Graphic Narrative Evaluation

Does your final product reflect your original intentions?

What I did to create my main character from the flat plan was I added a

filter and then put a color overlay on it in photoshop. The general shape of the

character stayed the same. I then cut it out and put it into the scenes. I took the

design for the wolf from an image on the internet that someone else had drawn.

These were my original flat plans. I based the ideas for my scene and the design of the wolf which ended up being my main character. I think that they were an important part of

my planning as they were where I got most of the main design ideas for my story from.

Does your final product reflect your original intentions?

How well have you constructed your images?

I think this image is constructed well as there is a clear foreground and

background of the scene due to have the two hunters at the front of the

image. The colours mix well, especially the colour of the wolf compared to the

background colours which are dark greens and blacks.

I think I constructed most of my images well. For example, the background woodland was originallymuch brighter and made the text very difficult to read. The wolf also stood out much more as it wasa much lighter brown. But I redesigned the image to make the woodland scene in the background darker and moved the text down onto the darker sections so that it was much easier to read. I also added green highlights to the wolf so it fits into the scene more.

I think this image is one of my best as all the different parts fit into the scene well. The wolvesfit into the background as I added some green to them. I also built the wolves into the backgroundby making the wolves look like they’re standing behind a log. I darkened the background as well tosuit the rest of the book as the other scenes havedark greens and blacks.

How well have you used text to anchor your images

I believe this image is a good example of good anchorage as the image involves a

small amount of text but still manages to explain everything that happens in the

image. The text in the image is small and does not take up space or cover up

anything important. This is good example of good anchorage as if you were looking

at the page and there was no text, you would still be able to easily understand

what is happening in the picture.

I believe that this image is not a good example of effective anchorage as there is a large amount text. If there was no text to explain the

image, it would just look like a wolf stood in some woods. With the text, it makes it much clearer but the reader should be able to

understand the image with a much smaller amount of text. I could improve this by adding some extra items to the image and removing some text. This is a bad example of good anchorage as if the text was removed and it was just the image, you would not be able to tell what

was happening in the image.

Is your product suitable for your audience?

I aimed my story at slightly older children, aged 7 - 10. I did this as my story had connotations of killing and threat when the hunters aim their guns at the wolf. I think this is a suitable age bracket as any younger would affect sales of the book

as parents would be skeptical to buy the book for such a young reader.

The book would be aimed at mainly males. I did this as a wolf has hunting and killing aspects which would interest males more than females at that age bracket.

Also, parents would not want to buy an almost graphic book for a young girl however for a young boy, it would be more common and acceptable.

My book would not be aimed at a specific class of family as it would not be an expensive book. However, I think that it would mostly be bought by

middle class to upper class as middle and upper class families might have a parent that hunts or shoots as a hobby which would make the parent more

likely to buy a book which they could relate to.

The location that I think the book would sell most in would be mainly west Europe and North America. I think this as the Eastern and Southern cultures may not have heard of wolves or may just not take a large interest in them. These are also the wealthier areas of the world and they are more likely to

spend money on luxuries such as books.

What do you like/dislike about the techniques you have used?

The main technique I used throughout all of my images was adding the same filter to all the background and the characters. I used the Cutout filter with the highest detail. I did this to keep a

cartoon effect to make it more appealing and to keep it light for the younger readers. On this image, I cut out the log across the wolf’s legs and put it in front of them to build the characters into the scene.

I like this technique as it makes the image look more realistic and makes it look less like I photo shopped them into the image.

The technique I used in the image was the perspective of the growls. I made it look like they were clearly being directed towards the hunters. I like this technique as it almostpersonificates the growls and makes it look like they’re traveling towards the hunters.

It also keeps a cartoon effect which keeps it suitable for the target audience.

What do you like/dislike about how your final product looks?

I like the overall visual style of my final product. I like it because it adds a cartoon affect to a story with somewhat dark and graphic connotations. I think my chosen style works well because it keeps the overall look light and clean without removing any of the aspects of the story. It also makes it much more aesthetically pleasing to look at which helps my

book massively as the target audience would still be largely interested in pictures.

