Creature From The Deep

Read Gabrielle's amazing narrative inspired by the image below

W.A.L.T: Write a satisfying ending to a narrative

It came from the sea, calmly at first. An enormous, slithering tentacle slowly oozing its way over the top of the sea wall, exploring the metal and concrete shapes with suckers the size of your front door.

Then, as more and more people came, and shrieks and cries of alarm filled the air, the creature became angry. All hell broke loose…

In an almighty tangle of limbs and water and buildings and people, the beast came violently exploding out of the frothing water. The normally sturdy metal supports of the buildings groaned under the extreme weight of the gigantic tentacles crushing them. Panic. Complete panic set in.

But where had the creature come from? What did it want? How could anybody stop it?

With all the whacking and splashing soon the whole city would be gone. There were barely any of the navy left. The sea monster was an intruder, a murderer. Salty sea water splashed everywhere as he rose up and thumped himself down again. I could not believe what was happening. Screams of devastation came from every direction. The kraken's eye appeared to be spying on us all. His arms tried to squash people everywhere they went. Navy boats sped in as fast as they could. Gun’s, spear’s, dagger’s! all of this was so overwhelming with all the banging and rampaging it was a total nightmare   

The planes in the sky came crashing down like they were boy’s toys being thrown around. Ships in the sea were being capsized under the weight of enormous waves. Car alarms and sirens were going off as the cars were washed clean off the roads and bridges. People were pulling and pushing to make their way out of the chaos. With all the pushing and shoving people kept on falling into the water, drowning, suffering.

There were life boats surrounding the broken city, life savers were handing out life jackets and loading people on to the boats. Soon all that was left of the city was rocks and glass, lifeless bodies lay still on the broken and tattered ground. Was this the end?...  

Coming Attractions

Our movies are finished and ready for their premiere at the Halsey Drive Film Festival. 

To get you excited we created the following trailers.

Coming Soon...

Here are our movie posters for the upcoming first ever Halsey Drive Film Festival

The Planets

For writing this week you are to choose one of the planets from the animated movie below. Describe your journey of landing on the planet, the odd inhabitants and the scenes you experience. 

The Planets from Handymartian on Vimeo.

The Stargazer

We have been working on describing settings using descriptive language. Check out the amazing examples below

The Stargazer by Gabrielle

Shiny, clear, transparent stars hung above me. I saw my reflection in the ice and my eyes shone on the aurora above. My camera stood there like a meerkat perched up on a rock peering into the universe. Lost in the milky way I felt my face soften as I gazed into the brightly coloured night sky.

The colours blue and purple had seemed to take over the sky. Yellow and orange started to overtake the horizon. Curved like a rainbow, the stars danced joyfully above me. I hoped this magical moment would never end.

The Stargazer by Dineesh

It was ice cold. My teeth were chattering, my hands were shivering. Was it worth coming out in the middle of the night? The frosty ice shone like a precious pearl undisturbed for years. ”Ahh” I gasped.

As I set up the camera the aurora shone like a field of diamonds. The aurora arched up like a rainbow dancing around in the sky, changing colours like a tree’s leaves through the seasons.  The sun started to wake from his slumber. After a blink of an eye the magical aurora had vanished.

The Stargazer by Charlotte

As I setup my gear I felt  vulnerable standing on the mirror-like ice. The aurora light reflected off the freezing cold ice. I looked in the telescope for a better view.  Glancing at the magnificent sky I realised that it was worth the risk standing on the thin slippery ice.

Looking back into the telescope the frosty wind brushed my face. The shimmery stone like ice reflected the blue galaxy. Purple lights framed the navy blue sky. The icy cold ground was filled with tiny sparkles from the reflection of the sky.

The Stargazer by Caleb

A beautiful sight took my breath away, the Aurora Borealis. Out on the slippery surface looking at this wonderful sight, the ice didn’t scare me at all. This sight was truly to die for. The sky lit up with colourful lights, pink, green, blue, and purple. The stars shimmered in the background giving a dazzling effect. The transparent ice reflected the light show like a mirror. The sun started to rise but the show went on. Slowly the lights faded away. Was it dawn already?

