2. Use this template to help you evaluate your project.
You should give specific details about your work.
You should provide both written and visual examples to explain your project.
You should find areas to praise in your work. Be specific about why you think they are
good or why you are proud of them.
You should also find areas that could be improved. Look for areas that you could make
better if you went back to them. Be specific about what you would improve.
Add additional slides as you need to. Don’t be restricted by what is here.
Any blank slides should be deleted before submission.
3. Does your final product reflect your
original intentions?
• Compare your planning/digital flat plans/
storyboards to your final product
• My overall final product I feel is a good representation of what my original
intentions were. My digital flat plans however only showed 8 out of the 10 in
which I created for my final story, I ended up altering this slightly to even out the
amount of text that would be on each page as if there were only 8 pages there
would be a larger amount of text on each page which would possibly make the
readers slightly less interested. I also made all the characters look extremely
similar to the ones I used in my flat plans as I wanted it to look as close to my flat
plans as possible so it would be an accurate representation to what my final book
would look like. I also chose to make my background similar but not identical so
that it still looked as if I’d created it myself and hadn’t just copied an existing
background from somebody else. An
4. If I compare my first digital flat plan to my
first final page you can see clearly the
similarities between the characters on
both pages and the idea of the positioning
of the text. I did however change the look
of the background as I felt that within the
opening page more of the pond needed to
be shown as this would be the main
location/ setting for all the characters to
be based. However I feel as if I could've
added slightly more detail into my final
page when it comes to the sky and the
background. For example I could've added
a few clouds or the sun in and I could also
have added a few plants scattered on
the grass to make it look
slightly more precise.
5. How well have you constructed your
images?
• I feel as if my images have been
constructed relatively well, however some I
feel are more detailed than others.
• My first page I feel was a good opening
page to both show the audience the full
extent of the main location/ background as
well as presenting all of the main characters
in a good way too.
• The thing I feel I could change about
this page however as well as some of the
other pages are the colours that are used in
my background. I feel like part of my colour
scheme looks slightly dull and boring. For
example the sky doesn’t really stand out
to me as much as I would like it too. To
improve this I could've maybe added a
gradient to the colour of the sky making
it stand out more and look a tad more
realistic than what it currently does.
6. One thing I dislike about this
image is the positioning of the
text as I feel like it looks
slightly too squashed together,
however it wasn't possible for it
all to fit anywhere else without
re-arranging and changing the
majority of the image.
7. How well have you used text to anchor
your images
• The majority of my text links in with the images and matches
it well. For example the first page talks about the mother
ducks eggs hatching and the image matching the text is a
picture of ducklings hatching out of their shells with their
mother sat beside them. Having an image to match along with
the text is beneficial as it helps children further understand
what the text means by also looking at the image.
• The only page I feel doesn’t represent as well with my text is
the 6th page as this page explains how the ugly duckling ran
away because of all the insults that he was receiving however
the image only shows the ugly duckling already in the place
he ran away too which could potentially be confusing for
younger audiences.
8. Is your product suitable for your
audience?
• Reference your proposal
• Give an audience profile and describe suitability in reference to content
• I feel that my product is highly suitable for the target audience that I chose
(toddlers- young children, aged 3-6 years old) as my book has very little
text so that the children don’t get bored or confused by it. I also have
pictures which are simple to understand and see that also link well with
my text further helping children to fully grasp what is going on within my
story on each different page. I also decided to use simplistic and basic
language so that the children are physically able to read and understand
the story as much as they possibly can hence why my sentences were
simple and clear, for example ' Nobody was cruel to him ever again'. In my
proposal I stated that my book won't be gender specific as it doesn't
include any stereotypical girl/boy features, I stuck with this idea as I feel as
if my book would be enjoyed by both sexes due to the fact that the book is
based on a bunch of animals instead of it being about either monsters or
princesses, which are what most stereotypical boys and girls books are
about.
9.
10. What do you like/dislike about the
techniques you have used?
• When it came to creating the body of the
ducks I used the shape tool in a circle and
created the shape to the size I wanted it to
be, I then used the warp tool and altered
the shape of these circles to fit with the
outline of the ducks body. I liked this
technique as it made it easier for me to
create the perfect shape that I wanted for
the body and head of the ducks. It made it a
lot quicker as well than just drawing and
erasing the body and shape of the ducks
which also made it more precise and clean
looking.
