2. FMP EVALUATION & REFLECTION – FMP
IDEAS
• The first part of my FMP was creating ideas of what I could make for my final major project.
• I came up with three ideas. The first idea I listed was the idea I actually went along with, which was to create video game cover art. Alongside this, I also listed other
products that I could make alongside this such as merchandise, an animation, a concept art book and a poster. At the time, this did not seem ambitious, it seemed
very doable but in hind sight I think that I maybe stretched to far with this amount of ideas. I don’t think that I would change this list of products if I were to do it
again because it improved my creativity to some extent as I was picturing the products when I was listing them. I wasn’t just listing them to fill up the page.
• The second idea was to make an album cover with some promotional products such as a tour poster and merchandise. I did not choose this idea because I did this
last year. I could argue that I could improve on my work from last year using my evaluation and feedback that I received from my tutor and peers but I wanted to try
something different in order to try out a different style of art that I may have been more successful in producing.
• My final idea was to make a gaming magazine. I decided that this would e my second most likely option as I am passionate about gaming so I know that certain
stages of production such as what to put on the front cover could have been done efficiently. I did not pursue this idea because when I made a magazine in the
previous year, it caused a lot of confusion when I used Adobe InDesign. I could have used Adobe Photoshop to create this idea but Photoshop isn't ideal when
making magazines.
• The strengths of doing this list of ideas are numerous. Firstly, I find it useful to note down any progress I make on a brainstormed idea in case I need to refer to
anything on a later date. Secondly, having multiple ideas to consider makes me feel comfortable instead of being stressed out about only having one idea. This
ultimately increases my work ethic and effort towards the whole project. Thirdly, I didn’t need to worry about gong into detail in this part of the project so I didn’t
need to rush anything to get finished. I could've included more detail but it wouldn’t’ have helped me at all because the point of the list was purely ideas which
would be expanded at a later date.
• There was no problems in this part of the project.
3. FMP EVALUATION & REFLECTION – THEORIES
RESEARCH
• The first part of my project was the Theories Research. In this part of the project, I had to find relevant theories that related to the line of production I would go
into. For example, I was making video game covers so I had to find theories and people in that line of work to research so I could get myself on track.
• I began by researching the actual area of production I would attempt which was game art graphic design. I think that I managed this section well because I covered
the very basics whilst keeping it simple. I think the area that I researched was more to do with the actual in game art rather than the cover art but it still followed
the same concept of going from sketches to computer designs. I had to research this area on actual game design because I couldn’t find enough information (or at
least enough relevant information) to talk about cover art design. Some designers that worked on the in game stuff have actual created concepts and designs for
the cover art or they have at least worked with the cover art designers so I think that it is a strength that I have covered all the angles.
• Next, I moved onto talking about the actual designers themselves. I picked out information about specific designers from different games that were in the same
genre as my game would be. I did this because there would be no advantage in researching into a game that fell into the genre of horror, for example, when my
game would fall into the genre of a first person shooter because the approach and background of the design elements would be very different. All together I
researched 6 designers or developers from familiar game titles. The information that I covered was about their background and their approaches to work. This was
extremely helpful to me because looking at a professionals approach to their work can provide someone like me with a new perspective that I may not know or
may not have considered before. For example, I may be choosing to use computer graphics first instead of using sketches to provide myself with a stronger
structure to work around.
• To talk about the strengths of this section of research, I think that the research into the experts methods of work was very helpful. I have already mentioned why
previously. Another strength of this early stage of research is that it started my research off slowly so that I wasn’t rushing into the full part of the research. This
allowed me to start gathering information and sources that I could use in my research.
• Some weaknesses of this pro forma included the fact that I didn’t go into extreme amounts of detail or at least didn’t go into specifics in some slides. My reasoning
for this is because there wasn’t a lot of available information, I had to make sure that I was referencing the work and not plagiarising so this meant I had to trim
down all the information so that I could pull out all the relevant parts. It was then hard to find more information on such a specific subject so it was difficult to
cover all areas.
• A problem that occurred during this stage was my browsing skills to find some good information. My Google searches were quite specific but I didn’t have the time
to filter through 100 pages of Google so in the future I will work on methods to find exactly what I want.
4. FMP EVALUATION & REFLECTION – PRE-
PROPOSAL
• My pre-proposal was a shortened down version of my proposal. The idea of this was to give a short answer on everything we needed to know about the project
such as what we would make, when we would make it, how we would make it etc. This section was more about the production side of the project rather than
making proposals about the research and planning etc. I think that it would have been useful to talk about the planning at an earlier stage simply because more
time towards anything on such a big scale as this project is helpful.
