Final Project

I have finally finished my creative project in Flash. I trialled and tested different ways of creating the button and it took a lot of perseverance. Firstly, I made the coloured squares into buttons,  then attempted to add action scripts in the button and convert it into a movie clip. That did not work, so I started again. I converted the coloured squares into buttons again and made the timeline five frames long. Every frame was for a different layer of text on the face. I deleted key frames for the different text, then made the buttons jump to and from certain frames. It was not as smooth as that, but eventually it worked. I am very happy with the final outcome it is exactly how I envisioned my final project.

Putting the project in Flash.

I have begun to place my project in Flash. I have pasted all the text and imagery on separate layers. Subsequently, I will create buttons and link it to the text.

Perfecting the final piece and preparing for flash.

I tried different text to see if that would look better, but the text has to be readable and I didn't want to confuse the viewer. So I stuck with Helvetica. The image below shows how I want the final piece to look in Flash. The user can click on the magazine titles to refine what words they used in their beauty article.

Changes to the Typographic Portrait

I needed the face to look more 3-D, so having the face as an illustration did't work. Thus, I started again by  used the original photograph. I blurred the image, increased the brightness and contrast and rubbed out certain areas of the face. I placed the image in Illustrator then lowered the opacity, so the text could be seen more clearly. I changed the colour of the text again and changed it back to 'Helvetica, regular,' then placed the text over the shadows of the face. I then drew coloured shapes over the face, behind the text, as there was too much grey.

I think I am happy with my final typographic portrait, although I may make some final changes after I have received some feedback.  Next, I will put the image into Flash and make it interactive. 

Editing Illustration

I was not satisfied with the illustration so I edited the image further by making the lines thinner and erasing some of the lines. I changed the font to 'helvetica neue' and also made it light. Additionally, I altered the colours to skin tones to make the image more realistic. I need to practise with the words to make the image more 3-D.

Adding the text.

I made final changes to my illustrative face before adding the text. I gave some colour to the lips and shaded in the eyes. Below shows the text I have added, I used four different colours to differentiate between the magazines. 

Creating the text on Illustrator

I created a new document on Illustrator for the text, so now I can copy and paste the text on to my illustration of the face. The text ranges in font size from 48 down to 14 and I selected font style 'helvetica,' as it is clear and easy to read. The bigger the words are the more frequently they were used in the beauty article. I'm not too keen on the font colour so I will adjust this later on.

Lecture-Jerry Rothwell

Lecture notes:

-took filmmaking more seriously from the age of 40, made short films that made an impact, three minute wonder films for Channel Four
-he said someone once said 'director is the filmmakers immune system,'
-Nicholas Philibert 'the subject is totally secondary'
-'design is the conscious effort to impose meaningful order,' 'design is creating the conditions for something as much as creating the thing itself,' he found these quotes in a design book he was reading, but applied to filmmaking. Although, these quotes are useful for my digital media creative project
-'Stories only happen to people who can tell them,'
-he leaves his documentaries open ended for the viewer so the viewer can make decisions throughout, he said they are polemical
- he likes 'the relationship with the subject and the camera which is you and that translates to a relationship with the audience, he said trust is really important
-made a film about sperm donars meeting their children, named 'Heavy Load'
-he said you should show the audience acknowledging how to make the film, the minimal way to do that is including his voice

Despite my creative project being about digital media, Rothwell included some interesting design quotes that will be useful for my project. Additionally, I do a documentary module alongside my creative project, so he provided useful knowledge that can contribute towards that course.

Practise in Illustrator

I selected one of my photographs and initially imported it into Illustrator so I could use the 'trace image' tool. Unfortunately, this did not work too well so I imported the original image into Photoshop and adjusted the brightness/contrast, airbrushed and lightened some of the image. I also erased the background and hair. Subsequently, I imported the adjusted image into Illustrator and drew over the main features using the pen tool and refining the brush stroke. Adjacent shows my final image.  Additionally, I began to add some text just to see what the image would look like with text. I am happy with the outcome, but I may practice again with drawing on the face just to see if there is other ways of doing it.

