Formative feedback
Assignment number 3
Type of tutorial Written
Overall Comments
This assignment was approached with a genuine ambition to find a direction through, what for you, became a very complex and intertwined understanding of yourself and your experiences. Your writing is very open and at times creative as you tried to unlock an area to explore visually.
Thanks for the link that let me revisit the excellent Radiohead track and video.
Assignment 3 Assessment Potential
I understand your aim is to go for the Photography/Creative Arts* Degree and that you plan to submit your work for assessment at the end of this course. From the work you have shown in this assignment, providing you commit yourself to the course, I believe you have the potential to pass at assessment. In order to meet all the assessment criteria, there are certain areas you will need to focus on, which I will outline in my feedback.
Feedback on assignment
Demonstration of technical and Visual Skills, Quality of Outcome, Demonstration of Creativity
Because you are studying I do know, therefore, about the context within which both scenes were developed so I am trying to see what someone who sees the work without this knowledge.
Essentially from the viewer’s perspective the film consists of two key scenes. Both scenes present different observational experiences and use of sound. The edit switches from one of these two scenes and then back to the other in a poetic and rhythmic way.
Somewhere and Nowhere is a well chosen title for the work and it resonates very well with your underpinning concern for how such complex human life could become reduced to a few hundred words or to a small number of images. It is impossible to make material equivalents for such complexity, but there are many artists who have made significant and thought-provoking works that encourage the viewer to examine their own lives of the inner landscape below the surface.
The strength in the work is your growing confidence to analyse the basic provocation of the assignment and then, once underway with the visual research, to identify and capitalize of observed phenomena within the everyday. You stepped out into a moving image format that I presume was unknown to you and produced work that was outside of your comfort zone.
The key challenge that I have in giving you feedback lies in two key areas.
The first is in the aesthetics of the imagery. The images by their nature give the impression of an image-maker who has relinquished full control of the outcomes in favor of shots that are intentionally ambiguous, shifting and out of focus. Because you seized he opportunity of the falling snow, this is very difficult to recreate which raises a consideration on whether reshooting something similar would work. I wondered if for instance if the creases within the fabric that you used are a distraction from the physical/emotional response that the viewer might have in these intrinsic scenes. If the fabric was not creased would we more simply experience the folds and their appearance created by the light, the effect of the flow of the fabric in the breeze and the movement of the snow as it falls. This is quite a complex set of elements to take on board perceptually and I think that it makes a strong impact on the level of metaphor or simile. You’re of course right that the overall aesthetic of the film is extensively used within both still and moving images.
Below I’ve recommended Rexer’s excellent book that I think would help you to develop a deeper understating of abstraction and photography to feed into your writing.
The second is in the area where these relatively still scenes of the facial features are assembled into a moving sequence with sound/silence. When watching the moving piece I found my attention slightly wandering a bit as it progressed over the time line. I wonder whether the reason for this is in the pace and editing of the work. This might well be a product of the use of repetition and looping - which I think works very well with the snow /fabric scenes and the bringing in of sound within one scene and of silencing the sound in the scenes of the facial features. Whilst I appreciate your rational about the human face and communication it can be quite hard to keep experiencing a return to a face without gaining any insight into what might be being communicated. Frustration for the viewer and removal of clarity or obvious understanding is a hallmark of the work, and this is strength. You achieved this very well through concentrating on the capacity of the medium to isolate and frame the world in very particular ways. This is s good step forward for you so well done.
When I look at the piece on a large HD screen it does change the work so do always bear in mind that we now encounter imagery at very high resolution and be sure that quality and resolution is not simply a by-product of the camera or system that you had to hand. Do try to get your hands on some varied equipment to use in your periods of experimentation. This matters greatly if your work is to be seen in a gallery/cinema format or projected in a festival or similar. This also applies to the quality of control that you exercise over the sound – this would matter a lot in this work as you move from a mechanical/distortion type of sound directly into absolute silence. Sound can go beyond stimulation for the ears to stimulation of the body itself.
Although the film does not offer an obvious narrative (in the everyday sense of the word) is does explore an emotional or psychological dimension so you need to consider how might you talk about this in a precise way in your introduction. This juxtaposition switches attention from one experience, which is non-human and feeling cold, to another. Although we discern a human face in this second scene you offer a very intimate and restricted experience. All speech is removed and so we are only encouraged to observe the slowly shifting sensation of the mouth and eyes.
Coursework
Demonstration of technical and Visual Skills, Demonstration of Creativity
Your blog has a heading of EVY under learning log and you only use Part and Part two. You normally engage well wit coursework so please ensure that all of the projects and exercises are completed.
Research
Context, reflective thinking, critical thinking, analysis
An important area where you need to invest time is in the accuracy of your writing and grammar. You might not think that others will read your thoughts that underpin the making of new work, but they will and, therefore, any writing needs to be checked for errors and for correctness in terms of what you are expressing.