• I think that there was only one strength to doing a pre-proposal and this was the fact that I could build off this pre-proposal to create my actual proposal.
• I don’t think there is any weaknesses to this as it is designed to be a simpler proposal which is easier to understand.
• There wasn’t any problems that I ran into when I was doing my pre-proposal as it was simple enough to work through and I also knew what I wanted to do so I
wasn’t indecisive.
5. FMP EVALUATION & REFLECTION – PROPOSAL
• The proposal stage of my FMP is where I started to put more detail into my work. There was a specification to type a certain amount of words in each section of
the proposal.
• The first section was the rationale. This was a section where I would talk about what progress I have made up until the FMP. For example, I talked about my
previous FMP that I completed in the year before. I didn’t really see any strengths when talking about previous progress because even though I can look at my
feedback, it isn’t relevant to this project as I am making a different product(s) for this FMP.
• The next section was the project concept where I would decide what my project would actually be. The amount of detail that I applied to this section of the
proposal was enough to consider what I could come up with for a final concept. In this section, I mentioned that I would make an animation, a poster, some
merchandise designs, the game covers and an art book. I think that this was very ambitious because even though we had 6 weeks of production, I was only in
college 3 days a week instead of 5 so I didn’t realise how little time I actually had. I think that I put enough information into this section because not only did I have
to consider the amount of words I was allowed to put into this section, I also didn’t quite know the specifics of each product so I couldn’t go into it in much detail.
• The next part of the proposal was talking about how I would evaluate my work. I mentioned how I had used a daily reflection blog in the previous year/projects to
keep myself updated with what methods I had used and also what I had done well or not so well. Talking about how I would evaluate my project, to me, wasn’t a
helpful part of the proposal as I already knew what I would do to evaluate it.
• I also added a bibliography to my proposal. This was a list of sources that I could potentially use for my research. This was extremely useful because I could spend
more time in the research stage picking the bits that I needed out of the already chosen sources instead of finding the source during the research stage. It saved
me a lot of time.
• Once this section was complete, I began making my schedule. I had been given a template with the amount of weeks that the FMP would take and I simply filled
this in, in medium detail, of what I would try to complete in what week. For example, in week 2, the pro forma we would begin making was the research, so I listed
what type of research I would complete (primary/secondary/market etc.) and what day I would complete this on. I found this schedule to be strength at the
beginning because it keep me on track and it acted as a check list for what I needed to do.
• My proposal turned out to have more strengths than weaknesses. For example, the proposal helped me to list down my final idea and then I could begin expanding
it. This early stage of development helps me as a producer because it means that I can start seeing all my ideas forming which helps my creative drive.
• There was only a few weaknesses. One of these was the rationale. I feel this wasn’t a successful or helpful part of my work because I am more productive when I
focus on the future of my work rather than looking back at mistakes I've made in the past.
6. FMP EVALUATION & REFLECTION – PROBLEM
SOLVING
• The next pro-forma that I completed was problem solving. This pro-forma was all about me thinking up any problems that may occur during production and
thinking of one or more ways to solve them so that I was prepared if such a problem was to happen.
• The problems were split into two different categories, the first being theoretical. These problems, to name a few, were things such as locations, finance and
models. Each of these items could have easily been a problem within my production. For example, the location that we planned to shoot photos at could’ve have
been occupied on that day or a prop I was planning to buy turned out to be too expensive. It was up to me to come up with a solution to fix these problems in case
something like this did actually happen.
• I think that this was a really important part of my project because preplanning any problems at all makes it easier for me in two ways. Firstly, it helps me practically
because if a problem presented its self without me planning it, I may have come up with a useless alternative plan on the spot. Preplanning allows me to think
more practically. Secondly, should a problem happen and I was busy completing any unfinished work, it would have been another task under my belt so it helped
me mentally knowing that I had a back up plan. These were definite strengths to my work.
• In terms of weaknesses, I may have planned for problems that would never happen. For example, I wrote about facilities that would be around when I was out
taking photos such as toilets and drinks. This wasn’t really a necessary part of the planning or useful part as it is common sense to make sure you are hydrated. This
effectively consumed time that I could have used making better plans.
