Lesson Diary
Monday 8th - Friday 12th February 2021 - Beginning FMP
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During this week I started on my final major project, writing up my initial ideas, explaining their pros and cons and detailing the various ways in which they were feasible and unfeasible. In the end I settled on my idea one which was a to create a film campaign (three posters, two ads) that promoted the storyline of an old man (Nic) facing Alzheimer's and his journey to completing a memoir of his life before his mind deteriorates and eventually leads to his death. In my initial ideas I also wrote about the inspirational and theoretical context which aided my creative decision for forming each idea. Lastly, I listed the skills I would need to develop for each idea and then stated the pros and cons too.
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Once I completed my initial ideas, I then moved onto my proposal which I broke down into:
Rationale, writing this helped me reflect upon my media course as a whole, detailing the skills and interests I had developed, more specifically explaining my reasoning for choosing a to create collection of film posters for my FMP.
Project concept, writing this helped me reflect upon what research I will need to complete for my FMP and my inspirations for my film concept and graphic designers. It also allowed me to explain my visual concepts for each design and their relevancy to the narrative and target audience. I added poster examples to show the style of initial visual too.
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Evaluation, writing this helped me clarify the ways in which I will document my progression throughout this project and how I will evidence my successes and failures.
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Strategies, writing this helped me briefly explain my strategies for my project and explaining the restrictions I face (and others) from the COVID-19 lockdown in the UK and how it has impacted my creative process as a whole throughout my course.
Monday 22nd - Tuesday 23rd February 2021 - Feedback
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In these lessons I received feedback from my supervisor and he explained how I needed to improve upon my proposal by adding images of my referenced film inspirations to make my blog look more visually enticing. I was also told to elaborate on my three poster designs and the ways in which I will convey different parts of my narrative through the visuals and typography. After receiving this feedback I added the improvements on my blog, describing in detail my three poster concepts, and referencing my symbolism and reasoning behind each one, specifying how each related to a certain target audience. Before doing this I researched into different types of film posters I could create to help me develop my initial ideas. In the end I stetted on the character type, minimalist type and typography type as they were unique in their presentation and helped me envision three separate stylised poster designs.
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Wednesday 24th - Friday 26th February 2021 - Feedback and beginning of research
In Wednesday's lesson I received feedback from my teacher on my proposal and he explained how he wanted me to improve it by discussing why I chose to make film posters for my FMP, elaborate on the layout and design poster types, research into designers I like, include five posters not three, question if I could create my FMP for live clients e.g filmmakers who need posters and lastly, consider the scope of the FMP by possibly expanding upon the graphic design element of a DVD cover, ad etc. I will be adding improvements to this feedback continuously across the week.
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In Thursday and Friday's lesson I began my research into audience theory and historical/theoretical influences on film posters as I wanted to understand more about how colour psychologically impacts a viewer/audience members and the ways in which theorists in the past have viewed the influence of posters on audiences. These sources will be a helpful form of research towards my presentation as I will be able to link them into my contextual thinking when targeting the viewers of my media products. I also received guidance from my supervisor upon how I should develop my research for my presentation. To process his feedback I broke it down into three bullet points shown below:
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- Research into critical perspectives on film poster designs
- Research Graphic designers that develop and inspire my initial ideas
- Research examples of historical and theoretical context throughout and how they impact my development
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Monday 1st - Thursday 4th March 2021 - Presentation, Research and Feedback
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In Monday and Tuesday's lessons I came up with three ways in which I could showcase my presentation e.g one being a pitch, the second being a video essay and the third being a poster. After weighing out the pros and cons of each I decided on the pitch presentation as I already had experience in making one and thought it was the most straightforward and professional format to create. After this I then researched into audience theory a bit more to broaden my knowledge on the topic and created a pen portrait of my target audience to give clear evidence of my audience theory.