The thing I don’t like about this picture is the scale of the hunters. Especiallythe one of the right as the wolf on the right is much the same size as the hunter,

even though the wolf is further away. I think this looks wrong as a wolf would notbe anywhere near the same size as a full grown man. However, the wolves in thisscene are characters with a higher status so it shows that the wolves are stronger

and have more power than the hunters.

Why did you include the content you used?• Images, fonts, effects, colours

The effects I used on my main character, the Young Wolf, were firstly to add a Cutout filter onto it and then I added a colour overlay. I put a filter on the wolf to keep the style of the character with the style of the book overall which wascartoony and light to keep the book light overall as there were connotations ofkilling and threat from the hunters. I added a colour overlay to make the wolf

look more realistic and to suit the coloured style of the book.

The font I used in my story was Cambria in a white colour. I used this font as I thought it look good and fitted in well into my pages. I used white because

when I used black, it made it almost unreadable. When I used white, it made itmuch easier to read and it contrasted well to attract readers to the text as the

white colour stands out well from the backgrounds.

Colours

The main colours I used in my story are dark greens and black. There are also some greens but in a lower quantity. These colours are shown clearly in the final page of my story above. I decided to use these colours to

show the danger of the woods that the Young Wolf travels through. Similar to dark alley at night, it looks scary because you can’t see into it very well and you don’t know what’s in it.

I tried to implement these thoughts into the design of my story to show that the woods are dangerous and that the Young Wolf should not go through them. Also, I made it look clearly ominous to the reader so that they

know the Young Wolf is going to pass through a dangerous area and that there’s a chance that they will build a connection with the main character and worry that he will get caught by the hunters and therefore

become more interested in the story and would want to read on to find out what happens to the wolf.

What signs, symbols or codes have your used in your work?

The messages that show representation of the Mother Wolf are that she’s noticeablylarger compared to the other wolves. This shows that she holds more status and

responsibility than the rest of family, more importantly, she holds more status and responsibility than the father, who doesn’t have a designated character. This is provenwhen the Mother Wolf hears the Young Wolf howl, she is the one who stands up andsays that they have to go and save him. She is also the one who helps the Young Wolf

scare the hunters away.

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Audience ResponsesCultural competence:

Media texts require us to have a certain level of cultural understanding to be able to interpret them.

At a basic level, this could mean being able to read the language that a magazine is written in.

At a deeper level, it means being able to interpret signs and symbols that we use a visual shorthand to communicate ideas.

We recognise these signs in our own culture but find it harder to understand when looking at others.

We create and attach meaning to signs and symbols in many different forms.

Creative Media Production 2012

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Audience ResponsesCultural competence:

What is this?

This is a Norwegian Pine tree, covered in snow and with a red ribbon on.

Our cultural understanding allows us to interpret its meaning.

To us, in British society, it means Christmas, presents and family.

This is because we share a cultural knowledge.

Creative Media Production 2012

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Audience ResponsesCultural competence:

There are many other signs and symbols that we attach meaning to.

A leather jacket can imply rebellion.

A sports car can imply wealth and power.

A cross can represent religion.

Creative Media Production 2012

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Audience ResponsesCultural competence:

Visual representations of everyday objects are often the same the world over. A car appears as a car, no matter what country it appears in.

What that car means however, can be very different depending on your cultural background.

Creative Media Production 2012

I made the woods look clearly ominous to the reader so that they know the Young Wolf is going to pass through a dangerous area and that there’s a chance that they will build a connection with

the main character and worry that he will get caught by thehunters and therefore become more interested in the story and

would want to read on to find out what happens to the wolf.

What representations can be found in your work?

The only men in my story are the two hunters which do not have their faces shown so they do not have a clear race or religion. However, they would be in a middle or higher social and earning class to take part in sport such as hunting and shooting as

it often costs a lot of money to take part and involves dressing well. They show cowardice when the Mother Wolf and the Young Wolf’s family arrive to save Young

Wolf as once the fight is fair, they run away and leave the Young Wolf.