11. I also liked using the different effects
especially when it came to creating the
swans reflection on page 9. To make the
reflection I duplicated the image of the
swan and flipped it so it was on its side, I
then went to filter, and clicked on the
blur tool to blur and distort the image
slightly making it look more like a
reflection on the water. I liked using this
technique as it made my image look
much more effective. One technique I
used which I both liked and disliked was
the paintbrush tool. I used this tool to
create the majority of my pages as I
found it was the easiest to use and meant
I could have complete freedom over what
I wanted it to look like. However using
this was very time consuming and quite
difficult in places as I kept having to erase
and redo parts of it as it kept going
wrong.
12. What do you like/dislike about how
your final product looks?
• I feel as if there are a lot of things I like about
my product such as the colour scheme, as
previously mentioned I feel like all of the
colours involved within my image work well
and look good together, the only downside to
this is I feel that the colour of the sky looks a
bit dull and boring.
• Another thing I like about my final product is
the detail I went into within some of
the background, for example I used multiple
tones of green within the tree to make it stand
out more and look more realistic.
Click to add text
13. One thing I'm not too keen on within my final
product is the way the text is. I feel like on some of
the pages my text looks quite squashed up due
to the fact there was very little room to place it
anywhere else without re-arranging my whole
background. In future I could possibly cut the story
down even more so that there is less text on the
page making it less bunched up and also possibly
making it less boring to children as they don't
always like to read longer pieces of text.
Moving on to another thing I like about my pages is
that the layout of the overall pages are
clear and fit nicely together so that everything is
visible to the viewers reading the book.
Finally I dislike the grass areas as I feel as
not enough detail has been made within it which
as a result makes it look a lot more plain and
boring than what it could've looked like if I'd had
time to add in extra details
What do you like/dislike about
how your final product looks?
14. Why did you include the content
you used?
Within my story there was one main
dominant character, that being the ugly
duckling, there were also 4 other key
characters in my story which were the 3
ducklings and the mother duck. When it
came to planning the layout and design
of my pages I chose images to represent
each of these characters and what there
part would be on each different page.
For example I chose an image of some
ducklings hatching to represent to
people that this is what I intend the
ducklings to be doing on that specific
page.
Due to the fact that my target audience
were toddlers- young children
I made sure each of the
characters (especially the ducklings how
were meant to be bullying the ugly
duckling) weren't too scary or nasty
as this wouldn't be suitable for 3-6 year
olds I also chose to keep the ending
quite tame as other versions of 'The
Ugly Duckling' can be more mature
based compared to others.
15. I only used one specific font throughout my
final book. I chose to do this so not to confuse
readers as to why the text had suddenly
changed halfway through my book and to also
make it easier for the audience to read.
The font in which I ended up using is one that I
found on a website called DaFont, on this
website I found multiple options for what my
phone could be as shown in my planning
I finally decided on this specific font as I found it
was both clear and easy to read for both
parents and for younger children.
What I liked about this font Is that it wasn’t
overexaggerated and too fancy making it fit well
with the type of book 'm producing. I also liked
how bold it was making it easily accessible
for children to start attempting to read the book
too.
Why did you include the content
you used?
16. Why did you include the content you
used?
I chose to use more bright but neutral colours for my picture book as I
both wanted it to stand out but also not to make it stand out so much
that it would look more aimed at one specific gender. By doing this I
stuck to more gender neutral colours such as light blue, greens and
yellows meaning that it would appeal to both boys and girls
equally. I wanted it to be kept quite bright still as I feel that brighter
colours would appeal more to my demographic and age range.
Some of the colours I chose however were unintentional as obviously I
had to make the grass green and the sky blue as these are the
standard colours for both these objects, if I were to change the colours
of these to a completely odd colour just so it would fit better with
my target audience it would most likely end up confusing the children
if I changed the sky to be pink for example. To reduce the risk of
confusion I therefore coloured all of my objects the standard colour
that they would be in normal everyday life.
17. What signs, symbols or codes have
your used in your work?
One obvious sign I made within the making of my book was to make the main character stand out
in a relatively bad light. I chose to do this by making him look as ugly as possible by giving him
darker and scruffier hair and making him much larger compared to all the other ducklings. I
wanted to do this so that it would be clear to readers which one the 'Ugly Duckling' would be.
