Half-term Progress Update

Feedback and Adjustments to my Documentary Poster

As I stated in a previous post I emailed my lecturer with a copy of the documentary poster that was to be took into a meeting with teachers of other campuses to gain me a neutral perspective over my completed auxiliary task one. Described below is the feedback I received and the necessary changes that had to be implemented to improve the production I had already created.

Above is my original completed documentary poster. My lecturer Kaye took a copy of this product to a meeting which was attended by all of the media and art departments which work within the campuses of Sunderland college. It was here that she gained a neutral sided opinion for me, having a completely random party inspecting my work granted an honest unbiased view of the presentation without there being any favouritism within their judgement. Overall I did not score bad on the criteria that was desired, however three main concerns were highlighted during the review

1. The headline and quote were of a similar size so therefore competed with each other for dominancy, this made it hard to distinguish which was the title of the documentary and essentially which element was of significant importance to the viewing public

2. The BBC logo and date/time were displayed in a too large of a font, this caused them to compete with the other more major aspects of the poster (such as the documentary title)

3. The headline for my documentary title 'The Girls Who Wouldn't Eat' had quite a substandard basic positioning on the page, therefore it did not appear dramatic or important enough to them as an audience.

Of course it was my decision alone to regard their comments and take their perspectives into consideration when deciding on what is necessary for my work, hence I was happy to agree with the minor adjustments that were too be made - overall I wanted my product to be as authentic as possible so if these changes needed to be employed to improve my work then it was in my best interests to reinstate this.

As what is displayed I tackled the problem of the alignment for the headline of the poster. I began by right aligning each of the individual words so they were all equally balanced on the right hand side of the poster - it was vital not to have them extremely close to the edge of the product as this would give the illusion they were 'falling off' in a sense which would have unrealistic and mediocre to the audience, therefore not having a great deal of impact upon them. Once I had completed this manouver I dragged across the page the ruler tool which is located in the measurement sidebar besides the main operating panel. From there I used the stencil line as a guide to correctly position my words so they were all symmetrical and none overlapped with each other. Finally I re-sized the font slightly so it appeared marginally bigger. My second task simply involved drastically reducing the size of the quote at the top of the page, I moved it down a few sizes so it was still noticeable but did not compete with the headline for attention. The final stage was another downgrading resizing procedure which I did to the BBC logo and date/time so they were not over dominant compared to the more major aspects of my product, I dragged them along to the right further so it was aligned well with the headline, showing they were related and conventional to one another. With that my editing had no concluded, despite this I did experiment a bit more with the BBC font as I was determined to get it in the correct consistency with all of the other sub-sidaries on the page.

Although they are fairly difficult to tell apart this is the first edit of my poster I completed, here I kept the BBC logo quite contorted so it was smaller on the page compared to the other elements that were displayed along with it

The second edits consistency is almost identical to the JPEG above, moreover the only difference involves the BBC logo being stretched some what so it has a more significant impact on the page without being overly enlarged which would cause it to be in vigorous competition with the other aspects.

Essentially I believed it would be most beneficial to me if I consulted my lecturer and peers about which one of the adjustments they preferred, audience feedback is critical at this sensitive period during my work as it will not be me judging my own work when the deadline is executed but a neutral party who will have had no involvement with my work previously. Therefore it is most important to obtain peer assessment feedback as they can give a fresh approval of my own work without any bias playing a factor in the final judgement. Out of the two of the posters 6/7 preferred the smaller logo as compared to the one individual who preferred the stretched instead.

With these factors took into consideration I opted for the poster that was the preferred choice of the vast majority. This task has aided me in gaining valuable experience not only in what makes a product look significantly professional in standards to an ameaturish piece of work but how its recommended I take into account peer feedback as it is the biggest drive in being awarded a good quality production and to therefore gain the widest variety of interest from the audience if this was a distributed production.

Experimentation with the Position of the Image for the Double Page Spread

Before I actually began constructing the final double page spread, I considered it would be an essential task for me to induce a practice run of creating the spread. This would offer me a preview as to where I wanted to place each individual element (such as the image, text etc) as I did not want to debating over where to position such conventional items when the auxiliary task two was started, essentially due to time constraint reasons as it would be wasting valuable working opportunities I could not simply throw away. I had some experimental time on two separate programmes - Photoshop and InDesign - to help me consider the placement of these conventions and to give me a more heightened understanding of how I wanted my product to appear to the audience in essence.

As I was uncertain of which image to use from my double page spread I decided to use one of the original photographs I had took which in the latter had been discarded due to poor quality and pixallation. It would help me gain an understanding of where I wanted the main image to be displayed to my viewers. I began my task by accurately measuring the centre of the page with the ruler tool on photoshop and split the document in half so there was two identically sized pages in symmetry with one another. I then inserted my test image into the programme and positioned it on the left hand side page. The next step was to enlarge the photograph which I did by dragging it by the corners until it correctly occupied the full space on offer. It was necessary not to enhance it by stretching it in size as this detrimentally effects the overall quality of the image and can cause it to appear highly blurry and pixallated. Since this was a decoy image there was no regrets about altering the quality, however it was a useful technique to practice so when it came to enlarging the final image I would not have an inconsistencies in the quality of the photo. Once the photograph had been correctly placed I used the colour drop tool to copy the background colour onto the adjacent page, as I desired a conventional theme flowing throughout my spread, I thought it would be a good idea to copy the same background shade from the image onto the text page to keep with the theme and neutral layout.

