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Capstone #3: Interview

On Thursday the 23rd of May, I interviewed David Kaley for my Capstone Project. David Kaley is currently the Associate Costume Designer for Disney’s Frozen on Broadway. He designs all the Disney’s Frozen costumes at the Amsterdam Theater in New York City. I interviewed David Kaley because I wanted to interview somebody who had a lot of experience with Costume Design. For example, David Kaley has designed costumes for eleven different Broadway Shows. Some of these shows include: Disaster: The Musical, It Shoulda Been You, Cabaret and The Addams Family to name a few.

For setting up my interview I wrote David Kaley an email introducing myself, explaining our project and requesting if I could possibly interview him. To my surprise, he emailed me right back and said yes. I asked David Kaley 16 questions.

These are the questions that I prepared to ask David Kaley about Costume Design:

  1. Why did you want to become a costume designer?
  2. What experience do you have as a costume designer?
  3. What skills do you need to have to be a costume designer?
  4. How important is it to know the character when designing the costume?
  5. What research do you need to know about the character before you make the costume and where do you find it?
  6. What materials do you need to design a costume?
  7. Who do you consult with when coming up with designs?
  8. Do you have people to help you? If so, how many people and what are their responsibilities?
  9. Can you describe the steps from start to finish, including the length of time needed?
  10. What do you focus on when designing a costume?
  11. What kind of approval do you need for your designs before they go into production, while you’re working on costumes, and when you’re done? If so, who is in charge of approval? (For example, stage manager, producer, etc.)
  12. Do you create your designs at the theater or is there a specific place you work?
  13. Is there any specific technology that you use to assist you?
  14. What was one of your most favorite costume designs and why?
  15. What do you enjoy most about your job? Least?
  16. Is there any other information you think that’s important for me to know about costume design?

In the beginning of my interview I felt nervous but also excited at the same time. When I got to the Amsterdam Theater, the security guard led me into the costume design office. David greeted me and seemed excited about our interview. We spent one hour going through my questions.

In conclusion, I thought David Kaley gave me a lot of information about Costume Design. I was surprised at how many people help to make the costumes. I can’t wait to use the information he shared with me to put into my presentation.

Here are some photos:

Amsterdam Theatre

David Kaley

Capstone #2: Crafting a Main Inquiry Question and Sub Questions.

For my capstone project I had to pick a main inquiry question and sub questions. My main inquiry question is “What are the key steps in creating costumes for Broadway shows?” I made sure my main inquiry question will give me lots of information about the key steps in creating costumes for Broadway Shows. I also made sure that my main inquiry question would keep my interest. Some of the other main inquiry questions I had in mind are, “How do costumes help tell the story?” and “How has costume making changed over the years?”

For my sub questions I had to make them go with my main inquiry question. We have to make five or six sub questions for our Capstone Project. The sub questions are not interview questions, they are the things that we will mostly research about.

These are my sub questions:

  • How important is knowing the character when designing a costume?
  • How much and what research has to be done before designing a costume?
  • How many people are involved in creating the costumes?
  • How long is the process from the beginning to the end?
  • What tools and materials are required for creating a costume?
  • What are the most important features to consider when designing the costume?

In conclusion, I think that creating the sub questions was easier than creating my main inquiry question. I am happy about my main inquiry question and sub questions.  I am looking forward to my interview and learning more about Costume Design.

Capstone Blog Post #1: Choosing the Topic

Our class was assigned this week to a project called Capstone. The project Capstone is about doing something that you know or want to know more about. We have to do lots of research such as a site visit and interview. We will also have to create a presentation that is about the topic that we choose.

My teacher told my class that we should pick two topics that we would like to do our Capstone project on. One of the topics that I chose was costume design because I love learning about fashion. The second topic that I choose was the elements of a Broadway how because I love acting and watching Broadway shows. Between the two options, I chose to do my Capstone project on Costume Design.

We were given a large sheet of paper, some post-its and a marker. On the center of the paper I wrote the topic Costume Design, as this is what I will be researching my Capstone on. All of the post-its that I glued onto the paper had inquiry questions about the topic that I chose. At the end I chose one of the inquiry questions. The inquiry question that I chose is, what is the process of making a Costume for a Broadway Show.

I am happy that I choose The Process of Making a Costume for a Broadway Show because I loving seeing the costumes when I go to a Broadway show and now I get to learn about how they are made. I am so excited to start working on this project!

Immigration Blog Post #5: Reflections on the Entire Process

Reflecting on the entire immigration project, I enjoyed learning about how my Dad felt moving to America as a fifth grader. Coming up with questions for the interview was challenging because you had to make questions that would provide you with a lot of information.

When I interviewed my Dad, I had someone videotape the interview. I then typed out all the information that my Dad shared with me. I found the Spark video to be very hard because I only had ten seconds per slide. I would have liked to shared more information that I learned in my interview but felt I had to create smaller sentences in my narration.

I found this project interesting because it explained a lot how people felt when they immigrated to America. And I was happy with how my Spark video turned out.