I also added in lots of signs throughout the book when it came to the facial expressions of each of
the characters. For example when it came to the ducklings being mean to the ugly duckling I gave
each of them an angrier expression than normal. Another example is I also altered the mother
ducklings facial expression to show viewers how shocked she was at the fact that her son had
turned into a beautiful swan. To improve this however I could over exaggerate some of the
characters facial expressions to further emphasise the different emotions they're expressing on
each of the different pages.
Something else you can see from this book is that the overall location is based around a more
remote countryside this can be inferred due to the lack of any buildings or characters that you are
likely to get within a more city based environment. The use of hills and grassland which
are present within most pages, as well as the trees, plants and pond are denoted in the
background.
18. Audience Responses
Cultural competence:
Media texts require us to have a certain level of cultural understanding to
be able to interpret them.
At a basic level, this could mean being able to read the language that a
magazine is written in.
At a deeper level, it means being able to interpret signs and symbols that
we use a visual shorthand to communicate ideas.
We recognise these signs in our own culture but find it harder to
understand when looking at others.
We create and attach meaning to signs and symbols in many different
forms.
18Creative Media Production 2012
19. Audience Responses
Cultural competence:
What is this?
This is a Norwegian Pine tree, covered in
snow and with a red ribbon on.
Our cultural understanding allows us to
interpret its meaning.
To us, in British society, it means
Christmas, presents and family.
This is because we share a cultural
knowledge.
19Creative Media Production 2012
20. Audience Responses
Cultural competence:
There are many other signs and symbols
that we attach meaning to.
A leather jacket can imply rebellion.
A sports car can imply wealth and power.
A cross can represent religion.
20Creative Media Production 2012
21. Audience Responses
Cultural competence:
Visual representations of everyday objects are often the same the world
over. A car appears as a car, no matter what country it appears in.
What that car means however, can be very different depending on your
cultural background.
21Creative Media Production 2012
22.
23. What representations can be found in
your work?
Because my story features no human characters but instead is just based
around animals that have human characteristics such as talking I can't refer to
the representation of men, women or children in much detail.
I kept my book extremely gender neutral so not to discriminate against any
genders. I managed to do this by keeping my colour scheme as basic and
neutral as possible with yellows, light blues, and greens. I avoided colours like
pink as I felt this would then make my book appeal more to females than
males. I also held back on using pronouns such as 'he' or 'she' so that
neither boys or girls would mind what each gender of each character was. I
feel my book is a relatively equal split gender wise at 50% male and 50%
female.
Due to the narrative of my story I am unable to infer anything to do with age,
race, social groups or religion as none of these issues are represented within
my story. This is partly due to the fact that my book is aimed at small children
so I didn't want to possibly confuse them as they wouldn't be aware of all of
these issues at such a young age.
24. What representations can be found in
your work?
• Within my book all of the main characters are within the same
category ( that category being that they're all ducks) The only main
difference between the characters is that the ducklings are
obviously a lot younger than the mother duck hence why the
ducklings are much smaller and cuter than her. The difference
between the ducklings however is very little apart from the ugly
duckling being the stand out because of his appearance. To improve
this I could make all of the ducklings have slightly different
characteristics, for example I could make one smart, one stupid and
one cruel. I could represent this by adding different things to each
of the characters. For example I could add glasses to the smart
duck, I could make the stupid one look scruffy and I could give the
cruel one an angry facial expression.
• You could however infer that the lack of variety in each of these
characters emphasizes how similar each of them are at the end of
the day meaning that they shouldn't be nasty to one another.
25. What style have you employed in your
products?
Overall I feel that the visual style for my children's book is simplistic in terms of the
detail within each of my images. I chose to create it like this as children my get
distracted by other components of the background if I were to add in too much detail.
I tired to create a cartoon style for my book as I didn't want to make it too realistic,
due to the fact that making everything super realistic was a skill I wasn't
particularly good or confident in and also because I felt that to fit in with the story of
having animals taking on human traits and characteristics that it would be more ideal
for them to be portrayed as a cartoon as these things would not be seen in real life
situations.
When I researched similar products online I found that they also had a very
similar style as what my book looked like. Each version of 'The Ugly Duckling' I found
were also portrayed in a cartoon style as well as the animals within the book having
human characteristics. They also made each character individual as well, which is
something that I would need to improve on slightly if I were to alter my book.