• The next part of the problem solving pro forma was practical problems. These problems involved things like storage problems and camera problems. I also took
some experiment photos and then edited these photos with experiment edits so that I could get used to the camera and the types of photoshop techniques that I
would use. The problems involving cameras, software, storage etc. were similar to the theoretical problems so I will go into more detail about the experiments.
• In total, I made 6 experiments, all of which were different photos taken at different angles and distance with a different edit technique. The edits I made took about
10 minutes each. The reason I did not put much effort into these was because I then had to explain the process about each one and as it wasn’t my final product, I
only needed to make sure I knew the basics instead of making it perfect. I actually ended up using one of the techniques to a certain extent on one of my actual
products.
• Some strengths about the practical problems was that I could develop and improve my Photoshop skills so that when the time came to make an original product, I
could make it look professional. I will talk more about my actual products later.
• The weaknesses for the practical problems are pretty much the same as the theoretical problems in the sense that they are mostly common sense and can be dealt
with on the spot.
7. FMP EVALUATION & REFLECTION – RESEARCH
• The research was probably the most important and probably the bulkiest pro forma in my whole project. It consisted of three main aspects; primary, secondary and
market research.
• For the market research I looked into existing products that were similar to my product that I planned to make or I looked into a product that I could take
inspiration from. In total I looked into 7 existing products. I felt like the more detail I had, them more likely it would be that I could improve on research that I had
done in the past or it would make my products stronger due to the fact that I had a lot of inspiration from my favourite existing products. I think that looking into
existing products is an obvious strength because you can begin to take inspiration and also go into deep analysis about what makes a product stand out or what
makes a product look good in a professional environment. It is a strength to my work as well because it shows that I have looked into different developers and
different companies, showing I have covered a lot of different angles.
• The next part of my research was my primary research. I used www.surveymonkey.com to conduct this research. I found this website to be fairly helpful to me in
my FMP because as I registered to this site for free I was only allowed 10 questions per survey. Keeping my survey short and simple was helpful because it made my
answers easier to analyse and it was more efficient when I did analyse them. The site was also extremely user friendly as it was easy to upload images, choose
what type of question you wanted (multiple choice, check box etc.) and the layout was easy to follow. My questions were quite specific to the products I planned to
make. For example, in question 3 I asked what my audience would like to see on a video game cover and then I gave 4 choices of what I could realistically make on
a game cover such as interesting colours or graphics. Even though the question was vague, the answers helped me to make it more specific so that I could begin to
create a mould for what I wanted my product to look like. The strengths of doing this primary research probably top that of the strengths of market research
because the primary research is more personal and bespoke to me which means I can craft a better product to please my audience. I don not think that any
weaknesses showed up when I was making my survey. I think that asking a persons age or gender may not have been the best use of a question but it helps me
with dissecting my demographic of my audience.
• Finally, I researched some production techniques that I could use during the production stage of my project. I mainly used YouTube for this as I am more of a visual
learner so seeing someone visually create a piece of work that interests me keeps me a lot more focused and willing to learn than reading a page of writing.
• The strengths of my research were greater than the weaknesses. In fact I do not think there was any weaknesses that were that significant, they hindered my work.
Doing research is very important because it sets the foundations for my work.
8. FMP EVALUATION & REFLECTION – PLANNING
• My planning pro forma was probably the second mots detailed pro forma. This part of the project is where I could list most of my ideas down and start creating a
structure for my products.
• Firstly, I planned what locations, times, finance and copy I would need to manage. For example, I planned to use the studio as a location to shoot photos in.
• Next, I planned what colour schemes I could use in my work. These colour schemes were based heavily on my research because from my research I knew what
types of colours would work well and what would stand out to me.
• After this, I planned out what fonts I could see my self using in production. I chose some fonts that I had used in previous projects because I knew that they worked
well. I also did some font experiments. I found that doing some experiments really useful because I could test out what the font would look like in different colours
and sizes etc.
• In addition to the colour schemes, I also made some colour style sheets and some image style sheets. In this section, I would talk about what style I would aim for
colour and image-wise by talking about some existing products. Looking at some professional products is a very good strong point of my planning because I can
refer to something that has sold well so gaining inspiration from this provides no losses.
• The final stage of my planning was to make some layout plans. Firstly I made a layout plan for each product that I planned to make and then I made an alternative
concept for each layout. Making an alternative concept is a strength of my work because it shows that I haven’t just gone with my first idea and it shows that I have
more than one creative idea.
