It’s been a long few months of our Frankenstuffie Project, but at last, here we are, with our final products.

So, what is a ‘Frankenstuffie’ exactly? A frankenstuffie is a stuffed animal that has adapted to any troubles it may face in it’s daily life. We made these stuffies in maker time and altered them based on their adaptations that we thought of. This is going to be a huge blog post because I have a lot to cover, so I’m going to split it into topics.

GEOGRAPHY

We began the unit by learning about geography in humanities. We researched different land masses and this ultimately would determine our knowledge of the animals habitat in our video. We mainly focused on Canadian geography, and the different land masses in our country. We also researched the different type of climates and animals, but that blends more in with science.

SCIENCE

In science, we researched ecology, learned all of the ecological vocabulary and did many worksheets and mini projects on the topic. Learning about food chains, climate and elements of the earth was really interesting and would play in with our epistolary story, as well as with our video.

ENGLISH

Then came our Epistolary story. Leading up to this moment, we read The Martian by Andy Weir. This book was perfect for our unit because not only was it written in the same form we would follow within our stories, but it also had ecological elements in it. I spent a lot of time writing my story and making it detailed and I thought out the key points as I wrote. I think my story turned out really well and I’m proud of it. I’ll have it linked down below, but if you want to spare yourself three thousand words, read this summary instead…

EPISTOLARY STORY

This is the story of Hunny, the radioactive bear. Hunny suffers from short term memory loss and lives in a small town on Vancouver Island which is located in the larger region of the Western Cordelia in North America. When he wakes up from hibernation, he is alarmed when a robot named Moose tells him that his home has been overcome by radiation. The radiation is caused by a nuclear power plant exploding because of a human made bomb. The continent is left as an inhabitable area. Moose and Hunny work together to get to a safe land in Kamloops. While they are working, Hunny realizes he is oddly adapting to his situations. He grows wings, as well as gils and antennae. Later when they are departing by water, Hunny ingests a radioactive fish and dies. Moose freaks out due to the fact that he is a secret agent working for a human company in Kamloops and their goal is to learn how Hunny has adapted to the radiation so they can do the same. Moose leaves back to his home base and the island is left, radioactive, abandoned and lifeless.

You can read all 3,598 words here

March 14th, 2076

3:08 p.m

The ground was cold. That’s the first thing I noticed when I woke up from my long nap this morning. To define long nap, it had been three months, and I wasn’t necessarily napping, I was hibernating, because I am a grizzly bear.

I found this empty diary next to me in the cave, I’m pretty sure my friend from the next cave over gave it to me to help with losing my memories before winter came around — which leads to me to another major point you should probably know : I have short term memory loss. I should really formally introduce myself to you because who knows, maybe I’ll forget this diary (let’s call it something other than ‘diary’ so I don’t sound so lame — let’s call it a Log Book. That makes me sound really cool, like an adventuring human or something. Neat.) As I was saying, I may just forget this log book somewhere, because it happens, so if the humans ever come back one day they can read about another species they killed, and they can know who it came from.

I’m sure you already know about the humans and how their irresponsibility caused a nuclear power plant to explode and kill most of North America — now, that’s one piece of information I’ll never forget! Us animals are doing swell for the most part, there’s about ten species in total roaming the continent, but as far as I remember, before my long nap there was a lot of animals dying. Oh well.

Anyways, to formally introduce myself, my name is Hunny. I’m an eighteen year-old grizzly bear from Vancouver Island. We now call the whole area of my home the Western Cordelia because of science and stuff, but I heard it was called Vancouver Island when the humans were still around, so let’s just stick with that. My habitat is located in the sunny forests of Shawnigan Lake, in the southwest portion of the Western Cordelia. With a latitude and longitude of 48.6512° N, 123.6450° W, I’m glad my species adapts to our cold winters by sleeping in a cozy cave. It’s pretty now though, that’s one of the perks of a temperate climate. You get the best of both worlds weather wise! You already know I have the whole memory loss thing, but I guess I should also tell you that I’m quite boring and I mostly just eat and sleep, except for right after I come out of hibernation. These are the times that I have to re explore my home and go catch some fish to eat.

I’m on my way to explore right now, but I’ll write a little something when I get back.

March 14th, 2076

6:10 p.m

I met someone (or something, I guess?) on my adventure.