This is my Spark video:

Immigration Blog Post #4: Narrating the Spark Video

From taking the information that my teacher, Ms. Edwards shared with my class, I sat down and thought about how to narrate my Dad’s story from when he immigrated from South Africa to America. I am concerned about how I am going to take all the information my Dad shared with me and turn it into a four minute Spark video.

After I interviewed my Dad, I went back and typed up all of the answers to my original 15 questions. Reading through my notes I decided this would help me create a timeline to my Dad’s story. I think this timeline will be very useful when choosing images for my Spark video that will be helpful to the audience. I am looking forward to seeing my Spark video come together.

Immigration Blog Post #3: Preparing the Spark Video

A couple days ago, my class went to the computer lab to learn about a website called Adobe Spark. Adobe Spark is an advanced website for making videos. My class has to make a spark video on the person we interviewed for our immigration project.

From doing my interview, I learned many things that I could put into my video. I am going to put photos of my Dad in South Africa and Chicago in the video. I will also put pictures of my Dads friends and family that he had to leave behind when immigrated to America. I will use the information that I learned at the interview to make the video informational about my Dads immigration journey.

You can customize many things using Adobe Spark video. By customizing things, the video will be very creative. I am so excited to start my Spark video!

Immigration Blog Post #2: Conducting the Interview

On Sunday April 7th, I sat down and interviewed my Dad on his immigration journey to America from South Africa on December 16, 1985. I asked 15 questions about his experience that I had previously prepared. I made sure these questions would provide me with lots of information about his immigration story and tried to include many “green light” questions to get the most information.

What I learned from interviewing my Dad is that when he immigrated to America, it was difficult for his family financially, emotionally and physically. Although my Dad was excited to live in America, he also had to move in the middle of 5th Grade and he was nervous about making new friends.  I found the interview really interesting because I was able to learn how someone may feel when they immigrate.

Overall, I learned that immigrating is hard and takes a while to adjust to a new country. I also learned from my Dad’s experience that one of the reasons why people immigrate to America is to hopefully build a better future for themselves.

Immigration #1: Preparing for the Interview

My class was assigned to do a immigration project. I started to wonder of who I could interview. I suddenly remembered that my Dad immigrated. My Dad immigrated from South Africa to America.

In preparing for my interview, I did some research on immigration and what immigrants have to go through. From researching, I had some ideas of what my questions could be to ask my Dad. My class was assigned to do 10-15 questions. I came up with 15 questions. I made sure that the questions were informational so I could make a Spark video. My teacher also assigned my class to do a Spark video of who we’re interviewing.

I think this interview will go well because I already know a lot about immigration and my Dad’s story. I am excited to learn more about my Dad’s journey to America and how he felt as a fifth grade student coming to a new country.

Interview Questions

Rube Goldberg #6: Final Reflection

My overall experience designing a Rube Goldberg machine is that at first, I thought it would be easy but suddenly when we started, it became hard. Some steps of the project were no problem to complete and other steps were challenging. For example, we struggled with step five which we named tower of terror. This step included a pulley system that Stella and I created. We cut a plastic water bottle in half and used rocks to create weight for the release mechanism. The water bottle was tied to a piece of string and we spent two of our sessions trying to figure out how to hold the string down. We started with several weights of toy cars and then we moved on to a tennis ball but did not work either. So we finally replaced tennis ball with three magnet tiles. This took hours of trial to come up with a successful solution. Stella and I were literally jumping up and down.

 

I learned from working on the Rube Goldberg project that sometimes you may get frustrated but it is important to be patient and have a positive attitude to get through it. I also learned working with a partner you need to have a open mind to other people’s ideas. It was more fun to put our ideas together. I really enjoyed working with Stella on this project and I was happy I did not have to work on my own.

This my Rube Goldberg Project:

Step 1: Seven Dwarfs Mine Train

 

Step 2: Thunder Mountain

Step 3: Splash Mountain

Step 4: Dominos

Step 5: Tower of Terror

Step 6: Fairytale Forest

Step 7: Donald Duck Pond

Step 8: Tea cups

Step 9: Releasing the Balloon

List of Resources:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rc0cpp3i8GA

Rube Goldberg #5: The Sketch

 

Making a Sketch of our Rube Goldberg machine was fun. Stella and I were very excited about our theme and creating a Disney Rube Goldberg project. We purchased a blue poster board and Mickey Mouse decorated tape. Then we used black construction paper and and cut out Mickey Mouse ears. Next, we used red letter stickers to label our project. This was going to be the backdrop of our sketch.

 

Following the layout of our backdrop we discussed how we wanted to draw out our machine. We drew out each step as best as possible and then made a key with numbers naming each step. We named each step based on different Disney rides. Except for one we just labeled dominos.

 

A few of the steps we drew larger to help the viewer understand the machine better. Having these sketches were helpful when we went to actually build each step. Not every step worked out exact to our sketch but was somewhat close.

 

After decorating and sketching our Rube Goldberg board created a goal which was to release balloons and labeled this on our board. Just like a book has a picture of a author, Stella and I included a picture of us.

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