The process of evaluating my presentation formats and also my added research into audience theory went well and was useful in helping me develop my idea and plan my presentation. I have now learned that it is important to weigh out the pros and cons of my ideas because it helps me clearly clarify which format is best for my task, as doing it for my presentation was very usual in allowing me to reflect upon the ways in which I could interpret and present my idea. I now know for future projects, that creating a pros and cons is successful when I am unsure of how I should decide on a set format/task.
In Wednesday's lesson, after I completed my research I moved onto making my presentation; each slide was created on Photoshop and then displayed on a slideshow using the website Behance. I broke down my presentation into seven parts:
1. Covered my initial ideas and how I would make them
2. Detailed my chosen idea being a film campaign and what I will need in order to create it
3. Narrative of which my film campaign will represent // breaking it down into three acts
4. Graphic design inspirations
5. Colour and Audience theory research, evidenced with quotes and charts
6. Five visual sketches of my film campaign (drawn on Illustrator)
7. Lastly, Research I need to develop and ambitions
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The process of creating my presentation went well as I had experience in using Behance and breaking it down into seven parts allowed me to develop my ideas clearly whilst also giving relevant evidence of my research.
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In Thursday's lesson I presented my presentation to my supervisor and he gave me the following feedback:
Instead of having my project be a 'film campaign' I should turn it into a EPK (Electronic Press Kit) as this will allow me to broaden my final major project because I can market it as a package of film advertisement by including not only posters and ads but also still images of the film too, making it a more conclusive and accessible. After hearing this feedback I will now title my future work for this project as an 'EPK' and can research into this form of advertising to better the outcome of my own work and learn more about this type of media product.
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Monday 8th March - Friday 12th March 2021 - EPK and Software Research
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During this week, my supervisor advised me to use the 'Gibbs Reflective Cycle' as an evaluation technique to apply to my research and diary. I will continue to utilise this technique when reflecting upon my progression throughout this project. ​
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Describe: In this week I began my research into Electronic Press Kits (EPK), looking into what they consists of and understanding how I could approach making my own for this project. To start off, I began by gathering secondary resources which stated the different elements that a EPK is made up of, such as a synopsis, cast biography, posters, promo shots etc. After understanding the foundations of making a press kit, I then looked at examples and then used them as inspiration to create a rough draft of my EPK. Before I could make my draft I had to watch a tutorial on Youtube which allowed me to understand the basics of using the software InDesign, as I had already decided I wanted to use this as the format for make my press kit on. Once I watched the tutorial I made my rough EPK draft, this will act as a template for me until I develop my research further into designing my promo shots and posters.
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Feelings: I feel this weeks research went quite well, as I was able to gain and grasp a better understanding into how I can make my EPK. I felt more comfortable in terms of flexibility for this project, as seeing the diversity of content and designs in other peoples press kits gave me more clarity in knowing that I have lots of freedom in terms of layout when crafting my EPK. I also found making a rough EPK template on InDesign gave me more confidence in using the software and helped me process my initial interpretations of what content I want to include and how I will present it in my press kit. ​
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Evaluation: The most useful part of this research I felt was reading the articles that explained the types of content featured in Electronic Press Kits, this is because the sources I looked at were clear as they broke down the content into bullet points making it easy for me to understand. However, there was a lack of EPK examples I could look at online, many were blocked due to copyright issues and the ones I found were quite basic in design. The tutorial I followed which showed me the basics of using InDesign was a successful source to utilise as it gave me more confidence in using that software for when I design my EPK.
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Analysis: The secondary sources I used as research were all round very useful, as they have helped me develop my project by giving me insight into how I can construct my press kit to a professional standard and allowed me to expand my hard skills in learning InDesign. ​
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Conclusion: To conclude, this first part of my research taught me that it is vital to look at more than one secondary source before approaching the production of a product/draft, this is because, I found the most useful part of this research was reading through the four diverse articles as they showed me the different content I can include in my press kit, and overall it gave me more insight into how I can create my own, which helped me form my draft. One of the things I could have done differently this week when beginning my research is asking for feedback on my drafted EPK, as this could help me develop and evolve my second draft, improving my layout and design.
