Responsive: Propercorn Brief Breakdown

I have settled on applying my skills to the Propercorn brief from YCN. The reason for this being that apart from my love of popcorn the brief is quite inviting. Firstly, it appeals to people around my age, which is good as this should help me connect with the audience on a maturity level. The company itself appears to be quite fun and I think much enjoyment will be possible whilst designing a new campaign for them. Finally the brief itself is quite open which will allow me to think a bit differently in my concept work and development of ideas.

What is the brief problem?
How can they creatively bring to life the ethos of ‘done properly’ to the customer?

What is being asked to be done about the problem?
They want to engage with their customers (and new customers) more. They want to be the talk of the town with ‘opinion formers’ and the ‘culturally savvy’.

What is the brief trying to achieve?
They want to challenge the status quo. They want to seem hip and edgy with these young people who love popcorn.

What is the message?
Their popcorn is hip and trendy. It can be eaten as a snack. If you’re a busy, healthy, culturally savvy person - this snack is for you!

Who are the audience?
Opinion formers, young professionals, 20-35y/o’s. Time poor, urban health conscious, culturally savvy and appreciate the arts. Naturally appeals to women but isn’t driven by it.

How will the message be delivered?
The brief is quite open and they encourage different presentation methods such as an illustrated animation, extended narrative of pack design or by revolutionising corner shops.

Who will benefit?
The company. Young people who don’t want to feel guilty for eating popcorn. Snackers. People with busy lives. Health conscious people. Women.

Can you foresee any problems?
Although the brief is quite open, which is a good thing, the lack of restrictions could be problematic. Where do I go with it? Should I attempt to drastically change what has been before? 

Thought Bubble: Power Rangers Screen Print

Today I had my re-induction into screen printing. I was going to work on my Printed Pictures brief for OUIL 504 but due to my own failure to manage my workload correctly in that area I didn't have a suitable piece ready. However I had been working on a Green Power Ranger piece in my spare time last week for Thought Bubble 2014 so decided to use that.

Initially the screen printing went well in terms of set up, exposure and paint colour, then I came to do the second screen colour and realised that I hadn't placed markers on my colour layers. This resulted in me having to guess slightly where certain layers would land. Still, of the 10 screens produced, one came out well. This is something I need to be aware of in the future.

Using the screen that worked I edited it on Photoshop to have a worn effect similar to what memorabilia from the 90's would presumably look like today. This is quite in keeping with the spirit of 'collective culture' often seen at such conventions so I am quite pleased with the outcome. I plan to mass print these digitally for the Thought Bubble event.

Moving Pictures: Initial Concept

Here is an abandoned frame for my initial 48-60 frame animation. I have decided not to go further with this as it is too literal. The problem I face is that the themes of consumerism and manufacture are too obvious, I need to step back and consider making these themes a bit more intangible, perhaps.

After Effects Workshop: Introduction

Having been ill again last week I missed the introduction session of After Effects. Needless to say I was a bit overwhelmed today, I didn't have much of an understanding of the software despite watching some tutorials at home. However, I feel I more than made up for my absence and consider myself to be caught up in most of the After Effects topics discussed thus far. These include; opening a new composition, importing images, rotating objects, adding motion and saving all my work into a single folder.

I found myself enjoying After Effects a lot by the end of session and left having created this wondrous visual of a fat man falling out of a blimp:

In the evening at home I watched a youtube clip about how to render the clip and export it correctly. I chose to export it as JPEG files from which I made a .gif.

Hyde Park Picture House: Scott Pilgrim Poster

Over the weekend I created my entry for the Hyde Park Picture House poster competition. I went into the brief aware that I wanted to work quickly due to my heavy workload in other areas so I immediately ruled out drawing of any kind. Instead I focused on collage, an area that I have been interested in since Visual Language last year. I began by collecting a series of images from the already existing Scott Pilgrim Movie campaign.

