Initial Ideas

Context of Practice Ideas.
My essay is based on Consumerism, on how women are effected by this, and how it molds people into thinking a certain way.

Quote from my essay.
Not only women but also young girls are influenced by this idea of being perfect and beautiful. ‘It has been suggested that all children pass through a narcissistic phase where they become entranced by their own self-image.’ (Coward, R. 2000. Page36). This is known as the mirror stage, where children start to be able to see themselves for the first time, and are able to pass judgment on themselves. It is something that is brought upon them at a young age, where they are vulnerable to things such as Snow White (fig 2), things that we think are innocent and just a fairy tale actually communicate a negative message to children. At this “mirror” stage in life young girls and boys will be subliminally taking what is taught in fairy tales such as Snow White and applying them in life. Young girls believing that she will only find her “Prince Charming” if she is “the fairest of them all”, and young boys believing that they shouldn’t be with anyone unless they are the “the fairest of them all”. ‘In a recent study of high school girls, 53 percent were unhappy with their bodies by age thirteen; by age eighteen and over, 78 percent were dissatisfied.’ (Wolf, N. 1990. Page185) Starting from a young age society makes girls/women believe that they should look a certain way, and women find themselves forever trying to improve the way they look to get to the ideal version of themselves.  But they will never fully get there as there is always something else that needs changing, or some other product that is now available to enhance your assets, Coward supports this by saying, “Women’s relation to their own self-image is much more likely to be dominated by discontent (…) ’I’m not attractive enough’.” (Coward, R. 2000. Page37) Therefore no matter what women do, and no matter how many products they buy to enhance themselves, they will never be content.

I will be basing my practical for CoP on this paragraph from my essay. From a young age children are brought up to believe that they want to be a Princess and that you will only find love and happiness if you are beautiful. In my practical I want to try and oppose this, showing that life isn't like a fairy tale. I would try and do this by creating a new children's book, creating a new Princess, one like no other, living a normal life as an average girl.

I started by looking into the current Princesses, and seeing what they included in their fairy tales. I think that it would be good to include different things from different stories to link my story to the rest of the other fairy tales.

Using things like a mirror would represent the mirror used in Snow White, but it would also show the 'Mirror Stage' which is what I want to base my publication on, showing how children are effected by the mirror stage. I think that it would work well if the book started with the young girl looking in the mirror and seeing herself for who she is, then after one day of being exposed to lots of consumerism she comes back and looks in the mirror to see a monster, showing how consumerism makes young girls or any girl feel about themselves and how they look. Throughout this process I want to include iconic objects in the book for example the apple from snow white, the rose from beauty and the beast and the glass slipper from sleeping beauty.

After research how to write a children's story I started to try and write a plot for what could happen through the publication. The main events, the evil characters and the, making the story dramatic so that there is a problem and the question is, does it get solved or not. There should be a lesson that will be learned for childrens stories so I need to make sure that I have one.

I thought that it would be easier if I broke it up into sections so that I can write about each section, then put it all together. After writing all of these things out I got really stuck, I started to think that this was going nowhere. I think that a change of direction would be good, as I think I would be able to create another fairy tale, but I don't think that it will be very interesting.

Looking into other ideas, on the same concept, trying to show children how life isn't like a fairy tale and not everyone gets the happy ending. I started to think about Disney Princesses and the message they send, and how I could make a practical design from this showing how consumerism effects young children. I could create Snow White from the view of the evil Queen, or create a new princess and brand her, rather than creating a story, or I could do alternative endings for the Princesses so that they don't get the Prince or live happily ever after.

Making a publication full of alternative endings would work really well with my essay. It would show children that no matter how pretty you are, you don't always get the Prince, because there is more to life than just looks, and not everything ends the way it does in fairy tales. After deciding that this would be the best option for me to go with, I started to look into the endings that each of the Princesses could have. I also did some Primary research asking 20 children within the age of 8 - 14 who their top five Disney Princesses are.

