Unit 7 - Website
One More Light Fund - Music For Relief
The one more light fund was made to raise money after Chester Bennington died. They raised money by holding a memorial concert for him, and they sent the money off to Chesters favourite charities, Music for relief, Solar Suitcases and to shine light on mental health.
These are posters that they made to raise awareness for the concert to support chester Bennington.
Ehlers Danlos UK
EDS-UK raise awareness and money for people living with the Ehlers Danlos Syndromes.
They held this conference for people with the disease or carers and they spoke about all of their new research.
Narrative :
A narrative is a picture or a selection of pictures that tell a story. They make the viewers ask questions about what is going to happen in the next frame or shot.
Sophie Calle - Narrative Photographer
Sophie Calle follows people around and takes pictures of people living their life. Her narrative is that she follows around peoples lives and it makes people question what are they doing and where are they going. She also took pictures in a hotel where she worked and took pictures of their possessions. This made the viewers think about who lived here and what are the people like. I like this idea because it is unique and it is a different way to tell a story that is candid.
Typologies
Typologies are taking pictures of the same things but with slightly different results. I used this as my inspiration as it makes the viewers question where these different places are or what the meaning of the places is to the photographer.
Making a Narrative Piece:
Plan:
I decided to take pictures of different water coolers around the college. I would have people in the images and they would be doing different things in each shot. The questions that would come up from these shots would be: Where are they? What are they doing? Who are they?
This is my contact sheet. I decided on taking pictures of doors and water coolers. This is because i could not find 9 water coolers in the building with the amount of time. However the theme of mystery is stronger than the previous plan as many people will not be able to see the link between the two objects, however the pictures of the doors were taken on the same floor as the water cooler, which makes them link together. It could also make the viewers wonder where the doors lead too.
Editing Pictures:
To the left is how I edited my images. I used the same style of editing in each image, this ws to make them brighter as there wasnt avery good exposure in any of the images, and then added contrast and brightness to make them stand out more. I decided to shoot in colour because I feel like it gives the images more of a link. It creates a link between each image which shows that they were all taken in different places but they are similair.
Evaluation:
I changed my theme from the plan. This is because I could not find enough water coolers to take pictures off. I changed my theme to make my theme include doors. The doors link to the water coolers because they are all on the same floor. It was the surroundings of the water cooler.
These images were hard to take as there wasn't much good lighting. This made it hard to expose the images well so I had to edit them a lo on Photoshop. They all came out blurry because I had to have a low shutter speed to capture light. The low shutter speed captured the movement so they were blurry.
Brainstorming Campaigns:
Cats Protection League:
My first idea was to look at the Cats protection League, but specifically looking at black cats and how they are less likely to be adopted. My website could focus on how they are just as loving as any other cats. I have two black kittens so I could use them as the models for the pictures in my project. I could take pictures of my other two colourful cats and then edit the pictures in photoshop to show how they are both worthy of love and they are both cute.
RSPCA Animal Abuse:
This is the second organisation that I am looking at. I could create a website on this because my two kittens were abandoned and someone hurt Winnie making her blind in one eye. They could be my model and I could show how they are cute and do not deserve to be hurt.
Final Idea:
I have decided to look at Black cat awareness for my website. I have chosen this over the RSPCA because I think I will be able to show the organisation better in my images than with the other organisation.
I have decided that I will use my cats at home to show that they are just as loving as other coloured cats and that they need homes too.
these are some posters about black cats. They are all raising awareness for black cats and promoting how they are less likely to be adopted due to superstition. They all have statistics on the picture showing how black cats are less likely to be rehoused.
I can use Photoshop to add the writing to my pictures, which will create awareness for the cats Protection League and their black cat awareness campaigns.
This is my first contact sheet. I took pictures of my kittens as a practise shoot because they are hard to take pictures of. I found it hard to get the exposure right because they kept running around and i had to keep changing the shutter speed due to the change in lighting. A lot of the images were also blurry because they kept fighting each other and in some places in my house it is dark so i had to have a low shutter speed but then it capture their movement.
I took these pictures in the cats natural habitat so that they would not be stressed out. I will need to edit them so that they fit the audience and the theme of the website. I doubt many of these images will come out okay because there was a lot of harsh light coming through so there may be too much contrast in the pictures.
