Analysis and illustration of what makes a good entrepreneur in consumer services

Introduction

The Enterprise Studies module was intended to help us to develop skills and understandings related to entrepreneurship.

Through this individual assignment we have to prove that we know how to put theory into practice; furthermore to show how we interpret our findings by offering some elaborate insight into this topic. Our work, because it is academic, must also follow the textual/physical/material dimensions.

This essay will analyse and illustrate the aspects of what makes a successful and acknowledged entrepreneur in consumer services.

The core of entrepreneurship

An entrepreneur is someone who starts a business in the hope of gaining profit.

Crainer & Dearlove suggest that it is hard to pinpoint what makes someone a successful entrepreneur. In his book they refer to Tim Waterstone, founder of a book chain, who observes these common characteristics:

• Great entrepreneurs are inspirational leaders
• They believe their vision is right
• Derive energy from being the underdog
• Are driven by a strong desire to beat the competition
• Combine enormous energy with fortitude and tenacity
• They demonstrate their courage by taking risks
• They respect their team members
• Understand how money works.

According to Crainer & Dearlove for growing numbers of young people, creating a business has become a calling; a vocation; a mission. It is the spirit of the age. They are the new breed of entrepreneurs who think differently about life and business; they make up the rules as they go along.

The authors describe this group of entrepreneurs as gen e, where e stands for entrepreneurial, but it’s also for energy, essence, electronic, educated, enthusiasm, empathy, emotion, ethics, equilibrium, experimentation – and much more.

“We want. We need. We demand. We clamour.” claim the authors. (2000:2)

This theory also suggests the fact that the market is always driven by what people want and desire.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and business life

The classes of needs were summarised by Maslow are as follows: physiological needs (such as hunger and thirst), the safety needs (security and protection), social needs (sense of belonging, love), esteem needs (self esteem, recognition status) and self actualisation. (Tutor2u)

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a great help in business life: Not only managers have to understand the needs of their employees, but also the ones of the customers/consumers.

Hunger is a physiological need, food is essential in life. It is no wonder that catering is one the most successful business types.

Danielle Downing started a bagel deli chain called Bagel Street. Later she decided to expand her business in the UK. She knew that British people wouldn’t want the American bagels, because Americans have a distinctive taste, so a test was carried out on customers.

The results showed that a special British bagel recipe was required. She also took in consideration the size issue; the British don’t like to waste food, so the bakery made up a mini bagel as well.

E = Energy, Essence

Crainer & Dearlove contend one of the characteristic of gen e is an ability to focus energy and thinking on the issues, trends and people that really matter; e = essence. Energy is channelled to the essence of what is important. (2000:17)

These entrepreneurs research the market, carry out surveys, talk to people and then they extract the important details.

The authors’ theory seems to be proven by the immigrants’ huge impact on the British economy. Some disagree with this, some don’t but the fact is that thanks to them a new market has opened.

According to an article on ARGOS translations it’s not just industry that is feeling the effect – Eastern Europeans, armed with higher wages and previously unheard of disposable incomes are rapidly learning to exercise their purchasing power while firms, though initially slow to react, are now endeavouring to sell their goods to this new, vibrant sector of the British population. It’s not just businesses in London that are targeting this whole new demographic group to market to; it is spreading to Nottingham, Manchester, Glasgow and Edinburgh with surely many more to follow.

“The Polish community in the UK is growing and is a key target audience for us” stated Barclay’s bank in the article.

E = Empathy

Another important characteristic of the gen e is that they value the human dimension; they feel empathy towards others. Gen e knows that people make the difference; the prime value is to meet customers’ needs.

For example there are more and more Polish goods and brands rearing their heads in British corner shops and super markets such as Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Asda, Waitrose. Products such as Eastern European bread, liver pate, ketchup, drinks, squash, pickled cabbage, sweets, cold meat, spices, cheese, cheese-curd, smoked and soused meat, jam, salami, wine, pasta and many more can be found in these shops and super markets.

It is not just the catering business that has targeted immigrants, but also money transfer firms, banks, firms offering cheap call cards to Poland, agencies offering to provide assistance, travel companies.  Most of these companies have employees who speak the native language of the immigrant, which removes the uncertainty and barriers experienced by newcomers. We can see how Maslow’s hierarchy of needs helps markets to better understand the customers. Not only feel these people the sense of security and protection, but also the sense of belonging. Indeed, it is much easier to trust these firms, who take the time and effort to cater to the newcomers needs and who they feel comfortable with.

Another example for how the market tries to appeal to its customers is that in Dublin the Evening Herald now includes a 12-page supplement in Polish every Friday.

