Creative Journal - Assignment 1 by Beavis, Michael Kevin - beamk003

1.1- Self Reflection

beamk003 — 2019-01-25 03:39:43 UTC

‘Goodbye’ 2018 and ‘Hello’ 2019. Finally, I am in a position where my work and life commitments have balanced out a little bit and I can push forward with my studies. I’m excited despite the fact that my first task is to write a self-reflection – something I have never been comfortable with, but here goes.

Video production is something I’ve always been very passionate about and over the years I’ve worked with film and digital media in several different ways, so having the opportunity to use my skills to work towards my degree is something I am genuinely looking forward to. I have always been the guy at the party or event hiding behind the lens, capturing life’s little bits and pieces, so an assignment where I can put my skills in planning, filming and editing to the test is exciting.

Sitting down and jotting down my initial ideas was simple, but stretching my mind beyond the first twenty and compiling a list of eighty was a struggle. Funnily enough, looking back over the list defines the type of person I am and provides some insight into my passions in life. In my own notes I have underlined a few ideas about what topic I might want to focus on, and how I might do this but I can foresee this assignment being a game of balance and logistics as I am working six days a week, raising a little boy and bouncing back and forth against everything else life throws my way.

Currently, I’m tossing up ideas revolving around health and well-being, gaming, Lymphoma awareness and the impact of social media. I have my own business and brand that I could use this task to promote, or I could make something to promote a message for the students I work on a daily basis. I'm going to have focus my thoughts as we head into the next tasks. Stay tuned, there’s more to come!

80 Ideas

beamk003 — 2019-01-25 03:41:24 UTC

1. Physical well-being

2. Weight loss

3. Fitness

4. Exercise & movement

5. Getting started – This week I started

6. Start moving – a minute ago you hadn’t even begun.

7. Life – Be in it

8. Nutrition

9. Sleep

10. Drug abuse

11. Alcohol abuse

12. Mental well-being

13. Depression

14. Positive Self-esteem and self-image

15. Resilience

16. Mindfulness

17. Impact of Social media

18. Cyberbullying

19. Trolling

20. Pirating

21. Addiction

22. Safety in public

23. Digital Footprint

24. Screen time

25. Legitimacy of Esports

26. Gaming as a social medium

27. Gaming as an educational tool

28. Positive effects of gaming

29. Negative effects of gaming

30. Impact of gaming on children

31. Impact of gaming on teens

32. Impact of gaming on adults

33. Disability awareness

34. Disability inclusiveness

35. Special Needs in high school students

36. Lightbulb moments

37. Learning & Education now and then

38. Muscular Dystrophy

39. Autism Spectrum Syndrome

40. Lymphoma Awareness

41. Taiwan Tourism

42. Gold Coast Tourism

43. Melbourne Tourism

44. Japanese Tourism

45. Iwate Tourism

46. AFOL – Adult Fan of Lego

47. The Supernaturals

48. Mazenod College

49. Mazenod Panthers (All Abilities Football Team)

50. All Abilities League – Football Federation Victoria

51. Sports 4 Fun

52. Live without limits/boundaries/expectations

53. Achieve dreams à leads to endorsing a faceless corporation

54. Beyond Blue

55. Male Postnatal Depression

56. Anxiety in Males

57. Projected resilience of males by society.

58. Underemphasise of Domestic violence towards males

59. That Little Brewery – Local Business

60. Specialized Beer from That Little Brewery

61. Thebeavis (personal business) – Disability Support

62. Thebeavis (personal branding) – Youtube/Instagram content

63. AMA Supports

64. Interchange Outer East

65. Nadrasca

66. Monkami

67. Kim-Chi Hut

68. On-in Burgers

69. Lime Leaf Thai

70. Neighbourhood Watch/Awareness – You don’t have to be a super hero

71. Have a plan B – Dreams & Careers/the hard reality

72. Deprogramming Expectations – Others expectations should not define you

73. Pay It Forward

74. Shichi-Go-San (7-5-3) Festival

75. How to talk to other people – satire about social etiquette without phones

76. How to communicate online – satire about social etiquette online

77. Cloud Insurance

78. Volcano Insurance

79. Zombie Insurance

80. Nuclear Apocalypse Insurance

1.2 - Assumptions

beamk003 — 2019-01-25 04:26:25 UTC

Wow... Just wow. I love commercials from this era. The mid 20th century narrator, the film techniques, the music, the social norms displayed. It was a time when people were truly convinced that what they were advertising worked. Snake oil, cigarettes, clysters... It was truly a golden age.

