FMP WEEK 5 - 30april

Today I got to the point where I had 4 out of my 6 illustrations pretty much finished. I am happy with how each one looks and together they are much better because they combine to sum up the story and give the viewer a more rounded perspective.  Although they are near finished I think I could redo some of them because my skills at these illustrations have improved tenfold since starting the first piece. Overall if I can sort out all 4, hopefully 5 or even push to 6 to be completed by the end of the week that would be great allowing me 2 weeks to focus on the poster and anything else.

CHC

FMP WEEK 5 - 28april

Today I received and took part in a group critique with a different to usual tutor. This gave me a fresh perspective on my project and overall I think that I am going in the right direction. However it takes some time and explaining to understand my project so I need to work on how I portray my ideas and make my purpose of what I am producing clear whilst keeping on trying to remain original in my style. Generally things are going smoothly, I am aiming to complete all storyboard illustrations this week so I can move onto the poster and title in the coming penultimate week of the project.

CHC

FMP WEEK 4 - 25april

This was a busy week so this post represents 2 days worth of studio work and a bank holiday weekends worth of activity. On the Wednesday I took part in the mid way project review where graphics students and peers looked at each others work and carried out a critique, giving advice where needed. This was a great exercise because it allowed you to see how others had gone about the project and showed how much they have achieved. Also when looking at the sheet where others described what was good and bad about my work, it gave me a perspective from others which highlighted a few things which had slipped my mind that I needed to do to boost my grade prospects. I shortly went about printing and filling my sketchbook to fulfil all angles which others had stated I needed work on and evidence of gallery visits. In general my feedback stated that I needed more evidence of gallery visits and work I had done but not recorded in sketchbook; so that was easy to do. However I realised half way through the project that I have now got to the stage where I can now start to complete the final pieces e.g. storyboard and poster/ that's what I should aim to be doing now seeing as time is running out.

Since the review I have found some inspiration and my work rate has increased to a level where I should hopefully have some good stuff completed by the end of the 7 weeks. The panic definitely helps me work faster but even with the increase of work pace I am still constantly reflecting on work and improving it. This constant changing/ improving is good but it does mean that whatever I do takes twice as long as I would ideally like it to take. Overall I am not as far ahead as I would like but the project is evolving much faster now for me so there is still hope.

CHC

FMP WEEK 3 - 16april

Today I did a few things, some name and title generation research for the project and then in the afternoon I visited the 'design museum'. After feedback and reviews from my tutor I delved into the world of literary techniques, establishing creative methods in which I could produce a name for my film. Some of these methods included collection of good relevent words then picking them out of a hat and mixing and matching them to see what I came up with. Another way in which I went about this was to listen to some of my favourite music and the lyrics especially to see if there was any stand out names.

The trip to the design museum later on was based on the designs of 2014 so far aswell as a 'Paul Smith' fashion exhibition so although neither were directly related to my project it was good to see some creative genius and strong graphics in the exhibition. I particularly liked the 2014 designs because they gave me some insight into the future and what kind of inventions could be abundant which could inspire me when creating my future based film.

Fig.1 from Paul Smith Exhibition

Fig.2 from Paul Smith Exhibition

Fig.3 from Paul Smith Exhibition

Fig.4 from Paul Smith Exhibition

Fig.5 from Paul Smith Exhibition

Fig.6 from Paul Smith Exhibition

Fig.7 from Paul Smith Exhibition

Today provided me with a break from the grittier side of the project where the constant sketching can become a longer process then you would initially like; this gave me some space to rethink things and my method of going about completing this project. The name creation, especially the lyrics based method provided me with a name which I am quite pleased with and think that I will go forward with as the title of the film I am promoting. I have started drafting out the storyboard and fully enhancing my ideas digitally and thoroughly planning them before I sketch them out making the process quite bulletproof so I am pleased and I think this day and the easter weekend have really given me a boost to complete what I initially set out to do after a brief loss of confidence in the project.

CHC

FMP WEEK 3 - 15april

Today I started looking back at my main project, experimenting and doing basic groundwork. These seemingly pointless things I did today today would seem a waste of time at first; so I had to keep reminding myself why I was doing what I was doing. I did a few things such as draft out the sign for an american diner which I will use heavily in the storyline and storyboard of my final project. I also came up with a name/ title for the film I have created and am promoting. I experimented drawing out certain characters in quick rough sketches at certain angles to see if they looked as good as I had hoped/ would be suitable for what effect I wanted to create. I am pleased that I completed quite a few boring but vital jobs today however I have to admit that I worked extremely slow and at this pace I cannot see myself completing the project in time so I really need to step my work level up and this is the time to do that. To not work harder at this point of the project would be fatal in that my project would be uncomplete and I would possibly fail.

CHC

FMP WEEK 2 - 11april

Storyboard for animation plot.

The poster promoting our animation video.

Above is the final video the lens based students produced. Over this mini project I learnt a few basic ways of how and how not to work well in a group. We individually had skill sets and we divided the tasks between individuals so that certain people did certain things which they are more adapted to (eg lens based producing the animation, graphics promoting the animation).  I do not think this aided my FMP massively but generally I learnt quite a few things about how I would not go about completing my FMP and also how long things take to complete.

Images: Authors own.

CHC

FMP WEEK 2 - 9april

Today I worked alongside my fellow graphic designers and we completed a detailed storyboard for the stop motion animation story aswell as a poster promoting this small film. We worked well and completed all tasks faster than expected. Perhaps the products we achieved/ created today could be further enhanced by critique from others (other groups or more simply the lens based media students within our own group). A critique would allow us time to look at what we have produced in a different light and spur us on to spend more time bettering what we have already done. Friday will be a good time to make any final changes to all the work produced in this sub-final project. I am pleased with what we have achieved but I am not yet satisfied because I think if I need to improve my level of effort which should hopefully make my work better.

CHC

FMP WEEK 2 - 7april

Today I took an experimental turn in my final major project in a collaborative dimension. Alongside 2 peers from the same graphics pathway we combined our joint skills with another 3 individuals from the lens based pathway to form a group with a wide range of skills. We discussed each others projects and generally managed to work out a small mini project which would benefit everyone. This mini project was to storyboard, create a stop motion and advertise in the form of a poster- this short story we created amongst ourselves. Individually this collaboration storyboarding experimentation is relevent for me because I am currently developing my own storyboard and doing this acts as good practice and should help develop my skills in creating dynamic angles and great aesthetics in the form of a storyboard.I am pleased with how we organised ourselves as a group starting at nothing to eventually plan and map out what we need to do over the next week successfully and happily. So far so good, there is always room for improvement but the current pace that we are working at is definitely a good sign for progress and hopefully a good looking final product by the end of the week.

CHC