Since I was unfamiliar with how to operate the Indesign application I attempted to recreate the page I had created on photoshop onto this programme as well, this allowed me to get a feel of the software and so I would importantly be comfortable with how to operate it when it came to constructing the final double page spread. It was a simpler task of inserting the image, all that was required of me was to drag the original photograph into InDesign for it to appear on the document. I then manipulated the image again by resizing it following the same procedure I employed in Photoshop and positioned it on the left hand side of the page as this is where I decided it to be for the finished product.

Unfortunately I failed to complete my practice task as it was required of us to begin work on the final auxiliary production when I was half way through, although in the short time I had I enjoyed the experimentation and experience I obtained as it will benefit me during the next task that I am permitted to do.

Images Taken for the Double Page Spread

Listed below are all of the individual images that were created in the hired studio shoot located at Shiney Row campus. i have explained my thoughts and opinions regarding each photograph and whether or not I would consider what I have on offer as the main image for my double page spread focused upon 'The Girls Who Wouldn't Eat'

The first image that was captured was that of the model in a close up style shot, here I was trying to emphasise the physical malnutrition of the anorexic body, I felt this would personify the devastating consequences of the illness and because it is so visible in the models frame I believed the audience would be truly shocked at what they saw. Overall I needed the image to be as eyecatching as possible so that it would attract the maximum interest from the general public, getting as many as what I could possibly achieve viewing the article as this would help gain publicity for the documentary 'The Girls Who Wouldn't Eat'. The photograph was took in black and white, this was so it would run with the conventional theme throughout my products which is a neutral set of tones - this relates to the death and destruction anorexia can cause and also reflect the 'black and white' thinking of an anorexic's viewpoint as it is common for them to be totally oblivious to the severity of their condition. However for this particular image the posture does not correspond with the idea I had originally set, I wanted a substantial body shot (like what can be seen on my documentary poster) as I feel this highlights the physical symptoms of the illness effectively. Moreover I want the target audience to relate to the girls as real people and not just 'models' so when they see a shot like this, the initial reactions and thoughts would be towards this being a studio based shoot where the model was requested and simply posed. This is not what I desire because according to the 'Blumer and Khatz's theory' gratification is essential in a product as if the public can relate to the production then they are more likely to pursue reading/watching it. I get the impression the audience won't be able to relate to the girl very well if she is purely seen as a model and not an individual suffering with anorexia.

Here is the second photograph that was taken during the studio shoot, for this it composed of a full body shot to include all aspects of the model within (excluding the head) and focused upon yet again trying to emphasise the physical symptoms of anorexia nervosa. I much prefer this one to the image above as unlike the latter this is a complete body shot so you can focus more on how anorexia afflicts the individual as a whole, rather then just a single part of their body frame. Like the previous, this image was also captured in black and white to fit with the conventional theme distributed throughout my products. Despite the positivity I can identify, I will not be using this photo in the final double page spread as I am concerned about the posture the model adopted during the take. Rather then being significantly straight, she was slightly hunched during the capture and I feel this influences negatively upon the whole performance of this image because her posture seems quite contorted and crushed together as if she wasn't comfortable during the take, the body language reflects this well. Furthermore I don't favour how she is holding her arms, it doesn't sit right in the image and because of the dark contrast in the photograph itself it is hard to distingush which arm is which etc, these issues therefore deter me from using this in the finished product.

During the third take I focused upon attempting to create a rather zoomed in shot of the model, this was just an experiement to see if a close up style shot worked better then a full body compisition. I was throughly impressed with the quality of this photograph once I viewed it back, to me the model has captured the pained, distressed expression extremely effectively, it truly looks like she is in complete despair over the controlling nature of her illness. Furthermore the black and white element of the saturation justifies the malnourished body frame, the black on the leggings highlights her thiness thoroughly and I am convinced the audience would elicit sympathy for her if they were to view this image in the double page spread article. The lighting in the studio has helped to bring out the more finer details in her hair and hands and I believe this gives a very professional quality to the photo. This is one of the three photographs I am tempted to use for the double page spread as I am overjoyed with how it is presented, the model has illustrated her body posture well, she is straight and level on this image unlike the one presented above, she is covering her face which is an improtant element I requested and overall I think the photograph has been took perfectly. My only concern is that due to the models hands being white, that this aspect of her body is begining to blend in with the white backdrop of the studio, it would be detrimental if the viewers couldn't distiguish them as this may give an unrealistic edge to the image which is not what I desire.