Results.
Cinderella - 20
Snow White - 20
Belle - 15
Araura - 14
Ariel - 12
Jasmin - 7
Tiana - 6
Rapunzel -4
Mulan - 1
Pocahontas -1
Brave - 0

After seeing these results I decided to include the top few in my publication working on those ones first so that I can get the most popular fairy tales done.

I think that for my practical CoP, I want to avoid the obsessive love, where they fall in love at first sight, or in Ariel's case, fall in love at first sound. I think that young children need to see that it sometimes take more than this, especially avoiding the vanity in the fact that the Princes fall in love with the Princess at first sight, suggesting it is soley because of her looks. I think that it would be better for my to work with Princesses that fight for their love, as this is more related with life, showing that its not always simple. Relationships often take some work, nothing comes easy in life, and this is a life lesson I want to teach on my publication.

Website Research

Website.
For my exhibition brief I have decided that I will be creating a homepage to show an example of how my website would work. Looking into different exhibition websites will give me a better idea of how exhibition websites should look.

Exhibition Websites.

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I have decided to look into website designs as it is something that I am going to need so that I can make a homepage, this is so that I can have an idea of where I would get the tickets. I have decided to look into exhibition websites, although because my website will be based on a charity I think that I would be better off looking into charity websites.

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Charity Websites.

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These are more like the websites I will be creating, although I want something a lot more simple. These charity websites are more suitable for my brief as my exhibition made for endangered animals by a charity.

WWF Website.

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The new WWF website is a really god example of the kind of website I am looking to produce, full bleed images, simple and really effective. This will influence my design greatly throughout designing my website homepage.

CoP 3 Introduction

Introduction to CoP 3

What is COP 3?
A new module introduced in 2012/4
A common module across all the degrees at LCA
An academic module, designed to assess your intellectual engangement and theoretical understanding of your creative practice.
An individually driven, synthesised research project with interrelated practical and written elements.
Individually managed.

What isn't CoP 3?
A dissertation.
A dissertation with a related piece of practical work.
An academic module unrelated to studio concerns.
The same on every course.

Learning outcomes.
Cognitive skills.
Practical and professional skills.
Key transferable skills.
Knowledge and understanding

Synthesis.
All component parts of the project engaging in one complex, dynamic something.

CoP 3 Proposal Form.
Kick starts the module.
Makes you consider all aspects of your project in detail.
Allow you to receive focused feedback before Summer.
Allows staff to consider the viability of your research.
Download from the CoP2 section of your course Estudio.
Complete the form and submit to Drop-box on Estudio.
Try to complete in as much detail as possible.
A detailed form will probably mean better feedback.

Subject of contextual research already undertaken.
List Context of Practice 1 and 2 essay titles/topics.
This work may appear on...

Aim and Objective for CoP3.
Try to define a subject.
Be as specific as you possibly can.
Think about it, then be more specific again.

What research need to be undertaken?
What factors sit 'behind' your chosen subject?
How have historical, cultural, social, technological, economical, political and other factors influenced it?
Who are they key figures within my chosen topic?
What is the specific history of my chosen subject?
Is my subject culturally specific> If so, why?
Are there dominant or prevailing attitudes that inform my subject?

What approaches will you take to the research project? Processes? Materials? Methods?
How will you approach your chosen subject?
What sort of questions will you ask? why?

Methodology.
Method - a way of proceeding about something in a systematic or logical manner.

Some Methodologies.
Historical
Socialogical
Semiotic
Theory
Communication
Feminism
Gender Studies
Reflective Practice
Marxism
Postcolonial
Postmodernist
Discourse analysis
Queer theory
Empirical Investigation
Hermeneutics
Data Collection
Participant Observation

Epistemology.

What approach will you take and processes, methods, materials, and tools are to be involved in research into your practice?
Research conducted 'through' practice.
'Thinking through doing'.
Reflective Practice.
What effect do changing the materials that you use have on the end result.
What factors could disrupt your creative practice?