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Action plan: In order for me to progress and learn from this week's research into EPK designs and InDesign software, I will make sure to continue to look at various types of secondary sources to give me more scope into my future research topics. I will also make sure I ask for feedback frequently to help me develop the quality of my work.
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Monday 15th March - Friday 19th March - Historical and Cultural Research, Inspiration & Influences and Feedback
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Describe: During week I began my research into the historical and cultural background of graphic design and looked at inspirational designers and how their work was influenced historically. I also created design mockups which were inspired by the artists I researched, to create these mockups I followed tutorials on Youtube, which showed me how to make certain effects that were similar in style to my inspirations.
To begin this research I read an in depth article which dissected graphic design into the following seven movements/eras; Art Nouveau, Bauhaus, Art Deco, Swiss Design, Pop Art, Poster-modernism and Digital Age. Researching into the historical context of the craft helped teach me about the different periods and how they each revolutionised graphic design and made it what it is today. As I reflected upon each movement I became strongly inspired by the Swiss Design and Post-modernism movements and thought it would be beneficial for me to create mockup poster designs inspired by these two eras to show their creative impact on my initial design ideas. I made two visual mockups on Photoshop and annotated the final designs to show the details behind the images I chose and their reference to representing my film's narrative. I also attended the BFI Future Film Festival during this week, this was to help me see how the BFI promoted their short films in order for me to develop my ideas on how I feel I should present my EPK visually.
After I completed my historical and cultural research I moved onto my inspirations and influences and researched into the following artists; Art Director Steve Reeves, Photographer Alfred Stieglitz, Graphic Designer Saul Bass and the Graphic Designer/Illustrator Akiko Stehrenberger. I discussed how each of the artists inspired me in terms of their graphic design style and then started to create mockup poster designs which were heavily influenced by the artists example work I referenced. To create these mockups I followed Youtube tutorials online which created similar effects to the styles of each artist. For these mockups I used Photoshop to create the designs for my Steve Reeves, Alfred Stieglitz and Akiko Stehrenberger inspired posters and used Illustrator for my Saul Bass inspired poster. As I made these designs I asked for feedback from my supervisor and he said I should create more than one draft for some of them and compare them. I took his advice and compared my redrafts and designs to my artists example work, stating the differences and similarities between my mockups and my inspirations. Lastly, I reflected upon each of my poster designs using the Gibbs Reflective Inspiration.
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Feelings: I feel my research this week was very successful as I learnt a lot about graphic design as a craft and was able to utilise my historical/cultural research into practical tests and designs by creating mockups. I feel the historical and cultural research gave me more insight and understanding into how certain periods influence one another and how I can combine and apply those different eras into my own work, which gives me more opportunity to develop my visual techniques and style. Attending the BFI Future Film Festival was a unique experience as I was able to see how films are promoted through virtual setting, instead of seeing it typically in person (this was all due to the COVID-19 restrictions). I feel analysing the festival through a marketing lens gave me more insight as to how I can approach my EPK. Moving onto my influences and inspiration research, I felt drawing from a diverse group of artists and crafting my own interpretations of their designs vastly helped me broaden my conceptual ideas for my poster designs and promo shots. This is because I was able to reflect upon their unique styles and search for tutorials on Youtube which not only helped me form feasibly form these ideas but also develop my hard skills in using Photoshop and Illustrator too. I also feel the feedback I received from my supervisor was helpful as my second designed mockups allowed me to improve upon my interpretation of the styles I was drawing influence from. Overall, I feel content with how this week turned out and believe it has been my most productive and useful so far.
