Monday, May 28, 2012

Evaluation

Design Cycle: 


Investigation- I did in-depth research into the importance of local food and how our food choices impact the world around us. I used reliable sources and the documentaries provided by the teacher. I also investigated the benefits of certain healthy foods such as olive oil, tomatoes, lettuce, and cucumber. I gained an understanding of the differences between whole and processed food. I learned how food choices impact the environment, society, and health. To improve my Investigation, I could research information more specific to Serbia because that is applicable to the audience. (9/10)

Design- In the next section of the Design Cycle, each group member wrote a design for the final product. I wrote a suggestion for the video that we were going to make. I matched my design to the design specification in a creative and interesting manner. My design was unique but not too challenging or impossible. As a group, we decided on the final design by combining elements from all three.We kept the characters and format that I suggested by we modified the recipes. I would not improve anything at this stage. (10/10)

Plan- Next, we planned out the schedule using a Gantter chart. This proved problematic because we faced my conflicts in our schedule. It was difficult to arrange a time to film because we all had other after school activities and commitments. This meant that we had to postpone filming until 3 weeks later (including the week for Spring Break). Even though there were problems with timing, we faced no issues with organizing the materials, props, and dividing the work. (8/10)

Create- Finally, we met up together and filmed our movie. It took two hours of filming to produce the 6 minute video. Before setting up the camera, we prepared the ingredients (chopped the vegetables, assembled the crepe batter) and got into costume. We had original and funny costumes and characters. Overall, it was an enlightening and enjoyable experience. (10/10)

Design Specification
Our video completely encompasses every component of the design specification. We made a video in the format of a cooking show that between 5 and 10 minutes. It was appropriate for both middle school and high school students. Even though it promotes local food and healthy eating, the video is funny and interesting. Rea edited it with Sony Vegas. 


Improvements 
There are a few improvements that we could make to our video. We could edit out some of the unnecessary steps or voiced over more information. Instead of making chocolate crepes, we could have used fruits which are local and organic. Our pasta dish could have included more vegetables. 


Personal and Group Performance
I worked well on this project and put a lot of effort into making an entertaining and informative video. I dedicated my time to writing the script and provided the location and facilities for filming. I came up with creative methods of teaching that used humor. My group skills were excellent because I not only contributed by also listened politely. I respected my group members and aided them when necessary. I deserve a 6 out of 6 for the work I contributed. 



Food Movie




Here is the video Rea, Annie, and I made. We had a fun time filming. Enjoy!


I showed the video to my sibling, Charlotte (5th grader) and then interviewed her. These are her thoughts and reflections.

  • What did you like about this video?

I liked the humor and the information. I think that the characters were good and well developed. I also liked that you used local and all natural ingredients.

  • What didn't you like?

I liked all of it. I think some of the steps were unnecessary. I don't think the chocolate was very healthy.

  • What did you learn from this video?

I learned how to make a simple, yet healthy and all natural meal.

  • Has this video changed the way you think about food?

Yes because I learned about the importance of using healthy ingredients. I learned about the benefits of dark chocolate and every thing in moderation is fine. I learned why local food is better and we should shop at the farmers market.

  • What would you have done differently?

I really like it, it was funny so I would not have changed anything major. I would have used more fruits for the dessert and a veggie stir fry for the main dish.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Food Movie Script

Chef Sizzle: Hello and welcome to Sizzling Stars! My name is Chef Sizzle. Today our celebrity guest is the reality TV star Coco Candy. She debuted this year on Sweet and Saucy.

Coco Candy: Heeey guise! (blow kiss with peace sign) I’m sweet and spicy and ready to cook!

Chef Sizzle: What is your previous experience with fine cuisine.

Coco Candy: Well.... I like Nutella. Sometimes I feed myself.

Show clips of her trying to cut food with spoon

Chef Sizzle: um... ok then... Let’s take a look at what we’re cookin up today!

flips to scene of Olive

Chef Sizzle: Here is our Expert Eater, Olive. She’s got smarticle particles.

Olive: Salutations. Today this episode will focus on healthy eating and how our food choices impact the environment. This week we will be cooking a healthy three course meal using locally bought products. Before we can start cooking, we have go to the farmer’s market.

Coco Candy: farmers? ew. dirty Why do we have to get locally grown food anyway?

Olive: Well, locally grown food contains much less unnatural preservatives, and since they do not need to be transported great distances, they do not waste fuel, doing minimal damage to the environment. Also, buying from local farmers strengthens the local economy and supports local farms.

Chef Sizzle: Lets take a journey to the farmers market, where we can buy locally grown and sold products

2 Hours Later
Olive: Well that was fun! Farmers markets supply local, organic food for low prices! Wait... where is Coco?

Coco: (Walks in) Oh... I had a detour at the local Gucci! The farmers were scaring me.

Chef: Anyways, now that we’re all together, let’s get cookin’!  Today we will be making a Salad, Pasta, and Crepes for dessert. Let’s start with the Salad.

Coco: Yummy!

Chef: The ingredients we will be needing for this dish are tomato, lettuce, cucumber, and pepper. The dressing is composed of Olive oil and balsamic vinegar. This dish is very healthy since it contains lots of vegetables, along with other whole foods.

Olive: Olive oil is a healthy fat which can help lower blood pressure. It also has lots of vitamin E and antioxidants.  The lettuce, pepper, tomatoes, cucumbers  are locally grown ingredients that are not shipped overseas. This decreases their carbon footprint. So, not only are we supporting local businesses , we’re also helping the Earth.