The Stargazer by Ella

The northern lights flickered and danced along the sky and a ray of stars twinkled and shone like gemstones. The ice that I was standing on was a shining mirror. The sky was mauve and it looked like a silky blanket covering the sky. I stood there mesmerised, enchanted by the lights. I didn't know how much time had passed and soon a moonbeam of yellow begin to shine “Is it dawn already?” This thought echoed in my mind as I stared out at the perfect star glinting peacefully as day started to come.

The northern lights flickered and danced along the sky and a ray of stars twinkled and shone like gemstones. The ice that I was standing on was a shining mirror. The sky was mauve and it looked like a silky blanket covering the sky. I stood there mesmerised, enchanted by the lights. I didn't know how much time had passed and soon a moonbeam of yellow begin to shine “Is it dawn already?” This thought echoed in my mind as I stared out at the perfect star glinting peacefully as day started to come.

Lightning Never Strikes Twice!

WALT - Describe a character’s thoughts and feelings using show not tell

Lightning never strikes twice, does it?

That was the question that occupied their frightened minds as they crouched, huddling together, next the pile of dusty sacks in the base of the windmill…

The two friends bit their fingernails. They shook and trembled as the windmill lit up with white light.

They had wide eyes that darted all around the room. Rats and mice scuttled across the floor taking cover from the rain, that was dripping down from the roof. The two boys huddled close to each other for warmth so they wouldn't be so cold.

Flashes of lightning brightened the sky as if somebody was holding a giant torch in the sky. Lightning formed a giant web of light and thunder boomed louder than ever. Thunder boomed over the windmill lowering the boy's spirits. The clouds grew darker by the second and the thunder got louder.

“We have to get out of here” said Bill, “we cant” Dan yelled over the thunder as he stared out the window. “Why not” Bill yelled “come look” Dan said in a sigh. Bill climbed up and looked out the window, there was rain lightning everywhere. The rain was too heavy, lightning was everywhere. They had nowhere to go  “C-c-can't we run” cried Bill “no,it … doesn't look like we can” Dan slowly explained.

By Michael

The Ghostly Shadow

In writing we described a scary setting. Emily and Joshua also used I-Movie as a creative way to publish their setting. Enjoy

The Ghostly Shadow by Emily D

The trees arms started moaning as the strong wind blew past. Branches reached their way through the misty fog like tentacles. The trees curved ahead creating a deep, dark, hallway. The glowing white fog danced between the twisted trees. A shadowy figure began to appear. The phantom unveiled himself from behind a thick blanket of mist.  

The Ghostly Shadow by Joshua L

The gnarled, twisted branches swayed overhead. A ghostly wail sounded, shaking the trees. They reached out with their arms, forming a canopy above. Shadows danced, disappearing and reappearing. Pale white fog slithered between the trees, obscuring vision. The curtain of fog chilled the air. A shadowy figure slowly stepped out from the wall of mist, striding closer and closer along the forbidden path.

Movie Character Descriptions

We wrote descriptions for some of our favourite movie characters.

Breaking Down

Breaking Down By Sara

WALT: Write a satisfying ending to a narrative

It was winter.

The thunder rumbling overhead seemed to taunt the young girl as she watched in horror while half of her home drifted away across the merciless, half-frozen sea.

She had awoken minutes earlier, disturbed from her sleep by the most appalling noise. It sounded as if a tree were being torn apart by giants, as if the Gods above were screaming at each other in a wild rage. She thought it was the end of the world. Perhaps it was. For her anyway.

In only her pyjamas, she stood on the edge of her ruined home, her toes dangling over the edge of the splintered floor, shivering in the harsh wind as it seemed to touch her skin like the kiss of some icy demon. She screamed at the top of her voice in despair and frustration, almost pleading with her frost-drenched surroundings to bring them back to her. She could see them. They were waving and shouting to her in return.

In front of her she could see the giant, drifting shards of ice, their edges sharp like Samurai swords. They knocked into each other as they were swept by the tide, reminding her of some cruel jigsaw that couldn’t be solved. She knew she could not reach them.

