Induction Brief: "How To..." Research

When considering what accents to include within our solution to the brief, it was necessary to include research into what are the most common accents in the UK, Slang used in particular areas and the stereotypical characteristics that stand out among the people who live in these areas.

Common Accents in the UK include:

• London- "Cockney"
• Birmingham- "Brummie"
• Liverpool- "Scouse"
• Manchester- "Manc"
• Yorkshire
• Newcastle- "Geordie"
• Wales- "Welsh"
• Scotland- "Scottish"
                                     Reference- Username: 'Nathan' (2010) "British Regional Dialects" 28th Jan, Available from http://www.lexiophiles.com/english/british-regional-dialects (Accessed 25th Sept 2012)

From these choices, we selected 4 common accents that we felt were the most relevant to the people on the course and to us as a group. These were Geordie, Yorkshire, Scouse & Cockney. However, by making our target audience students, we had to take into consideration that there isn't a lot of people our own age who use Cockney rhyming slang in there everyday lexis. Therefore, we decided to find a more relevant, modern choice for Cockney so we settled on the Essex accent.

Overall chosen- Geordie, Scouse, Yorkshire & Essex

From this, we had to research into slang used in the chosen regions. We researched this by taking inspiration from Reality TV shows, such as Geordie Shore, Desperate Scousewives and The Only Way Is Essex, as they would give us modern, up-to-date slang that is used regularly by normal people. This aided us with researching stereotypical characteristics for each of the regions as well.

Characteristics for each region:

Geordie:

• Fake Tan
• Big Hair/ Hair Extensions
• Nails
• Short Dresses
• Eyelashes

Scouse:

• Hair Rollers
• PJ's/ Tracksuits
• 'Scouse Brows': Big Drawn on Eyebrows
• Pout

Yorkshire:

• Farmer
• Knitted Jumper
• Flat Cap

Essex:

• Tan
• Quiff
• White Teeth
• Suit

This research would then allow us to make informed decisions on how the chasracters should be presented.

Chosen Words for each Region:

Geordie:

• "Whey Aye" pronounced 'Why Eye' , A Term of Agreement (eg. 'Would you like a drink? Whey Aye!' )
• "Pet" (n) A Term of Endearment (eg. 'Are you ok, Pet?')
• "Alreet" pronounced 'All-reat', A Greeting (eg. 'Alreet mate?')
• "Crack", A Joke (eg. 'Let's do it just for the crack')

                                                                       University of Leicester 2006 "Geordie Slang Glossery Search" 12th June, Available from https://wads.le.ac.uk/ee/Slangsearch/Home.aspx?WebSite=geordieslang (Accessed 25th Sept 2012)
Scouse:

• "Are-Eh" pronounced 'RA', A Complaint of Unfairness
• "Divvy", To be Stupid or Ditzy (eg. 'Your such a Divvy!')
• "Cob On" Sulking or Angry (eg. 'He's got his Cob On')
• "Babe" pronounced 'Bay-B' , A Term of Endearment (eg. 'Hey Babe')

                          y2u.co.uk "Scouse" Available from http://y2u.co.uk/liverpool_uk/Liverpool_Scouse_Accent.htm (accessed 25th Sept 2012)


Yorkshire:

• "Aye" pronounced 'I', A Term of Agreement  (eg.Would you like a drink? Aye!')
• "Flippin' 'Eck", In Exclamation of Shock or Surprise (eg.'Flippin' 'Eck! What was that?')
• "Faffin", Messing about (eg. 'Stop faffin' about')
• "T", Used in substitution of the word 'The' (eg. 'I'm off t'shops')

                                       British Slang "Yorkshire Slang" Available from http://www.britishslang.co.uk/community/yorkshire-slang (Accessed 25th Sept 2012)

Essex:

• "Reem" Something that is good (eg.''That's Reem')
• "Wel Jell" To be jealous of someone or something (eg. 'I'm wel jell'')
• "Totes Emosh" To be in a state of strong emotion (eg. 'That was totes emosh')
• "Amazeballs" Something that delights or amazes (eg. 'That was amazeballs')

                                   Taylor, J. 2012 "Cockney rhyming slang is now Brown Bread thanks to 'Reem' TOWIE", 29th March, Available from http://www.metro.co.uk/news/894532-cockney-rhyming-slang-is-brown-bread-thanks-to-reem-towie (Accessed 25th Sept 2012)

Character Development

Inspiration was given to us for character development as a group during the briefing for the project as some simple character illuitsrations were used (see picture).

"LCA Staff Profile Masks" (2010) by Dean Gray
Gray,D. (2010) "LCA Staff Profile Masks"10th August Available from http://www.behance.net/gallery/LCA-Staff-Profile-Masks/634955  (Accessed 26th September 2012)

From this, we researched into the style of Dean Gray and saw how he uses simple yet colourful characters within his work that portray a sense of humour and childish innocence to the imagery. We wanted to portray this also as our idea was quite tongue-in-cheek by playing on the stereotypes of others and we didnt want to come across as offensive but instead light-hearted and fun. This made him relevant to our project and the message we wanted to portray.



Characters as inspired by Dean Gray's illustration style

From this, you can see how we took his style and made it into our own with our characters, with the simplicity allowing the personality and the characters of the people to shine. I think our characters have more detail on them but I think that comes with the need to have certain traits on them to be able to distinguish thier particular region.