It happened when I was walking through one of the old trails. I was admiring all the smells of bee pollen, the sounds of birds chirping and the soft leaves on my paws when an odd looking piece of technology jumped out at me. It had a cylinder figure and large wires coming out of its body. It scared the absolute crap out of me! Anyways, my stomach couldn’t handle the slow conversation the robot was attempting to engage in with me, my mind was on the fish. I hadn’t tasted the sweet and slimy body of a salmon in months, and I really didn’t want to wait any longer, so I cut it off before it could introduce itself. Rude, but a bears gotta eat. The robot scowled and left me alone, and I set off to really explore. I saw a lot of trees, which was no surprise. Along the coast of the island was the salty Pacific Ocean, but I didn’t feel like walking that far yet. My stiff legs only wanted to take me as far as a large, bright pound near my cave. I was about to snatch a salmon when I looked across the pond to see another bear of my kind, he was hungrily swallowing a fish. Normally I stayed away from other bears of my kind, just because I seemed to irritate them with my memory loss and constant questions. Ignoring the other bear, I eagerly searched around for a salmon, but I was interrupted by a loud noise across the water… the bear had collapsed, fish in mouth, and he appeared to be good as gone, unconscious.

That’s when I knew the radiation had reached the Cordelia.

March 10th 2076

6:38 p.m

I ran as fast as my paws could carry me, but I was stopped in my tracks about twenty metres away from the twinkling stream. It was the robot — ugh, again. This time, however, it seemed to be just as frightened as I was. It told me its name was Moose and it was one of the old robots the humans had assembled back in 2025. I didn’t believe the thing at first because come on, it was a nonsense talking piece of machine made by the species that destroyed our environment! Moose was babbling on about radiation in the trees and water and how leaving the area right away was the only option for survival.

I figured that it was crazy, but then I considered the factors

All the humans were dead

The Cordelia wasn’t far from the Interior Prairies (where the explosion happened)

It’s incredibly possible that the radioactivity could’ve spread to my home while I was snoring away in my cave all winter

That bear had chomped down on the head of a supposed ‘radioactive’ salmon from my favourite river and collapsed to his death within seconds

Radioactivity in the Cordelia? I guess it was a possibility.

Moose offered to search for another river with me, and I took up the offer, considering it had a built in GPS in his mind, and none of the other bears in my area would help me. It was an annoying piece of talking metal, but then again, it was probably my best bet to eat again. Eating was a hobby of mine, so I was searching for different types of food — berries, salmon, elk, hares — my species was classified under the label of Carnivora, but we ate more than just meat, like in spring when I would feast on plants and berries… I considered myself to be more like an omnivore. I grabbed a pawful of red berries off a spiky bush, forgot where I was going for a minute, accidentally tried to fight Moose, remembered he (or it, I guess it doesn’t really have a gender) was my ally and apologized, and then figured I should explain my memory situation to it.

March 10th 2076

8:47 p.m

I’m back in my cave, I got some berries, and Moose told me that it’s sources determined all of the fish on the island had been reported as contaminated. I’m starting to develop wings from the honeycomb I’m eating. Apparently the levels of radioactivity in the honey are slim to none, but I guess that’s still enough to alter my being. I’d be more excited for the thought of wings and flying, but based on my weight in comparison to the thin wings, I won’t get too far.

Goodnight.

March 12th 2076

11:14 a.m

I forgot to write yesterday, in fact, I forgot that I had a log book. Oops! It was an uneventful day for the most part, I came in contact with a delicious looking elk (yay!) but then it turned around to reveal a second head (boo!) That’s when it began to chase me, as if the food chain tables had turned or something… I ended up just eating berries for my three meals again. Man, if those become contaminated I’m not too sure what I’m going to do.

March 13th 2076

12:28 p.m

The radiation is taking over my habitat.

At least that’s the information that Moose has received through the computer chip in his brain. I knew this was coming the second the humans had died last year. If the humans couldn’t survive, us animals probably couldn’t either, or that’s at least what my community was claiming. Moose had to stop me from eating radioactive berries more than once, I just kept forgetting! He told me we could make a plan to travel north to Kamloops, an area that also resided in the Cordelia. Apparently it would be safer, but getting across the water and to the mainland? Not so easy.

March 13th 2076

2:39 p.m

Moose has a plan.

