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§ RESEARCH
For my research I decided to pick rap/hip-hop and what we did was we had to found out information about our chosen artist, so knowing the basics: where they were from what, what kind of artist they were and there background about what they did at young age and there family. The research i did we had to make a power point on the chosen backgrounds i wanted for my photo shoot down the line of the project.
If i was to be honest i think i did well at finding the information because it was primary research so research i did my self. The things on the research i think that didn’t go well was i think i was a bit confused on the project its self about what to do and that i didn’t know if i was doing the course work correctly, only because i moved from a different course but i wanted to try something new and over come the things i couldn’t do.
The challenges i was thinking about was who would be my main choice of artist because you had to think about there style of music and the props they have used in album covers, so i decided to go with professor green and juice wrld as they had there own main colours green and purple so then what we had to do was to then combine them two artist into one so its like a new artist, this was challenging as i was still at this point trying to get my head around the course.
What i would do to make this different would to be ask for help at the start of the course so then i have a genuine idea of what we would be doing down the line, then when it comes to that stage of the course i would then being able to get straight of with the project easy with out having second thought if i have done it right or wrong but over all i have been pretty pleased with the work i have done best of my standards with this being a course ive never done before.
My key areas for development for research would be to found out a bit more information about my artist and to go a bit more depths into how they started getting into music and the reasons behind there life, with my research i know i could of found out more because if you look at my power point there isn’t quite a lot of information.
PRE-PRODUCTION AND PLANNING
What did I do?
As you can see above here, this is the start of our pre-production and planning. We had to write up our ideas for the shoot we was taking part in to do, for examples such as why are doing this? The reason behind it and what we think the outcomes would be when we have finished this project, I had to print of a photo/film consent and release form, so that when I was taking photos the people involved in the shoot gave me permission to allow them to be involved. we had to plan this carefully as we had to think about the positives and negatives about the shoot, so we did a rick assessment around the place we was doing.
What went well and why?.
I think what went well was that I had every planned in my head about how I wanted this shoot to do and how I wanted it to come out, I had all the things to consider about what could possibly go wrong if it rained or even if the place was unavailable, so I had back up planned as well just in case.
What didn’t go so well and why?.
However if I am being honest I don’t thing I planned it out as carefully or as cleverly as I expected because for my photoshoot I didn’t use any off the resources I had in mind to use, so in my opinion I thing I just drifted away with what I had and I think for the future I should stick to what I have in mind to do, as I would feel a lot better about my original photo shot I did,
How did you overcome any challenging obstacles?.
I think what I did to overcomes these challenges was to just go with it because when I came onto this course I had no idea what I was getting my self into, I didn’t understand anything about cameras or the shutter or what any of the documents was.
In future, what would you do differently and why?.
I have a lot of things for the future that I would do differently, for the first one it would to be to stick with my initial idea and go with the flow, because you cant go with a photo if you know the basics about how to take it and the surroundings, so for the future and for all my other projects I think that I could improve with the ideas I have and the work produced could be little bit more detailed/ explained
What are your key areas for the development? Strengths? Weaknesses?.
The keys areas I think I was strong at was the ideas produced to what I wanted to happen originally and specifically thinking about what the major problems what could happen during the shoot, so for the weakness I think it would have to be my explanation for the work I have provided giving more detail top what I wanted to do or giving the reasons to why I wanted to do that, so then it gave the other people who are reading my project a good idea of what I wanted to achieve.
Production
what did you do?.
This is a production journal which consist of all the work i have done over the past couple of weeks, such as my practice shots and even some of my outside photos for some ideas for my shoot, this was then to help me down the line of the project to Photoshop, we went out in groups to take photos of abandon buildings, however i was taking the photos of the group for the what goes on behind the photos. I really enjoyed going out and taking pictures of the surroundings in Wakefield area, as you can see on my “production journal” where all my photos are kept. I’m no photographer but i am very pleased with how my photos have come out to look like. Below are some of the photos which are my favourite.
What went well and why?.
I think what went well for me personally was the photos being taken, due to them not having to much attention, what i mean by that is that the photos don’t have too much happening in them, so that the main focus is either the person or the surroundings. To be honest i am really pleased with how these have turn out to be, as like i said i am no photographer and i have not done as much practise before but this is defiantly something that i like doing.
