OUGD501 Evaluation

The skills that I have developed in this module have been mainly focussed on the essay writing, which I struggled with at first, but now I feel that I have developed my writing style and my research skills, and the ability to triangulate and critically evaluate other's work and theories. I have also developed my use of imagery as I have used collage in my work which I have never tried before.
If i'm being honest, this module has been filled with more weaknesses than strengths for me, and I have struggled at points with the work that has been set.
The essay was the main thing that I have struggled with on this module, as it has taken up so much of time and effort, and I am unsure yet whether this has been worth it. I have had to re write it to make it hopefully passable, which has meant that I have lost time that could have been spent on bettering my publication. I struggled with the application of theory and the use of sources in my work, although in doing my re write I do think I have improved my research and essay writing skills.
Applying the level of thought and theory to my publication has proved difficult, and I spent a lot of time trying to come up with a concept, and over-thought what I was doing as a result. This affected my time management of the brief and therefore meant that the print quality of my final publication suffered. If I had left myself enough time to do it, I would have liked to have had the publication riso printed for a nicer texture and print quality, and I also think this technique would have worked well with the 'lo fi' collage style I have used. Although I am pleased with the layouts and the work I have done, I do not think that I have pushed my idea far enough, unlike others who have a whole product range to go alongside their publications.
My strength in this module has been the use of collage imagery in my publication, which I used to relate to Mulvey's idea of destroying visual pleasure and also the construction of the gaze. I think that the images I have created using the collage have been well thought out and are aesthetically pleasing as well having a sense of humour to them, which I always think is important with quite heavy subject material.  I chose to use the gaze in my work because I have gained an understanding of it on previous courses and so felt confident that I could communicate this subject better than others that had been looked at during this year. In terms of tone of voice in the publication, I think that I have managed to strike a balance between informing people of the academic side of the theory, as well as visually communicating it using examples and hopefully by making it more entertaining.
In the future I would like to push my work further, and spend more time focussing on thinking through the concept and the finished product more thoroughly so that my final resolution looks more complete.

Things that I would like to do differently next time
Set aside more time earlier in the module to research my work more thoroughly.
Think more broadly about the possibilities of my publication and what it could be.
Think more about stock and print finishes that could be applied.
Use more sources in my work so that my final resolutions are more developed.
I could research into subjects more broadly, rather than simply researching into what is asked of me.

5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor

Attendance

3

Punctuality

4

Motivation

3

Commitment

3

Quantity of work produced

2

Quality of work produced

3

Theory into Practice: Final Product ready for crit

Here is my final printed publication ready to be taken into the crit. Overall I am happy with the print quality and the overall presentation of the final product, I just wish that I had more to show in terms of a range of products. 

Context of Practice: Final Essay

Finished Essay


Finished Essay with the changes I have made highlighted in red.
I have taken on the feedback given to me in the tutorial: I have cut down the amount of figures I've used, and written more extensively about Laura Mulvey and her theory of the Gaze. Overall, I am happy with my final effort.

Theory into Practice: Bound Booklets

Destroying Visual Pleasure

Book 1: Laura Mulvey's Theories

Destroying Visual PleasureBook 2: Gender Roles in James Bond 

 

The booklets have now been bound using the saddle stitch method, which I chose as they were only thin booklets, and also the DIY/collage aesthetic suited being saddle stitched more than it did perfect bound which I think would have made it feel a bit too formal and clashed with the aesthetics of the booklets.

Despite a few minor niggling problems I have with the print quality which have mainly come from manually printing it instead of having it printed professionally, I am happy with the designs of the booklet in terms of layout and the stocks I have chosen, which I think all work well together. 

I think it was a good decision to change the format to a5, as the text works better smaller and feels more readable than an a4 publication would have been.

Theory into Practice: Printed Pages

These are the prints of my publication, which for a couple of reasons I have had to print on my home printer instead of sending off to be professionally printed, which I would have preferred. However, I think the choice of stock I have used has worked well, as the lo fi collage aesthetic of the booklets works with the thinner coloured stock, creating more of a photo copied, DIY effect. Although the stock was 80gsm, I have had to print the sheets separately and spray mount them together, which means the stock feels thicker anyway and more like a booklet.

I have yet to print out my covers, and the bellyband cover I want to package the two booklets in.

Theory into Practice: Final PDFs

Destroying Visual Pleasure: Book 1
Book 1 focusses on the psychoanalytic theories that Mulvey evidences in her essay Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.


Destroying Visual Pleasure: Book 2
Book 2 looks at 8 important moments/characters from the Bond franchise, exploring the differing representations of gender.

These are the final PDF versions of my books which I will be printing tomorrow. I will be printing onto coloured stock, with each book being a different colour. I want the printed books to look 'lo-fi' because with the aesthetics of the book being reconstruction and collage I think this will be emphasise the effect. I am really happy with the collages I have created and in general the content I have written feels informative, whilst still retaining a sense of humour which I think is important when dealing with heavy writing like this.

Theory into Practice: Booklet Development

Originally I was going to include an introductory page into the booklets in a collage style, but decided that because of the amount of spreads it would make more sense for the introductions to simply be text on the front page of the booklet. I've just created a simple layout for it, and the focus is on the text now instead of any distracting imagery, plus what kind of imagery could I have used in an introduction that I wasn't already using in the actual spreads?

Theory into Practice: Booklet Development

Whilst I've been working on the James Bond part of my publication, it has been occurring to me that the visual style of it does not work with the visual style I started out with on the hot dog booklet, where I have used colour and more simple photography to discuss the psychoanalytical theories used by Mulvey. Therefore, I have decided to go back to it and change it to the visual style I am using now so that they are cohesive.

