Unit 12 Research diary and findings (Unit 12 1.1/2.1/2.2):

How the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise has changed over time:

(Unit 12 2.1)- This is my main topic which I wish to carry on for my Final Major Project and I will research 3 different media products that cover the information required for my project. These products are:

Online web pages, magazine articles and video sources. (Unit 12 1.1)- I will be analysing in depth the context of the source such as the influences and period of time that influenced it; skills and techniques used to produce it which could aid me in my Final Major Project; the audience for the product/information and comparing similar products and sources based on content, production methods and context.

Three media products (Unit 12 1.1)

Online web pages:

http://www.retrojunk.com/article/show/5057/growing-up-with-sonic-the-hedgehog-1991-2016

This source outlines, from the perspective of someone who grew up with the very first Sonic genesis title, how the series has changed from one early game at a time to the later modern games in both positive and negative ways. (Unit 12 1.1)- For this article it has been written by someone who has had first-hand experience with the very first Sonic the Hedgehog titles which I found really fascinating to read about regarding his views and experiences. I also found it really interesting to read about how he felt the games had changed since the early releases. For instance, the writer comments ‘I was gripped – and in all honesty still am – with the colorful graphics, the fantastic music and the speedy gameplay’ (Retrojunk.com, 2016) for the first game and he seems to indicate strong nostalgia throughout the article as he constantly refers and compares to the first 2-3 Sonic titles ‘And the music in this game! I still have it on my iPod today.’ (Retrojunk.com, 2016) and ‘Sonic never disappeared for me in the between years – I kept playing the first four games (especially Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 & Knuckles, but also Sonic 1 and Spinball)’ (Retorjunk.com, 2016). This is clear evidence, alongside the various critical reception at the time (Lachel, 2014) that these are the features that made Sonic a gaming icon at the time and will never be forgotten.

(Unit 12 1.1/2.2)- One thing I like about this article is that it contains screenshots of the game and era it’s talking about such as the Genesis games, 3D era and specific consoles and the later 3D Sonic era. It also gave me the possibility to try adding video clips alongside my time-lapse drawings (depending on the franchise area being discussed) to add some extra creativity. If, however, this doesn’t work or if I am short on time, I will simply use these as a template for my drawings or to develop ideas for them.

(Unit 12 2.2)- I feel that elements from this article would be great for a something like a final conclusion on what has made the mascot what he is today, also as a nice way to touch the audience’s hearts a little. However, I will most likely be using a combination of this article with critic reviews since this is written in the perspective of the writer and not as a straight-forward fact piece. For my video piece, this will limit the use of this article slightly from an information side but I could use it to show any relationship between what players/fans and critics’ views on the franchise.

What made the SEGA mascot stand out during the 1991?

http://www.defunctgames.com/reviewcrew/26/sonic-the-hedgehog-what-did-the-critics-say-in-1991

This online source here coming from Defunct games and I found it really handy because it had a section featuring nothing but past reviews on what critics thought of the original Sonic the hedgehog title from 1991. (Unit 12 1.1)- I decided to use this source because I wanted to see if there were any similarities between critics’ views and (most importantly) what they believe made the character and game stand out from all the rest at the time. I learned from my findings here that many of the reviews give immense praise towards some of the same characteristics. For instance, ‘Music, graphics and control are spectacular’ (Mega Play, Lachel, 2014) ‘sonic the hedgehog is a blinding game. The graphics are great and the sound bops along infectiously. Every level is well designed and packed with features, and the whole thing is a hell of a good day’ (Mean Machines, Lachel, 2014) and also (from the same mega Play magazine), “Sonic will put the Genesis ahead of the pack! The graphics and sounds are spectacular and the technique is truly top class. The game suffers low difficulty but otherwise is a winner” (Mega Play, Lachel, 2014). (Unit 12 1.1)- Looking at these reviews, it’s clear that the first Sonic Genesis title had everything positive to offer that no other game had during the 1990s, and I think this fits in perfectly with what made Sonic the Hedgehog the icon he is today linking to his appearance on Nintendo games/platforms in the future. (Unit 12 2.2)- If I was to apply this element into my FMP video I would easily be able to have the Nintendo mascot appear in it with reference to the early competition, making games for the Nintendo platforms and even bring the Mario & Sonic Olympic games series into it. However, my main danger here is mainly trying to cram too much information into my video and therefore making it confusing to understand the content. My main solution here would be to prioritise my information and select what would be suitable in summary format and a more detailed explanation.

How the relationship with Nintendo and Mario affected the franchise:

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2016/09/28/how-sonic-made-the-leap-to-nintendo-consoles.aspx

This source here explains in great detail how Sonic’s relationship with Nintendo mascot Mario has changed over the years and impacted the franchise. (Unit 12 1.1)- First of all, I really admire how the article begins immediately with the rivalry between the two companies in the early 90s (Shea, 2016) and how this rivalry affected both mascots throughout this period of time. For instance, according to Sonic series producer and current head of Sonic Team, Takashi, Iizuka, “There were so many fans of the Mario series and then we came out with Sonic, who was this character that was cooler, had this visual style where he was bright blue, he played faster, the controls were better – it was a tighter game.” (Shea, 2016) (Unit 12 1.2)- This piece of information would be of great use for appearing in my video piece since it comes from someone involved with the creation of the franchise to make it more personal and engaging to the audience- plus the opportunity to create some engaging animation to accompany it in my video. This online article later goes on to explain how SEGA had been defeated in the hardware market and had been forced to become a third-party development company (Shea, 2016). According to my findings, the franchise was impacted from this point even more, as well as specific development team members who ‘were used to creating for a single platform’ (Shea, 2016). However, another quote from the series creator is inserted, “It’s very sad that Sega’s hardware business was cancelled, but this allowed Sonic to run over a variety of different platforms. This made it so more people were able to play and enjoy Sonic games than ever.” (Shea, 2016) (Unit 12 1.1/2.2)- Looking at this piece of information and what the series creator has said, it indicates to me how strong Nintendo were with their mascot during the late 90s for SEGA to leave the console market and it links with one of my magazine articles that states the obstacles the developers came across when developing the very first Sonic 3D title. All of them link well together and cross over each other which I could include in my video piece. Since they link well together I will be able to mention little bits of each source without going overboard but still getting across what I want to. (Unit 12 1.2)- The interviewer’s quote here inspires me by not only how they are planning to take the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise forward but it’s the perfect link to me to move on to my next topic of discussion for my video piece.

Magazine articles:

How the transition from 2D to 3D affected the franchise:

Using a magazine as one of my media products here, I found an article in an issue of Retro gamer, where the ‘impact on the original Mega Drive platform games’ (Thorpe, 2016) is discussed- including how 3D gameplay has impacted the series with reference to the original 2D titles. (Unit 12 1.1)- This article and section of the magazine was in relation to the 25^th anniversary of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise and so I found it a really useful resource because it contained a mixture of factual information (the main articles) but also interviews and pull-quotes from people who have worked on the very first Sonic titles and who still work for SEGA and Sonic Team. I think the pull-quotes are a great way to engage the audience into the article more and possibly understand more of the hidden details of the topic via personal experience from those involved. ‘Even now when I think about creating a new game, I always try to think of applying the good part of 3D and good part of 2D to be applied to that new game’. (Iizuka, Thorpe, 2016). I also really like how this handy piece of research it covers the 3D era and how ‘in recent years, Sonic Team have been using the Mega Drive games as reference material with increasing frequency’ (Thorpe, 2016). (Unit 91.2/2.2)- Because of how the magazine contained detailed history of the original Genesis Sonic games and how the information surrounding this crossed over nicely with the 3D era, I feel that it has given me a number of ideas for what I could research further for my FMP video such as: how the 3D games have had the classic 2D charm still applied to them and further research into how the franchise has catered to new target audiences and fans from the very beginning!

(Unit 12 1.1)- One other piece of vital information caught my eye which I came across here. This was to do with the target audience and demographics. According to my findings in the Retro Gamer magazine, I learned that an increase in demographics have had a huge growth on the games industry as a whole, let alone just the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise (Thorpe, 2016). My findings also taught me that around five years or so prior to the launch of Sonic 2, gaming experiences seriously depended on where and what region you lived in (Thorpe, 2016) compared to today’s ‘same-day global launches and region-free consoles’ (Thorpe, 2016). Not only does this source generate a very vital piece of information about how the franchise has changed over time but it also allowed me to expand upon WHO my target audience is for my project is the first place. Obviously, this will consist of Sonic the Hedgehog fans who have been fans since the first release and who are just getting into the games/TV show(s); gamers in general and even those who never had video games or consoles during their childhood. (Unit 12 2.2)- I feel that, with this piece, along with the other areas of change I will be investigating, I can ensure that my FMP video piece will cater to everyone within my target audience.