What didn’t go as well and why?.
The reason why am saying that i wish i took more photos than 8 is because with how the photos have turn out i only had limited photos to pick from, however if i had more photos i would of had a variety of photos to choose from and could of personally made a better cover album etc, but this is something for the future to remember and to focus on a bit more, also want went well for me was the area i took the shots from such as with Kian in the light behind bars for me that looks like hes walking towards the light.
How did you overcome any challenging obstacles?.
1 major challenge for me was not knowing what to take pictures off, because i’m thinking for a photographer they have every set up or everything is perfect for when the photos are being took but i realised then photos don’t have to bet set up to be perfect, the best shots are the ones that wasn’t planned… well i think? as the photos i took was on my phone and i just edited to black and white or maybe sharpened the image. The second challenging part was using Photoshop, i had no idea how to use it what so ever, i had a rough idea on what to do due to using for my GCSE’S in art. I felt like i was falling behind as i was struggling on what to think and what to edit them into.
In future, what would you do differently and why?
I wouldn’t change as much for the future apart from the amount of photos being took. however i would like to try different techniques for the future such as Photoshop. I had struggle using and getting my head around on how it works , but now that i know a bit more knowledge on how to use it i feel like for other projects they will turn out to be better.
What are your key areas for development? Strengths? Weaknesses?
As said in the above paragraphs i think my strengths are taking the photos and the places where they were took as they have that sort of vibe in the photos, my key developments for Weaknesses would to be able to focus on adobe Photoshop so then my work can be produced to a better quality, but in all my strengths would be knowing the where about’s to take the photos of the models/ places.
Post Production
What did you do?
On the day of the production we we went into the photographer studio to take around 40-50 photos of each other in our little group we got into, these was for our album covers, CD covers and poster/thumbnail, after we took the photos we then had to chose what ones we wanted to edit for out rap covers. as you can see down below these are some of the photos we took of each other we do have a lot more photos in my post production if you want to go have a look. ones we decided what photos we was going to edit, we then went onto Photoshop to play around with the chosen image to make it look like a rap poster, CD and poster.
What went well and why?
I think what went well was that we had some quality photos to chose from for our albums, as you can see above, mostly rap photos are either black or they are full of money and chain, so that is were Photoshop steps in to play for us to then put our ideas we have in our mind to the computer as you can see down below these are my ideas what i did for my my Photoshop work. Here is my album cover, CD cover and poster that i created successfully.
Then these contact sheets are for the last step of our album covers, CD and poster, this helped us pick out the best photos for our shoot, this basically is a sheet of photographs at different angels providing us with the best shots we have taken for us to choose from, blue = no, Green = yes then yellow = possibly might use.
what didn’t go so well and why?
For me the biggest issue i had was figuring out how to develop my ideas i had in mind onto the computer because Photoshop was a massive struggle to use because i didn’t know how to create the layers properly, as you can see you can clearly see the stuff what as been Photoshop in, i would of wanted my edits to of been a lot better than what they are now but for someone who isn’t as keen on Photoshop i am pleased with the work i have produced. As you see below this is my first attempt at creating the CD cover then above you can see my final cover of the CD album.
How did you overcome any challenging obstacles?.
The most challenging obstacle for me was knowing what design i wanted to put on these edits , i didn’t have a clue in all honesty, but then i thought lets just go with the flow with the hands and the black and red background as it gives it that sort of attraction to look at, i could of added some other things in as well as i think its just a bit too plan and simple but i am happy with the result that has came out to be. However the challenge was there but now has been completed for me now to understand the process on how to develop that for the future project.
In future, what would you do differently and why?
For the future the things i would do differently are to maybe have a look at other famous peoples album covers and take some inspiration of there album to try and create my own a lot better than what they are now as i feel like i could of produced better work that what you are being given, as my CD cover went from looking like trash to actually looking pretty decent in my opinion, i don’t know if you think the same? the photos i have produced could have been better quality or a better setting.
What keys areas for development? Strengths?Weaknesses?
The keys areas i would like to develop would be to understand the key features of Photoshop and to have a lot more photos so then i have a variety of photos to pick from so then i can edit them, so then i have the best ones for the covers. This would then show my progress of how i developed my ideas from going bad to good.
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McGowans creative media 