Zombies 5: Location spotting

Report by Mark B

XL3 are working on a comic strip about zombies. We have to take the pictures ourselves so we needed to find a good area to take the pictures so it looks realistic.

We split into groups and decided which classrooms we had to look in. Our group took the middle floor. We went into the dining hall because the first scene is sitting around the table eating breakfast and we thought we could have the kitchen in the background.

We took lots of different pictures to see what the best camera angle was – high, low, medium. We tried out different positions for the table and the people around it. We wanted to have the zombie in the background but not too obvious that that’s why we were using that angle.

We wanted somewhere to have an effect of the walls closing in on the zombie so we used the corridor opposite the Library. We also took pictures on the landing of the first staircase, but we thought they looked staged.

Report by Liam

Our team looked around in Science for a room that looked like a place where you could make a potion. We thought the room next to Mr Lynch’s class might work because it looked like a Science class. There was a board at the back which didn’t make it look so good.

We wanted to go outside to the burger van and we were discussing a wee route for the humans to take after the zombies have all died. WE thought straight up the hill was better than going through the bus bay.

Zombies 4: Special Effects

Report by Mark B

Kirsty McCabe came in to show the XL3 class how to make burns with special effects makeup. We used liquid latex to make a sticky surface on the back of our hands. Then we used razor thin tissue paper and stuck it to the surface. We built it up gradually to make it look like raised skin and dried it with a hair dryer.

We had to put different tones of makeup on so it would blend into the skin and gradually added colour, starting with blacks. The black makes the deepest parts stand out on the burn. Then around it we added blues, greens and yellows to make bruising, and then added reds on top to make it look swollen and sore, as if it had just happened. Finally, we added fake blood, which was a sticky syrup. You could even eat it!

Everybody had a shot of making their own burns and cuts. When we went into the next period, everybody was commenting on our burns because they didn’t know what happened. The teachers were really worried about us, and asked us to warn them next time!

The next job is to work out the scenes for our zombie graphic novel on Comic Life.

Reading Trail 2012

The Reading Trail rolls back into action this term, with five 1st year classes battling for the title of Reading Trail Champions 2012.

Miss McGhee’s class were triumphant last year, but will she hang on to her title with such tough competition from the other four classes.

The Reading Trail is designed to encourage pupils to put more effort into their reading, by reading for five minutes each night, or looking around for something different to read, and thinking a bit more about what they’ve been reading.

Each book completed is reviewed with a mindmap, and then a foot is added to the Trail Wall, listing the book’s author and title, with marks out of 10. Each class has their own trail, complete with team name (classes are still deciding on their team names) which is a simple way of letting each class see how many books are being read overall, but…

the winners are decided by the effort they put in and the best example of their effort is by marking the mindmaps, not the number of books read.

This year’s competition is going to be fierce!

Zombies 3: Comic Life

Report by Mark B.

XL3 came into the Library to get a preview of Comic Life on the iMacs. This is the software that we’re going to be using to make the final zombie comic strip.

First we picked the templates we wanted to use and dragged them into the screen. We used the picture capture to take our own photographs, and pressed freeze to save the picture we wanted. Then we pulled the picture onto the area of the template that we wanted it in.

Then we added speech bubbles and made up our own stories.

Almond inspirations

At the end of September, Ms McGhee’s 1st year class visited the BBC to take part in an audience with award winning author, David Almond.

In his talk, Mr Almond demonstrated the graffiti books he uses for inspiration, and afterwards, we challenged the class to create a graffiti board for themselves, with the winner receiving a signed David Almond book.

The final results were so outstanding that judges, class teacher, Ms McGhee, Principal Teacher of English, Mrs Millar, and LRC Manager, Mrs Macfadyen, not only agreed on a winner, Andrea Groome, but also nominated four runners up: John Galloway, Adam Boyle, Shelby Slavin and Ciara McAleavy. Congratulations to all five.

Zombies 2: the storyboards

Storyboards for XL3 zombie graphic novel. Pupils were asked to use stickmen and simple outlines.

Zombies!

The XL3 group have started work on an investigation to use Comic Life software and photography to create their own graphic novel. The first task was to brainstorm ideas for their story, which was quickly agreed to be about zombies.

The next stage is to agree on the storyline, so everyone has been asked to bring in their ideas.

The class will have the benefit of a professional special effects make-up artist showing them how to make scars and disgusting injuries, (which should be fun), but they also tried using the camera to melt faces and create different effects.

Welcome back

The new term started today and it’s going to be a really busy term too, especially in the LRC.

This is Reading Trail term for all 1st year English classes, which means all out war between the English teachers. We’re expecting banners and class self-promotion, and all sorts of shenanigans. Meanwhile, 2nd year classes will be taking turns finding out about the mysteries of Scotland (there’s more than just Nessie, you know) and trying to find out the truth behind them.

Social Subjects will be analysing the problems of Brazil, reporting the assassination of JFK, and investigating Extreme Weather. The Travel and Tourism class should also be making an appearance to find out about travel in times gone by.

The IDL classes are beginning a new topic on places to visit and things to do in Lanarkshire, and creating a brochure in both French and English to promote our local area.

The XL3 class are busy creating storyboards for their amazing graphic novel. A SFX make-up artist is coming in to lend a hand, so we can’t wait to see what they come up with.

It’ll also be a busy term for Careers, with S2 Tutor Groups working through options materials.

And that’s just the stuff we already know about!

The Creative Writing Group and Photography Groups will continue to work away, and we also have plans for a couple of authors to come in to school to talk to different classes about their work.

The Library Assistants are still working on their list of the books everyone should read before they leave school, which will hopefully start to take shape at the back of the LRC.

Not forgetting the press releases, the blogs and the website to keep up to date.

And at some point we might get around to issuing a few books

Shoo Rayner Drawing School

Here is another YouTube link (which won’t show up in school, folks), but is definitely worth a look. Welcome to the Shoo Rayner Drawing School Channel.

There’s a huge collection of different drawing videos, including some with other illustrators, plus a competition for January and even some career advice for future artists.

Enjoy!

Parseltongue

A wee bit of fun for all Potter maniacs, just in case you’re getting bored: a Parseltongue translator.

Check it out here.