(Unit 12 2.1)- Whilst researching for more information on the transition from 2D to 3D I came across another magazine. This magazine was ‘SEGA Archives’ and was entirely devoted to the history of classic games from the company- Obviously including Sonic the Hedgehog. The sections based around Sonic the Hedgehog dealt with the overall history of the franchise and I came across interviews from various people involved with crafting the SEGA mascot into the world of three dimensions. Such interviews state: “I wanted to maintain the look and feel of the 2D Sonic from Sonic 3 for Sonic x-treme. We had not yet seen any representations of Sonic in 3D, so it was very exciting to pave a new ground.” (Senn, SEGA Archives, 2016). However, the interviewee also provides some of the challenges that were faced during the 3D process: “Not having any idea of how large a bite we were trying to chew, the intention was to combine speed, puzzle-solving, ring-collection, bonus rounds, special rounds, enemies, bosses and some new gameplay elements nobody had ever seen before. In hindsight, it might have been wise to attempt to re-create the basic elements of the 2D games in 3D, which might have allowed us time to polish the game before finishing and releasing it.” (Senn, SEGA Archives, 2016). (Unit 12 1.1/2.1)- From this information, I found it really fascinating to see both sides to the story in the way that the person has given us the positive intentions of the 3D games but also the challenges they faced during the development and this expands even further to discuss the struggles with specific games regarding the development issues and competition against other consoles: ‘Up against the spectacularly popular PlayStation, the Saturn really needed every advantage it could get, and particularly after the world-changing brilliance of Super Mario 64, everyone expected Sonic to make the transition from pixels to polygons in style.’ (SEGA Archives, 2016). I feel that if I could add elements of this into my FMP as a time-lapse video or other visual source it would provide more in-depth context topic but I could adapt my video piece to portray it in a way that my target audience can engage with but, especially, relate to.

(Unit 12 1.1)- After reading the development section of the SEGA Archives magazine, I came across the in-game changes that would continue throughout the franchise: for instance, starting with Sonic Adventure (SEGA Archives, 2016) ‘incorporating many contemporary ideas such as vast explorable areas in addition to its linear, rollercoaster-like levels.’ (SEGA Archives, 2016). This area of change to the Sonic franchise seems to link really well with the early 3D games and also provides another pathway for investigation: the divided fans. Although a specific game is the main reason for this matter, it’s an issue that has carried on into the later Sonic games. The main cause of concern for fans was the ‘extensive cast beyond Sonic himself’ (SEGA Archives, 2016). The character issue I feel is another area I could investigate in my video piece and already has me forming ideas as to how I could display this via a time-lapse drawing or other drawn animation piece.

What games had the most impact to the franchise over time (both positive and negative)?

For this section, I will be using a mixture of primary and secondary research since I will be gathering views and opinions from those who have knowledge and/or who have played games that have impacted the franchise. Firstly, I will be investigating various Sonic the Hedgehog games out there that have influenced the franchise in both positive and negative ways. This will include: the very first titles and how 3D games have varied (Which I have already researched) to the point of having almost a reputation of ‘ranging from abysmal to brilliant’ (SEGA Archives, 2016) according to SEGA Archives magazine. (Unit 12 2.2)- However, I will mainly focus on one or two games maximum to save time on the overall video duration yet be able to discuss their impact to the franchise in as much detail as possible. One of which is ‘Sonic the hedgehog (2006)’. (Unit 12 1.1)- The reason for this is because this game according to many critic reviews and fans is considered ‘one of the worst Sonic the Hedgehog games in the franchise’ (Sonic Retro, 2017). This is due to ‘heavy time constraints to launch Sonic ‘06 on the Xbox 360 before Christmas’ (DidYouKnowGaming?, 2016) as well as the development team being split in half to work on the Sonic 2006 game and the other to ‘develop a Wii game from scratch’ (DidYouKnowGaming?, 2016) and the director for the 2006 title working on the new Wii title (Sonic and the Secret Rings) (DidYouKnowGaming?, 2016). As a result of the pressure to have the game released by Christmas, the final game ‘quickly became one of the most infamous bad releases a AAA publisher had ever put out.’ (andrearitsu, 2015) with ‘utterly unhelpful camera angles, innumerable graphics glitches’ (Fahey, R, 2006) as well as Sonic’s controls being ‘twitchy, unforgiving and unpleasant’ (Fahey, R, 2006). All of this feedback is coming from a working game reviewer/critic too! (Unit 12 1.2)- From researching one game which has impacted the franchise in a painful and unforgettable way, this will only give me even more to talk and further ideas for my FMP piece such as: how it changed the Sonic franchise, art and animation ideas to portray it as well as further experience and opinions on it via primary research.

(Unit 12 2.1)- It should also be worth noting that after what Rob Fahey describes as ‘a malformed abortion of a game’ (Fahey, 2006) the franchise has been known to release some successful games both critically and to fans. For instance, Sonic Colours seemed to show a potential for the future of the franchise (Andrews, 2014) with merging its speed and platforming (Andrews, 2014). (Unit 12 1.1)- Alongside this, Sonic Generations- released in 2011 meant even further improvement for the franchise (Andrews, 2014) as the 20^th anniversary title combined 2D and 3D play styles that ‘worked like a charm’ (Andrews, 2014) and brought both classic and modern Sonic together to celebrate the two decades of existence. (Unit 12 1.1)- Looking at this source examining the successful Sonic generations and the classic Sonic, it really proves to me what a great deal the very first Sonic the Hedgehog Games were back in the Genesis days and how they not only changed the gaming industry but also people’s memories of the mascot and getting into the whole franchise themselves. For many people, it could trigger nostalgia but for those who are modern gamers it caters to them as well. (Unit 12 1.2)- For my FMP, this is something that would definitely be worth bringing up as it would be perfect to ultimately conclude my hypothesis: how has the Sonic the hedgehog franchise changed? This would be visually through my drawings with an accompanying voice-over.

Online Videos/Documentary:

Overall history:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQCrrukJ8CA

This video source covers everything to do with the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise: explaining how Sonic stood out from other 1990s video games and how they had to leave the console market (Treesicle, 2014)

(Unit 12 1.1)- At the beginning of the video it explains to me simply and to the point that ‘video games at the time were blocky’ (Treesicle, 2014) and ‘notoriously slow’ (Treesicle, 2014) but tells us that Sonic’s ‘gameplay was smoother’ (Treesicle, 2014) and that ‘played faster’ (Treesicle, 2014) and a snippet of footage from the game(s) to provide evidence for this. (Unit 12 1.2)- This information would be of perfect use for my FMP animation or time-lapse as it will introduce how sonic became well-known across the world from the start of his Genesis days, as well as fulfilling one of my four subheadings for investigation for my FMP.

(Unit 12 1.1)- For the production of this YouTube video, it consists of character screenshots, fan made work (as the source isn’t from the rightful owners of the franchise) and game footage as evidence for information given. For example, when the video explains how ‘video games were blocky’ (Treesicle, 2014) it shows an example of video games that fulfils that statement and then shows example footage of how the first Sonic the Hedgehog game stood out from them. This also applies to the parts examining the Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 game as it showed screenshots to back up information about it and even, for some viewers, make it easier to understand seeing it visually. (Unit 12 1.2)- Although this video piece is a lot more casual and comical in style, it still ties in with my other research findings and delivers all the information that tick off my four main subheadings for investigation. (Unit 12 2.2)- I am really interested to use the examples of other 90s video games as they help to explain how Sonic was positively different perfectly. However, I will not be using existing footage from any of the games due to it not fitting in well a drawing-based video and I’m afraid it will remove a lot of the creative process for me and restrict my creative skills.

Overall history:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym2ve5_YD60

This video source here also contains everything about the history of Sonic the Hedgehog including: the very early stages of the franchise’s development; how ‘Nintendo completely dominated the industry’ (kalinske, Kimplix, 2011), and how the Character/franchise was brought into the world of gaming and the transition from 2D to 3D with Sonic Adventure (Kimplix, 2011).

(Unit 12 1.1)- First and foremost, this source is a documentary and consists of voice overs from a narrator, footage from the Genesis and modern games where applicable. Probably the most important aspect of this documentary and for the benefit of my FMP is how it’s mostly made up of interviews from vital people involved in the franchise’s progression, including past CEOs of SEGA, character designers and music composers for the games. To me, this makes the source much more valid, official and will allow me to add professional quotes to my video piece. (Unit 12 1.1)- In terms of the historical context of this source, it immediately begins with telling us about SEGA’s arch-nemesis, Nintendo, and how they ‘completely dominated the industry’ (kalinske, Kimplix, 2011) and how the company was ‘the leader in both hardware and game sales, thanks largely to the Super Mario games’ (Kimplix, 2011) and all this information is accompanied by actual footage of Nintendo hardware being sold and Super Mario games being played during this period of late 1980s (kimplix, 2011). This gives the audience a perfect perspective of how video games in general back then differ from those of today and the true extent of the competition between both companies. Speaking of audience, this part of the documentary would be interesting for both Mario/Nintendo and Sonic/SEGA fans as both their histories are examined here.

(Unit 12 1.1)- Another useful piece of information I found was ‘why did Sonic’s creation resonate with the public in the way that he did?’ (Kimplix, 2011). And one of the interviewees, who has been involved with the franchise’s early development, stated about ‘the beautiful simplicity to him, gorgeous set of colours to him- the blue and the red tennis shoes.’ (Schroeder, Kimplix, 2011). She later refers to his shoes again with ‘he really communicated the power of the game just be looking at him, when you see those red tennis shoes you just assume that he can run fast’. (Schroeder, Kimplix, 2011). (Unit 12 1.2)- From this source, I think it would be a really powerful element to apply as it perfectly shows how recognisable the Characters is because of these features that reoccur in every game and coming from an involved professional, it will make my piece more engaging with the audience. (Unit 12 1.2)-This particularly applies to when she says ‘And the attitude at the end was just kind of the perfect topping’ (Schroeder, Kimplix, 2011) and how I could really use some inventive ways to animate Sonic’s attitude to the audience in a creative way.

