GISHWHES is over for another year - and what a doozy it has been! I was really hesitant about doing it again - mainly because this year I had no one to do it with so I was unsure how many tasks I could do by myself. But luckily, a lovely girl - who I can now call friend - lived near me in our group so she and I managed to accomplish a LOT of tasks together!
This post has been a long time coming!
Mad props to anyone who reads every word!
Here's a snippet of my week, as it were.
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TEXT/PHOTO HEAVY. BEWARE!
SUNDAY:
The hunt started at 4am on Sunday morning. We were meant to have a group Skype session but many of the Aussies couldn't be bothered getting out of bed at such a crazy hour -- as did I. I slept and slept and slept. So Sunday was a bit of a write off with me. I had plans that day and didn't have time to hustle to try and do anything. I only wish I had managed my time better as I could have probably managed some tasks this day. Boo. The hunt started on a weekday last year and was so much better! But alas, it is what it is.
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MONDAY:
I was supposed to work Monday. I had gotten dressed and ready to leave but work got cancelled so I thought that I best do something and the only one that I figured I could do was the Elopus mosiac.
I picked all the leaves and vines from my garden too. So it took a lot of hard work! After we had the base together, we went to the beach and collected some grass, shells, twigs, seaweed and flowers. So the background is made of big and little green leaves, border is made from twigs, the Elopus is made from brown leaves with seaweed and shell suckers, flower eyes, grass water (spraying out of the trunk) and a cherry tomato tongue.
This post has been a long time coming!
Mad props to anyone who reads every word!
Here's a snippet of my week, as it were.
x
TEXT/PHOTO HEAVY. BEWARE!
SUNDAY:
The hunt started at 4am on Sunday morning. We were meant to have a group Skype session but many of the Aussies couldn't be bothered getting out of bed at such a crazy hour -- as did I. I slept and slept and slept. So Sunday was a bit of a write off with me. I had plans that day and didn't have time to hustle to try and do anything. I only wish I had managed my time better as I could have probably managed some tasks this day. Boo. The hunt started on a weekday last year and was so much better! But alas, it is what it is.
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MONDAY:
I was supposed to work Monday. I had gotten dressed and ready to leave but work got cancelled so I thought that I best do something and the only one that I figured I could do was the Elopus mosiac.
- #88 IMAGE. Make a mosaic Elopus, 2 meters in diameter, made entirely of natural objects (i.e. no plastic, human-made materials, only leaves, rocks, dirt, flowers, wood, etc)
I picked all the leaves and vines from my garden too. So it took a lot of hard work! After we had the base together, we went to the beach and collected some grass, shells, twigs, seaweed and flowers. So the background is made of big and little green leaves, border is made from twigs, the Elopus is made from brown leaves with seaweed and shell suckers, flower eyes, grass water (spraying out of the trunk) and a cherry tomato tongue.
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TUESDAY:
Tuesday I had arranged some friends to meet at McDonalds that night. I had a friend who works at McDonalds who said we could do the drive thru one but alas, it was cancelled that afternoon - but we were determined to get something as it had all been planned. So with myself, two of my friends and two of my team mates in tow, we headed down to McDonalds to protest.
- #132 VIDEO. Launch a protest outside a McDonalds claiming the superiority of post-and-lintels to arches.
We decided to do this one first. We asked their permission - they agreed - and I LOVE how it came out! I've seen others online but I'm most proud of my own. I had a vision for how I wanted to record it and it came out just as I had imagined with the camera angles and takes. We got some strange looks from people driving by in cars but that was to be expected. I'm sure it would have been worse if it had been during the day time - although, I think that would have been better for the footage, it was just not possible because of people's schedules. But I love it! I think it came out great!
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We knew we weren't allowed to do the drive-thru one at McDonalds, but with KFC next door - and having done my research that it closed at 10pm - I thought we may have a chance to ask them if they would let us film it if it was after hours and they didn't have to really serve us with the guarantee of a safety car behind us to stop any mad drivers speeding through the drive-thru.
- #10 VIDEO. Go through a drive-through at a fast food restaurant in your invisible car. Order, among other things, a Diet Water. You must have a passenger in your invisible car, and you both must be “seated.”
The guys there were such nice sports. We had to really beg (and flirt) with the manager to make it happen. He said it was illegal but we pushed and charmed and he let us do it in the end. It's not the best footage as with only 15 seconds we were really pushed for time. We wanted to ask for chicken-less chicken nuggets, un-popped popcorn chicken, potato-less fries etc but alas, time wasn't on our side. We ordered our diet water and did it in one take. They were so nice to help us! Thanks Mitch. We owe you one! He was awesome!
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WEDNESDAY:
Wednesday I had work but I made sure to be home in time for the tasks we had planned that night. I had ten people coming over to do some tasks. First up:- #55 IMAGE or VIDEO. Create the famous “Spider-hair-knot.” Eight long-haired people lying on their backs with their hair tied all together in one big beautiful weave or a nasty knot.
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We untangled ourselves for our next task.
- #48 IMAGE. Four people use their bodies to form a table. Enjoy an elegant dinner for two at this body table.
