More Creative Futures

Last week saw the culmination of 'Creative Futures', 4 days of lectures that would hopefully provide information, inspiration and guidance.  It was also the week that one the 'minus' points of being a mature student with family commitments raised its head - on the morning of day two, I was faced with a poorly 9 year old daughter, and because of DH's work commitments, I was left with no option but to miss nearly 2 full days of lectures. However, over the 2 days I could attend, I was able to make 6 lectures in total, and here is my run down of what I thought ot them - and what I got out of them.

Day 1 - Monday 7th March 2011.

Academic Leader, Dr Stuart Cunningham  gave us a breakdown of exactly how big a part Creative Industries play in British business - in the Wrexham area alone, there are 400 businesses that come under this heading.  He told us that 69% of all employee's in the business are graduates - showing that although you can enter the industry without formal training,  you probably stand a better chance with. He gave information on the skills needed, the positive attributes associated with being in this line of work, and set out exactly what steps the Welsh Government and the University itself, are taking to ensure that the best opportunities are offered to existing and new businesses, and students.


Where the university is concerned, we have the newly built Creative Industries Building - and I must admit, for students who are hoping to study several of the fields within Creative Industries, the facilities offered here sound amazing - TV facilities, 3D workshop, IT workshop, and the links to community projects that are planned, including GTV (Glyndwr TV) are exciting .  However, I was disappointed that the only mention of photography being catered for was for photoshop in association with e journalism - however, as Dr Cunningham only had so much time to deliver his address, and possibly couldn't include everything that this new building has to offer,  I am hoping that there will be other facilities there, just as exciting and offering us 'snappers' similar opportunities to all the other area's of Creative Media Industries mentioned.

Keynote Speaker - Dr Barry Purves - "Passions and a Passport"

Dr Purves is a Producer and Director of stop motion puppet animation, with over 30 years experience. He has been involved with projects such as the children's TV animation 'The Wind in the Willows', numerous adverts and short films, and the feature film 'King Kong'.  His enthusiasm and obvious love of his chosen career was actually very inspirational, and his passion made him an entertaining and amusing speaker.

He shared several short film clips with us, all animation, and although I actually enjoyed just about all of them, one in particular has really stuck in my head - to the extent that I have watched it at home, several times. It's called 'Overtime' and is a tribute to Jim Henson, by an animator called  Damien Ferrie.  During the lecture, at my first viewing, I thought it was 'OK' - but by the end of the film, something about it made me want to see it again - and each time I've watched it, with the understanding of why it was made, it has become more beautiful and poignant. And every time I've seen it, I notice more details - Dr Purves mentioned the 'big chicken' that appears in one scene - I had to watch it 3 times to spot it - but I spotted the 'giant ant', on my second viewing:)

The embedding code has been disabled on Youtube,  But you can find this video HERE.

 If, as a photographer, I can produce just one photograph that is as beautiful, thought provoking and emotive as this film is, I will be a very happy snapper !








Showreel, Portfolio and CV - Advice for Finding Work by Harriet Buckley, (animator)

Although this was presented primarily from an animators point of view, I actually found a lot of the info given in this lecture could be applied to several genre's that come under the heading 'Creative Industries'.  In particular, advice about knowing the company you are approaching, tailoring your portfolio/CV to area's you know that they are active in and presenting your work in a way that shows how your talents can perhaps benefit them in these area's.  Advice on how to approach companies on an 'off chance' basis and how to strike the balance between following up your queries in a manner that is acceptable rather than being deemed as 'being a nuisance'.  A list of pro's and cons to either presenting your work on a DVD or online in the form of a website or blog, advice on the size of portfolio's, about tailoring what you show to specific job requirements - all these things are applicable to any creative media, and I found them extremely informative and helpful .

At this point, due as I said, to having to miss nearly two days worth of lectures, I have to skip to the one lecture I got to on day 3.

Day 3, Wednesday 9th March 2011.





