Evaluation for Scene - your 16-19 old leaflet and the work that led upto it

You need to write an evaluation for your work on Scene.

Cover the following in your evaluation:

1. Briefly explain the research that you carried out for Creative and Media on London's South Bank.
2. Explain how you tried in your leaflet to reach your 16-19 year old target audience through language, images, choices of fonts, layout, etc.
3. Consider the effectiveness of your choices of software, and the process of designing and producing your leaflet.
4. Examine the results of the poll/surveys on your blog sites to evaluate the effectiveness of your leaflets by people of your age.
5. Consider what you would have done differently if you were to carry out this task again. ( For instance, further research, a different layout, another design programme, setting yourself smarter targets for work in class, etc.)

We will finish this work on the first week back in the New Year.

For Scene: Create a Creative Media Guide for 16-19s on The South Bank

Your printed guide should be between four and six pages ( six sides if in columns). Depending on your skills you could produce this from the brochure feature in Apple's Pages, Fireworks, Adobe Photoshop, or any application on the Macs that enables you to produce a professional looking guide.

This is writing to inform, and it should inform your 16-19 year old audiences of creative media activities and events on London's South Bank. You will not be able to state everything so select the five or six activities and venues 16-19s would like to visit most.

The Guide's Features - you need a catchy title
Your guide's writing style
Ensure that this will appeal to your target audience. Imitate the style and tone of other guides who try to attract this audience.
The images in your guide
Examine how similar guides use images and graphics to gain their audience's attention and aim to do the same for your guide.
Your guide's tone
Consider the tone you want to create with your guide. Will it be fun, with bright colours and images or would it be better with a calm, relaxing tone?
The content (activities/venues) in your guide
You will need a select a varied number of activities/events. In your guide select what you think is most important to inform your target audience about: it could be issues such as the time of year, cost, availability, enjoyment, risks, and, if you need them, mini reviews, etc.

Remember that your 16-19 target audience should influence every decision you make!

Now
Carry out some audience research for pages of your guide by conducting a "Poll".

Post a few pages of your guide on your Blogs so your classmates and others from the Internet can judge the effectiveness of your work.
Add the Poll Gadget to your Blogs so others can vote on the effectiveness of your guide for 16-19 year olds. Ask a question or two on whether your guide would appeal to its target audience. Invite comments on your blog on what people like about your guide -or how it could be improved.

Photos of the London South Bank Visit for Scene from 25th of November 2009

Click on the images to enlarge

SCENE: The South Bank Visit and Attractions for 16-19s

Click on the map to enlarge

Keep an eye out for the dates of festivals and for special deals/offers. Collect the attractions' leaflets and ask what they do to attract the 16-19 year olds audience.

Bring a camera or camera mobile phone to record your day!

Here's a couple of links for finding out about creative media venues:

http://www.southbanklondon.com/page/whatson/

http://www.spoonfed.co.uk/london/area/southbank-75/

Bring a bag or knapsack to collect leaflets on the trip. Pick up more of the attractions leaflets than you need as you can share them with your classmates.

We will meet outside Burgerking at Charing Cross before 10.30 A.M. A regular meeting point during the day on the hour will be outside the British Film Institute ( The BFI).

Remember to post your research on what is going on in your local area on your blogs. I'm checking and noticing that some of you have either not posted it or have not posted enough. Be careful here as this will affect your grade for this unit. You will need this research for making comparisons later on when you evaluate your four page booklets on The South Bank's attractions for 16-19 year-olds.

New Unit: Scene - this means all of the creative and media activities for 16-19 year olds in your area

Task One:  research

Find a copy of your local newspaper or go to its website, i.e. News Shopper, and find out how for the last week how you would access ( cost, transport, times, audiences) the following activities in your area:

1. The screening of a film

2. An art exhibition

3 A play or theatrical performance

4 A live music performance

Post what you have found out on your blog.

Now cast your net wider and find out what there is in your area for the 16-19 age range

Research

Study the "What's on" section of local newspapers and magazines and focus on the 16-19 age range.

Look on the internet for local arts organisations that may promote activities for 16-19 years olds.

Make a list of major venues in your area and visit them, asking for information about upcoming shows, exhibitions, performances, presentations. (Again, for 16-19 year olds)

Go to places where public information is available such as on public notice boards and at public libraries or tourist information centres. Make enquiries about leaflets and flyers.

Talk to people who earn their living by being creative and about where they present their work.

