Unit 57 Photography Planning

Task 3- Photo Proposal

The Proposal:

Learner Name: Jamie Heron

Unit & LO: U57 LO3

Tutor: Richard Evans

Title: The plummet into addiction. 

Background:

When I first read the brief for this unit I knew that I wanted to take it into a personal route, so I thought about something personal which I could translate into 3 or 4 photographs and create a story with, that's how I chose alcohol. I have friends and family members who regularly drink alcohol and I remembered a funny story of one of my friends first time drinking. So I decided to take that story and evolve it into a darker story of how someones first drink led them into addiction. These photos will fall into the docu-drama style because I am re-enacting a past experience from my life.  Once I decided that I wanted to shoot documentary styled photos I went through ideas until I remembered the story above, I knew that if I shot the photos right that I could tie in different elements with the narrative and create a thought provoking piece of work, it's also an easy story to tell within 3-4 photos because it is not over-complicated. I am going to use real alcohol to capture the tone of the story but this is also a risk because I do not want my subjects getting intoxicated to the point that they cannot continue with the shoot. 

Scenario: 

The narrative I intend to tell starts with a photo of a young teenage boy pressured into having a drink with a few friends, the next photo finds the same boy passed out drunk on the floor surrounded by empty bottles and vomit. The third photo shows the boy arguing with a relative/close friend about his latest behavior. Finally the fourth photo shows the boy on a street corner homeless and drinking. Once the photos are taken I plan on taking away colour from the photos, in the first photo the lighting will be bright but as the photos and story progresses the light will be replaced by darkness until the final photo where everything will be black and white to fully show the fall into addiction and the overall mood of the characters. 

What is the intended objective/goal:

I am hoping for my photographs to create social awareness about drinking, obviously this doesn't happen everyday but it does happen, some people just fall into an addiction and it is a sad fact about life. I incorporated this into my idea because I wanted to do something documentary related and I chose the theme time and this story goes along well with time because it tells the story of someone's fall into addiction. If I didn't consider these facts then I could risk offending people and also not capturing the right mood with my photographs. The outcome that I am hoping for is to raise awareness of how people fall into addiction and the consequences for the people involved. 

Target Audience:

The target audience for my project varies from young adults all the way to senior adults, anyone at any time can get addicted to something such as drugs or alcohol. This fact could generate the most with the young audience, so this is why I will use them in my photos. By targeting my audience I can bring more attention to my work from people who will actually find it interesting. I could ensure that I reach my target audience by advertising my work in community's where young people hang out or even post it on social media websites. The characters involved with my story is a young teenage boy called Mark and his father David, he comes from a broken home and is surrounded by bad influences. I feel like the target audience I am trying to reach can relate to this because it is common in this area. 

Schedule and Budget:

Deadlines are really important in keeping you focused, if you know a piece of work has to be handed in on a certain day you feel more inclined to complete it, without deadlines you could just let all your work build up and never hand it in. To break down my idea into a time-frame I would decide one day where I would take all of my photos and make sure it is before the deadline that way if anything goes wrong I still have time to correct the mistakes. Some of the challenges I could face include people being unable to make the shoot and faulty equipment. I have created a mood board to show my vision and the mood that I am aiming for with the photos, I have also created a risk assessment to outline any potential risks when shooting and also a schedule for all the people involved so they know when they are needed. I took test shots so I have a clear vision of what it is I am aiming for, so that once the day comes when I shoot I know exactly what I need instead of struggling and taking random shots.

Mission Statement:

I am hoping for my photographs to create social awareness about drinking, obviously this doesn't happen everyday but it does happen, some people just fall into an addiction and it is a sad fact about life. The narrative I intend to tell starts with a photo of a young teenage boy pressured into having a drink with a few friends, the next photo finds the same boy passed out drunk on the floor surrounded by empty bottles and vomit. The third photo shows the boy arguing with a relative/close friend about his latest behavior. Finally the fourth photo shows the boy on a street corner homeless and drinking. It is important to the brief because the way I will shoot the photos will be a documentary style and the theme for them will be time. This story is personal to me because I know people close to me who have fallen into addiction and it has effected their lives in one way or another. I want my photos and story to feel authentic and real, not fake and uninspired.

						Risk Assessment – Check List
				Distribution Production Company Jamie’s Photography Type of Production Photography Title of Production Decay into addiction Date or period this Risk Assessment covers Fr:20/3/14 To:3/4/14 Producer(s) Jamie Heron Location address and Contact No. 6 Alkine Walk

 

HAZARD		HAZARD
Access		Machinery
Animals		Manual handling (attach specific assessment)
Audience / General Public	Y	Mines / excavations / caves/ tunnels/ quarries
Communication Failure		Noise (attach specific assessment)
Gas / Compressed gas		Person with special needs / vulnerable persons
Confined space		Physical exertion
Derelict buildings / dangerous fixtures		Radiation
Electricity / Power		Speed
Fire / Flammable materials		Cleanliness
Slips, Trips, Falls		Vehicles / off road driving
Broken Glass		Violence / Public disorder/ Protest
Hazard substances/chemicals		Water e.g. lake, pool, etc
Extreme heat / cold		Weather
Hostile environment		Working patterns / working hours
Inexperienced performer or children N.B. for children, risk assessment must be provided to parents or guardian		Working at heights
Lifting appliances / machinery		Public Spaces
Traffic
Other (specify)