Motivation - Get What you Really Want - Denise Chiltern

I think this could have been quite a useful lecture, in terms of boosting confidence and giving you a technique to help you focus on your goals - but unfortunately, the hour allocated to cover the topic really wasn't long enough. Denise was eloquent and knew what she was talking about, but it was all so rushed because of the time pressures, that I don't think she was able to cover things in the depth she would have liked to, so the benfit of this lecture was largely lost, which was very disappointing .


Day 4, Thursday 10th March 2011.


Seven Months In and What Now? A Photography Retrospective - Phil Barrat
This was the first of two lectures I attended today - and from my point of view, the absolutely most useful of the whole week.  Phil graduated from Glyndwr last year, and had started a business in photography during his final year here.  He covers weddings, portraits and fine art, and was able to show examples of and give us some extremely useful advice in all 3 area's .

He described the 'Wedding arm' of the business as his 'bread and butter' - very important for his survival budget, and he gave some fantastic advice from both a photographic and business point of view.  I've been ask to do several weddings over the last couple of years, and have (luckily) so far had every one I've done liked by the couple involved - a few were done simply to get a portfolio together - according to Phil, this is a good way to start, and a worthwhile investment. Some were done as 'gifts' for friends, and two were done as 'jobs' - and where the 'jobs' were concerned, Phil outlined some of the 'pitfalls' that are common (and which I'd encountered) and gave advice on how to deal with them. For example - the assumption that wedding photography involves nothing more than turning up with the camera for the day, that all it requires is a decent camera and the ability to point it in the right direction, and the reluctance to pay what some people consider 'a silly amount of money for it' - I've encountered that attitude, and what Phil said has given me the confidence to stick to my guns and charge a price that reflects the amount of work that in reality, goes into photographing a wedding successfully.  Although not decided on what path I will follow, the idea of a business something similar to what Phil describes is not outside the realms of possibilities for what I may do in my future- I've considered wedding and portraiture as a means to allow me to make a living, whilst still giving me time to explore landscape and macro photography in Nature - and his lecture gave me several solid pointers that could prove invaluable to me, in achieving this,  in the future. In talking about his portraiture and his fine art work, Phil again gave many useful bits of information that I can well see as being of value to me, in the future.


Keynote: State of Art (Photography) - Terry Morris.

This was the final lecture that I attended during creative Futures week. As in the previous lecture I attended with Terry speaking, this again was a lecture I really enjoyed.  This time, Terry showed us a selection of his photographs, and then invited us to ask questions and hear him talk about any particular ones we wanted.  Terry is an entertaining speaker, very down to earth and obviously believes very much in what he has to say , and I really enjoyed his insights into how the concepts for particular pictures had developed, and how some pictures were just as a result of opportunity.  He really brought home the message that whichever way you work, with enough drive and self belief, you can make a success.

So - that was the end of creative futures week - and what did I learned?

The importance of social skills and making use of networking. Having self belief and confidence, and the will and ability to work hard is as important as your creative talent. I found some people inspirational, just as a result of their enthusiasm and self belief - left me feeling 'Hey - I CAN do this'.  There are several topics raised that I intend to look into in greater depth, and some advice that I know I will take on board and use.

Most of all, the week made me think about my future in greater depth, and showed me steps I can take to make a success - if I work hard !

Next - Plastered in Paris !

Self Directed Study - The Studio

There are parts of our weekly timetable that are listed as being given to 'Self Directed Study' - and a few weeks ago, I decided that I'd better start doing something constructive with this time!

As I said, in the first module we covered, I was able to get into the studio for one of the units - and I loved it.  And I wanted to do more, so this seemed an ideal way to make use of those hours, and any hours I had spare during reading weeks, or appraisal weeks.

I'm lucky enough to have a daughter who has no problem with posing for me at all - and even luckier that she has friends who are equally obliging.  So, I booked the studio, for a few sessions, wanting to cover both high and low key...

The first session was high key, and Kirsty and Myra turned up with a selection of clothes and a totally relaxed and completely un-self concious attitude, that really helped.