Chef: This delightful salad will be eaten with whole grain pasta and pesto. The pesto was made from local Serbian brand, using only basil, olive oil, and pine nuts. Garnish with Parmesan cheese.

Olive: There are no preservatives, additives, or food coloring in the pesto or pasta. The whole grain pasta is made with all of the wheat sheaf. Whole grains contain healthy oils, minerals, and protein. The pesto is an exceptional source of vitamin A and is good for your skin.

Coco: Now, I don’t need to get botox.

*cooking*

Chef: Now that I’ve finished the pasta, we are going to cook some low fat crepes with dark chocolate.

Coco: French cooking! Yay!

Chef: The ingredients we need for this recipe are whole wheat flour, egg whites, skim milk, salt, and vegetable oil. For the fillings, we will use melted dark chocolate.

Coco: But chocolate makes me fat... WAAA

Chef: Don’t worry anything in moderation is fine and will not make you fat.

Olive: As a matter of fact, dark chocolate is quite healthy for your skin as it contains antioxidants and also contains good amounts of Manganese, with low amounts of Cholesterol and Sodium. Also, we will only use egg whites because  they are high in Protein, Riboflavin and Selenium. And low in Saturated Fat and Cholesterol

Coco: Yipeee! This meal is going to be totally delish! Better update my Twitter

*cooking*

Chef: We just made a three course meal using healthy, local ingredients that are good for our environment and our body.  

Coco: Hurray! Now lets go to McDonalds
.
Chef and Olive: NO!

*END*

Friday, March 16, 2012

The Story of Food: Design

Subject: Food choices in our society and how it affects our environment
Grade: MS/HS viewers
Description of Lesson: The objective of this lesson is to educate our society on how to make healthy choices.
 

Design Specification:
-Video
-Cooking Show
-MS/HS viewers
-5-10 minutes
-interesting and funny
- promote healthy eating
- edited in Sony Vegas Studio

- original and in our own words
- must be educational and informative

Emma’s Design:
The video will be a cooking show starring chef Emma and the celebrity star Rea Saxena. Annie Meyer will be the camera person.. The side dish will be a lettuce, tomato, cucumber, and pepper salad. The TV show is called “Om Nom Nom”.  We will be instructing ISB how to cook a healthy meal using only whole foods. The main course will be spaghetti with homemade tomato sauce or pesto. The side course will be a tomato cucumber, and pepper salad.  The desert will be strawberries.
Chef Emma will demonstrate how to cook and prepare the ingredients. She will talk about purchasing local food and make food jokes. The chef will wear a mustache and a chef hat, as well as an apron. Annie will be the Expert Eater who analyses the food and talks about the calories, health benefits, and environmental damage.  Rea will be in a blond wig and lots of gold jewelry and obnoxious make up. Rea is the celebrity who does not know how to cook but wants to eat healthy. Rea is a blond Bollywood star.

Annie’s Design:
This video will show how to prepare healthy foods, and what to eat. We can insert lots of interesting food trivia and jokes, kind of like Good Eats with Alton Brown. We can cook a three course meal (appetizer, main course, dessert) with all whole foods. For the first course we could make a nice salad (maybe caprese?) and for the main course we could make some sort of pasta dish. We could finish it up with light crepes for dessert) All three of us could be the “hosts” and “specialize” in different areas (like produce, meat, oven, etc.). With each food and whole food we explain why it is (un)healthy and give details and facts about it) and we could go to grocery stores and film some footage in there. Basically, all three of us would be playing very off-kilter chefs that know bizarre, unusual trivia and jokes. It could also include talking food or animals (puppets?) that share fun facts and add a quirky element to the movie.Overall, this movie will show how to make foods and contain lots of fun facts to educate the audience.

Rea’s Design:
Will include a cooking show with a meal that is prepared by chefs Annie, Emma, and Rea. It shall be portraying how to cook and prepare a healthy meal with whole foods. For an appetizer we could prepare a healthy soup with vegetables. We will be making a side dish or a salad with lettuce, feta, tomatoes, corn, cucumber, lemon, pepper, and salt . We will have a main course of pasta and maybe a meat product to go along with the main dish. As for the dessert we could prepare cookies or cupcakes/brownies (other baked goods that are healthy). Along with the cooking show we could add the element of a competition, much like Iron Chef America or like Bobby Flay. Along with the cooking show we could show some fun facts by making them pop up on the screen (possibly with puppets or we could add them while editing). We could have judges at the end of the show where they rate our food, we could have a winner at the end.


Group Selected Design:
Appetizer: Salad with lettuce, tomato, pepper, cucumber, onions, carrots
Main course: Pasta with pesto
Dessert: Crepes with Dark chocolate
Normal cooking show, with lots of off-kilter facts and characters
promotes healthy, local foods. 


Characters: 
Celebrity movie star paired with famous French chef Emma.
Emma: Chef extraordinaire
Rea: Blond movie star
Annie: Professional Eater (fast as nails facts)


Reason for Choosing this Design:
We made a compromise between Emma's and Annie's designs because they were simple, entertaining, and effective. We used Annie's idea for making crepes with chocolate because everyone likes sweets and these are healthier alternatives to the typical high fat dessert. We used my ideas about the characters because they are entertaining and unique. The salad was a combination of all of our ideas. Annie wanted a Caprese salad but mozzarella has a lot of fat. Rea wanted a Greek salad but that too had cheese.