Creative Arts

My name's Janet and I'm a professional photographer.

I love taking pictures of people and portraiture.

There's something fascinating about

other people's faces and the expressions they can make.

Today I'm going to go outside

and take a series of photographs of my model, Amy.

This is the camera that I'll be using today.

It's a very simple-to-use digital camera. You just point and click.

I have to think about what I want to achieve in the photograph and

how I'm going to get that image. You don't need a fancy camera.

All you need is a bit of creativity and a bit of imagination.

I'll photograph Amy in lots of different ways

and then come back to the studio to pick my favourite images.

# Strike the pose... #

There's two really simple ways

that you can change how your photograph looks.

Basically, it's by turning your camera around.

So if you take a photograph this way round,

that's actually called landscape, and you get details in

either side of your pictures.

And then if you turn your camera 90 degrees, you'll get

a portrait format,

and you get more details

on the top and bottom of your picture.

Oh, that's fab, that's great, thank you.

Another way of changing how your photograph looks

is changing the perspective.

"Perspective" is a posh word for angle of view.

So instead of just standing here, head height,

taking a photograph of your friend,

be a little bit more creative. Go down below.

Look up.

Then you can go high and look down.

And you don't even need to see what you're photographing

because you can come down and have a look in the back of your camera.

There's a big staircase over here,

so I'm going to the top to take some photographs looking down,

and it'll give us a completely different photograph.

The good thing up here is, I can get a really wide shot of Amy

looking quite lost down there. Or you can zoom in and get a tight shot.

You're just looking from a high angle.

So it looks quite different.

Amy, we're going to get you to run down here.

As long as we get lots of movement and energy in there, that'd be great.

Are you ready? Right, go!

Sometimes you want the photo to be still and posed and steady,

and other times you want movement in there,

and if you can get somebody running

or if you get a fast car going past you,

all you need to do is just track your camera and follow the action.

Get a bit of movement in there,

a bit of blur that just suggests a bit of action.

Look around you, see what you can be creative with,

just to make a different photograph. I've been using the holes

in this stairway to add something to the photo, and I've been focussing on

the front mesh here,

and also focussing through and looking at Amy as well.

I think we've got enough now, so I'm going to go back to the studio

and get these printed off and see what they look like.

Wow, these look really cool.

The portrait and landscape pictures.

So we can see here that we've got

more of the side of the photograph in this one next to Amy.

And here we've got more of the sky

and more of the land. We've actually got more of Amy's body in,

and I think this picture works better.

This is the picture of Amy running.

What we've got is quite a blurry image.

You can see all the hair flying, and you've got all that movement there.

Really pleased with that.

What we've got here is

the photo that I took from the ground.

You can't see much of the environment,

but you can see the background.

And then we went up the top, and you can see that she's

stood under these great big railway arches,

and she actually looks very small

and a little bit isolated down there on her own.

These are the photographs that we took using the environment.

If you remember, on that staircase we had those little holes that I was

poking my camera through. So you can see here that Amy's quite

blurred, but the holes and the metal mesh are in focus.

On this one, however, you can see that it's Amy that's in focus.

And I think this one works better just using the mesh as a background

rather than as the focus.

We can see Amy there quite clearly.

It's really important to realise there's no rights and wrongs

when you come to take a photograph.

Just experiment and have fun,

and just take photographs of what you like.

HE BEATBOXES

Let me tell you how beatboxers come to be

Start with live drum kits and drum machines

Beatboxing's a part of hip hop, started in New York

Now we're so cool, making music with our vocals

Plus, it's local, here in the UK

We'll show you how to make music in a new way.

-Bass drum.

-Ppp ppp.

-Hi-hat.

-Tss tss.

-Snare.

-Kkk kkk.

-My rap.

-SHE BEATBOXES

HE BEATBOXES

HE BEATBOXES

Now I'll teach you the bass-drum sound

That's the big drum, the one that's round

It has a deep sound, not one that's weak

So whatever I say, follow and repeat.

-Bass drum.

-Bass drum.

-Bass.

-Bass.

-B.

-B.

-Buh.

-Buh.

-Ppp.

-Ppp.

-Ppp.

-Ppp.

-Ppp.

-Ppp.

-Ppp.

-Ppp.

Now it's your turn to learn.

Bass drum.

Bass.

B.

Buh.

Ppp.

Ppp.

Ppp.

Ppp.

Now we'll teach you the hi-hat cymbal

We'll start simple

Later, to keep up, you'll have to be nimble

The hi-hat keeps the time of the beat

So whatever I say, follow and repeat.

-Hi-hat.

-Hi-hat.

-Hat.

-Hat.

-T.

-T.

-Tuh.

-Tuh.

-Tss.

-Tss.

-Tss.

-Tss.

-Tss.

-Tss.

-Tss.

-Tss.

Now it's your turn to learn.

Hi-hat.