First Edit:
This is the first edit that I have made. i shot this in RAW so that I would have more editing abilities. I lowered the exposure and the whites, and added more contrast and clarity so that Winnie was clearer. To add the text I used the Text Tool. I changed the font style and the layout of the font with the advanced ext tool. I squashed the text in slightly so that it fit onto the screen, and elongated it so that it was larger and easier to see. I then used Blending Options to add a drop shadow to the text so that it became more 3D. This stopped it from sinking in to the background of the poster. After that I added another piece of text about the likelihood of black cats being adopted compared to colourful cats. I edited this text by making it smaller than the previous text, and squashing it more than the title so that it fit on the page. Lastly I added the Cats protection league logo because it is in aid of their organisation.
Reflecting on Work from Half Term:
Over half term I researched some black cat campaigns and I took some pictures of my cats. I then edited one of them to make a mock up poster style that is similar to some of the posters above. I like this style that I have made and I think I will use a similar format to this when I am creating my website.
Analysing Websites: Lush
This is the first page that you seen as you open the website. There is a large picture featuring their products. It has a button in front of it where you can shop the products found on the screen. the colours in the image are very bright and vibrant. This is good because it contrasts from the black and white buttons found on the rest of the page and it is like a statement to the page. At the top of the page there is a header with their logo, and drop down buttons which can take you to different webpages when they are clicked.
The menu has monochromatic colour scheme. They have a black background, with clear white headings on the page. The headings contrast with the black on the background and this makes them stand out clearly. They then have different pages that can be clicked underneath these headings in light grey, these contrast less on the black because they are less significant than the titles.
This is the 'Gifts' page from the dropdown. At the top of this page there was the same header as the homepage. This is good because users will get used to the layout and they will be able to navigate around the different webpages with ease. there are pictures of each product. They are all laid out with the same style. It is a birds eye shot with a clear white background which is the same shade as the background. Underneath they have the name of the product in a different font than the rest. The font is the same on all of the titles. Underneath the title it explains in a few words what the product is and how much it costs.
These are hotspots that can be clicked and they take you to the blog pages found on the website. These buttons tell the users about the products on the page. I found these buttons on the page where it mentioned the relative product. The images they have used relate to the products that are being sold on that page. They have also got vibrant colours like on the homepage which contrast against the plain white background. they have used a large font size for the title on the image, and then in the bottom left corner there is a smaller poece of text in the same font but underlined. this shows the users that it is a link and they will be able to click it to find out more.
Cole and Marmalade
Cole and Marmalade are two cats. I am looking at their website because I like the design of their website, and because their website related to my theme of black cat awareness. At the top of their page they have a menu and they also have a logo. The logo is of Cole the black cat and Marmalade the ginger cat. They have a colour scheme of pale blue and white. The website is also quite photography based as they have pictures of cats that you can click on and it takes you to different pages about what Chris (their owner) get up too.
These are hotspots that take the users to different blog pages.
These hotspots encourage visitors to engage with the website and look at different areas of it.
They use the same font and font sizes which gives the website structure and makes it easy to read. They also have links integrated into the text, these are coloured in the same pale blue that is all over their website. They talk a lot about the cats lives and it makes the users feel as if they know cole and marmalade.
This is their youtube channel. They have a playlist that is dedicated to black cat awareness. The videos show how black cats are not bad luck and that they are cute. They have a lot of subscribers which is good because that is a large audience that are watching their videos, which means that there information is getting out.
I think that their target audience is probably children aged 10-20. This is because they have quite a childish font on their logo. They also have light colours as their website theme which appeals to younger people more than older people. I like that the text isn't too informal that it would be too boring for adults, but not too formal that it is boring to read.
This is their instagram page. it is filled with pictures and videos of cole and marmalade. They post regularly which keeps users engaged with their content. they also have a lot of followers on this page so they have a very wide target audience that they need to reach.
Above is some of the mercy on their website. this helps to raise money for the cats and they have some merch that helps black cats. They have a lot of photography on this page which makes the page lively. I like the picture above the most and I would like some of my pictures to look like that.
Planning our Website Layout:
Here is the sitemap and the page designs for my website. The top three is how the pages will be laid out, and the image to the left is the sitemap. This shows how the website will work. everything is linked to the homepage because that is the main page for my website. there will be a gallery for images is of black cats, and a information page which will tell users about some cat facts.