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Evaluation: The most useful part of my research was creating my second mockups for my inspirations and influences research. Making these designs gave me the chance to broaden my graphic design style by exploring and testing techniques from other artists and incorporating them into visuals that conveyed the narrative of my film. I was also able to learn more about typography effects on Illustrator, colour grading on Photoshop and generally expand upon my graphic design knowledge and experience all of which will help improve and prepare me for the production of my final promo shots and poster designs for my EPK. In terms of negatives when evaluating this week, I do feel I focused too much on the historical movements of graphic design and discussed certain topics which drifted away from the designing aspect of the craft.
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Analysis: The secondary sources I looked after for both parts of my research were generally all useful. As I said, the only one which diluted my focus on layout and design concepts into graphic design was the historical and cultural article. However, it was still beneficial in giving me insight into understanding the evolution of graphic design and influenced me to create two mockups inspired by past eras. All of the mockups were successful in allowing me to expand my graphic design style and the important part was that I was able to figure out new techniques, effects and general ways of conveying the narrative of my film through still images/poster concepts.
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Conclusion: To conclude, the first part of my research was effective as it helped me focused on my contextual knowledge in understanding the history of graphic design and how I can apply design convections from previous movements into my visual designs for my promo shots and posters, which will be used in my EPK. The second part was very useful as I focused on my practical techniques by interpreting different graphic styles and figuring out ways of representing my film's narrative through the scope of other graphic artists work. I finalised this research by evaluating the outcome of my practical work and seeing how I will progress and apply my new experience/knowledge to further develop my future research. If I were to do anything differently, I would evidence my stages of making my first two mockups for my historical and cultural research as I feel it would have fleshed out the development of my ideas. However, I dam unable to show my production of these mockups as I accidentally deleted the
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Action plan: In order for me to learn from this week's research, I will make sure to always give evidence of my production when creating effects, mockups etc. Although I did this for my 'inspired by' designs I was unable to do it for my historical and cultural designs due to an accidental deletion. I will make sure in future to record my progression as I go along incase any files go missing or get deleted. Lastly, I will continue to focus on my practical skills and utilise tutorials to advance my technical skills, such as lighting and camera work.
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Monday 22nd March - Friday 26th March - Camera and Lighting Techniques & Font test​
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Describe: During this week, I researched into camera and lighting techniques. I first began by gathering secondary research online through watching a video essay on composition within a photograph, this essay gave me tips on how I should prep my framing in production when taking photographs for my posters and promo shots. I then moved onto lighting techniques and read an in depth article on the 'three point lighting system', which I tested out myself using a small LED and lightbulbs. This test was unsuccessful as I did not like the outcome of the lighting setup, however it did allow me to realise that I want to mainly photograph using natural light in the production of my shots. The article then discussed the difference between 'hard lighting' and 'soft lighting', I tested out hard lighting using a large LED source. I found this setup too overpowering and decided to use practical lighting instead, which I will create using a lamp. After I completed my lighting tests and came to the conclusion that I will only use natural and practical light in my poster shots/promo shots, I realised I hadn't done font tests using Photoshop. I then went onto Photoshop, selected four fonts I liked, tested them out by typing the 'Hippocampus' film title using each font. Once I tested the fonts, I then analysed them and chose two I liked which were 'Big Caslon' and 'Athelas', as they were simple, formal and had a 'drama genre' look to them.
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Feelings: I feel my research into camera and lighting techniques was successful as I was able to learn how to compose a frame which will benefit me in terms of production, as I now know what to take into account when planning the different elements of my photographs. I also feel learning different types of lighting setups and testing them was very helpful as it gave me the chance to decide what lighting types I want to use for the production of my promo shots and poster shots for my EPK. The font test I feel also went well as I found two different fonts on Photoshop which I can incorporate into both my poster designs and also the description parts of my EPK.