What is more, Barclays allows would-be immigrants the opportunity to open a so called Passport account up to three months prior to arrival in the UK or up to four months afterwards; and is sweetened by a £10 worth of mobile phone credit provided by the Carphone Warehouse. This new type of account offers customers discounted international transfer fees and the advantage of being able to open the account with foreign identity documents. This removes a huge burden off of immigrants whom lack of UK-issued papers, proof of income and address.

E = Emotion

As mentioned before, e can also stand for emotion. Emotional economics rule. According to Alberto Alessi people have an enormous need for art and poetry that industry does not yet understand. (Alessi cited in Crainer & Dearlove, 2000:27)

Who would have thought that celebrities like Kelly Rowland promoting milk can result in a success?

E = Ethics

Crainer & Dearlove in their book also describe the impact of values on enterprise. They exemplify this by the pharmaceutical company called Merck who recognised the importance of placing meaning and morality above money. The company  produced Mectizan for combating onchocerciasis, which causes blindness and affects people in third world countries. Merck knew people couldn’t afford it, so finally the firm gave the drug away for free to those who needed it.

Likewise, another example for cherishing values is when Cadbury merged with Schweppes they printed a document including their most important values: competitive ability, quality, clear objectives, simplicity, openness and responsibility. Crainer & Dearlove comment an important part of gen e is their legacy from their very first business plan.

These entrepreneurs also believe in Fairtrade which is about better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world. (Fairtrade)

The Fairtrade consumer label is a big change in the business landscape, it is a guarantee to consumers that the products they are purchasing directly support third world producers. (Crainer & Dearlove, 2000:35) These Fairtrade products (such as toiletry, chocolate, coffee, fruits, vegetables and many more) are accessible to anyone; you can purchase these in super markets. A survey carried out on consumers revealed that they are willing to buy more expensive products if they are from third world producers.

E = Experimentation

According to Crainer & Dearlove, the final trait of a gen e is experimentation. They try and if they fail, they try something else. “They know that all the great entrepreneurs have a failure at some time. You have to fail to succeed.” (2000:41)

The authors’ statement reminds me of a cake shop in Bournemouth, B & J Patisserie. The shop sells Hungarian cakes, sweets, ice cream, drinks, coffee and tea. They were quite popular but weren’t satisfied, so they set their aim to alluring the British customers. The Hungarian sweets were delicious, but the British found them too sweet and creamy. In order to satisfy both groups, they decided to bake British cakes, such as Carrot Cheesecake. In addition they expanded their supply and started selling sandwiches and English breakfast. There was no guarantee people would come to their patisserie to have a breakfast or afternoon tea, but their idea proved to be good.

Of course, the other possibility may occur as well. In Winchester there was a shop which used to sell funny costumes and items for all sorts of events. It seamed a winning idea, but customers weren’t on the same opinion, so it became bankrupt.

Conclusion

The book Generation entrepreneur: shape today’s business reality, create tomorrow’s wealth, do your own thing. has helped me a lot to understand better entrepreneurship and how market can suddenly change according to trends.

The numbers of characteristics of a good entrepreneur which I described in my essay I think are important to note. The world changes, so does the enterprise and with this the expectations as well.

Individuals deciding to become an entrepreneur must be ready to focus on everything and everyone, be flexible, see what is important, communicate with people, be excited about what they do, understand the customers, have a set of values to be followed, keep balance between business and family and finally be able to take risks no matter what.

References and bibliography

·        Kris Grzegorczyk and Michael Malik. Polish immigrants’ growing role in British consumer spending. Available at: http://www.argostranslations.com/polish-immigrants-growing-role-in-british-consumer-spending/ (Accessed 10 March 2012).

·        The Fairtrade Foundation. Available at: http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=what%20is%20fairtrade&source=web&cd=2&sqi=2&ved=0CDoQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fairtrade.org.uk%2Fwhat_is_fairtrade%2Fdefault.aspx&ei=EvdgT_3sGKSR0QW5kYyjBw&usg=AFQjCNHCm0UW9oYeMTBFoWnY_8w15tXFxw&cad=rja  (Accessed 13 March 2012).

·        Crainer, S. & Dearlove, D. (2000) Generation entrepreneur: shape today’s business reality, create tomorrow’s wealth, do your own thing. Pearson Education Limited. Biddles Ltd, Guilford & King’s Lynn [Online]. Available at: http://my.safaribooksonline.com/book/small-business-and-entrepreneurship/0273649205/gen-e/8#X2ludGVybmFsX0ZsYXNoUmVhZGVyP3htbGlkPTAtMjczLTY0OTIwLTUvdg

·        Motivation in theory - Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Available at: http://tutor2u.net/business/people/motivation_theory_maslow.asp (Accessed 10 March 2012).