Hat.

T.

Tuh.

Tss.

Tss.

Tss.

Tss.

The snare drum makes a loud crack

Later, we'll put it together with the bass and hi-hat

Then, the beat will be complete

But first, you've got to follow and repeat.

-Crack.

-Crack.

-K.

-K.

-Kuh.

-Kuh.

-Kkk.

-Kkk.

-Kkk.

-Kkk.

-Kkk.

-Kkk.

-Kkk.

-Kkk.

Now it's your turn to learn.

Crack.

K.

Kuh.

Kkk.

Kkk.

Kkk.

Kkk.

Kkk.

Now get into groups, one, two and three

One does the bass, ppp, ppp, like me

Two does the hi-hat, tss, just like that

Three does the snare, kkk, that goes "crack"

Now put the sounds together like a DJ mixer

Now make the sound when you see the picture.

Ppp, ppp, ppp, ppp.

Tss, tss, tss, tss.

Kkk, kkk, kkk, kkk.

# Now that we've taught you the drums

# You can sing melodies when you hum The melody makes the beat you and me

# When everybody says Follow and repeat

-# Hum

-Hum

-# Hum

-Hum

-# Mmm

-Mmm

-# Mmm

-Mmm

# Now it's your turn to learn

# Hum, mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm

# Mmm

# Mmm

# Mmm

# Mmm

# Mmm

# Mmm, mmm

# Mmm

# Mmm

# Mmm

# Mmm #

Welcome to the Art Challenge. We've asked three artists -

a caricaturist, a sculptor and an abstract artist

to make a self-portrait.

I'm Chris Murphy and I'm a caricaturist.

The caricaturist's main aim is really to exaggerate the features.

My nose tends to turn up so I might exaggerate that a little more

to bring out the character of it.

The way to prepare for this piece of art

is to get a load of photos together,

sift through them and see which one I like the best.

Sometimes photos are very flat, whereas when I look in the mirror

I can turn this way and that and see the shape of the nose a bit better

or the shape of the ear.

The plan I have for the caricature is to tell a story.

It's going to look like me and show the things I do -

my hobbies and my interests.

I'm Rosie Wates and I'm an abstract artist.

The three main preparations I always would do are

one would be background research - looking at things.

In this case photographs of me as a baby,

of my parents when they were babies.

Number two would be sketching out the framework of the painting.

I don't make all the decisions about a painting before I'm doing it

because that is not for me what painting is about.

The third thing would be lots of experimentation

with wonderful, fantastic paint and colour.

The way I want the painting to reflect me

is nothing to do with the way I look.

What I will be focussing on is my journey through life

and it's this moment in time where I am in this journey.

I'm Robert Bradford and I make sculptures out of toys.

I use toys to make sculptures

because they come in all shapes and sizes, colours and types

and I like the fact that each bit of the sculpture

has a character.

My self portrait is going to be a businessman.

In the recent past I've begun to be aware

of how much business there is involved in the art world.

The materials I use for the sculptures are really quite simple.

They are cut-out plywood frames and then toys are screwed

and sometimes glued onto them and onto each other.

The mask forms the basic structure of the face which is the bones

and the toys will be added to form the skin and muscle.

I plan to make myself younger than I really am

which you could say is kind to myself,

but on the other hand it could end up slightly bonkers

which may not be so flattering.

Three weeks later and all our artists have come together in our studio.

Rosie and Robert have already started to make their self-portraits

and Chris is starting from scratch.

I start with the eyes when I start a portrait.

I imagine a horizontal line across the eyes, a vertical line down,

and imagine that on my page it's like a framework

to help me put things in the right place.

I picked these colours, blue and gold,

because my favourite things in the world are the sea and the sun,

so I wanted that reflected in my self portrait

because that's what makes me happy.

My technique for attaching the toys is very simple.

I have two basic methods. One is with a screwdriver and screws

and the other is with a glue gun.

I'm using this raised wallpaper

as a very simple way of printing on the painting.

I find it a really exciting way of building up a very rich surface.

My original plan for the sculpture was to make myself as a businessman.

I started using a skeleton mask to provide the underneath structure,

but I grew fond of it as it went on so I kept a lot of it

and the portrait is now me the artist as a bit of an old devil.

Now I've done my basic drawing outline, I'm going to colour in

using some soft pastels and a plain ordinary yellow duster.

I literally rub the pastel in to create my tone and shading.

The shapes and the forms I have used is basically the circle.

There is a reflection of the tiniest forms in the universe, the atom,

up to the hugest forms, the planets and the suns

and I'm putting myself somewhere on that scale.

Altogether it has taken me about four hours to finish this piece.

Apart from drawing and painting, I like to play the piano.

It is one of my first loves.

So there is me playing the piano

whilst trying to draw at the same time

and I've got my dog Max in there.

He's got his lead telling me it's time to go for a walk

and there's books in the background that I like to read.

