All Our Dolls

We finally made an All Our Dolls video after being n AGTube for more than a year!

Back row: Addy, Saige, Sonali

Front row: Emily, Josefina

Emily- She is a retired MYAG that my older sister and I both played with and traded playing with her and our #21 which we no longer own. We've had Emily for about ten years at this point! Even though she is the oldest doll we own, she has a pretty young and silly personality and she is actually slightly smaller than the rest of our dolls.

Addy- She was my second doll. I saved up for her for almost a year and was planning on buying Ivy but at the last minute I decided to by her because I loved reading her books so much.

Josefina- Our older sister bought Josefina around the time I got Addy and she didn't play with her much, so her hair was always silky. Our sister gave her to Jane for her 10th birthday.

Sonali- I bought Sonali in a time of my life where I had to deal with a lot of bullies. Even though Chrissa's story about bullying was a bit cheesy/stereotypical, I could sort of relate. Additionally, I'd never seen a doll quite like her and thought she was beautiful. 

Saige- Jane very badly wanted Saige for the whole year she was GOTY and our mom planned to get her for Jane for Christmas but it appeared that she wouldn't arrive in time. Fortunately, she arrived on Christmas Eve and was under the tree on Christmas morning.

The both of us share the dolls we own now because we make stop motion videos together. We are so grateful to own each one of these beautiful dolls!

Recommendations?

Though I don't at all regret owning any of these dolls, I would not recommend all of them. Sonali and Saige are the two I would recommend without hesitation. They have silky hair that is relatively easy to take care of and their faces completely light up on camera, making them extremely photogenic and life-like.

Addy is a wonderful, beautiful doll but her hair is very brittle and difficult to manage. I would recommend her to older girls and collectors.

Emily is a lovely, versatile doll who we've found can play a lot of characters easily. She is no longer available on American Girl but they do have similar dolls in the Truly Me collection.

There is something strange about Josefina face molds that doesn't look quite as lively on camera. She is a beautiful doll but I would not highly recommend her to people who want to make life-like stop motions. Additionally, her wig gets very thick and frizzy on the ends (I've seen this on multiple Josefina dolls).

Get the Look for Less! Melody

This Get the Look for Less video was really fun to make because Melody's collection hasn't come out yet, so I based the looks off of leaked photos and sneak peeks. It was also probably the hardest one of these videos I've made because of how complicated/unique some of her items are!
I'm so excited for Melody and her collection to be released because, well, it's about time! I can't believe how long it's taken for American Girl to come out with another historical doll of color. Who knows, maybe in a few years there will be a Girl of the Year who isn't white?
Click here to see the video!
To see more Get the Look videos, click here

My Entry for Rainy's SUPERMEGAAWESOME Contest!

I was so excited to enter this contest! I had filmed part of this video a few months ago (before school got super stressful) and I was really glad to come back to it. I gave myself some challenges for this video to make it more exciting and improve the quality. Here they are:
- Make more realistic sets
- Use each doll more times to make it look like there are more characters!
- (and in the coffee shop) moving the camera around in one take instead of changing angles
I think it turned out pretty well and I hope it encourages people to not give up when something doesn't work the first time!
The costume changes were ridiculous and I ended up with a huge pile of doll clothes next to me when the last scene was over :)
Click here to watch it!

Centertree Summer Plans 2016

We're back! The end of the school year was hectic and we were gone for the first part of the summer, but we're here and ready to get creative and film some awesome videos for you guys!

Here's the plan:
1. We are going to film more episodes for Elkwood Forest (so excited for that!) If you haven't seen the first episodes, click here for a link to the playlist.

2. We are going to continue the "Get the Look for Less" series where we make silly imitations of AG character collections. Make sure to let us know who you want to see us get the look for! Click here to see our "Get the Look for Less" videos.

3. We will be entering contests with fun videos we do on the side!

4. We would like to finally open up our Etsy shop where you could buy hand-stitched doll clothes from yours truly!

5.  We hope to do more fun collabs with AGSM International!

6. Also, we are planning a big surprise project that we can't wait to tell you all about! :)

Elkwood Forest is Back on Track!

Elkwood Forest is a series I have been really enjoying, but unfortunately, it got put on hold for a while. The reasons were that we got a lot of snow, that was mushy or icy, depending on the day and then when it melted, it was super muddy. Once, the ground was okay for filming, it was still super duper cold and I was sick, so spending hours in the cold didn't seem like a good idea. But now, finally, I'm not sick and yesterday the weather was perfect and I got to film!!! Yay!