Some assumptions in this advertisement that I noticed:

Everybody owns their own vehicle
Only men drive/Women do not drive
Only men drink
Women ASK men to drink and drive
It is the responsibility of a woman to stop a man from drink driving
People only drink liquors/spirits
Alcohol affects every person in the same way
Drinking/drink driving is not a serious issue – according the music, narration, etc.

1.3 Mind Map - Lymphoma Awareness

beamk003 — 2019-01-26 00:13:09 UTC

1.4 - Mind Map Reflection

beamk003 — 2019-01-26 00:14:13 UTC

Drawing up a mind map turned out to be an interesting process. Despite what I thought about the task before I began, it actually proved useful to me for working out the direction that I wanted to take with my Lymphoma Awareness Promotion.

For myself, diving into Lymphoma Awareness is factually very easy. I have lot's of personal experience with the disease as well as experience from family members that I can draw from. I was able to touch on the statistics about the disease, the people involved in curing it, the feelings associated with chemotherapy. I am familiar with what it brings about and the people involved, but more importantly their reactions. The reactions I witnessed as a childhood victim from friends and family felt different to the reactions I witnessed when my wife was diagnosed two years ago. My reaction was different due to maturity and heaviness of what her diagnosis actually meant. And that was sweet spot. One which I want to focus on in the process of creating a promotional video.

When faced with a disease and diagnosis most individuals come to grips with it quite quickly. It is the people around them that suffer and become emotional shipwrecks... Which is completely understandable. For me, an individual who deals with stress in a dry, witty and dark way, an ironic thought process revolved around an unusual reaction from friends and family. Would everything be far easier if they were overly optimistic and happy about the disease and its side affects. If they saw you breathless or convulsing as you coughed, what would they say? It's a clear juxtapose to the normal reaction of hug, hug, cry, cry, grief.

Laying out all the ideas in one place did lead to different trains of thought and I actually found myself thinking about my direction when I was away from the computer, while driving the car or doing the dishes. Ideas about colour grading for effect, lighting and editing even followed me to bed last night after I completed my mind map. I'm looking forward to the experience of essentially poking fun at something that has blighted my family and I for many years and seeing what the final product will look like.

Batra, R. and Stayman, D. (1990). The Role of Mood in Advertising Effectiveness. Journal of Consumer Research, 17(2), p.203.

beamk003 — 2019-01-28 06:24:14 UTC

This research article looks at the way in positive moods in advertising leads to higher engagement towards a product and the overall advertising message by the target audience. It was found that advertisements that utilized negative moods and promoted a weak argument provoked negative thoughts from target audiences. In addition to this, positive moods in advertising lead target audiences to believe that they had naturally made their own positive conclusions about a product. This source was useful in that is demonstrated the way in which the mood of an advertisement can directly affect the consumer and their thoughts on a product. This sources allowed me to understand how to better direct the message in my promotional video to the target audience and have them engage with the idea in a far more positive way.

Mehta, A. (2000). Advertising Attitudes and Advertising Effectiveness. Journal of Advertising Research, 40(3), pp.67-72.

beamk003 — 2019-01-28 06:28:15 UTC

This article discusses how the success of an advertisement directly correlates to how connected and engaged the target audience is to the product or message being advertised in general. It was found that audiences who general favoured advertising were able to recall advertisements after viewing them with far more precision than those who with negative attitudes towards advertising. This in turn leads Mehta to believe that they are more likely to susceptible to advertising techniques. This article described to me the correct way to choose a target audience, explaining that failing to do so will not allow my promotion to be successful. By targeting the correct audience and utilising the correct message it should help the overall effectiveness of my product promotion.

Craun, S. and Bourke, M. (2014). The Use of Humor to Cope with Secondary Traumatic Stress. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 23(7), pp.840-852.

beamk003 — 2019-01-28 06:30:28 UTC

Those suffering secondary traumatic stress disorder from working with or being around those with primary traumatic stress disorder are more like to use dark humour as a coping mechanism. However, once dark-humour begins to turn into gallows-humour it becomes less of a coping mechanism and more of a symptom of severe psychological distress. This article was interesting and displayed that advertisers can often walk a fine line between ironic and distressing content. I was my promotion to be offbeat and ironic so dark humour will be the element I utilize so knowing that I need to tread carefully was a valuable lesson to me.

