Pedro Ferreira- Journal entries 11, 12, & 13

Week 11

This week we are presenting our work to UWG’s board. I was expecting to present my work to everyone in the board, which gave me slight jitters. Upon arriving to the conference room, I found out that my supervisor Jarek would be presenting our work to the board. That gave me some relief because I didn’t want to mess up or get stuck on explaining something.

Before the presentation commenced, the interns were informed that we would be taking a behind-the-scene look at the new UWG website before it launches. It was awesome looking at the newly redesigned site. It comes a long way from the old site, which I don’t think was that bad. It just lacked content. However, this new site would include the newly formed Culture Labs section, which is dedicated to informing the public on how advertising and media can have a great impact on society in regards to culture.

During the presentation, we get a run down of the new features in the site and then we take a look at the Culture Labs section of the site. We also saw the finalized video that was developed from the footage we collected during the interviews. Looking at the work we produced, I am amazed with what we did. Our work added some flavor to the new site. Seeing my info graph up on the website was a great feeling. Immediately after the presentation, the board congratulated us.

Week 12

After the presentation last week, the interns were tasked with making further corrections to the work we produced. My supervisor Jarek had the legal department at UWG contact the companies that were mentioned in the project. This was to assure that those companies don’t try to sue us for unauthorized use of trademarks. Unfortunately, one of the biggest sneaker companies in the world, N***, refused to let us use their likeness our project. That was a huge let down, especially since we were giving them their proper dues.

With that said, I had no choice but to eliminate all and any brands mentioned in the info graphs. That definitely took away from the hype surrounding the project because it lost its flavor. Branding and culture was the epicenter of this project. However, the show must go on.

I made the corrections and handed everything in before the said launch date, which was towards the end on April. However, due to legal issues and revisions needed, the date for the website’s release got pushed to late May. For the most part, all the content is ready to go up, but the web developers are tightening things up to assure the launch goes off without a hitch.

Week 13

Now that we have concluded with the branding project for Culture Labs here at UWG, my supervisor suggested we come up with ideas for a new project. For this new project, we want to make a documentary on an underground topic. One that rung a bell within my mind was the extreme sports underground culture here in New York City.

A few days later we held a brainstorming session with our two supervisors and went over some topics for the next project. Some of the ideas we tumbled through were things like the aforementioned extreme sports, individuals who self harm, and the art of tattoos. Out of the blue, one of the supervisors blurted out handball. That was genius. Handball is so underrated in New York City, so much that people don’t recognize it as a sport. In fact, handball can be considered New York City’s unofficial sport. Handball courts can be found in many neighborhood parks.

We plan on getting together for a brainstorming session to discuss how we will execute it. Also, we decided it would be in our best interest to designate roles amongst ourselves. This allows us to keep the project in check as we progress from point A to point B. However, this doesn’t mean we will only work on one specific thing. We will assist each other through out the process.