I was also lucky enough to have the company of Gemma, who has had quite a bit of experience of working in a studio, and also Colin, who works at the uni, and who was always on hand with advice and tips and information.

 I liked this picture, which wasn't posed at all - the girls were just messing about whilst we got ourselves organised












These are two of my favourite shots of Kirsty from this day














And I also got a few black and white shots that I was pleased with . . .

The time in the studio just seemed too short, so we booked both girls for a second session ...

Even though this was just my second session, I felt a lot more confident with what I was doing, and was far happier with the photographs I produced.





















    


























 Myra and Kirsty both attend dancing classes, and Kirsty is also double jointed - and this gave me an idea for taking some images that I could later play with in photoshop.

I have experimented in the past with trying to capture the movement of dance by using long exposure, but this was the first time I'd tried it in the studio.

I can't believe how much I enjoyed these studio sessions and was eager to get in there again - and this time, do some work using low key lighting .

By chance, a friend of mine, Tracey, who is not only a talented artist, but also a singer/song writer, were chatting, and out of the blue, both she and her friend, Lucy, offered to be my models for a studio session . . . Tracey said she would love to have some shots, maybe for publicity or posters, for her gigs and I was looking forward to doing a shoot that had a 'brief' attached to it.

I was really pleased with the results !

   

          

It was fun working with Lucy too !






















                                 









I've learnt two things from these studio sessions . Firstly - I still need to learn a lot more . And secondly, that I enjoy this form of photography a lot - more than I expected too.  Since these shots, I've been working on product photography, and still life - with much help from Gemma and Colin - and there was also a really fun session, where Gemma taught me a little about light painting - and I  was able to introduce Gemma and Dave (another fellow student) to the fun you can have with zoom bursting . . .

Next Up - More Creative Future's

Where I am up to now - and Creative Furtures, 1.

I'm currently just a few short weeks into the final semester, and therefore, into module 3.

The deadline date for all of the units in this 3rd module is just simply 'May' - I have 3 units finished, but all the others are works in progress, and until I see what I come up with as my finished result, there's no point me wittering on about them. (Did I hear a sigh of relief then?).

The only thing I will 'witter' about is one particular unit - street photography - involves me abandoning children, and DH, and jetting off to Paris for 5 days - well, OK, not jetting - spending approximately 9 hours travelling on coach and ferry, is more accurate - but I'm still looking forward to it ! In fact, with a week to go before we leave - I'm all but packed, ready (not that I am eager to go or anything!) and my eldest daughter has kindly provided me with a list of French Phrases that she thinks I might find useful - which (upon reading them) I think indicates that she thinks I swear - a lot !


In the meantime, we also have Creative Futures to deal with - so far we have had two days of lectures, and have a full 4 days of them next week. One of the reasons for this blog is that I am required to analyse and critique these lectures, here, as part of my study, along with any other activity that I am told comes under the heading 'Creative Futures'.

Day 1.

The thing that was drummed into us, during the first day of lectures, is that we have a 1 in 8 chance of full time employment after graduating - so, we had better realise that a lot of us will be self employed and free lancing. A good part of the lectures will be about the legalities and rules and pitfalls that await us in that area.

The first speaker was Trisha Jones - 'Living the Dream'.  This lady runs her own mosaic business, started it when she was married with several young children, almost by chance - in renovating an old house, she used end of range tiles, bought cheaply and broken up, to decorate a bathroom. This led to her applying for a P/T post, going into schools and showing the children how to use broken tiles and pottery to create mosaics.  This grew into a business where she is involved in producing mosaics for private commissions, exhibitions, schools and communities and garden/outdoor mosaics.

'The Green Man' - one of Trisha's pieces, originally commissioned by a pub of the same name.













Her lecture firstly gave me some confidence - this was a 'more mature' person, who despite the ties of family and a very full life, proved that you can make it in a totally new career, with hard work and determination.

