28/09/2016
TASK 1 – ‘PITCH
PERFECT’
Kickstarter is an option for many creative people within the
creative industry to promote their upcoming product in the current market and
this could potentially be an option for artists or students to share their creativity
and to gain exposure for their skills. This can be an option for me to approach
my target audience, though at the moment I do not think my current or future
works would somewhat benefit from using Kickstarter, since I cannot see any use
of it to benefit me as an artist, unless if I were to create a graphic
novel, then it may see some light in using the Kickstarter programme.
As a group we look into various Kickstarter videos that
pitch and promote new products or ideas within the creative industry. We had
chosen one at random and the Kickstarter we ended up picking was a promotional
video about a camera, titled “FPS1000 HD
– The low cost high frame rate camera”
Summary of the video
The video itself is not as engaging and we expected a lot
more from it since the Kickstarter project was about the next new model (2nd
generation) of their camera. It appears clinical and somewhat unprofessional in
terms of presentation and camera shots. Since this was about their next model,
they should of shown the first/previous model of the camera to get a good comparison
between its specs and differences, to inform new potential buyers who were to
view the video as they would not know how much of the product has changed or
improved compared to the first model.
The creator behind the invention of the camera doesn’t feel
enthusiastic and his voice gets drowned out with the unusual background music
that feels a little out of place, causing the
tone to feel washed out, as well as feeling scripted the way the creator
is discussing the product. Information about the camera could have been
accompanied with analytical text to point out the features to cut the dialogue
short because there are some information that kind of repeats itself including
unnecessary info. It needs to be more direct, quick and simple.
Unnecessary and unusual camera shots makes the presentation
feel unprofessional-like, examples such as the fidgeting of the person putting
in SD card into a USB memory card converter, the camera’s battery power being
at 9% whilst it was being shown on the on-screen functions and the visuals (the
Kickstarter video) is subpar with mediocre quality. The structure was on point
with the presentation but there are some stuff that are unnecessary (random
camera shots and long edits) that would have cut the length of the video a bit
shorter. We have a clear idea of the video presentation but it just feels
dragged out with long edits and explanations.
Pros –
-
Informative about the product
-
Reveals the product and its functions
Cons –
-
Muddy audio
-
Unnecessary camera shots
-
Not as enthusiastic/professional
-
Mediocre presentation
Things that could have been improved on are listed on the
‘Cons’ list. These could of have been avoided easily if they were to put in a
little more effort into it to make it more professional with its presentation.
The creator doesn’t feel as confident with his speech and feels as if he was
reading off from a script. It needs more enthusiasm and character to make the
video more engaging, rather than it being a standard presentation of someone
just generally talking.
TASK 2 – ‘WHAT
EXACTLY IS IT’
My Final Major
Project in 10 key words:
-
Enchantment
-
Fantasy
-
Colours
-
Characters
-
Charm
-
Stories
-
Collection
-
Concept
-
Entertaining
-
Digital
These 10 key words I had chosen are the themes that I will
be focusing on within my FMP. The reason is because they are the sort of themes
that I like in artworks and it is something I would potentially wanted to go
forward with as the main themes of my illustrations in future works, whether
they are concept art of characters, storyboard scenarios or a visual
illustration depicting a world of enchantment/fantasy.
Explaining my project
as if I was to tell a family member
“The project I’m going to be doing is creating my own
characters in a shared world with the themes of fantasy and enchantment. There
might be a story involved, or short stories that will have characters
indirectly crosses path with one another, to keep things interesting. The works
will be a collection of artworks and illustrations of characters/scenes that
all share the same charm.”
I would usually approach like this in an informal manner to
briefly explain a family member as I don’t want to drag too much in depth and
would try to explain it as basic as possible, just to nail down the points very
quickly to reveal the things I am strongly focusing on for my project, unless
if they are heavily interested in what I am doing and wanting to know more in
depth (which I kind of doubt) then I will go further into detail about the
project, only if they were to ask any questions to further discuss about my
project.
Explaining my project
as if I was to tell a professional
“For my Final Major Project I will be producing a series of
visual artworks of original characters and scenes/story boards in a shared
universe that I will create, with the themes of enchantment and fantasy. Short
stories/narratives will be loosely told with each character(s) as I want to
focus on the visual aspect of my works, aka my art style, which is one my goals
to improve and to establish. The short stories are to give some form of content
with each characters’ individual personality/background and to make things
interesting I am hoping to put some of my own ‘Easter eggs’ within my
illustrations (a recurring object or characters). The
works I’m going to produce for the project about my characters will be a
collection of artworks and scenes/storyboards that will inform the themes of
enchantment and fantasy of the world/universe I am creating that I am hoping to
establish as an artist, as well as having a good body of content that I can
further develop in future projects within my career.”