Don't forget this College. What's going on here on both campuses. Consult the drama art and music departments. ( It fits in well with the target audience age range!)

From Creative and Media , the student textbook, page 15

Create blog posts from your research

 

Task 2

Carry out a survey into opportunities for employment in the creative media in your local area.

 

Investigate employment roles and requirements in your local area for creative media. Give a detailed, organised summary of expected and less predictable examples. Add to your summary the qualifications needed for the type of jobs available.

 

 

English Oral Task for Functional Skills

Oral work: presenting information in a wide range of contexts

As part of the job selection process for a creative media company, prepare a presentation for the whiteboard in which you give a formal presentation of your work on Artefact . You can use your blog and/or hard copy materials you have produced.

The skills you need to show are in the bullet points below:

In your presentation aim to convince your prospective employer of the following:

• explain your ability to carry out independent research (two examples)
• your ability to modify your work as you work creatively (one/two examples of changes of mind and improvements)
• being creative - show your ability to create a new arefact and what it represents (examples)
• How you tried to target a particular audience by promoting an artist in your CD covers. ( explain through your CD cover and posts on it)

You have until next week to prepare your presentation.

Creative Media English Functional Skills

http://www.edexcel.com/quals/func-skills/english/Pages/resources.aspx

Evaluation and Final posts on your CD covers (artefacts)

1. Write a post describing what you tried to do with colour, layout (typography), images, etc. and how this ties in with the act's genre of music.
2. How have you tried to 'brand' the singer or act?
3. How does your CD cover promote your act and target a particular audience?
4. How is your CD cover the same or different from others in the same genre of music?

Your overall thoughts on the units: Artefact and Record

What did you think of the units Artefacts and Record? Give your feelings about how successful you were in your work.

Of course, it would be great to write posts showing your earlier drafts and ideas as this would show the thought processes as you changed your mind as your CD covers evolved. Briefly explain why you moved away from earlier designs or adapted them.

An analysis of Nirvana's sleeve cover for "Nevermind"

Here are a few members of Kurt Cobain's (Nirvana's) production team talking about how the album cover was conceived and initial responses to it by the record company, major sales outlets and the police.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1SU5_1iKiw&feature=PlayList&p=C43F34EC26A38A76&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=9

At the time of its reception (the early 1990s) the main issue for Walmart wasn't the baby eagerly trying to grasp a dollar from a hook under water, it was that the baby's penis could be seen in clear view. Cobain's team wanted to enter the mainstream music world by offering their old and new fans an image of new birth, symbolising the band's transition from independent to the mainstream. As with many bands who promote their albums with challenging album covers and music videos, they wanted to "push the envelope" of might be accepted by mainstream audiences while holding onto their old independent audiences.

Kurt Cobain wanted to shock and surprise audiences by creating a memorable image which would challenge business values. The baby symbolises innocence and the dollar bill, grubby temptation. The image of an innocent baby swimming underwater greedily grasping after a one dollar bill on a fish-hook is difficult to reconcile. After all, it is an odd combination: a baby would not understand the concept of money - yet big business aims to "hook each and everyone of us from as early an age as possible. The dollar on a hook is a fishing image in which once the baby ( and we) are hooked on the almighty dollar we can be reeled in and caught up in a world of money and greed and readily accept the values of capitalism. Only a few years before "Greed is good!" was the motto of Gordon Gekko, the greedy capitalist from Oliver Stone's film, Wall Street from 1987.

Of course, the baby swimming underwater with its mouth open is not the only symbol of innocence on the cover: blue is associated with purity and water with baptism. For Cobain the baby's penis only symbolises the baby's gender; and it was only a problem for people who could not understand the concept of innocence and found sexuality a problem. Cobain thought that people who were troubled by this feature were probably "closet paedophiles" and he refused to change the image. Some observers thought the penis also represented the umbilical cord and that it would remind audiences that the open-mouthed baby was happy to being underwater as this is the natural state of a baby in the womb.

The baby is just below the surface and the deeper blue suggests greater depth which may signify danger or, as is more likely, the peace of mind implied by the band's name, Nirvana: "The Buddha described Nirvana as the perfect peace of the state of mind that is free from craving, anger and other afflictive states (kilesas). The subject is at peace with the world, has compassion for all and gives up obsessions and fixations." (From Wikipedia)

Another interpretation is that the hook with the dollar bill on it may be periodically whipped away from the baby's reach. The title of the album is typographically written in dark blue as if it is shimmering water; the album's name, Nevermind may well be setting up the teased baby's impending frustration at perhaps not grasping the money, with the reassurance that the baby's "state of mind" remains secure without the means to indulge in consumerism.

