Friday, October 2, 2009

Clockwatching

RMIT University
Bachelor if Communicatio (Advertising)
Copywriting
Topical Issues Advertisement

Brief: Create an ad that promotes a brand of choice but does so by utilizing a topical media issue that people can associate with.



I decided with Daylight Savings as my topical issue considering it's my first time experiencing it. The first brand that came to mind was glacéau vitaminwater. I thought it was perfect to associate Daylight Savings with the revive flavor since my research on the topic made me realize that certain people experience a warp in their body clock from that lost hour.

Hence my copy reads "We give back to you what Daylight Savings took away", which means that by reviving yourself with glacéau vitaminwater revive, it would be as if you had never lost that hour from your life.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Metamorphosis

RMIT University
Bachelor of Communication (Advertising)
Creative Practice and Skills
Lab Photoshop Task: Old Woman

Brief: Recreate the lab task of the day by following the given detailed instructions.



Today's task was edit and manipulate an image of a lady to turn half of her old. We had to copy some features of a separate image of an old man and blend them into the lady's face as well as turn her hair white.

Forget what I'd said about last week's task, because this task here is definitely the toughest of the lot. Everyone in class was struggling to keep up today. Considering I'd not gotten much help from the lab instructor and that I had attempted most of the editing on my own (with the help of the given instructions of course), I reckon I didn't do too bad.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Mr Curiosity

RMIT University
Bachelor of Communication (Advertising)
Creative Practice and Skills
Lab InDesign Task: Magazine Layout

Brief: Recreate the provided magazine layout samples.



 

This first magazine layout was during my first Adobe InDesign CS4 lab session at RMIT. The main objective that day was to learn how to design and layout a magazine article.

 
 


 

For this second task, we had to recreate the example layout for pages of a sports magazine. Unlike the first task, this layout is more structural and basic.

This task felt very personal, for it reminded me of my 3 months of internship at Men's Health Magazine Malaysia. Working there, I was only asked to write articles as well as do the typical intern tasks such as photocopying. However, I was always interested in learning how to design the layout for the magazine. There was a day where I was allowed to watch the Creative Director design the front cover and he explained to me certain things while doing so. That had really gotten me that more interested.

So when we were gven the brief and example for these tasks I was excited to learn. And it was not that difficult to design the layouts once I had perfected the basics.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

In Fate's Hands

Hm.. I reckon I'm doing pretty well with this digital portfolio cum advertising bla(h)g of mine. It isn't as complicated as I'd originally imagined it to be when my lecturer, Ms Kerin gave us the brief.

However I did discover that most of my other course mates are using all the fancy digital portfolio programs like bigblackbag.com and what not. Though I'm pretty happy and satisfied with mine so far, knowing that the others have fancy portfolios, I am feeling quite inferior at this moment.

I just hope that Ms Kerin doesn't expect super professional or fancy schmansy portfolios. I just hope my simple blog is satisfactory enough to help me score. Fingers crossed.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Illusions

RMIT University
Bachelor of Communication (Advertising)
Creative Practice and Skills
Lab Photoshop Task: Elephant and Girl

Brief: Recreate the lab task(s) of the day by following the given detailed instructions.



The first lab task today was to insert an elephant into an image of a landscape with a stick. The end result should have the elephant looking like it is holding onto the stick with its trunk and as if it belongs in the image.



Second was to edit the given head-shot of a girl to make it look more unworldly and vibrant.. and pink.

The elephant manipulation was pretty easy to accomplish. Once I got the hang of it, I completed the color editing and masking quite quickly. It was the girl that took up most of the 2 hours of our lab session. There were so many steps to this. I reckon this has got to be, by far the most complicated lab task we've had. But I had managed to complete it by the end of the lab session and I'm glad to say that it is very close to the given sample.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Cupid's Chokehold

KDU College
Diploma in Mass Communication
Music Video

Brief: Produce either a short film, short documentary or music video.



This group task was the final assignment for my Film Studies course. We decided with producing a music video, as it wasn't something many others were doing and well, it was obviously more fun. I was the editor as well as floor manager for this task.

One of my friends suggested her friend's band, Seven. After listening to a couple of their songs, it was unanimous that we use 'Butterflies', sung by former CosmicSpaceMunkys member, Bobo when he was 16.

The music video was heaps fun to shoot. Firstly we got to do this within our "gang", so it was the perfect chance to hang out while doing our assignment. Second was because we did not seek any prior permission to shoot at any of the locations. Hence we had to sneak around doing so, which was exciting. We spent a whole day shooting at all the different locations and it was a day well spent.

Unexpected Places

KDU College
Dilpoma in Mass Communication
"Searching for the Malaysian Identity" Photography Exhibition

Brief: Capture and exhibit photographs that represents the Malaysian identity.






Examples from the series

This was my final assignment for my Photography course, which being a huge fan of photography, I was really excited for. It really tested my photographic skills as well as improved them.

I drew inspiration from the street signs around the city of Kuala Lumpur. Most Malaysian roads are named in Malay, with some after famous and noted Malaysian leaders. These road names also represent our Malaysian multiracial unity, as no leader is spared because of race. There are also roads or streets that are simply famous enough to be recognized as Malaysian. They are so from being some of the busiest tourists' spots in the city.

I decided with a documentary format for my display. This means that my photos would be exhibited as a series, all of them taken from the same angle and with a consistent color palette. I also edited my raw photos by playing with contrast and saturation to increase the vibrancy of the colors. The editing was meant to make my photos look more artistic.



 
Pictures from the exhibition

My photos were accompanied by a statement that says 'Truly Malaysian Names', for these road and street names can only be found in Malaysia. My photo series was also meant to be educational for those who have little or no knowledge of our Malaysian roads.

On the day of the exhibition, seeing my peers admire my photos was a very proud and fulfilling moment. The great reviews I'd received that day were gratifying as well.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Details In The Fabric

KDU College
Diploma in Mass Comunication
Descriptive Essay Task

Brief: Write a short descriptive essay.


(please click to enlarge)

I chose to write a love story because I personally believe that romance are the best genre for descriptive writing. I really enjoyed this task considering I love reading novels and have always been inspired by the amazing descriptions the writers produce. It's these descriptions that make my mind wonder as I read, imagining the characters, settings and scenarios. So I was glad that I got the chance to do the same.

After assessing everyone's work, my lecturer picked out the few that she favored, cropped out the best sections of the story and used them as examples in our following lecture. I'm proud to say that mine was one of the chosen few. That had really made my day.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Stinger

Bros Mosquito Repellent:
"It's what mosquitos would use on mosquitos they don't like."


Boss


Husband


Salesman

It's easy to be complex but difficult to be simple. This campaign by Leo Burnett Warsaw, Poland for Bros Mosquito Repellent strikes precisely with its simplicity of thought. We all have pet peeves and you can't deny that there are some people you just dislike so much that you'd start thinking of bad things you'd want to do to them. And the illustration speaks a lot while still complimenting the copy. I love it.

Friday, September 18, 2009

Infatuation

KDU College
Diploma in Mass Communication
Durex "Prevention, not cure" Campaign

Brief: Create a campaign for a brand of your choice.



This was a group task. Our chosen brand was Durex with the tagline "Prevention, not cure." Our target audience was teenagers and young adults.

Being teenagers ourselves and having friends who are already sexually active, we wanted to promote safe sex. In our advertisements, we highlighted the possible life changes and difficulties that would surface should an underage couple have unprotected sex. We kept everything, from copy to design, short and concise. This print ad was what I came up with and designed.

This assignment was my first go at building a campaign. It was interesting to learn and practice keeping both copy and design consistent throughout.