OUIL401 COP EVALUATION

VISUAL DIAGRAM - Development and final product

VISUAL DIAGRAM - The making of

>So I knew what I wanted to say for my poster but I had no idea how to show it. I thought I could do it like an exclusive club where only rich people were allowed in but I think i'm massively overthinking it and I just don't think it'll work. My problem is that I just need to strip it back and show what I want to say very basically so everyone can understand. 

>I keep drawing these faces which I really like. Very quick loose sketches showing fancy people with bushy eyebrows and big teeth. I think that these work well and maybe I should just stick to using faces and displaying character and personality rather than trying to create this whole scene of people. 

>From my previous sketchbook work, I really liked the gouache painting I did with Mark Francis that simply said 'Darling' underneath it. It worked so well because you instantly know who it is by enhancing their well known features and the little comment enhances that further. I think I should take this success and use it for my final piece, because I already know that it works so I'd be an idiot not to do it. Plus I love working in gouache, because it's a great tool to create characters with flat cold shapes. 

>I've decided to do all the characters faces with a statement underneath it. Orderly like Tom Gauld's work.

>When I actually started to out the faces and words together on photoshop, it looked a bit wrong. The words were just disappearing into the faces and no longer jumping out. So this made me think of doing speech bubbles to make sure you can read everything! It also brings the faces more together to being like a crowd of characters than an orderly line. I think compositionally, it works a lot better. 

>I knew after I did my research that I wanted the words coming out of their mouths to be the honest truth behind each character. As the media seems to sugar coat the fact that most of them are lying cheating human beings. We shouldn't be getting so self absorbed by these characters and the lifestyles they lead, we need to be shown the actual reality behind it all. 

Final Poster

>I'm pretty pleased with my final poster. I really like my choice of material, as I'm comfortable with gouache and is great doing characters in a non realistic flat colour way. Although I wish I had abstracted the faces a bit more, really emphasising certain characteristics. But I really struggled with actually making them look like the character that they're representing, so my plan of abstracting the faces kind of jumped out the window. I then wish that I had abstracted the colours a bit more, using bright pink for the faces instead of sticking to the normal skin tone. I think this would have made the poster pop a bit more, making you want to go and look at it. Although I am quite pleased with the colour scheme, as the blue goes well with the pinks of the faces. Also blue being a royal colour, I thought that it fit the theme quite well.

>But overall I think it conveys the point I was initially making about satirising the characters so we don't take the program so seriously to the extent that we genuinely think people from that area are actually like that. I actually like how my posters a bit different, as it seems from other peoples topics that they're quite serious and world changing, and, as much as I would like to change the world, I think it's important to also have a bit of fun and do something that no one else would really think of doing.

VISUAL DIAGRAM - Further research

VISUAL DIAGRAM - Further research 

>From my feedback from the presentation, I knew I had to do some more research before I started doing work for my poster. 

>I decided to look at two different groups of people, people my age and then people who have written articles and more deeper thinkers.

>I asked friends and family on their opinion of the lifestyle of made in chelsea and got a lot negative comments saying how these people have more money than sense and egotistic and pretentious and narcissistic and arrogant and self indulgent etc etc. I think most of the comments had swearing in it...

I kind of already knew this was the response that I was going to get, because it's pretty obvious that these posh toffs are incredibly self centred. Although it does show that I'm not the only one that has this idea about them which is reassuring. But this is still one group of people that I'm friends with, so of course they're going to have similar views to me or I wouldn't be friends with them.... I then hit the internet to see what else I could find on people's views of Made in Chelsea.

>I found an article talking about 'Geordie Shore' and 'Made in Chelsea' and how people are starting to believe that people that are from that area are genuinely like that, and that it's creating this north and south divide. I thought this was quite interesting, especially as I'm from London and my boyfriends from Newcastle. I think it's crazy how reality tv has seem to brainwash people to actually start making them believe that people from that certain area are all like that. I definitely know that I don't have this stuck up lazy money drenched lifestyle that Made in Chelsea depicts a Londoner to have. She also says that London is typically a working class area, so has Made in Chelsea made people start to totally forget all about that and make them think it's now this upper and upper middle class lifestyle? I personally know that it's not, but for people that never really go to London is this what they now believe?

I'll stop rambling 

>I found another more wordy article about society and Made in Chelsea. How the media gets to decide that viewpoints they want to show to sway our views. This leads back to my initial essay on how the media effected rebellion and youth culture, which is interesting. It just shows again how the media love to worm their way into every crevasse and control what they want us to believe. Even using symbolism, as the crown shown in the Made in Chelsea logo makes the audience have this idea that these people are majestic and superior to us. It's brainwashing you without even realising. CRAZY.

WHY IS THE WORLD LIKE THIS?????

AHHHHHHH

>Okay so I need to make a poster to strip all of the power from these people. The media has imposed this fake lifestyle which people seem to be soaking up and I feel like I should show what these people are really like, I refuse to be brainwashed.