I have selected the final words I will use for my project. I decided to use only five words from each article, so every magazine has ten words each. Fifteen words from each article would have been too many and the user may not have been able to decipher all the words.The words are in order of the most frequently used.

Company: eye, brown, new, light, look, shadow, lips, natural, happily, colour

Cosmopolitan: new, foundation, beauty, coverage, skin, perfect, Benefit, gorgeous, powder, formulas

Elle: complexion, wants, beauty, tan, new, make-up, looking, BareMinerals, Clinique, Estee Lauder

Look: hair, new, Burberry, launching, beauty,  Armani, skin, metallic, Grunge, time

It is interesting to notice the consistent use of the adjective 'new' throughout every article in each magazine. There is an urgency for each magazine to be up to date and contemporary to appeal to the female readers. It demonstrates how quickly one trivial beauty product is forgotten and the rush to find the next best thing. It also reflects the nature of contemporary consumer society and its need to always have something new; either with technology, clothing or something else.

Photos for typographic portrait

I have taken some photographs of a friend to use for my typographic portrait. I didn't want to use another person's image due to plagiarism issues. The photograph is of a woman's face, which is the target demographic for women's magazines.

Lecture- Miranda

Lecture notes:

-worked for the BBC for 24 years, mainly in audio and content
-worked for radio 4, then a programme called 'Big Toe' on radio 7
-focused on projects 'women in business,' she only had 8 weeks. She said think about time, give extra time and always question, 'what if'
-her tips included manage your time, team working, set realistic expectations and have a back-up plan

Her tips on time management were very useful to my project and helped when writing my production time scale for my proposal. I have given myself plenty of time to create my project and thought about a back-up plan in case things do not go to plan.

First attempt at a Typographic Portrait

Above shows my first attempt at a typographic portrait. I used the image from a magazine, next time I will practice with different colours and shades. Additionally, I think I will use Adobe Illustrator to create my project as I think it will be easier. Next, I will take my own image to use for my typographic portrait, then begin my creative project.

Lecture- Lisa Bonnard

Lecture Notes:

-her work is narrative lead but engages with fine art discourses and the relationship between psychological aesthetics
-discusses the theory of aesthetics and psychoanalysis, how the viewer feels in relation to the piece of art
- she suggests to aim high and contact as many people as possible
- she saw Michael Moore's film about post 9/11 and war in Iraq, he stated that he'd held the mothers responsible for not bringing up their children better. Thus, she contacted the 'Blue Star Moms' and flew to California to discuss, interview and photograph the mothers. She discusses object fetishism and how the objects represent the labour force, she shows the care packages which are sent to places of war, reflects on symbolism
-advises listening to radio four for creative inspiration
-also states that you should have an idea of how you're going to present your work and you should prepare and mention this in your proposal
-her last point was very useful and is something I will now think about before writing my proposal and it was interesting to see where she had got her inspiration from

Theoretical Reading- Del-Teso- Craviotto, M. (2005) ‘Words that matter: lexical choice and gender ideologies in women’s magazines'

Mariso del-Teso- Craviotto conducted similar research to what I have done. He looked at four US women’s lifestyle magazines, Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan, Working Women and Ms.;  looking at the relationship between lexical choice and gender ideologies in women’s magazines (2005, p.1).
I have noted down some quotes from his reading to help me structure my Proposal. His reading also provided me with a better understanding of how to conduct discourse analysis. 

'article reports on a lexical study of four US women's magazines (Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan, Working Women and Ms.)' (del-Teso- Craviotto 2005, p.1)

'the ideological weight of each magazine is partly sustained by particular uses of the lexicon'
(del-Teso- Craviotto 2005, p.1)

'sex and gender are not characteristics people have...sex and gender are conceptualised as fluid categories where meaning is constantly negotiated through interaction with different symbolic systems in social practices,' (del-Teso- Craviotto 2005, p.2) 


'popular media are nowadays central to the formation and continuation of such discourses in western societies' (del-Teso- Craviotto 2005, p.2)

'the particular linguistic practises of women's magazines are influenced by the overall ideology of the magazines' (del-Teso- Craviotto 2005, p.4)


'various ideals of femininity' (del-Teso- Craviotto 2005, p.4)