It has taken me about four days to produce this painting.

The way it reflects me is it's my place in the universe

and in time because it's to do with my family histories

going back in time, my children going forward in time,

and I'm this little point somewhere in that huge arc of time.

The sculpture has taken me about 50 hours I think.

I notice a couple of things. One is he's got more hair than me

which makes him younger than me and he's got a skeleton

which makes him rather older than me as well,

so it's not actually me - it's me in the past and me in the future.

Do you, think he looks like me?

-It's got your eyes!

-Yeah!

I think it captures your... I don't know - it's a cheeky chap, I think.

Are these your relatives?

Yes, they are all my family from Russia

and the one of me in the middle is when I went back

to where they had come from

-and had somebody take a photo of me stood there.

-It is a family tree.

It is, very much.

This does look like you as well, doesn't it?

-I've not been too cruel.

-No.

-Or too flattering.

That's a great dog as well.

-That's my dog Max.

-What kind is he?

-A black lab.

You mean you can't tell?!

Hello, my name is Mark Thomas. I'm a musician and composer.

I write music for film and television and this is my studio.

Come inside and I'll take you behind the scenes

and show you how it's done.

One series that I create the music for is Shaun The Sheep on CBBC.

There is no talking in Shaun The Sheep.

It is all music and sound effects.

Sometimes I use a big orchestra, but thanks to modern technology

I can also use this wonderful computer programme.

In the computer,

there are lots of different instrument sounds - banjo.

Double bass.

Tam-tam, which is a big gong used in the orchestra.

GONG!

French horn.

I play all the different instruments,

layer them all together and make the complete finished piece of music.

Like this.

# It's Shaun the Sheep

# It's Shaun the Sheep

# He even mucks about With those who cannot bleat... #

Sometimes, when you're watching TV, you don't even notice the music

and how it adds to the scene.

But music plays a really big part in telling a story.

And the choice of instruments, tempo, pitch and style

can completely change the mood.

What I want to do is watch a couple of scenes from Shaun The Sheep

and show you how it looks with different music playing

or even with no music at all.

Depending on the instruments, the style and tempo of the music,

you can give the same scene different meanings.

Just watch this.

UPBEAT JAZZY MUSIC

What did the music in that scene make you think of?

Did it make you think that Bitzer was off on an adventure?

Probably would have because the music is lively, the instrumentation

and the style of the music imply some kind of adventure.

But I'd like to show you that same scene with different music

and see how this makes you feel.

SAD PIANO MUSIC

Bleat!

Did it make you feel sad?

I hope so. Because it's meant to be a sad scene.

Bitzer the dog is leaving home.

He's sad. Shaun the Sheep and all the rest of the sheep are sad,

because he's leaving and I decided to depict the sadness with a solo piano,

just a simple solo piano, just like this.

SAD PIANO MUSIC

Very often, to depict a sad scene, simplicity is the best way.

Now I want to show you another scene from an episode called Bagpipe Buddy.

And I'll play you the clip without any music,

see if you can tell what's going on in the scene.

Did you understand what the scene was about?

It's hard to tell without any music, isn't it?

Actually, in this scene,

the animals feel sorry for the bagpipes

and think he's an injured bird.

They rush him into surgery for an operation.

With that knowledge, what music do you think this scene needs?

I'll play it now with a piece of music and see if this piece

tells the story any better.

UPLIFTING ITALIAN-STYLE MUSIC

That music was slow, happy, a little dreamy.

Didn't quite help the mood of the scene.

The scene is a medical operation, there's danger, urgency,

and this piece of music is what I actually wrote for this scene.

UPBEAT DRAMATIC MUSIC

Now that's more like it.

The tempo or speed of the music is far better suited to the scene.

It has urgency, pace and it drives the scene along.

So, how do we get that effect?

Well, it's all about instrumentation and how we use the instruments.

First of all, I've used a low piano for drama and urgency.

Then for more drama, I add the high violins,

which is a stringed instrument.

To keep us down on the farm,

we use Shaun's instrument, which is the banjo.

Some rhythm, that gives us a feel of time passing by quickly,

which is a bit like a clock ticking.

RAPID BEAT

A heartbeat.

Some drumming.

And when you put it all together, it sounds like this.

I hope that I've shown you how important music is

to film and television.

When you next compose, remember that the instruments, the speed

and the style of music will dictate the emotions that you want to portray

when you write that piece of music.

So from me, it's bye for now,

because I've got a date with Shaun The Sheep.

It's been great having you with me.

Bye.

BANJO MUSIC PLAYS

SOFT JAZZ MUSIC

SNORING

WHISTLE!

WHISTLE!

TRUMPETS BLARE

INHARMONIOUS BLARING

WHISTLE!

WHISTLE SLIDES

INHARMONIOUS BLARING

LONE SAXOPHONE

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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