On Friday the 24th or April I pitched my ‘Remnants‘ idea to a panel for feedback. I also decided ‘Remnants’ doesn’t really encapsulate what the piece is about. It’s fine as a working title, but the name suggests the piece is entirely about things that are left over, which is a big part of it, but another big part of the piece is the idea of building on top of things and updating things, so I’ll have to think about another title.

I think the presentation went well and I think I got all of my ideas across clearly. I received some very useful feedback also, which makes me feel much better in giving me good direction.

• What I was most worried about was finding a good interview candidate, but one of the suggestions i got was that the architect doesn’t necessarily have to be someone who worked on the building itself. Which makes a lot of sense really. Even if i just got one of the Architecture people from RMIT, they would no doubt have some good knowledge on the matter, as they are aware of various updates and designs generally seen in architecture.  So I plan to get in contact with the Architecture school.
• It was also suggested that I make the collage enormous. I didn’t put too much thought into the size, i was just picturing an A3 or so thing, but since it was suggested, the idea has really excited me. It was also said in passing the idea of doing it on the big conference table in the courtroom, but as soon as it was said i thought to myself ‘wow that would be a really awesome location!’ If I can get permission to use that space for a day, I would really love to do a huge piece on that table. This would also make it interesting to see me working around the piece in wider shots, as opposed to just close ups of my hands and the work.
• It was also suggested that i don’t rely too much on the interview. While it would be a good guide to inform the collage, the collage is the main event. I could decide how much of the interview I want to include after it is recorded. It may be a lot, it may be barely anything, or it could be something more experimental such as ‘Blight‘ (1996).
• I could also look further into the block of land itself, which I do really want to do. Since my piece is about the space, not the place, learning about the block itself and the space itself would be very relevant.
• Something I was relieved to hear was not to worry about time too much. Especially for this type of project, because it is more experimental, in the editing process, the most effective way of illustrating it may be 4 minutes, but then again it may be 1 minute, or 20 seconds, or 5 hours. Its difficult to say, and personally I think a shorter piece will give me space to be more creative, and I probably wont have to rely on the interview too much. So I was happy to hear that time is flexible.

The feedback I received was all really useful and I appreciated all of their ideas. I feel they have put me on a more stable and direct path to realising this piece that’s in my head.