• The strengths of my planning are numerous. To mention a few, I think that planning something like a layout is not only helpful for me but also to my audience as it
allows them to see my creative process. A layout can also be adapted and changed to my liking when I'm in production. For example, if I use the layout as a
template and don’t like where an image is, I can always change that. The layout isn’t permanent. Another strength is that I always have a backup. What I mean by
this is that if something isn’t working out in production, I can always refer back to my planning to make sure I can make a product.
• Some weaknesses to mention in my planning is the fact that I may not have planned for everything in extreme detail. This isn’t a major problem because I can
always use common sense to adapt to something I haven’t planned for.
9. FMP EVALUATION & REFLECTION –
PRODUCTS
Product 1: Standard Edition Cover art
Strengths:
• I followed my plans
• The colours are diverse and there is a
perfect amount of red (it doesn’t
overwhelm and it is noticeable)
• The themes are clearly displayed in
multiple ways
• The effects are well executed
Weaknesses:
• The boxes on the back could be improved.
(The gun could look more cartoon like to
fit the cartoon theme on the front)
• A background image on the front could
make the front more inviting.
10. FMP EVALUATION & REFLECTION –
PRODUCTS
Product 2: Limited Edition Cover art
Strengths:
• The front cover has a good mix of
simplicity and complexity which makes it
comforting to look at
• The blurred image on the back adds to
the mystery of what the game will include
• The fire and ice theme is made more
obvious on this cover which gives the
audience more of an interest in the game
Weaknesses:
• The gun on the top left of the back cover
looks out of place and needs some effects
applying to it so it fits in with the cartoon
effects
11. FMP EVALUATION & REFLECTION –
PRODUCTS
Product 3: Gold Edition Cover art
Strengths:
• It is made obvious that this is the most
prestigious edition of the game
• The oil painting cartoon effect has a good
balance of realism and video game
character looks
• The background on the front looks like we
are being lead into the game
Weaknesses:
• The back cover is too similar to the
Limited Edition’s back cover.
• The middle box on the back cover could
show an equal spacing between each item
inside it.
12. FMP EVALUATION & REFLECTION –
PRODUCTS
Product 4: Season Pass
Strengths:
• Each theme of each DLC is clearly
represented leaving the audience wanting
to find out how it plays out in the game.
• The contrasting colours on the front of
the pass on the bandanas show the
rivalry between the two gangs. The
gradient outline to this also helps to
deliver the message of conflict.
• The scratch codes look 3D
• The small print adds to the products
authenticity
Weaknesses:
• The whole product looks basic and
doesn’t stand out too well
• It looks very rigid as if it needs to be laid
out in a more relaxed way.
13. FMP EVALUATION & REFLECTION –
PRODUCTS
Product 5: DLC 1
Strengths:
• It is clear what the product advertises
• The image on the front that reads “DLC 1”
is an attractive image.
Weaknesses:
• The images at the top of the card
representing multiplier maps do not looks
well edited and it isn’t too clear what they
are.
• The images in the middle showing what
content is included are laid out in a
strange way
14. FMP EVALUATION & REFLECTION –
PRODUCTS
Product 6: Concept art book front and back
cover
Strengths:
• The simplicity of the product shows that
the concept art book can be enjoyed
whilst relaxing
Weaknesses:
• The back cover is just black which is fairly
boring
• It looks too much like the season pass
which may cause confusion to the
audience.
15. FMP EVALUATION & REFLECTION –
PRODUCTS
Product 7: Concept art book pages 2 & 7
Strengths:
• The images are interesting and
aesthetically pleasing
• The images are open to interpretation
• The fact there is no text shows that they
are art pieces
Weaknesses:
16. FMP EVALUATION & REFLECTION –
PRODUCTS
Product 8: Concept art book pages 3 & 6
I do not think that theses pages have any
strengths or weaknesses. These pages were
created purely to show the logos of the in
game gangs as I did not showcase them
anywhere else.
17. FMP EVALUATION & REFLECTION –
PRODUCTS
Product 9: Concept art book pages 4 & 5
Strengths:
• The art pieces are once again open to
interpretation which keeps the audience
interested
• The products are well produced and show
evidence of different and original
techniques
Weaknesses:
• The white background doesn’t go well
with the blue so it is quite hard to look at.
18. FMP EVALUATION & REFLECTION – SUMMARY
Overall, I think I have evaluated my project to a suitable standard. I think that I have pointed out all the main strengths and weaknesses to
construct a balanced opinion on the work I have produced. I am happy with the work I have produced.