Process Report - Year 2 Semester 1

Introduction

In the first semester of Year 2 we were given a variety of projects.  For each task we were given a few weeks to come up with interesting ideas, designs and the implementation of them.

At each project we were divided in different groups, first we were in twos, then on our own and finally the BA-s worked together as a big cohort.

During this twelve week, I developed my skills in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and Flash, furthermore I got some basic knowledge in filming and in Adode After Effcets.

In addition, at work I learnt to use Microsoft Share Point 2000 and Cast.

Project objectives

Flash Based Game Project – Element X

Our first task was the Flash based game project, when the BA-s were working with the BSc-s in teams. During this short project we were asked to discuss concepts and formats for a Flash-based game and to design the visual assets for it. Based upon this discussion, the developer had to write a Design Brief for the designer, who then had to come up with the visuals based upon it.

No theme or topic was given, we could do what we wanted, without restrictions.

The aim of the project was to demonstrate that we developed aesthetic ideas from initial rough drafts to final versions and that the final assets have been aesthetically considered, improved, from concept through to execution.

Bonus points were given for the animations, for creating a very large volume of work, to a consistently high standard; for the ‘rules” to maintain the

“look”  created.

We hoped by the time we finish with the project we’ll have a good understanding of the principles of interactive design, especially regarding usability, accessibility and interaction of images, sound, animation. In addition we gained the ability to develop detailed concepts, storylines, characters settings and scripts.

Due to the fact that there were no restrictions, Lisa and I after a short discussion around a possible game idea, decided to do a 2D platform, side scrolling platform game for children. In style and game play it is very similar to the Mario Brothers games. The idea was inspired by Walt Disney’s cartoon Lilo and Stitch.

The game requires use of the arrow keys to direct the character and the spacebar to jump obstacles. Collectables are placed throughout the game, which give the player points. The higher the points collected the better. If obstacles are not avoided, a ‘life’ will be lost.

The team decided to use sound clips when the player collects points, jumps and for other actions.

The plot of our game is the following:

An unknown element has been discovered on Hawaii by aliens from the planet Zgwarth. They send their best scientist, Ed to research this unique X factor which can be dangerous. His mission is to keep element X safe.

Meanwhile on Earth, a local Hawaiian scientist called Edwina does some research in the forest and discovers something strange, element X.

Soon he meets Ed who explains the situation to her. They team up to protect Earth from X.

Other aliens from planet Ypuio find out about this so they send a troop of TT-s ( Total Terminators) to invade the island. They capture Edwina.

Ed has to save her and send the TT-s home.

We wanted a really good sounding name for the game which would sound mysterious at the same time. First we thought of Ed and Edwina, The Eds and so on, but finally we opted for Element X, because we thought this is intriguing and it would draw children’s attention.

We debated on the two good characters, the good alien and the scientist as well. The initial idea of the whole game was inspired by the cartoon Lilo and Stitch, where an alien flees to an exotic island where he meets a girl. After many adventures Stitch becomes friends with Lilo.

We had two choices for Ed, one was to make him an animal (like Stitch looks like a dog) or rather like a robot, for example Wall.E. In the end I opted for the combination of the two.

Edwina was first meant to be a princess, but then the story made no sense, so we chose her to be a local scientist.

Since the whole game had to be aesthetic, the bad aliens’, the TT-s (Total Terminators) appearance had to follow the same style as Ed’s.

The game constitutes of four levels which are the following:

Level 1: Beach

Level 2: Forest

Level 3: A house in the forest

Level 4: Spaceship

Media Player Project - Peacock

In our second project the BA-s were required to design a Digital Media Player.

This task had a very open brief. Its goal was for us to show how well we can identify a strong original concept and carry it through to final design.

We had to come up with visuals and animations that explain the designs very clearly to the audience. It had to be evident how things work and why, without a verbal explanation.

After creating the visuals I then had to present the media player to the audience where I had to explain the design decisions I made, the thinking behind my proposed solutions. I had to sell my design to the audience based upon its advantages and unique selling points.

The brief was to “break the mould”, break new ground. Instead of concentrating on the usability and accessibility, we had to focus on originality. We were asked not to use Tabular / List views, because they are exhausted designs.

It’s a fact that Digital Media Players are heavily influenced by the iTunes and Winamp, but we were prohibited to create another iTunes clone.

To meet the requirements we had to think hard about what information must be displayed, how and why it needs to be.