Karimi, M., Mehrabani, D., Yarmohammadi, H. and Jahromi, F. (2008). The prevalence of signs and symptoms of childhood leukemia and lymphoma in Fars Province, Southern Iran. Cancer Detection and Prevention, 32(2), pp.178-183.

beamk003 — 2019-01-28 06:31:53 UTC

This article reports the findings related to lymphoma and leukaemia in the sample population (5 year old – 14 year old male and female children) of Fars Province, Southern Iran. It also dives into the most common signs and symptoms of the two, lymphadenopathy, abdominal and mediastinal masses being the most presenting sign, with several accounts of fever presenting in 54% of cases and chronic cough being present in most cases. This article was extremely factual and cemented the signs and symptoms of Lymphoma in a way that I can refer to in my promotional video. It helps to have a scientific, factual basis as I am attempting to create an awareness of something.

Ohanian, T. and Phillips, N. (2000). Digital Filmmaking: The Changing Art and Craft of Making Motion Pictures. New York: Routledge, pp.51 - 87.

beamk003 — 2019-01-28 06:40:16 UTC

Chapter 4 of this text dives into techniques to use before commencement of a digital film project. It describes ways to envision the end product including talent, scripting, story boarding and location and lays out methods to plan these elements of film before beginning other aspects of the project. Several methodologies set through out the chapter mention aspects of filming that beginner and amateur film makers would fail to address without being made aware of them. I was able to understand better the principles and elements behind planning a short film. This sources provided me with some direction as to how best plan the elements of my promotional video to achieve the most successful outcome possible.

3.1 - Identify Your Audience

beamk003 — 2019-02-09 21:06:54 UTC

1. Identify, profile and research the target audience for your promotional video:
Lymphoma affects both males and females of varying ages, varying degrees of health and belonging to all socio-economical backgrounds. It does not discriminate between race, but it has been statistically proven that Caucasians are more likely to be diagnosed with forms of Lymphoma than those with darker pigmented skin (Evens, Antillon, Aschebrook-Kilfoy & Chiu 2012).

This promotional video will be aimed raising awareness of Lymphoma in males and females of all ages, but will focus primarily on an audience of males between 16 – 40 years of age. This an age bracket where awareness of one’s health is in decline and the often subtle symptoms of Lymphoma are ignored by many. This is particularly true for males of this age who often ignore signs of ill health are less likely to have contact with GPs or specialists when referred. In addition to this males are less likely to express fears of health concerns are and more likely to visit a doctor only once a condition has worsened (Banks 2001).

For this promotional video I am assuming that the target audience is educated to a high-school equivalency or higher in a western based schooling system, where health and well-being are quite often focused on in educational facilities across multiple year levels. This will mean that targeted individuals are aware of their own health, have the ability to problem solve and are able to readily contact medical professionals.

2. How will you capture their attention and convince them of your message?
This promotional video will utilize a familiar setting to the target audience. The setting will be either a house party or a backyard BBQ/ pool party. I want the promotional video be somewhat ironic and present the issue of Lymphoma as an in your face topic from the very beginning of the video. My aim is to make Lymphoma, a largely unspoken-of disease, into an in your face, slightly comical fact of life. I’m hoping that by taking the serious signs and symptoms of Lymphoma such as swollen lymph nodes, chronic coughing or rashes and making them memorable will stay in the mind of the audience. More over, by utilizing a positive, somewhat quirky approach of presenting a serious message, I have a higher likelihood of engaging the audience (Batra & Stayman 1990 p.203).

3. In one sentence summarise the message of your promotion.
Get yourself checked – The signs and symptoms of Lymphoma don’t always stare you in the face.

References:
Banks, I 2001, 'No man's land: men, illness and the NHS', BMJ, vol 323, no. 7320, p. 1058-60, viewed 3 February 2019, <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1121551/>.

Batra, R. and Stayman, D. (1990). The Role of Mood in Advertising Effectiveness. Journal of Consumer Research, 17(2), p.203.

Evens, A.M, Antillón, M, Aschebrook-Kilfoy, B, Chiu, C.H 2012, 'Racial disparities in Hodgkin's lymphoma: a comprehensive population-based analysis, Annals of Oncology, vol 23, no, 1 August 2012, p. 2128–2137, viewed 3 February 2019, <https://doi.org/10.1093/annonc/mdr578>

3.2 - The Elements of Design: Colour

beamk003 — 2019-02-09 21:23:31 UTC

Unless members of the target audience have been touched by the plight of cancer in their families, the majority of the target audience will be fairly unaware of Lymphoma as a disease and entirely indifferent towards the idea of contracting a form of Lymphoma, or any cancer for that fact, before they have seen my promotional video.