My final idea is to create a website that is raising awareness for black cats. i will do this by taking pictures of my cats and making informative pictures across my websites showing the visitors that they are as lovable as other cats.
I used my research to look at different cat charities and I found out different facts about the likelihood of black cats to be adopted. I then looked at a website that did some black cat awareness and they created infographics and pictures that show how black cats need to be adopted as well. I will use some of the facts from the websites on my website.
Dates:
Saturday: do a shoot of my kittens
Monday: edit the images
Tuesday: reflect on the images and begin designing the website
Wednesday: do another shoot
Thursday: collect text
Friday: assemble website
Quantatitive Questions for my Website:
Are you male or female?
Whats your occupation?
How much do you earn?
Do you live alone?
Q1: Do you like cats?
Q2: Do you have any cats?
Q3: Do you think that adoption is better than shopping?
Q4: Do you have any black cats?
Q5: Do you think that black cats are bad luck?
Summarising Target Audience Theory and Market Research Theory:
An audience is an individual or a group of people who read or consume a piece of media.
Old media such as TV, Print, Radio, now have to work harder to maintain the high audience members that they had previously. Digital technology has made it increasingly hard to define an audience, as large groups of people no longer consume media at one point. This is called "fragmented" audience.
A fragmented audience is the division of audiences into smaller group due to a large variety pf media outlets. For example, you can now view newspapers and magazines online and in a paper copy. This is so that they can hit as many people and generate a larger audience. The new variety of audiences makes it hard to measure who their target audience is. This is because some people will only read the online copy, some will only read the paper copy, and some may read both.
Large companies make money online using adverts on their apps and websites. Websites use cookies to tailor adverts that come up on their website to your interests. they find out your interests by remembering what you search and the websites that you spend the most time on.
This is some primary research that I gathered. the questions that I asked are above. i asked some people in the class and some people that i knew outside of college to answer these questions. the main question was did people believe that black cats. Everyone in my questionnaire said no. These results aren't too reliable because these are only a very small amount of people so they cannot be reliable for a large group of people.
Walter Chandoha - Cat Photographer
Walter Chandoha has been taking pictures of cats for 70 years. He took pictures for magazines and for adverts. he uses bright lights and vibrant backgrounds to contrast and compliment the cat that is being photographed. He creates quite direct pictures of the cats where they are either going about their daily business or they are standing and looking straight at the photographer. I like his photography because the centre of attention is the cat but they feel relaxed and they aren't too posed. I want some of my pictures to look like this because i like the brightness and how the candid photos show the cats behaviour and makes the pictures seen natural. It may be hard to get this style of image because my house does not have the appropriate lighting but I may be able to edit it on photoshop.
These styles of images would be good for my awareness because they ave a calming mood and the pictures show off how cute the cats are. that is what I need for my website because the images will show the visitors that black cat are cute like the cats that are in these pictures. I will use a high vibrancy in my pictures like these ones to make them stand out against my website. I can edit this in photoshop because i will be shooting in RAW which will enable me to make a lot of changes to my images.
I think the image below is very effective. The Photographer has put a blue background behind these cats and this colour is complimentary to their eyes. The white colour of their fur contrasts against the bold blue on the background and in their eyes. The high vibrancy in the image brings out the colours in the picture however I think that in this image there is too much saturation. I think that it makes their eyes seem a little bit fake and that would not be appropriate for the website.
Seth Casteel - Cat Photographer
Seth Casteel takes photos of cats jumping and dogs jumping into water. I have chosen this photographer because I like the action that is in the images. It shows how fun the animals are and it makes people think they are cute and cuddly. I think that this style is effective because it will show people how black cats can be as fun as other cats.
I think that I will use the high vibrancy in these images, but not the poses. this is because i dont think i can get my cats to do this. i also think that the images look a little bit over edited and they look slightly fake. I need my images need to look realistic because my aim is too make black cats look appealing and having fake images will not show that effectively.
I think that he used a fish eye lens like a go pro to take these images. This is because the middle of the image is enhances and he rest of the image wraps around the image. This makes the image look a bit warpes but i think it is suitable for this style.
