#pitchpresentation

A1 Slides:

Week 8:

This week I presented my two concept/direction ideas to the class. I have attached a screen recording of the slides without audio, as I am having trouble uploading PDF files to Tumblr. 

After showing everyone, majority have voted for Concept 1 of Why Not Men, which I am extremely happy about because it is personally my favourite. 

Narrated Pitch Presentation Participation + Visual Development

During tutorials this week, we listened to everyone’s pitch presentations and voted for the visual direction we thought was the best for each person. I was a bit nervous when mine came around. I was hoping everything would work and run smoothly, and I wanted people to like my ideas. In the end, my vibrant approach was chosen. I like both of my designs, so I would’ve been happy with either one chosen.

We also had to work on our logos and typefaces. I have approached this brief a bit different from the start, as I started designing the label before the logo. This works alright because I now have a bit of an idea of the direction I want to take when designing the logo.

I did a few more sketches of label design for my vibrant approach, as this was the direction that my class voted for following my pitch presentation.

After this, I did a few rough sketches of logos. I’m not too sure yet if I want it to include a simple illustration or just have the initials ‘RS’. However, I do like the look of my first drawing (sun with text following the circular path) and my 5th drawing (simple, spaced text underneath the simple sun illustration), just because they clearly communicate the ideas behind the juice and name.

I then looked back on my notes that I jotted down while designing the two labels for each direction. By doing this, I was able to see the typefaces that I found interesting when I was looking through them all and trying to choose which ones would suit each direction the best. I compiled these into an InDesign document, so it is clear and easy to find each of the fonts.

When I was deciding on these fonts, I found it really fun looking through all of the different options. I couldn’t believe how many there were. I was a bit disappointed to realise that the fonts that I really liked on MyFonts were quite expensive to buy. So I then had to try and find similar ones in Font Squirrel and Adobe Fonts, which turned out well.

This week we presented our pitch presentation via Zoom. 

My presentation seemed to be received well. I got lots of good feedback on the layout of my mood boards and how I overlaid the images and my keywords. The votes were quite even although my creative path #1 (spirituality) was chosen. 

||Week 6||

~^*WHAT DID YOU TRY? *^~

I began the task by first downloading Loom straight after the week 6 tutorial when it was suggested by my tutor. Then I took to InDesign, where I began designing my slides!

I had no idea where to start so I basically began by creating a ‘framework’ for my presentation, experimenting with the layout and what I would like to include. This was relatively easy and only took a bit of trial and error. Following this I was able to insert the necessary texts & images in their ‘allocated’ positions and only had a bit of fiddling around to do with sizing and colours.

When it came to recording, I stuck with Loom and figured out how to open my slides in Acrobat in full screen mode.

~^*WHAT DID & DIDN’T WORK? *^~

What I found extremely helpful was briefly creating the framework for my slides before really jumping into it. It really gave me some sort of direction to follow instead of chucking in a bunch of images and text and thinking “well.. now what?”. Here are images of the layout I went with (each x2).

 It took a few trials to get to to the final layout however. I initially was going to use slide 1 to give a description of the drink itself so peers had an idea of my overall concept to help them make more informed choices when voting for a visual direction. This didn’t last long once I decided that would take up too much space&time I could use for more important things. See my scrapped idea below.

Another thing that worked was using Loom to record the audio! It was so easy to download and navigate many thanks to Loom. I was worried it would be an annoying process to work out how to use the program. 

What didn’t want to work though was my presenting skills. I tried to just dot point a few ideas and speak from the top of my head to sound more like I was talking to an audience. Only took a couple of takes for me to realise this was much harder than I thought, so I then wrote a very rough ‘script’ to go off when recording. This was very helpful.

Another annoying side note of what didn’t work was the fact that in Acrobat I couldn’t hide my cursor from being visible. But I just moved it to the side and kept it still.

~^*WHAT ADVICE WOULD I GIVE OTHERS? *^~

The advice I would give is to 100% start off simple when creating your slides even if its just a few random text boxes in a certain arrangement! What began as an “Oh I should probably start my presentation but don’t have the mental energy to put much effort into it tonight” actually ended up being such a great head-start when I finally sat down to power through it. 

