needed for the construction of the puppets. We bought Poly-fill, various sizes and colours of felt, sheets of foam, sewing needles and thread, as well as velcro. We first started off with the head, using a Youtube Tutorial as a guide for the head shape. In the end of the work day, we had a bald, but finished Gareth head done.
- october 14th 2018
We returned to Michaels the next day when we noticed that we needed more supplies than we first anticipated. After getting the last of what we needed, we worked of completing the second head and on the patterns for the hair pieces and clothing for both puppets.
- october 15th-22nd 2018
Since these days were making the dolls and no more shopping, it'll be easier to read if it's all in one paragraph. In order, Breianne finished making Gareth's hair, which was very difficult since Gareth himself had basically a different haircut every day. Meanwhile, Denise was working on the dress (well, skirt and shirt) for Breianne's puppet. After finishing the clothes for both characters, they were stitched onto the head to create the body. Up next was doing the eyes and facial expressions and the limbs. We made sure that both expressions were alike, except for the eyes. Doing the arms was tough since the hands had small thumbs, which was hard to sew. Unlike the Breianne doll, Gareth's had pants, which was really just fabric wrapped around each leg to create the illusion of pants. Last but not least, Breianne created the shoes for both puppets, which were as difficult as Gareth's hair. It was done to protest against Denise's idea of having nubs as feet. In the end, the shoes came out decently and the puppets were finally done. We celebrated the completion of the new experience, beaming with pride of how nicely they turned out for something we've never done before. Though little did we know, it was only the beginning and there was still a long way to go before we reach the end.
- october 23rd- november 17th 2018
These days were dedicated to filming, starting off with the scenes with the dolls. In the beginning, we worked with Gareth's doll more often than the other since he had more scenes. Doing the School Store scene was the first part of our filming journey.
We had two strategies while working with the puppets. When working with multiple props in the scene, such as the school store scene, we would have two people handling the props. In this case, Meera would control the puppet while Breianne moves the speed of the store door. The third person acted as the cameraman, which was usually Denise. When there is only the puppet being used as a moving prop in a scene, only one person is in charge of the movements. The other two work behind the camera, taking the pictures and directing when and how to move the puppet.
The hardest scene to film with the puppets was the scene of Gareth 'walking'. Essentially, we had a tripod standing on a trolley with Gareth's puppet resting on the top. After each shot, we would move it forward at a gradual pace so the consistency of the height would stay the same. However, getting the speed down was a variable we didn't think much of and it ended up being a huge hassle. Some parts during the scene would be fast than the other parts so we had many different takes. This was the most time-consuming scene.
Most of Gareth's scenes were done during the hour-long block. The later scenes were done after school, which were the scenes in the Art room and the outside scenes. Doing the scenes in the Art room was much easier than the other scenes prior. The progression of our skill shows in each different scene since most shots were on different days. Although filming the human sets was a lot easier than the puppet sets, we had to do many takes of the part where Breianne changed into a human since she struggled horribly with turning without looking dead inside and awkward. The outside shots were all done in the last two days of filming. If you think we don't have a lot of scenes filmed because of our finished project, think again. We have loads of archived footage because either they didn't fit in or they didn't meet our standards. Overall, filming was a learning experience. With all the pain and suffering we went through to finish this project, we're glad that it is over.