Thursday 14 January 2016
Synthesis
My dissertation tackles how the media’s depiction of gruesome murders effects the response of the tv viewer. Three main media theories have informed the dissertation; Copycat theory, Cultivation theory and Desensitisation theory. The three theories are the basis for my practical work. I have one comic expressing what each theory is using poetry and a certain sense of sarcasm and patronisation. The books take a mocking stance on the theories and to link them all together in a ‘visual conclusion’ I have included a fourth book which states that media can both over exaggerate, underrate the news, or show it as it is. All culminating in the final response, which is a small, bag of salt with the statement ‘take the media representations with a pinch of salt’. This is to show that all three theories explain part of the relationship we have with the media and television. My practical is to point out that we have a responsibility with how we react and cannot let ourselves just be dictated by the media we have experienced. I want the salt to encourage people to fact check and find out the truth their own way rather than being drawn along the wave of sensationalised news stories.
End of Module Evaluation Cop 3
This project started off relatively smoothly but tackling the dissertation half of the module proved to be a bigger challenge than I expected. I wrote and finished one dissertation but had to start again while trying to salvage some useful research from my first one. This blunder threw my time plan into chaos and I focused in on the written to try to achieve the best I could. Unfortunately this means my blog drastically suffered and when I'd solidified my new essay plan I had to try and link in my practical and make it appropriate. Luckily I had three media theories that were a scaffold to each of my essays, and I turned that focus into my practical response. I ended up making quite a lot of work in a short amount of time, to reflect thoroughly I have decided to split this evaluation into separate subheadings relating to different aspects of my work and development.
Research and Blog
So on the whole my blogging didn't go very successfully, I considered myself to be working well when I was blogging every Saturday, but I realise now that once a week was too little and too much time had passed since doing the work I was blogging that I was missing lots of decisions I made throughout the process of making and researching. I Think the way I dealt with my research in blogging could have been better, I tended to just regurgitate the facts I found with the odd sentence commenting. I think I should have used the blog to pinpoint certain facts and expand on them and write about them so that when I got to my dissertation I had writing I could use. In future I should analyse the things I blog, I need to go into more depth so that I have evidence of my understanding and learning. Contrary to my blog, I actually did quite a lot of research, in my first write through I was looking into lots of information about fear and how it effects the brain and responses. I didn't end up using this information, but I can see how researching can inform practical work. As I researched I was having more ideas about work, so I think in the future I would like to try a few more projects where it begins in research, so that it creates an informed product.
Concept
A large weakness to my concept, I feel, is that I didn't think about the context of the piece until much further into production. I think if I had considered that first I would have thought about, and planned for, the prospect of packaging and promotion. Looking back on the project I think I should have prioritised the professional quality over the quantity, I got set on an idea and I felt like I had to complete the whole plan. In reality I think my time would have been much more efficiently used if i had only created one or two of the book, and then built the box and worked on making it of high quality. If I had more time I would have made promotional poster's and mock ups of some promotional material such as mugs and t-shirts.
The concept itself ended up being quite large as I wanted to make a comic for each theory. But I wanted my piece to say something, have a comment to make, instead of just explaining the theories. Last years project went well because there was an opinion which informed the tone and final images/words. Thinking of that success, I decided I needed something to draw my project together so that it 'said' something. This is why included the visual conclusion comic; 'Tell me what you see'. My packaging idea reinforced that I needed four separate comics and so my concept had grown into a sizable project. But I was pleased that I managed to finish it even though not everything was quite up to the standard I would have liked. My project was quite heavily concept and product driven and there was less attention given to process and development. But I think overall I achieved the concept I was aiming for and presented it in a tone of voice that was mockingly patronising with a touch of morbid humour.
Development
My development work jumped about quite a bit as at first I was unsure of what I was trying to say with my piece. Once I got a hold on my concept I had left myself little time to complete a large project but my mind was set on the goal of the finished product and development suffered. I went through periods of time where I would do a blast of practical development, mainly to stray from essay writing, but it meant that I was playing with the materials more and I wasn't working with a final image in mind. This play time got me playing with coloured pencils and lead me to using high contrast colours. I started playing with showing light in colour and these images were most popular in crits and my social media. I ended up not using the exact style I had been playing with because it didn't work as a set with the other comics and I felt it was important for them to work together and show continuity. But it informed my colour decision when it came to digitally colouring my line work, the contrasting colours gave a sense of urgency to the images, which in turn helped convey the cultivation theory.