Second Shoot:
This is my second contact sheet. I took these images around midday when there was the most light in my house. I followed around my cats and took pictures of them. this was quite hard to do because they are very excitable and they just wanted to run around all day.
I edited all of my images in the same way. I lowered the highlights on the image, this is because there was some quite harsh lights coming from my windows, and lowering the highlights and whites made them less direct. I then added some clarity which bought out the features on my cats face. I added some exposure which made the image brighter. Most of these images will go on my website and i will make some of them into promotional posters for my page.
Text that I will use on my website:
Three to 4 million cats enter animal shelters each year. Some go to loving homes, but because of the animal-overpopulation crisis, nearly 71 percent of them are euthanized (put to sleep)—the majority of which are black cats. Why?
For centuries, black cats have been associated with bad luck and witchcraft. They have long been at the center of spooky stories and mystic folklore and are known as being a witch’s BFF. This negative stereotype is one explanation—but one study suggests that even when people don’t think about black cats negatively, they still have a tendency to walk right past them at shelters.
Black cats are two-thirds less likely to get adopted than white cats and only half as likely to be adopted as tabby cats. Could it be that an aesthetic spell has bewitched us humans? Several studies have shown the staggering preference people have for patterned and white cats. For whatever reason, a solid black coat isn’t seen as more appealing or doesn’t stand out to adopters.
At some point, a genetic mutation caused the typical patterned fur seen in many cats not to be expressed, making black cats all one color. But we think black cats are beautiful—and this cool trait shouldn’t condemn them to spending 40 percent more time in shelters than their white or orange friends!
BLACK CATS are the HARDEST COLOUR to HOME!
This is true for the UK and America alike. Through no fault of their own, black cats are overlooked time and time again, as most people tend to choose 'prettier' coloured cats. Even black kittens are left until last for adoption, while their more colourful siblings are chosen first. The outlook for a black, adult cat in rescue is therefore very bleak. Some spend many months in rescue, sometimes even years, waiting for someone to see past their colour...
Is it because of Superstition?
It all depends on how we think, and even where we live! Superstitions in different cultures and countries vary as to whether black cats are considered good luck or bad. The old idea of black cats being 'witches cats' may still influence some people. However, in Britain, Scotland and Japan, a black cat crossing your path, or even if you dream of a black cat, is said to bring you good luck. A black cat’s presence has been credited with bringing about show-stopping performances in Theatres. And, in Scotland, finding back kittens sitting in your porch is a sign of riches, and happiness to come!
Is it because of Colour?
There are a few suggestions for this, such as it's difficult to connect with a black cat in a rescue centre, who may blend into the shadows, or because black cats don't always show up as well in photographs on web pages (!). Also, as most rescues are so full these days, there are inevitably a wide range of colours which people are more drawn to - whilst the black cats can seem to fade into the background, and are just passed by.
Could you look BEYOND the COAT..?
Look beyond the coat, and black cats have all the charm, and charisma of their more colourful cousins. Not to mention their sleek glossy dark coats which complement their bright shining eyes. They are stunning, regal looking animals; each one an individual. Black cats are just as wonderful as any other, with exactly the same needs - love and care, in a home of their own. If you enjoy the company of cats whatever their colour, please consider adopting a black cat.
Because of superstitious beliefs in some cultures, black cats are sometimes associated with bad luck and, sadly, are more likely to be put to sleep or wait a long time to be adopted from shelters. Black Cat Appreciation Day was launched to show people that a black cat could be the perfect cat for them, and help raise awareness about black cats in general.
If you’ve been looking for a rescue cat yourself, why not consider a black cat? Not only are the superstitions about them bringing bad luck completely untrue, but you might find a black cat to be a fantastic feline companion for you! On Black Cat Appreciation Day, a fun way to celebrate, if you own a black cat, is to take photos with your pet to share and spread awareness about the day on social media. Children can join in by drawing pictures of black cats.
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Creating my Website
Feedback from rebecca
i like the layout of your home page, with your campaign being made obvious to viewers of your site through the cute, detailed photos of your cat. i think its good that you have a strong visual representation of the animals you are supporting, with the photos being shot in ways that accentuate the features of black cats.
This is the template that i chose for my website. i looked on the blog section of their templates because many blogs have a lot of photography and a good ratio between photography and text which is what i need for my website. I chose this ones because I liked the banner at the top of the page with the title in the middle. I also liked the modern feel to it with the sleek grey and the modern font for the header.