From these images I sketched out a few ideas for poster designs, my favourite being a design that calls back to a wrestling event poster with characters on either side of a 'vs' symbol.

I then made a rough collage of images within Photoshop and refined from there; playing with size, colour, halftone etc. The development for this can be viewed below:

As stated above, I chose to make this a quick response, however despite of this, I am very happy with the outcome and hope to at least come in the top 5 finalists.

Thought Bubble: Leeds College of Art Short Course Postcard

Today I submitted my postcard entry to raise awareness of Leeds College of Arts' Short Courses at the Thought Bubble Comics Festival 2014.

I considered this to a relatively simple and open brief (being 'design a postcard for the college to encourage people to take our short courses). With that in mind I didn't want to invest too much of my time into the design when I have more pressing matters to attend to, so gave myself a day to make these.

I began by drawing out a few idea outlines before settling on one, from this choice I made four different designs. I asked several of my peers which they thought was best. Of these, two of the designs were frequently chosen so I pushed forward with those. I photocopied my outlines, enlarging them by 50%, and inked over them. After inks, I added colour in Photoshop and, being aware of the Leeds College of Art logo, used its outline as a way to frame the images. Finally I added the actual Leeds College of Art logo and several silhouettes to give the postcard more energy.

The development of the postcards can be viewed here:

Responsive: Outcomes and Brief Breakdown

What do I want from this module? That was the question we were asked today. We began by writing down ten answers to that question before being put into groups and doing the same. After this the whole room pooled our desired outcomes together to create a definitive list of ten.

My desired outcomes:
1. Get my name into the professional circuit
2. Learn how to decide which briefs to attempt
3. How to be a professional illustrator
4. Know what to do if I have a bad client
5. Gain confidence
6. Gain experience
7. Develop as an illustrator
8. Learn to enjoy competitions
9. To continue the feeling of having a constant workload
10. Be. A. Winner

The group's desired outcomes:
1. More experience
2. Get work out into the world
3. PRIZES! (Win all the things)
4. Improve as a professional
5. Create opportunities
6. Potential internships
7. Learn new things
8. Networking
9. Know which briefs to take on
10. Gain confidence

The collected room's definitive outcomes:
1. Broaden opportunities
2. Win stuff!!!!
3. Professional feedback
4. Networking opportunities
5. Confidence
6. Workload management
7. Working to deadlines
8. Working with clients
9. Experience
10. Locating your practice

From this we came to conclusion that despite all of the other rewards that await us - WINNING is the most important thing. This competitiveness is something that I felt was missing from last year. I personally don't think winning is the most important thing in life (it would be pretty darn good to achieve something big from this though).

We were then handed out past YCN briefs to break down and figure out. From these we discovered that the companies concerned aren't as almighty and terrifying as first thought, in fact they could be considered desperate to an extent. They need us as much as we need them.

Using this knowledge of how to break down a brief I've decided to go back and look at the three brief's I have chosen to enter thus far, ultimately choosing one to go further with.

Responsive: Live Briefs

In preparation of our Responsive session this week I've selected three briefs from the YCN website that interest me for differing reasons.

Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit
http://www.penguin.co.uk/static/cs/uk/0/minisites/penguindesignaward/adult_fiction_brief.php

I have selected this brief as it appears to allow a large area of experimentation, which will be achievable due to the extended timeframe. Furthermore it is a book cover, and being a book enthusiast I feel it'll help push my work as I'll  have an invested interest in it.


Propercorn
http://www.ycn.org/awards/ycn-student-awards/2014-15-ycn-student-awards/briefs/propercorn

Having worked in a cinema for nigh on 3 years I developed a taste for popcorn and can appreciate what a marvel of food technology it is. I love popcorn and insist on eating it a minimum of 5 times per week. I can think of no other brief that I'd enjoy doing more than this. Popcorn.


