Digital Graphic Narrative Planning

Use this booklet to help structure your planning and collate your planning documents.

Considerations:

There are lots of things to consider in this project. Fill out each section in detail to show you have thought about each one. You should imagine that this is a live project, so considerations like cost, quantity and codes of practice must be thought about in that context rather than just as a college project.

Costs:

The costs that will affect me are minimal in this project. All of the artwork is based on a digital platform, and I

am also authoring and illustrating the book myself. I have made no financial expenditures related to and during this project. Although I am using resources that I have bought previous to the project, for example my

memory stick and my computers Microsoft office applications. If this was a professional project then the expenditures would be very high, for example an author would need to be paid to write and an illustrator to draw. The book would need to be reviewed by a paid publisher before they take the book on (if it meets the

quality standards). Available resources:

I have all the resources I need for this project, and more available to me. The most important resources I have available to me are the computers with internet access and editing software (Photoshop). I have also used a

DSLR for images I have taken, although they have not directly contributed to the production of my storybook. The resources I am using that are not made available by the college are my own personal computer, software, internet and memory stick.

Quantity:

The quantities related to my project are very simple, such as quantity of pages, illustrations and text. All

factors that are directly related to the physical book itself. If this were a professional project then the quantities would be related to a much larger variety of factors. For example the amount of copies printed, the amount of

sales expected, the amount of money spent on the book-a very important quantity factor, and more.

Audience and Target Market:

The target audience of my book are children ages 7-9. Meaning that there will be less ‘parental targeting’ as

the children of that age are usually mature enough to choose their own books and many of them can or are beginning to read by themselves. The class of my target audience will be ABC1 as they are the middle class majority that have the disposable income available to purchases books such as mine. The market I will be

targeting will be the one based around childrens reading and enjoyable education-such as learning books.

Quality Factors:

The quality of my work is based on a variety of factors, including personal effort and skill, alongside the availability and the quality of my resources. I personally put all the possible effort into my work, and using

what I would see as a good amount of skill. Time keeping is a factor that I could work on, as it is often inconsistent whilst I get the grip of a particular section of the project and the 3 steps of certain project parts; As each section has the slow learning process, then the fast understanding and enjoyment, and lastly the

slower part as actions become repetitive and dull. The resources I am using are all of high quality, although this isn’t the case on my personal computer, as I do not have the software’s and processing power of the

computer systems in college. If I had the same availabilities at home as I do in college then my work would likely be of a higher quality, as I’d have more time to polish up my work.

Codes of Practice:

The codes of practice are based upon how a publisher interacts with an author in the process of writing a book. The codes of practice do not apply to me, as I am not creating a professional project. Although if I was,

there are a number of codes that I would need to follow and respect. The most important of the codes are likely the financials, as they play a huge part in getting the story from a small idea to a mass production of

books. These financials include the sums the publisher pays the author as he produces the book that they are interested in, but in return for these payments the author must produce a high quality book and to a particular time schedule. If the codes of practice are not followed, the publisher will likely push for its expenditure on the

author back as in the end it was all a waste of time.

Regulation:

There are regulations surrounding the production of books, as there are with any other commercially available product. Many children’s books fall under the category of toys and games, as they include more than just text and illustrations. For example books with pop up images and textures. These regulations do not apply to my

book, as my book does not fall under the category of toys and games. The regulations applicable to my book are the obscene publications act and equality act, although my book is suited to meet the requirements, so

there are no violations that may cause problems. There are regulations surrounding the use of screens and especially computer screens. The regulations state that for every hour you use the screen, you should take 5 minutes to focus on different

Copyright:

Copyright is the act where one cannot use the physical or intellectual property of the copyright holder. For example, I would not be allowed to use a modern, copyright owned story in my children’s book. Although I am allowed to use an old story with no copyright laws or an outdated one. This is why I am using the story of little

red riding hood, as it holds no copyright laws, meaning I can use it as much as I want, and make profit from it (if it was a professional project).

Ethical Issues:

Ethical issues are issues surrounding people’s opinions and beliefs, often spiritual, cultural and religious. Ethical issues are applicable to almost everything, as everyone has there own personal opinions and beliefs.

There are ethical issues that I can realise could potentially be aimed at my story. These include issues surrounding the talking wolf, and the harm placed on the wolf at the end. It is common for traditional tales used in children’s books to have light gender stereotypes, such as a large strong man saving the typical

young lady. These could cause ethical issues as gender stereotypes are wrong for obvious reasons.

Resources:

A successful project relies on good planning. Considering all the resources you will need for a project and then assessing which you already have and which you need will help ensure you are ready to start your project.

If there is a resource you don’t currently have, then consider how you are going to get it before you go in to production.

Resource:

Do you have

it? What do you need to do to get it?

Camera Yes

Photoshop Yes

Internet Access Yes

Memory stick. Yes

Production Schedule:

Delivering your project on time is vital. In order to do this, you need a solid plan of action. This will help you divide up your work in to manageable chunks to be tackled one at a time. It will also allow you to plan which tasks need to be done in which order. It will also allow you to track your progress each day. If you are falling behind, you will need to modify the way you work. If you work

faster than expected, you can clearly see what the next steps you need to take are.

Each session is a half day of college.

Session 1:

Create my main characters:

Little Red Riding Hood.

Wolf.

Granny.

Session 2:

Finish my characters and begin environments.

Create Woods/ Trees & Flowers

Finish Characters.

Session 3:

Begin to create scenes using my characters and environments for the first couple of pages.

Complete page 1 &2 illustrations.

(Leaving house + Meeting Mr Wolf.

Session 4:

Complete page 3&4 illustrations.

(Speaking to Mr Wolf & Hunting For Flowers)

Session 5:

Complete page 5&6 illustrations.

(Wolf Eats Granny & Little Red Riding Hood Arrives)

Session 6:

Complete page 7&8 illustrations.

(Big ears speech & Wolf Attack)

Session 7:

Complete page 9&10 illustrations.

(Hunter Saves Granny And Little Red Riding Hood & Fills Wolf With Stones)

Session 8:

Complete page 11

Little Red Riding Hood Explains Morals Behind Story.

Session 9:

Add text to each page (1-11).

Session 10:

Health and safety:

Your health and safety and that of those around you is very important. Just like in industry, an accident could prevent you from working. Whilst we don’t work in a highly dangerous environment, there are still risks. Some are short term, such as trips and

spillages whilst others, such as long term damage to eyesight or back problems, may affect you much later in life.

Consider the risks based on the activities you will be undertaking during the project. Explain how you could prevent them from happening.

Ensure you reference appropriate pieces of legislation, design to protect people at work.

Health and Safety Issue How can you prevent it?

I could gain eyesight problems from staring at a screen for long periods of time.

I can prevent this by taking breaks in order to relax my eyes.

I could trip over my bag. Move my bag into an area out of the way.

Could trip over computer cables. Move to the nearest plug socket in order to prevent having to have the cable stretch across the floor.