According to the brief, my task was to present a set of images detailing all of the mandatory features of the digital media player. The brief also states that I had to present at least one animation, created in Flash. The purpose of this is to clarify aspects of my player that can’t be explained through static images alone.

There were three mandatory features set for my media player:

It had to have a library view that displays an Audio collection for browsing by the following fields: Artist Name(s), Album Title, Genre(s), All Songs.

The player also had to include a visualiser that reacts in realtime to the

Audio being played, and what is shown, how it reacts (volume)

The last feature was the playback controls - to start, stop, pause, skip etc whatever is playing.

My first idea was to make a Jukebox, but after a discussion with Lesley, she insisted that I should look for other inspiration. She told me a story about how her uncle designed a logo with the help of triangles. Her story reminded me of my grandfather who used to collect peacock feathers. At home I started looking at images of feathers and realised it would look great as a media player.

I decided to call it Peacock, because its simple but sounds good. These birds represent vanity, so my target audience are women. As a theme I chose purple and pink, but I thought it could have a setting option to change this.

My fist step was to draw a sketch and to come up with the playback control, which is the feathers head:

The inner pink oval is the Play/ Pause button.

You can skip to the next or previous song by turning the white oval left or right.

The exterior purple part is the Stop button.

The bottom of the stem is the volume control which disappears after setting it to the right level.

The branches of the feather are the library where the Artist’s name can be found from A-Z. If you click on one of them, the branches will show the albums. After another click on one of them, the player will show the tracks. While playing, the branches would fluctuate. When the user wants to change artist, she has to click on the ball at the end of the branch, which will take her back to the album. If she clicks on the ball again, it goes back to the albums list, if she click again the player shows the A-Z list.

New albums or songs can be added to the player by drag and drop.

Marketing Promo Video Project

In our third project, the BA group was given the task to create a marketing video promoting the course. In this 6 week project it was required from each of us to choose to do one or more sub element that is part of the main project.

It was required  that the video should be composed of interviews with students and lecturers, intro and credits graphics, music for the video, End of Year show reel and viral for use on the different social media platforms for promoting.

The style of the video is animation combined with live footages. It includes sound bites of the interviews with the students of the course; showcases the work along with animation and kinetic typography. The duration of the video is less then 3 minutes and it consists of three parts:

The video shows Winchester (King Alfred statue, the Cathedral and the high street) followed by the campus, Student Union, Learning Café and the University’s buildings.

Animated interview with Lisa, Chelsea and a first year BA.

The show reel with our work.

In the last part a board comes up inviting people to attend the open days or visit the website.

With this video our aim is to be visible to the digital media industry, attract their attention towards our group.

Your tasks and milestones

At each project the first step is to map up the things that need to be done, distribute the team roles and split up the work

Flash Based Game Project – Element X

We prepared the story board for the first level, where the assets are placed. An introduction screen was also needed that includes the game title and a graphic as wells as the ‘click to play’ button which gets the game started.

A second screen was also needed that includes a short explanation of the story and simple instructions such as use the arrow keys to move and the space bar to jump.

The story is told through stills. Furthermore a closing screen was also required for the end of the level which would lead on to the next level or reflect the number of points that the player has collected.

The beach background for the level had to be carefully designed by both sides so that the graphic appears to seamlessly scroll.

There were added additional images to the foreground and background such as a net, shelves, palm tree, seaweed, a log. These are the obstacles which the player has to jump over.

The level required Edwina the scientist, Ed the good alien character and the bad guys, who are obstacles as well.

The characters had to be animated as if walking and jumping accompanied by a still image.

 Collectables provided for collection throughout the level along with Element X that the player receives at the end of the level.

At the top right corner a graphic shows the feedback when the collectables are picked up, the lives left and ‘-1life’ if the player runs into a bad guy.

I created the characters, their side views, the opening and end screen using Adobe Illustrator, afterwards I animated Ed and TT using Adobe Flash.

Ed was simple to draw, he’s made of circles and his ears consist of curly lines. TT was made by putting a lot of triangles on a circle, which are his spikes.

I made a sketch of the background, then used Illustrator again. I put al of the elements in one, but on different layers, so they can be switched off when not needed.

Media Player Project - Peacock

Throughout the design process I used Adobe Illustrator to create my Peacock player. First I downloaded an image of a peacock feather as a background. I decreased the opacity and started drawing on top of it.

First I just drawn circles, then the stem, and the branches. John showed me how to use the pattern following text tool, which was useful for listing the songs.

After doing so, I imported the images into Flash and started animating. I wanted the branch to wave, but because I didn’t know how to do it, I just moved it up and down.