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Evaluation: The most useful part of my research was testing the lighting types as I now know I want to only use natural and practical light for the production of my promo/poster shots. The other really useful part of this week's research was testing the font types on Photoshop, as I feel more organised and prepared towards approaching post-production (although I have not yet completed my production, the main part of my project that I will be focusing on is post and the font type is hugely important when focusing on the design aspect of my project). The least useful part of this week's research was the camera technique research, although it was helpful in giving me tips on how to compose a shot, I feel the advice was quite vague and hoped it would be more direct and specific with camera technique pointers.
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Analysis: The secondary sources I utilised for this week's research were all useful. As I said previously, the only source which lacked in offering me in-depth research was the video essay on camera techniques, however it was not solely useless as it did give me some insight into how I can compose a photograph through simple techniques such as to make sure I 'get my position right', try 'blurring my vision' and watch for 'the edges' of the frame. All of my lighting tests turned out useful as I was able to broaden my knowledge in lighting and decide the setups I want to utilise in production. The same goes for my font test, it was useful because it helped me decide what fonts I want to use in the post-production of my project.
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Conclusion: To conclude, I learnt lots more about lighting techniques, camera techniques and font types which I can not only continue to use in this project, but also carry through in future projects. The only thing I would have done differently for this week's research would be to find another secondary source on camera techniques, as I found the video essay I used did not give me enough insight, and I was also unable to test any camera techniques using the tips they gave. ​
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Action plan: In order for me to learn from this week's research, I will make sure I utilise the knowledge I have gained and follow through with my chosen lighting setups and font types.
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Monday April 5th - Friday 9th April - Pre-production documents/costume/casting/props/equipment​
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Describe: During this week, I completed my pre-production documents which consisted of a risk assessment, model release forms and location recces. It was vital I write up these forms as they are a huge part of the legal process before I delve into the production. After I completed these forms, I moved onto the development of my EPK plans, I started by making my final decision on the software I want to use for the post-production of my poster designs and promo shots, which is Photoshop as I felt it was the program I am most confident in using and all the desired effects, fonts and colour grades I want to create are available to me on Photoshop.
I then moved onto developing my EPK plans by changing the characters in the narrative of Hippocampus. The only change I made was instead of having both the elder and younger version of the protagonist be shown in the visual designs in the EPK, I felt it was more important for me to include the carer character. In the end I decided to have the actor of the younger version of Nic Alcott play the carer instead. I then adapted the carer character from a female to a male and named him Allen West instead of the previous name, Lili West.
After I wrote up the narrative/character development I moved onto the costume plans for my characters, Nic Alcott and Allen West. I used colour theory in my costume plan to incorporate the character's personalities in their clothing e.g Nic Alcott wears a dark blue jumper to symbolise his despair, worry and vulnerability as this colour has connotations to those emotions. Allen West wears a dark green jumper to symbolise his honest and empathetic personality, and this colour has connotations to the themes of naturalness and comfort. After completing the costume plans, I moved onto the casting process, this was easy as I already knew I would be able to have my father (Paul) model as Nic Alcott and have my friend Dutch model as Allen West for the poster shots/promo shots.
Once I wrote up my casting of the characters I moved onto the prop and equipment stages of my planning. For the prop I chose a typewriter and discussed how it will be featured in my visual designs because it symbolises the themes of literature in the film, as well as showing the main focus of the plot, which follows the characters as they try to complete Nic's memoir together using the typewriter. For the equipment stage of my planning, I tested two cameras (Canon and Sony) both of which were loaned out from my college. I also added two test shot examples to compare the two. I evaluated the pros and cons of using the cameras and decided to choose both for the production of my visuals.
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Feelings: Overall, I am very happy with the amount of work I completed this week. I feel much more prepared for both production and post-production of my visual design and EPK. Completing the pre-production documents has made me feel relived as I am legally all covered to start production. The development of the characters and narrative has made me more confident in going forward with the project as I have settled on deciding which ones will be included in my visuals designs and EPK. I am also glad I sorted out the casting, costume and props as they are huge part of my progression within my visual designs and have allowed me to breakdown the different elements which will be included in my designs. Lastly, I feel satisfied with my equipment test and my choice of cameras, as I know they are at a professional standard and can help me increase the quality of shots for my visuals.
