Evaluation...

Evaluation

When receiving this circular narrative brief i was a little aprehensive as i wasn't one hundred percent sure what a 'circular narrative' was and i was unsure of the idea of being given a starting image which you have to use at the start and end of your series. But, i like a challenge so decided to try and get a better understanding of a 'circular narrative' first before attempting to come up with a narrative. After watching several films for example Momento and Fight Club  i had an increased understanding of the concept and thought i was ready to tackle my given image. 

When i first saw the image it instantly gave me a negative feeling because of it being in black and white and the composition of the image with the closed door. I started brainstorming and came up with the words 'behind closed doors', i automatically knew that this could be part of my idea and thought i could use it as a working title. After having this working title it was much easier for me to come up with an idea/narrative to go with it. 

 My initial idea was to base my narrative around an NSPCC campaign and create a narrative for each of the rooms (doors which you can see on the image).  I started off researching into NSPCC campaign posters to try and get a feel for the kinds of images included although whilst in a feedback session it was suggested that i base my idea more on an NSPCC TV advert so that i can show all of my images, as a poster is more often just one image and for someone to look at very quickly, from this point on i looked into previous NSPCC TV adverts to get inspiration. After watching several i felt i had enough of an idea to start shooting.

 My first idea was set out as the room which had the door that had been left ajar would contain a daughter who was being abused by her father, and the room with the closed door would contain a police officer after work one night watch television. There was a lot of dispute with this idea in the group feedback session, one problem being that a room with the abused child in probably wouldn't have left the door open as the father is probably trying to hide what he is doing, the second problem was that it would show the police officer in a bad light because he didn't notice the abuse going on across the hall. Instead of the police officer i decided i would change it to a happy family of two children with a mother and a father, then i could show the difference between their lives even though they live in the same block of flats.

 After deciding on my final idea i started to take pictures. I didn't want the images to look posed so i decided to use my nieces and nephew as my models for the children characters as i live close by and they know me very well so are relaxed with me meaning i can get natural images as they are used to me being around with my camera. I wanted to show the narratives for each of the flats by picturing them during their daily routine of breakfast. 

When i had taken a sufficient amount of images i then went through them and chose the ones which i felt portrayed my idea best. I didn't want to just hand in the images as their immobile state and as i was aiming this brief at a NSPCC child abuse campaign for a TV advert i decided to put the images together into a video and add some sound and text. I had never used iMovie before but i felt that now was the time to start, i researched into songs which are used in adverts like this and finally chose 'You are my sunshine' by Elizabeth Mitchell as i felt the feel of the song and the lyrics really portray my idea. I also added some text on the last image to finish off the video and give it that NSPCC feel.

After finishing my video i decided to show it to friends and family to get feedback and a lot of people said it would help them understand the narrative more if the images at the start of the video of the happy family had more colour in them and were slightly less unsaturated, so i decided to test out adding more colour to those images. After more feedback it was found that the video with more colour in the first images sent a clearer message of the narrative to the audience so i stuck with this version as my final finished video.

If i had the chance to do this project again i would try to learn more about iMovie first before attempting to produce an advert, i struggled with time as i was learning how to use iMovie at the same time as i was trying to meet a deadline. 

Feedback...

After finishing my video i decided to show it to my friends and family to get some feedback on it, a few people suggested that i add more colour into the first few images in the video, the images of the 'happy family', as they felt this would make the narrative clearer and show the difference between the two situations better. I decided to do this and then show people both videos and see their reactions.

Here is the edited video...

After showing friends and family the new video they agreed that it was clearer when the first images have a little bit more colour in them. I am happy with the video now and glad that i got other peoples opinions as when working on it for so long you sometimes cannot see the faults within it.

Behind Closed Doors- finished advert and images

I decided not to add the voiceover to the advert and instead add the text i was going to put into the voiceover onto the last image of the door. I also decided not to add the sound of the children going down the stairs as i thought the images create a good enough idea in the viewers head of the narrative.

Here is the finished video...




I am really happy with the video/advert as it is my first time using any software to do with video and moving images, i was surprised that i managed to add text and sound to the video and found it really fun and interesting to do and will definitely use iMovie in the future.

Here are the images in their original format...

Development of the advert...

After watching my initial attempt at making my images into a video i realised there was too much negative space around the images which made it hard for the audience to focus.


I have uploaded my second attempt which still has images to be added to it and various sounds although i am still just focusing on the look of the video and the panning of the images.




I feel the continuity of the images is better in this video and it blends more as a narrative, i will add the remaining images, the voiceover, and sound to one of the images and then ill be done.

Playing around with iMovie...

As i wanted to base my target audience on a tv advert i wanted to attempt to put my images into a short video and by adding a voiceover over the images and maybe some music i could create a realistic tv advert.