What preparation or investigations do you need to undertake for your creative practice to take place?
How will you go about investigating my chosen subject?
No, I said "How?"
Think about it...
Do you have to research into methods of research?
Do you need to research into materials?
How do you improve your research skills?
How do you maximise the effectiveness of your research?

What research do you need to undertake regarding your is for?
Who is your research for?
What professional contexts could your research be aimed at?
What specific organisations could use your research and how?
How would your tone of voice (visual or written) change if you targeted your research at a different audience?
Does your work challenge existing knowledge in the field?

How to Write a Children's Book

The Plot.
Plot is probably the most essential ingredient in a book you can’t put down or one your child begs to have read over and over, or if he’s older, a book he reads with a flashlight after lights are out and he’s supposed to be asleep. It’s that feeling of “I’ve got to know what happens next” that makes the reader turn a page.
In books for younger children, plot is easy to see — it is the something different that happens on each page. You have thirty-two pages in a picture book, and that usually means approximately twenty-five or so incidents comprising the plot of the book. Your plot outline is really your book dummy, where you draw or describe the picture on each page. For a picture-book plot to work, something different must happen in each picture. But that something needn’t be very different — a dramatic change in a character’s facial expression may be sufficient in some instances. Here are some of the changes that can drive the next incident in your picture book:

change of sceneentrance or exit of character
change of expression
close-up
panorama
change of point of view
change of mood
surprise
more of the same
meanwhile… (what’s happening elsewhere)

Logic and cause-and-effect are two of the most important things picture books teach. Your plot — the transitions from picture to picture and from page to page — must be logical, sequential, motivated by the main character’s actions (if you are writing fiction) and related to illustrating the strong theme of your book. If you find yourself using sophisticated narrative techniques like flashbacks, rethink your plot. A picture book should almost always take place in one time frame and move in a direct line from start to finish.
Begin at the Beginning
The beginning is a problem area for many picture-book writers. Always start where the story becomes interesting. Many writers begin with background, character introductions, etc. Eliminate the preliminaries. You don’t have room for them in a picture book. Start where the story becomes interesting and grab the reader’s attention right away. Here are some signs to help you identify your beginning:

dramatic piece of dialoguefirst experience of strong emotion
character makes a decision
day begins
introduce character’s present situation
character’s typical response to specific situation, which may change or be reinforced in story {“Timmy always liked to…”)
beginning of a journey
character receives or sends an important message

The classic fairy tales offer good examples of how to start where the characters’ problem is. You should do the same — begin where the character is experiencing or about to experience the crisis that will determine his actions. Here are some examples from the Brothers Grimm:

no more money and no way to get anyhusband and wife want a child but can’t have one
character’s hopes (as for inheritance) are disappointed
character is forced to leave home
character is born with unusual physical quality
character returns home from journey/adventure/war
character encounters mysterious/magical stranger
character hears of opportunity to improve his lot
character receives special/magical gift

What Drives Plot?
Format.In storybooks, easy-to-read books and chapter books, your plot or plots will not be so closely linked with the book’s format. The pictures will be more incidental, so you must make sure your plot is internally logical and motivated. The best way to do so, as in any book, is to create a strong, consistent character who drives the action forward. A good example from the easy-to-read world is Peggy Parish’s Amelia Bedelia. Amelia interprets common turns of phrase literally, and in this she is very much like a child learning to read. When Amelia, a maid, is instructed to “draw the curtains,” she takes a pencil and pad and makes a picture of the curtains. Her consistent but well-intentioned misunderstandings make the stories happen.
Characterization. In books for older readers, character is also paramount in determining the plot, what happens in the story. But when you analyze page-turners, and you should if you are writing a book for children, you realize you care about what happens next because you are involved with the main character and wonder how he or she will handle a particular situation. The story interests you because you know him, his plight, his choices, his good traits and bad, and you are curious about how, in this particular setting, he’ll proceed. Curious and main characterare the key words.
You wouldn’t be curious about plot if the main character had a blank face and was not “real” in your mind, or if the setting or situation he’s in weren’t interesting. It wouldn’t matter to you whether he sank or swam or where his situation placed him or how he proceeded. Plot is cause and effect and is dependent on characterization and setting.
A perfect example of what we mean comes straight from the pages of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. The impoverished March family is worried about Father, who is ill at the front during the Civil War. Ever one to take action, Jo goes to a wig-maker and sells her long auburn hair, her one physical beauty, in order to get some extra money to send for Father’s care. This action is motivated by love, devotion, generosity and a certain impulsiveness. After returning home and bravely explaining her action, the following scene ensues:

