fun

1. Research
Andrew Downes

2. Existing Product
This image was originally an album cover made by Rodney
Matthews it was for. THE REVENGE (AN ALBUM COVER FOR
RUSSELL ALLEN AND JØRN LANDE) AND THERE ARE NO
CLUES AS TO WHERE IT WAS MADE OR WHERE IT’S SET
AND IT CAN’T HAVE AN ANGLE, IT HAS THE EFFECT OF
GIVING OF STEAMPUNK VIBES SO IT IS ACTION PACKED
AND LOOKS COMPLETELY HORRIFYING, I ALSO COULDN’T
FIND ANYTHING ON THE PRE-PRODUCTION OF THIS PIECE,
THE USE OF LIGHTING IS INTERESTING BECAUSE MOST OF
THE COLOURS ARE LIGHT AND BRIGHT HOWEVER THE
BUILDING TYPE STRUCTURES IN THE BACKGROUND AND
THE MECHANIZED DINOSAURS ARE THE ONLY THINGS
THAT ARE LEFT IN DIM LIGHTING PAINTING THEM AS A
THREAT OF SORTS, AND WHEN IT COMES TO THE MISE EN
SCENE THERE IS THE FOREGROUND WHICH HAS THE
PEOPLE WATCHING THE DINOSAURS FIGHT AND THEN IN
THE MIDDLE THERE ARE THE BUILDINGS AND IN THE
BACKGROUND THERE IS THE MOUNTAINS AND OTHER
PLANETS, THERE ARE NO REAL COSTUMES PROPS OR
LOCATIONS, HOWEVER THE COLOURS USED TEND TO BE
LIGHT IN THIS SUCH AS THE ORANGE THE LIGHT BLUE THE
BROWN THE TURQUOISE AND THE LIGHT PURPLE ORANGE
WHICH TO ME SENDS OUT A PICTURE THAT IS SERENE IN
THESE PLACES AND THEN THERE IS THE BLACK SILVER DARK
GREEN AND THE DARKER PURPLE.
There is no font in this one however on
the album cover there was the name of
the album THE REVENGE. This makes the
audience want to buy the product
because of its setting in space and
because of the two mechanized
dinosaurs giving off a steampunk vibe
however the original creator of this piece
didn’t know about steampunk or
anything of the sort(it also looks very
futuristic).

3. Existing Product
The setting for this game is on Pandora an inhospitable
planet where everything is trying to kill you (almost), the
angle is of a mid shot of a psycho, it looks funny action
packed and stupid and for the pre-production I have no
idea what they did, the use of lighting is interesting
because yet again it mainly uses light colours such as a
light red peach orange white blue and yellow, however
they do use a few dark colours like black brown and dark
red, the mise en scene is easy in the foreground you have
the psycho and in the middle there is the battle ground
spurting from his head and in the background there is the
symbol of the vaults for added impact to send the point
home. There aren’t any costumes but the model design
uses orange trousers and a mask some tape and a glove.
There aren’t any props. The location is Pandora a planet in
another solar system. The colours used are red white
yellow silver orange brown peach vermillion yellow black
and grey these colours are usually associated with
adventure and the design is an action full scene.
The font used is called Compacta bold,
which is what the franchise always uses
for every game and most products. This
appeals to the audience by showing
them the action packed side of the game
which is what makes most people I know
buy the games and also the design of the
characters is amazing and has a weird
sort of style.

4. Existing Product
There was no studio that I found that made this and
the angle makes it look like the reflection should
show you as it is looking directly at you, this one has
weird effect of introducing life and death, with the
animals in the reflection with the nuclear explosion
and then on the helmet there seems to be a
butterfly so someone could say in some ways it was
quite serene and a welcoming vision and then there
is the pilot which has quite an ominous look to the
helmet. The use of lighting just uses the nuclear
explosion as the lighting effect which gives off a look
as if it were a glare. In the foreground there is the
helmet and the butterfly, then in the background
there is the explosion a giraffe a deer and some
other animals and I presume a dust cloud or the
atomic cloud from a nuclear explosion. There were
no props used in the making or costumes, the
location might be America or somewhere like that.
The colours used are black silver orange vermillion
and white and there were no fonts in this picture.
This would appeal to the audience to buy this
as it is just an action packed image with the life
the death but if that is a bit dark the design
looks really good there is quite a lot of detail to
the helmet and then when it comes down to
the explosion that looks really nice too.