Once I got into the swing of planning my comics and I knew what I wanted on each page I went into a whirl wind of production. The issue i had in this stage of my work was that I was working specifically to get my planned idea out and done. This made my work much less playful and I just went straight into making final images, sometimes if the first draw of something went well enough I'd just accept it as done and colour it with the rest; the Marilyn Monroe was only drawn once. Although I was going to leave my original Brenda Ann Spencer pin up as it was but the Marilyn was on such a higher scale of quality that I felt I needed to redraw and improve Brenda Ann so she would match. So my need for continuity helped me do some development, even if it was just competing with other pages of the same comic.
I think it would have helped me also to involve some contextual research during my developmental and planning stages. I didn't really specifically look out an work that was similar to the one I was planning. I saw things I liked through my usual processes of pinterest and instagram but I don't feel I was fully engaging with it and thinking about it. I need to start constantly re-evaluating if I'm successfully thinking of my work in a real world context to get the best out of it. The one thing I did look at contextual research for was my box, because it was based off of a sewing box design I'd seen in a charity shop with collapsing sides. That was one part of my development I was proud of; my tv box. I started with my mini prototype and it was received well in crits which made me want to pursue it. The size of my comics meant that I had to scale up the design significantly. I kept adding to the box as I was making it, like the clear plastic seal I put all over it. I saw the man in the library coating books with it and I thought it would make my box prototype look better crafted and more permanent. Due to measurement flaws when making it, I ended up having to make an aerial on top' to act as a handle because the box was incredibly hard to open once coated in plastic wrap because it made it quite tacky. Then in the final crit I was demonstrating how difficult my box was to open and I broke it. So I took this opportunity to once again improve it and it pulled it apart to trim down so it would slot inside the lid. I think this continuing development on the box made me push the design to look much better than the original model.
Overall I think the development of my project had a mix of highs and lows, mainly due to bad time planning and unbalanced priorities. But in the parts where I did actually sit down and develop my work, it went well and improved the overall product. In future I will make development a more important process as it's what helps me improve my work, without I just keep producing similar things.
Presentation
The box and the products work well together and the whole aesthetic of the packaging makes it seem quaint and twee, which contrasts from the comics contents but I like that sense of secrecy; the real contents hiding behind a façade of cute. But I think it would have improved the overall look of my work if I had worked on packaging the box itself and making labels so that it looks as though it is ready to be sold into a shop. I had always intended it as a product that could be sold, but minus packaging and any promotional material it looks more like a gallery piece. If I had more time I would have made mock ups of posters advertising the product and some promotional items such as mugs and tshirts . I think it is clear that context came second to product in this project.
The box as a whole I think conveys the idea of the box I am proposing if it were to be commercially made. Since making the final adjustments to it, the lid was easier to use and it slides down satisfyingly into its close fit. I think the elasticated lace inside added to the charming aesthetic of the packaging but I had also planned to have the four panels slightly padded so the comics would rest on a small elevated cushion attached to each panel. But time constraints meant I had to forgo this part of my design. Another strength in the presentation of my finished product was the continuity of the comics inside. Each of them had a matching cover which linked them obviously and I included my logo and information one the back as I would if I was making it to sell. I included a pattern inlay on all the book because I think it adds a certain amount of professionality and also it was something else to link them further. Originally I had planned to fill the screens with images specific to each book but I sacrificed this to save time. I think they work better without images inside anyway because this way they are all exactly the same and the continuity is obvious. Overall I think the presentation of my project went well, the box packages the comics nicely and is also linked to the themes running through both practical an written. But since I spent so much time crafting the box I can't help but think I should have packaged that too. My presentation could have been improved by including things that would be present if the product was in context; such as price, bar code, information, blurb etc.
Synthesis
The synthesis link was quite straight forward because I based my project off of the three media theories which informed my dissertation. This gave me a stable starting point to expand on and construct my practical around. I think that the understanding of the three theories through my research and written work helped inform my drawing and the contents of the comics. I think I needed something very solid to base my work on as I don't deal well with broader more vague themes/subjects as I get easily off track, which was clear in my dissertation development.