(Unit 12 1.1)- I also managed to gather some really in-depth information about one of the questions I want answered: how has the transition from 2D to 3D affected the franchise? A lot of the facts here came with direct reference to ‘Sonic Adventure’ as that was the use of 3D for the first time (Iizuka, Kimplix, 2011) as well as Sonic having a voice for the first time (Iizuka, Kimplix, 2011) which finally allowed the team to give him a personality and for the audience to understand his emotions (Iizika, Kimplix, 2011). (Unit 12 1.2/2.2)- This is probably one of the most vital parts I will definitely be applying to my video piece as the transition from 2D to 3D as a whole has changed the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise completely and the aspect of Sonic developing a personality has influenced games from then on.

Production methods (Unit 12 1.1):

Here I will also be researching various methods of production I could use to produce my FMP piece. Since I will be using either a time-lapse drawing or drawn animation I will be researching both of these to determine the most beneficial one for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAhBz8F2N9E

(Unit 12 1.1)- This source here is a screencast on YouTube that demonstrates a way of creating an animation on Photoshop and takes the viewer through every little step from setting up the page layout to ‘film and video’ () in order to produce the animation and applying images from Chrome/the internet () to produce the movement desired. The production methods here are all done using Adobe Photoshop CC software and uses images from the internet and animation techniques and tools to produce the animation the producer is looking for. (Unit 12 2.2)- Regarding the production for my FMP video, this would only apply if I was doing an animation. However, by the look of the ease of using the animation tools and how extremely familiar I already am with the Photoshop software, this would be an effective and fun way to show off my topic- not to mention learning new skills that I can carry on to my university course too! this method of production would become extremely handy for if it was to contain long sequences of the same scene since I would only need to animate the characters

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFm4aG70qM0

This source here is also a screencast found on YouTube but this time it’s shows us how to make a time-lapse video using Adobe Premiere Pro and still photos taken with a camera (How To Make a Time Lapse Video in Adobe premiere pro, 2013). (Unit 12 1.1)- The screencast video takes us through setting up the correct settings on Premiere Pro including ‘editing mode and timebase/framerate’ (How To Make a Time Lapse Video in Adobe premiere pro, 2013). After that, he applies the images into Premiere Pro and they perform the time-lapse thanks to the frames per second set previously. As with the first screencast, the techniques and production methods used are all very familiar to me since I have used Premiere Pro throughout the first year of the course. (Unit 12 2.2)- Although this demo is for a time-lapse I would use this to create my own drawn frames and adjust the framerate to suit my video using this method of production as I could still use drawing in my FMP whilst keeping the creativity within it. (Unit 12 1.1/2.2)- What I really like about this video is that the publisher/developer has given some tips at the end of it for producing the best results. For example, to keep the time lapse videos between 30-45 seconds to avoid ‘viewers becoming less interested and wanting to move on’ (How To Make a Time Lapse Video in Adobe premiere pro, 2013).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGs_5xpIeLg

(Unit 12 1.1)- This source here is not a screencast this time but is a tutorial on how to create a speed drawing and covers everything from ‘setup, lighting, drawing styles, recording and editing’ (Make Your Own Speed Drawing Videos- How To, 2016). The video gives a crystal clear overview of how the equipment should be set up to hold up the camera and appropriate lighting (Make Your Own Speed Drawing Videos- How To, 2016) what drawing styles to go with such as geometric or line art with shading (Make Your Own Speed Drawing Videos- How To, 2016) and to never record the entire thing in one go since it will allow more ease with editing it together (Make Your Own Speed Drawing Videos- How To, 2016). The process of editing it together is shown as well and how footage is applied together.

(Unit 12 2.2)- Looking at the production processes of this method, I personally think that despite the creativity it holds for me, it would not be the most effective one for My FMP because it uses physical equipment other than the editing software and I would have to keep everything in one place and have the lighting exactly the same all throughout. Even this poses inconvenience because I would be doing the bulk of my FMP at home with the chances of finishing it weeks early or producing something of a mediocre quality as a result. Also, the software that was shown to me is different from the Adobe Premiere Pro I plan to use so I was shown a similar but not completely thorough enough editing process.

Bibliography:

andrearitsu. (2015). [Blog] Andrea Ritsu. Available at: https://andrearitsu.com/2015/08/01/just-how-did-sonic-2006-happen/ [Accessed 10 Mar. 2017].

Andrews, W. (2014). Feature – The Life and Times of Sonic the Hedgehog. [online] Clickonline.com. Available at: http://www.clickonline.com/games/feature–the-life-and-times-of-sonic-the-hedgehog/23549/ [Accessed 10 Mar. 2017].

DidYouKnowGaming? (2016) Sonic 06 – Did You Know Gaming? Feat. WeeklyTubeShow. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX_kJhd_8QE&t=169s (Accessed: 10 March 1017).

Fahey, R. (2006). Sonic The Hedgehog. [online] Eurogamer.net. Available at: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/eg_rev_son_360 [Accessed 10 Mar. 2017].

How To Make A Simple Animation in Photoshop CC (2013) [Screencast]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAhBz8F2N9E (Accessed: 23 march 2017).

Iizuka, T, Thorpe, N. (2016). ‘Speeding into the Future’, Retro Gamer 158 (August), pp 24-25.

Kalinske, T, Kimplix (2011) The History Of Sonic: Birth Of An Icon (Full Documentary). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym2ve5_YD60 (Accessed: 16 March 2017).

Kimplix (2011) The History Of Sonic: Birth Of An Icon (Full Documentary). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym2ve5_YD60 (Accessed: 16 March 2017).

Iizuka, T, Kimplix (2011) The History Of Sonic: Birth Of An Icon (Full Documentary). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym2ve5_YD60 (Accessed: 16 March 2017).

Lachel, C. (2014). Sonic the Hedgehog: What Did the Critics Say in 1991? – Defunct Games. [online] Defunctgames.com. Available at: http://www.defunctgames.com/reviewcrew/26/sonic-the-hedgehog-what-did-the-critics-say-in-1991 [Accessed 20 Jan. 2017].

Make Your Own Speed Drawing Videos- How To (2016) [Screencast]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGs_5xpIeLg (Accessed: 23 March 2017).

Mean Machines. Lachel, C. (2017). Sonic the Hedgehog: What Did the Critics Say in 1991? – Defunct Games. [online] Defunctgames.com. Available at: http://www.defunctgames.com/reviewcrew/26/sonic-the-hedgehog-what-did-the-critics-say-in-1991 [Accessed 3 Feb. 2017].

Mega Play. Lachel, C. (2014). Sonic the Hedgehog: What Did the Critics Say in 1991? [online] Defunct Games. Available at: http://www.defunctgames.com/reviewcrew/26/sonic-the-hedgehog-what-did-the-critics-say-in-1991 [Accessed 3 Feb. 2017].

Retrojunk.com. (2016). Growing Up with Sonic the Hedgehog (1991 – 2016) | Retro Junk Article. [online] Available at: http://www.retrojunk.com/article/show/5057/growing-up-with-sonic-the-hedgehog-1991-2016 [Accessed 20 Jan. 2017].

Schroeder, M, kimplix (2011) The History Of Sonic: Birth Of An Icon. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym2ve5_YD60 (Accessed: 16 March 2017).

SEGA Archives. (2016) ‘Sonic Boom: The success story of Sonic the Hedgehog’, SEGA Archives, 1 (May 2016), pp. 55.

SEGA Archives. (2016) ‘Sonic Boom: The success story of Sonic the Hedgehog’, SEGA Archives, 1 (May 2016), pp. 55-56.

SEGA Archives. (2016) ‘Sonic Boom: The success story of Sonic the Hedgehog’, SEGA Archives, 1 (May 2016), pp. 56.

SEGA Archives. (2016) ‘Sonic Boom: The success story of Sonic the Hedgehog’, SEGA Archives, 1 (May 2016), pp. 58.

Senn, C, SEGA Archives. (2016) ‘Sonic Boom: The success story of Sonic the Hedgehog’, SEGA Archives, 1 (May 2016), pp. 54.

Shea, B. (2016). Jumping Platforms: How Sonic Made the Leap To Nintendo. [online] Game Informer. Available at: http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2016/09/28/how-sonic-made-the-leap-to-nintendo-consoles.aspx [Accessed 2 Mar. 2017].

Shea, B. (2016). Jumping Platforms: How Sonic Made the Leap To Nintendo. [online] Game Informer. Available at: http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2016/09/28/how-sonic-made-the-leap-to-nintendo-consoles.aspx [Accessed 2 Mar. 2017].

Sonic Retro. (2017). Sonic the Hedgehog (2006 game). [online] Available at: http://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic_the_Hedgehog_(2006_game) [Accessed 10 Mar. 2017].

Thorpe, N. (2016). ‘Speeding into the Future’, Retro Gamer 158 (August), pp 24-25.

Treesicle (2014) Sonic The Hedgehog: The Story You Never Knew. Available at: URL (Accessed: 14 March 2017).

Unit 12: Research report and evaluation

April 2, 2017 gracepulford981 Comment

Unit 12 research report

Unit 12: research report (Unit 12 3.1)

Introduction (Unit 12 2.1/3.1):

My chosen topic of study for this unit will be around how the well-known video game franchise, Sonic the Hedgehog, has changed over the years in the form of a video piece. The main reason I have chosen this topic is because I am already a huge fan of this video game franchise and the SEGA mascot itself since early 2010 and I am extremely curious to see as to how the franchise has progressed to where it is now since the early 1990s. I have also chosen this topic since I hope to carry it on into my Final Major project in the form of a time-lapse drawing video piece, which is why I will also be researching various video formats and styles, how they can tell the same topic and how my desired time-lapse video can be produced.