Here is my attempt with a few images...
( i have added a link to the video i uploaded to youtube as blogger wouldn't upload my video for some reason)

http://youtu.be/zMKFWYi1pKU

I am trying to get to grips with the zooming in and out etc of iMovie as i have never used this software

or any like it before.

Choosing a background song...

On most of the NSPCC adverts i have watched there has been a narrative voiceover and then quietly in the background some soft music. I have been looking for an appropriate song to go with my images and after researching into various different songs i have chosen 'You are my sunshine' by Elizabeth Mitchell. Even though the music behind the lyrics in this song is quite cheerful i think the words really match what i am trying to show in my images.

Here is the song...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmZRKViPk9w

Lyrics...

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are gray
You'll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away.

The other night dear, as I lay sleeping
I dreamed I held you in my arms
But when I awoke, dear, I was mistaken
So I hung my head and I cried.

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are gray
You'll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away.

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are gray
You'll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away.
Please don't take my sunshine away.
Please don't take my sunshine away.

I also would like to add on top of the background sound an overlaying voiceover with text so that it looks like a mock up of an NSPCC tv advert.

The text i would like to be on the voiceover i have chosen based on listening to many NSPCC tv adverts,

Nobody knows what happens behind closed doors

Look for the signs and you could help children in need

lets come together to stop child abuse, full stop.

I am going to overlay this voiceover only when the images of the abuse child come into the video so that this helps the viewers distinguish between the images of the unsaturated colours (happy) and black and white images (abused).

Also when this image is shown in the video...

I am going to attach the sound of the happy family going out of the door and down the stairs to school, so that it shows the abused child we see above is listening at the door of the happy family going out to school.

TV adverts...

When discussing my target audience i decided on the NSPCC although decided it was best to aim my images at tv adverts rather than posters as i had a series of images and sound that would be more suited to a moving video rather than a still poster.

I have looked at several clips of NSPCC adverts for inspiration:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KglWBx5R8I&feature=related

Most of these adverts, if not all, are moving video although i feel if i can smoothly connect my images to flow from one to another using some sound i can create a video of stills in which the viewer can make up their own narrative behind the story. I think it will look really effective starting and ending on the same image.

I have also noticed all of the adverts are shot in black and white, sepia or unsaturated colours which is to set the atmosphere of the theme. This is how i have decieded to colour my images aswell so that it fits with the theme.

There is also usually a song in the background and then a male voice narrating over the top of the song.

Researching into the working title...

Behind closed doors is my working title and it came to me instantly when i saw my given image. I based my idea around my working title. I wanted to research into the idea of 'behind closed doors' as it is a widely known and well used phrase which has a stereotypical theme behind it.

I found many companies etc called behind closed doors, one being a women's domestic abuse support service but more importantly to my idea i found a CBBC Newsround website special called behind closed doors. This regarded the issue of children witnessing domestic abuse.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/17352577

This is the Newsround special ^

This obviously is based on a different kind of abuse to the one i am focusing on but it shows the relation to the words behind closed doors and what meaning is carried with those words.

I also found a short film called Behind Closed Doors on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9InaUJm0A8

Which is actually about a monster in a little boys bedroom wardrobe although you can see the anger between father and child in this video which reflects the ideas behind my narrative.

Development...

Throughout the second feedback session we discussed little things that would make my series more interesting, for example when photographing the happy family to use very unsaturated colours although not black and white so that we can clearly see the difference between the families.

We also discussed the idea of the NSPCC poster and the majority of my peers and tutors said that they think of posters as one big image as a poster is a quick way of giving people information. my series may be more suited to an NSPCC television advert campaign. There was also a suggestion of using sound together with one of my images, I wanted to do an image of the abused child peering upon the happy family out on their way to school although this would'nt fit in with the way i allocated the doors as the open door belonged to the happy family and the closed door to the abused child and single father, instead of confusing things with the doors it was suggested that i do an image of the abused child pressing her ear against her closed door and, using sound, attach the sound of the children from the happy family coming out of their flat and walking down the stairs on their way to school.

I started off photographing the happy family, during their daily routine of getting up and ready for school. I used desaturated colours so that it left a little bit of colour which can be differentiated from the black and white (abused) images.

Instead of the images telling the whole narrative i would like the images to be like stills from a moving video. 

Feedback session...

After attending the first feedback session on circular narrative i have a lot of things to consider.
The main issue with my proposal was that the police could be portrayed in the wrong way, after a lengthy discussion we came up with a solution.

Also that some of the planned images were too literal and i needed to be more subtle when telling the narrative through images. I need to make sure i keep all my images portrait so that they follow the same theme as the starting and ending image.

Here is my revised proposal...

