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Unit 9: Characteristics and contexts in media and communication
Unit Aim: Provide students with an opportunity to develop a focused, in‐depth, understanding of the range, characteristics, complexity and contexts that define media and communication activity. It will require the student, through exploration and investigation to enter into a more formal dialogue of personal interrogation and understanding designed to confirm strengths, enthusiasms and ambitions.
What we're doing, how we're doing it and why we're doing it
What we're doing, how we're doing it and why we're doing it
Monster Factory.mp4Intent: Gain an understanding of creating video game mascots aligned with personal brands and messages
Implementation: Through idea generation and development
Impact: Develop unique mascot concepts and enhance creativity, critical thinking, and communication skills. Appreciate the role of mascots in branding and storytelling.
Soft skills: Creativity, Critical Thinking, Communication
Industry: The ability to create mascots aligned with branding is valuable in marketing, advertising, game development, and content creation.
SMSC: Moral discussions on responsible messaging and consideration of cultural values and inclusivity in design.
You'll be making your own video game mascots. You are free to create whatever you like within the following parameters:
Your character is bipedal (We'll be making sprite sheets and modelling)
You consider the context of your mascot:
What do they represent?
What are you communicating?
You'll be making your own video game mascots. You are free to create whatever you like within the following parameters:
Your character is bipedal (We'll be making sprite sheets and modelling)
You consider the context of your mascot:
What do they represent?
What are you communicating?
Idea Generation
Idea Generation
Task 1 - Warm Up
Task 1 - Warm Up
What do I do?
Draw an animal
Pass it on
Draw the animal you've received with a job
Pass it on
Draw the animal you've received with a personality trait
Pass it on
Try and guess the animal, job and personality you've received.
For example: Zebra, Librarian, Cowardly
Task 2 - Who?
Task 2 - Who?
Choose your own adventure: Start either with the drawing task or the bio first, whatever works for you. But make sure you do both!
Choose your own adventure: Start either with the drawing task or the bio first, whatever works for you. But make sure you do both!
Task 2 - Part A - Getting to know your character
Task 2 - Part A - Getting to know your character
What do I do?
Ask yourself the following questions about your character:
What is the name of the character?
What is the gender of your character? (if applicable)
How old is the character?
What does the character look like?
What is the character's role or occupation?
Where does the character live?
What era does the character live in?
What is the character's personality?
How would you describe the character's attitude?
Who is the character's intended audience?
What are they communicating to them?
On your google sites:
Your character/s bio. If you experiment with a few show the changes. Reflection
Going further:
These are starter questions. What else could you ask about them?
Task 2 - Part B - Shapes
Task 2 - Part B - Shapes
This task will help you think about construction, shapes, variety, contrast, unity and rhythm. It's taken from Stephen Silver's The Silver Way:
What do I do?
1 - Dump all the items on a table and see how they fall. This is what I call unorganised chaos, leaving your eyes unsure where to look.
4 - Next, select items and see what interesting body shapes you can create. Photograph and sketch the shape formations you created to build characters from them.
On your google sites:
Photos of your arranged items, sketches and development of your character. Reflection
Going further:
Experiment further. Use different items, think outside the box. A lot of the Star Wars designs came from experimenting with real life objects.
2 - Now put all the items into different combinations. This is the organisation of forms, making the composition easier to read and creating more appeal in its simplicity.
3 - Take a couple of items of contrasting sizes and shapes and organise them into one combination. What you don't realise at first is that while it's one "design", if you move around the table to look at it, you'll see that the same combination viewed from a new direction creates a new perspective - and with that, more possibilities.
Task 3 - Refining - Part A - Research
Task 3 - Refining - Part A - Research
You should now have some idea of who your character is and what they might look like. So let's develop them further:
What do I do?
Gather research that will help you with your character. This could be moodboards, reference photos, etc. A variety of research is best.
On your google sites:
Research gathered. Explanation of what the research is and why it will be useful to you.
Going further:
Try to not just use google images, go deeper. Look at bone structure, old games, take pictures of your pets, use yourself as reference!
Task 3 - Refining - Part B - Use it!
Task 3 - Refining - Part B - Use it!
What do I do?
Using the research and the previous tasks, create sketches of your character. Experiment! Try multiple poses, body shapes and styles. If you settle on something you like early, great! But don't stop. Mark that one as your favourite and keep going.
On your google sites:
Concept sketches, reflection
Going further:
Gather feedback from your peers and elsewhere! If you feel you're settling on a design experiment with different body types. Use fruit and shapes for inspiration.
Reflection:
Reflection:
- What happened?
- How did you feel?
- What were you thinking?
- How did things go?
- What might have helped?
- What might have hindered?
- What else could you have done?
- What have you learned?
- What can you change in the future?
- If the situation arose again what would you do?
- Anything you need to know or improve?
Extended task:
Extended task:
What do I do?
Watch the videos linked here while you work on your character. Think about the context your character will be in and what they'll need to communicate to an audience.
Creating Strong Video Game Characters
Better Game Characters By Design
On your google sites:
Links to videos watched, reflection on what you have found interesting about them.
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