Jo lay motionless, and her sister fancied that she was asleep, till a stifled sob made her exclaim, as she touched a wet cheek:”Jo, dear, what is it? Are you crying about Father?”
“No, not now.”
“What then?”
“My ? my hair!” burst out poor Jo, trying vainly to smother her emotion in the pillow.

Jo’s feelings drive the book’s action. Her devoted act of sacrifice is certainly admirable and true to her character. But the “warts and all” depiction of her wounded vanity is what makes her real, what makes readers love her, and what makes them yearn to find out what she will do next. How will her pride influence her actions and the book’s action after this point? Does this emotion have a positive side as well?
Here are some real qualities that young and old characters may have that can drive the events of an interesting plot:

proud angry tired haughty foolish immature introverted charitable tough cowardly

smug insecure impressionable jealous fearful foolhardy shy brazen mean

Now try to put some character traits together with some types of actions. As in the scene from Little Women, the tension between an outward action and an inner feeling can take your character and your plot through some interesting developments.

Emotion angry moody brave cowardly loving secure jealous friendly shy brazen

Action success self-sacrifice surrender take a stand abandonment flee befriend ostracize orate hesitate

Fairy Tales

List of Fairy Tales.

A

• Adventures of Chanticleer and Partlet
• Aged Mother, The
• Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp
• Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
• Alice in Wonderland
• Angel, The

B

• Bearskin
• Beauty and the Beast
• Beetle who went on his Travels, The
• Bell, The
• Blue Beard
• Blue Light, The
• Bright Sun Brings It to Light, The
• Brother and Sister
• Brother Lustig

C

• Caliph Stork
• Cat and Mouse in Partnership
• Cinderella
• Clever Elsie
• Clever Hans
• Cunning Little Tailor, The

D

• Devil with the Three Golden Hairs, The
• Devil's Sooty Brother, The
• Doctor Knowall
• Donkey Skin
• Dwarf Nose, The

E

• Elderbush, The
• Elf Mound, The
• Elves and the Shoemaker, The
• Emperor's New Clothes, The
• Enchanted Horse, The

F

• Fairy, The
• Faithful John
• Fifth Voyage of Sinbad the Sailor, The
• Fir Tree, The
• First Voyage of Sinbad the Sailor, The
• Fourth Voyage of Sinbad the Sailor, The
• Fisherman and His Wife, The
• Fisherman and the Golden Fish
• Fitcher's Bird
• Five Peas from a Pod
• Flying Trunk, The
• Four Skillful Brothers, The
• Frog-Prince, The

G

• Goblin and the Grocer, The
• Godfather, The
• Godfather Death
• Gold-Children, The
• Golden Bird, The
• Golden Goose, The
• Goldilocks and The Three Bears
• Good Bargain, The
• Gossip Wolf and the Fox
• Griffin, The
• Griselda

H

• Hans in Luck
• Hans Married
• Hans my Hedgehog
• Hansel and Gretel
• Hare's Bride, The
• History of Little Mook, The
• Hop o' My Thumb
• Hunting of the Snark, The