The wolves in my story obviously do not have a specific races, social groups or religions. However, they do show clear age differences. The Mother Wolf is the oldest and the one that is in charge and holds the most responsibility. The difference between the Mother Wolf and the rest of the wolves is the colouration of her. Compared to the Young Wolf

and the rest of the family, she has a much darker coat so that she clearly stands out. Where she’s stood also looks as if she’s looking over the rest of the family. This shows

that she has the highest status and the most power. It’s a rare sight in books like this that the mother has the most responsibility and is the one that comes and solves the crisis.

What style have you employed in your products?

I took my main influence from Little Red Riding Hood. I took the general story in whicha child or teenager goes to see a family or family member but they have to go through

some dangerous woods. I adapted this by swapping the roles and making it a wolf which decides to take a shortcut through some woods to get to his family faster. The

wolf gets caught by some hunters and is then saved by his family. I decided to base my story on little red riding hood because it teaches the young

readers to not go off the beaten path and it warns the reader that they shouldnot disobey their mothers orders. My story has the added message that if theyare in trouble, they can guarantee that their mothers will come to their aid. I think that this is an important message to pass on as it is most likely that the

story will be read to them by their mothers which will give them additional trustin them and improve their mother - child relationship.

The visual style I implemented into my story is a cartoon overlay of images that I have takenfrom the internet. I did this to all of my story apart from the main character, the Young Wolf.

For the Young Wolf, I drew the base character in my flat plans. I then scanned it onto the computer and added a cartoon filter, Cutout, in photoshop to make it fit into the rest of mybook. I then added a colour overlay to make it a clear representation of a wolf. I chose this style because my story has some mature connotations that if picked up by a young reader,could bring up interest in subjects that aren’t suitable for them. The cartoon style keeps it

light and playful without having to take out or edit any of my pages.

What were the strengths and weaknesses of the pre-production and planning

The planning and research I did involved reading the Grimm Brothers version ofLittle Red Riding Hood which is called

Little Red Cap. I took the story line from it and switched the plot to make the humans the bad characters and the

wolves the good characters. This helped me develop my basic story hugely as it was my main influence for the entire

plot and for my first draft of my script. I think I managed my time well as all my preplanning tasks were completed in

time and I was able to start developing my story further earlier.

This was my second draft of my script. The main changes I made were to shorten it and remove

the details that were obviously shown in my pages. I did this because the script was too long and there was too much text to read per page. I

decided this was an important problem as someone aged 7 is going to be more interested in

pictures than they are going to be in reading large amounts of text. I also changed the wolf

being caught in a trap to the wolf being stopped by two hunters with guns. I did this as it was too

difficult to make a trap from scratch in photoshop and to also make the wolf look good

whilst inside the trap.

Historical and cultural contextThe tale that I took influence from was Little Red Riding Hood. The main similaritiesfrom it to my tale is the young main character is going to see family through some dangerous woods. They go off track and get caught in a crisis. They are then saved

by an adult. My tale follows the same order of events and mostly the same settings.For example, the main protagonist is on her way to see her family and disobeys her

mother and ends up in trouble. In my tale, the main protagonist goes through woodswhich he has been warned contain dangerous hunters. He then is caught by the hunters.Both tales send the same message which is basically do not disobey your mother’s orders

and do not go off track because you might get lost and be put in danger.

The main difference between my tale and the original tale is that in the original, thewolf is shown as the bad character and the humans are shown as the victim and the

good characters. In my tale, the wolves are shown as the victim and the good charactersand the humans are shown as the bad characters and the ones to cause the crisis. Anotherclear difference in my tale is that the character that saves the protagonist is a male. This iscommon as men are generally shown as stronger and braver in tales from that era. In my

tale, the character that saves the main protagonist is a female. In the current era, it is becoming more and more common that female characters are shown to be strong and brave to show a more fair and equal image throughout society. Also, in animal societies such as wolves, the female of the pack will have the most power and the most status as

have the responsibilities of looking after the young wolves.