Marketing Promo Video Project

The first step of the group was to assign the work, so we decided that David is going to film Winchester and the University; Alex is going to do the show reel; Orsi and Chris are going to do the interviews; Sammy will be in charge of post production; Chelsea will be the chief animator.

With my Samsung NV100 HD camera, a tripod and with Chris as the interviewer we shot the interviews. I handed them over to Sammy who edited them as the way we needed them to be.

We divided the answers to be animated using kinetic typography. I was doing Lisa’s third answer. Chris and Alex were doing the others and Chelsea animated herself.

This summer I already practised kinetic typography using Flash, so it wasn’t as hard as I imagined.

The sentence I had to animate was:

“My favourite aspect of the course is working collaboratively with the BA-s which you wouldn’t get the chance to do in industry.”

I had great fun playing the words. I made the word “collaboratively” move up and be stopped be “working” so it wouldn’t fly out of the stage. I also played with the “BA-s”, changed the colour of the letters, to make it look like it is flickering.

Achievements and challenges

Flash Based Game Project – Element X

At this project my work was to create a good alien, Ed; a bad one, TT and a female character, Edwina. This was followed by creating the background and the obstacles. I enjoyed this project, because I like drawing exotic beaches and cartoon characters.

My only challenge I faced during this project was getting the work done on time, because I’ve been away for a week.

Media Player Project - Peacock

In this project my work was to design and create a unique media player.

While doing this I learnt more about Illustrator, about the Text tools it has.

My only challenge was that my animation wouldn’t stop, it looped. I showed it to Lesley and she pointed out that my code wasn’t right. After correcting it, it worked as I wanted it to be. She also warned me to pay more attention on the bits that need to be hidden in the background, some of the branches hang out of the stem.

Marketing Promo Video Project

In this project I was the cameraman. John booked a session for us how to use the camera, the green screen and the lights, but when we tried using it afterwards, we found it difficult. Because we were running out of time, I suggested we should use mine, because it would make our situation easier.

Time management was one of the main challenges we had to face, we should have started working on the project straight away, have the camera training first on the first week. The other obstacle was that many of us didn’t know Adobe After Effects or Final Cut Pro. Because I wasn’t sure of it, I did the kinetic typography using Flash.

I would have liked to contribute in the post production, but because of lack of time and knowledge, I felt I couldn’t

Your role as a team member

Flash Based Game Project – Element X

Lisa Cripps was the team leader, she wrote the brief and I followed it. We got along well, agreed in everything, came up with the ideas together. Lisa’s job was to create Element X in Flash.

I was the designer. My job was to create the visuals for the game, the characters, beginning, end screen, design the background and the collectables.

Media Player Project - Peacock

This was our first project where we got the opportunity to work on our own. The only disadvantage of it was that there were no team members to discuss issues, give ideas.

Marketing Promo Video Project

In this project the whole BA group had the chance to work together as a big cohort. Some of us found it strange, because there are 7 of us. In the end we managed quite well, we prepared a collective written proposal before we knew it should be individual. We tried to help each other as much as our abilities let it.

References

Premier Press Development and Brent Fox (2004), Game Interface Design

Deborah Todd (2007), Game Design: From Blue Sky to Green Light

Morgan McGuire, Odest Chadwicke Jenkins (2009), Creating Games: Mechanics, Content, and Technology

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfBpVn0ESqA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4VU6OAOjro

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sz8Oqguslns

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hmz8Ni9zO4M&feature=fvsr

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5KCt5LrksE&feature=related

Written Proposal - Video Promo

Introduction

The analysis project brief and the parameters wanting to produce

In week 7-12 the BA group was given the task to create a marketing Video promo for the course. In this 6 week project it was required from each of us to choose to do one or more sub element that is part of the main project.

The brief states that the video should be composed of interviews with students and lecturers, “intro and credits” graphics, music for the video, adaptation and enhancement of End of Year Show reel material and viral for use on the different social media platforms for promoting our product.

 On week 7 we were introduced to the project and we discussed the possible styles of the video promo.

On week 8 we discussed ideas for the script and made a decision.

On week 9 the sub elements of the project were chosen to the most appropriate BA-s regarding their specialisms and further decisions were made.

Regarding the style of the video our group plans on including sound bites of these interviews with the students of the course and lecturers, furthermore showcase the work along with animation and kinetic typography. The duration of the video mustn’t exceed 3 minutes and it would consist of three parts:

 The first bit would show Winchester (King Alfred statue, the Cathedral and the high street) followed by the campus, Student Union, Learning Café and the University’s buildings. After this would come the show reel with our work and the interviews.