Although the theories worked well in structuring my practical I think it may have improved my work, if not just my developmental work, if I had played around with different idea's and parts of my dissertation to inform the practical. The theories went well but I can't help but feel I might have missed out on something better through lack of experimentation and brainstorming.
Product : some strengths and weaknesses of the individual parts of the final product
Box
- Broke easily
- Can see tape
- Could have used a more permanent material
- Didn't coat handle and screen like rest of box
- Buttons drawn from two different angles
+ Worked once fixed
+Satisfying fit
+ Lace added to charm
+ Clearly represents subject matter
+ Outer layer is almost bubble less from plastic wrap
Copycat
- Less detailed than other books
- So i could have done more pages
- Handwriting was rushed and didn't compliment the words
- Not all character and shaded with darker colour to make shadow (inconsistent)
- Forgot about making floral borders for around poetry to exaggerate the 'lovey'-ness
+ Brenda Ann Spence went well, good colours
+ Overall colour pallet was better
+ More play with specific hues of a colour gave better results
+ The poetry worked well and added a sense of humour
Cultivation
- Cut out before I folded made it awkward to fold after, almost ripped
- Design was rushed as it was my last comic
- Should have put words on the blank pages to match other comics
- Blank pages looked empty and wrong
- Had to cut out one inlay at the back because I hadn't properly counted my pages (not multiple of 4)
+ Contrast colours went well
+ Colour and light play in development informed final pieces
+ Concept of this book was popular in crits
+ Cut out relatively neatly
Desensitisation
- Forgot to include levels going up.
- Level 100 doesn't make much sense now
+ Although people still seemed to get it in crits
- Dead child page only has one image whereas all others have two (incontinuity)
+ Lots of detail achieved
+ Gruesome aesthetic - got point across
+ Made people laugh in crits
Tell me what you see
- The red and blue screens don't work as well as I wanted
- The middle spread blue section is of lesser quality than the other drawings (incontinuity)
- The final image seems quite bare, I think I should have added some line as texture
+ The bag of salt. I just really like it. Sounds pithy.
+ The look of the blue overlapping the red looks really nice.
+ From afar looks interesting
- Could have done with more detail to take full advantage of overlapping lines.
Research and Blog
So on the whole my blogging didn't go very successfully, I considered myself to be working well when I was blogging every Saturday, but I realise now that once a week was too little and too much time had passed since doing the work I was blogging that I was missing lots of decisions I made throughout the process of making and researching. I Think the way I dealt with my research in blogging could have been better, I tended to just regurgitate the facts I found with the odd sentence commenting. I think I should have used the blog to pinpoint certain facts and expand on them and write about them so that when I got to my dissertation I had writing I could use. In future I should analyse the things I blog, I need to go into more depth so that I have evidence of my understanding and learning. Contrary to my blog, I actually did quite a lot of research, in my first write through I was looking into lots of information about fear and how it effects the brain and responses. I didn't end up using this information, but I can see how researching can inform practical work. As I researched I was having more ideas about work, so I think in the future I would like to try a few more projects where it begins in research, so that it creates an informed product.
Concept
A large weakness to my concept, I feel, is that I didn't think about the context of the piece until much further into production. I think if I had considered that first I would have thought about, and planned for, the prospect of packaging and promotion. Looking back on the project I think I should have prioritised the professional quality over the quantity, I got set on an idea and I felt like I had to complete the whole plan. In reality I think my time would have been much more efficiently used if i had only created one or two of the book, and then built the box and worked on making it of high quality. If I had more time I would have made promotional poster's and mock ups of some promotional material such as mugs and t-shirts.
The concept itself ended up being quite large as I wanted to make a comic for each theory. But I wanted my piece to say something, have a comment to make, instead of just explaining the theories. Last years project went well because there was an opinion which informed the tone and final images/words. Thinking of that success, I decided I needed something to draw my project together so that it 'said' something. This is why included the visual conclusion comic; 'Tell me what you see'. My packaging idea reinforced that I needed four separate comics and so my concept had grown into a sizable project. But I was pleased that I managed to finish it even though not everything was quite up to the standard I would have liked. My project was quite heavily concept and product driven and there was less attention given to process and development. But I think overall I achieved the concept I was aiming for and presented it in a tone of voice that was mockingly patronising with a touch of morbid humour.