I then changed it a little bit by having the background the same background colour as the grey title box and the header. I think this made a more consistent background and it would then make my images and text stand out against the dark backgrounds.
I then deleted the text and images and inserted my own images.
Feedback from Charlie
The website is well laid out and the images are highly professional but I think the gallery would benefit from having more than one picture per scroll - perhaps a gallery?
Final Images:
These are the final images of my cats that i will use fpr the website. i took these at home where they live. I edited these by turning down the whites on a lot of the images because the light coming into my house was very harsh and it was creating too much contrast between my cats and the background.
Evaluation:
overall, i liked my theme and my final website.
My favourite part of the website was designing the layout. I enjoyed this because I had full control over my theme and I could design the website based on how I wanted it to be laid out. As I was creating my website, i began to change some of the designs from my first plan.
I originally wanted a pop up page that greets the users onto my page, but in my final designs i decided not to have one. This is because I did not know how to create it when i started it, but i found it out at the end of my website, and when I tried it, i preferred how my website looked without it. I had also decided to have the title above the strip on my page, however I think that it looked more professional with the title under neath the page, it then linked more with the text that was underneath the titles. On the home page, I added the title on top of the strip, this is because it would be the first page that users would see because I decided against the opening page, this meant that people would still understand what the purpose of the website was. I also changed what pages I would have in the website. Instead of having a facts page, I decided to have an 'about' page. I think this is more loose than facts and many other websites use that in their header so viewers will automatically know that they will be able to find information there.
To take the pictures, i followed my kittens around the house for a few days and took pictures of them. This was nice because they were more relaxed then if i had tries to use a setup because they cannot sit still. However this created the problem that a lot of my images came out looking very similar and this repetition became quite boring. I edited the images on photoshop. I shot on RAW so that I could change assets like exposure and highlights because some areas of my house are quite harshly lit so there was a lot of contrast in some of my images. Below is a video of me editing one of my pictures.
This is a picture that I took from my test shoot. I did a test shoot so that I could practise taking pictures of my kittens. This is because they are really hard to take pictures and they run around all the time so it is hard to get some good shots. The test shoot allowed me to practise if i would be able to take pictures of them in my house. I first edited this by changing the exposure and brightness. This made less contrast which made it easier to see the images. I then added text in a poster style. this appealed to my target audience of people looking to adopt a new cat, or current cat lovers. These poster style images get across some simple facts about cats without having to make the users read paragraphs for ages. It allows them to absorb quick snippets of information and the images link to the writing as well.
I found integrating the text with the images the hardest part of the unit. This was because i couldn't integrate the text o have a good ratio of images to writing so some of my website looks a bit blocky where there are sections of text and sections of image. I also changed my website based on some peer feedback that i got. Charlie said that my gallery page would look better if the images were laid out in a collage rather than laid out one by one. I had originally laid them out one by one because it makes them bigger and easier to see, however i preferred the collage lay out because it adds some originality to the rest of my website and users can then click on the images to enlarge them.
My photos aided the cause of the website because I took pictures of black cats looking loving and excitable. this gave the images a positive mood and it made the viewers think that they are cute. If i had taken pictures of them snarling or biting each other then the images would be negative and it would make people not want to adopt them.
I learnt how to adjust the exposure, highlights, and whites to get rid of harsh lighting in images.This was useful as the harsh lighting in some areas of my house made the images too loud so editing them bought the main focus back to the cats. i also leant how to get rid of spots in portraits, however i managed to apply that to my photos by editing out rubbish that was in the background. This helped to make my images more professional and made the images simpler.
I would like to learn how to take softer, more dreamy images. this is because all of my images are quite sharp and i think that they would look better if they had softer colours and settings so that the images gave a calm tone.
If i had more time in the project, i would have made a couple of videos of my cats running around. This would be effective as it would show what they are like in more depth. It would also show how cute they can be.
I kept a consistent theme throughout all of my pages. This allowed the users to familiarise themselves quickly with the layout and they will be able to navigate at ease. For my main homepage, the first picture of Winnie is a little bit blurry, i chose this image because it is the only one where you can see her face, i tried to use other images but the title box covered their whole face so the image was a bit useless.