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Evaluation/Analysis: The planning I completed over the course of this week was very useful as all I have left to complete for my pre-production is my storyboard sketches of my visual designs.
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Conclusion: To conclude, I am satisfied with the outcome of my work this week as it had allowed me to be prepared for the start of my storyboard, which will lead me onto the production. I believe my legal documents are to a good standard and cover all the legal requirements I need to meet. I also believe my plans for my characters, costume, casting etc. are clearly presented on my blog and cover all the developments I wanted to finalise.
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Action plan: For next week, I will be moving onto creating the storyboard for my visual designs and then start the production of taking the photographs for my designs. ​​
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Monday 12th April - Friday 16th April - Storyboard of Visual Designs & Production
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Describe: I began this week sketching my poster concepts and then labelled them with lighting details, framing type, text layout etc. I then sketched my promo shot concepts and annotated them too to help me breakdown my vision for the designs. Once I completed making the storyboard, I uploaded it onto my blog and wrote some information on each sketch then moved onto production. To start production, I loaned out two cameras from my college which I tested previously last week, one was a Canon and the other was a Sony. I then organised my actor/model Dutch Loveridge on the Tuesday and Wednesday to shoot at his home. This is where I took both his character poster shots and promo shots (as I was borrowing his typewriter for the promo shots). After I successfully completed taking Dutch's photographs and the promo shots, I organised with my father (Paul) to take his photos on the Thursday and Friday at home during the daytime. I initially wanted to spend one or two more days extra taking the photograph's of my father modelling as Nic Alcott, however his schedule became busy due to work. Once I captured all the poster shot, promo shots and additional content I uploaded them onto my Mac book and organised the shots into 'poster images' and 'promo shots' then put them into folders under 'usable' and 'unusable' to pick and choose which ones I wanted to edit in post.
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Feeling: I feel this week was quite successful, I sketched my storyboard and ​captured the shots I wanted all in the five days I scheduled. I liked seeing my storyboard ideas come to life when taking the photographs for both my poster designs and promo shots. I am also very satisfied with my chosen models/actors as both Paul and Dutch were patient with my requests and captured the dramatic expressions and emotions I envisioned for their characters. Overall, when I was reflecting upon all my footage I was satisfied with the outcome as I got all the shots I planned/sketched out and knew that after organising the shots I was prepared to start post-production.
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Evaluation: The best experience that came from my work this week was photographing my actors/models and capturing the promo shots. This is because I was able to photograph using practical lighting with a lamp for my promo shots and the Allen West poster shots. I was also able to photograph using natural lighting for my Nic Alcott poster shots. I found adjusting the cameras to the different lighting types taught me lots about working in the moment and being able to learn practically by developing those hard camera skills on set. This for me has been the most enjoyable and beneficial experience this week because I now feel more comfortable in being able to utilise and adapt the camera to my advantage no matter the lighting type. Moving on, an experience this week which I was initially anxious about was having only two days to shoot with my father modelling as Nic, as I hoped to take extra shots on the weekend with him incase I need to reshoot anything but due to his work schedule he was not able to. However, it turned out all okay because I dealt wtih this issue by making sure I photographed more shots than planned and I did eventually ended up with enough content when organising my footage.
Analysis: Overall, I believe it was a good decision for me to plan out my poster shots/promo shots in a storyboard form, as I tend to work visually and feel making the storyboard acted a helpful guide and foundation to work from when in production, as I reverted back to it often when photographing to constantly draw from my plans. I also believe it was a good decision for me to use both the Canon and Sony camera, as it broaden my experience in using different camera setting layouts and learning how I could manipulate the camera shots through changing the settings such as aperture, white balance etc. was all round beneficial in helping me gain more knowledge in using more than one camera on set.