Development
My development work jumped about quite a bit as at first I was unsure of what I was trying to say with my piece. Once I got a hold on my concept I had left myself little time to complete a large project but my mind was set on the goal of the finished product and development suffered. I went through periods of time where I would do a blast of practical development, mainly to stray from essay writing, but it meant that I was playing with the materials more and I wasn't working with a final image in mind. This play time got me playing with coloured pencils and lead me to using high contrast colours. I started playing with showing light in colour and these images were most popular in crits and my social media. I ended up not using the exact style I had been playing with because it didn't work as a set with the other comics and I felt it was important for them to work together and show continuity. But it informed my colour decision when it came to digitally colouring my line work, the contrasting colours gave a sense of urgency to the images, which in turn helped convey the cultivation theory.
Once I got into the swing of planning my comics and I knew what I wanted on each page I went into a whirl wind of production. The issue i had in this stage of my work was that I was working specifically to get my planned idea out and done. This made my work much less playful and I just went straight into making final images, sometimes if the first draw of something went well enough I'd just accept it as done and colour it with the rest; the Marilyn Monroe was only drawn once. Although I was going to leave my original Brenda Ann Spencer pin up as it was but the Marilyn was on such a higher scale of quality that I felt I needed to redraw and improve Brenda Ann so she would match. So my need for continuity helped me do some development, even if it was just competing with other pages of the same comic.
I think it would have helped me also to involve some contextual research during my developmental and planning stages. I didn't really specifically look out an work that was similar to the one I was planning. I saw things I liked through my usual processes of pinterest and instagram but I don't feel I was fully engaging with it and thinking about it. I need to start constantly re-evaluating if I'm successfully thinking of my work in a real world context to get the best out of it. The one thing I did look at contextual research for was my box, because it was based off of a sewing box design I'd seen in a charity shop with collapsing sides. That was one part of my development I was proud of; my tv box. I started with my mini prototype and it was received well in crits which made me want to pursue it. The size of my comics meant that I had to scale up the design significantly. I kept adding to the box as I was making it, like the clear plastic seal I put all over it. I saw the man in the library coating books with it and I thought it would make my box prototype look better crafted and more permanent. Due to measurement flaws when making it, I ended up having to make an aerial on top' to act as a handle because the box was incredibly hard to open once coated in plastic wrap because it made it quite tacky. Then in the final crit I was demonstrating how difficult my box was to open and I broke it. So I took this opportunity to once again improve it and it pulled it apart to trim down so it would slot inside the lid. I think this continuing development on the box made me push the design to look much better than the original model.
Overall I think the development of my project had a mix of highs and lows, mainly due to bad time planning and unbalanced priorities. But in the parts where I did actually sit down and develop my work, it went well and improved the overall product. In future I will make development a more important process as it's what helps me improve my work, without I just keep producing similar things.
Presentation
The box and the products work well together and the whole aesthetic of the packaging makes it seem quaint and twee, which contrasts from the comics contents but I like that sense of secrecy; the real contents hiding behind a façade of cute. But I think it would have improved the overall look of my work if I had worked on packaging the box itself and making labels so that it looks as though it is ready to be sold into a shop. I had always intended it as a product that could be sold, but minus packaging and any promotional material it looks more like a gallery piece. If I had more time I would have made mock ups of posters advertising the product and some promotional items such as mugs and tshirts . I think it is clear that context came second to product in this project.
The box as a whole I think conveys the idea of the box I am proposing if it were to be commercially made. Since making the final adjustments to it, the lid was easier to use and it slides down satisfyingly into its close fit. I think the elasticated lace inside added to the charming aesthetic of the packaging but I had also planned to have the four panels slightly padded so the comics would rest on a small elevated cushion attached to each panel. But time constraints meant I had to forgo this part of my design. Another strength in the presentation of my finished product was the continuity of the comics inside. Each of them had a matching cover which linked them obviously and I included my logo and information one the back as I would if I was making it to sell. I included a pattern inlay on all the book because I think it adds a certain amount of professionality and also it was something else to link them further. Originally I had planned to fill the screens with images specific to each book but I sacrificed this to save time. I think they work better without images inside anyway because this way they are all exactly the same and the continuity is obvious. Overall I think the presentation of my project went well, the box packages the comics nicely and is also linked to the themes running through both practical an written. But since I spent so much time crafting the box I can't help but think I should have packaged that too. My presentation could have been improved by including things that would be present if the product was in context; such as price, bar code, information, blurb etc.
