Play-Doh!!!!

I LOVE play-doh and now I have a reason to go out and purchase some- my Major Project.

I have finally decided on creating my own children's programme rather than a children's channel as I believe with a programme I can be more specific on how I want it to be, regarding its context and visual. A programme gives me the flexibility to approach the visual in any way I want as it would be my own programme.

I really liked the idea of creating my own characters and modeling them through some sort of material. I instantly thought of play-doh, its easy to mold and looks child-friendly. The images above show the play-doh I bought. They came in packs of four and varied in colour. I chose the specific colours you see as they are light baby colours and remind me of pre-school.

I love the texture of play-doh. It's very soft and squidgy and thought it was the perfect material to mold characters out of. However the play-doh will have to be restricted to a research/development stage as for the final I would like to exhibit, alongside my animation, my characters and Play-doh will dry out and loose its flexible-looking texture. But this stage will contribute to ideas on the look and feel of my characters.

Playhouse Disney Ident

After looking at a few Cbeebies idents I thought about broadening my outlook and have a look at some Playhouse Disney idents. The Disney channels are internationally known so if my channel were to reach immense popularity, Disney would then become my main competitor.

The Playhouse Disney idents tend to use live actors within what seems to be a computer generated environment, unlike Cbeebies which are completely animated and consist of their own squidgy- looking characters. Most Disney idents I've seen do not include any of it's characters, especially Playhouse Disney. There will always be the iconic mouse ears to promote the channel but there is no reference to Princesses or Princes. I actually think is a good thing as it's not pressurising children into thinking this is what they should want to be, when at such a vulnerable age. The idents include the average looking boy or girl exploring a different magical World, which I think is the idea Disney are trying to put across with their channel.

Playhouse Disney idents generally look more high-tech and advanced. They are miniature- looking movies. This probably comes from the fact that children and also their parents expect the best from the Disney Company. The Disney company does not just lie within the area of television, it covers areas such as merchandise, product and feature- length films, so has a high level to maintain. I think this has to be proved to the parents possibly more than the children as the parents are the ones who will choose what their child will watch, especially when at such a young stage of their life. If Disney drop below their standard barrier the parents are a click of a button away from changing the channel.

Cbeebies Ident

Cbeebies is the main childrens channel I have been researching because if if I were to take on my brief as if it were real, Cbeebies would be my main competitor.
I spent a good amount of time watching Cbeebies yesterday and the ident you see below is the one played at the current time, almost every 10-15 minutes between every programme. The one at the top is a mixture of two idents.

After researching many on youtube they all consist of these yellow blob-type characters representing the font of the Cbeebies type. The characters are portrayed to be very flexible and bouncy, reminding me of playdoh. Every letter of the Cbeebies title I think is supposed to be one of these characters shown, which gives the audience the automatic link between the characters and the channel. Never forgetting them both as one reminds yourself of the other. I like this idea and could be something to look into.

Identity: Disney Channel

I thought it would be a good idea to compare how the identity of a channel changes when delivering to a different age group.

Here we have the same company 'Disney' though different channels. The original Disney channel and Playhouse Disney. The original caters for children from 9-13 I would say, and Playhouse Disney is for around the ages 3-6.

The font and colours are completely different however both maintain the iconic image of the mouses ears, to keep that instant link the company needs to be recognisable to its viewers. This is also apparent in the classic Disney signature both identities show.

The font of the word 'Playhouse' is very bouncy looking and varies in colour, except for the purple the colours are basic primary colours which are normally associated with the younger age group, from pre-school to infants.

The original Disney channel has more mature colours and not as many and the word 'channel' has a font that is seemingly straight to the point and not very stylistic. However the shape of each letter is slightly curved, diminishing sharp corner. This represents a font that is more adult (as children of that age group like to believe they're verging on adulthood) though still child friendly.

Rough sequences of flower petal

Sorry about the poor quality however this sequence was purely to help me figure out how I wanted the petals to fall over the flower. How they would blow? The shape they would form also how they would look against the flower.

PORTFOLIO VISIT: DESIGN BY DAY, how my visit went!

My visit didn't start of too well as I was 40 minutes late as I got lost along the way. The studio is in Salford, I'd never visited Salford before, I had guidance from a map though this didn't even help to get me there on time. I gave myself two hours to get there and find the place though apparently this wasn't long enough. This then was the cause of sharing my visit with another lad while he showed his work. He was a graduate of Graphic Design from Liverpool John Moores so it was interesting having the opportunity to look through his work. The studio is run by two women Louise and Angela, both were present at my portfolio visit.

The work they were most impressed with was my Ted Baker Window Display. I explained my ideas and concepts around the whole cake idea and they loved it. They said I should carry on with this as my own personal project carrying the idea of the cake but to take it through different seasons for example a Christmas pudding created out of clothes for the winter season. They got really carried away with it getting really excited and wished they were doing it themselves. I think I will intend to do this to create a stronger portfolio for myself and will represent my interests and what I am really into. This also could be an idea for a part of my final major project however my window displays would be static images so I need to re-think working within the same concepts how I could incorporate moving image aspects.

They also liked my Audrey piece and the style that it presents that Angela said she wanted it to go on longer and once you got into it, it was finishing. I explained it was 30 seconds long and that 30 seconds is average for an advert, though this gave me the idea of creating something like that but as a purely design based piece rather than an advert.

I had my nature versus man project from first year in the file along with all my current projects and they suggested I show it. They really liked it saying they felt on the edge of their seats while waiting for the next buzz of harsh imagery within the nature footage at the beginning which was the intention and they said the first one was a real shock which was good to hear, my work creating a reaction.

To conclude my visit was a success as much of their advice I may take on. However I didn't find Salford too exciting and wouldn't want to work there. The last two studios I visited were in Manchester Piccadily and I would rather much prefer to work in that area.

Visiting Lecturer, Jonathan Barnbrook

Jonathan Barnbrook seemed very much graphic based rather than moving image as he stated he had only just started experimenting within that field.
Though being very graphic based he had a lot to say on typography which doesn't particularly excite me though the stories that went along side were interesting enough.
He explained how he had worked with David Bowie which I found impressive and what seemed he still had connections with David Bowie since creating his album cover 'Hethen'. He presented us with the cover in which he had placed the title 'Heathen' upside-down to represent the anti-religious meaning of the word.

He had a small speech that went into the life as a designer, how it is very competitive considering the social climate of today in relation to the recession. Going into how half of being a designer is the energy you deliver. I agree with this, I believe if one is a positive person, always on the go and very energetic one will get noticed and also those clients will want to work again with you.

He also talked of a company called Adbusters who create very controversial posters in relation to today's society. For example McDonalds, one poster he showed presented Ronald McDonald with a large cheesy grin on his face bearing the word 'grease' and many more. Working for a company like this could either make or break ones career for if one were to take on a job with Adbusters slamming a particular company could make other companies stay clear of you. However Barnbrook had a phone call from Coca Cola presenting him with the opportunity to advertise for them. After working with Adbusters Barnbrook decided it wouldn't be such a good idea. My opinion on the matter is that I don't think I could work for a company like Adbusters as I'm not sure I'd be able to decline the large sum of money Coca Cola would offer for you to advertise for them.