Project description

Background of proposal - primary and other audiences

The purpose of our project is to promote our course, advertise it to people who are interested in studying Digital Media. The primary audience of our project is the future Digital Media students.

On week 7 when we got together we discussed the peculiarities of the university we want to highlight in our promo video.

Due to its friendly and open atmosphere the city provides a safe and secure community, ideal for a good learning environment.

Winchester is located in the countryside, although it’s history dates back to long, it has modern parts as well, and it can provide a lot of amusement to students.
Also, because of its well arranged transport, Winchester assures an easy travel from the surrounding towns, so it’s easy to commute for students who live somewhere else.

The city is ideal for having fun, its nightlife, live music pubs, shopping, history and culture fascinates even people from other countries and continents. The close relationship with the Cathedral and the fact that students graduate there, impresses everyone and can be a telling argument in favor of the University.

The particularity of this course which we may want to highlight is that there are no exams, instead students are engaged in projects in which they can develop their talents and gain more technical knowledge. The DMD studio offers a calm and well-equipped learning environment for those who don’t have a computer, internet access or the software needed. 

Another feature of the course is that the year groups consist of small cohorts, which may be tempting for future students due to its friendly, easy to speak and personal atmosphere.

Digital media is a very unusual course, it is normally just a module on other courses, and accordingly people come from everywhere, from Europe, to Japan and even the United States of America to join the University of Winchester’s Digital Media and Development.

The University has a very good reputation, many ex graduates are working as professionals, and also many decide to continue their studies and do the masters degree.

Finally as a last reason, the University’s welcoming attitude and friendly staff towards enquirers, helps people to be informed, to make a good decision and gives advice when needed.

As a secondary goal, our aim is to promote the course and the staff to everyone in order to make it more popular and to show the world and the design companies how talented we are and how much we learned so far. To achieve this, we’ll use social media, we’ll upload the video on Youtube and Facebook. Additionally we’ll try to upload the video on the universities website.

Project objectives

The team set out as a target to create a visually appealing, informative video that represents the course in the best possible way.

The first step of the group was to assign the work, so we decided on the following:

• David is going to film the Cathedral, the high street, the campus, the Student Union, Learning Café and the other building’s of the university
• Alex with Joe’s help will be doing the show reel
• Sammy, Orsi and Chris are going to do the interviews
• Chelsea is going to do the animation with others help

The next step was to create questions for the interview and prepare a list of people to be interviewed. We decided that we need for this a BA and a BSc from each year, a graduate, two MA-s and Debs.

The questions are the following:

Y1

Why did you choose to study Digital Media at the University of Winchester?

What is your favourite aspect of the course?

What is your favourite piece of software and why?

What is it like to study here?

MA

Why did you choose to study your masters at Winchester?

What was your favourite project and what did it involve?

What project are you currently working on and what does that involve?

Do you find this course useful and why?

Grads

Explain your experience of studying Digital Media here.

What opportunities has the course given you since graduation?

Did your experience prepare you for working in the industry?

Debs

What made you take this role?

What excites you about Digital Media?

What are the plans for the future of the course such as the Digital Hub?

How do you see technology evolving in relation to this course?

Are there any trips planned for the students?

This was followed by booking the equipment and deciding on the date, Thursday 1st December. After this we sent out an email to everyone explaining what are we doing and asking them if they would like to do it and if they are available.

Following a discussion, our group agreed that the video shouldn’t be longer than 3 minutes because after that people would loose interest and would skip to the end.

In the first part of it the video would show Winchester (King Alfred statue, the Cathedral and the high street) followed by the campus, Student Union, Learning Café and the University’s buildings. After this would come the show reel with our work and the interviews.

On Leslie’s session we discussed possible styles for the interview and stated that a traditional one wouldn’t be appropriate for our video, because it wouldn’t represent us and how a creative course we are. Therefore we opted to do an animated one, this idea was given by Chelsea.

Overview of the research

The main inspiration of the idea was the animated John Lennon interview, I met the Walrus.( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfBpVn0ESqA) This brilliantly demonstrates how a simple interview can be transformed in something interesting furthermore unique by using animation, kinetic typography and semiotics. Letters can not only be expressed by characters but also by symbols.

In addition to this I also looked at other promos to gain an idea of how these videos are created. I found the Digital media course by Valencia (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4VU6OAOjro) quite good, it’s short, brief but concise.

The South Devon College’s video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sz8Oqguslns) emphasizes the essence of its course in the same way, yet it’s convincing.

 I did a research on music for promos and found that the ones for Hungary (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hmz8Ni9zO4M&feature=fvsr)

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5KCt5LrksE&feature=related) demonstrate well how a piece of music can change the impact.