I

• Ib and Little Christina
• Iron John

J

• Jorinda and Joringel
• Juniper Tree, The

K

• King of Persia and the Princess of the Sea, The
• King of the Golden Mountain, The
• King Thrushbeard
• Knapsack, The Hat, and The Horn, The

L

• Leap-Frog, The
• Little Claus and Big Claus
• Little Match Girl, The
• Little Mermaid, The
• Little Red Riding Hood

M

• Maid Maleen
• Mary's Child
• Master Cat, The or Puss in Boots
• Most Incredible Thing, The
• Mother Hulda

N

• Nail, The
• Nightingale, The
• Nixie of the Mill-Pond, The

O

• One-Eye, Two-Eyes, and Three-Eyes
• Old Hildebrand
• Old Man and His Grandson, The
• Old Sultan
• Old Woman in the Wood, The
• Our Lady's Child

P

• Peasant's Wise Daughter, The
• Pink, The
• Pinocchio
• Poor Miller's Boy and the Cat, The
• Prince Beder and the Princess Giauhara
• Princess and the Pea, The

Q

• Queen Bee, The

R

• Rapunzel
• Red Shoes, The
• Rescue of Fatima, The
• Ricky of the Tuft
• Riddle, The
• Ridiculous Wishes, The
• Robber Bridegroom, The
• Rumpelstiltskin
• Ruslan and Ludmila

S

• Second Voyage of Sinbad the Sailor, The
• Seven Ravens, The
• Seventh Voyage of Sinbad the Sailor, The
• Singing Bone, The
• Singing, Soaring Lark, The
• Six Swans, The
• Sixth Voyage of Sinbad the Sailor, The
• Sleeping Beauty
• Shadow, The
• Shoes of Fortune, The
• Snowman, The
• Snow Queen, The
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
• Story of a Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was, The
• Story of the False Prince, The
• Story of the King's Son, The
• Sweet Porridge
• Sweetheart Roland
• Swineherd, The

T

• Tale of the Dead Princess, The
• Tale of the Golden Cockerel, The
• Tale of Tsar Saltan, The
• Third Voyage of Sinbad the Sailor, The
• Three Brothers, The
• Three Languages, The
• Three Little Men in the Woods, The
• Three Snake-Leaves, The
• Three Spinners, The
• Thumbelina
• Thumbling
• Tinder-Box, The
• Toads and Diamonds
• Twelve Brothers, The
• Twelve Huntsmen, The
• Two Brothers, The
• Two Travelers, The

U

• Ugly Duckling, The

V

• Valiant Little Tailor, The

W

• Water Nixie, The
• What One Can Invent
• White Snake, The
• Willful Child, The
• Willow-Wren and the Bear, The
• Wise Folks
• Wishing-Table, The
• Wolf and the Seven Little Kids, The
• Wonderful Musician, The

Y

• Young Giant, The

Movie Poster Research

Alternative Poster Research.
Before starting to design my movie poster for 'The Two Jakes' I have decided to look at a website called alternative movie posters, this shows many different posters for different films with various responses.

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I really like the effect of using different shapes to create the contours in the face, this is a method I have used before for a different brief. It is some thing I would love to try again, although I would be limited to two colours plus stock, but I could experiment with different opacities. This is something that will influence my design process.

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The simplicity of this design in this is what I think makes it so effective.

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This movie poster represents the film the great gatsby so well. The black with slight gold shows class, with the old fashioned gates and car, this reflects the film well. This is something I want to achieve with my film poster, a true reflection of the film.

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This is the kind of illustration I really enjoy doing, and the colours used in it work really well together, this is the kind of colour palette I am wanting to use for my poster, as I think it will be really appropriate for the two jakes.

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This is one of my favourite film posters, the colour blue brings the image to life. The use of the lights on the car being suggestive towards the women is really clever, and is something that reminds me of the film itself. This is a direction I wold like to go in, although for this poster I don't thin it would be very appropriate.