 She also showed me that just sheer chance and luck can play a big role - so I had better keep my eyes open for both! She also came up with a list of the benefits of being your own boss - an idea that scares me somewhat, and it was nice to have such a positive outlook on it given.

This was followed by a talk from a young man who's name I did not catch (It would be so nice if ALL these speakers took just a few seconds to state their name clearly, spelling it when necessary - and the spelling bit also applies to them referencing people who's names are not common, and who's spelling the majority are unfamiliar with - the time I've wasted looking for more information on a person who I'd like to research further, but who I can't find 'cos I don't have the right spelling . . . ).  This gentleman described how he got his big start by camping in a tent, in a disused quarry for a whole summer, in order to get experience and become involved with a piece of installation art.

Er - yes! I can see my family loving me attempting something like that!

Which is maybe unfair of me, because there are some folk listening to that lecture who would be able to make that sort of commitment in order to get their foot on the ladder, so to speak - but I suspect there are a greater number for whom, like myself, something like that just isn't practical.  So if the point of that lecture was to demonstrate one of the ways that you can 'get into' your chosen profession, I'm afraid that it lost me from the start - as did his progression, which involved frequent moves, returns to study, many re-locations - none of which are practicable when you have financial, and family commitments to consider.  I guess I just have to accept that some doors are closed because of my situation - I just have to rattle hard at the ones that are open.

I did enjoy some the art work he had been involved in though.

The next Lecture was 'Innovation and Creativity - a Special Relationship', By Dr John Parks, who works for the Welsh Assembly Government.

He covered 'Intellectual Property', comprising of Copyright, design, trademarks and patents. There was a actually a lot of good information in this lecture - I could see how the information on music, recordings and broadcasts applied to the film students, for example, and I did take note of what he had to say there - however, photography is where I still feel I am heading, and it was most off putting when he touched briefly on how copyright affected photography - but then instantly dismissed it as he thought it 'wasn't of any interest to anyone there'.  Similarly, in his slides, there was one page that gave information about photography - which he left up for a few seconds, and which he complained about being asked to go back to.

We have been advised to consider and know our audience when we produce work - OK, well, this at least brought that lesson home to me!

It also made me start to look into the issues surrounding intellectual property in greater detail, as it would apply to a photographer - I know now that I have to even be careful photographing certain famous buildings, if I intend to use the resultant images for financial gain. I also have to be aware of brands and logo's featuring in my work - I've just started to touch on that subject now, but I understand that I really need to know more about it.


Day 2 .


I must admit I enjoyed day 2 of the lectures.  We kicked off with Sid Madge, from Mad Hen, talking about branding.

I thought I knew what a brand is - and I do, but Sid made me really consider just what goes into successful branding, the impact it can have on a business, how you can use the right sort of branding and approaches to make a real difference to what you do, to the response of customers and your ability to attract them. How branding can be used to instantly create a recognition of your product in the target audience.  The creation of and using branding in web sites was, I thought, particularly helpful - in a world where virtually every business/company HAS to have a web site, he showed by examples, how you can use this to link positive attributes to your 'brand' - for example, Innocent Smoothies focus on green issues, on their web page, is an attractive feature to a lot of their customers.  I guess whatever career/profession you go into, particularly as its likely to be  self employed/free lance based, the information he gave, clearly and in an interesting manner, is something to learn more about and consider.

Next up was Terry Morris - a photographer - of course I enjoyed this lecture !

Terry talked about how he made it to where he is now - maybe because I this is my so far chosen field, I found this incredibly interesting.  The main thing I got from this was the importance of confidence and networking, they obviously play a huge roll in being successful. And boy - does Terry have confidence in bags, almost tipping over to arrogance on occasion ! But, I almost think that was the point of this lecture - to really drive home how important it is to have self belief and - well - the sheer cheek and nerve on occasion, to go after what you want.  Yes, some of the things he did to get himself to where he is now seem a little out of my reach - I don't have the contacts to persuade Charlotte Church to pose for me, nor do I (at this point) have the £3000 to set up the resultant shoot - but this all made clear the importance of not only confidence, but investment, and even taking chances.