Overview of the expected outcome

By uploading the video on the universities website we hope that we’ll encourage people, lift the profile of the course.

 Alongside this, our other aim is to be visible to the digital media industry, attract their attention towards our group. Hopefully after looking at it they will be interested enough to visit the DMD website and ours and get in contact with us.

Pros and cons

After a debate, the cohort came up with 3 ideas for the video.

The first idea was to use live scenes of Winchester, followed by interviews with students and staff, finally show casing our work.

The pros for this are that it would be informative, it would show the town, students and staff realistically, so it would be easier to relate.

The cons are that it’s too predictable; we need more creativity to break the ‘norm’.

Our second idea was to use animation only with sound and kinetic typography, plus the show reel.

The advantage of this idea is that it’s creative and can be an impressive piece of work.

The disadvantage it’s too time consuming, we would need months to achieve it, furthermore it could be for any University.

Our final version was to use in the video live footage of Winchester, leading up to the University (using a time ramp to speed up the uninteresting parts). The interviews will be incorporated with animation and kinetic typography and with elements of the show reel.

The pros are, this seems to be the most original and creative idea. In addition it would show the possibilities of digital media whilst also showing where to study.

The only cons are that the animation is reliant on the outcome of the interviews and may be quite time consuming.

Overview of the technical development and the technologies used

On the third week of the project we were trained to use a video camera with the green screen and lighting. This knowledge will be useful for me, Sammy and Chris in order to capture visuals and sound on the interviews. I have a Samsung  NV100 HD camera and a tripod, so I offered it to the group. Because we are short on time, we would be in advance if there was someone who has some experience in filming.

David also offered his video camera, he will be capturing the live footage of the town, the university and the campus.

Chelsea, who’s the chief animator will be using Adobe Flash with a WACOM track pad, but we’ll all try to help her so we can get the project done on time.

            The post production is Sammy’s job, she’ll be using After Effects and Final Cut Pro, which will allow to edit and manipulate the scenes, add intros and credits, plus the music.

            As the final step, we’ll upload the video on Facebook and Youtube.

Timeline

• First week (08/11/11): we were introduced to the project and we discussed the possible styles of the video promo.
• Second week (15/11/11): we researched similar videos and found the inspiration. We discussed ideas for the script and made a decision. With John’s help we practised for the interviews.
• Third week (22/11/11): we had a camera training, we were shown how to handle a vide camera, how to set up the lights and the green screen, we were told on what to pay attention. Also on this week students and staff were contacted for the interviews. David shot the video live actions of Winchester and the University and edited the footages. Alex and Joe asked people to send them their work.
• Fourth week (01/12/11): Sammy, Orsi and Chris will film the interviews. Hopefully we’ll manage to do all of it, so we can start illustrating and animating the characters.
• Fifth week (06/12/11): we will continue the animating along with any extra footage. If required we’ll do some more interviews.

• Sixth week (15/12/11): post production will be completed and we’ll present the final outcome to the lecturers.

Key solutions and problems that we overcame

Persuading students to agree to be interviewed has been difficult, there have been very few responses. Because we sent out an email to everyone asking them if they would like to be interviewed, only one ex graduate and Debs volunteered.

To solve this problem, DMD lecturers will help push forward this to happen, they’ll convince the students to come to us. If this won’t be successful, then we’ll use ourselves.

            Since this is a 6 week project, we don’t have much time. The interviews are the basis for the animation which means that stage can’t begin until the interviews are done. This means we only have two and a half week to illustrate and animate the characters.

As a solution we’ll have the live visuals as a back-up.

Conclusion

If I could redo this project, I would try to be prepared and I would have the camera training ahead, which would mean we would be able to start filming the interviews immediately. By this we would be more ahead and could spend more time on the animation.

In addition, if I known about this project this summer, I would have started learning about video editing softwares, Adobe After Effets and Final Cut Pro.

            As a final thought, if I could have done the video single-handedly, maybe I would have used the Hungary promo as an inspiration.
References

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfBpVn0ESqA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4VU6OAOjro

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sz8Oqguslns

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hmz8Ni9zO4M&feature=fvsr

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5KCt5LrksE&feature=related

Written Proposal - Intech

·        An analysis of the project brief and the outcomes that you will produce

In our second project in semester two we were tasked to do a viral campaign for the INTECH Science Centre & Planetarium. We were asked to help them improve their way of providing information about their exhibits, current or future ones.

We were meant to do this by designing an e-flyer and a viral campaign for them promoting the interactive exhibits, furthermore to create a newsletter/e-shot and a mobile / web game app taster as well.