Once they have viewed my video I want the target audience to be entertained and informed by the in-your-face facts. My primary aim is for the audience to remember some, if not all of the most obvious signs and symptoms that forms of Lymphoma can take, and connect that information to their personal health.

In order to achieve this I am planning to make a satirical and ironic promotional video which is quirky enough to be comical enough, but informative enough to provide an edge to the facts being presented. This light hearted, mocking tone will be promoted for a majority of the video, until the last few seconds where I plan to abruptly switch the tone to a far more dull, sombre tone to hit home the seriousness of what may happen if you ignore the signs and symptoms.

For a majority of the video I will utilize bright, happy colours like those you may imagine when you think of a summer backyard BBQ on a bright, sunny day. The final few seconds, should I proceed with my current train of thought, will be represented by dull tones which allude to the seriousness of the disease, and how unfunny the illness can become.

In terms of font, I will need one which is easily readable should I choose to provide text at the end of the video such as statistics, a call-to-action or a URL for available information. Many professional utilize Helvetica for its clarity, so I am leaning towards it as well.

3.3 - The Elements of Design: Typography

beamk003 — 2019-02-09 21:24:47 UTC

Usabilla Blog 2012, ‘15 Practical Tips How To Use Typography For Emotional Design 2012’, Usabilla Blog, viewed 30 January 2019, <http://blog.usabilla.com/15-practical-tips-how-to-use-typography-for-emotional-web-design/>.

Before reading this blog I thought I had decided on the approach I wanted to take towards the design elements in my project, but now I am in two (or three) minds about how I would like to proceed. The ‘be human’ section drew me in with its hand written, chalkboard typography which I think might suit the overall tone of my promotional video, however so to does the G’nosh website have its allure. Tokio Lab has a straightforward and clear design which I also thought might suit my videos tone – so many decisions to be made. It was unfortunate that several the example websites are no longer accessible in form they were when the blog was originally posted.

Aliotta, C 2013, ‘Evoke emotion through typography’, blog post, Joogpot Magazine, 23 June, viewed 30 January 2019, .

This blog post was also interesting and had a small section dedicated to the approach another organization had taken to raising money/awareness for cancer. It utilized a positive, fun and humorous mood but in a slightly different manner to which I plan to approach my project. I particularly liked how she referred to Typography as ‘the real, almost invisible protagonist of any website (Aliotta 2013).

Patel, N & Puri, R Quicksprout, The Psychology of Colour, Quicksprout, viewed 30 January 2019, <https://www.quicksprout.com/the-complete-guide-to-understand-customer-psychology-chapter-4/>.

A very interesting read, full of different statistics and infographics about the behaviour of consumers surrounding colour. It has certainly made me reconsider my colour choices for my promotional project and how they will affect the a target audience of mostly young males. It was actually very entertaining to read the section about least like colours depending on gender. My one gripe about this source is that several of the images are very difficult to read, which made me smile considering it is a chapter dedicated to clarity and encouraging positive consumer nature.

3.4 - Design Palette

beamk003 — 2019-02-09 21:26:44 UTC

I chose the below design palette as I am attempting to create a light-hearted memorable promotional video which utilizes the bright colours and humor to spread a positive message about serious subject matter. I feel the colours in my palette are bright enough to help do this while the darker #393E46 allows me to fall back on a darker tone if I require it for what ever reason as I create media for this assignment.

Two scripts I found remind me of vintage style signs people may have once come across in a burger place or on 1960's advertisments which is something I think works well with my colour choices and also with the satirical tone of a summer time BBQ setting. Arial will help me when I need to write on my website as it is a clear and accessable font for all users.

4.1 - Writing a Treatment

beamk003 — 2019-02-09 21:27:29 UTC

The promotion video starts with an establishing shot of an average house. It is a bright, sunny day with blue skies. Judging by the sounds, social event is clearly underway – A good old, Aussie backyard BBQ. A lone, 20-something year old male is walking a the path in front of the house. He is completely normal – our focus character for this video.

An over the shoulder shot shows the male knock on the door and it opens. The home owner, his friend greets the male and welcomes him into the house. He makes a casual and friendly comment while pointing to at the protagonist – “Nice lymph node by the way!” Camera changes to show a young male with large, concerning bulge on the side of his neck. He reaches for it, smiling and somewhat embarrassed as he steps into the house.

