Budget Breakdown

The following is a rough breakdown of the projects total costs over a 1 year period, from start date to showcase, based on development and then team realization into the global industry through a dedicated team of 5 individuals including myself, all prices are estimates/ rough ideas:

Expenses Cost per/month Total (Per Annual Year)
Adobe Creative Cloud Suite £45.73 £548.78
Advertisement/ Marketing 37p (Per 1000 views)

£440

Based on 10,000 views a month

Computers N/A £4,000 (5 Computers)
Launch Event N/A £21,299
Oculus Rift £35.47 £425.75
Studio £833pm  £10,000 (Minimum)

Travel

 

£100 (Per employee) £6,000 (5 employees)

Wages

 

£14 p/h (£3,024 pm p/p)

£125,000

(Depending on experience)

Total Cost £17,642 pm £167,713.53

 

  • Wages: based on a minimum salary of starting £25,000 a year per employee (based on working on the project or one year including holiday).
  • Travel expense: based around cost of public transport/ petrol cost to a studio per month.
  • Studio: Cost worked out based on a small (6 people or less) office space in Lincoln. http://www.rightmove.co.uk/commercial-property-to-let/property-55037888.html
  • Computers: Average good working PC £800 each minimum.

Contingency Plan: Pay a company to develop the product, price negotiable but less than total cost, however commission would possibly be added. Example Company: http://mintdigital.com/.

Audience

Target audience is something that becomes crucial to the success or failure of a project including whether the intended output will even be well received or used. Identifying the specific audience and then marketing for that audience can be a complex task and requires research into what style, arrangement, design and interaction the consumer may need to become excited and interested in a project.

 

For ‘Goodbye 100’ the main area of the product that demands attention comes from the developmental stages before the final output, specifically demonstrated through the website, however to gain public notice I have decided to create three stages of marketing and advertising for the platform. The first coming in the form of a global brand as previously mentioned, the second being several promotional advertisement posters such as the one opposite and the third through a social media/ questionnaire research based around my target audienc-incinerator-at-a-plant-i-008e.

 

Our primary audience specifics as previously outlined within the proposal is male and females, aged 16+ and fitting into the following categories:

  • Business owners to look at their energy outputs for their company.
  • The average home owner, to invest in sustainable and renewable energy.
  • Parents who think about their children’s future and what it may look like.
  • The next generation to create awareness and change.

 

Our secondary audience is consumers of energy in China and Eat Asia looking towards institutions of education and political leaders to direct change within their countries that are contributing to such problems, as outlined in the proposal, through pressure to change from our primary audience. This problems comes down to a lack of disposable income and energy usage within these countries, China now generates over a quarter of the world’s garbage, at least 250 million tons annually. Furthermore the internet isn’t something that is widely accessible therefore social messages of change and technology such as VR equipment isn’t publicly available, consequently our actually output won’t be a fully functioning product within this target area and range of audience, but will hopefully in time become available through international exposure.

 

Timeline of Output.

The schedule for both research and development of the two intended outputs, as well as any side projects and additional material is listed below, including work completed before this document, ongoing and to be completed after:

Task Description Timescale Status

Project Proposal

 

 

 

The initial proposal of ideas and audience research into a digital media project, based around a particular theme.

Week 1-3

 

Complete

 

Initial Research Beginning the process of forming an output of development through what consumer, professional and digital information demands. Looking at example work for inspiration and finding out the purpose for the specific product/ products. Week 1 – 12 Ongoing
Website Design Creating using Adobe Muse, a fully functioning and relevant website for part 1 of ‘Goodbye 100’projects outputs. Following guidance on how to build a successful platform based around research and experimentation. Week 5 – 12 Ongoing
Unreal Engine 4 Project Using knowledge of VR and UE4, designing and imagining a world 100 years from now, based around the idea of exploring using the Oculus Rift headset and seeing what mass energy consumption is doing to our planet. Completing part 2 of ‘Goodbye 100’ to a visual concept design that could be later made into a fully working prototype. Week 5 – 12 Ongoing
Logo Design Creating a simplistic logo design to work as a form of branding around the project that can be recognised and become the flagship image, to be used within the website and social media promotion. Week 6 – 8 Completed
R & D File The detailed breakdown of the projects planning stage, changes, timescale, audience, research, budgeting and development stages, which justification, examples of work and critical concepts. Week 6 – 8 Completed
Consumer Feedback A chance to engage with consumer feedback through either social media, questionnaires, website forums or verbal opinion. Week 12+ Only suggested, not yet in stages of development