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Conclusion: To conclude, I am relieved I completed the full planning of my project (storyboard) and the production all in this one week, whilst in time with my schedule. I am also relieved to have captured shots that depict my rough envisionment of my poster deigns and promo shots, as with previous projects in the past I have sometimes struggled to photograph my ideas closely to my plan. Fortunately, this time it worked out quite well as I feel my research into graphic designers, photographers etc. and testing their styles paid off because it out allowed me to develop the dramatic style/tone of my film's narrative through my images.
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Action plan: Next week I will be crafting the 'usable' poster shots and promo shots into my visual designs for my EPK. I will also be sketching a draft of my press kit, much like how I planned out a storyboard for my visual designs.
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Monday 19th April - Friday 23rd April - Post-production of Visual Designs & EPK Sketch
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Describe: At the beginning of this week I started the post-production designs of my film posters using Photoshop. To evidence and document my process I screen recorded myself editing the shots, adding the colour grade, text etc. I first began experimenting with making two unplanned poster designs using extra shots I had taken of my father modelling as Nic Alcott. These did not work and I ended up titling them as 'unsuccessful poster designs'. Although these were not planned I thought it would be good for me to try something spontaneous and see if I could create a new designs from scratch using my excess content. As these designs did not end up working I moved on and created my planned/storyboarded poster designs which were thankfully successful. I first one I made was the Nic Alcott poster, this did not take me very long as making the sepia colour grade, layout of images and text were simple to create and I reverted back to the tutorials I watched from my research incase I forgot how to create certain effects. The second poster I made was my joint character one which featured both characters Nic Alcott and Allen West. This poster took the longest as I struggled to layout the text and images the way I wanted. I also struggled to create a sepia colour grade I was satisfied with on this poster design. I then began editing the third poster design of Allen West, this was my favourite poster out of all three because I felt it looked most accurate to my sketched storyboard and also had a professional feel to it. The Allen West poster went smoothly in terms of the editing, the sepia colour grade complimented the practical lighting in the main shot and the double exposure images of the typewriter masked well together in the background. After I created my drafted poster designs I moved onto ediitng my promo shots. This process was very simple as I imported the shots onto Photoshop, created a sepia colour grade using the 'hue and saturation' layer and then copied that colouring onto each shot.
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Lastly, I sketched out my EPK plan in a storyboard style. I feel this will help me be prepared for when I begin the post-production of my press kit using InDesign, as I now have a foundation to work from.
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Feeling: Overall, I am happy that I was able to complete a draft of each of my poster designs/promo shots and EPK sketch within my schedule. I feel the editing process of my visual designs as a whole went quite smoothly, the only problem I faced was having to sort out my full disk cache on Photoshop, (I have discussed this in more detail on my problem solving page but ended up solving the issue by clearing out some of my storage). Reflecting upon my designs I do feel they could be improved although I am unsure what improvements I could add. To get a clearer idea of how I could develop my designs I will make sure to get feedback from my supervisor next week. Finally, I am satisfied with my rough sketch of my EPK as I have a clear understanding of how I want to be laid out and will create it next week.
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Evaluation/Analysis: The most useful experience I gained from this week's work was learning the importance of planning. I had this realisation after reflecting upon all my film posters and realised that my devised designs were the successful ones because I had thought out the framing, text positioning and layout of the visuals which made it easier to create when in post-production. Now coming to this conclusion, I am more confident that having sketched out my EPK plan this week, as it will help me when approaching the post-production of creating it next week. The least useful part of this week was my attempt to create two spontaneous poster designs as they added nothing towards my progression and wasted my time.
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Conclusion: To conclude, I am relieved that I completed my first draft of my poster designs and promo shots all within my deadline for this week. I'm also glad I recorded my post-production process as this helps evidence the progress of my work. I'm also satisfied with my EPK sketch and feel it will help guide my through post-production next week. If I had time to change anything from this week I would have created a really rough EPK from my sketch using InDesign, as I feel this would have helped me refresh my memory in using the software and evidence a stronger planning strategy towards approaching my EPK post-production.