The communication objectives was to somewhat educate and to
entertain while expressing my ideas directly in a well-structured manner
towards a professional. I go a little more in depth with what I wanted to
achieve in the project that will strengthen my skills in digital painting and to
be clear with the things I wanted to do in the project. I don’t like explaining
things too long so I rather go straight to the point with short, clear and
direct explanations, otherwise if I were to drag the discussion it will feel as
if I am not presenting myself clearly to the professional which would cause
them to think that I may not be as confident, which can be crucial.
Artist statement
writing generator
Toby's Artist Statement
Through my work I attempt to examine the
phenomenon of Stewie as a metaphorical interpretation of both Leonardo Da Vinci
and Drawing.
What began as a personal journey of Shitism has
translated into images of Pasta bake and Chest that resonate with Chinese
people to question their own Blueness.
My mixed media Cat embody an idiosyncratic view
of Jesus Christ, yet the familiar imagery allows for a connection between
Michael Jackson, Dogs and Sandwiches.
My work is in the private collection of Kate
Winslet who said 'Fantastic, that's some real enchanting Art.'
I am a recipient of a grant from Folsom Prison
where I served time for stealing mugs and tie clips from the gift shop of The
Natural History Museum. I have exhibited in group shows at Subway and V&A,
though not at the same time. I currently spend my time between my Bedroom and
Berlin.
This artist statement generator is somewhat shocking because
I wasn’t expecting the statement to require such words (random
adjectives/noun/plurals and names of famous figures). The statement is well
structured, but it is just the randomness of words I had chosen for the
generator which makes reading my generated statement a bit funny and slightly
awkward, which I couldn’t take seriously for a few moments.
TASK 3 – ‘THE BEST
THING SINCE SLICE BREAD’
I paired up with a classmate (Chris) and we both shared our
ideas and intentions for our FMP to get a glimpse of potential outcomes. With
enough information we tried to help each other to broaden our ideas in terms of
production, materials, themes, research and printing, as well as narrowing down
what we want to specifically achieve.
From what I had gathered, Chris’s intention for his FMP was
to produce a book as his main product/final outcome. The book will contain a
collection of illustrated poetry and stories based on mythology/history,
something similar to an anthology of poems. The product, which will be a
one-off copy, (though it might change, perhaps a limited quantity edition which
he hinted) will be entirely handmade, a bound book roughly in A5 size, with the
quality and textual feel of old books (such as old maps and journals). He has a
clear sense of direction of what and how to produce the outcome. In terms of
content, he hopes to generate 20 short stories, each accompanied with a
relevant illustration.
I had asked whether he knows what kind of stories he
will write based on mythology though he told me it is one of the things he is
uncertain about at the moment, followed by the types of materials he would use
to produce his book. I suggested that he should look into other mythologies
such as Chinese mythology and perhaps religious stories to expand his ideas for
his short stories in order to add a bit more variety to his collection. The
imagery for his stories were to be processed in a way it can be reproduced, for
example, he told me he would produce each illustration with a variety of
different methods (uncertain of what methods at the moment) and then for the
reproduction it would be screen printed on to the final outcome. In terms of
research, his primary source would consists of visits to galleries, museums,
libraries and archives, as well as reading into artists books such as Bauhouse,
DaDa and DE STIJL.
Short review based on
Chris’s proposed outcome (book of short stories on Mythology) for FMP
“The product houses a series of original short stories based
on the tales of famous mythologies from around the world. Each short poems are
accompanied with a unique, delicate illustration. This handmade bound book was
carefully crafted, using delicate materials which makes this book a collector’s
item for poetry readers and the like, an Anthology of short tales worth
reading.”
The review is aimed to be short and very direct to reveal
the delicacy of the product, in terms of materials and quality to bring that
attractiveness to book collectors and poetry readers. I didn’t want to add a
lot to the review that would otherwise make readers lose interest quickly. There
could be more to the review, such as the kind of stories/themes there are from
the book, though there is no information on that from what I had gathered when
I had talked with Chris as he said he doesn’t know as of yet.
The exercise had allowed us to be open for ideas between
each other in terms of the things we could extensively look into that will aid
us in research and the production of our outcomes. This exercise has benefited
us as we now have some sort of a clear understanding and direction with our
intended outcomes. Beforehand we have an idea, but that direction wasn’t really
clear to us until we spoke about it with each other, which greatly helped us to
have a clear view of what we all want to achieve for our final product(s).