PECHA KUCHA PRESENTATION

PECHA KUCHA 
With notes

SLIDE 1 - From my map of understanding looking at subcultures, I landed here with 'Rah' culture. A brand new culture for the new generation. Specifically I'm going to focus on made in chelsea and what impact it has on us and for our society. But first I'll explain what 'Rah' culture is. Initially I found it hard to get my information...

SLIDE 2 - This is what comes up when I googled 'Rah' culture.. but with further investigation I found out that this new subculture consists of upper and upper middle class in the UK aged around 18/25. The word 'Rah' itself deriving from the onomatopoeic reference to the way they talk.

SLIDE 3 - The stereotypes of 'Rah' consist of..

-Attending a russell group uni

-Taking a gap year to somewhere edgy like Africa and talk about how much it changed you

-Wearing Jack Wills & Hunter wellies

- Playing fancy sports such as polo and clay pigeon shooting

SLIDE 4 - The two most important things that give you the 'Rah' title is to never claim to be posh - you are rich not posh. The other is to enjoy the party lifestyle to the max, with the financial help from mummy and daddy.

SLIDE 5 - This subculture may be more recognised to you in programs and videos such as:

>'Gap Yah' Sketch - which shows an over exaggeration of the culture

>And the more 'realistic' programs such as 'Life is Toff' and the most well known 'Made in Chelsea'

SLIDE 6 - Made in Chelsea if none of you have heard of this program is basically a 'reality' show about a group of friends in their early 20s that sponge off their parents to pretty much party and sleep with everyone - but don't make it look tacky by wearing fancy clothes and eating caviar. 

SLIDE 7 - I decided to watch a couple of episodes so I could analyse their behaviour further - a bit like watching how animals behave in a zoo. I then recorded what I saw by taking notes and drawing. I focused on how they interact with each other on a social basis and what activities they partake in. 

SLIDE 8 - I then put my notes together and picked out elements with the highest frequency:

>Going to cool indie gigs with bands that no ones heard of 

>Many incestual friendship group relationships

>Drinking an excessive amount of champagne alongside an excessive amount of bitchiness

>And it's all put together with a cool indie soundtrack and orange camera filter so it makes you feel all nice

SLIDE 9 - After I watched these episodes I actually found myself feeling a bit depressed and a bit angry. It's just full of cat fights and people cheating on each other? It's extremely repetitive. But on the bright side, it makes me glad that my life is actually nothing like this.

SLIDE 10 - Good or bad? I found it a bit scary... is this how young people are being represented? If someone had seen this program for the first time with no idea what a youth of my generation was like is this what they get to see instead of those who actually work hard to earn money and look after themself. 

SLIDE 11 - My opinion - I think that this is giving people our age a 'I want I get' kind of mentality which isn't healthy. It's actually quite upsetting. This program makes it seem like this kind of attitude is okay and look how fun it is! It's a shame because a few years ago this would never really of happened. 

SLIDE 12 - My opinion 2 - Unfortunately, there's nothing we can really do, as these guys aren't a fictional subculture. So what I decided to do instead of complaining and getting wound up, that I should just see the funny side and turn it into a mockery. 

SLIDE 13 - So I decided to experiment with a whole range of materials to see what would work best to show satire, but at the same time be something that I am quite familiar in using.

SLIDE 14 - Where am I going? - For my visual diagram I want to create something similar to the format of Andrew Groves and Ian Whadcock. Making a tool kit or set of instructions, of either 'how to survive an episode of Made in Chelsea' or 'how to live in the life of Made in Chelsea. It will include a lot of smaller illustrations put together to make a large poster. 

SLIDE 15 - What do I want to say? - Well my intention is to satirise the life of Made in Chelsea, as I feel that that is the only way we should really look at it. It's something that we should really be taking light heartedly. Plus they seem to take themselves far too seriously having this aura of importance. 

SLIDE 16 - Style? - For the kind of style I wanted to work in, I thought my loose gouache painting would be best because they show a lot more character than that of a well studied portrait. So I'm going to use a quicker more loose approach in my style of work. 

SLIDE 17 - Other artists - I also liked the works of Tom Gauld and Josh Cochren. I want to use the same kind of layout that Gauld uses with the storytelling element that Cochran has. I really like the way that both of these artists  compose their work. Gauld being very neat using frames and Cochran filling each space with character. 

SLIDE 18 - Layout - This is the kind of layout that I want to do for my visual diagram. Similar to the artists work I just showed. I want the whole page to be busy yet organised - like Tom Gauld's sketchbook shown on the right. 

SLIDE 19 - Materials and colour - From the success of previous tasks, I want to use gouache or collage as my materials for the final diagram. I found that both of these methods are great for showing personality and character. I also want to use a limited colour palette of about 2/3 colours so my diagram doesn't become too overwhelming. 