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Action plan: Next week I will get feedback on my visual designs from my supervisor and add his improvements. I will also begin my EPK using InDesign, for this I will draw from my sketch storyboard I made this week.
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Monday 26th April - Monday 10th May - Visual Design Redrafts // EPK // Feedback & Final touches
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The following Gibbs Reflective Cycle covers two weeks worth of work:
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Describe: For this diary entry I will be covering the past two weeks which have led me to my completion of my EPK. In the first week, I began by getting feedback on my visual designs from my supervisor, he gave me specific details such as adding credits to each of my film posters, make the sepia colour grade on my promo shots less intense etc. To record the process of improving my visual designs, I wrote up my supervisor's feedback and then screen-shotted each stage of my development. I also had side by side comparison images between the original and my redraft. I did this for both my poster designs and promo shots. Once I added his first lot of feedback I moved onto creating my press kit. Making my press kit was very simple, I reflected upon my sketch to design the slides/pages and also reverted back to my research page to freshen my memory on basic InDesign techniques that I needed to utilise throughout my post-production process of the EPK.
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In the second week, I asked for feedback from my supervisor on my EPK draft as a whole, again he gave me detailed feedback such as making sure I, add a funding page, add an awards page, try having only the film posters feature the sepia colour grade, try out the promo shots in a black and white colour grade etc. To breakdown his feedback I put them into sections e.g colour grade feedback, visual design feedback and EPK layout feedback, although all of it goes under the umbrella of my press kit feedback as it applies to my final product. After taking on all of his feedback I gradually over the course of the week completed all his improvements and evidenced it through screenshots with notes on my process.
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Feeling: Overall, I feel I should have been more organised in allowing myself more time for my final redrafts as I ended up being two days behind schedule. However, I am glad I was able to add all my improvements using my feedback, as I did try to develop my EPK as much as a could and I feel it has paid off because my final EPK design looks a lot more professional and developed compared to my original draft, as it includes further information about the 'film', has better visual designs and is presented in an aesthetically organised and stylised layout.
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Evaluation: The best experience I had over these past two weeks when working on this project was finalising the details in my press kit and seeing it come together as a final body of work. I found this last stage of the process satisfying and somewhat cathartic as I was able to digest all the different visual elements and written information I had researched and created then finally conclude it by tweaking the last details using my final set of feedback. The only bad experience I faced during this two week period was struggling with time. As I was already two days behind schedule I had to slightly rush the final touches to my EPK, however I did get them done just in time with my deadline.
Analysis: Overall, I am very relieved to have completed the post-production of this project and have finished my EPK. Although these last two weeks have been time constricting, I forced myself to add the finishing touches and gather last minute feedback from my supervisor to develop my EPK further. I am glad I took on all of his feedback and added the improvements because I can see the progress when reflecting upon my final outcome compared to my other redrafts.
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Conclusion: To conclude, I learnt over these past two weeks that it is important for me to keep preserving and constantly develop my work and by asking for frequent feedback it has allowed me to improve the quality and outcome of my press kit. I also am glad I used InDesign as the software to edit my EPK on as I not only broaden my graphic design skills by learning a new software, but also found it was easy to adapt to and accessible to navigate. If I were to change anything about my work process within the last two weeks, I wish I would have made time to present my EPK to a handful of people of all ages and do a questionnaire asking them what they felt of the presentation of the film?, what genre they thought it would fit into? and whether they would want to watch the film?. If I collected this primary research I would have had a better understanding of my EPK's scope in terms of its marketing and audience.
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Action plan: As I have now completed my planning, production and post-production for this project, I will next be writing up my evaluation (due 13th May), once this is complete I will have finished my FMP.
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