Competition Brief - Lad Bible X Adobe

BRIEFING

When initially accessing all of the competition briefs it was a little over whelming. I really like the sound of a majority of them so I had to begin a process of elimination. I wanted to find a brief that would suit me best and my skill set as well as pushing me to learn new skills. I wanted to use photography some how however I wanted to find the perfect brief first. I liked the Hostel world brief and I also liked the sound of Lad bible so I jotted down some ideas for both and started to brain storm some ideas.

The Hostel World brief sparked an interest because I felt like it was more relatable and exciting that the majority of briefs. They wanted to make staying in hostels seem appealing to young travellers and for them to be shown all of the pro's of staying in a hostel. I began to think about what happens in a hostel abroad whilst people are travelling the world. As i'd never stayed in a hostel myself I needed to get the opinions of young travellers. I started to watch youtube videos that people had made of their experiences. Making unforgettable memories seemed to be one of the top pro's so I thought about possibly building on that. I thought about creating a digital hostel room where the tiles would come to life and play other visitors memories. Although at the time this seemed like a good idea I wanted to stick to using photography and possibly use photo manipulation as this was something I wanted to learn more about and I thought this would be the perfect time to do so.

Lad Bible X Adobe

THE BRIEF

I decided to go for the Lad bible X Adobe brief as I liked how open the brief was. I was able to pick any social issue and run with it to create four 'inspirational' images. I went with plastic pollution for what was going to be my plight for change which is what they asked for in the brief. Plastic Pollution is such a big topic at the moment and applies to everybody therefore I felt it would be more relevant to a wide audience therefore has the potential of a wider reach on the Lad bible sites.

I mocked up some images of Photoshop which was also part of the brief to use Adobe to create your images/videos. I thought about using house hold items and or pets and putting them in the position of a sea life creature. My thought process behind this was that if you would never choke your puppy, hamster, goldfish or kitten so why is it acceptable to do that to our sea life?

I filled up a clear plastic bag with water and added in any plastic I could find. I researched into the most common types of single use plastic that would found in the ocean. Bottle caps, drink cartons and beauty product bottles were the most common that I found. I set up a 2 point lighting and back drop and had somebody hold up the bag as if it was being disposed of (Ironic how we dispose of so much plastic whilst simultaneously disposing of our planet at the same time.)

I showed my first mock ups to Xavi and he liked the concept however was unsure that the execution was effective enough. I agreed that It was probably not going to be the most sharable content which is what Lad Bible specified in the brief and that maybe I should create more striking images with close ups of humans/animals.

This is where I decided to add in children to the idea and thought that as posts containing any harm to children usually receive the most attention on social media, this would result in driving traffic to the real problem, Plastic pollution.

My new insight became ' If you wouldn't harm your children and pets why do you do so to our sea life?'

I started to shoot my own images of family members and pets and created a log of photos that I could potentially use for post production.

I found when I began editing the pictures it was quite a complex task as photo manipulation was completely new to me . I searched online for tutorials that showed the basics and from there I picked it up myself slowly but surely and began to experiment with different styles and techniques. I mainly used the layer mask tool to get the rip effect on the images and placed images of plastic behind the main layer.

Overall I found this brief exciting and it was a great opportunity to learn something new and expand my skills in photoshop. I do however feel like I could use some more practice on photo manipulation as it is a very intricate process and can sometimes take hours to complete one image which can be difficult for somebody who is just starting out on mastering that skill. I found working independently on this brief as well as FMP has really benefitted me and I have grown as a creative in terms of production time and skill and being able to make executive decisions about my own work.

FINAL OUTCOMES