But I LOVE how the photos came out! The lighting isn't too good - once again - because it was night time. But we were sitting on a rug with the fire place in the background. I knew I wanted arses to the camera so I made sure everyone who made up the table had their arses up. We even had two people as chairs. I had so much fun putting all my weight on my sister playing my chair. Loved it!
The photos came out exactly how I wanted them to. I'm so happy with the shots. Love them!
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Next up, I grabbed my family for this task - while everyone watched on:
- #16 IMAGE. A family of at least four enjoying a formal dinner. All of the place settings, serving utensils, dishes - basically every non-food item above the tablecloth - must be made from Legos.
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After that - with most people having left - two of us decided to take our mug shots for:
- #69 IMAGE (one image with 15 images edited into it). An image of each of the members of your team in Brady-Bunch style grid format. Photos should be mug-shot style with each team member holding a black and white sign stating their city and country of residence.
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THURSDAY:
I made sure I was free all Thursday as four of us had a bunch of tasks we wanted to accomplish. I wanted them to be in the daylight so - as it's winter and not having many lit up hours in the day - we made sure to be up at a decent hour.
First up:
- #81 IMAGE. Erect a tribute to Horris Packard, the inventor of Rubber Gloves.
This one was the biggest pain in the arse - ever! We had NO idea what to do and no one in our group had any idea either. We had borrowed a bunch of gloves from people we knew to work with. We decided to make a giant hand and bow down to it - as that's the only thing we could think of.
We went to all the trouble of cutting out cardboard and sticking all these rubber gloves on - and it came out looking so terrible! Like literally, the worst thing I've ever seen in my life. Terrible. Awful. But we didn't have time to re-do it so we took some snaps and moved on to ...
- #49 IMAGE. Make a 5-foot in diameter bird’s nest on a sidewalk in an upscale neighborhood. Nest in it.
This was so much fun! Luckily I had all the materials from Monday still in my bin so I had a bunch of stuff to use to make a pretty convincing nest. Everyone complained because we had a bit of a walk to get the perfect houses - I was determined to make sure they were in the background! And everyone said that they were perfect once they saw them!
We had so many people drive past us to look. A couple of hours down, there were a bunch of gardeners working so we asked them if we could borrow their clippings - and they let us! - which added to the whole effect of the bird's nest. In the end, I think it looked pretty amazing and life-like!
My friend did her make up like a bird and wore feathers, a wig and a fuzzy blanket which added to the whole look. When we were shooting the photos, a women stopped her car and asked us if she could take some snaps as she was a photography student and loved what we were doing. So that was pretty cool!
Anyway, after shooting, we packed it all back up into the bin and wheeled back down to my house again. The people weren't home so they may never know what went on in front of their very own house.
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Once we came back to my house we ate some food while getting ready for our next task:
It was around 3.30 though so I knew that all the primary and high school children would be around coming home from school so I didn't want to leave dressed up just yet. So we decided to give the rubber glove one another go and we were SO happy with it! We stayed in our pilgrim costume - as rubber gloves were made at around the same pilgrim-era so it worked in our favour.
It then hit 4pm and we went out to dance around. We got some really strange looks from cars and people passing by. Our hair was pulled back and we all looked most frumpy and hideous looking. But we danced and got it over with.
The video came out okay. Nothing special but better than a lot of others I've seen =D
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After that, me and my team mate heading to the shopping centre for a couple of tasks.
We started with:
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After we did that, we wanted to try the task:
At one stage, we had a group of girls come back and they asked me what I was doing and they said they wanted to be on camera. So they did a take with us where they screamed. They were so awesome to do it. We also had an elderly lady who we scared come back to us later and tried to scare us - she was awesome.
The footage is really really good though and it doesn't look staged - which it wasn't. The last people we scared said that they knew what it was for too which was amusing.
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We then were walking back to the coffee place when the chick who helped us with the first challenge said she wanted to help us with the second. So we took some footage with us but it seemed so fake looking so we decided not to use it.
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Once we came back to my house we ate some food while getting ready for our next task:
- #102 VIDEO. Do a maypole dance in a bus station (pilgrim attire and flower garlands required).
It was around 3.30 though so I knew that all the primary and high school children would be around coming home from school so I didn't want to leave dressed up just yet. So we decided to give the rubber glove one another go and we were SO happy with it! We stayed in our pilgrim costume - as rubber gloves were made at around the same pilgrim-era so it worked in our favour.
It then hit 4pm and we went out to dance around. We got some really strange looks from cars and people passing by. Our hair was pulled back and we all looked most frumpy and hideous looking. But we danced and got it over with.
The video came out okay. Nothing special but better than a lot of others I've seen =D
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After that, me and my team mate heading to the shopping centre for a couple of tasks.
We started with:
- #70 VIDEO. You know how at Starbucks they ask your name and write it on the cup so that when your latte is done, they can say, “Misha, skinny decaf grande latte - extra foam, extra hot, lightly sweet!” When they ask for your name, give the most ridiculous name you can think of when you order your Starbucks beverage. The video is of the barrista announcing your drink and your absurd name.