'study focuses on analysis of content words (nouns, verbs and adjectives)' (del-Teso- Craviotto 2005, p.7)

'women's magazines...address women with casual but appropriate language thus presenting themselves as friends,' (del-Teso- Craviotto 2005, p.14)

 'not all women maintain that level of linguistic "appropriatness" at all times, still, there is a normative assumption that they "should" observe it' (del-Teso- Craviotto 2005, p.14)

 'regardless of their overall gender ideologies, women's magazines tend to address similar concerns about women and femininity' (del-Teso- Craviotto 2005, p.14)



 Bibliography 


Del-Teso-Craviotto, M. (2005) 'Words that matter: lexical choice and gender ideologies in women's magazines,' Journal of Pragmatics, 38, pp.1-14.

Theoretical Reading- Barrett, E. (2010) ‘Foucault’s ‘what is an author’ towards a critical discourse of practice as research,’

I read a chapter in Estelle Barrett's chapted named 'Foucalt's "what is an author" towards a critical discourse of practice as research,' to help me think about the larger project of my work and what my project can go on to do. I noted down a few quotes to help me write my Proposal and think about my project in a broader context.

'A way of overcoming this dilemma is for creative arts researchers to shift the critical focus away from the evalutation of the work as a product, to an understanding of both studio enquiry and its outcomes as a process' (Barett 2010, p.135).

'Engaging critically with aspects of Foucault's account of author function provides the practitioner researcher with a framework through which the artist researcher can reflect, in a more distanced way, on how pratice operates as knowledge production, and how the outcomes of studio enquiry emerge in relation to established knowledge and broader institutional discourses' (Barett 2010, p.138).

'Foucault characteristics founders of discursivity the following way: they are not just authors of their own works but produce the possibilities and rules for the formation of other texts' (Barrett 2010, p.141).




Bibliography


Barrett, E. (2010) ‘Foucault’s ‘what is an author’ towards a critical discourse of practice as research,’ in Barrett, E. Bolt, B. Practice as Research: Approaches to Creative Arts Enquiry. UK: I B Tauris & Co Ltd, pp.135-141.

Word Clouds

I typed in two beauty articles from Elle, Cosmopolitan, Look and Company magazine into wordle.net. The website generated the word clouds; the bigger words were used most frequently in the beauty articles. Below the word clouds I noted down the top 15 words used. Many of the words were of equal size which reflected they were only used once, thus I randomly selected words to complete my top 15.

Elle

Top 15 words used: new, tan, St.Tropez, complexion, instantly, firming, foundation, BareMinerals, skin, use, two, tightens, guaranteed, CC, activating

Top 15 words used: beauty, make-up, Clinique, Estee Lauder, wants, eye-shadow, iconic, moisturising, advanced, purifies, cosmetic, excitement, collectable, repair, trust

Cosmopolitan

Top 15 words used: new, beauty, now, skin, benefit, versions, gorgeous, right, Kate, just, pigmentation, irresistible, Givenchy, instantly, Nivea

Top 15 words used: foundation, coverage, skin, provide, light, brush, perfection, mattifying, perfect, tone, powder, applied, feel, best, right

Look

Top 15 words used: CC, beauty, two, oil, hair, Marchesa, new, time, Armani, stunning, hair-nourishing, regrowth, skin-softening, minimiser, love

Top 15 words used: launching, skin, like, show, eye, metallic, foundation, grunge, new, Burberry, backstage, Mulberry, beauty, models, essentials

Company

Top 15 words used: eye, Dior, season, look, lips, shadow, new, cheeks, model, eyeliner, version, pencil, lipstick, eyelids, catwalks

Top 15 words used: brown, light, happily, colour, foam, natural, mice, rocking, hair, Clairol, Cara, effect, give, model, Garnier

My immediate thoughts from looking at the lexical choices of each article, reflect that there is a focus on brands and how they will benefit the woman. For example, in the first Elle word cloud 'BareMinerals' and 'activating,' are used. BareMinerals is the name of make-up brand and the progressive verb 'activating' demonstrates what one of the skin products could do to a woman's skin. Thus, showing how the articles have a focus on selling beauty products. Also, I noticed 'new' and 'now' is commonly featured in many of the beauty articles, advising the woman on what's modern and fashionable at the moment, with a focus on keeping women up-to-date. Nonetheless, these are only my immediate thoughts and I will do a detailed discursive analysis of the beauty articles for my proposal. 