In the penultimate image that was took I attempted to achieve what was the closest full body image take I could create without getting the face of the model in the finished shot. Essentially the exclusion of the face helps to personify how an anorexic feels distanced from the world, realistically they don't 'fit' in due to their underlying issues revolving around food so at times they can describe themselves as 'shadows of society' because we cannot accept them for their unconventional ways, hence why the face is removed from the photographs. If I could use all my three favourite images on the double page spread I would because undoubtly this is absolutely one of the best ones that was captured at the studio shoot. The model looks incredible in this shot, the camera has accurately portrayed the emaciation of the anorexic body to the public, every aspect of her, from her legs to upper body is carefully crafted and emphasised through the lens, it is clearly identifable from here she either has an eating disorder or is very sick/terminally ill becasue of the emactation on display. The lighting in the studio brings out the insignificant details beautifully , such as the texture of her clothes and the individual hairs on her head, overall I would be tempted to use this image in the double page spread. I do have a fault to consider and that is the way the photograph was taken. Obviously the model was standing up perfectly straight for the capture of this image, however the camera man has taken it from a side angle, this effectively emphasises the physical aspects of anorexia yet does make the image slightly disoreintated as if it was tilted when took, making her not look in alignment with the overall shot.

This ultiamately is the final image that was taken on the booked studio shoot for the double page spread. Since it was essentially the last phoograph I was going to capture I decided to recreate another close up styled shot, this time it was a medium close up. I wanted a variety of different shot types as this would aid me in deciding which worked best for what I desired to be shown in the article product. As you can see the photograph has like all of the previous displayed, caught the anorexic body effectively, so this is not a problematic area as the audience would be able to identify there is something physically wrong with the model in question and helps to illustrate the content of the article more efficiently (which details about 'The Girls Who Wouldn't Eat') I am enticed with the posture in this one, the model has again managed to illiterate the mental pain of the torment anorexia can bestow upon a person most coherently, and although this was a side angled shot it does not create a sense of disoreintation in the photo. This is the only image that was taken in full colour, as stated this was an experimental shot so I felt I needed a colour one to compare against the black and white ones just to be most certain it was the correct tone to use in the final piece. I don't prefer the colour over my original concept colour scheme at all but I believed it was necessary to present the image this way to indicate I had experiemented with different styles. This is in the top three photos I would like to use for the double page spread, however I am still indecisive as to which will be displayed in the final article so I am going to have to undertake a lot of considerations before an ultimate decision is made.

Developing My Company Logo - Part 2

Below are the seperate stages I went through whilst constructing the finished logo for my media production company 'Mindscape Motions'. The image had been edited on the photoshop software before I experimented with the text, this was conducted by using the magic wand tool to remove the background of the original file so it was easier to work with.

The primary motivation was to discard the black background surrounding the document so it was free floating in a sense, therefore it would be easier to manipulate and edit certain aspects (such as the consistency and saturation of the pixels) which essentially you can view above as the original blue hue has been altered to a seaweed green. This colour allows it to be more alluring to the audience as it is easily noticeable if viewing it from a distance, most importantly changing the colour palette has allowed me to create a unique interpretation of this image. I began by centring the logo into the centre of the document and decide what font I wanted to display the logo in out of a specific few texts of choice. Here is the first one I used, upon initial insertion I was instantly discouraged by it, to me the gaps between each individual letter seemed too large and the entire text seemed stretched upon looking at it. I did like the style of the font as it looked quite futuristic like a computerised creation and I felt it fitted with the whole concept of the mind working like a computer in the way it processes information  In conclusion however I don't think it is dramatic or bold enough to create an immediate interest of attention as from a distance there is nothing 'outstanding' about it, therefore I believe it could be easily overlooked.

The second font I tested was named 'Bignoodletitling' and almost instantly I loved the way it presented itself on the page. The font itself was encased in bold and appeared quite fittingly on the document, when I viewed it at a distance on a test run I could easily distinguish the words and felt it really emphasised itself against the page, overall it was just as eye-catching as the image giving it the advantage it wouldn't be discarded as an irrelevant aspect by the audience when they first look at the production. Each individual letter is kerned in close proximity of one another so there is no unnecessarily large spaces between them as previously noted in the first font I tried out. I'm most inclined to incorporate this as my final logo design however I think it would beneficial to me to conduct some more thorough experimentation before I am certain of which style I think would be most appropriate.

Here I adjusted slightly the rotation of the 'Bignoodletitling' font, I felt I should experiment and see how it would present itself at a different angle on the page so i rotated it to fit in alignment with the spaces on the side of the brain image. Realistically I don't believe this would work as a professional mainstream company logo a the text blends in with the image in essence making it hard to notice it. This could potentially be a detrimental factor to my production if I was to select this specific design as if the audience can't interpret where the logo is located and positioned on the page then it is unlikely they would recognise the production company. I still prefer the style of the text my only concern is the alteration to the rotation so if i'm to use this style of text further i will keep it straight in identical symmetry with the document.

