TRC MEDIA AWARDS The Evaluation

The Audience -My target audience for the TRC Media Awards are students between the ages of 15-20, TRC staff and also family members of various ages. -Therefore my products are none gender specific and are suitable for all ages. -Students will be able to access the posters around college and the invitations will be sent home to parents or careers.

TRC Media Awards… …Poster

Pre-Production -I started by designing my reel by lightly drawing on the lino slate with a pencil. -The only problem I had with this was the pencil was too light and I had to go over it in pen

Linocut Production -I used the pen lines as a guide of what to leave when I was linocutting. -I made sure I was cutting away from myself to prevent accidentally cutting myself. -The only problem I had was it took a week to linocut as I was ensuring I didn’t make any mistakes.

Press Production -I didn’t have any problems when pressing my reel product as I made sure there wasn’t any raised areas that would get covered in ink -I let the ink dry over the weekend after press production so that I could scan the paper without the ink ruining the printer

Editing Production -Editing the reel on Photoshop was difficult as I set the image to CMYK colouring and it was difficult to judge how it will print. -It was also difficult choosing the brightness and font for the text, as I wanted to reflect the cinematic theme through the text

Final Poster Product

-I changed the opacity of the images I used on Photoshop to create a washed out effect. -Each of the reels have the same effects on them for consistency; I added a colour overlay as either a red, green or blue and set the opacity of this layer to 50%, then added a drop shadow with a distance of 10px

Final Poster Printing Techniques -I used a digital printing technique as the posters are not being produced on a large scale such as newspapers and national posters, therefore I wouldn’t need to use mechanical printing techniques -A Toshiba Printer in the Reprographics Department will print my products on A3 paper

Final Poster Finishing Techniques -My final poster is printed on A3 gloss paper by the reprographics department at Thomas Rotherham College to create a professional finish. -They will be placed on the walls in the Media Department as the poster is targeted towards Media Students

Final Poster Critical Analysis -I think this product is successful as it connotes the creativity of media and the linocut aesthetic is still evident on the reel design. -The reels connote balloons that are rising into the sky which represent the constant and rising success of students -It clearly states its intentions to advertise the TRC Media Awards as well as the location of the event. -I think it is an appropriate design for my Target Audience as it isn’t immature for the audience and its simplicity is easy to understand by careers who may not understand the connotations

TRC Media Awards… …Invitation

Pre-Production -I drew my ticket onto the lino in pen this time as I learnt the pencil wasn’t clear enough -I used a ruler to make sure the lines were straight

Linocut Production -To save time, I decided to linocut along the ink lines rather than around it -The reason I did this was because I spent so long linocutting the reel and I was on a deadline to complete both final products

Press Production -After applying the ink and pressing the lino piece onto plain A4 paper -The black areas are what I needed to cut out using the tools in the Baren kit, however I can invert this on Photoshop

Editing Production -I inverted the colouring of the document so that the black areas were whit, which made it easier to use the paint brush to add a creamy colour -I was then able to upload images onto the ticket, as well as text

Final Invitation Product

-To create the effect on the texts, I used a website following step by step instructions to create a stamp effect, high passing the text on a separate document, then adding a Gaussian blur effect and diffusing the image -This is the website which I used: ( (

Final Invitation Printing Techniques -I again used Digital Printing Techniques for the invitation design as they weren’t needed to be produced on a large scale. -A Toshiba industry printer from the reprographics department will print this product for quickness and higher quality.

Final Invitation Finish Techniques -The invitation will be printed on white A4 card so that parents or careers are able to write on and return the invite. -The invitations themselves will only be the size of half the A4 sheet, so to save costs on print, two will be printed per A4 sheet and I will use a paper guillotine to half the invites, which may be time consuming but will cost less.

Final Invitation Critical Analysis -I think the overall idea of my Invitation is good, however the design doesn’t reach the same standard as my poster. -The foreground with the reel design imprinted is a good design, as it connotes the TRC Media Awards and adds colour to the ticket, however the text lets the design down as it doesn’t have the same creativity as the design. -The text also makes the image appear to have a more clipart aesthetic than a cinematic aesthetic.

Final Invitation Critical Analysis -Personally, I feel as though the ticket suites the target audience as it has an old cinematic feel to it which can create nostalgia for parents or careers and also suites the media connotations for the students.

TRC Media Awards… …Lessons learned

What I have learnt in this unit… -In this Unit I have learnt the safety of cutting away from yourself in linocutting -I have also learnt the importance of connotations of the images and that symbolization plays a vital role in being able to understand the image which also makes it aesthetically pleasing. -Another thing I have learnt is I need to divide my time between the two products rather than focusing on perfecting just one design

TRC MEDIA AWARDS The Evaluation