Methodology:

For my research itself, I will be keeping a separate research diary to keep all my findings in one organised and secure document.

(Unit 12 2.1)- In relation to the change in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise over time, I will be using a combination of both primary and secondary research looking into. For my topic, secondary research will involve looking specifically into: how the transition from 2D to 3D affected the franchise; specific games that have made an impact to the franchise (both positive and negative); what made him stand out to be the icon he was in 1991 and today and the Rivalry and interaction with Nintendo over the years has changed the franchise over time. (Unit 12 3.2)- As for my secondary research methods, I will be using various existing sources such as articles online and gaming magazines and other videos discussing the topic. Within these videos, since mine will be a time-lapse drawing piece, I will be taking notes on how different videos can tell the same topic with how I can pick certain elements suitable for a time-lapse drawing. Another idea I had involves how specific games have had an impact on the franchise and consists of a mixture of primary and secondary research. I thought that it would definitely be worth researching what games cover this, reviews and even fan views on them and playing the games for myself to see if there is a relationship between my research, the reviews and if they have changed the franchise in any way. It will also be a fantastic opportunity to see if my views of the games match those of the reviews and other fans and to either prove or not that some people are known to form ‘opinions’ based on what others think.

More secondary research will be towards my video piece I will be research videos of existing time-lapse drawing videos and how different pieces tell the same topic, one average how long each one is (depending on the subject matter) to determine my ideal time length. I will even be researching the production methods for my video piece since I’ll be using a method I have never used before to ensure a smooth, efficient and effective production as possible.

(Unit 12 3.2)- I will be doing all my secondary research before any primary- with the exception of the games’ impacts on the franchise. This is because I can research all my planned secondary information and allow room for new paths to follow and as a result, help me adapt my primary research accordingly and come up with the appropriate methods. However, I will definitely consider carrying out interviews as qualitative research to use within my video piece. I, however, will not be using as much quantitative research (surveys, questionnaires) for this one since I feel qualitative will fit in better with the nature of my topic and a time-lapse drawing. However, I will most likely be using existing figures such as review scores and sales of specific games. But this is why I am doing all my secondary research first, so that I can allow changes for research plans to be made like this.

Evaluation (Unit 12 2.2/3.2):

Secondary research findings:

(Unit 12 1.1)- For my secondary research I had to investigate three media products and research in-depth about the period of time it influences, design and production skills, audiences and how products are created for them also including world views and what the information in the product actually means- all in relation to our chosen medium and FMP topic. Because I’ll be doing my FMP on how the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise has changed over time, I decided to look at magazine articles, online web sources/blogs and videos that showed the same topic as mine and I looked for information that covered my four main subheadings for investigation: what made Sonic a gaming icon in the 1990s, how the transition from 2D to 3D affected the franchise, specific games that have impacted the franchise and how SEGA’s rivalry with Nintendo played a major role.

(Unit 12 2.2)- Looking at the magazine articles I found, I came across some information that will really benefit my FMP- mainly the voice over script for my animation. For example, one magazine covered the transition from 2D to 3D inside out, starting from competition against other gaming companies and consoles all the way to the first 3D game, ‘Sonic Adventure’ which outlines all the changed the gameplay and character went through for this time period. (Unit 12 1.1)- This article makes clear reference to the other gaming companies changing to 3D gameplay and how the expectations from fans for Sonic made the development of a 3D title very challenging which I feel should be made apparent in my video to show a major change in Sonic’s history. Another vital incorporation I should make in my piece comes from a Retro Gamer article and it has interviews from professionals and developers involved with Sonic the Hedgehog. They mention how 3D games have had 2D elements applied to them and this crossed nicely with what the SEGA Archives magazine said about ‘Sonic Colours’ and ‘Sonic Generations’ having the 2D/3D elements complimenting each other. (Unit 12 3.2)- I know that this part will definitely be portrayed in my animation video, as it would make a nice conclusion to finish and summarise the whole piece. I don’t want to fit it into one subheading since it crosses over and refers to more recent games and therefore wouldn’t make much sense if in the middle of the video.

(Unit 12 2.2)- I have also analysed online videos and documentaries where I did find some useful information relating to how the first Sonic the Hedgehog game differed from other games at the time regarding style and gameplay and what went into the development of Sonic’s creation from the early stages of his development. (Unit 12 1.2)- Despite the vast differences f these sources regarding content and subtopic, they have both influenced many ideas for my FMP piece regarding methods of portraying the information I intend to feature and investigate further. For instance, the unofficial video piece I came across gave me information in a quick but simple way which allowed me to actually take in it better as well as more engaging features, which included music clips from the actual games/levels which accompanied the suitable information and made the video a little more engaging and fun to watch. This is an element I will definitely be adding as it would add more engagement and I would add the most suitable clips for the information being given and animation being shown. This could also apply to in-game sound effects like the rings, item boxes and leaping sounds.

(Unit 12 1.1)- One last medium I looked at were online sources including websites, blogs and online game review sites. I decided to look at online sources because I knew that they would have a substantial amount of personal views which I balanced out with professional reviews of the most impacting Sonic games. Although the game reviews always tend to have personal opinions in them, it was still interesting to see the trend in what they had to say about Sonic ’06. From researching these, there was an overall negative trend of glitches, severe camera issues and long loading times. (Unit 12 2.2)- the research into this one apparently appalling game has given me ideas for both primary vox pop interviews and ways to show this impact in my animation using these responses. I have devised the vox pops so that all answers and opinions will not take up too much time in my voice-over script and saving time for the remainder of the topic to be discussed. (Unit 12 1.1/1.2)- A lot of websites I came across talked about Nintendo’s mascot, Mario, and he had which Sonic didn’t and vice versa. I felt that this was a perfect way to introduce my video piece since it would only make sense to start with what made Sonic famous to begin with. One of this reasons is having what Mario didn’t in his gameplay!

Secondary research findings:

(Unit 12 1.1)- Alongside the research for my FMP topic I have also researched my chosen medium to show my topic, production methods and skills and the technologies and equipment involved producing it. I looked up my initially planned time-lapse method of production, animation techniques using Adobe software and used these to determine the best method of production for me. (Unit 12 2.2)- After watching the three videos there was something about all of them that made this decision so hard to make. For example, I wanted to do the time-lapse because it was something I have never done before and would take my creativity to the next level. However I realised that all the equipment would have to be set up in one place at all times which would make doing the main production at college impossible, not to mention the lighting would change each time this way too. This would make my piece at risk of being a poor quality or finishing it too early. This is when I decided for sure to do an animation since I have experience with the Adobe creative suite; I could do around 95% of the production in college and I can still use my love for art/drawing and count animation as something I’ve also never done before.

(Unit 12 1.1/2.2)- One video showed something majorly helpful for me to use when producing my animation which was how to work out the number of pictures against the framerate I’ll need. Using the maths given to me in the video I devised my own triangle to separately work out the number of frames, framerate and duration of my video when needed.

jhhj

Primary research findings:

For this research project I also carried out some primary research where I went out and gathered the findings from scratch. I initially planned on conducting an interview with one of the games development tutors who may know some of Sonic the hedgehog’s history and games and conducting some vox pops with the students about the game Sonic ’06. However, during the planning of these interviews the games development students were planning their yearly games festival and my tutor strongly advised me to go down there and see if I could interview anyone there about Sonic the Hedgehog and how it’s changed. I did this the first day it was on but I didn’t find anything related to it. But this was excellent preparation for the next day so that I could prepare myself for what I planned to ask students and games lecturers there.

Although playing this wouldn’t really be of much use for/after my research, there was an original SEGA Mega Drive available at the festival and it was so fascinating to see not only how it varied aesthetically from the modern consoles but to see that they still physically exist.

On the actual interviewing day I set myself to do the vox pop interviews I had very mix emotions about it at first but looking back, there’s so much more positivity to it than not. At first I did let my nerves get the better of me a bit and was either hesitant to approach people or kind of rushed into my vox pop question which did seem to intimidate the interviewee a bit, especially if they didn’t have the knowledge I desired. However, all of this did pass when I got some answers from people who I knew had knowledge and experience with Sonic ’06. One moment of joy arose when I introduced my project ideas and desire to another student to ask my question and he immediately got another student who he knew would provide me with the information I needed for sure which was a real highlight of the whole process because I knew I had made the right choice with interviewing my target audience and the students genuinely cared about my project research. Because of this I had no hesitation to ask some of my more detailed questions and I ended up with some brilliant answers that briefly outlined some historical and modern contexts of the franchise.

More success came with the interview I had with one of the games development tutors where I was able to ask the questions I planned last week. Although this interview didn’t go as expected either, I still ended up with some really useful information to apply to my FMP and even then, distractions such as background noises and gaming audio were minor and didn’t prevent much of the information from being blocked by it. When it came to asking the questions, I did get away with skipping a few since some answers I received tied in perfectly with other questions and so, the interview went quicker than I thought whilst still gathering the information required.

In spite of everything turning out positively, I know well the area I need to consider next time if I was to reverse the clock such as confidence with approaching people and even adjusting my questions slightly to not make the interviewee feel pressured to answer something they may not know entirely about.