Stoke your Fires

This was one day out of 5 in a week long 'festival', which I was under the impression was about both film and animation.   As I've mentioned before on this blog, animation doesn't do anything for me, but I am developing a real interest in film, and I figured today would give me more information about the different roles and potential careers in film, and possible routes into them.

The day kicked off with a selection of award winning short films and animations - two of the live action shorts I found interesting, one of the animations (On the Water) was absolutely beautiful (from my perspective of animation only being of interest as an entertainment form ) - but the rest!  

One film featured cannibalism, as a result of conflict leading to a village starving - it was shocking (slightly) and certainly not pleasant to watch (but hey - who said something had to be 'pleasant' to be good?) - but it seemed to me to contain strong similarities to the Thomas Harris book 'Hannibal', and certainly not as well portrayed. 

As for 'Birdboy' - yes it was billed as 'experimental' animation - but what on earth was the relevance or entertainment in any of it? It left me confused and with a sneaking suspician that 'Birdboy' wasn't the only one to have had a brush with sniffing illegal substances in order for that to have been created !

After that - which contained no information at all for anyone who might be interested as film as a future career (except perhaps to indicate what not to produce!) - the entire day was devoted just to animation. All the speakers were involved in animation, all the potential careers that were gone into at any length were solely about animation. Revelations about new technology and audience expectations and how to get into the field - were all about animation.  Yes the speaker who talked about the making of 'Paul' was very entertaining, and I learned several things - but only about animation.

I really tried to find some way to apply what I had seen and heard to any possible future work I might conceivably be involved with - but I really couldn't.  Photography was mentioned briefly - but in such a way that I was left feeling that its a very minor thing in the animation industry, and that absolutely no information about what a photographers role might involve, or how to get into such a role was given - just basically that a photography was involved - but not in what capacity, or any information about it as a career. They touched briefly on the subject of 'skins' - which I know involve a photographer - but the information given there only involved what the animators do with skins - not where they are obtained from, not what's involved with obtaining them, and certainly nothing about how you become a 'photographer' of skins. There was a Q&A session - but from the content of the information they had given, if it wasn't about actual animation, then the questions wouldn't be relevant. 

I feel like I have been really negative about Stoke Your Fires - but I found it hard to find any relevance in any of the day, either to photography, or even to be honest, film (unless its animation in film!) - which are the subjects that I am actually studying, it just wasn't relevant to me, and I got absolutely nothing out of it in terms of 'Creative Futures', or otherwise.

Next - Self Directed Study - The Studio.

Second Module, Finding my Feet, and - Finally - Enjoying Film!

Slightly before the start of the second module, we were handed our second assignment in Critical Studies - and this time it was to be a 'Group Project'!

It had the title 'Innovation', and basically, the brief was to form a group of no more than six fellow students from our course, pick any decade in history we wanted, make a time line, research it - and prepare a 10 minute long presentation on that decade, in any format we liked, focusing on 'Innovation', particularly in art and design, and taking into account political, social and cultural influences. We had to record all our meetings (listing attendance and contribution), and explain how we researched, and how the project developed, . In addition, Individually, there was to be a 1000 word essay on a particular piece that could be described as being 'art and design', that either was innovative or reflected innovation - and this essay had to include a section reflecting on our individual experience of group work within this project.

It was at this time that I really got to know Gemma - she approached myself, and Dawn (who is a long time friend of mine and who, luckily for me, had also decided to enrol on this course) and she, Dawn and I decided to work together on this project, with 3 other group members.

Initially, we found the brief just a little bit ambiguous in places, but after a couple of chats, we got our heads straight about what we should be doing. At the first meeting, we quickly agreed upon the decade - The Swinging Sixties - and set to work on collecting the information we needed for the time line . The second meeting had us collecting the info in, agreeing that we would make a shot film for the presentation, and I agreed to collate the information for, and design the presentation of the time line.