Inspirational Work 3

Mad Max: Fury Road (http://www.madmaxmovie.com/)

Artistically I want to create a world that feels very different to the present and modern society we currently find ourselves in, having watched ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’, a movie where the main plot exists in a world where resources are few and far between and is set far in the future, this meant I began to have ideas around visually what I would be looking for in terms of the VR world as well as imagery to be used within the website and prom9e513e79-10fb-4f48-b87e-9ac67d057f0fotional material.

The general tone for this digital master piece originates from tribal ideology and present day desert environments. Mad max is a life or death situation and not a world that you would want your children to grow up in, therefore it becomes a perfect example of research to justify a similar existences 100 years from now, within my own project, if countries like China and India eventually burn up the remaining resources within our planet. But more importantly the running theme of fighting over energy resources suggests what future we could be facing if nothing is done to control the energy consumption and usage within current developed and developing countries, are we in fact heading for a Mad Max future but sooner than we think?

 

In terms of colour tones and style, Mad Max: Fury Road sets a good starting point for colour experimentation around contracts and design within the VR world. Crucially this piece of work adds insight into what tones, textures and vision to choose within ‘Goobye100’ to make my VR future accurate and impressive. Therefore blues, yellows, cream and pastel colours tend to add to an artistic presents within post-apocalypse worlds. Also looking at certain shades of lighting to create the level of detailed required, meaning dark lighting in nighttime scenes, bright and faded lighting during the day, this will create the shadows and hopefully ‘burned out’ look a world with little green and a lack of energy may appear.

 

The cinematography and special effects within the movie was the original brain child to project ‘Goodbye 100’, and although fictional, I couldn’t help but feel ‘what if’ at the end of the movie, ‘what if’ that is our future and ‘what can’ we do about it to ensure either way it is not. Publicly the film has received praise from its target audience and media professionals alike, which demonstrates if you create a fictional (or not) world correctly, then it can only be taken seriously. Becoming a perfect platform for a series message and educational output to push the need for understanding and action.

 

Inspirational Work 2

Project Syria: An Immersive Journalism Experience (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yku27o7Z4Bo)

Leading on from initial research into the Oculus Rift, I wanted to find some examples of similar work based around my own post-apocalyptic world that had already been attempted with or without success in VR. My research led me to ‘Project Syria’, a virtual reality idea set around allowing journalists to experience the harsh reality of the ongoing civil war in Syria, from the safety of  VR headset.

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The idea around this comes from creating the idea of total immersion, losing your own knowledge and whereabouts, whilst letting yourself completely absorb the sights, visions and in this case horrors of a war torn country. Virtual reality can take anyone to a place that they may not feel safe and tell the story of what is happening and why it is happening, therefore showing links between ‘Goodbye 100’ and immersive journalism in the area of educating and informing first world consumers about what impact certain actions can have either presently or in the future.

 

This section of work interests me because it utilizes the technology, but to create something beyond an entertainment project, but instead convey a message, which is partially what my project in attempting to do. The level of design and complex creation that does into ‘project Syria’ is something that would need to be recreated within ‘Goobye100’ for the project to appear believable. It come down to envisioning a world where you could become totally emerged and practicing building an almost simulation designed to shock and ask questions to the select audience or player.

 

Syria itself sadly becomes a great example of fieldwork to study to create ideas for how a world 100 years from now may look. The badly damaged country is now little more than bleak colours and ruined buildings. As much as this is disturbing it can become the basics of object ideas around 3D modelling and set design when building in the Unreal Engine 4, therefore photographical work around ‘Project Syria’ and other photographers work has proven to be extremely useful in initial sketches, ideas and modelling practice.

Importantly this digital flagship helps bring political and academicals awareness to a problem using VR. Journalism is often required to help spread a message for change, meaning ‘Project Syria’ perhaps has begun creating a portal for the world of VR to be understood and used within education, whilst being heavily publicized and developed as a commercial project,  hopefully bringing ‘Goobye100’ along with it.