In this episode, Hazel spends her first night in her tree home in Elkwood Forest. If you look closely, you'll see someone in the background (hmmm...could be important...). In the morning, she goes on a walk and meets her neighbor, Mrs. Glauchester, a woman who has lived in the forest all her life. She invites Hazel for tea the next day. And that's where we left off!
This was the first video that I filmed in the awesome tree piece I've been keeping a secret! I will probably put up a behind the scenes video to show you all how I made it.
Anyways, super excited about this video and the series :)
Click here to watch the second episode!
Or here to watch the playlist!

Get the Look for Less! Lea Clark

I filmed a crazy little video on a snow day and here it is! It is a parody video of the Get the Look for Less videos by beauty gurus. It's not making fun of them, just of how we can't actually get the look for less. Anyways it's just silly.
*One thing we did discover actually looked okay was using a small dog collar as a belt with big buckle (like hiking outfit).
Click here to watch the video!

February 2016

This year is already going by so fast! Where January even go? I have been really inspired lately though. I have spontaneously filmed little videos on snow days and weekends. It's been really nice. Additionally, I've been sewing a lot lately and really hope to make an etsy soon. That would be awesome. Also, we want to change  our YouTube name from centertree AGSM to centertree creations but I don't know if that would be complicated/confusing for subscribers.
Series Updates: Elkwood Forest has been on hold because of in-climate weather and me getting pretty sick. The combination of super wet, cold weather and sickness has not been good for outdoor filming. When it gets drier outside, I will definitely get back to filming that.
That's all for now! Stay tuned for some upcoming stopmotions :)

First Episode of Elkwood Forest!

It's finally here! After hours of set building, filming, freezing our hands off, editing, and adding voices and sound effects, I believe this is our best work yet. I've been so excited to share it with you guys, you have no idea.
This series tells the story of a girl named Hazel who makes a simple choice to explore, leading to all sorts of adventure. Check it out here!

We will be working on this series and a few other videos on the side, so keep your eyes out for those.

Elkwood Forest Trailer!

We had planned to wait until Tuesday, our regular posting day, but a big snow storm came and we thought it would be nice for people to be able to watch the trailer on their snow day! We are so proud of the trailer and the episode that's coming up soon. On our snow day, I've been working on a large set piece that I can't wait to use! I would tell you, but it should be a surprise :)
To see the trailer, click here!

Our Upcoming Series! (and other news)

    Oh my goodness! I cannot describe how excited I am about this series that we have begun working on. We have never done a series before, so it's really exciting. We have filmed almost all of the footage for the first episode, and I'd say it's our best work. There was so much planning behind every scene and we challenged ourselves to do more photos per second to improve the quality. I'm so excited for you guys to see the trailer, which should be posted by or before next Tuesday.
   This series has been on my mind for weeks, and I couldn't stop thinking about it. I brainstormed everyday about plot, characters, film tricks, and all that jazz. So much work and thought was put into it and I really hope that comes through.
    For this series, there will be a large set that we are currently building, and I can't tell you what it is because that would spoil part of the surprise, but it will be epic and I can't wait to finish it and start filming with it.
   Other news: An outfit that I ordered on eBay arrived recently and we filmed an opening video. It is the hiking outfit, which was retired from Pleasant Company in 1996, 20 years ago! It is the most adorable American Girl outfit I've ever seen. The quality is fantastic and honestly, I love everything about it. You will definitely be seeing this outfit in upcoming videos! Here are some photos.

Headphone Hack for Stopmotionstudio

We recently discovered a great hack for making smoother and easier stop motion videos with the stopmotionstudio app. If you plug in the headphones with the plus and minus feature into your phone or ipod, you can use the - and + buttons to take pictures!
How this is helpful:
1. You no longer have to press the red button on the screen, causing the device to shake slightly
2. You can take pictures without walking back to your device. Simply step out of the picture and press the button on the headphones
3. It makes the whole process quicker and smoother

Click here to see our video about this hack.

School After the Holidays

Sadly, winter break has come to an end. It will mean more schedules, busy days, and less time to make videos. I have so many video ideas that I want to try out and am excited to film them despite the busy times ahead. I'm also getting the hang of a more balanced uploading schedule. During break, we posted three videos within 7 days, but I hope to settle to a more consistent schedule. I feel inspired and challenged to make this work even though time will be tight. Stay tuned!