By the next meet, we were down to four - Dawn, Gemma, Suzie and myself - but on we plodded. The short film idea had to be scrapped as none of us felt we knew enough about editing to really pull it off, without the other two members - so we started talking about using images in a slide show, with a voice over, to do our presentation.  So, Gemma, Suzee, Dawn and I set about finding images, and Gemma wrote a 'voice over' narrative for us. It very quickly came together, and once Gemma had written and recorded the voice-over, using also several sound clips sourced by Dawn, I collected in all the images, and learnt how to make a slide show - once I figured it out, and had completed the first half, Dawn joined me and together we completed it, with me designing the title pages and end credits.

Meantime, I decided for my essay, to focus on the fabulous work of photographer David Bailey, and in particular, on the incredibly innovative and stunning work, 'David Bailey's Box of Pin Ups'

 Mick Jagger by Bailey

 The Kray Twins By Bailey








I've loved the work of Bailey (and Donovan and Duffy) for a long time, and the only problem with the essay was that I could so easily have written double the amount and had a hard time keeping it to length! I was fascinated by how accurately Baileys work reflected the massive changes in popular and social culture during the 1960s - his work, in just this one collection, demonstrated the changes in attitude towards class, sex and even criminality.

The finished slideshow looked pretty damn good, I thought . . .

We were later awarded an A for this, and I got a B+ for the essay - so I guess it was worth all the hard work.

In part, the experiences gained from working on the Innovation project influenced how I approached the next module. It also involved working in a group for some of the units, and I knew that I needed to work with fellow students who had the same attitude to the work that I had, if I wanted to get out of this course everything I could. Dawn and I have worked together many times, and I had no desire to change that. Gemma felt that we had worked well together on the Innovation project, and Dawn and I had no hesitation in wanting to work with her again. Dave became the 4th member of the team - and he turned out to be on the same wavelength as the rest of us - as a result of this, I found this second unit to be far more productive, and even more enjoyable that the first.

Apart from the audio section, that is!

Audio

We had to record 30 second bursts from about 30 different radio shows - not music, just talking! Then we had to listen to them, right them down - then basically pick out snatches from the different programmes to create a completely different dialogue. And you know, its impossible to do that without ending up with a piece full of suggestive phrases and double meanings (most of them quite rude!).  I learnt that I really am a visual person - I can play for hours with photographic editing, don't care how tricky or fiddly it is, but audio!!! It seemed very time consuming for a not particularly special  result. It wasn't helped because the mac  I was using decided it was NOT going to play nice, meaning I had to start from scratch on another machine, and then the staff who would usually be there to help us was unfortunately absent, and I really struggled with it - but I least I learned for sure,  that I DON'T want a career in audio.

However, the rest of the units . . .

Jump Cutting

This was my second attempt at making a short film - and this time, I actually felt I learnt quite a bit. Jump cutting involves a form of editing where by the editing is obvious, things don't have to run in sequence, the action 'jumps' quickly and obviously, and there was a parallel edit running through it.  We planned the story out in advance, and jumped straight into filming . . . and because we got the filming finished really quickly, we had plenty of time for editing - and Dave, who has experience editing was fantastic, very willing to share his knowledge and teach the rest of us how to use the software.

We were pretty pleased with the result

Some shots from making the film

 




The photo used as a prop in the film

 Dave and Gemma - behind the lens

Whilst we were filming this scene, we actually had passing cars stop to watch - and in one instance, someone asked was it a real cat!

               Filming a close up










                          
                     Dave meets an obstacle!

    Reviewing footage

(thanx to Dawn for taking the picture)

     Dawn and Gemma like what we have shot!

 Me, behind the lens - thanx again to Dawn for taking the pic!