Below I’ve added a couple of web-based links which might help you to build your appreciation of abstraction and filmmaking. Because of the grainy and uncertain quality the work resonates with early Super 8 film makers in the arts and of amateur filmmaking. I think that your work relates to a number of areas so it might be worth you exploring movements such as Dada and Surrealism, and it would certainly show assessors that you work is grounded in an understanding of art and film/video making beyond the connects that you included in your writing.
I thought that described very well the ways that the imagery evolved and how you took advantage of the two principle scenes of the snow falling over the ‘breathing’ fabric and of the extracts taken of your wife whilst you both talked and relaxed in the comfort of your home environment. I do like the way that the direction of the work was also steered through forms of serendipity and fortune within your visual experiments.
Learning Log
Context, reflective thinking, critical thinking, analysis
Your personal reflection during the making of the work and after completion was complex and exploratory. You have an obvious curiosity around the self and philosophy and I believe that your approach has resonances with artists working in fine art, contemporary movement/dance and with the qualitative research methodology of autoethnography.
The assignment offered a chance to explore yourself through different processes and visual strategies. I would like to see in your 300 word introduction more of what it is that for you the work explored and that you aimed the work to convey. You started with confusion and frustration around the real complexity of being human and you eventually made something that is very intriguing, but what aspects from the holistic sense of first-person do you think the film engages with. No ne would expect answer but they would expect you to explore this terrain.
In the way tat you described in your section on thoughts and research where you explored your actions and practice, you do need to reflect and research on the theoretical aspects of the work. This should include references to work and ideas that were influential, or which contextualised the work and your thoughts on the ways that the work might be interpreted at the level of the viewer – how the imagery gains value with regard to meaning.
Suggested reading/viewing Context
Lyle Rexer, (2009), The Edge of Vision: The Rise of Abstraction in Photography, Aperture Foundation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDYBJV4ylzw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyMJ2_0KwQA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxIIgnC6bg0
Pointers for the next assignment / assessment
Strengths
Areas for development
Creatively ambitious and happy to step outside of your comfort zone to explore new ideas
Provide documentation of the developmental stages of all new work. Tis is an important element for assessment of the critical journey
Good creative playfulness which is important to research and idea development
Use and apply the assessment criteria within any reviews of work
A good thoughtful intellect which continuously raises and considers questions around the assignments
Try to get access to better quality image making equipment to explore the important relationship of medium and message
Good content when writing but at times move the writing into a formal tone and bring in credible external references to support your critical position
Please establish a way to check all of your writing to ensure that it reads in the way you intend with good grammar.
Be sure that your final solutions are the best they can be technically and in terms of the form that they take
Tutor name
Dr. Andy Langford
Date
30.01.2019
Assignment number 3
Type of tutorial Written
Overall Comments
This assignment was approached with a genuine ambition to find a direction through, what for you, became a very complex and intertwined understanding of yourself and your experiences. Your writing is very open and at times creative as you tried to unlock an area to explore visually.
Thanks for the link that let me revisit the excellent Radiohead track and video.
Assignment 3 Assessment Potential
I understand your aim is to go for the Photography/Creative Arts* Degree and that you plan to submit your work for assessment at the end of this course. From the work you have shown in this assignment, providing you commit yourself to the course, I believe you have the potential to pass at assessment. In order to meet all the assessment criteria, there are certain areas you will need to focus on, which I will outline in my feedback.
Feedback on assignment
Demonstration of technical and Visual Skills, Quality of Outcome, Demonstration of Creativity
Because you are studying I do know, therefore, about the context within which both scenes were developed so I am trying to see what someone who sees the work without this knowledge.
Essentially from the viewer’s perspective the film consists of two key scenes. Both scenes present different observational experiences and use of sound. The edit switches from one of these two scenes and then back to the other in a poetic and rhythmic way.
Somewhere and Nowhere is a well chosen title for the work and it resonates very well with your underpinning concern for how such complex human life could become reduced to a few hundred words or to a small number of images. It is impossible to make material equivalents for such complexity, but there are many artists who have made significant and thought-provoking works that encourage the viewer to examine their own lives of the inner landscape below the surface.
The strength in the work is your growing confidence to analyse the basic provocation of the assignment and then, once underway with the visual research, to identify and capitalize of observed phenomena within the everyday. You stepped out into a moving image format that I presume was unknown to you and produced work that was outside of your comfort zone.
The key challenge that I have in giving you feedback lies in two key areas.