5. Existing Product
The band who had this made is called revelations,
the angle makes it look as if the character/tree/ent
sort of thing is looking directly at you. This has quite
an ominous feel to it as the design gives you a
feeling that it is human and yet there is something
different like it has roots in everything and with the
only colours being black and white it makes the eyes
even worse and then with the lighting coming in
from the left it leaves shadows on the right hand
side and makes it harder to sympathize or do
anything to the character as it were untouchable.
There is no costume as it is a t shirt and there aren’t
any props either. The location I believe would be
England as the band was made and comes from the
country. The colours used are black and white which
on there own as I said can be quite ominous, black
people usually associate with danger so you could
say it was like to sides of a coin. The font used is
called Revelations. This would appeal to the
audience as it is kind of mysterious and looks as if it
were from punk rock or a heavy rock band.

6. Existing Product
This is the CD cover for Nazareths album called No
mean city made in 1979 the cover was made by
Rodney Matthews. It was most likely made in
America at the time and then redone somewhere
else as in copied. The angle here that is used is a
mid shot of an orc soldier or assassin. The effects of
this is the action side and a little bit of fantasy and
so maybe danger threat and the feeling of being
scared. The use of lighting is really nice in this CD
case with it being lit by the moon so the mist is
practically pure white and the shadows create even
more mystery in this piece. In the foreground there
are the skulls in a pile and there is the orc soldier
and in the background there is the city which is
probably the direct reference to the title no mean
city. The costume used looks like he could either be
a soldier or someone in the business of killing
others, the props look like old barber knives used
for shaving. The location is no mean city.
The colours used are yellow black
brown silver purple grey green and
white these I believe are to mainly
create contrast and to keep the
attention of others looking at it.
This would appeal to the audience
because of the mystery the fantasy and
the action that could ensue with the
orc soldier thing.

7. Research Analysis
• What common features do the researched products have?
– They all have mysterious and action qualities to them. Some of the pieces use dark colours to intrigue
people and try to make them look for meaning with in them. They all use a contrast of light and dark
colours. The colour schemes are similar because they use the colours like this as to create a tense
atmosphere and creates a sense of danger.
– Most of the images don’t use words and so are more focused on the image presented which in turn draws
way more attention to certain parts of the design in order where-as when it comes down to having writing,
the writing attracts the most attention in a piece shown by the t shirt design because then it leads into the
main design with the branches and roots.
– Most of the images use the same lay out plan by that I mean three of the designs the first one being the
revenge and then third one being the one with the mask and the atomic blast and also the Nazareth no
mean city album cover show a complicated foreground and then includes a fairly detailed background for
something happening far away it also adds a sense of depth however the others ( The revelations t shirt and
the Borderlands game cover) feel as if they have no depth within the designs.
– Most of them also try to convey a sense of danger and then also a sense of adventure and maybe to an
extent they also use a sense of fantasy.
• What aspects of the research will you include within your on work?
• I want to use a variety of light and dark to create an interesting contrast. I also want to make it so I
can use the mysterious and action qualities of these pieces. I also want use very few words to make
sure more of the attention is drawn to the designs instead of the writing and the fonts as that in
itself could tell the genre of the game for you, creating a sense of danger is also high on my priority
list when it comes to the things I want to include in my projects as that could set up the perfect
atmosphere for the projects.

8. Questionnaire Analysis

9. Audience research
• Observation: These results show that my audience would prefer their own ideas to the set few and
also means they don’t find these places scary or they are way too overused.
• What this says about my audience: They don’t easily become scared or attracted to overly used
archetypes for horror.
• How will your product appeal to this audience: Have a different background for each and every
product to create a wide range of what people said in the other section.

