This is the final image for module 4 of Photography BTEC Level 2. I was award a Distinction in July 2014. This is in addition to the school’s extended learning project, Discarded Beauty.
The BTEC task was to create an advertising images for fictional jewellery company U:Kwenze that would be suitable for their website. My design plan was to present my photos in a graphic novel-style, multi panel assembly.
I had focused on a simple underlying story with the photos of the model. I wanted the detail of the bracelet to be shown through the close ups, and for the entire panel to come together though use of the same velvet fabric, front lighting style and colour temperature. This would enhance the feel that a simple story was being told, that the combined panel was interesting and attention grabbing, and that the bracelet looked good.
It was very hard to get the right images in the right places in the panels to make the story work and for the assemble to look right. Each photo had to be right, I needed the right number of photos and they all needed to be in the right place to work together as a multi panel.
After I had finalised my layout, I added a border to emphases the graphic novel-style layout, and to make the photos stand out. As the overall colour tones for my photos are blue, I knew that I had to choose a contrasting colour. I chose this shade of yellow because it is a very urban colour. It’s like the yellow of the lights on the zebra crossing and the colour of no parking lines in the street.
The combined image draws attention – people want to look at it, and whilst they’re doing that they are also looking at the bracelet. Everything works nicely together and has the urban feel that I wanted. This also appeals to my target audience of younger age girls. The strong fitness for purpose comes from grabbing people’s attention and making the bracelet look attractive. Each photo works on its own as well as the multi panel assembly. If U:Kwenza decided that they wanted to use the photos individually, they could do that as well.
However, I would develop this assembly to make it look and feel even more like a graphic novel. I want to try it as a true ‘story’ graphic novel idea so it has a movement behind it, try out some motion blur with the flash and also use more models as additional characters to make for a better story.