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By using a combination of the programmes PowerPoint and Photoshop, we created a striking and clear emblem for our speed-dating event to outline what our event is about and who it collaborates with to our target audience in a coherent manner. We felt that the decision to create a 'logo' would help to promote our event to a contemporary audience and commercial society in which we noticed that many successful entrepreneurial endeavours establish themselves as a 'brand' from the outset.

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Visual Theme and Background: Victorian Courtship and Couples

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Visual Theme and Background: Victorian Courtship and Couples

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As a visual theme for our event and background for this Padlet, we have chosen to use the painting Portsmouth Dockyard by James Tissot, c.1877.

With the portrayal of a Highland Sergeant sat between two female suitors, the painting depicts the traditional Victorian courtship case of a man having the power in the situation to choose between two women. The Sergeant turns away from his 'sullen-looking' companion and looks at the woman speaking to him, implying that he has made his choice.

This painting strikes us as particularly interesting since it is a reworking of Tissot's earlier piece The Thames which shocked audiences and caused controversy in Victorian England society when shown at the Royal Academy in 1876 due to its overt suggestiveness of sexuality and the 'questionable' sexual morals of its characters.

Our event looks to subvert these traditional gender roles in Victorian courtship, with the power to choose a suitor granted to the woman at the speed-dating, as opposed to the man.

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Initial Research and Influences: Follow link to watch the Prezi

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Initial Research and Influences: Follow link to watch the Prezi

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We have created an Instagram account - titled @dickens_dateables - for our project to raise awareness and publicity for the event through one of today's most popular social media platforms. Not only does the Instagram page offer essential information about the event to those interested, but it also entices the target audience with teasers and sneak peaks of what the event entails such as: the Dickens's women starter pack, the venue, the floor plan and 'Dickensian suitor' profiles. Further to this, we have used this social media space to engage a modern public's interest in Victorian society and its attitudes to women, love and marriage through striking archival and contextual posts.

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Using the web programme Biteable.com, we created a visual advert for our event in order to further advertise the project in a contemporary and engaging way. The aim for this form of advertising also meant we could publicise our project to a wider audience of women over means of TV media and also on social media sights such as Facebook, which have much higher viewing and user intakes respectively than solely the media platform of Instagram.

The process of forming this video was a challenging yet rewarding one as we had never used this kind of technology before (in terms of a web source to make videos from scratch) and had some slight difficulties at first figuring out how to use it effectively; however, after a few attempts at minor videos and with time playing with the different functions offered, we became familiar with the site and found that it was in fact a rather fun task to visualise our creation as a final piece, incorporating the logo and other aspects of the project to almost 'brand' our event.

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Event Fundraising Research: Dickensian Good Deeds with Barnardo's

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Event Fundraising Research: Dickensian Good Deeds with Barnardo's

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Using Power Point, we decided to create a presentation to explain our decision to donate the proceedings of our event to the charity Barnardo's.  Their mission statement aligns with Dickens's critique of Victorian society and the way in which the treatment of children is presented in a number of his texts. Dickens's philanthropy and social commentary about the condition of life for Victorian children therefore made the children's charity a clear choice for us, especially as a number of their concerns (schooling conditions, treatment of children etc) all appear throughout Dickens's novels themselves.

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A starter pack sent to the attendees before the event informing them about what 'type' of Dickensian females they can imitate, channel and 'play the part' of to fully immerse themselves and excel in this Victorian speed-dating experience.

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Explanation: The 'Dickens's Women' Starter Pack

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Explanation: The 'Dickens's Women' Starter Pack

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Within our 'Dickens's Women' Starter Pack we have also proposed to include an information sheet on the use of fans as an acceptable form of flirting in Victorian courtship acts and the different fan signals' meanings. This not only serves as a fun and interactive way for the women to prepare themselves for our event, but it also draws on contextual behaviours. We thought that it also adds to the excitement leading up to the event; by advertising this post on our Instagram page, we hope to encourage women to be creative with their outfits and accessories during this Dickensian experience.

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The 'Dickensian Suitors' Male Application Forms

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The 'Dickensian Suitors' Male Application Forms

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Explanation: 'Dickensian Suitors' Male Application Forms

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Explanation: 'Dickensian Suitors' Male Application Forms

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The Venue: Victorian Street at Bygones, Torquay

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The Venue: Victorian Street at Bygones, Torquay

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Choosing the Venue: Visiting Victorian Street

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Choosing the Venue: Visiting Victorian Street

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What the evening entails: Itinerary, Dickensian Dining and Drinks

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What the evening entails: Itinerary, Dickensian Dining and Drinks