Details of Activity
Hazards Identified and Risk Arising One of the photos needs to be taken outside in a public area. Members of the public could walk past the shot and ruin it	Risk Assessment and Proposed Precautions  Take the photo when there is not a lot of people around, if there is someone else in the photo get a release form signed
I have read the above and am satisfied that: ·       It constitutes a proper and adequate risk assessment in respect of the programme activity and that the precautions identified above are sufficient to control the risks. Adequate arrangements are in place to communicate the risk assessment findings and to co-ordinate the safety arrangements of all those affected, e.g. site owners, engineers, contractors, freelances, resource, etc
Signature of Producer(s) J Heron   Name (Printed) Jamie Heron Date: 21/3/14
Signature of Tutor ……………………………………  Name (Printed) ……………………. Date …………………………………
A Safety brief will be given every morning when shooting to ensure the safety of the crew and actors

 

Unit 57 Task 2 Primary Research

Before and after images

Below are some of the photos which were taken in the studio, I have opened this photos and altered them in various ways in Photoshop. Below I will explain what changes I have made and why I did them.

Photo 1:

This is a portrait image of me in the studio, but I think the photo is too dark and that it could use more saturation so this is why I chose to edit this photo. I also wanted more of my facial features to stand out so that it would give the impression that I was on a stage and the spotlight was shining down on me.

The first thing I did was increase the brightness of the photo and decrease the contrast using the Brightness and Contrast tool. This was the first step that I took to enhance the brightness of the photo. I did this because the original photo was too dark and with the corrections it makes the photo more brighter and in a way the light shines a spotlight on me which is what I intended.

The next step was to increase the exposure, offset, gamma correction, vibrance and color balance. These tools helped bring out the colors in my cheeks and also the color of my hair, this was done to give the impression that I am wearing makeup. After using all of these tools on my photo I used the Burn tool to bring out more detail in my right eye because it was lacking any color and I wanted both of my eyes to match.

Photo 2:

I thought this picture had a frozen motion feel to it, we was changing the camera settings while this photo was taken. I would say this is similar to a behind the scenes photo from a old movie shoot and most of them was shot in black and white, so this was my main goal in changing this photo. 

The first step I did was changing the brightness and contrast to make the photo black and white. I made this decision because I feel like the black and white effect suits the mood of the photo well. I then used the vibrance tool to bring out more of the features in our face. I did this because I feel like it brings the photo more alive 

Photo 3:

In this photo I wanted to capture the struggle between blood and flesh (god made) versus an object which was man made and see which one would come out victorious, the unstoppable force against the immovable object. I chose the theme Heavy for this particular photo and I wanted it to resemble caveman times when moving heavy objects around was common.

When editing this photo I first used the Quick Select tool to highlight the immovable object and the two characters in the photo and created a new layer once the objects were highlighted, I did this to protect them from the next step. Next I used the Smudge tool on everything which was not highlighted, I did this to make the focus of the photo on what is going on in the middle and also to highlight that the only thought on their mind at this time was to move the object, everything else ceased to matter at that moment in time.

Photo 4:

This photo represents the theme Reflection, the story behind the photo is that the person got lost while looking at his reflection in a window. This window allowed him to reflect on his life so far, all the mistakes he has made and also allowed him to envision his future. 

When editing the photo, I tried to add a surreal effect along with it. I did this by using the Smudge tool on the background and increasing the brightness and contrast. I think the blue tint that the photo has suits the theme perfectly. 

Test Shots

This is one of my test shots for my photos, I was aiming to capture the characters urge to drink by having him stand in the background but have the center of attention in the photo be the bottle. I really like this shot but I don't think it would fit into my overall story. Maybe if I hadn't exceeded the limit (4 photos) I could have added it into the narrative.

This is another one of my test shots, I intended this to be my second photo in the narrative but after taking all of my photos I decided to go with another photo instead. This photo shows the character passing out after having too many drinks.

This is the photo that I went with instead of the one above, I feel like this photo fits more into the narrative because it captures the character after having a couple of drinks and in deep thought about his life and what he has gotten himself into.

This test shot was supposed to be my first photo in the narrative, it shows the character having his first drink. But after considering how each of the photos are connected I decided to not use this photo because it does not explain why the character is drinking, it just jumps right into it.

This is the photo that I decided would suit best for my first photo, unlike the one above you can get a sense of why the character is drinking because he is being peer pressured into it by somebody off screen.

Photography Evaluation

The photograph I decided to take was a picture of the Ghost face character from the Scream series laying drunk on the floor with empty bottles around him, I chose to take this photo because I wanted to parody the character in a different way that hasn't been seen before. 

I didn't want to take a expected photograph of the horror character stalking his victim or anything related to the franchise, I wanted to take the photograph beyond the horror genre and add a comedy vibe to the photo. I came up with the idea of making the character drunk from the film Scary Movie which parodies the Scream movies and also the Ghost Face character. In the film the character says "I need to stop drinking" and this is where the idea originated from.

This is the photo that I took, The settings I used were f-stop 11, a shutter speed of 1/4s and ISO 200. I was trying to make the photo blurred in places to give the effect of the character being drunk. 

And this is a enhanced version of my photo after I added shadows and highlights to it, I was trying to add the drunken effect to the photograph.

In the future I need more practice with the camera to become more aware of the features and how to use them. I could frame the photo better and also take advantage of the shutter speed and f-stop to add more blur to the photo.