26. What were the strengths and weaknesses
of the pre-production and planning
• Both my planning and research for my final
product went reasonably well in terms of as a
result it made my final product look.
• I found that there were several elements in my
planning that I found extremely useful. When we
first started the project there was a pro-forma in
which we had to complete. Within the pro-forma
were different tasks that we had to complete
which would benefit and help us when it came to
the production of our books later on
• Some tasks such as the shape task and rotoscoping
really helped/ benefitted me as these were they
type of techniques that I ended up using within my
final project. Without using/creating these images
beforehand as part of my pre-production I
wouldn't have learnt/further developed my skills
within photoshop which would've made it much
more difficult for me to create my final product.
27. What were the strengths and weaknesses
of the pre-production and planning
• Many other tasks like those also helped me to update my
photoshop skills. For example text based skills, narrative
environment and film quotes all contributed in some way
to help me further develop my skills that as a
result helped me in producing my final children's book to
the standard that it is.
• By learning how to use these text tools in more depth
allowed me to both space out the text better as well
as also making sure that the text was at a sensible and
good size which wouldn't limit the visual narrative space.
• Moving on the film quote task helped me learn not only
how to link text and an image together on a page but
also the how important the ratio between both of them
in terms of how much space each of them take on the
page without them overpowering/ controlling each other
was. This helped me with the layout of my children's
book as it helped me decide where best the text should
go and how much text should be on a certain page.
• The narrative environment showed me how to combine
the shape task tool skills that I learnt as well as also
learning other methods such as rotoscoping, burning and
dodging, wrap tool as well as the brush tool
which allowed for me to create the visual background
and characters within my own children's book.
28. What were the strengths and weaknesses
of the pre-production and planning
• On the other hand thought I did find some things that
weren't as useful as others. For example within the pro-
forma we were given a task to get an existing
image and edit that image to give it a comic book effect. On
the one hand it helped me to develop my photoshop
skills more as I was unaware how to do that before
however it did not help me when it came to making my
children's books as I never once used this skill.
• Another weakness I found was completing the task in which
we had to draw an image and scan it onto the computer. In
my opinion this method took a lot longer than I would've
liked it too and I also never used this once within the
production of my book as I personally found it much more
difficult than some of the other methods of producing it.
29. Historical and cultural context
The use of technology has majorly changed/ altered the
outcome and appearance of children's books for example
older versions of books have very little illustration and more
larger pieces of text. The illustrations that were also used
within these older books will have most likely been draw using
pen and paper and in some cases ink. Older versions may not
even have any colour to them.
If you compare this to both my own book and more modern
versions very few books nowadays don't appear to be hand
drawn, most of the time books nowadays are created by a
computer on different pieces of software such as photoshop
and they contain a lot more colour. Also nowadays books tend
to have a much more equal split in terms of narrative text and
illustration.
30.
31. Feedback 1
• What do you like about the graphics?
– The background is very well made. The trees are
my favourite because of the detail you put in
them. The ducks are also well made as well.
• What would you do to develop the graphics?
– It's a bit blurry.
32. Feedback 2
• What do you like about the graphics?
What I like about the graphics is that it is really obvious what everything is because they’ve all been
made really well, its clear that you’ve put quite a lot of effort in to the detail of your pages. I also like
your colour choices, they all match each other really well. Another thing I like about the graphics is that
the text has been put in the right places which makes it really easy to read.
• What would you do to develop the graphics?
In my opinion there isn't anything Id change, the pages have clearly been made really well so I think you
should leave them as they are :)
33. Feedback 3
• What do you like about the graphics?
I like the consistency in art style you have and the detail of the ducks,
The colours you have chosen work really well too
• What would you do to develop the graphics?
I would change the way you have saved your images as the have been exported
with a high compression making them seem abit pixelated with compression
artefacts
34. Peer Feedback
• Summarise peer feedback and discuss
• I feel that the majority of my feedback was accurate as I put a lot of
effort into making both the ducks and the background details (such
as the tree) I also agree that the colours work well together and will
appeal more to my target audience.
• Another point that I agree with is that my images are slightly blurry
so to improve this I could compress my files more which as a result
would make my images clearer to viewers.
• I don’t particularly highly disagree of any of my feedback apart from
part of it says they wouldn't develop or change anything which I do
disagree with however as I feel that there is always room for
improvement.
