Artefact Lesson 25th Jan

So-today was the deadline day! I basically spent the lesson tweaking things on my blog and in my sketchbook-I managed to finish my shoe at the weekend, although I did have some difficulties when one side of my shoe collapsed slightly and needed reinforcing. Unfortunately I wasn't able to do much, but I think it should still be alright.
We will be given feedback on our work just before half-term, then we can make any last minute changes before we get our final mark. We're also starting a new unit-Performance-so this could be my last blog post! Overall I have enjoyed this unit, despite the hard work, and hopefully I have done the best I can and got a fairly good mark.

Campaign Unit-Overall Strengths and Weaknesses

One of the main aims of our campaign was to raise awareness a particular charity shop and the need for better quality donations. We tried to publicise our charities by making posters, adverts and performing assemblies and workshops to children at Browick Road Infant School. Overall I think we did a lot of hard work; the rehearsing and planning took a long time, as well as documenting everything on our blogs, visiting our charity shops and attempting to collect donations. I think one of the weaknesses was that the posters up around Wymondham High didn't attract enough attention as we wanted; students and teachers are generally too busy to stop and look at the posters very much. Also, organising a fundraiser event near Christmas is always difficult as people have too much other stuff on their minds around that time and lots of other charities are trying to raise money as well.
To conclude, I think we did everything we could to make it work but sometimes it is difficult to get others interested and raise enough awareness. Big charities use the media to get people involved but we weren't able to do that. Although we did put a lot of work into it, so I hope we don't fail!

Final Decision-What We Will Include

Obviously as part of our campaign we will include our posters with our Charity Monsters logo, but instead of creating a TV ad and broadcasting it across the school we have rehearsed an assembly which we will perform to primary school children to try and teach them about charity and donating. This is known as Theatre in Education (TIE) and is used across schools to try and help them learn about a serious issue, while also making it fun and interesting for them to watch. We are also hoping to include a workshop in classrooms to try and m ake the children feel involved and show then how to share and why we give to charity.

The Shakespeare Theatre Company using TIE to educate schoolchildren.

Poster Ideas

This is one of the posters we designed, which features The Charity Monster logo attempting to shut a wardrobe bulging out because there's too much stuff in it. The idea behind this was to encourage people to clear out their cupboards before Christmas, when they're going to receive lots of new toys, clothes etc. It is more aimed at adults and staff who would probably be more interested in having a clear-out, although we also made a similar poster with The Charity Monster logo wrapped up as a present to make peole think about donating; using The Charity Monster as a mascot is good as it's very cute and would appeal to lots of different people so it was important to use him in all of posters.

Our TV Advert-Storyboard

Our idea for our TV advert was based on a old Chewits advert from 1986. Based on the old 'Godzilla' film it features a huge T-Rex dinosaur terrorising London; ripping up bridges, eating kiosks and stamping on buildings. The only way they can tame this monster is to feed him Chewits. I think this advert is very efective as it's something quite unique that would stick in people's minds, and it's also mocking a very well-known film that now looks ridiculous. Despite being just 36 seconds, it gets its message across-adverts don't need to be more than 40 seconds long.
http://www.youtube.com/Search Chewits advert 1986

Our storyboard was similar, except it featured our logo 'The Charity Monster', scaring the people by appearing really ferocious when he is actually putting a sack full of good, happy donations outside The Children's Society charity shop. Suddenly everyone is happy for the charity and right at the end our logo flashes onscreen, with the caption' Give a Monster of a Donation'. It's designed to be recognised as a cover of a well-known film and advert, as well as being quite funny and happy at the same time as getting the message of donating across. The Charity Monster is a good mascot to have as he looks very cuddly and would appeal to children-we need children to want to donate their toys so this is important.

Preparation for Campaign

Target Audience

Because we will be working at Wymondham High we will be aiming our campaign at teenagers and our advertising will try and appeal to them to encourage them to get involved and donate to our relevant charities. This should be easy as we are teenagers ourselves, so we can think about our own interests and what would be effective to use if we were advertising to ourselves. For example, images of sadness or cruelty, or suffering children and animals will hopefully affect people and make them think about getting involved in charity work. However I think it could be quite difficult to persuade teenagers as they have a lot to do and worry about, with schoolwork and general teenage anxieties, and can sometimes be self-absorbed so I think we really need to shout for them to hear us.

Health and Safety

There are some health and safety issues we need to consider while doing this unit. When going out into Wymondham town we need to be careful about roads and traffic, going into any dodgy shops and being aware of horrible people who might be after us!

Also. if we go into a primary school to do an assembly or presentation with the children we may not be allowed to take photos, even if they are just to put on our blogs. People can get to our blogs via Google and the Internet so if parents don't want their child's picture taken we have to respect their privacy.

Budget

I don't think we need to worry about a budget that much; obviously we don't want to spend a ridiculous amount on our advertising but I don't think we need to complete our campign unit and raise donations.

Artefact Lesson 11th Jan

Well unfortunately I am quite a bit behind on my shoe as I had a Modrock disaster (see previous blog for more info!) and I now haven't finished tissue papering my shoe last! I have a genuine concern it will NOT be ready for 25th Jan but maybe I just need to work harder and have a bit more faith!