I was so tempted to use the 'bignoodletitling' font that I was almost certain that was the style to use for the finished company logo design, despite this I think it would benefit me to do one more trail font testing for protection purposes, this would allow me to be one hundred percent confident 'bignoodletitling' was the correct style to use. To begin with I thought I would try out the new font in the same rotation style as i did on the previous screenshot, for me I felt the text was too 'boring' positioned alongside the brain it did not elicit an 'exciting' effect to it so I thought maybe a different text style would fit a rotated style more appropriately. Never the less I still wasn't pleased after I had performed this action, the letters were extremely difficult to identify from one another, they all appeared crushed together as one big body which would be off putting for the audience to look at, it would make connecting the logo with the company hard and they may easily overlook it, compared to a popular mainstream company such as 'National Geographic' which is easily recognised by image and words. The text itself is skinny in comparison to professional logos which used thick bold lettering to grasp viewer attention, this style isn't a conventional element for a company title  because it lacks that emphasis that is relied upon in all aspects of media to gain audience interest.

I realised that before I could make an informed decision about whether to use this text or discard it I decided to rotate it back around so it was symmetrical in line up with the image, this way I could get a better understanding of how it would appear when in perfect aliignment with it. Although I did feel it presented itself better when straightened I still couldnt accept it as my final font, to me it had the identical problem as a previous s style as in where all the letters were heightened in a skinny fashion, this made them appear thin when viewed on the page. Essentially a bolder, more thicker staning font would have worked better because it is then highly unlikely one other element (such as the image) would overshadow the text making it easily to overlook. The audience ultimately needs to relate to the image and text as a whole creation as they interconnet with each other to sell the logo across to the public, if one elemtn is stronger then the other the prodyct can look unprofessional and not appealing to the viewer who is lees likely to become interested in their media. For these reasons I am not going to use this specific font for the finished logo piece instead I am confident I will revert back to 'bignoodletitling' as against the odds I think it will fit most appropriately with the image.

Ultimately as you can see presented in the JPEG above I eventually decided on the 'BigNoodleTitling' style of font as the text for the finished company logo. The reasons for me selecting this particular style was due to the bold and edgy presentation that allured from it, when I asked my peers for a neutral perspective on my logo they all said they preferred this text as their eyes were drawn to it because it was as equally appealing and noticeable to view from a distance and worked in co-junction well with the image, the text didn't overshadow the image and neither did the image dominate over the text. They both work in perfect harmony together and have a combined impact on the logo itself rather then one being more dominant then the other as this would give a very unprofessional edge to the product. Most significantly I am impressed with the overall look of the text, to me personally the words illiterate a technical, systematic feel from them that represents in a way the computerised analogy of a machine and importantly how the brain itself operates like a computer. This personification emphasises that the film company 'Mindscape Motions' deals with quite technical concepts in relation to how the highly ordered system of the human brain in some circumstances be disrupted (by various mental illnesses)

Developing My Company Logo - Part 1

After conducting some extended background research I decided my documentary needed an appropriate distributor or corporation that would essentially produce the programme for the BBC network. Since they are an independent company they would require a logo, production company name etc. Before I began building my idea up I engaged in an internet search of popular production names to gain an insight and a level of inspiration into how professional companies offered their name to the public.

Straight angle media are an independent production company that focuses on producing TV programmes and films for the general audiences. The logo itself is very basic in structure, the layout is quite contorted and all of the words are crushed together so there is little space around individual words and colour scheme wise is nothing extravagant, relying on the neutral black and white tones for a simple yet eye-catching effect. With the words being filled in white against the black backdrop it allows them to be emphasised immediately to the viewer as there is no other relevant focus point to adhere attention to. Personally I feel as if the company has went for a 'space effect' due to the 'S' being quite similar in structure to the 'S' that is regularly seen in the popular 'Star Wars' franchise so I suspect this company produces unconventional unique media. Its interesting to note the pun they have used on their name as although they are called 'Straight Angle Media' the line that connects the 'S' with the 'E' is twisted and inverted, I get the impression from this that what the products they create for an audience are therefore unexpected and something you wouldn't regularly see, the title of the company personifies this uniqueness well.

The next company I logo I deconstructed was Overlook Pictures which are a photography business. Yes it is unconventional for me to choose this over a film producer but I throughly loved their logo, it is simplistic but has an uncanny effect to look at which was why it was selected. The 'O' has been converted to the female gender sign which gives me a solid impression this company may either focus on feminine photography and therefore commission women or are run by females who are the dominant hierarchy there. Words wise the font is basic and it does not particularly hold an eye-catching look like a bold or italic style would create yet it plays its part well because aligned with the white background the words stand out extremely well and due to there being no other elements to be attracted to on the logo (like another image for example) your eye direction is instantly drawn to the title of the company. Realistically it doesn't need any additional features as the words alone display the production name effectively enough without assistance. The female gender sign can also be seen as a magnifying glass as the 'V' and 'E' are enhanced slightly to make them larger. I get the impression from this aspect that photography wise this company doesn't miss any detail as if nothing is 'overlooked' making the quality of their products significantly greater then another in this media type.