I have also decided against having it as a hot dog booklet, as the use of two different a4 formats seems silly and wouldn't look right, so it will now be a separate, smaller booklet that would act as an introduction to the James Bond publication.

These are the updated layouts of the booklets. I have used the same style of imagery for each of the theories, with the binoculars for scopophilia, as well as adding a couple of peeping toms, the garden clippers for castration theory and the hand mirrors for Lacan's mirror stage theory. I think the additional images emphasise the point more, and also make the layout feel more similar to those in the Bond booklet, with some humour added.

Again I have made the layout of the text more informal so that it makes sense with the collage and also so that it is similar in style to the Bond booklet. I had already created the writing for this part of the booklet, and having read through it again I am satisfied with what it communicates to the audience, so I don't want to make any changes to it.

Theory into Practice: Booklet Development

These are the 8 spreads that I will be featuring in my booklet. I have now added the text and the titles to the pages which will contextualise the collages and explain to the reader the choice of gender role and how they are represented. I haven't played around with the layout that much in any of the spreads, because I deliberately left enough space for the text and the titles to go in when I was creating my collages. I have also not used any technical grid because of the use of collage and the destruction of visual pleasure being important, it made sense for the text to be as informally laid out as the imagery.

With it being a more academic module, I was worried when I first started writing the booklet about what tone to use and how to write about the films in general, so it has taken me a while to add this text to the layout. I realised in the end that anyone reading this booklet would need to be entertained by it as well as informed, and so i've tried to balance the text so that it's informative as well as comical, with reference made to the theory where appropriate. I also think that because of the light heartedness of the imagery the text needed to be in keeping with that, whilst still pointing out the imbalance in the gender roles. 

Exhibition Poster: Inspiration

For this shorter brief, I want to create a poster that is simple and contemporary, so I have been researching into minimalist posters as my inspiration for the brief, as I think that these styles of posters always have a strong impact as well as a strong and clever concept and reasoning behind their style and the visuals they use. I also think that this style of poster will work for this brief because of the time constraints, which mean that I need to be creating something simple so that I can get it to look high quality. Looking at the images I have sourced, they all have strong, black imagery and text, sans serif typefaces and a simple layout, which is something I want to recreate in my poster.

Theory into Practice: Collage Development 8

Collage Development 8: James Bond role reversal

With the most recent Bond films, it is arguable that there has been more of a focus on James Bond as both a hero and a sexual object, with the development of a female gaze, and so I want one of my collages to be looking at the scene in Casino Royale where Bond emerges from the water in a similar style to Honey Ryder.
That being said, the woman in the clip is also being objectified still, so maybe its just more of a balance as opposed to a complete shift.

The collage is pretty simple, but I think it makes the point about the female gaze. Again I've tried to add a bit of humour to it using the 'phwoar' text and also the ripping of the chest to represent the idea of being 'ripped'. Pretty obvious, but I think it has the right impact. 

Theory into Practice: Collage Development 7

Collage Development 7: The Good and the Bad Bond Girls

Something that I have found through researching into gender roles in James Bond, and looking at the clips and synopses of the films is that several films have featured both a good and a bad Bond girl. In some ways the roles of the Bond girls are more positive and developed, with more to them than meets the eye, but eventually there are still shown to be weaker than Bond when they are defeated or saved by him. I want the good and the bad Bond girl to feature as a look at the formulaic virgin/vamp style that women in film get represented through, which I do think is still the case in some of the Bond films. 

I thought that the best way to design this layout would be to use static images of Bond and the Bond girls that I thought best represented this: Pierce Brosnan, Denise Richards and Sophie Marceau in The World is Not Enough. I wanted to make this page quite comical, and I thought that with them being portrayed as good and bad, I would use hand drawn illustrations to make them into the angel and the devil on Bond's shoulders. 

Theory into Practice: Collage Development 6

Collage Development 6: James Bond The Ultimate Male Fantasy

Obviously the main gender role to explore in the book is the role of Bond, who can be seen to embody Mulvey's description of the active male in Hollywood narrative cinema. The cinema spectator gets to live out their fantasies of Bond's fast, action packed and luxurious life and his casual relationships from the safety of their seats in cinema. He is a British icon and hero.

With this collage I simply wanted to demonstrate all the aspects of Bond's life that make him such an appealing protagonist.

I think the composition on this collage has worked well, and it contains all the aspects that I wanted to cover. Really, this will be an introductory page and the actual written aspect will be more important because it will explain in more detail how Bond is so relevant to Mulvey's theories 

Theory into Practice: Collage Development 5

Collage Development 5: Moneypenny

Although not seen as a 'Bond girl', the role of Moneypenny is one of significance because of the implied sexual chemistry between Bond and Moneypenny that, unlike his casual conquests, is never consummated.

I wanted to represent the sexual chemistry between Moneypenny and Bond as this is the most important part of their relationship, so I have used images of Bond with Moneypenny in shots which obviously point to the sexual tension they have, and I have reinforced this message with the phrase 'you could the sexual tension with a knife' and also the visual use of a knife cutting through the images. 

Theory into Practice: Collage Development 4

Collage Development 4: M

I chose to feature M because her role in the Bond films is probably one of the few that can be seen as a positive representation. As an older female character, she is not objectified in the way that Bond girls are, and she has authority over Bond, which is not something that can be said for many other women that have been a part of the films.

In her first meeting with Bond, she asserts her authority over him quite clearly, stating that she believes him to be 'a sexist, misogynist dinosaur'. In this collage I thought I obviously wanted to show her disdain for Bond in that first meeting, and also her position of power above Bond, which is why I thought it would be interesting and comical to portray Bond as a miniature bobble head in relation to the larger image of M. The imagery is reinforced by the addition of the quote.