Context 2: Coursework #1: Network Diagram

Mix-Bag Of Lighting, Composition & Interview Tests

So during Thursday's seminar we were set some rather interesting tasks, we were put into groups and had to film an exterior and interior shot that screamed metaphor, which in practice helped us think about composition, we had to film a classic three point lighting scene to develop understanding of light and finally an interview on the move. I enjoyed this session and hope for more like them, If it was up to me my university course would be nothing but these 'down to earth' sort of practical sessions, I learnt much more about the cameras, lighting and composition in this session than in the first month of lectures combined, very useful.

I brought home the raw footage from the session and basically took the opportunity to have a mess around and test out my new Quadcore I7 desktop rendering speeds, Its not at all serious but I had some immature fun editing it.

Design Practice 3: Assignment 1: Development: Part 2

So since last weeks feedback session I have descided to narrow my ideas down and focus on the intrinsic message I wish to portray, I have descided to develop the concept of food education as this is the treatment that got the majority approval at show & tell. In a nutshell my advert is aimed at:

Educating and getting people interested in the ingredients found in their food, urging them to question the standard and quality of certain ingredients and ultimately influence them to find out how they can eat healthier.

I will visually represent this via a cooking show, this is explored in the storyboards below:

Context 2: Coursework #1: Skeleton Productions

Show & Tell #1

Well the first show and tell session today was enlightening to say the least, It pretty much confirmed my self-doubts that my ideas were too unstructured, that they required clearer plot and core purpose. My original gust concept was to try and promote traditional values when it came to food, such as knowing where your ingredients are sourced and taking the time to cook your meal with pride, but at the same time I didn't necessarily want it to be just about healthy eating. I was originally going to show this via a transition of people buying from organic butchers and greengrocers to people ordering fast food, but came to the conclusion that it was neither innovative nor memorable enough. So my ideas pretty much spiralled from there, from cooking shows and interviewing children to spoofs, although these new ideas were fresher and more controversial they didn't hold the original concept of promoting traditional values when it came to food. I believe I need a new concept.

Points made in show & Tell

• Narrow your ideas down
• Think educational
• More clear on what you want to do
• Think about your core idea, change it.

It is clear that my original concept was not portrayed in my three treatments, however the theme of food education was picked up on in my second treatment and generally liked by the group. I believe my new core concept should be about:

Food education - Educating and getting people interested in the ingredients found in
their food, urging them to question the standard and quality of certain ingredients and ultimately influence them to find out how they can eat healthier.

A preliminary idea on how to visually represent this is with my cooking show idea, the ingredients of a particularly bad processed fast food recipe are added to a mix, while the chef simultaneously informs the audience whats going on. It ends with the disturbing ingredients being transforms into a burger (or likewise) and being held up to the audiences face, In which the Chef states "Now you know where it come from do you still want it?"

Keyframe Test

Design Practice 3: Assignment 1: Development: Part 1

TREATMENT #1 M & S STYLE SPOOF

TREATMENT #2 GUSTO COOKING SHOW

TREATMENT #3 EDUCATIONAL INTERVIEW

3D Text Test

MALak (very short film)

An interpretation exercise set by university to get us thinking. The script revolves around a woman tormenting a male victim with a mysterious object called MALak, although 'MALak' could be anything you choose. Our interpretation goes along the route of a dream sequence/Hallucination, the man could be suffering from post-traumatic stress or some kind of mental illness... or maybe there some dark magic in the works.

Overall this interpretation exercise did its job by getting me back into the swing of moving image, this piece could have benefited through a more thought out script and then concentrating on one specific treatment to apply to it, we suffered as we couldn't decide upon one treatment and ended up with a mixture of many. To add more purpose to the plot a scene at the end which revealed he is infact talking to him self would have added some much needed closure.

Design Practice 3: Assignment One: Inspiration & Brainstorming

Firstly I did a brainstorm of all the possible subjects worthy of being classed as 'close to my heart', below are the varied subject I initially thought off:
The Class System, Food, Bullying, Gender Roles, Religion, Drugs and Freedom.

Out of the original brainstorm i decided to pinpoint and pursue the subject of food as I feel I have a genuine interest in it, I am able to easily articulate my own experiences and perspective through it.