Copyright:

During a debate with the class about my project concept and ideas, the issue of copyright was brought up by one student; since I am basing my project on an existing character and franchise via a video animation I was warned that I will need to investigate what I will/will not be allowed to do with SEGA’s character. I know from what another student told me plus what I researched that the games company Nintendo are known to take strong legal action against any fan-made games and material (Lamoruex, 2016). To see whether SEGA have the same copyright laws or how they differ I have researched news articles and existing sources that state SEGA’s copyright policies and what I will be able to get away with within my FMP. To ensure the most up-to-date and absolute certainty for this aspect of research, I have only used sources no earlier than 2015 to the present date.

https://desk.thecontentcloud.net/inspiration/take-leaf-segas-policy-towards-user-generated-content#.WLgkDPnyhPY

This source here, which is a website source explains the fact that SEGA has approved the creation of ‘one of many fan-made video games’ (Content Desk, 2016). The main piece of evidence supporting this information is how the official Sonic the Hedgehog account commented on the video: ‘Brb. DMCA time. Just kidding. Keep making great stuff, Sonic fans.” (Content Desk, 2016). (Unit 12 2.2)- This official comment from the video posted on YouTube (Content Desk, 2016) couldn’t really be better evidence that SEGA is encouraging the work of fans for their characters/ideas and is reassurance that mine project is no exception either.

http://powerupgaming.co.uk/2015/02/05/sega-youtube-videos-being-targeted-with/

(Unit 12 2.1)- This website here explains how certain YouTubers were being targeted with copyright claims (Mawson, 2015) with mainly Sonic the Hedgehog Videos- both classic and modern series’ being affected (Mawson, 2015). One piece of information here which caught my eye was that one YouTuber was hot pretty hard with the copyright claim in over 10 of his videos for using a 5 second snippet of Sonic Music (Mawson, 2015). However, after reading through about the intense copyright claims, I saw that, ‘In response to one fan’s email’ (Mawson, 2015) SEGA’s statement said: “In North America and Europe we typically will not take action on YouTube videos or similar content. Monetization of YouTube videos is not something we consider, but we will demand the removal of any leaked footage as well as content that uses our properties in a malicious or inappropriate way.” (Mawson, 2015).

(Unit 12 2.2)- Overall, this source doesn’t convince me as much as the first one because the date in which the website page was published which was early 2015 so circumstances for copyright here may have changed slightly to greatly. However, I am reassured that I will be able to carry out my video piece, especially since it will not have any inappropriate footage of any kind.

http://twinfinite.net/2016/08/where-nintendo-crushes-fan-made-projects-sega-lets-them-flourish/

(Unit 12 2.1/1.1)- This source also comes from an online web page and it compares the aggressiveness Nintendo and SEGA have with their mascots when it comes to fan work of any kind. Looking at Nintendo firstly, they are known to be ‘very consistent in shutting down anything they don’t like fast and hard’ (McGlone, 2016) with the shut-down of a fan-made Zelda movie (McGlone, E, 2016) and ‘an unofficial Pokémon MMO fan-made project, Pokenet’ (McGlone, 2016) both being hit one year between each other. However, looking at SEGA’s approach to this matter, they have been ‘more tolerant than Nintendo when it comes to letting fan creations slide’ (McGlone, 2016). For instance, the Sonic the hedgehog twitter accounts are known to contain fan-art in the most ‘funniest and absurd’ way (McGlone, 2016) as well as being a ‘meme fest’ (McGlone, 2016).

(Unit 12 2.2)- Looking at the vast contrast between the two companies and their copyright policies, I know for a fact that if I was creating a Nintendo or Mario based piece, I wouldn’t get away with it at all. But since mine is on how the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise has changed overtime whilst using existing facts and non-inappropriate/leaked footage, it looks like I will be able to do what I intend to do for my FMP successfully. Even more reassurance from this source relates to the upcoming release of the ‘2D genesis-style’ Sonic Mania (McGlone, 2016) and how ‘former fan-game maker and long-time Sonic fan’ (McGlone, 2016) is now assisting the development of Sonic Mania after being brought on by SEGA to recreate a Sonic CD for last-gen consoles using his own engine (McGlone, 2016). Overall, this proves that SEGA clearly acknowledge and encourage their fans’ work- as proved with the Sonic Mania development and Twitter pages. As a Twitter account holder and a follower to the page, I witness some of the creativeness yet insane work that goes on there!

In spite of this research I will make the audience watching my final piece aware that I have taken copyright into account and state that all the original concepts, ideas and (possibly) music clips belong to and are owned by SEGA/its rightful owners.

Bibliography:

Content Desk. (2016). Take a leaf out of Sega’s policy towards user-generated content. [online] Available at: https://desk.thecontentcloud.net/inspiration/take-leaf-segas-policy-towards-user-generated-content#.WLkzePmLRPZ [Accessed 3 Mar. 2017].

Lamoreux, B. (2016). SEGA Mocks Nintendo’s DMCA Policies While Encouraging Sonic Fan Projects. [online] Gamnesia. Available at: https://www.gamnesia.com/news/sega-mocks-nintendos-dmca-policies-while-encouraging-sonic-fan-projects [Accessed 2 Mar. 2017].

Mawson, C. (2017). Sega YouTube Videos Being Targeted with Copyright Claims | Power Up Gaming. [online] Power Up Gaming. Available at: http://powerupgaming.co.uk/2015/02/05/sega-youtube-videos-being-targeted-with/ [Accessed 5 Mar. 2017].

McGlone, E. (2016). While Nintendo Fears Fan Creations, SEGA Uses Them as Strength. [online] Twinfinite. Available at: http://twinfinite.net/2016/08/where-nintendo-crushes-fan-made-projects-sega-lets-them-flourish/ [Accessed 9 Mar. 2017].

Unit 11 3.1: Creative CV- research and production.

March 29, 2017 gracepulford98Unit 11 3.12 Comments

(Unit 12 3.1)- This week my research has continued on to investigating various fonts which I could use for my creative CV. This process involved using the website Dafont which allowed me to explore various fonts which I then selected and created a separate mood board for my findings where I annotated what I liked about them and how I could apply them to my own CV- and change them when required to compliment my theme and colour schemes.

Here is my font mood board on the same document as last week’s research:

moodboard

unit-11-moodboard

Whilst I was producing the font mood board another student spotted how I used the lined paper background to make it look more decorative for my findings. With this in mind, he gave me the idea for my actual CV of using photographs (promoting my passion for photography) with the slither of sticky tape on the corners and have one or two of my photos inside them featured on my CV. I really loved this idea since I could show my work on my CV in a non-pushy fashion and I can make it fit in well with my colour schemes using skills on Photoshop from my storybook project. However, I will probably only use one photo in this style to prevent overcrowding the CV and to keep space for the vital information to appear in it. despite this, I still went ahead with practicing putting a few photo images together so I could see how the look, which I could use and, most importantly, if the idea even works.

Here are some examples I’ve come up with so far:

cv-photos

After showing these practice images to my tutor she commented on the way I had changed the tone on my photos with how I could possibly try doing the same technique but with other colours from my teal colour pallet. With that, she told me about the colour generator website which allowed me to customise my own colour schemes and put together a much broader collection of teal colours to match my theme rather than a limited existing range.

colour-generatior-samples

Once I had all my photo images designed and my colour schemes put together I started to sketch out a brief layout for my CV which included my photos and where my personal statement, qualifications, education, skills and work experience were going to be positioned. Here is my draft:

Office Lens 20170309-152858

Using all my current research and colour knowledge I began work on designing the layout for my creative CV over the next 3 weeks. I knew that I wanted to follow a beach theme and I had ideas for typography I wanted to use so I designed my layout based around those ideas but I was only able to briefly plan my layout until I had my actual CV on my since all my spacial awareness and font sizes depended on the quantity of information from there. Keeping in mind some of the existing design elements I liked such as the work experience timeline and various typography.

I have also taken peer feedback on board with the photographs and applied a few of them to my CV draft in small but aesthetically pleasing amounts. This also gave me the idea of having something such as my personal information in one of the photo frames to make it look more fitting with my theme. During the development of my CV I had one-to-one feedback with my tutor to see how I could enhance the creativity of it more but still keeping it professional. Legibility was one issue raised since I had a sand and water reflection background and the black writing didn’t show up as clearly. This was when my tutor showed me how to apply a white box layer under it to make the text more readable. However, I wasn’t too fond of this idea at first because it was a solid box initially and it clashed a bit with my theme. But I tried to alter this with the feathering technique on InDesign to make it look softer and it immediately looked more fitting with the rest of my CV aesthetics- plus made the text more legible!

Speaking of aesthetics, we did a class lecture on creating infographics on Photoshop by outlining an original symbol or item to add or own fills and styles to it depending on the theme of our CVs. However, although this lecture was great for me to use in the future, I decided not to use infographics because it wouldn’t fit in well with my seaside/teal theme. But it was definitely a lecture for me to use in future for my FMP and definitely for university.

Using a pair of headphones, here is what I designed as my first attempt as an infographic:

Here is my final creative CV:

Unit 11 CV

(Unit 11 3.1)- Looking back over this criteria and what this has taught me, it has taught me various ways of how to promote myself, and show my employer what skills I can deliver to my career in one document. However, I have also kept it professional in the sense that I have transferred information from my own original CV to this one so that I am certain it contains all the elements a CV should, such as work experience, skills, education, qualifications ad personal details. I have also factored in elements from my research into existing CVs such as the work experience timeline and fonts that I found attractive. I have used knowledge of my colour swatch research for the timeline and headings so that they blend in well with the sand background.

Unit 11 2.1/2.2:Communication skills and knowledge.

February 22, 2017February 22, 2017 gracepulford98Unit 11 2.1, Unit 11 2.21 Comment

(Unit 11 2.1)- Communication skills and knowledge for progression after college is a really vital aspect to gain an understanding of for specific times during the progression process such as producing personal statements and attending university interviews.

