In a group of 4-6 we were seated around tables to compliment and critique each others self portraits (mine can be found the next blog down – be as constructive or destructive as you like, I can take a metaphorical punch.) Our excuse to be as ruthless as possible was kindly gifted to us by the teacher when she instructed us to answer while under the cover of a “criticism cap”. The colours and characteristics are as follows:
Yellow: Sees the things that work and what they liked (you have to tell the mother that her baby’s cute right?)
Red: The gut responder, how it affected them on a personal level. (the sympathiser who yawns when you yawn.)
Black: Criticisms for aspects that didn’t work. (Tread wisely)
Green: Creative alternatives and suggestions (Like black cap but not as rude)
I think that it was an efficient platform to be able to discuss each others ideas and was able to receive some great feedback. We saw through each others works that we had similar thoughts; that the text component was the most personal as it was a concrete way of expressing conscience. We found alternative ways of introducing concept; Jordan’s way of finding himself through other people or Ellie’s running theme of her eyesight.
Looking forward to the next brief I need to find a way to bring the aspects together as one cohesive unit. At the moment they are separated in sections but as suggested at the table I will consider playing with an idea of “duality” the contrasting or opposing sides of my life, the push-pull effect found. I’m going to work on the video aspects to provide better quality film and mess around with some editing.
Overall I’m happy with where the portrait is at the moment but there’s still plenty to do.