This document provides planning details for a digital graphic narrative project. It includes considerations for costs, available resources, quantity, audience, quality factors, codes of practice, regulations, copyright, ethical issues, and a production schedule. Health and safety risks like trip hazards, live power cables, liquids damaging technology, and eye strain from screens are also addressed, along with ways to prevent issues from occurring.

1. Digital Graphic Narrative Planning
Use this booklet to help structure your planning and collate your planning documents.
Considerations:
There are lots of things to consider in this project. Fill out each section in detail to show you have thought about each one. You
should imagine that this is a live project, so considerations like cost, quantity and codes of practice must be thought about in that
context rather than just as a college project.
Costs:
I have no equipment costs as I am completing my work completely on a Mac using resources available tome
on there. I will have costs when it comes to printing for paper and use of a printer. My paper size will be
standard A4 landscape and so excess specialist paper costs are not required in order to make it perfectly
square or any other shape.
Available resources:
I have a Mac available to me in order to complete the pre-production and production of my children’s book. I
will have a printer available to me in order to print my book.

2. Quantity:
This is a mass-market book as my characters have no assigned genders or allegiances and I believe the
content of the story to be suitable for the mass market. I think my book will be made in the hundreds to start
with and depending on it reception, more can be made.
Audience and Target Market:
Ideally I would make the product for 3-6 year olds. Gender is not specified as the content and characters are
not gender aligned. The book is also not demographically specific and therefore suitable for all classes and
backgrounds.
Quality Factors:
I need to allocate my time efficiently in the sessions that I have available to me. This will ensure the quality of
my work is at it’s highest. I need to make sure if I rotoscope something and it isn’t as good as it could be then I
must not simply settle for it but do it again making sure it is improved second time around.
Codes of Practice:
My publisher must handle manuscripts promptly and keep me informed of progress. A progress report must
be sent to me within 6 weeks of receipt of the manuscript. The publisher must not cancel a contract without
good and proper reason. These reasons come into: time, standard and quality or defamation or illegality.
Time – the author could fail to meet deadlines as set out in the contract.
Standard and Quality – the publisher can reclaim advanced payment if quality is deemed to be less than
necessary.
Defamation or Illegality – the publisher does not have to publish the work if is offensive to a certain party.

3. Regulation:
According to the Toy Safety Directive, my book does not come under this category and so is exempt from all
relegations mentioned. My book would not have any issue when it comes the Obscene Publications Act and it
has no material in it that tends to deprave or corrupt however tis enables police to be given warrants to seize
material if it is found to be offensive. The health and safety act will come into it as my work will be carried out
at a computer and so I need to ensure I take regular short breaks or I run the risk of eye strain. To accomplish
this I must set the brightness to a necessary level and the font size to a readable one. Posture is also key, I
must try to sit comfortably which working in order not to develop aches and pains and need to make sure my
seat is adjustable so that I am able to sit comfortably without strain whilst works.
Copyright:
The story of which my book is based on, The Tortoise and the Hare, is out of copyright now and that is why so
many new versions of the tale have been made in recent times. For some people the similarities my be
unrecognizable and so even if copyright still existed on the tale I am confident I would not be found guilty of
infringement. I am not using any existing artwork in my book and so that section would not apply. I would need
to check if there are any stories that contain farm animals racing just to make sure I would not be creating a
distinctly similar book to one already published.
Ethical Issues:
As my target audience is 3-6 year olds, I would have to be careful not to include any material that would alter
a child’s perspective of something negatively. There is nothing in my book that is intended or can be related
to: religious views or belief, cultures, sex or sexual orientation. This makes it a lot easier for me as I will not
have to change my story in order to make it suitable for my target audience. Although my characters appear
as they would in real life (void of clothing) no express detail in regards to certain organs will be included.

4. Resources:
A successful project relies on good planning. Considering all the resources you will need for a project and then assessing which
you already have and which you need will help ensure you are ready to start your project.
If there is a resource you don’t currently have, then consider how you are going to get it before you go in to production.
Resource:
Do you have
it? What do you need to do to get it?
Mac Yes
Paper Yes
Pencils Yes
Scanner Yes
Eraser Yes
Script Yes

5. Production Schedule:
Delivering your project on time is vital. In order to do this, you need a solid plan of action. This will help you divide up your work in
to manageable chunks to be tackled one at a time. It will also allow you to plan which tasks need to be done in which order. It will
also allow you to track your progress each day. If you are falling behind, you will need to modify the way you work. If you work
faster than expected, you can clearly see what the next steps you need to take are.
Each session is a half day of college.
Session 1:
For this session I need to finish my rotoscoping of my 1st character in all the different positions he will
take in the book.
If possible I want to make a start on rotoscoping the positions for my second character so that the
interactions between the two characters are clear.
Session 2:

6. For this session I should be getting on with the rotoscoping of the second character.
If I finish the previous task I want to start on rotoscoping the background for page 1 in the book
Session 3:
For this session I want to finish the background for page 1 and start on the background for page 2 and
3. Page 2 should be fairly quick, as the background has already been made in my test page.
Session 4:

7. In session 4 I want to get any work unfinished from the previous day completed and move on to creating
the multi background for page 4 that in itself is more like 3 backgrounds and so this should encompass
the entire session.
Session 5:
I want to make a start on starting page 5 and 6. I should be able to do both within one session as page
6 was used for my test page and so should not be too hard to re-create.
Session 6:

8. I want to start on Page 7 for this session which should not take too long as the background is the same
as other scenes and it only involves the characters and objects in different positions.
If I finish page 7 I want to start on my final page’s background, which is different to the other pages, and
so I may not finish it in that one session.
Session 7:
In this session I will finish my final page’s background and objects within that page so that I end up with
a unrefined version of the finished product.
If I finish my page I will go back and make refinements to previous pages when necessary.
Session 8:

9. If I am happy with my refinements I will give my work to the tutor to see if they can find any room for
improvement.
When I receive my work back I will study the feedback given to me and begin to make improvements
Session 9:
I will continue to make improvements to my book based on my tutors comments in this session.
Session 10:

10. I will use the final session as a critical session for myself to make sure my book is the best it can be and
I will be very harsh on myself in order to achieve this.
Once I am completely satisfied I will submit my work.

11. Health and safety:
Your health and safety and that of those around you is very important. Just like in industry, an accident could prevent you from
working. Whilst we don’t work in a highly dangerous environment, there are still risks. Some are short term, such as trips and
spillages whilst others, such as long term damage to eyesight or back problems, may affect you much later in life.
Consider the risks based on the activities you will be undertaking during the project. Explain how you could prevent them from
happening.
Ensure you reference appropriate pieces of legislation, design to protect people at work.
Health and Safety Issue How can you prevent it?
Trip Hazards e.g. chairs not pushed in at the end of a
lesson meaning someone could fall over it and hurt
themselves.
By always remembering to tuck in my chair at the end of
a lesson and keep another other objects such as bags
under the table so they do not pose a risk.

12. Live power cables trailing across the room
By making sure all power cables are checked regularly
for loose wiring and other faults and making sure they are
off the floor so that tripping over them is impossible.
Liquids in the classroom.
Liquids can be damaging to technology in the room such
as Mac’s and phones which are essential in order for the
work to be completed
Strain because of screens
Because I will be using a computer in order to complete
my work I must ensure to talk regular breaks for my eyes
to re-adjust and to exercise. The Display Screen
Equipment Regulations 1992 aims to protect people who
work in jobs where they will be looking at a screen for the
majority of the day.