The national geographic channel are a multi award million documentary company who broadcast a range of wildlife to scientific and real life programmes for the audience to enjoy. For me I also felt it would be crucial to deconstruct a well known popular distributor as essentially these are the most successful businesses of them all so to gain inspiration from their productions would benefit my own company massively in making it as appealing as possible to the viewers. On initial inspection you wouldn't describe this as a very appealing looking logo design as there is nothing majorly eye-catching about it, yet I've learned from the two logos above this is not a necessity for a successful company name and logo, sometimes the most basic designs are ultimately the most effective. I feel this reason relates to the fact that the more elements you add to something like a logo can make it too visual, if there are too many points of interest to focus upon (like several images, a body of text) then it can be quite uncomfortable to look at as you can't determine where your attention should be directed to

After deconstructing the professional styled logos I brainstormed some ideas of potential names I would consider using as my film production company. I then researched the names I invented to ensure that they weren't already professional stations as this wold mean there is an element of plagiarism in my work. Listed below are the names i overall preferred after all these actions had occurred

. Mindscape Motions

. Blue Sky Productions

The direction of my choice moves towards 'Mindscape Motions , not only is it unique and not seen in the media industry before but it effectively portrays the whole nature of my documentary which focuses on eating disorders, essentially a mental illness. The whole 'Mindscape' persona illiterates the thought my company therefore deals with issues regarding the mind and mental illness so based on that perception I am inclined to use this as my company name.

As displayed below are several images I retrieved from google search of brain diagrams or specifically of the brain itself to draw a starting basis point of ideas of how I want my logo to develop. Out of the hundreds of images I browsed through these three complemented the effect I wanted most effectively so now I had the challenge of deciding which would be appropriate to base a logo from

This is the first image I decided to view to draw inspiration from in the development of my logo. Initially this was the image I preferred out of all the ones I selected as I really felt it personified the 'Mindscape Motion' company title as inadvertently the image presents the notion as if it is directly going into the 'mind' of this person. I would not want the black background to be incorporated in the final design as such I would have to remove it on the Adobe photoshop programme. In regards I think this process could be complex as I would need to obtain ultimately a smooth cut out of the head starting from the blue aura that surrounds it. Cutting around shapes isa fairly difficult task and because of time constraints I don't think I could perfect the logo as ideally as what I would want it to be, if there are any sharp edges on it the whole piece would look amateurish in construction and I don;t believe the audience would get the impression that my company was an authentic upcoming production set. Under these circumstances I feel it is highly unlikely I will actually use this image for my finished logo design.

Taking credit from what I explained previously I am content in following a simple but effective approach to my logo as overall I feel this would complement my production better than if I had too many conflicting ideas like font and image designs competing for attention as this is off-putting for the audience to look at. Because my company is named 'Mindscape' the brain represents the name nicely and with simple editing strategies on photoshop I can easily change the contrast and saturation consistency of the image to make it unique and completely afresh from this original document. Most importantly if I am t use the magic wand tool to remove the black background it would overall not be an incredibly difficult task to conduct and it is less likely there would be any rough edges to correct once the editing is completed. Out of the trio of images I have on offer this is the one I am most inclined in using.

Immeitelly what strikes my gaze when I first observed this image was the brightness of the brain itself, the illumination and glowing really draws emphasis to it and I feel this would be a beneficial marketing strategy when trying to gain publicity for my company as the audience would instantly notice it if it was attractive and interesting from a distance, they would therefore be more tempted to have a thorough look at it. However I m discouraged by the hand that is holding the brain which can be seen located in the background, as a human hand is not a convention I would consider using I would have to remove it with the magic wand tool on photoshop. This process can be very time consuming and difficult to ensure that the cut out is smooth so it would look professional enough, because I have a limited period to create the logo in I will not use this particular image as a basis point to create my logo as I may fall behind on the other auxiliary tasks I have to develop in addition.

Time Management - Update 5

Developing My Documentary Poster - Part 5

Due to me being indecisive about which font style to personify my documentary title I compared my two favourite styles together via a print screen to determine which one suited not only my rationale most accurately but which one co-insided and co-inhabited most effectively alongside the other elements (layout, image, additional text, colour etc.) With both of them displayed together my overall choice is going to the 'KG Skinny Latte' font rather than the 'Caneria Script'. The latter of the two fits the page well, the lettering isn't too large as to dominate the product yet isn't too insignificant as to be overlooked by the audience when they initially view the poster. The 'Caneria Script' is far too large once enhanced to the correct 48pt size that was required for the headline, it looks contorted against the page as if it would overflow off the document making it look very unprofessional in a sense for a mainstream production. It appears to battle with the image for viewer attention, the whole clash just makes it unsettling to look at in my opinion you can't distinguish what is the centre point of the poster, one element has to be dominant over the other for everything to be in harmony. Now that I've seen them against each other I prefer the 'KG Skinny Latte' over the 'Caneria Script' as I confidently feel it works better with the other elements then 'Caneria Script'

I received some peer feedback from my fellow classmates and they recommend me to try out a new handwritten font just to be certain that 'KG Skinny Latte' was deffinetly the correct one to use for the finished piece. I compared it a second time against 'Kelly's Lullaby' style which is portrayed on the left. Immeditally I could identify the inconsistencies with it compared to 'KG Skinny Latte', for 'Kelly's Lullaby' the letters are too close knit together making them all seem co-joined and difficult to read from one another when the text had been enhanced. It was also too small for a headline despite being on the identical 48pt size as the 'KG Skinny Latte' and not bold or necessarily dramatic enough to instantly grasp the audiences attention to the product. Therefore I have concluded I will use the 'KG Skinny Latte' in the finished poster piece after much deliberation.

