Tutorial week 3

Today, in tutorial we learnt how to print out our work. We were tasked to print out our advert labels from Owens lesson earlier today. After that the entire class was sent down to the library, stationed on  floor d. We were welcomed by a lady working in the library, from whom we got a tour round the place. She explained how the printers work and which ones are which: there were 2 coloured printers, which charged 5 pence per sheet and there was one black and white printer which charged 2 pence. We then used our student cards to retrieve items we wanted printing.

We were then introduced to how renting books out work; everyone is allowed to book up to 8 books, with 2 weeks of due in time. I was particularly interested in concept art styled books, as my hobby is drawing.

Photoshop week 2

In this lesson I was tasked with the production of 3 ghostly images, and a simple banner.

This is one of the first ghostly images I have produced along side Scottie. It was the first image, so i was only able to do so much, as I hadn't had any prior experience. In addition, this image does not match the ghostly vibe, maybe if I had chosen a more appropriate image for he background I would have been more success. The tools I used are as follows: Quick selection tool/ Magic wound tool, the pen tool and lastly the desaturation function.





Me and Scottie then began creating the second image, this time however it was his attempt at producing the image, so it was my job to assist him to the best of my ability.

For the background image we decided to go with an ominous forest, and for the scenario we came up with a fantastical werewolf chasing a man through the woods. We used the same tools as before, however the blur tool was used to blend the werewolf with the background even more,giving him a blurred effect as if he had been in motion.




This was as far as we got with the ghostly images. With the banner task I didn't get far ether, due to the misleading tutorials.


 This is how far I got in the lesson, pathetic in my opinion. So i decided to finish up my work in my own time at home.

 

Work in progress 1

First of all I had to produce one more ghostly image. I decided to take the character of slender, from a popular horror video game "slender". This is the first step I took after being able to successfully crop out the background using the quick selection, magic wound and pen tools. As you can see the character doesn't blend in with the background very much.

work in progress 2

In the second image, I tried to blend in the background with the character. I used the burn tool as well the lighting level adjustment by using the ctrl+m keys.

Work in progress 3

 

I then proceeded by additionally setting a shadow in front of the character, which in my opinion gave him much more depth merging with the background.

Final edit

In the end I added a bloody variation to the existing one without altering anything except the colours. I did this through testing a variety of different filter options.

Final piece

Lastly, I produced the final piece, I used the water colour filter effect which created ominous lighting which matched slender's white and black finish.

As for the banner, I successfully got the tutorial working on my PC, in which I followed the instructions and carried out all of the lessons objectives.

 

This was what I came up with in the end. For the base image I used my work from last week.

Introduction to video

Today, I was introduced to some of the camera work and shot terminology. For instance the tilt shot is produced from the motion appearing from toes to head. Another example would be the moving panning shot where the motion consists of movement pacing from left right, this could be used to film a person walking for example as it also shows his/hers partial destination. Lastly the jib shot, this shot is used to view the actors from above or upper body

The first tasks objectives were to incorporate and compose these two shots around the campus area. We started of by capturing a moving panning shot,our idea was to capture two people walking across the hall, one from the left, and one from the right crossing to the other side, after the first person crossed the second was to walk across as well.

Advert research, week 2 (Monday)

In to days lesson I have learn ed the key terminology which will help me achieve a better grade in the near future by including these key concepts in my work. I've learn ed what the 2 keys are used for in advertising and what their functions are; these are the major and minor keys. I have also learn ed what the tempo and the diegetic as well as the non-diegetic sound are and how they're overlooked by the higher level students.

After watching a couple of TV advertisement examples, I was tasked with a research independent activity, which involved me searching for a car, make-up and sofa advert on Youtube. I then had to apply my own knowledge and include the terminology I learn ed before, when writing about the adverts.

"cake" Skoda- Fabia   This advert is titled "cake" for the Skoda- Fabia car advertisement (2007).
The song that was used ( "my favourite things" by Julie Andrews-1959) suggests that this advert is focused more on the older generation as their target audience, this is due to the fact that the song was published in the late 1950's. The whole idea around this advert is the process in which the car is produced from the ingredients which make up a cake, and that is the overall analogy. The use of a cake could also represent that the car is intended for married couples, a cake is usually associated with a wedding or a birthday party etc. This advert also uses the major key, this was done because it is a marketing advert which is designed to sell, for instance if the minor key was used,it might have even scared off or disinterested the audience of buying the product. The major key is very important in marketing as it gives the audience a more positive vibe to that product.

Maybelline- Fit me make-up system
This Maybelline fit me make-up advert, makes it clear that the product is aimed at young women aged between 20 and 30 years old as their target audience. This is because the advert presents itself with actresses aged appropriately to the target audience, this was done so that the target audience could relate to the models, inspiring them  to purchase this product. Furthermore this gives the audience that dying urge to believe in the products' marketing campaign, the company uses reverse psychology to sell their product. The advert uses the major key, which was given away instantly from the upbeat music. The use of non diegetic voice overs suggests that it was used to further persuade the audience in selling the product.

CSL sofas- "Sofa matchmakers"
Almost instantly I realised that the song played along side the advert matched with the product. The use of the product and song together creates an icon attachment, which makes it very easy to identify the brand this way. The "matchmakes" was implied as a clever metaphor. In the advert you a see a man dancing with several women, picking his best match and falling in love. the advert puts a spin on things making it unique. This idea was implied in the same way, however the love of a man and a woman is replaced with the man and the sofa, and that is the advertisement overall message. The major key is highly significant in this particular advert as the music  almost wants you to get up and dance along side the it, making it a one unique advert.


