Month: June 2016

♛

Throughout this course, there has been a large emphasis upon self-reflection, often through collaborative critical feedback. Usually incredibly guarded about my work, especially work in progress, this has been a really fantastic experience. It has taught me the immense value of collaboration, and getting others’ input on unfinished work, and how helpful it can be; I now often find myself asking, not just for people’s opinions of my work, but pushing further to gather critical feedback on it, so that I can improve, find weaknesses and work upon them. This has been one of the greatest outcomes of this course so far; I am far less precious of my work, am more comfortable sharing it and I believe my work is better for it.

As documentary is so important to me, I remember that when we had our screenings for PB3, I was incredibly nervous about showing my work; however, after it was over, and we had discussed the class’ feedback, I remember just wanting more, more criticisms, more commentary on the work, as by that point I just really wanted to know how I could do better, make better. Getting constructive criticism from others is evidently a highly motivating tool for me, and a form of learning that I really engage with.

Another aspect of the course related to this, is how public every aspect of it is. All of our work is screened in tutorials, everything we write, posted online. And whilst this may be a terrifying prospect to think about, it is ultimately very useful. It pushes me to do my best; I don’t want to present poorly executed pieces to the world, as ultimately, this work serves as a public representation and extension of me.

This sentiment has however been a constant point of struggle for me throughout the course, since being told that four blog posts was not the required amount, but the bare minimum that should be written each week. I hate the idea of putting out work that is less than excellent, and as I spoke about in a previous blog post, with the emphasis placed upon quantity, there is an evident drop in the quality of work. I think this is demonstrated in my blog, as most of my favourite posts (photo diary / behind the scenes, Game of Thrones’ Deborah Riley & Robert Perkins, media ubiquity, documentary inspiration, documentary aspirations) were earlier blogs, which required more time and effort, and which I ultimately enjoyed making more, as they were posts I had invested in, instead of simply written in an attempt to fulfil a quota. I do see the value in prolific blogging however, in helping us get into the habit of what has become a important practice in the modern age. As such, in future I will attempt to set aside more time for blogging, as it makes up a significant percentage of the course, and is a valuable skill to work upon.

A highlight of the course that really stood out for me, was in the lecture about experimental, non-linear film form, and documentary film. This opened up a world of possibilities that I had never thought of before; combining documentary film and technology to create art. The level of exposure I’ve had to new filmmakers, techniques, and consequent ways of viewing the world and approaching film, has been the most memorable part of the course for me. It re-excites me about film, as I am constantly able to explore new ways of telling stories through the medium.

Regarding my own methods of practice, in addition to discovering how well I work with constructive criticism, I also realised how terrible I am at working in a highly structured environment, particularly when working on creative projects. This was only reaffirmed when I took the Myers Briggs personality test. It appears that I spend more time conceptualising a project, and ensuring that it is good idea worth making, than actually creating the piece. This can sometimes mean that I am unable to work to the deadlines I set for myself throughout a project, or am unable to get the constructive criticism that would benefit me most. I am very much looking forward to the studios for this reason, as they are apparently less structured, and hence it may be easier to receive feedback upon work when the project has reached a point where it’s needed. Due to the setup of the studios, and our selection of a more focussed course, I believe my standard of work will improve markedly in the coming semester.

Looking forward, I am most excited to hone my craft and work to develop the specific skills necessary to create documentary works of a high standard, as I can focus my energies on the creative industry I hope to soon be a part of.

(p.s. I appear to have misplaced the graph I made in the final lectorial, however, it trends upwards, as each aspect of the course ultimately contributed to the advancement of my technical skills, conceptual knowledge, professionalism and my practice as a whole, as it allowed me to build upon what skills I already had, develop new ones, and progress as a media maker overall)