March 13th 2076

4:16 p.m

Moose’s plan involves swimming, so he recommended that we start practicing our strides today. Or just me, I guess, because he apparently can fly just like a drone.

March 14h 2076

5:50 p.m

I just got back from swimming in the very cold Pacific Ocean. Luckily, the water wasn’t overcome by radiation and it’s completely safe. I’m not a fan of the cold or salty taste though, and my chubby body was not designed to swim. The radiation is cutting down my food supply, making the air thick, and now I have a set of wings due to the contaminated honey. I’ve also noticed that the clouds are slightly yellowing, and if that’s not odd enough, the trees are growing these huge berries. Huge. Moose told me not to eat them, but he’s going to have to keep reminding me, because the second I forget that they’re poisonous I’m going to probably throw a few in my mouth and that’ll be it for me.

March 17th 2076

9:29 a.m

I woke up with gils on my tummy! Strange, but I guess that’s just my body adapting to the amount of swimming I’ve been doing this past week. I guess it’ll make swimming underwater easier when we head to the mainland.

March 17th 2076

10:55 p.m

Well, a lot is happening to say the least. The food supply is decreasing, half of my usual prey in the food chain has either attempted to eat me, or they’ve become contaminated. My usual quiet routine has completely turned around and I now wake up, eat some berries from the only uncontaminated plant in the area, swim, and write. I stopped eating honey comb the second that I began to develop stripes — I do not want to become a bumble bee, thank you very much. I’m going to rest up and hopefully tomorrow Moose will have some more details on our trip to the mainland.

Goodnight.

March 18, 2076

4:25 a.m

Moose just burst into my cave and I’m not very happy about it, considering I was dreaming about catching a nice, uncontaminated salmon. He told me we needed to explore the area more and try to find other animals that would join us on our journey. I figured it was at least something to do, I hadn’t explored a lot yet, and even though I knew none of the animals would join us, we could at least try. We set off as the sun was rising over the mountains, walking through the forests and towards Nanaimo. According to Moose, the ancient ferry port would be the best place to start our journey, because the route was already programmed into his system from fifty years ago. We got to Duncan, and then I gave up and fell asleep. It was way too early for my stubby legs to be walking long distances.

Duncan was a lot different than it was when the humans had inhabited it. What once was a mini mall now was just old crumbling pieces of brick and rotting trees. The mountains had lost a lot of their greenery, I guess the horrible air quality just wasn’t allowing them to thrive anymore. I collapsed into a deep slumber once we returned back to the cave.

March 25th, 2076

8:13 a.m

Sorry it’s been so long. I forgot about this book, and I also needed to practice my swimming and collect resources for our trip. It’s been a really long week and a lot of changes have been happening when it comes to the topic of my furry self. My wings have grown, they are now a full set of pink and blue fluttery beauties. I’ve developed fish gils on my tummy and antennae on the top of my head to match the wings. My body is slowly starting to develop into a fishy figure, and I really don’t know how to feel about it. Even though so much has happened to my outer being, I think the biggest changes have happened mentally, and so does Moose (he voiced his opinion about me many times after a swim practice when I actually swam the distance I was supposed to, as opposed to me quitting every other time.) I’m a lot stronger now, I do more swimming and exploring than napping and eating — of course, there’s not a ton to eat so that’s what mainly holds me back from gaining lots of calories from the old animals… man, I miss hunting and chasing prey.

We leave in one weeks time to Kamloops, and I’ve gotta say, I’m very glad my body has adapted to the cold and salty water. Not only do I have gils, but my fur is also thicker and my eyes now can slightly see under the foggy waters surface. I’m still not too sure how the wings and antennae will benefit me, but I guess they make me look kinda cool. My stomach is currently doing laps because of my nervous and excited attitude towards travelling, because if I’m being honest, the farthest I’ve travelled is when Moose finally convinced me to go to Nanaimo with him to check out the route we would take, which met my expectations of not being super fun.

I have to go collect some berries, wake up Moose and learn a final couple swim strokes before my departure on Friday.

Until next time.