Ultimately, there is a greater irony at work here: the singer and his band still wanted their album to sell well - and make pots of money for themselves!

The album cover lends itself very easily to pastiche:

Naming acts and album titles

Advice for your task from Cog Design on your Lewisham act.
Consider how you name your singer, group, etc. for a genre of music

You can use your own names or versions of them

Here’s a few other ideas:

1. A heavy metal band – The Long Road – or Cats and Stallions
2. A soul singer – Talesia Rogers
3. A rapper – Rapper John/Ike/Mike, etc.
4. You might even choose a singer from The X Factor or American Idol, etc. who has never made an CD before.

Now think of a suitable title for the album for your CD cover that goes with your artist's image, songs, etc..

I need to see posts in which you reveal your thought processes and the decisions that you made for each stage of creating and designing your CD cover.

How many blog posts per lesson? At least two that show reflection and thought. Add images as you go and label your images so we know what to make of them.

Advice for Writing Posts on Your Creative Media Blogs.

Remember to give EVERY Post:
A title: which sums up what the post is about.
A main body: a few sentences, a couple of paragraphs, etc.
A label: this creates a link to FILE all related posts. You can multi-label if you wish. FEEL FREE to post Mandy, Mike and Brians’ work – as long as you label it by either giving their names or by giving the work itself. For example, artefact, music, record, cd covers, music research, etc.

How much should you write?
Posts can be of any length: a few sentences, a couple of paragraphs or three or four paragraphs, at most. Of course, add images to bring your work to life.

Try to break down the topics that you are writing about into their various parts so you do not overload your posts.

Creating and writing about your CD covers:

• some posts should describe what you are doing, with images ( ideas, planning, the stages of your work, choices of software, etc.)
• other posts should be about giving your thoughts on your work - reflecting on any changes of mind or direction and the problems that you met and overcome. You could even ask questions that you want to ask about or find the answers to.

Second Task : Your Creative Task for Cog Design

The Scenario
Cog Design has asked you to design and create a CD cover for a new Lewisham act. The purpose of the CD design is to promote the new music act. The CD must be created in such a way to make it attractive to the youth market.

What you need to be aware of for this task
There will be a promotional element to the design involving the branding of the new music act and you will investigate aspects such as the use of typography and imagery.

The creation of a CD will involve adertising, understanding of the market for the product and an understanding of its content.

The Cover will be developed using traditional and digital media and the final artefact should be created using digital photography and Adobe Photoshop.

What you need to post about (so you can show how you reflect on your work)
You will need to monitor your own creative activity. You will meet with the client to agree the design ideas and use feedback to enhance the design.

You need at least 8 posts in which you explain what you are doing - two for each stage of your creative process of designing and making a CD cover for Cog Design.

The Deadline

A strict deadline will have to be met to ensure the CD cover is ready for the launch of the new music act.

The last week of half term. Your research posts and your designs are to be completed by this week. We need an individual meeting just before completion to check whether your design is appropriate for the group/singer.

A useful site for a checklist on the steps and advice for designing and creating a CD cover.
http://www.andrewkelsall.com/top-ten-cd-cover-design-tips/

First Task - Research the process of designing and making CD covers

In this assignment you will learn about the process of creating CD artwork and study the work of successful CD designers to enhance your knowledge for your own creative process. Your findings will help you to develop your skills in the planning and design of a CD cover.

What you need to research

You need to visit a minimum you of TWO websites to discover the PROCESSES OF HOW CD covers are made.
Consider:

• the inspiration for the cover
• the design and what is meant to represent ( in graphics and colours)
• the materials used including software
• The CD box and the disc, the material used, expense, etc.
• anything you consider to be important in the process of designing and making a CD cover.

The posts you need to write

Write at least two posts for each designer you have visited about how they go about designing and making a CD cover. Add more, if necessary.

You should aim to include weblinks and images, etc.

Here are some of websites to help you:

http://www.cddesign.com/

http://www.discmakers.com/design/

http://justcreativedesign.com/2008/05/10/how-to-design-a-cd-cover-by-listening-to-music/

If these are not enough you can Google up some of your own.

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