SyFy
http://www.ycn.org/awards/ycn-student-awards/2014-15-ycn-student-awards/briefs/syfy-uk

I'm very passionate about Sci Fi and used to watch SyFy quite regularly. However I now fall into the category of the 74% of people that are aware of the channel but don't watch it. I want to complete this brief to not only help promote SyFy but to also remind me of what I found attractive about the channel in its heyday.

Moving Pictures: Dragon Frame

Having been ill on Monday I missed the Dragon Frame introduction. However I was quickly caught up, understanding how to mount the camera, open the software as well as new files, and create an animation.

I find the most interesting aspect of Dragon Frame is the ability to see the previous frame and a live view at the same time. During the session it allowed me to align my movements much better and helped create a much smoother animation.

Here is the piece I made today:

I felt it improved upon my original attempt using iMotion largely for the reasons stated above, but also because I cut a few aspects and added others. For example I removed the wifi symbols going into the phone and car as I feel that had already been established at the beginning. I then chose to have the large wifi symbol at the top 'fail' after the girl was hit to suggest her life was failing also.

Moving Pictures: Wifi Animation

Using iMotion (an app for use on iPhone) I made an animation of 80 frames that highlights the use of technology (specifically wifi) and its dangers. Whilst I feel the animation is a bit on the nose it did give me a better understanding of what I want to do tomorrow in the Dragon Frame workshop.

I plan to cut some of the animation down so it consists of roughly 50 frames as I feel 80 may be a bit of a heavy load for such a small amount of time we have with the equipment.

Moving Pictures: Soft Spot

Caught these videos by Philippa Rice and Luke Pearson. There isn't much in the way of overarching narrative as each video is broken down into segments, however they do display a good array of stop motion animation which is interesting and inspiring.

Thought Bubble: Zine Development

As a live brief, I've been working on a zine entitled 'My Failed Youth' for the Thought Bubble Comic Festival 2014. The narrative details an over exaggerated reflection of my exploits as a 19 year old. This is designed to be a humorous tale, but also a cautionary one as growing up I never had anyone to guide me with such tales and would hope that others can learn from my mistakes. The original idea for the zine came about when I first read the Scott Pilgrim Graphic Novels by Bryan Lee O' Malley. These graphic novels explore the life of Scott Pilgrim and details his mistakes and maturing of character throughout.



Initially I wrote a script for the first issue (of what I hope to be an ongoing series) and sketched out rough page layouts on Photoshop. Once all pages were laid out I then went about drawing them on paper in a simplistic fashion using the work of Jack Teagle as inspiration. He has such a basic style yet manages to effectively tell engaging stories.



Often I've found that creating something like this has never really worked out, largely because I've never given myself a timeframe or have been overly critical of my skills resulting in me giving up on the project. With this zine however, I have overcome these issues.

With the festival being just under a month away I couldn't allow myself to dwell on my negative attitudes towards my technical ability. Instead I focused more on the narrative of the piece in the hopes of having the work ready in time.

Here is a developmental page from the zine:

A Visual Journal: Other Futures

Over that past week I've spent some time researching different interpretations of the dystopian future theme within film and book.

Films include:

Blade Runner

1984 (2987)

Back to the Future

AI

Wall-e

The Running Man

Books include:

1984

We

The Hunger Games

A Clockwork Orange

I don't know where I'll go with this research but it is good to have a comparison to Brave New World.

I also watched the 1998 TV movie of Brave New World which was an interesting interpretation however it was clearly held back by the budgetary issues of a TV movie.

Moving Pictures: An Introduction

Admittedly when I first heard that Animation was going to be part of the workload with Level 5 I wasn't too excited. However, after today's workshop changed my mind. We began by watching Pistache by Valerie Pirson which made me realise that Animation doesn't have to so confined to what we expect. Pistache showed me that animation can be just as abstract as a single image.

