'Making of' - Week 3

My second 'Making of' map

After producing my first 'Map' of Media City in 'Intro to Making Of' we were then tasked to create an alternative map in a completely different style. This time around, I decided to think of alternative ways that you could map out an area, and think of a map in a less conventional way. 

The way in which I accomplished this, was to treat it as a comic strip with a narrative, therefore still identifying key aspects of the journey portrayed, but also guiding the observer through the area. This was again produced digitally, however there was more sketching beforehand to decide on how the design will be laid out. As for the characters in the comic, I decided to do focus on two characters from a very modern and contemporary cartoon, therefore linking them to Media City. These two characters were Rick and Morty from 'Rick and Morty', and I tried to incorporate their characters from the show into their personalities and dialogue portrayed within the comic, as well as references to the show, such as the statue of Pudsy in Media City resembling a character from the show known as 'Mr. Meeseeks'. 

(From left to right) Pudsey statue as seen at Media City, Mr. Meeseeks from 'Rick and Morty', and my interpretation of Pudsey in the Rick and Morty style

This is a lot less cryptic and symbolic than my previous map, and is instead a lot more representational, using clearly recognisable locations and objects. All the characters were based from their orignial designs, but redrawn by me in each panel in the desired pose. I am again pleased with the final look, as the premise gave me freedom to add humour and charm to the map, however I feel as though I should attempt to move away from digital design in order to broaden my abilities. It was interesting to attempt to make a comic strip, as although they are something that I am interested in, I haven't recently made any of my own, so even though the medium may be the same, the style, context and platform are vastly different from this one to the previous one. However, if I had to choose which of my designs I prefer, I would say the first one, as I admire the simplicity and the fact that it is my own style as appose to me imitating another designers style. I would like to experiment further with comic strip design, but with my own characters and style. 

After a discussion with a classmate, I was made aware of the fact the the backgrounds in my comic can seen rather dull at times, and as I am meant to be clearly documenting key areas of Media City, this causes a huge problem. It is also unlike the style of Rick and Morty, where there is a lot of time and consideration put into the backgrounds and locations. Next time, I will assure to put as much effort into the characters as I do to their surroundings, like I did with the 'BBC' building, as I feel that is a fairly decent rendition.

Since starting these tasks, I have noticed a link to between the concept of 'making of' and these 'mapping' exercises, as in a typical 'making of' video, the journey of production is attempting to be communicated, such as a map attempts to communicate a journey from point A to point B. This has made me think that perhaps such as with these simplistic maps, maybe there are also many ways in which a 'making of' documentary can be presented, as they both aim to do similar things.