SLIDE 20 - To summarise - my intention is to use humour to produce a guide/tool kit to either survive an episode or how to live in the life of Made in Chelsea.

FEEDBACK

>I think I was aware of what I was doing wrong whilst presenting. I knew I had no way near as much information and stats to give compared to what everyone else was dishing out. I really need to get looking on other people's opinion on this, both informally and formally so I get a better grasp of what angle I should go from. 

>I'm aware of a problem, I just need back up. - WHAT IS IT DOING TO OUR SOCIETY? 

VISUAL DIAGRAM - SKETCHBOOK DRAWINGS

SKETCHBOOK DRAWINGS
>Drawings and paintings to research into subject visually

If I'm perfectly honest, I think I've shot myself in the foot a little bit by choosing this subject... there's literally nothing on the subject. Because this subculture is so new, not even a lot of people really know what it is or have much information about it. BUT I WILL NOT REST. I don't want to give up and change my subject because of this. I think it actually means that I need to do this subject so I can educate other people about it. 

So I thought I'd just start drawing characters from 'rah' programs and just like I did with the character brief in visual communication, not think about anything and just draw/paint and see what comes out from it. 

Mark Francis from Made in Chelsea

This is the first time ever that I've used gouache and I've had a revelation! It's great! I love how it creates a flat colour so allows you to work just with shape and creates character. I think it'll be a material I'll be thinking about using for my final poster. I've struggled a lot in the past with making my work have a fun style and sense of character, so I really want to try and explore this in this brief. 

So I explored gouache further...

Gouache 1

Gouache 2

Gouache 3

>Then these faces then started appearing.. It was really weird, it was like I had an epiphany from the gouache Gods and they told me what to do. I really love the looseness of these paintings. I think they show so much more character to that of a well studied portrait. It also allows me to play with their personality and facial features, and as I kind of want to take the mick out of these characters, this style allows me to do so with ease. 

>I think this also shows how far I've come in terms of my drawing and painting, as before I would have spent ages over one drawing, whereas now I filled the a4 sketchbook over 2/3 days. I think it's definitely clear that I have stopped overthinking my work and just let my thoughts spill out onto the page and hope it brings itself together into a successful piece of artwork.

VISUAL DIAGRAM - MAP OF UNDERSTANDING

VISUAL DIAGRAM - 'A DIAGRAM OF...'

>This is the part that I'm really looking forward to. Writing is my worst enemy to trying to show what I wanted to say in visuals is definitely more up my street. 

ANY MEDIA

A2 PORTRAIT OR LANDSCAPE

GO FOR IT 

>MY MAP OF UNDERSTANDING<

>I started with breaking up parts of my essay, picking out keywords and concepts that I could then create a pathway to a new idea. 

>For some reason, subcultures jumped out to me as a new potential theme. So I began to google a whole list of different subcultures that I could look at. 

>Subcultures is a bit dull of a theme, as I think it has the ability to become a bit obvious and go down the stereotypes group which could turn into a year 10 gcse poster informing girls to not blend into the crowd... 

>I wanted to pick something different, a weird sub culture that no one really looks into...

.. rah culture? 

>Being from London I have personally experienced this brand new race of subculture, and have many opinions on it.. so I thought this might be quite an interesting route to go down.

RAH CULTURE

FIVE...

Locations - London, Exeter, Durham, Fulham, Chelsea - or anywhere posh

Clothes - Jack Wills, Hunter wellies, Boat shoes/loafers, Ralph Lauren, Fur coat

Sports - Rugby, polo, clay pigeon shooting, horse riding/racing, hunting

People - Made in chelsea, life is toff, 'gap yah' sketch, JP from Fresh Meat

Words/quotes - Lash, banter, chunder, yah, literally 

FACTS

Thoughts for essay and plan

WHAT AM I ACTUALLY GOING TO DO FOR THIS ESSAY? AHHH

>From what I have looked into in terms of academic work in the past..

THE MEDIA 

^

I think this subject is massive and can relate to in most circumstances. Seeing as I want to look into youth culture, I think that I should relate it to this subject, as 1) Im interested in it 2) I know I can find enough information on it to write a half decent essay. 

Now, an essay question?..

"How did the media portray youths and rebellion in 1960s Britain?"

"Was the media responsible for rebellion and rioting in 1960s Britain; use caste studies"

"To what extent did the media have an impact on youth culture and rebellion in 1960’s Britain; with use of case studies"

"Media and Youth culture - who's responsible?"

>I chose the second to last essay title, as I find that it doesn't show what side I'm on in the question, it's a bit more up in the air. I also think having 'with use of case studies' informs the reader that I'm going to be giving real life examples and analysis to give the essay more punch. 

What to talk about?

>Deviation amplification 

>Folk Devils & Moral panics

>Deindividuation 

>Case studies

>Labelling Theory

>Context - 1960s background information 

>Studies into media and violent behaviour 

>Relate to modern day riots 

Now breathe and write your essay.