We are all well into 2008 now and here it is, our first visual studies brief to welcome in the new term. The brief is simply this; “A day in the life of…” - Here we are given the freedom to complete this sentence and over the next 12 weeks design, develop and implement an animation that portrays our idea.

This is great:

My initial ideas.…A bus ticket - I am intrigued by the idea that bus tickets are one of them things in life that we all have no interest in, or most of us anyway I guess…or is it just me? Does the rest of the world secretly store and archive their journeys? - What happens to that ticket? rarely it is checked and rarely referred to after a journey. Does it end up in your wallet to be found a week later? Is it screwed up in your pocket? or does it end up in the bin? What conversations does this bus ticket hear in its life after being printed?…A till roll - I guess this is formed as a tangent from the previous, however the angle here could be the events within the till roll…roll. The time leading up until the till roll is printed - The location would have to be considered here. The ink process and almost the personality of the ticket could be portrayed too.

…A car tyre - We must run over some random things whilst driving surely?

A think with all these initial ideas, there are two considerations. The first being the story, the script and the storyboard. The second is the visual language, and with this second point in mind more prominently for the moment; do these ideas have the potential to encompass a visual style?

Out of the three, I feel the tyre is the least inspiring due to the lack of scope, visually.

Hence a 4th idea is “a day in the life of a 404 page”. - Yea we have all been there, a link advertises an article that seems really interesting…we think “hmmm, this might be worth a read…” - only to find a 404 page stuck there; a huge slap in the face if you will.

I think this is rather interesting. Peoples expressions, peoples reactions could compliment a strong storyline, and I also think there is vast scope visually that could show environments, the people behind the screen.

I feel I could really get into this project, and it will give me the chance to work conceptually and to develop idea generation… and of course to maybe grab a camera and start shooting

After what seems like months of debating, shall I? shan’t I?…Yesterday I finally took the plunge, gritted the teeth and surfaced the plastic card from my already tarnished wallet. (£7.50 return on the train to Barnsley! We decided to divert to Leeds and thought we’d get our money’s worth :-))

Hint: Nice! ace! bit of kit and not a Canon! - Any clues?

Absolutely! a lovely new D40x, 200mm lens, bag(of course) and SD card now sit comfortably within arms reach. I really cant wait to get to grips with the features and get snapping.

I am sat wondering, (and its an interesting thought really), but what is that very first shot you take with your camera?