Synthesis
The synthesis link was quite straight forward because I based my project off of the three media theories which informed my dissertation. This gave me a stable starting point to expand on and construct my practical around. I think that the understanding of the three theories through my research and written work helped inform my drawing and the contents of the comics. I think I needed something very solid to base my work on as I don't deal well with broader more vague themes/subjects as I get easily off track, which was clear in my dissertation development.
Although the theories worked well in structuring my practical I think it may have improved my work, if not just my developmental work, if I had played around with different idea's and parts of my dissertation to inform the practical. The theories went well but I can't help but feel I might have missed out on something better through lack of experimentation and brainstorming.
Product : some strengths and weaknesses of the individual parts of the final product
Box
- Broke easily
- Can see tape
- Could have used a more permanent material
- Didn't coat handle and screen like rest of box
- Buttons drawn from two different angles
+ Worked once fixed
+Satisfying fit
+ Lace added to charm
+ Clearly represents subject matter
+ Outer layer is almost bubble less from plastic wrap
Copycat
- Less detailed than other books
- So i could have done more pages
- Handwriting was rushed and didn't compliment the words
- Not all character and shaded with darker colour to make shadow (inconsistent)
- Forgot about making floral borders for around poetry to exaggerate the 'lovey'-ness
+ Brenda Ann Spence went well, good colours
+ Overall colour pallet was better
+ More play with specific hues of a colour gave better results
+ The poetry worked well and added a sense of humour
Cultivation
- Cut out before I folded made it awkward to fold after, almost ripped
- Design was rushed as it was my last comic
- Should have put words on the blank pages to match other comics
- Blank pages looked empty and wrong
- Had to cut out one inlay at the back because I hadn't properly counted my pages (not multiple of 4)
+ Contrast colours went well
+ Colour and light play in development informed final pieces
+ Concept of this book was popular in crits
+ Cut out relatively neatly
Desensitisation
- Forgot to include levels going up.
- Level 100 doesn't make much sense now
+ Although people still seemed to get it in crits
- Dead child page only has one image whereas all others have two (incontinuity)
+ Lots of detail achieved
+ Gruesome aesthetic - got point across
+ Made people laugh in crits
Tell me what you see
- The red and blue screens don't work as well as I wanted
- The middle spread blue section is of lesser quality than the other drawings (incontinuity)
- The final image seems quite bare, I think I should have added some line as texture
+ The bag of salt. I just really like it. Sounds pithy.
+ The look of the blue overlapping the red looks really nice.
+ From afar looks interesting
- Could have done with more detail to take full advantage of overlapping lines.
Final Crit
I made some hand drawn elements to use on my project boards because then they would link directly and visually with my practical piece. I made a character to be a logo and created a uniform border. The waves crashing do use up a lot of room but I like the overall look so I think it was worth the sacrifice of space.
The main thing i was told to improve in final crit was my blog which was almost non existent and to get on and finish my practical, I was still rushing to do my dissertation writing so I was juggling a lot of tasks at the time.
People seemed to find my project boards easy to follow and understand the project and they liked the look at the work that would be included in my books but it just wasn't in a finalised point and that made it hard to evaluate at that point.
Box the Builder
I started the design in mount board like my last prototype but on a larger scale. Since my books are A5 I had to significantly scale up from the 10cm one before. This is the pieces sat open to see the full width of the opened box.
In comparison to my large mason jar to show how big it ended up being.
I coated the box in clear plastic wrap, I had seen the man in the library using it to protect the books and I thought it would make my box look more finalised and more permanent as it would be moderately wear and tear proof now. It used to be sold in big wrapping paper rolls in morrisons but they seemed to have discontinued it. The only kind I could find was in Wilkinson's and it was just 30cm tall, luckily my box is 27cm. It was a close call but it just fit. The length also just filled from the top of one side around the bottom the the other panel edge which was useful. But the close fitting meant there wasn't much room for error. I did the inside first while i was seeing how to put it on best because if this one bubbles (and it did) it would be hidden from obvious view. I got the hang of it by the time i reached the outside and it has minimal bubbling.