March 20th, 2076

7:30 p.m

The elk are gone. They’ve disappeared along with the birds, wolves and fish. I’m sure there are more species that are classified as goners, but I can’t really remember who lives in my area. It’s lonely here, aside from Moose and I, the only company that passes by occasionally is a lone honey badger who is quite terrifying, and that gruesome two headed elk. I guess the others couldn’t handle the radiation… I’m not sure why I haven’t died yet. Moose and I are racing against time when it comes to departing the area, everyday we stay here the chances of survival lessen and lessen. The environment isn’t taking this well either, the trees have began to die and the clouds above me are now a dark, rusty yellow. The totem poles that once stood near the Nanaimo port are now rotting in the water, and I haven’t heard as much as a bee buzzing since my first day out of the cave.

Moose is acting strange as well, he mentioned something about the radiation affecting his system the computers in his brain. Nothing too drastic has happened yet with him, but I’m worried he won’t be able to adapt like I was able to, which is strange, considering he is a walking computer. When I asked him why he couldn’t just update his software to adapt, I got a subtle scowl in response, so I guess I’ll just have to leave it alone.

On a happier note, I’m very grateful for the fact that my species can survive in more than just one area. Hopefully when I make it to Kamloops I can travel north up to the Arctic Lowlands and maybe find more of my kind. Hey, maybe I’ll find another bear with short term memory loss! That would be cool. I’m going to go grab some dinner, the berries are running low, so tonight I’ll eat grass.

Yum.

March 28th, 2076

7:18 a.m

My legs are falling off.

No, not literally, but they sure feel like it. I’m currently in Nanaimo, chilling with Moose in a hollow tree we found. It took us three days to get here, but based on the amount of times I wandered off due to my forgetfulness I’m quite surprised it didn’t take us longer. I ran a quarter of the way, while Moose had the luxury of drone technology that allowed him to smoothly glide through the air. Man, I wish my wings were big enough to allow me to also fly. The area around here is strange, the animals all have disappeared as well, however the few that are left seem to be friendly! Weird, considering the ones at the lake definitely don’t like me. This habitat is similar in a way to my home, there are lots of trees and it’s chilly outside, but there are a lot more signs of past human presence. The thought of the humans causes a chill to go down my spine.

I now have a figure alike to a fish, plump and awkward. I still have paws (thank goodness) but I can feel myself struggling to breathe as the hours pass. My new body will definitely benefit me when it comes to my trip across the water, but I’m frightful about how it will benefit me on land.

March 28th, 2076

12:23 p.m

This tree is comfortable, but sitting in here along with a big robot makes for little space to actually get around. I just keep thinking and thinking about the trip I’m making tomorrow, and I can definitely say (as an understatement) that I’m extremely worried. Hopefully Kamloops is everything I’m hoping for, and hopefully the radiation hasn’t drenched it. It will be colder there, Moose told me that even in March they have a little bit of a chilly breeze during the days. Luckily my fur has survived through my morphing into a fish, so I should be fine.

It’s time to hunt for dinner. This area has a lot more berries than Shawnigan Lake, but I’m not sure about if they’re going to be contaminated, so maybe I’ll just go without food… This radiation is taking over my life.

Goodnight.

March 29th, 2076

6:02 a.m

I am officially a fish. My body now is covered in gils, aside from my head — which thankfully is still the head of a bear — and wings. I also still have paws, I guess when my body was adapting it decided to allow me to continue walking. It’s a lot more difficult to breathe now, having half gils and half mammal lungs isn’t really a walk in the park if you ask me. We leave tomorrow, and I can’t wait.

March 29th, 2076

12:39 p.m

There’s a new species, or at least Moose can’t find any signs of it in his database. It’s half cougar, half blue bird. We saw a flock of them while we were doing a final exploration before we leave tomorrow, and man, these creatures are freaky. For some odd and unexplainable reason, Moose seemed to be very excited about this new organism which was kinda weird, but I guess he’s just one of those odd bird people who spend way too much money on bird watching tools. I took an odd guess that the reasoning for this new species was that the bacteria adapted to the new conditions on Earth and is attempting to repopulate the planet. If there’s more of these new species they could be a potential danger to me, so I’m going to have to keep my eyes peeled.

March 29th, 2076

8:52 p.m

As the sun is setting and tomorrow is drawing closer, I’m beginning to miss my home. The gorgeous greenery that blankets the tall mountains, the glistening lake I used to catch all my meals from. I miss my cave, the warmth of it and the cool, ashy smell. The logical side of my brain tells me this is for the better, Kamloops will be my new home, safe and secure. The emotional side tells me otherwise — stay with what you know, stay with what is yours. I’ve never been a fan of too much change, but I need to diminish my second thoughts.This is for the better.

