Working Title: Before it’s Gone
What is the intended idea / concept behind the proposed project?
The idea behind my project is to raise awareness of the importance of conserving the worlds oceans. The project will identify key issues and what small changes can be made to benefit the future of our waters.
I would like to develop a series of educational products that can help to present my message in a professional, stylish way, that is also easily understood by Key Stage 2 children. This could be through a series of animations, infographics or other web-based forms.
Justify the idea / concept in terms of the needs for its existence (if purely for entertainment, state this and how the output will be innovative/original and creative):
It is no secret that the idea of promoting positive environmental change is needed. However, although the internet and social media has given everyone a voice; it is often difficult to vocalise the necessary information to a wider audience.
The topic that I have chosen is marine conservation; there is a significant amount of importance within this topic which unfortunately, is carelessly neglected by many. At present, the topic is largely underrepresented, especially where children are concerned. There is no trace of the topic in the National Curriculum, I feel this is especially important in geography. This is something I feel needs to be addressed, which is why I have chosen to aim the project at children aged around 9-11 in their late stages of primary education. The reason for this is because at this age, they are starting to comprehend and recognise certain world issues, and if this is addressed in what is still an early stage of their development, they are likely to hold on to the knowledge.
One of the most important things that I would like to acknowledge is how to tackle specific issues with prevention methods, for example, not littering on the beach/picking up litter. Not only are these helpful teachings for the chosen topic, but also for general day to day life, so the project has the chance to help in more ways that one.
Describe the intended audience:
The demographic I will be aiming at for this project will be students in late primary education aged 9-11. My reason for choosing this audience is because I believe their ability to absorb such knowledge is underestimated. It is one of the key learning stages, as outlined by the Department for Education, which means there is great potential to reach out to students at this time.
The final product will be gender neutral, mainly because there are less limitations to the general look of the project, the main focus will be to make sure it is age appropriate.
I aim to make a product based on the assumptions that the audience is fresh to the topic, so I will try to cover basics for the beginner.
How will this project extend your or your team’s creative and technical skills?
This project will extend my creative and technical skills because it will create a challenge that I haven’t faced before. I have never taken on an educational project, this will therefore require me to do a lot of research into particular age brackets, visual learning tactics etc. As far as the visuals are concerned, it will extend my skills because I will be designing a product in a child friendly, gender neutral way that I have not tackled in the past.
I have a lot of experience with Adobe Photoshop design as it stands, however I plan on expanding my knowledge of other programs such as Adobe Illustrator in the design on my project.
Outline how the practical work will be carried out by you / the team (division of labour) and the time-scales involved for each task:
R&D Stage: Weeks 1-4
- Undertake extensive research into the topic, the audience and visualisations.
- Identify how to complete the final product.
- Experiment with different software
- Explore different ways of expressing the information.
Production Stage: Weeks 5-11
- Storyboard
- Design all visual elements of the final product
- Create the final product
Feedback/Testing: Weeks 11-12
- During this stage I plan to gather feedback on my product, I have never set a full feedback period before so this will be interesting and give me time to make any changes if necessary.
What other work (by animators, designers, film-makers, writers, digital media producers, etc.) is relevant to your project? (This work may either be relevant for its conceptual or technical similarity):
Lava (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh4dTLJ9q9o) this is an animation from Pixar, and although I will be looking more towards motion graphics and 2D animation, this short animation is very relevant to my project. They have done created a strong, child-friendly animation that even has the lyrics to the song on screen. This is something I am really looking at, I think the use of visuals and text together is a great combination for both visual and academic learners.
Daughtry – Torches (Lyric Video) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1CPJ20lP5w) I found this lyric video to be very visually appealing, I like the idea of transitioning certain objects into different objects in accordance to the narrative of the song.
Chipotle, The Scarecrow (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUtnas5ScSE) This short animation was used by Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurant to outline and raise awareness to the problems within the food production trade. This was done very creatively, again, child-friendly and informative.
List any critical texts that are relevant to your conceptual intentions:
The Social Media Marketing Book, by Dan Zarrella
- This book helps to outline marketing strategies with regards to social media, though I will be education based, this could help me to understand smart ways to make things work.
Department for Education
Visible Learning for Teachers: Maximizing Impact on Learning, by John Hattie
- A helpful book outlining different teaching strategies and the benefits of visual learning.
7 Steps to Create a Viral Marketing Campaign (http://smallbiztrends.com/2015/01/7-steps-to-create-viral-marketing-campaign.html)
- Small Business Trends has identified some key factors that can contribute to the making of a viral campaign, these are steps that I find very useful for my own development.