Her grief-stricken heart felt like a shattered window, she stared longingly at her family which the heartless sea had stolen. The thought pierced her heart like a shard of ice, she felt like her soul was shredded, all her happiness was gone, drifting far away with her family. The jigsaw of her life would always have a missing piece.

She looked at the jagged pieces of ice, wishing they would form a bridge and she sobbed, her tears crystallised, each one dropping on the frozen ground with a sad little “clink”. She felt numb and her hands were blue but it mattered very little to her, the family that she had was now gone she hated the future for it contained so much sorrow and questions. She felt like there was not a ray of hope left in her, all the optimism she ever had was now replaced by shadows of her past.

Thoughts of the past swirled in her mind like a tornado, the bittersweet memory of her mother's blissful smile and her brother’s playful grin when he played with her father made tears roll gently down her frost coated cheeks, she let one drop on her tongue, it tasted bitter like the her memories and her despair. The useless feeling in her made everything worse a mist of the future darkened her mind and filled her with regret. If only she had someone to comfort her, but she was alone and they would not come back.

The girl trudged in the knee deep snow with a sack slung over her shoulder.  The raw wind gnawed and whipped at her frozen cheeks, the joy in her life had left and the memories haunted her. The wind howled and snowflakes around her fell gently like a comforting hand on her shoulder. She knew there would be no help for her but she wanted to flee as far away from the house with the memories of her past. The journey was treacherous and she ran blindly in the blizzard, snow and wind beat down at her, the heavens had split open and all the terror was unleashed.

A cave loomed over her and the shadows flickered and danced, she rolled up in a ball and sobbed all her sorrow out, there was no hope in finding them and life would be empty. Days, weeks, months, YEARS past but the girl who was no longer a girl remained in the cave with no hope of reuniting with her family. Winter became the only season in her heart, the pain deepened until she could bare it no more.

The Volcano

WALT - Describe a setting using interesting language features

The Volcano by Kalani

Earth whimpered as the beastly dragon furiously awoke from years of concealing himself. “Crrr,crrr” roared the giant. Streams of burning red hot lava shot up in seconds, making blankets of heavy smoke clouds take over the night sky. Fiery thick coats of lava and ashes rapidly rushed down to the mountainside, making a path looking flow. As well as making destruction to the forest, his fiery rage caused chaos and frightened many.

Sudden lightning strikes struck, and patches of lava got scattered across the land. More loads of lava got tipped and slid down the mountainside, as if it was a recycling truck tipping rubbish into the back. Burnt tree leaves were broken and spread into a million tiny pieces on the ground. Rocks shot out at an amazing speed as they unexpectedly chased one another, and face planted far off into a distance. Finally the beast calmed down and hid again, and patiently waited for his next unwary volunteer.

The Volcano by Joshua L

The fiery beast awoke from its hibernation and shook the earth, as it tried to clear its head. Sizzling hot fire and lava burst through his back. The snow covering the beast vaporised. Thick streams of lava ran down his hard rocky back and burnt everything. Smoke billowed out like a blanket and darkened the sky.

Lightning crackled and thunder roared. The beast growled deeply, sending shock waves all over the land. Burning boulders rained down from the sky, illuminating the air. The once tranquil land, now destroyed by this terrifying beast.

The Volcano by Logan

The dragon awoke from his years of silent slumber and he starts to shake the earth.  Until the volcano had been dormant for many years. The volcano starts to erupt and then starts to devour everything in its way. Fire and lava all over the the mountain and villages and burning into flames. Then starts to burn all the house into ash and destroying everything in its path. The lava is also melting all the stone at the tip the mountain.Then lightning started to come and mack even more nose. Every ten seconds the lightning went off and went “bang, bang, boom !!!” like a huge firework display.

Landing on Mars

WALT – Describe a Setting

Many narratives/films begin by introducing the audience to the setting. The setting is when and where the action takes place. Some narratives begin by taking us straight into the action at a point when something interesting is about to happen. Use the video to help you set the scene of landing on Mars.