When writing my personal statement the use of communication skills was essential for stressing my interest for the course I wanted to study, promoting the work I’ve done and what skills I’ve gained to support my journey through university. We learned some of these before starting to write it so that we could communicate the important parts of our personal statement. For instance, promoting myself, evaluation of the skills I’ve gained and constant referral to what skills relate to what activity/work I’ve done have all contributed to communicating my interest for university and also communicating the reasons why I should receive and offer for my desired course. For example, I have included descriptions of my FMP magazine spreads from last year and my red squirrel video piece to give examples of multiple forms of media (hence, multimedia technology and design!) In reference to these I have analysed the transferable skills I have learned from these which will aid me in my university course. However, since I was applying for mainly Multimedia technology and journalism separately I had to produce my personal statement so that it covers my interest in both areas at the same time. This meant I had to show equally cover my interest to study journalism by explaining examples of my work alongside transferable skills and what knowledge I can carry into the course. As a matter of fact, we were all warned from the beginning that if we wanted to apply for very different courses we still had to only produce one personal statement to cover that every course!

But whilst using all these communication skills in my personal statement I have also remembered to keep straight to the point for most of it to prevent going off topic and including unnecessary information. All of these communication skills enabled me to produce my personal statement to the highest standard I could whilst promoting my interest in the courses I applied for.

Here is my personal statement: personal-statement

However, the skills used in my personal statement are transferable for such stages like the interviews for courses, which will become the most beneficial and even determine your placement in some cases. I only had one interview (for journalism) out of the two courses I applied for yet the use of communication skills and knowledge helped me immensely to prove myself as a suitable student for the course. To begin with, etiquette is everything as it promotes yourself as a well-behaved and professional manner as well as good eye contact whilst, at the same time, showing a high level of interest in the course to the interviewer. For the journalism interview, I was told that I had to prepare myself by reading 2 well-known news papers, an online newspaper, watch the news and listen to the radio as I had an admissions test to do before the interview as well as a high chance that they may have ask me about them during the interview. Having a knowledge of these news formats will have shown to the person interviewing me that I did what was expected of me and, for a journalism course, I could talk about these things to show I was enthusiastic yet able to follow instructions as required of me at the same time. Because of my knowledge of communication skills the interview was a success and I was awarded an offer for the course on the condition that I achieve a distinction overall on my college course.

screenshot

Although my personal statement and my actual university interviews hold different communication skills and knowledge, they both hold the same purpose of helping me apply for university and promote myself as a student that is enthusiastic to reach their career ambitions from that course.

Unit 11 1.1/1.2: progression routes

February 9, 2017March 22, 2017 gracepulford98Unit 11 1.1, Unit 11 1.21 Comment

(Unit 11 1.1)- For this part of unit 11 I will be investigating the relevant progression routes and application processes for when my college course comes to an end for me. This will involve: showing evidence of my university/UCAS applications and research into course I want to join, my own strengths and ambitions- through my personal statement, university open days and preparation for interviews.

(Unit 11 1.1)- During the whole progression process I had to write my own personal statement as part of my application which outlined my course-related strengths, ambitions for the future, work and course-related experiences in relation to my plans for the future and career plans. The most important thing I had to justify here was the reasons why I wanted to study that particular course with evidence that I have done previous work that showed my interest in the course. Because my UCAS application included my main choices of Journalism and Multimedia Technology and Design (with a year in industry) I included reference to both of these courses’ content such as: my FMP double-page spreads from last year, video pieces and articles I have written as part of my college course. Alongside these examples I have explained the skills and strengths gained from these that I can carry into my university course and career. Linking to my strengths and ambitions, I included my work experience placements and stated the skills that equipped me in my college studies and could do so at university such as: teamwork, reliance from others, time-management and even punctuality, independence and managing money from my part time employment.

Here is my personal statement:

personal-statement

(Unit 11 1.2)- In relation to the rest of my progression routes and application process, I needed to show that I understood what was expected of me for fully understanding the courses I wanted to apply for plus where I wanted to do these and that I understand the full content and requirements of my choices. this is clearly where my UCAS application falls into as this was what I used to apply for my University choices. However, before I began my UCAS application I did some research into the courses that offered what I wanted for my career. I knew for a fact that I did not want to travel away to study and that I wanted to commute to my university so I looked at some which were near enough for me to travel daily to. I looked at the University of Kent because I knew they offered a journalism degree which I was interested in since being told about uni applications. However, I also saw a multimedia technology and design degree at Kent uni which consisted of web design, 3D animation, Photoshop and digital photography to name a few. I knew from there that I I had my heart set on that course and loved the idea of studying these different media formats.

I attended the open day for that uni to gather a more thorough insight to the campus and to attend talks by the staff on my course choices, financial support and well-being support. All of these were very helpful for when it came to my UCAS applications, preparing for life there in general and setting my heart on going there for sure!

(Unit 11 1.2)- When it came to my UCAS application I have included screenshots of my application itself, personal statement I included, email evidence that my application has been successful and offeres for interviews and study for my courses:

screenshot

(Unit 11 1.1)- However, after my applications were processed and I received my offers, I was still invited to an open day for those who have applied. Despite it not being subject-specific yet, it offered me the perfect chance to gain an understanding of what my chosen university had to offer such as: accommodation and facilities, what to expect between now and when I get my results, and the options for if don’t achieve the grades for any conditional offers I have. When I did go to this day, I found all the information and presentations given really helped answer questions I had on other sorts of funding and applying for student loans. I was also really impressed with how organised the day was too because all applicants were split into two groups depending on whether they attended college or school/A-levels so that each group was given the correct UCAS process accordingly.

One aspect of this day involved hearing what some of the current students thought about the university as well as being taken on a campus tour by them and seeing what facilities were on offer for us as students-to-be. Hearing the positives of Kent University from the students’ experiences made my trip much more welcoming and even useful to come from someone who’s position I will be in this time next year.

Below is the confirmation email I received for this event:

screenshot

A few weeks after this open day, I was invited to a applicant day that was subject-specific this time, meaning it would be outlining my chosen course and give me deeper insight to it. Overall, this day did give me an insight to what I should be expecting for September and I had the opportunity to meet students currently doing the course so that I could see how they feel about it as well as viewing the whole campus and accommodation. However, this day didn’t turn our quite as I planned since I knew that the course I applied for wasn’t quite for me; the digital media course had all the content I thought my Multimedia technology/design course had but that was more programming and web development whereas digital media was more creative. This was where I asked the staff for advice and they said I could email the admissions at the university to see if a simple course title swap was possible whilst still keeping the same conditional offer I first received.

If it wasn’t for this applicant day being held I wouldn’t have known until September what course was really going to be right for me and there would have been the risks of wasting time switching uni courses and inevitably missing behind on work in the first term.

Unit 11 3.1: Creative CV- research

January 25, 2017February 8, 2017 gracepulford98Unit 11 3.11 Comment

(Unit 11 3.1)- This week, I have begun work on Unit 11 and this project will be focusing specifically on criteria (11 3.1) where I will be producing a creative CV to go alongside a portfolio of all my best pieces of work that show off my learned skills.

Firstly, I was advised to briefly research existing creative CVs to gain an idea of how they can be presented and how the various information ca be laid out too. During this part of the research I found many ways of presenting specific CV elements which made me realize ways of showing it I would never had considered before. For instance, I came across CVs with timelines showing work experience placements and even little picture symbols which portrayed the specific skills and interests.

Once having looked at these CVs, I decided fro mine to keep it creative with the symbols and timeline designs but at the same time to keep it neat, organised and professional. But now I had a brief idea of what direction I wanted to take my CV, I started to think about a specific theme and colour schemes I wanted to go for. I knew that I wanted to go for a beach and seaside theme along with teal colour themes to represent this.This was when I started to research teal colour schemes and analyse existing creative CVs on what elements on it inspire my own creative CV and what I’ll be likely to use for it.

Using design skills from my previous unit 10 storybook project I was able to lay out my research as a mood board and using the feathering tool in order to make it look much more neat and creative.

here is my mood board which features all my research finding which i have cited and referenced:

moodboard

Bibliography:

Author, U. (2014). Color Inspirations- Emerald Twilight. [image] Available at: http://www.urbanthreads.com/blog/?p=10671 [Accessed 18 Jan. 2017].

Chibana, N. (2015). How to Create an Infographic Resume That Will Land You a Job. [image] Available at: http://blog.visme.co/create-infographic-resume/ [Accessed 18 Jan. 2017].

Dulux, (2014). Teal sectrum. [image] Available at: http://www.functionalcolour.ca/healthcare/colour-palette/teal-spectrum/#page=tab2-2 [Accessed 18 Jan. 2017].

Pinterest, (Unknown date). Color. [image] Available at: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/340655159295954388/ [Accessed 18 Jan. 2017].

Pinterest, (Unknown date). Color love…. [image] Available at: https://www.pinterest.com/explore/teal-color-palettes/ [Accessed 18 Jan. 2017].

Pinterest, (Unknown date). Orange and Teal. [image] Available at: https://www.pinterest.com/explore/teal-color-palettes/ [Accessed 20 Jan. 2017].

Qayyum, A. (Unknown date). 30 Creative Resume Designs That Will Make You Rethink Your CV. [image] Available at: http://smashinghub.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/13-creative-resume-designs.jpg [Accessed 20 Jan. 2017].