Lecture- Hugh Ballantyne

Lecture Notes:

-Producer and Director of factual television, specialized in factual documentaries within the areas of science, history and art

-Went to film school in Sydney, Australia, got work experience in factual television and has been involved in documentaries with 'Bear Grylls;' worked on episodes of 'Story of Mankind,' for the History channel; produced advertising for Converse and worked on a documentary of Vietnam survivors

-Been in the industry for ten years, since he was 32

-Lonely Planet in Melbourne gave him his break when they saw one of his pilots, went to the UK to work on television, from which he stated the UK has a 'bigger, broader raft of production companies'

-He stated he's never done a job for the money (so far), only what he's interested in, he loves travelling so he's taken work opportunities that have enabled him to travel

-'Story of Mankind,' was produced two years ago, narrated by Stephen Fry. It is a drama documentary telling the history of man, the job lasted a year and he shot in China, Morocco and South Africa

-Ballantyne provided an insight into the creation of 'Story of Mankind,' explaining who was involved in the creative team and creative issues and challenges they had to overcome 

-He stated one is 'constantly developing a craft,' and it is important to collaborate with different people for all creative projects 

Theoretical Reading- 'Information Visualization in Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery'

As I am creating a data visualization, I thought it would be good to read around the medium and refresh my memory about data visualizations and their purpose. Hence, I read a part of the book 'Information Visualization in Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery,' (2002) by edited by Fayyad, Wierse and Grinstein.

'Human beings look for structure, features, patterns, trends, anomalies and relationships in data. Visualization supports this by presenting the data in various forms with different interaction' (Grinstein and Ward 2002, p.21).

'A visualization can provide a qualitative overview of large and complex data sets, can summarize data and can assist in identifying regions of interest and appropriate parameters for mroe focused quantative analysis' (Grinstein and Ward 2002, p.21).

'In an ideal system, visualizations harnesses the perceptual capabilities of the human visual system' (Grinstein and Ward 2002, p.21).

The reading has aided my understanding of the purpose for data visualizations. My data visualization should combine interesting information in a clear, yet aesthetically pleasing way.



Bibliography

Grinstead, G., Ward, G. (2002) 'Introduction to Data Visualizations,' in Fayyad, U., Wierse, A., Grinstein, G. Information Visualization in Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery. Burlington: Morgan Kaufmann, pp. 21- 46.

Mock-up/Ideas

I began my mock-up by making a quick sketch of a woman's face from one of the beauty pages in Elle magazine (Fig. 1, seen below). 

Fig. 1

I outlined the sketch in permanent marker so I could trace the image for my different ideas (seen below). 

Ideas

My first idea would be a data visualization of the most common words used in two beauty articles from four women's magazines, in the October Issue. I would use wordle.net to generate the most frequent words used for each magazine (I may limit the number of words to 20 or 25). I would then assign each magazine to a different colour. In order to reflect the information visually, the most frequent words used for each magazine will be represented in the shape of a typographic portrait. Four different colours or shades will be used to signify the four women's magazines. The user will be able to click on/off of the magazine titles to the left of the typographic face to refine exactly what words the different magazines used in their beauty articles. I thought a young woman's face would be the best way to reflect the information visually, because a young woman is the target demographic for each of these magazines and beauty articles are centered around the woman's face.

My second idea is very similar to the previous one, but instead I would focus on the hair articles in each women's magazine. Thus, the data visualization would work exactly the same, but the typography will only be placed in the hair and the face would be an illustration or a water colour painting.

My third idea is similar to the first one, by which the data visualization will focus on the beauty articles across the four women's magazines. However, this idea will be upon a black background and as the user clicks on a title of a magazine the visualization will highlight a section of the woman's face and the word cloud adjacent to it.





Bibliography

Fig. 1. Lloyd- Evans, J. (2013) Beauty Elle. [Photograph] (London, Elle Magazine).