Full body shot – two mates stand next to each other leaning against the wall. They are having a friendly conversation about money and wives as they both hold and drink from beer bottles. One asks a question to someone off screen. The camera quickly pans across to reveal the protagonist standing next to them. He is answers with a chronic, sick cough from the protagonist who is struggling to catch his breath. The man who asks the question nods casually and replies “Well, I was thinking that, but you know she really wants to travel next year.”

Close up of a girl wearing a pair of sunglasses. She comments about how hot the weather has become. According to the forecast it was only meant to reach 25 degrees, but now it feels closer to 40 degrees. She turns her head towards an offer camera character and says “I love it. If it stays this warm all week you and I should go to the beach together.” A full shot reveals the girl and protagonist to be sitting on the edge of a pool together. He is pale and shivering with a fever, using his arms to warm himself up. He is clearly not hot, but rather cold with a severe fever. He simply replies with a shiver and sharply inhales. The girl replies, with flirtatious laughter and jokingly slaps his arm.

A mid shot of people sitting at a picnic. The protagonist is centre frame with a birthday cake in front of him. Everybody is singing happy birthday. They finish singing and someone calls out “Make a wish and blowout the candles!” The protagonist struggles to draw breath. He rasps as he tries to breath hard enough to blow out a single candle. All his friends laugh and cheer despite the protagonist sitting there looking dazed with his candles still lit. He simply looks the camera, clearly fatigued. The camera cuts to full with people partying as if nothing is wrong. The camera pans up into a bright blue sky.

Narrator: The signs and symptoms of Lymphoma are no laughing matter. Visit 'promoted website* or visit your GP today.

Text overlay appears on the screen as the narrator speaks.

beamk003 — 2019-02-09 21:51:27 UTC

City of Hope 2015, Non-Hodkin Lymphoma: What you need to know, City of Hope, 30 July, viewed 28 January 2019, <http://breakthroughs.cityofhope.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/city-of-hope-lymphoma-infographic.pdf>

beamk003 — 2019-02-09 21:58:47 UTC

Fathead 2014, Fathead Awareness Commercial, video, Youtube, 14 October, viewed 28 January 2019, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4t3HzauVVU>.

I want my video to be satirical like this one but presenting a real issue... even though Fathead seems like something to be concerned about. The quirkiness and semi serious tone is something to note.

beamk003 — 2019-02-09 22:00:54 UTC

TD Channel 2013, Suicide Awareness-Commercial, video, Youtube, 12 September, viewed 31 January 2019, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHAkbhmxTP0>.

I like this video for the use of peer connections and the retrospective nature. If I choose to go with a twist at the end of my video I could go in this direction but probably won't at this point.

beamk003 — 2019-02-09 22:02:55 UTC

WorldIssues90 2009, Anorexia Awareness TV Commercial, video, Youtube, 18 March, viewed 31 January 2019, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pzbzOkZIjM>.

I liked how confronting this commercial was. It's something I am aiming to do but in a far more satirical tongue-in-cheek way. This raises awareness through real life disturbing images. It is well done.

beamk003 — 2019-02-09 22:06:44 UTC

Wall Street Journal 2016, Tear Jerker Commercials Create Internet Challenge, video, Youtube, 4 January, viewed 1 February 2019,<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVrQqWIs6ZE>.

This commercial is emotional and makes people think about the issue presented. I want to do the same but with less tears. Emotion is definitely the way to make something memorable.

beamk003 — 2019-02-09 22:09:37 UTC

Vault-TecIndustries 2009, Sign Up For Vault-Tec Today, video, Youtube, 8 June, viewed 1 February 2019, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4rhkNnGer4>.

I wish I lived in a nostalgic advert. I love them. I thought about going down this road originally but I've since changed my mind and going with a more contemporary look. Will keep the idea for next time!

beamk003 — 2019-02-09 22:11:33 UTC

Kidd, P 2006, Grim Reaper [1987], video, Youtube, 22 November, viewed 4 February 2019<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U219eUIZ7Qo>.

I still remember this advert from when I was young. It was revolutionary in the way it promoted new facts when AIDS had so many myths surrounding it.

7.1 - Create a Graphic

beamk003 — 2019-03-17 09:46:34 UTC

7.1 - Create a Call to Action

beamk003 — 2019-03-17 09:47:15 UTC

Looking Good Lymphoma Header

beamk003 — 2019-03-17 09:48:14 UTC

Call To Action - Non Hodgkin Lymphoma

beamk003 — 2019-03-17 09:49:37 UTC

Weapon of Choice - Sony A6000

beamk003 — 2019-03-17 09:50:34 UTC