MAR 30 2076

08:02 A.M

PHANTOM 982X ROBO – iOS 27.8.2

ID : 83719492

NAME OF SOLDIER : ROBOTSON, MOOSE

Recording in 3…2…1…

Chat is live

MOOSE: Sir, 83719492 is live.

UNIDENTIFIABLE: We are responding.

MOOSE: I have the hybrid. He is ready for departure via Departure Bay, Nanaimo.

UNIDENTIFIABLE: Good work, soldier. Can you confirm hybrid species is fully responsive and prepared for departure.

MOOSE: Yes sir. He believes we are going to Kamloops.

UNIDENTIFIABLE: Perfect. Does he know about us here? Does he know why we want him?

MOOSE: No sir, he has forgotten. Subject has short term memory loss. He still believes the bombs wiped us out.

UNIDENTIFIABLE: That’s what we want to hear, soldier. We will run tests on his adaptations on the date of your suspected arrival, 04/02/76.

UNIDENTIFIABLE: Soldier, do you copy?

UNIDENTIFIABLE: Soldier Robotson.

MOOSE: It’s the hybrid! He has digested highly poisonous berries! Hybrid has collapsed and is unresponsive!

UNIDENTIFIABLE: We are sending help your way. Try and keep the hybrid alive, we need his test results to see how us humans can adapt as he did and survive this radioactive wreck.

MOOSE: Copy.

MOOSE: Sir, hybrid is unresponsive. No pulse.

UNIDENTIFIABLE: We are sending emergency response teams via mega drone. Leaving for Western Cordelia now from Interior Plains. Hang tight, soldier.

MOOSE: Yes sir.

UNIDENTIFIABLE: Also, keep the hybrid in sight, if he wakes up, stay with him. We need to test his blood and see if we can adapt like he did.

MOOSE : Yes sir

UNIDENTIFIABLE: Great. Over and out.

MOOSE: Over and out.

If you read that, give yourself a pat on the back.

VIDEO PREPERATION 

The next assignment was to create a storyboard/shot list for our soon to be iMovie. I did mine on Pages instead of on paper. This is a snippet of what it looked like.

I also created a script for the idea. For the script, I summarized the complete epistolary story into a few short minutes.

STUFFIES!

Now, for the most fun part of the project, the actual stuffy! My mom bought me some pet toys to make my stuffy, and they were a bear, fish and bee. I used the fish body because in the end, Hunny has developed gils and I thought it was the best way to display that. I used the head of the bear, the bee wings and one bee antenna. I think my stuffy turned out very cute!

VIDEO CREATION

Finally, it was time to create our videos. I knew from the start that I wanted to create an animated video rather than use my stuffy, so I began to collect images off google and import them into my Explain Everything. To edit the pictures. I used Back Eraser and Paper. Finding images was simple, but trying to find images for the robot was more difficult because I wanted it to look realistic and still have the form of a human. I had to manipulate the images on Explain Everything and group them so he looked like he was doing different things throughout the story.

DRAFT ONE

My first draft wasn’t anything special, but I did put a lot of effort into it, so I was still proud of it in the end.  There was a lack of of audio, that’s an obvious point, and it also wasn’t finished at all. It needed lots of work, and when my friends critiqued it they told me to shorten it and make the editing more smooth. I went back, edited it, and came up with this next draft…

DRAFT TWO

My second draft was significantly better. I shortened it out, deleted all the unnecessary clips, cleaned up the animation and added a chunk of the story to it. I asked my brothers for critique and they to,d me to add titles and credits at the end, and obviously also finish it. Here’s what I came up with…

FINAL DRAFT

I was very proud of my third draft. I made major edits to the story and animation, added titles, music, improved the story, and I think it looks really good. I put in a huge amount of effort on this project, and spent tons of time perfecting it so it looked like how I imagined when I was writing my epistolary story. It was a little long at six minutes, but I think it really reflects my story well and I spent lots of time making the animation interesting and fun to watch.

CONCLUSION

I really enjoyed this project, it’s probably in second place after the Mini Blue Sky this year. I think I put in a ton of effort and really engaged in the book we read, the epistolary story, and the ecology unit. This project got me really comfortable with Explain Everything, and I really used a lot of different video skills I have learned this year.

If you read this whole thing, good job!

Until next time…