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After we did that, we wanted to try the task:
- #98 VIDEO. Act/dress like a mannequin, shrub or a trashcan in a shopping center. Suddenly come to life and scare a passing consumer by shouting, “GISHWHES!”
At one stage, we had a group of girls come back and they asked me what I was doing and they said they wanted to be on camera. So they did a take with us where they screamed. They were so awesome to do it. We also had an elderly lady who we scared come back to us later and tried to scare us - she was awesome.
The footage is really really good though and it doesn't look staged - which it wasn't. The last people we scared said that they knew what it was for too which was amusing.
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We then were walking back to the coffee place when the chick who helped us with the first challenge said she wanted to help us with the second. So we took some footage with us but it seemed so fake looking so we decided not to use it.
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FRIDAY:
Friday we had planned to do a bunch of tasks but we ended up giving them to other people in our group. And I will probably regret not going to Mornington for the one challenge because I could have but by the time I worked out how, it was too late :\
Anywho. I stayed home to work on:
- #82 VIDEO. As you know, William Shatner loves horses and clocks. Modify a cuckoo clock so that when the hour strikes, instead of a bird appearing, a tiny Captain Kirk on a horse pops out.
So I thought what could I use to make it look better. I remembered my Polly Pocket toys had horses so I found them and picked the one with a person sitting on it. I then picked a photo of William Shatner and stuck it to the person so only the original legs could be seen. As you can see. It doesn't look great but it turned out a LOT better than I had expected!And now I have a cute clock that I can keep too ^_^
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I felt like I had wasted this day as there wasn't much that I could actually do. I made a shirt for the challenge the next day but that didn't take as long - so I wish that I had have had more to do because it really felt wasted.
I had to go back to the shops at 5pm for this task:
- #29 IMAGE. If you’re like me, you’re sick of the go-to barista foam-art. If I have to sip at another latte adorned with a fern or clover shape, I’m going to cry. Let’s see the Elopus professionally recreated in the foam of a café’s hot drink.
V this is not the one we went with! this is not the one we went with! this is not the one we went with!
^ this is not the one we went with! this is not the one we went with! this is not the one we went with!
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SATURDAY:
Saturday was most crazy because it was a last minute rush! I thought that I had until Sunday but as the date got moved up, I didn't have as much time as I would have liked to. So I literally started digging this a hole at the beach at 7am for this task: - #66 IMAGE. Four human heads (alive!) popping out of the sand - each expressing a different emotion.
We ended up getting three photos with sock monkey hats and
had planned to shoot without them but it was too windy - our hair just
kept covering our faces so we could shoot no more. The one we went with was a little blurry but it was the best for emotion and positioning. We had no other choice. So in the end we spent way longer than we should have been.
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Next up was to rush back to my house to return the shovels and get changed out of our wet and sandy clothes. As my parents were about to go out, I begged them to let us try and shoot the Lego photos again from Wednesday night. And I'm SO glad we did because they came out so awesome! I'm so happy with them! They are colourful, funny, realistic looking and have great lighting.
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Then three of us had to go to my sister's house to shoot:
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Then we grabbed some food, some ice-cream and rushed back home for:
And I LOVE the photos. They turned out so good! I've been told twice that the two of us look like models in the shot. It really is such a great photo. I'm so so happy!
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We ended up eating some ice-cream in the pool because I kicked everyone out of my house so I could edit all the photos and videos. I literally sat with dried ice cream in my hair and eyebrows working until the very last seconds. It was stressful but awesome!
Our team did so amazingly and I'm so happy with all we got done. I don't think we have any chance of winning but we managed to get around 5000 standard points so I think that's pretty damn good!
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Next up was to rush back to my house to return the shovels and get changed out of our wet and sandy clothes. As my parents were about to go out, I begged them to let us try and shoot the Lego photos again from Wednesday night. And I'm SO glad we did because they came out so awesome! I'm so happy with them! They are colourful, funny, realistic looking and have great lighting.
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Then three of us had to go to my sister's house to shoot:
- #67 VIDEO. On a pool or billiards table, sink at least 4 balls with one shot. So we know it’s you doing it, wear a t-shirt displaying your GISHWHES team name. The more balls that go in, the more points.
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Then we grabbed some food, some ice-cream and rushed back home for:
- #12 IMAGE. GISHWHES has taken its toll this year. You deserve a break. Hit the hot tub with a couple of friends… wearing hats made of ice cream.
And I LOVE the photos. They turned out so good! I've been told twice that the two of us look like models in the shot. It really is such a great photo. I'm so so happy!
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We ended up eating some ice-cream in the pool because I kicked everyone out of my house so I could edit all the photos and videos. I literally sat with dried ice cream in my hair and eyebrows working until the very last seconds. It was stressful but awesome!
Our team did so amazingly and I'm so happy with all we got done. I don't think we have any chance of winning but we managed to get around 5000 standard points so I think that's pretty damn good!
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Oh gosh! It sounds like SO MUCH fun, but super crazy!! I loved seeing all your photos!
ReplyDeleteThat pretty much sums it up :) Fun but super crazy haha. You should join us next year. It'll change your life. I'm very much looking forward to the GISHWHES screening party we are throwing too. Should be amazing!
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