Qayyum, A. (Unknown date). 30 Creative Resume Designs That Will Make You Rethink Your CV. [image] Available at: http://smashinghub.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/9-creative-resume-designs.jpg [Accessed 20 Jan. 2017].

Unit 10 Children’s book: Week 12

January 13, 2017 gracepulford98Unit 10 2.2, Unit 10 3.1, Unit 10 3.21 Comment

A summary of my production work to-date including reference to earlier production schedule:

(Unit 10 2.2)- Like last week, this week has been entirely devoted to ensuring that the layout on every page was clean, clear but still exciting for my target audience and that my text was all in the correct font (sans-serif) and size. This was where, from lectures on InDesign skills previously, I used the paragraph styles tool which allowed me to have a shortcut formed for efficiently and effectively applying the same font/size in a split second compared to going through all the text and applying the correct font the old-fashioned way! Using this skill was not only a great way of saving production time but is also a skill used professionally in the industry for magazine design and layouts as well as the graphic design industry.

However, my tutor advised me to consider my text in relation to my target audience which meant trimming down any unnecessary words to shorten the length and rearranging it to create more space for the child to take it in better. Sometime, colour changes were required for the text to stand out better against certain backgrounds such as dark clouds and sand. However, I did learn a new skill this week when it came to the safety information in my trademark life rings which was having the text box shaped differently to make the text look neater. My tutor showed me how to do this along with how to shape the text away from the edges to avoid touching the life ring. This result of this tool made the life ring feature look a whole lot more neater and professional which I really loved the look of at the end.

My front cover underwent some moderate changes to the illustration positions and the logo to make the whole piece fit together without any crowding or touching one another. This part worked out just fine but I did have to go back to Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop to alter the fill on the title since I had used a dark sand texture which didn’t show up that well. I altered it to a lighter gold fill which looked a lot more clearer and my tutor helped me to add a shadow to it which I was really impressed with since it helped create more of a unique element to it.

Evidence in my design work, that demonstrates an understanding of the topics taught over the past 8 weeks:

Here is my final storybook featuring all the edits I’ve made this week:

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(Unit 10 3.1/3.2)- One thing I have taken home as something to definitely consider for the future is how my project could be turned into further project ideas and even its own brand. My tutor commented that the logo for my storybook could be taken much further to create its own brand and feature merchandise, colouring pages and even the brand’s own website with various interactive activities related to the book. I was also told that I’d be able to carry this project in into my Final Major Project if I wanted to since I had the characters already created as a base for it. I became really fond of the idea of my storybook becoming a brand via the logo since I could even carry it on to any University courses and projects that would allow me to do so.

Unit 9 project (Greg): final adjustments.

January 6, 2017February 13, 2017 gracepulford98Unit 9 2.2, Unit 9 3.1, Unit 9 3.22 Comments

After submitting the first draft of my project at the ned of last term, I was mainly given feedback this week on what my tutor thought of both my pieces of work plus areas to edit them in order to perfect them even more.

(Unit 9 3.1/3.2)- Whilst showing my tutor my article, he commented that he liked the use of dramatic language such as ‘intoxicating’ and especially the use of what my pull-quotes had to offer with their hard hitting words. Whilst looking over these aspects, he seemed to be quite stunned at the last quote discussing the way some game types expect you to be obsessed with it due to the monthly charge to keep playing it. This only just made me realise how much all the hidden areas and details of such a wide topic could just show the real extent of it- which I only just saw once I read through it more deeply and also because I only focused on separate areas bit by bit when writing it but reading it all there in one piece really showed me and my tutor the level and extent of how digital media has taken over and taken its toll on many people too.

Improvements for the article mainly consisted of rewording sentences to add some more drama into them as the article went on, minor sentence structure errors and my tutor even suggested adding an extra short paragraph at the end as a conclusion or other way of showing ‘the writer’s view’ and a way of possibly answering the question to my article’s headline and overall theme. This idea did make me a but two-sided on it since an this kind of article wouldn’t really have the writer/journalist’s view in it. But I did take note on how articles from the indy100 does use first person language depending on the topic so I decided to write the final paragraph of my article using first person language to make the article sound like I had an view of my own and make it a little more hard hitting plus engage the reader- all in respond to my tutor’s feedback.

(Unit 9 2.2)- Here is the final draft of my article I have edited:

unit-9-article-submission

Is our relationship with digital technology healthy?

Social media and the latest gaming updates means digital technology has become an irresistible part of my generation’s everyday lives to the point of obsession.

The increasing advancements in gaming technology and access to social media platforms means that our generation has never been so obsessed, with teenagers the most likely to become intoxicated.

According to one study, the use of social media feeds a variety of emotions from anxiety to pleasure. This study also showed that the demanding pressure to keep up with the endless 24/7 activity on social media results in anxiety through the fear of missing out on any little moment.

“People use it to gain self-worth and confidence as a substitute for not having real achievements or purpose in their life.”

-Anonymous Facebook user.

This data reveals that the ratio of anxiety to pleasure supports a 3:1 ratio with those under 40 to be more anxiety driven.

Based on a recent survey of 25 people, 16% of the total respondents spend 5 hours a day or more using social media. 100% of these people own a social media account with 36% owning four or more.

From loneliness, poor social skills and, in extreme cases, becoming frightened to open the front door, social media obsession poses the threat of developing other mental health problems in later life.

In addition to these damaging consequences, Anna Almendrala for the Huffington post commented:

“Peer influence is kind of agnostic; it can be a good thing, it can be a potentially bad thing.”

Like social media, video games have also seen cases of obsession increasing each year.

Given the access from home consoles, smartphones, portable devices and endless technical advancements, it’s no surprise that we are seeing this disturbing trend.

Despite no single contributing factor for gaming obsession being the case, the appeal of a fantasy setting and ‘levelling up’ experiences are two of many reasons for gaming obsession with evidence concluding that role playing games hold one of the greatest obsession potentials.

“Obviously with casual games you run out of lives or you finish the level but with MMO (massively multiplayer online) or RPGs (role playing games) there’s no segment where it’s like ‘you’ve done this.”

– Anonymous gamer 1

“You’re supposed to invest in it and that whole monthly charge means they need you to be obsessed with the game in order to keep playing it.“

– Anonymous gamer 2

With the way digital technology has evolved and advanced overtime, I think it’s fair to say that we are a generation who simply cannot survive without our Facebook, twitter and precious video games. How can we call this a healthy relationship?

(Unit 9 3.1/3.2)- With my second format, which was my four photos, I showed them to my tutor for feedback and after showing him them, he commented that it would be an idea to find some form of link between them and my article. This was where he mentioned the isolation and ‘I must not miss out’ aspect of digital media obsession and asked me if there was a way I could incorporate that into any of my photos. I did believe that the photo with all the social media activity quotes on it could be a clear indicator to the target audience and also the one with my three class members sitting in a row all on their phones. However, after thinking about it, the purpose of the photo format was for the audience to form their own personal view on my theme and the ‘I must not miss out’ meaning may not be acknowledged this way. But looking at all four photos, I personally believe they all show this meaning in their own ways whether it’s the endless activity on social media or having all gadgets and games scattered carelessly around to avoid missing what they have to offer the obsessed person. Because of this, I have decided not to change any of my photos because I don’t really want to imply a very specific meaning that covers only one area of this vast theme. In addition to this, I want the audience to still ask questions for themselves and form their own views on it.

My tutor also gave me a suggestion relating to my own view within my writing. This was to write an article of my project production, mainly with the article writing and photography with more use of my views and opinions to see just how my own perspectives can change the overall tone of my work and possibly even open up new areas to consider researching for next time and carry on into my Final Major Project.

Here is my article:

During my unit 9 project I knew that, first and foremost, photography was a format I insisted on doing. The other was an article, creating the ideal balance of formal information and the photos allowing room for the audience’s own perspectives on a theme. This theme was obsession with digital media focusing on social media and gaming. At first, I wasn’t to enthusiastic about my theme as I found it to be a very common-sounding topic but soon after researching just how much this obsession covers, it gave me a hundred ideas of what my photos could feature and what meaning they could carry- although that part was the audience’s decision. Being able to invent new photo ideas aside from my sketched ideas, I recieved even more ideas of how to show the extent of this obsession can have. Having my plans of all the gadgets for one photo being neatly arranged changed to another person’s of them being carelessly scattered around showed me the truly different perspectives people can have of the same theme. In this case, surrounding the treatment of the gadgets too.

Producing the article was a little more challenging but was made easier since I had my photos as a starting point. I had written it in the style of an existing online newspaper which I did find limit the opportunity to use some of ‘the writer’s’ (my own) views. I always find this kind of obstacle in any journalistic writing a force of habit since I have more often than not come across any pieces which only outline the news in its unique style. It was only after in which I realised I could use the first person language to my advantage when adding in my opinions- especially at the end conclusion. Whilst producing my evaluation and this article for that matter, I had to accept that regardless of the existing style of an news piece or any written piece, the writer’s views should be heard no matter how big or small, strong or simple. If the writer didn’t have any opinions on the topic, why is he/she even writing about it?

Unit 10 Children’s book: final adjustments.

January 5, 2017January 6, 2017 gracepulford98Unit 10 2.1, Unit 10 2.21 Comment

(Unit 10 2.1/2.2)- This week, even though I have submitted my completed storybook, my tutor still wanted me to focus on my layout a little more- which I feel worked best around this time since I had completed my book and it was now a matter of fin-tuning it all.