Unfortunately the addition of the plastic wrap made the box quite tacky and the close fitting lid kept sticking against the inside making it difficult to open. I made a handle on top and decided to disguise it as an aerial, this helped a bit but it was still really awkward and i was worried that it might not be openable once id submitted.
In the final crit though I was demonstrating how hard it was to take apart and it broke. So since the plastic wrap already got ripped, i sliced the sides off and trimmed down the parts before taping them back together. It looks ledsss professional to have the tape showing but the way the box opens and closes is such an improvement I think it was worth taking the hit on aesthetic in favour of functionality.
The finished product. I added buttons and a screen as well as the aerial to make it clear what it was. Also I liked the charm it gave it. The overall effect of the box is cute which I like because it contrasts from the more graphic innards.
I made a ribbon securing band to hold the panels of the box up because that way it was easier to close instead of trying to balance all four while squashing the lid over. I wanted the box to be as functional as possible. Obviously if it was made commercially the box would be constructed from some form of plastic rather than a paper based material. But for a prototype it sufficed, as i mainly wanted to convey the design and functionality.
Inside the books sit all snug. I numbered them so that there is an obvious order to read them in. Because the conclusion book has to be read last as it would make any relevance otherwise.
I put small stilts on the corners of the bottom panel because when the sides were up they were falling into each other instead of standing straight. This helped support them.
Each book got secured with the lace ribbon that I stitched into the edges. I did this because it added to the charming aesthetic of the box. I accidentally spilled baby oil all over my lace a couple of days before but it actually made it smell really good which just adds to the overall effect of the box.
Relatively straight stitching. I stabbed my finger 3 times doing this. If it was made commercially this would be machine done or simply glued to get the most clean cut effect.
Tell me what you see: Journey of making
This is where the idea to overlay the blue and red line first started, relatively simple sketch at the time. I was thinking of using it for desensitisation but it seemed like a clever way to show the two sides of a new story in my concluding comic. I renamed this comic 'tell me what you see' because the other one was a question and the question mark didn't fit in well with the title page style.
This was the last book I worked on and there was a real sense of urgency to get the pages drawn out and finished in time for my pre booked print slot. I missed that slot because i ran out of time but managed to get these done for the next day. This first one shows how news can be reported as worse than it is and i chose an daily understood and recognised example; protesting. This shows a protest shown as being aggressive when in reality it is a sit down peaceful protest. But peaceful doesn't sell in the news. I liked how the characters came through in this piece, i used reference for full body shapes as i tend to struggle with realistic poses that don't look static. Although the leaning riot guard was without reference and was done quite quickly without drawing our the mechanics of joints and lengths like i normally try to do. This taught me that sometimes the best way to make a pose look natural is to take liberties with the body shape and exaggerate some parts. And generally not worrying about it made it come out much easier. If i had more time I would have liked to make a bigger crowd scene and really explored the reality of drawing mass amounts of bodies.
This one talks about news stories that are made out to be less and so I chose the idea of government officials taking liberties with tax money. The lesser image shows a politician steal a tenner from a working man. But the reality image shows the politician with his two houses and filling his pool with tax money. It is an over exaggerated image but it helped to show the concept of the piece a bit more clearly. I don't like the quality of the below drawing though, if i had more time i would have redrawn this as it didn't seem to fit quality wise with the other images. The line work seems rushed but time constraints meant i jut had to deal and try and fix some parts in photoshop.
For my last image I wanted to include a small bag of salt. So that i could say here is the pinch of salt to take your media with. This seemed to be the entire point of the whole practical pice and this statement seemed to conclude it. Which is what i wanted this comic to do. I was going to originally have two news scenes exactly the same overlay sand slightly off set to show that sometimes the news also reports accurately. But with the idea of the salt I felt it was better to just put a character talking directly to the reader, to really simple spell out the message to them. I drew myself because it is my opinion and also i'm quite quick at drawing myself and this helped shave a bit of time off. It'll still use both colours and be slightly off set but I think that could create a cool 3d effect. Also the red and blue slightly offset kind of looks like when an old tv wasn't quite in focus and around the edges you could see the offset of the RGB.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)