10. Audience research
• Observation: people like to play battle royal type games and some others have put
in platformers and as you can see there was the RTS and simulation.
• What this says about my audience: This says that my audience would like too have
a battle royal game instead of what I thought they would want which was the RTS.
• How will your product appeal to this audience: My product will appeal to the
audience by giving it a sort of animated background with quite realistic looking
characters within game that is.

11. Audience research
• Observation: This makes out that some of my audience are either stupid enough to buy
merchandise or they really like the game series in question like having an addiction
• What this says about my audience: This says to me that the audience must love or have an
addiction to the game or TV series to be able to buy the merchandise.
• How will your product appeal to this audience: My product would appeal to my audience because I
am creating merchandise for an original game which is going to have an underlying horror tone.

12. Audience research
• Observation: They are all male
• What this says about my audience: This would suggest that most of my
audience would like violence or action related topics.
• How will your product appeal to this audience: My product will appeal to
this type of audience because all my characters are going to look like
something out of a horror action movie or game (Hopefully).

13. Audience research
• Observation: People would prefer a sort of classical or jazz form of music when it comes to horror
• What this says about my audience: This shows that the audience here would like to continue on
with the horror musical archetypes however some just want to have suspenseful music.
• How will your product appeal to this audience: This product will appeal to my audience because I
was planning on also maybe at one point to add onto my project too a sort of mash up music CD
sort of thing but it may or may not be happening in the end.

14. Audience research
• Observation: This shows that people prefer to play with friends or random people
to feel superior to others or to have a competitive gaming experience
• What this says about my audience: This shows that most people that took this
survey have a social life and they are also probably very competitive.
• How will your product appeal to this audience: My product will appeal to the
audience by making it look in the merchandise that it is a MOBA or at least make it
have a co-op part to the game.

15. Audience research
Observation: This shows that the audience I am aiming
at play games for the fun of it.
What this says about my audience: This says that my
audience has a lot of time to waste and also the fact that
they all seem to have fun playing games through this
question.
How will your product appeal to this audience: This
product will appeal to my audience by making it look as
fun as possible and also making it action packed to make
it seem as if there are lots of things going on in the
game.

16. Audience research
Observation: League of legends seems to be
played a lot even though there only seem to be
two answers from the same place, even though
all the characters mentioned seem to be from
action packed games
What this says about my audience: This shows
that my audience likes action games and to an
extent adventure games.
How will your product appeal to this audience:
My product will appeal to this audience because
I am going to try and make it look like it is an
action packed poster and stuff like that to give
of the impression that it is an action game.

17. Audience research
Observation: people really dislike long
loading screens and long cut scenes
especially when the cut scenes make up for
the whole or half of the game.
What this says about my audience: This says
that my audience really dislikes long loading
screens as the main problem.
How will your product appeal to this
audience: My product will appeal to this
audience by taking some risks with the
design of the piece and also make it look
action packed as I said.

18. Audience research
•Observation: People want to see a
main character of a game and then
have a funny quote to support the
main character and also to make it
look even better.
What this says about my audience:
This says that my audience would
prefer to see a main character on the
designs however there is one person
who doesn’t want the over used
format and layout.
How will your product appeal to this
audience: My product will appeal to
this audience because I am going to
have certain characters from the game
and I might even come up with some
sort of dialogue for some of the
characters to have some quotes on the
shirts and the posters.

19. Interviews

20. Interview 1
• Q1 the fun and interesting aspect of immersing yourself in another
world either to spend your time doing things you couldn’t imagine
• Q2 I would have to go with Xcom 2, it’s a excellent mod able
strategy game. It’s like chess but you have to consider more options
than a 8 by 8 grid. It’s incredibly hard to not get attached to these
customised soldiers you order and get attached to it makes you
more want to get them out alive. It makes for a really thrilling game
you just don’t see enough of anymore
• Q3 I would buy shirts, posters, and collectible items from a
franchise I really liked

21. Interview 1
• Observation: They use video games as a sort of escapism
they prefer to play RTS and also likes the fact that the
soldiers are customisable, and would certainly buy
merchandise.
• What this says about my audience: This says that my
audience likes more logical sort of games such as strategy
instead of mindless FPS’s and would like to buy
merchandise.
• How will your product appeal to this audience: My product
will appeal to this sort of audience because I am making
merchandise for the game product, however it was not
going to be an RTS it was going to be like a tell tale game
where it is an animated story and you get to make specific
choices to change the story to your will.