When my tutor sat down with me, one problem we immediately encountered was that my storybook’s InDesign document wasn’t compatible with the college’s earlier version which meant the whole document wouldn’t open for us. Despite being incredibly frustrating for us being unable to fully complete what we needed to with the layering, we were still able to use the PDF format of it for me to take notes and sketches of what could be done or rearranged. We looked at each spread at a time and one thing to do with the text being too complex with how it was spread out and more likely to cause confusion for the child this way. This was when we looked into having (for some pages) a column of text on the side of the page in a simple sans-serif font to make it easier for the child to capture the story. This column method was also a great way for me to further experiment with proportions of illustrations to create more of an enhancing page view.

With the fonts, my tutor thought it would be best to keep most of the book in a simple font to keep the text understandable for my target audience. However, I was concerned about this with no longer meting the desires of my survey respondents but the idea of saving the multiple fonts for the dramatic events and words/ phases that stand out the most. This would also prevent overusing multiple fonts too much and causing too much confusion for my target age group.

More but minor alterations to my storybook included rearranging the text and illustrations on the page to make it that little bit more appealing to my target audience. And despite the troubles with accessing the InDesign file I needed, this fine-tuning process with the layers and text resulted in a much more spaced out layout yet still keeping the child-friendly charm within it and also saving time overall since I didn’t need to carry out anymore drawings or scanning them in. It was all a matter of just rearranging!

Here are a few screenshots of what we experimented with during the week:

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Here is what I did to my storybook once I had the proper access to the version of InDesign:

storybook-project-submission-piece

Unit 10 Children’s book: Evaluation

January 1, 2017January 11, 2017 gracepulford98Unit 10 1.1, unit 10 1.2, Unit 10 2.1, Unit 10 2.2, Unit 10 3.1, Unit 10 3.21 Comment

unit-10-evaluation

Unit 10 evaluation:

Evaluations of my final solutions against the identified target audience of young children (Unit 10 3.1)

After the production of my storybook, I had to gather some feedback on it to see how my target audience react to it. Exactly like my primary research, I sent a copy of my book to those who know and/or have a child between the ages of 6-8 and asked for their feedback based on: what elements kept the child engaged with the book such as illustrations and typography; what could be improved for their benefit such as text, the topics dealt with and, if the parent would recommend the book to a child of my targeted age bracket. The feedback I received included the characters and ‘interesting pictures’ keeping the child engaged, and that it being educational yet age appropriate and enjoyable would result in that parent recommending it. (Unit 9 3.2)- However, I did receive a few areas to consider for next time such as minor spelling mistakes, capital letter errors and involving the use of dialling 999 in an emergency since most people don’t know the number for sea emergencies.

Critical evaluation and reflection on my learning to inform personal development (Unit 10 3.2)

Target audience analysis and research (Unit 10 1.1/1.2)

Every single piece of research and sources I have used information from have been Harvard referenced in their correct form to avoid being criticized for plagiarism.

Before any production began, I had to carry out extensive research into not only my target audience but also the existing resources out there for my specified age bracket. This research also effectively helped me decide upon my choice of topic and format for my target audience. (Unit 10 1.1)- When it came to understanding the characteristics of my target audience I had to research everything from their attention spans and how they vary between ages, what children in this age bracket might already know and not know and how the interests of children start to develop and vary as they get older. This was the research I carried out before the actual product research because it helped me fully analyse the existing children’s books and resources regarding how they attract their audience. This lead on nicely to help me plan how to make my project appeal to my age range. Even though I had a specific age I wanted to aim my resource towards (children aged 6-8 years) I was still advised to research the entire prescribed 5-11 age range to broaden my understanding of the variations of products and characteristics.

(Unit 10 1.2)- After researching my target audience, I carried out more research into existing products out there regarding what are aimed at 5-11-year-olds. This included storybooks, educational books and notes taken on educational animations. (Unit 10 1.1)- I examined each of these within the 5-11 age bracket broken down, researching storybooks and other resources for a child of 5 years then of 6-9 years then 9-11 years and so forth so I could see how the products cater to the characteristics of those specific ages. Such elements of the products included the topics, colours, styles, font sizes/typography and illustrations used too. All this information combined with researching my target audience firstly was a great way of helping me come up with ideas for my children’s resource.

(Unit 10 1.2)- More research I carried out was primary research, carried out a week or so after my secondary research was completed. This was in the form of a survey created on Survey Monkey which I sent out to everyone I knew who owns or knows children aged 5-11 years old. This primary research was to gather an idea of what actual children want from a resource aimed at them so that I could adapt it to fit in with my secondary research and suitability for my target audience. (Unit 10 3.2)- Overall, I feel that the survey responses gave me all the information I needed for my design choices but I do feel a little unprofessional that I didn’t do it the same week as I saw another student’s survey and it reminded me to do one of my own. This feeling was soon gone once I received all the information required for my storybook that I could apply to it.

(Unit 9 1.2)- I also carried out some other research which was during the pre-production stages of this project. Research included four designers who’s work influence my own design choices- which I did find helpful and use for character designs within my book. I examined various storybook layouts, character details and even onomatopoeia in decorative typography to add variety for my audience and in response to my survey responses for research- stating multiple fonts were what their children engage with. In addition to my planned design ideas, I also decided to use inspiration from any TV shows and even anime I was watching at the time. One of which gave me the idea for the stress lines on Sandy’s eyes on one page and mouth artwork depending on he character’s emotions.

Production journey/planning (Unit 10 2.2/2.1)

Using my research to help me understand my target audience and what resources exists, I came up with my project idea for a storybook aimed at children aged 6-8 years old with the topic of sea safety. (Unit 10 2.1/3.2) Before getting started on any design work I came up with SMART targets which helped me to plan specifically what would be done by which week and if it’s achievable, realistic and specific or not. Overall, I found this whole process extremely beneficial because it allowed me to manage my time by producing a production schedule which stated what needed completing each week. However, I did have to extend a few of my targets once with the TIME one due to difficulties with the Adobe software causing delays with progressing on but I was easily able to catch up when I referred back to lectures on the Illustrator and Photoshop techniques I needed.

(Unit 10 2.2)- After all my SMART targets and planning was completed I began creating my storyboards and character illustrations- which I then outlined and filled in using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop following on from skills lectures. Prior to actually starting our projects we were given lectures on numerous skills using Photoshop and Illustrator that came in handy for creating special effects, layers and colour effects. Since I had photographs as my storybook’s background learning these skills came in really handy for enhancing them even more. The ‘feather’ too allowed me to apply and blend in rough waves and clouds for the stormy scenes alongside fill tools to vary the colours of the beach huts. We also had lectures on typography and determining which would be best for our target audience. I used these lectures to effectively decide on a sans-serif for the descriptions and a decorative font for the dialogue to vary it and meet the requirements of my survey respondents wanted too. (Unit 10 3.2)- However, I did come across a minor weakness with the layout of my book coming from feedback on how my photos and layout could be a bit more out of the ordinary. One time we tackled this was when my tutor and I experimenting with the beach hut colours and applying this layer at several angles to see how this small change could capture the child’s attention as well as with altering the illustration sizes to add more variation.

(Unit 10 3.2)- None of these changes and additional research didn’t come with changes to all my storyboards, story tracking documents and photo plans which did cause me concerns about completing all the changes on top of what need doing already. Plus, I did feel behind from the beginning due to struggling with applying fills to my illustrations holding me behind schedule. However, by this stage I had referred back to notes from lectures on applying fills in Photoshop and I was able to extend my SMART target for the deadline by a week to make up that time back.

Feedback throughout (Unit 10 2.1)

Throughout this project, we’ve had feedback given to us as a class discussion and one-to-one. Both have been immensely useful since the class feedback helped to form new design such as character development and even developing my book into a series for my final major project. The one-to-one feedback from my tutor has been more to do with enhancing my storybook’s layout and proportion. I referred back to lectures on proportion to make my layout more interesting with my character illustrations plus vary the photos a bit to make them stand out more. (Unit 10 1.2)- This is where I was advised to do some further research into layouts in existing storybooks to see how they are designed to look more unique and exciting. I found that all layouts showed one topic per spread rather than per page which is what I had initially done. However, changing this wasn’t a stress because the vital pieces of my story still remained and spacing it out like this allowed me to spread out my photos to vary the book’s style even more.

Overall

Looking at my final product, every change was definitely worth it in the end; the extra research on layout helped me to adjust mine according to how one topic was dealt with per spread, which spread out my book’s content and enabled my target audience to take it in better. Despite all the aesthetic changes to my book and storyboard, I was still able to tell my sea safety topic with a broader variety of layouts and proportions whilst showing evidence of my target audience and designer research in it. (Unit 9 3.2)- As proud as I am of my storybook, if I could go back and change anything I would pay more attention to researching the layouts and styles of existing books for a stronger idea on how to have made mine less crowded. (Unit 10 3.1)- I would also have been more extensive when asking what my target audience thinks of my storybook since I sent my book to their parents to transcribe what their child thought for me. This was because the children I knew who fitted the age bracket lived to far away to effectively ask for feedback. Even though I gathered effective feedback for the future I felt it would have been more professional coming from the target audience of young children themselves.

gracepulfordjournalism

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Unit 12 : Research diary (secondary research)

Unit 12: Research report and evaluation

Unit 11 3.1: Creative CV- research and production.

Unit 11 2.1/2.2:Communication skills and knowledge.

Unit 11 1.1/1.2: progression routes

Unit 11 3.1: Creative CV- research

Unit 10 Children’s book: Week 12

Unit 9 project (Greg): final adjustments.

Unit 10 Children’s book: final adjustments.

Unit 10 Children’s book: Evaluation