This is the final completed production of the auxillary one task which was to create a poster for my documentary. After many weeks of consistent alterations and constant feedback from my lecturers and peers I firmly believe I have been able to achieve the ultimate potential my poster has to offer to the target audience. When I look at it I am incredibly pleased with how all the elements sit on the page, it just looks to me as a professional mainstream poster that I would expect to see advertised by the BBC network and I'm hoping my audience will feel the same as me.

To ensure my poster has maxed its full potential I converted it from a photoshop PSD file to a JPEG image so it could be sent to me lecturer Kay via an email. From there she is to show it to the head of media who will detail me her feedback, this way I have a neutral point of view on the production, this prevents any bias and determined whether or not any additional edits need to be made or elements adjusted in any manner.

Developing my Documentary Poster Part 4

At this stage I was still fairly uncertain about what style of font to display the title of my documentary to the general public as to me it felt as if none of the texts I had practised with had correctly emphasised the lettering, the majority of my attempts had come across as unconventional compared to mainstream products where titles are bold and dramatic rather then spindly in comparison to the hand-written style I was hoping to incorporate. For this reason I felt I needed to experiment more to gain a better understanding of what I was going to work with. I tried out the 'Happily Ever After' font and although I was throughly impressed with the childish look to the letters, from a perceptual distance the words are still unclear and hard to distinguish from one another which gives me the impression the audience would not be able to correctly identify what the title says, then would be discouraged from viewing the documentary if they had no first impressions or a 'preview' of what the programme's content is focused upon just by being able to read the title.

The second style I trialled was the 'Honey script' font, in equal terms I was swayed with the lettering as much as the 'Happily Ever After' viewed in the screen shot above but the same problem remained that the letters were too compact and hard to identify from a distance. If the audience were too look at t it would put pressure and strain on their eyes and I think this could be potentially a negative factor that could lose interest for the documentary if the title is incomprehensible. Moreover I believe it is important for me to consider what is more appealing, a balance between the look of the font and the ability to read what it says is essential for a successful production so before I make a final decision over the lettering of the title more trials should be conducted. 

For my third attempt at correcting what I felt was an unfitting headline text error I tried out the 'KG Skinny Latte' font against all other elements on the page. Out of all of them this was the one I mainly preferred, mostly because the writing in retrospects could easily be read and identified  so the audience would be easily able to distinguish the what the writing says. Most importantly it didn't appear too childish, in fairness it is a child like script yet there is a certain elegance of womanhood about it which still personifies a mature sensitivity to the topic.

Because the 'KG Skinny Latte' styled font appealed to me so much I decided this was overall my preferred text to use in the finished product. I enlarged the title so it was more eye catching and visually striking amongst all of the other conventions in the product so it wouldn't be over shadowed by another element (such as the image for example) An additional aspect I decided to include was by turning the 'Exploring a deadly new phenomenon' into a quote from a review made by the newspaper publication The Guardian. Out of the wide variety of newspaper companies I could have selected I wanted to represent The Guardian due to them being of a mature mindset as they regularly target more sensitive issues and make them more understandable to an audience so I felt they co inside with the nature of my documentary perfectly.

Because I was so tempted by the original font I tried out 'Caneria Script' I decided to change the 'KG Skinny Latte  back to it just to give an impression of what the text would look like in enlarged casing. I was quite disappointed when I saw the final result as the text itself is too enhanced through the enlargement and to me it looks quite contorted on the page as if it barely co-insides well with all the other technical elements. I was discouraged by what I saw so I thought it would be best to revery back to the 'KG Skinny Latte' as that portrayed the title more effectively in a large font size.

Questions to ask my Interviewees

This is the original script composing of the questions I am intending to ask my interviewees during the course of the filming of my documentary 'The Girls Who Wouldn't Eat'. I expect to condense the responses down on final editing as the entirety of the clip only commences for five minutes. I have also included my personal opinion of which direction I'm anticipating the responses to go once the question has been stated to the individual.

Script for the girls

Question one : How did you develop anorexia? Was it a slow or quick process?

I expect to get quite a thorough, detailed response from this question as ultimately the interviewee could go into great depth about the starting points of their illness, how it came to be and the journey throughout as it progressively got worse. However I am also anticipating some of the girls to give short, brief answers - some may feel uncomfortable going into their life history and wont be prompted to entail their stories in full as it is a sensitive matter. This will certaintly be factual information about the disorder so I would consider placing these responses near the beginning of the documentary

Question two : How did your lifestyle change after your eating disorder developed?

Here I can also imagine a wide range of responses, a few of the girls may go deep into content, whilst others may avoid to as it is still quite personal. Because of the sensitive topic it would not be uncommon to see some of them 'brushing' the question off and attempt not to give a thorough conclusion to it. Really this can all depend on the individual the ones who are more bold and open about their experiences may give a wide variety of content, its all down to individual differences within the person themselves.