              Shooting the parallel               edit

             Gemma

       Dawn and Dave, behind the lens

            Dave and Gemma











Lewis - to say thank you to Lewis for helping out as 'The Other Man', he was presented with one of the roses from the bouquet - and Lewis, being Lewis, he knew just where to stick it - if you'll pardon the phrase!










Vox Pops
The next bit of filming was a 'Vox Pops' video - basically, you pose a question, and record the reactions of people to it as they go about their everyday life - and the interviewer doesn't feature.  We managed to have fun doing this, but must admit - prefer live action drama!

Next, we had two photography assignments - the first was to produce 10 photographs as a 'documentary narrative' - this was part of the Vox Pops unit.  We had to pick a subject we felt strongly about and produce images that reflected how we felt about it. My subject was the local country side - I think we have some absolutely stunning locations, right on our door step - and that not enough is made of them, either by the local authorities, or even by the people who live here.  Dave was concentrating on abandoned industries, and Gemma on ruined/derelict buildings, and I knew of one or two locations that would fulfil the brief for all of us. And I had the pleasure of introducing them both to one or two of my favourite photographic spots.

We started out in Minera, at the old Lime Quarry . . .

 ... as you can see, snow lying, which combined with some stunning blue skies, made it a dream of a day to go out with the camera.

Sometimes, I just love lens flare!

 I love the drama of this place.

 
Considering how beautiful the place is, and considering the amount of evidence of the industry that is still lying about the site, I just don't understand why it isn't made more of!









Venturing through the tree's we encountered a 'Phil Mitchell' Robin . . .

Pretty sure his chirping and tweeting at us, as we passed by, would have translated to 'GET OUTTA MY WOODS' !

We also visited Minera Lead Mines   - this area was developed as a tourist/local history attraction - but seems to be just a bit on the neglected side, these days.

Colour, Design and Observation.
The next unit comprised several different subjects -

Complimentary colour

          Rhythm

Analogous Colour

 Looking down

                      Frame within a frame

                                         Looking Up

                              Reflection in a window

                                   
  
                                Monocolour 







I really enjoyed this unit - spending time, out and about with the camera is always fun - and again, I found myself looking at my environment in a much closer fashion than I usually would, noticing stuff that would usually pass me by.

However, I will say that for a person like me, who is absolutely petrified of heights, the photo of 'Looking Down' was especially challenging!

Parallel Edit

This last unit was another film, and this time, we had a whole two weeks to do it.  We decided to tackle the issue of mental health, and I absolutely loved working on this. We used several different locations, and I felt that as a team, we bounced idea's off each other, and that we all benefited from the experience and input of each other.  The finished film was something I thought we could all be really proud of - although it was still clearly an 'amateur' attempt at film making, you could see how we had improved, and I could see how we had really started to grasp the concepts behind film work.  I also learnt so much about editing - once again, we had been well prepared, had jumped straight into filming, and left ourselves lots of time for the editing - and that gave the less experienced members of the team, such as myself, more chance to have a go and get to grips with using Final Cut. 

For personal reasons, one of the team members prefers that this film isn't floated for all to see on the internet, so sadly, I can't share it - but I was very pleased with the B+ grade it earned us.

So, again - what did I learn from this Module?

I learnt that the film editing software wasn't as scary as I thought it would be!  My attention to detail in the film units improved, and I discovered I really enjoyed working as part of a group, and seeing it all come together.

Again, the point about having to really 'work' for this degree hit home - I am sure a lot of my friends who hear me talk about building sandcastles, or kicking toy cats along the road for a film scene must think I do nothing but have a damn good laugh. Well - there are a lot of laughs - but the organisation required is immense, the willingness to go and find out how to do things right, to ask questions and seek advice,  is constant, and the extra time, outside of the actual university hours, needed to research and read and organise yourself for group work, is heavy.

I am loving every minute of it !

Mainly I learnt that although I was really beginning to enjoy the film work, for me, its still the photography that pulls me the most.  I guess I really started to 'find my feet', and become more sure of the direction I want to move in.

Next - Where I am up to Now - and Creative Futures 1.