The last task was focused on unethical companies, I was to take a company which was subject of unethical charges, and use that information to produce my very own unique message regarding that company. After researching on this subject, i decided to go with "coca cola" as it is subjected of gum decay. I used this idea and so I sketched out a bill board but instead of using the old coca cola logo I used "gum destroy" in the same font. Looking back at it now i realise it might have been a better idea to use "gum decay" instead.

This is what I came up with using Photoshop,  As I mentioned before "gum decay" sounds a whole lot better so I went with it. the font design was produced using adobe illustrator, I looked up some tutorials on YouTube and it helped me achieve what i couldn't in Photoshop. The extension in the letter g was drawn through using a simple shape which I then extended. Same goes for the letter as it crosses under the letter a, and becomes conjoined with the letter y. I did this as the original coca cola logo does the same. I later realised that the billboard which i was using to get my ideas had used black lined stripes across their billboard. I simply got an image of a striped texture and inserted it behind my design by clicking in between the layer and pressing the alt key.

The drawing as well as the design were inspired by this image of a coca cola billboard. I tried recreating the billboard itself, i actually went out and took a photograph of an existing billboard.

This was the first stage in developing my unethical advert. I used the "Scew" tool to adjust my design onto the billboard.

In this second stage I only adjusted the colours a little bit just so it matched the lighting.

At this stage I thought it would be ironic if I got a decayed texture and placed as the background for my design. Since my unethical idea is based around coca cola being the decay for your teeth.

Lastly I took this idea to the next level by adding a tear in one of the waves for a greater effect and a visualisation of my idea.

Photography week 1 (18/09/15)

Today, I was introduced to the photography ,"freak or unique" side of the project. The final goal of this project is to capture a unique shot for the main advert which will have to be edited in Photoshop. First of we got to find out a little bit of the back side of things, regarding photography's history such as; when it was first invented, (1300's)who invented it etc.

The first task of the day was a practical one, which was carried out in groups of 5-6. The task was to look through a catalogue or magazine, and hand pick 4 different photos in which the group felt most confident at re-imagining it, putting their own spin on it while keeping it original.

 I have to admit some of these images were really embarrassing to compose, regardless of the fact we worked through it as a team, and came up with 4 images of our own.

The next activity was a competition between the 4 teams. The goal was to recognise the other groups pictures selected from the catalogue, the team who found the original would get a point by saying "bingo". Luckily our team came out on top in the end.



The third and final task of the day was to draw out a sketch of the "Lumix f238" camera we were using in the previous task. We had to draw out a rough sketch of all the different angles: the front elevation, rear elevation, top elevation and lastly the bottom. The task was to draw out all the different buttons scattered across all the angles and state the name as well as it's function(s).

Photoshop experiments

This is an example of my first attempt at using the "clone stamp tool" to clone specific parts i.e eyes, and clone them in unusual areas like the forehead for example. To start things up I searched for a simple cat image on the Internet followed on by copying and pasting the image into Photo shop. I then used the clone stamp tool to target the eye, doing so I cloned it above the original eye. I carried out the same step, however I used a different cloning method than before, adding that unique visual presence.



This is essentially the same process as before, instead of using an animal image however, I was tasked to do the same only with a human image. With the clone stamp tool, I was able to target the chin area and clone it right below the original, making it a double chin. I performed the same with the blackhead to the left of the image and the lips essentially. Furthermore i decreased the diameter of his lips to present my ability of using the "free transformation" option.




This is an example of me using the circular "marquee tool", additionally with a taste of the paint bucket tool, which I used to cover the circle as well as the background.

Introduction to advertising-"Freak or unique"

Introduction to advertising-"Freak or unique"


Today was my first official day at NCN college, and right away I was given my project brief,titled "freak or unique". Which is a series of coursework which will lead to my final and very own advert.

The first task I had to complete was an introduction to the language of advertising:slogans, where I had to decide which company matches a series of slogans. In my experience I was only able to name 4 slogans correctly.

The second task was a team activity, where teams were chosen at random through numbers 1 to 6, I was matched with team six. We were to advertise a product for a specific target audience as well as media. We were tasked with the production of a perfume advert aimed at young professional women presented on a billboard. First thing we did was to collectively brainstorm ideas, we came up with the name Lile, just like the flower lily, flowers can often represent a woman's emotion, lile however is a French portration of the product. For the cover we decided to represent our target audience by having a woman dressed in a shirt and blazer which would be appealing to the target audience. We picked the colours pink, purple and black as our trademark brand colours. Later we had to present our product in front of the class which was stressful.

For the third and final task I had to individually pick out 3 different freak or unique images of my own choice. For every image I had to state the artist, what it was inspired by and how I could use this in my own advert. The first image was from the fantastic and strange fine art, it was a creepy looking face or mouth which passed around the image eating it self. The second image was from one of my favourite anime's Dragon Ball Z, the picture was a fan art colourful interpretation of the main character in the show.The third image was and optical illusion, which I found amazing. It presents two images fully Dependant on your own perspective, a mans face or a person sitting beside a tree.

I personally need to improve on my presentation skills as I found standing up in front of my class mates stressful as well as awkward while presenting my team's product from task 2.