As for the recording, this may sound strange, but what I found useful was to make a lot of dramatic hand gestures at my laptop when I was talking. Feels silly waving your hands at your screen, but really helps you to sound more as if you were talking to an audience rather than having the dreaded robot-monotone voice if you’re reading mostly from a script as I was!

~^*THE FINAL PRODUCT! *^~

Woohoo! (minus the voice recording)

WEEK 6

Pitch Presentation Documentation

After finishing my PowerPoint I was ready to begin experimenting with recording my presentation.

What did you try?

I was a bit unsure how to do it, as I’ve never done something like this before. I downloaded Loom and QuickTime Player, but ended up using only Loom. I decided to do this because it seemed like a more user-friendly option that was easy to navigate.

What worked and what didn’t?

I opened up Loom and chose to record the screen only. I was happy to realise that it gives you a countdown, so you have time to get your slides ready before it starts recording. The aspects that worked well included the ease of opening my short test up in the website and listening to it. It was also easy to save it and then listen to my saved MP4 file. The only problems that I encountered were that I spoke a bit too soon, so my first few words were cut off. I also found it a bit difficult working out how to trim the video, as I determine whether I was deleting the red section or keeping the red section (see in photo). After a few tries, I trimmed it properly and got the video I wanted.

What was the biggest challenge in creating your Narrated Pitch Presentation?

Knowing what to say was a difficult component, but I wasn’t too worried as I was just testing Loom out. I look forward to being more prepared with some palm cards and recording the proper MP4 file. As mentioned before, I also found it hard working out how to trim the video, but that was easily fixed.

What advice would you give someone else completing the same task?

PITCH PRESENTATION

The Pitch Reflection

 This pitch presents a totally new idea. This isn’t something within the animation course frame, however, exactly that is what draws my interest: exploring the boarders of animation or even its absence. Can an animator direct a short film? Can an animator produce a short film? How live-action can work together with the animation? The story itself isn’t innovative: a mental health problem. Yet, this project is about exploring the feelings within the person who suffers from depression. It’s not about finding the way out or to answer ‘Why to live?’ It’s about travel to the psyche, the attempt to express those feelings visually, even to experience the catharsis. 

In this pitch, I presented the possible colour schemes for the live-action part as the shooting will occur at the end of March. I drew inspiration mostly from the movie Joker (2019). The blue-greenish tones symbolise coldness and sickness. As the story follows, the background will darken, and the lights will have a disturbing yellow colour. The conflict inside Maya' conscious is like a roller-coaster, going up and down, and before the climax is reached animation will take its place. Small blobs of negative emotions will serve as the step by step transition up until animation will take the place. The design is simple: black background colour and adjusted hue and saturation. However, it's still a frame-by-frame animation with no cuts but the following transitions between each frame. In order to reach the desired fluidity in the movement, I will have to do corresponding research and revision of the animation principles.

For the live-action part, I have a producer, DOP, and both of them are experienced film-makers. They are capable to help with the set building, colouring, setting up the camera, and lights. This is a crucial part of the production, and without them, it wouldn't be possible to produce a short film. I have explained to them my ideas and what kind of the result I'm trying to achieve, and they'll provide all the support I need. This pitch gives a basic understanding of the FMP, however, the final product might be different. It is simple in the design and doesn't require a complicated set, but it still requires a lot of collaboration, hard work and effort. A lot depends on the performance of the actress and her ability not to play a character but be Maya. For this, we have had a meeting and a conversation, there she demonstrated her abilities. Her understanding of psychology and sharing similar experience gives hope for a striking performance. To be able to direct, I have learnt how to write an industry-standard script, how to do a script breakdown, I've read a book about how to direct an actor. I did an observation of my own therapy as well will have a conversation with another professional in order to review my dialogues. The downside: I still didn't contact a composer. But once I will have a shooting material I will be able to be more clear with the desired soundtrack.