Proposal

Working title: Behind closed doors.

After recieveing my starting image i had mixed feelings on how my circular narrative could develop. I had several initial ideas but the one that grasped me the most was a more sincere, deep and negative narrative. This was unusal for me because i'm not usually drawn towards this side of photography. 

My starting image (no.9) is of a closed door and the light from the door facing, which has been left ajar, is reflecting onto it. I wanted to create a narrative for both of the rooms and draw them in together to create a story, including the viewpoints from each character.

In the room that is slightly ajar  i want to show a happy, content working class family going about their daily routine, and in the room opposite (closed door) a child that has been abused in some way by a parent/carer. Showing the narrative developing by changing between the viewpoints of each of the characters.

I want to keep the series in black and white to help the narrative flow and keep a consistency throughout the images. 

My first image would be my given image of the doors, my second would be of the family eating breakfast looking generally happy and getting ready for school. My third image would be of the opposite room with the closed door, in this image would be a child in her bedroom curled up on her bed, the light from the window just showing subtle features of her face and a single tear under her eye. My fourth image would be of the parent of this child in the kitchen, sat at the table eating his breakfast. My fifth image would be a close up of the parents hand holding his cereal spoon showing his scarred knuckles . My sixth image would be of the family, the mother in the kitchen handing out the lunchboxes and getting ready to leave for school, my seventh image would be of the family walking out of their flat door and across the hall the abused child watching from the doorway. The final image would be the starting image of the door.

I feel this idea could become a campaign advert for childline/NSPCC etc, the message being that even people who live just across the hallway are sometimes unaware of abuse that is happening so close to them. This is why it is important for organisations like childline to have campaigns of this nature including visual posters with phone numbers, so that children have a lifeline.

Campaign Posters

I have been researching into the NSPCC to see how they have done previous child abuse campaign posters. I wanted to focus on the facial expressions of the child models that have been used. In campaigns by the NSPCC and other child help services you never really see the model crying it is always portrayed in the eyes.

My circular narrative will not just have one image as it is a series of images although i could assemble the images like a story board if it were to be used as a campaign poster. Then i would add text to go with the images which would complete the campaign poster.

Here are some of the campaign posters i have been analysing:

http://www.nspcc.org.uk/Inform/publications/nspcc_helpline_poster_1_wdf69604.pdf

They show a simple message from a single image, text underneath the image explains about the NSPCC, what they do and how they can help. It always states that the person used on this poster is just a model.

Wendy Mcmurdo

When I had decided on my circular narrative i wanted to research into some photographers who may use the same concept as me, as i wanted to use a young child in my photography i decided to start off by researching Wendy Mcmurdo.

In her project 'In a shaded place, the digital and the uncanny' she has used software to replicate the child to make out to the viewer that it is in fact twins. I wanted to focus more on the facial expressions of the children in her work as almost every child she has used look like their heads are somewhere else, that they are thinking about something else and that they have some sort of troubles at home.

I have focused on this as my initial idea is to use my circular narrative as a campaign about child abuse. I need to make sure i portray the correct message in my images by having the correct facial expressions on my characters.

Proposal

Proposal

Working title: Behind closed doors.

After recieveing my starting image i had mixed feelings on how my circular narrative could develop. I had several initial ideas but the one that grasped me the most was a more sincere, deep and negative narrative. This was unusal for me because i'm not usually drawn towards this side of photography. 

My starting image (no.9) is of a closed door and the light from the door facing, which has been left ajar, is reflecting onto it. I wanted to create a narrative for both of the rooms and draw them in together to create a story, including the viewpoints from each character.

In the room that is slightly ajar  i want to show a police officer/person of high authority relaxing and watching tv after returning from work, and in the room opposite (closed door) a child being abused in some way by a parent/carer. Showing the narrative developing by changing between the viewpoints of each of the characters.

I want to keep the series in black and white to help the narrative flow and keep a consistency throughout the images. 

My first image would be my given image of the doors, my second would be of the police officer in uniform in a dark room with just the light of the television on, the officer completely relaxed and focused on the television. My third image would be of the opposite room with the closed door, in this image would be a child crouched on the floor in the corner and the parent standing over him/her with a stern look on his/her face. My fourth image would be of the knuckles of the father, cut, bruised and bleeding. My fifth image would be a close up of the childs face bruised and battered. My sixth image would be the same one of the officer sat in his chair watching the television totally unaware of the terrible situation developing across the hall and the final image would be the starting image of the door.

I feel this idea could become a campaign advert for childline/NSPCC etc, the message being that even people in authority who are there to help the public are sometimes unaware of abuse that is happening so close to them. This is why it is important for organisations like childline to have campaigns of this nature including visual posters with phone numbers, so that children have a lifeline.