The INTECH already has a website but the brief also stated that we have to provide a critique of it, making suggestions how to create “stickiness”.

The first two weeks we used to brainstorm and to visit the Science Centre & Planetarium. There we learnt more about it, what is expected from us, about their new exhibition (Science of Sport) and of their target audiences.

After the meeting we were shown the Science of Sport which is not ready yet, afterwards we were allowed to have a look at the other exhibits and to try them.

It was fun getting the experience, trying to imagine ourselves as a ten year-old who is one of the targeted audiences.

From Phil Wilfield we learned that the new exhibition called “Science of Sport” will open on 21^st of March for VIP visitors and fully on 22^nd of March to general public. It will be a permanent addition to INTECH and is to be featured for the Olympic Year.

It is planned to open just before all the other Easter attractions open, but they are hoping to benefit from having theirs open first. The market team manager told us Easter is the ideal time to open new attractions, because that is the time of the year when families like to get away from home and visit places.

INTECH is advertising Science of Sport as a secret construction to get people interested in finding out what is so secret about it.

There are several hands-on interactive exhibits; these are the most exciting ones:

There’s one that measures your jump then calculates approximately how fast it will take you to run ten meters. You can then try to run it yourself.

Design an Athlete is based on a touch screen terminal that allows a player to create an athlete they think will win three Olympic events.

Smash Ball is an interactive game where participants must press their coloured balls on the screen before their opponent can press their own. The game has a number of levels.

Mindball is a very thrilling game; its goal is to use the power of your thought to move the ball from one end of the table to the other. The computer registers your brain activity and displays it on the screen.

Because the brief states that we have to design a game taster and to help INTECH generate stickiness we thought of doing one of their new exhibits.

Our initial ideas were based on the logo (exploding, performing experiments to melt it), having a small insect travelling around the exhibits and inside them.

We also tried to come up with a slogan such as:

• INTECH - Where you can experience ideas in action - David
• INTECH - Where ideas flow - John
• Build your imagination - Chris
• Have an Explosive time at INTECH – Chris
• Have a smash up time at INTECH – David
• Have an Experimental time at INTECH – Sammy

On their current website and leaflets a blond boy appears who seams to be completely enthralled, excited. Probably by using him INTECH wants kids to be curious, what can this centre be that it astonishes you so much. You can only understand it, if you visited the place: INTECH offers 100 amazing activities where you can get involved and find out about science and technology in a fun way.

Using the boy is a good idea, but it’s not scientific enough. We thought about designing an alien and a robot, called AlIN and RoboTECH. The robot would represent science and the alien the planetarium part. These characters then would be the base of our theme; they would be part of our viral campaign and the game.

John asked us to draw how we imagine them. Most of us were inspired by the Pixar animations Wall.E and Monster Inc.

We discussed with Lesley their website and came up with the following ideas on how to improve it:

• Have more images, possibly vectors about robots or other Sci-Fi things
• Use social media to promote themselves, have a Facebook and Twitter account, maybe a Youtube channel
• Get rid of the white background, use one that reminds people of space or just have animation with changing background
• The architecture of the website should be reorganised
• Use less text and update the website regularly (some information are misleading, the headers are confusing)
• The Logo should be a link to the home page for easier navigation
• Have a Fact of The Day
• Include live feeds from NASA
• Forum, create a community for hobby astronomers
• Interviews with people
• App with image of the day
• Have a quiz, raffle each month, with a science gadget to be won
• Online drawing competitions
• Online game

• Background to your design strategy identifying needs of both the primary and other audiences

Because INTECH is an educational resource supporting learning in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) it is not only targeted for families, but also for teachers.

INTECH primarily relies on 5 – 11 years old and school market. The Science of Sport broadens the niche family market, in the new exhibit all ages may participate in its activities. “A 7 year old could take on a 17 year old and win.” was one such example Andy gave, another was “An autistic could take on a professor and win.”

Andy’s key focus was on the levels of subtly: create something that mothers will see and then want to take their children to, kids watching adverts on television could be influenced but most of INTECH’s visitors come by way of word of mouth.

Exposure is the main issue, they’ve been based in the family market niche for so long that expanding outside will be difficult but according to Andy that’s our job.

INTECH is accessible to all levels of people: disabled access for wheelchairs, exhibits for the blind or deaf is just one set of examples of their diversity.

Unfortunately the teenage audience aren’t interested, so our directive was set out clearly by Andy: “Make them! Try to make things sound FUN!”

It is pretty clear that INTECH doesn’t just think outside the box, they think of everyone’s needs, they understand they audience. We have to do the same in order to fulfil the brief.