Mindmap:

I then went about producing a mind map that could visually represent as all the sub-subjects and ideas I had within the area of food, the aim was to try and harness what I wanted to further develop

What is your own experience/perspective of the subject?

As I have progressed through my life I started to become more aware of the quality of food around me, I yearned to experiment with food, try new things, I wanted to produce fresh delicious food of my own. I kind of lost touch with what food was all about, like many other people out there, I wasn't too enthusiastic about cooking and happily went for the fast option. I now believe that dedicating some time to getting involved with your food and taking pride in it can provide great personal satisfaction, it has many benefits. My main subject isn’t just that you shouldn’t eat fatty foods or unhealthy in general, its more aimed to promote traditional values when it comes to food such as knowing and understanding where your food comes from, taking the time to actually gather your ingredients and prepare your meals with pride and generally getting excited about what you eat and rediscovering the benefits it has.

So once I had pinpointed my main area for my gust concept I started researching any articles, videos, pictures that could inspire me or provide me with existing concept I could possible incorporate in my 30 second advert.

http://nutrition.wsu.edu/ebet/background.html

Talks about what is known about family meals, analysing reports and statistic. Identifies benefits such as improved family communication and relationships, better school performance, better nutrition and overall more adjusted individuals.  It’s important to building a strong family, and that it benefits society as well. Also identifies obstacles faced such as No time to cook, Don't know how to cook and Would rather do something else.Get more people educated in food and planning meals to be a positive experience

http://womenshealth.about.com/od/girlshealth101/a/fastfoodteenwei.htm

Report discussing How’s It is important to watch carefully what you eat, identifies the impact the fast food industry is having on society, deals with obesity and diabetes.

http://goop.com/newsletter/77/en/

Interview with Jamie Oliver discussing his food revolution. Talks about Working with a family, rich or poor, that has a terrible relationship with food, and seeing how even the simplest bits of information can completely change their future is inspiring. Also shares the viewpoints that It’s about sharing information and knowledge to get people thinking and getting interested in there food rather than just telling them they shouldn’t eat burgers. Bringing back the traditions of food and getting back in touch.

http://www.foodpolitics.com/

Website Jammed packs with food politic articles

http://generallordisimo.com/2011/05/16/when-taking-time-to-cook-is-time-worth-taking/

Deals with the available time people have to make quality food from scratch. People who want to save time or over buying quality ingredients to make delicious food, is it worth it? Battle between technology and food, is it just fuel or should we dedicate more time and pleasure towards our end product.



The slow food movement spawned from the idea that we have lost the connection between flavour and food, food should be locally sourced, simplicity infused with passion equals good food.

Design Practice 3: Assignment 1: The Brief

So the first assignment for the year is to produce an advert for a cause that is close to my heart, In which I am strongly emotionally attached and passionate about. Through the entire process I will research, design and produce a unique 30 second advert that projects a gust concept to the my target audience, it could challenge contemporary issues such as the obesity crisis or talk about my views on current military action...or simply be designed to inform and encourage people to spend more time with their family.

I am looking forward to this project as I have quite a few initial ideas flowing around already, It'll be the first real piece of media I will have produced which allows me to express myself politically rather than just creating solely for entertainment purposes.

Examples of some existing campaigns that caught my eye.


Simple yet effective campaign named the free hugs campaign is meant to express the importance of loving your fellowman and taking the time to stop and appreciate life. World peace would be nice



Here's one I found called 'buy nothing day' trying to promote a more economic way of living, not to be as materialistic and wasteful. I do however think it may be a bit blunt and rude, don't know how effective the message would be to the general public

First week back

After much soul searching I have decided to transfer from 3D animation to moving image, after just the first week of attending the 3D classes I came to realisation that it was something I felt very little confidence and passion towards and believed I would never be motivated to push myself and excel within it. More than the just the programs being hard to pick up is the fact that I'm not the most artistically talented in terms of drawing and have little interest in modelling, I would not enjoy this side of it. I believe I have made the right choice as it is apparent now that I should do something I'm passionate about rather than just what I think is the most challenging.  I could work with others and maybe enjoy myself in the process instead of struggling and fighting with what I'm naturally good at.


What may have been...