Creativity I have witnessed and have found extremely fascinating!

(24-28/12/08)

During the Christmas break there were a few things that I watched and experience that really caught my eye.
Firstly was the new short film by the fantastic writers-Nick Park and Bob Baker-Wallace and Gromit called 'A Matter of Loaf and Death', I had seen it advertised on the t.v and radio times before hand and it was one of my 'must see' over the Christmas break, along with 'The snowman'. I couldn't wait to see 'A Matter of Loaf and Death' as I have loved all the other ones that have been made!! Anyone I saw I told them to watch it 8.30pm on BBC1 on Christmas day! This was one of films rated with having the highest viewers, with 14 million people sitting to watch it on Christmas day, well that doesn't surprise me it is amazing!!! I mean the title of the film just says it all before you have even seen it! If you haven't seen it-watch it, it will set you off laughing!

It is not only the story lines and the jokes/puns that are present within the film but the actual making of the characters and scenery using plasticine which really fascinates me. The time and effort that goes into making each character and speak-all the facial expressions and postures are just spot on and really amaze me!! Also the intricate detail that makes you laugh such as the pictures hanging up on the wall in the background-Wallace when he was younger with lots of brown hair and a moustache with Gromit as a puppy, a picture of a slice of cheese, 'Furry' stated on the label of a 'fairy liquid bottle'!

Another thing that really inspired me was when I went to Llandudno my family and I went to see 'Dick Whittingham at 'Venue Cymru' theatre. The show was fantastic and really interesting. The main thing during this show that caught my eye was the stage design-which included backdrops that had been carefully painted and included intricate detail, e.g the street scene-the brick work, cardboard boxes and bins painted within the foreground. The There were various sections that made up the back drops, each set at different intervals on the stage to create the illusion of depth. I found it really interesting how the stage has to be planned out for each scene.

One scene which I found particularly fascinating which was an under the water scene-the stage was in darkness and there were big pieces of seaweed and coral upon the stage that were painted using luminous paint so that they glowed in the dark. Then there were people dressed in black holding a fish that was also covered in the same paint so if the person ran it looked like the fish was swimming, a person held an umbrella with a fish on the end so as it moved it looked like the fish was going in circles. Also one person must of had a fish on one side of there outfit and a fish skeleton on the other as when a shark came near by it looked like the fish had been eaten. It was really really clever.

The costumes were really amazing!! The creativity of the numerous costumes, especially the hats which the dame (which was a man dressed as the woman) wore. The one in particular that I liked was the costume that the dame wore just after the shipwreck which was to resemble the remains of the netting (wire) of the underskirt of the previous dress, attached were fish and seaweed as well as an anchor. Then the hat was a few fish crowed together, they were clown fish-like 'Finding Nemo'!