Question three : How did the illness impact you as a person, did it effect your mental well being?

Another sensitive matter is covered here, the emotional stability of the girls will be discussed and I can guarantee it will elict some sympathy from the audience as it will truly highlight how vulnerable these young girls are to the effects of their eating disorder. I can imagine the interviewees going into quite some depth again with this response so some may have to be condensed down for the final documentary.

Question four : Did you ever consider seeking treatment or acknowledge you needed help?

The answers here could be quite brief, I am anticipating a variety of blunt 'Yes' and 'No' answers so they may need prompting to go into further detail if they choose. Some may still be in denial about them even being diagnosed with an eating disorder so could find it hard to accept they truly need professional help in their lives to overcome the condition

Question five : How did the anorexia influence your thoughts about food? Were there any rituals you participated in or foods you avoided?

Again this is a thoroughly personal question as the girls may reveal scecrets here they have previously kept hidden from all those closest to them. Therefore I can imagine sterotypical replies like 'I hid food' or 'I over exercised' as they may feel prompted to follow similair trends/rituals other anorexics partipate in.

Question six : When was it that your family began to notice changes in your persona?

This is quite an opinionated question that could promote some very biased answers - a individual suffering from anorexia is most likely to deny that nothing was even noticed as they are 'oblivious' to their own condition occurring around them. Generally I would anticipate fairly short answers because unless they are on the route to recovery most anorexics wouldn't admit to ever really causing a problem to their family.

Question seven : At this point were you fully aware of the medical complications at stake?

Again I can imagine most of the anorexics would be vehement that they were 'fine' and that there 'was nothing wrong with them' in the first place. However for those who have suffered life threatening circumstances I believe they would be more open to discussing what happened to them, beneficially they would most likely recognise how serious the situation for them was if medically they became unstable due to starvation

Question eight : Did it come to a point professionals had to medically intervene?

Basically this is undoubtedly a yes or no answer - it really just depends on the severity of the anorexics mindset and how in control the illness was or is over them at the time. Only 10% of sufferers actually need medical attention so I'm assuming the rate of girls who have been hospitalised is slim. However if they did require inpatient treatment the responses could vary due to the entire individual differences scenario and how open they feel about being with their responses to the question

Question nine : How are you approaching recovery, are you seeking it?

The answers granted here will hopefully delve into the full insight of what the sufferer actually expects to achieve in their life  A majority will be dedicated for recovery, even though they have their blips, as ultimately it is not a life anyone would choose to lead. Yet one third of anorexics never recover so it wouldn't be rare to come across an individual who wasn't seeking it

Question ten : Do you think you will ever be able to engage in a 'normal eating regime' again?

Predicting the future is an extremely difficult process, I would love to hear that some of the girls are attempting to, for those however that don't think this could be accomplished, I would be upset but understanding. I suppose a range of responses would show how much the severity of the illness ranges between separate people.

Script for the parents

Question one : Were you aware of anorexia as a mental illness?

Here i can simply see the answer being predicted as that they were 'aware' of it but never fully understood it until their child developed it. This sounds fairly stereotypical of me to say yet in most documentaries that involve anorexia I have noted that most of the parents either had some vague understanding of it or were completely oblivious to it even existing, so I would not be surprised if the responses I obtained here followed that trend

Question two : Did you ever believe your child would develop it?

I've witnessed first hand that most parents deny there was ever a problem with their child as they were always 'perfect' in some way and were high achieving in school or other clubs. A majority of parents who have a child with anorexia never see the illness coming as it is something they never 'expected' of their 'perfect' child

Question three : Had your child always been a normal weight when they were younger?

Fairly personal, this could simply be a very blunt 'yes' or 'no' answer by the parents. I don't assume they would go into much detail, the exception would be if their child was of a normal weight or slightly underweight because I could anticipate them discussing how it confuses them even more their child developed this condition as they were never overweight.

Queston four : When did you start noticing changes in your child's behaviour?

My main prediction is that the answers will range from either from when the child stopped eating or began restricting, became secretive with their behaviour or adapted abnormal routines that involved some systematic planning (disposing of food) or engaging in excessive exercise, as I've observed in many TV and newspaper interviews these are the vast element of the responses that are gained from parents

Question five : What was it like when it came to meal times?

I would be thoroughly shocked if the parent said meal times were 'average' in a sense that most families would experience. With anorexics sitting down as a family is extremely difficult so I'm expecting the parents to go into a thorough amount of detail about how heartbreaking it was attempting to get their child to eat.

Question six : Did you consider seeking medical help for your child?

I'd also be stunned if the interviewees denied ever trying to seek medical assistance. Obviously they would be very worried about their child not eating and because its such an alarming matter I am fairly confident at some point the parent would have insisted to take their child to the doctors/hospital etc

Question seven : How did it effect you having to live with your child who was refusing to eat?

This is of a highly personal nature as it documents the parents feelings to the whole dreadful situation. I can expect them to become very emotional and distressed throughout their responses because of how dramatically the illness would have affected them as well along with their child - observing someone starve themselves who you love is mentally a damaging concept.