Pistache by manor

In groups we then went about making our own frames. I feel the outcome was quite effective for a first attempt at animation despite our radically varied objects. One thing that stood out during this session was that the understanding of speed within an animation is important. If I want an object to appear as though it is moving fast it must travel a greater distance per frame than it would if the object were to move slowly.

A Visual Journal: Interim Self Evaluation

So far from this module I have gained or improved upon several skills that I feel will benefit my practice:
- I have developed my ability to think quickly during production, many mistakes I made led to my work developing in different ways.
- The use of motifs gave me the chance to explore themes from my author in a wider way than I would have thought possible.
- The brief thus far has reminded me how much I enjoy collage, a process that I came to use often in Visual Language during Level 4. I plan to use it more in the future.
- For the first time I have began to create my own textures using inks and paints. I haven't done this before but expect I will be from now on.
- Finally I have rediscovered the use of photocopiers, a fantastic method for mass producing collage textures.

Throughout my Visual Journal I plan to explore further severals things:
- Firstly I'm going to try using different motifs.
- I found I have mostly used black and white thus far so plan to use more colour if appropriate.
- I really enjoyed collage and creating textures so plan to use these more.
- Having rediscovered photocopying I plan to use more of their abilities such as negativity.
- Finally I plan to work under short time frame where appropriate.

I plan to go further with the motifs of 'War' and 'Urban Decay' as I found they go hand in hand visually. However I plan to replace 'Product' with something similar in tone to the prior two such as Labour for example as this was more in line with Huxley's concerns of the future.

As I stated I want to use photocopying more but to do this I will need to investigate the different techniques/methods of photocopying to create a wide range on visual imagery. I also plan to read more books concerning the future we are creating for ourselves - both fictionally and factually. I also plan to do more external research by visiting and taking photographs.

A Visual Journal: Texture and Collage

Today (having been ill for a few days) was mostly spent catching up on work that I'd missed. I began by created several textures that evoked an intangible sense of my motifs.

I made these with the knowledge that I was going to use them to create images using the motifs of 'war' and 'urban decay'. I decided to drop the 'product' motif for this task due to the nature of forcing it to work alongside the prior two motifs. My first attempt used a bright colour theme that I felt didn't work with the tone of my motifs so I decided to limit the use of colour within the work. My initial pieces didn't work too well either due to the fact I was hurriedly throwing them together. So I took a step back and thought about what I was exactly trying to convey intangibly.

These later pieces worked better as I, for the most part, kept the same format (distant shot of a city) and tweaked different aspects to allow varying degrees of results. This task reminded me that I enjoy collage work but where can I go from here with it?

A Visual Journal: Image in Shape

Using the 3 motifs I have chosen from the theme of 'dystopia' I began to think about using cut outs from magazines and other miscellaneous ephemera to create images made purely of shape. I questioned how I could convey the motifs of 'war', 'product' and 'urban decay' using such a simple process of image generation.


Whilst I felt some of these images worked, I am aware that I was still too reliant on line to create texture (as can be seen above). We were later permitted to use line intentionally with the shape cutouts - despite this freedom I still tried to push my use of shape also.

I feel that these outcomes improved upon my first attempts at shape using cutouts. I had become aware of using line as my primary tool and tried instead to use it as an afterthought thus forcing me to be more reliant on shape.

A Visual Journal: Theme and Motifs

Considering the theme of 'dystopia' I selected three motifs that play a role in Huxley's visions of the future. These were; a desire for 'products', the world falling into 'war' and the general 'decay of the urban environment'.

Using these motifs I collected a small amount of stock images from the internet to use as reference material for a drawing exercise.

The exercise involved the creation of different lines using varying styles and weights. I broke my stock images down into their most fundamental  aspects and used my newly created lines to draw them.

What I found was that some of the lines complimented the images well whilst others, though perhaps useful for other work, didn't fit what I was working on at the time. For example, the Mac Book drawn using using a fuzzy haphazard line didn't suit the image - but the line itself may come in useful should I need to, for example, draw a furry animal.