22. Interview 2
• What do you like about video games and why?
• The experience since it brings excitement to life
• What is your favourite video game and why?
• Fort-nut or League of legends since they both
have a competitive sense and always
have something to do
• •Would you buy merchandise from said video
game or franchise.
• Yes

23. Interview 2
• Observation: This person in the audience likes games
because of the experience and excitement he likes to
play MOBA’s and would buy merchandise if possible
• What this says about my audience: This says that my
audience wants excitement from a game and would
like to buy merchandise.
• How will your product appeal to this audience: My
product will appeal to this audience because I am
creating merchandise for game and as seem as it is
hopefully going to be a horror action game there
should be some excitement in the actual game
product.

24. Audience Profile
Category Demographic Content to appeal to this audience
Age Range
Primary-16-19
year old
Secondary-20-25
year old
• Action needless violence adventure to an
extent and comedic dialogue(hopefully)
Gender
Primary-male
Secondary-female
• Action packed, comedic(Hopefully) and
adventure to an extent.
Psychographic
Primary-Emulator
Secondary-Socially
conscious type A
• Survival, helping others(co-op) and to a
certain extent adventure.
Social Status
Primary-Lower
middle class
Secondary-Middle
class.
• Action needless violence adventure to an
extent and comedic dialogue(hopefully)

25. Research Evaluation

26. Research Evaluation
• Give an overview of how you conducted your research. Discuss the strengths and
weaknesses of each method
– Product Research
• This was strong because I could chose the outcome of this version of research and also it is much more reliable as you are
doing it on your own unless the websites you go to can be edited by anyone such as Wikipedia, it was also useful that 4 of
the 5 products I researched were made or owned by a band who are well known. Also the dark colours would be nice to
use and the effect and genre would be great to use (horror and action). However though some bits were weak such as
the mise en scene and other things of the sort which seem to be useless as it is obvious and then there is the effect which
I didn’t really get and so I decided to put down random feelings and genres that related to the piece.
– Questionnaires
• This was strong because I easily got a large view of what my audience would like to see and got enough replies to be able
to see what they would actually want in detail, it was also good because this time people properly answered the
questionnaire, (except for one person) so I could easily analyse the results from the questionnaire. However the
questionnaire was also weak though because of the results from some of the questions I got almost completely different
answers for some of the questions so it was difficult to be able to clump the results into one easy to understand bundle
also some of the questions didn’t help too much like the music ones they were just in case I decided to do more than I
needed to, also the questionnaire was made near the start of the holiday and it was only answered when we got back so
maybe I should have distributed it differently.
– Interviews
This was strong because I could easily get the view of others and what they would think about
what would happen and what they would like to see in certain products that I would like to include in my
projects but the most interesting and most useful question was would you buy merchandise which both
said yes to, which was important as all I was going to do is create merchandise for a fake game, however
the weaknesses is that I couldn’t control the outcome of the research so someone could have screwed
about with the questions and given me answers I couldn’t use( which didn’t happen) and then there was
the problem of having too little information to do anything to drastic.

27. Research Evaluation
– What sort of a response did you get?
The response rate was good when I got back to college and most of the answers
given were answered honestly and were also mostly no one was joking around
this time. However the interview got the best answers as seem as I got an honest
answer, had replies back in good time and they were answered to the best of the
abilities of the people I sent it to so there was lots of detail to go off on. The
responses for the survey were interesting because some people contradicted the
others and then I had to factor in the one awkward answer that went against
what everyone else was saying which is most relevant in the last question the
design question and some of the others it was some places awkward as well
because sometimes they would go for all different answers but in the end I put it
all into one compact little bundle to easily understand.
– How did you distribute your survey? Give an advantage and a disadvantage
– The advantage of distributing the questionnaire by email was that I got a large
quantity of results when they actually answered, however the disadvantage
of distributing via email was that I had to wait until I got back to college for
answers and I created the questionnaire almost at the start of the holiday.