Question eight : Was there a point when you believed a worse case scenario?

Depending on how ill the child got I can expect a mixture of response, a large majority will possibly think that something catastrophic would have happened to their young because of the complications of the illness yet I can see some of the responses being more severe if the child did require the assistance of a hospital medical wing/inpatient unit.

Question nine : How is your child's relationship with food since they were diagnosed?

Really the answer will contemplate how focused their child is on recovery - some may state things are improving as their child wants to recover, others may be more negative saying saying its still a hardship. Overall their response is dictated by their child's motivation to improve their health again.

Question ten : Do you believe your child will ever fully recover?

The expected remarks can be linked directly back to question nine, overall the responses will fluctuate determined by the child's motivation to get their life back which the parent will pick up on. If the child is negative so will be the parent, if the child is positive the parent will be as well.

Developing my Documentary Poster - Part 3

In continuation on from my last construction post I subsituted the BBC three logo for a plain but dramatic bold BBC logo, not only did I want to see how other BBC logos were presented along the page, I also reconsidered using BBC three as my main distributor as because they are a sub division of the BBC, they don't attract very much media attention therefore don't get many posters created for their shows unlike the mianstream BBC one network. I thought it would be unconventional in a sense to include them as my distibutor for that reason. Besides the logo change every other element remains untouched.

After finally deciding I desired my documentary to be shown on the BBC one network due to its overwhelming popularity, I changed the simple BBC logo to that of BBC one. The text for the headline was also spaced out so that each individual word had profound emphasis upon it, before I had it wrote out in a sentence style so the words were clumped together and read in a straight line which looked cluttered and unattractive to the viewing eye.

I left the logo and 'coming soon' untouched and focused upon trying to perfect the title of my documentary as I was still struggling to accept that the font fitted correctly with the other conventions on the page - to me it still looked well out of place. I rehighlighted the text and selected the 'Lucinda script' to test out this particular style of font. I wasn't sure this would conform to my standards as the title is even harder to read now and the letters cannot be clearly distinguished at all.

Because I was discouraged by the 'Lucinda' text I used in the previous screenshot I altered the font back to its original style 'Caneria Script'. As you can see from the two images side by side, the one on the right was dramatically altered to currently how it is presented located on the left. I concluded I needed some sort of byline or quote to grant a bit extra audience attention so I swapped the BBC logo into the right hand corner, replacing the 'Coming Soon' as I felt that was a bit too boring an uninformative. I inserted the byline 'A Deadly New Phenomenon' as to me it was more interesting and intriguing to engage with, it would get the audience thinking of what was to happen in the documentary as they don't know what this new 'phenomenon' is. Additionally I added the date and day the documentary is screened on, to give extra information t the viewer so they know when it is to be broadcast so there is no chance of them missing it.

In this step I slightly altered the position of the title of the documentary so it was to align perfectly with the shape of the girls spine.

Additional Article for the Double Page Spread

In conforming to traditional elements present in a double page spread I decided to include a writers view point section alongside the main article describing the documentary as I felt it would be essential to portray a neutral parties judge of the programme rather then having the author of the article including their own personal perception inside. I felt this would trigger a sense of bias and that they would be trying to support the documentary as best they could as essentially this would reinforce their article more. This could potentially deter the audience from watching it if it appeared to them that one person was trying to sell a product as best they could without considering other individual opinions also.

I titled this particular article as being wrote by an independent critic working for the magazine company who had no previous interaction with the documentary - I hope this displays a neutral parties opinion to the audience and would entice them more if there was more then one positive review other then the writer of the main article themselves. This can be seen below..

Whats getting us talking...

Hollie Leary our resident TV critic gives her peception over this cutting edge documentary

For me, like many other members of our society, had no understanding of the complexity of an eating disorder. I will openly admit I was almost naive in a sense to the very existence of the condition occuring around me. I brushed it off as an ‘irrelevance’, through my ignorance i failed to understand it. Personally I believed it to be a rare instance that popped up periodically throughout time and was something that could quicky be conquered and dismissed as an ‘unforunate’ event in ones life that would never reoccur again - like when we get chicken pox as children ( a one time only event basically) After dedicating an hour of my life to watch this production, fankly I was almost disturbed by the shocking statistics running rife with the young women of our generation, and not only how many are afflicted with anorexia but actually how many DIE from the physical complications associated with starvation. I feel privladged enough as to be one of a very select number of individuals to view ‘The Girls Who Wouldn’t Eat’ in advance to the general public. It was heartbreaking to witness how these girls lives had crumbled around them, how absorbed some of them still are with their eating disorder, this opened my eyes allowing me to see that this is not just an ‘ordinary’ illness that can be cured with a few simple drugs - it is life long and torments an individual so ferociously that sometimes they are powerless from fighting a valid defence. Truly this is a shocking yet marvellous documentary, beautifully crafted and composed in allowing us to follow these brave womens stories. I wish eveyone of them strength to finally beat this disorder in the future, to see potential beauty ravaged by a frankly evil illness is almost soul destroying, an irreplacable waste of youth.