The first is in the aesthetics of the imagery. The images by their nature give the impression of an image-maker who has relinquished full control of the outcomes in favor of shots that are intentionally ambiguous, shifting and out of focus. Because you seized he opportunity of the falling snow, this is very difficult to recreate which raises a consideration on whether reshooting something similar would work. I wondered if for instance if the creases within the fabric that you used are a distraction from the physical/emotional response that the viewer might have in these intrinsic scenes. If the fabric was not creased would we more simply experience the folds and their appearance created by the light, the effect of the flow of the fabric in the breeze and the movement of the snow as it falls. This is quite a complex set of elements to take on board perceptually and I think that it makes a strong impact on the level of metaphor or simile. You’re of course right that the overall aesthetic of the film is extensively used within both still and moving images.
Below I’ve recommended Rexer’s excellent book that I think would help you to develop a deeper understating of abstraction and photography to feed into your writing.
The second is in the area where these relatively still scenes of the facial features are assembled into a moving sequence with sound/silence. When watching the moving piece I found my attention slightly wandering a bit as it progressed over the time line. I wonder whether the reason for this is in the pace and editing of the work. This might well be a product of the use of repetition and looping - which I think works very well with the snow /fabric scenes and the bringing in of sound within one scene and of silencing the sound in the scenes of the facial features. Whilst I appreciate your rational about the human face and communication it can be quite hard to keep experiencing a return to a face without gaining any insight into what might be being communicated. Frustration for the viewer and removal of clarity or obvious understanding is a hallmark of the work, and this is strength. You achieved this very well through concentrating on the capacity of the medium to isolate and frame the world in very particular ways. This is s good step forward for you so well done.
When I look at the piece on a large HD screen it does change the work so do always bear in mind that we now encounter imagery at very high resolution and be sure that quality and resolution is not simply a by-product of the camera or system that you had to hand. Do try to get your hands on some varied equipment to use in your periods of experimentation. This matters greatly if your work is to be seen in a gallery/cinema format or projected in a festival or similar. This also applies to the quality of control that you exercise over the sound – this would matter a lot in this work as you move from a mechanical/distortion type of sound directly into absolute silence. Sound can go beyond stimulation for the ears to stimulation of the body itself.
Although the film does not offer an obvious narrative (in the everyday sense of the word) is does explore an emotional or psychological dimension so you need to consider how might you talk about this in a precise way in your introduction. This juxtaposition switches attention from one experience, which is non-human and feeling cold, to another. Although we discern a human face in this second scene you offer a very intimate and restricted experience. All speech is removed and so we are only encouraged to observe the slowly shifting sensation of the mouth and eyes.
Coursework
Demonstration of technical and Visual Skills, Demonstration of Creativity
Your blog has a heading of EVY under learning log and you only use Part and Part two. You normally engage well wit coursework so please ensure that all of the projects and exercises are completed.
Research
Context, reflective thinking, critical thinking, analysis
An important area where you need to invest time is in the accuracy of your writing and grammar. You might not think that others will read your thoughts that underpin the making of new work, but they will and, therefore, any writing needs to be checked for errors and for correctness in terms of what you are expressing.
Below I’ve added a couple of web-based links which might help you to build your appreciation of abstraction and filmmaking. Because of the grainy and uncertain quality the work resonates with early Super 8 film makers in the arts and of amateur filmmaking. I think that your work relates to a number of areas so it might be worth you exploring movements such as Dada and Surrealism, and it would certainly show assessors that you work is grounded in an understanding of art and film/video making beyond the connects that you included in your writing.
I thought that described very well the ways that the imagery evolved and how you took advantage of the two principle scenes of the snow falling over the ‘breathing’ fabric and of the extracts taken of your wife whilst you both talked and relaxed in the comfort of your home environment. I do like the way that the direction of the work was also steered through forms of serendipity and fortune within your visual experiments.
Learning Log
Context, reflective thinking, critical thinking, analysis
Your personal reflection during the making of the work and after completion was complex and exploratory. You have an obvious curiosity around the self and philosophy and I believe that your approach has resonances with artists working in fine art, contemporary movement/dance and with the qualitative research methodology of autoethnography.
The assignment offered a chance to explore yourself through different processes and visual strategies. I would like to see in your 300 word introduction more of what it is that for you the work explored and that you aimed the work to convey. You started with confusion and frustration around the real complexity of being human and you eventually made something that is very intriguing, but what aspects from the holistic sense of first-person do you think the film engages with. No ne would expect answer but they would expect you to explore this terrain.
In the way tat you described in your section on thoughts and research where you explored your actions and practice, you do need to reflect and research on the theoretical aspects of the work. This should include references to work and ideas that were influential, or which contextualised the work and your thoughts on the ways that the work might be interpreted at the level of the viewer – how the imagery gains value with regard to meaning.
Suggested reading/viewing Context
Lyle Rexer, (2009), The Edge of Vision: The Rise of Abstraction in Photography, Aperture Foundation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDYBJV4ylzw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyMJ2_0KwQA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxIIgnC6bg0
Pointers for the next assignment / assessment
Strengths
Areas for development
Creatively ambitious and happy to step outside of your comfort zone to explore new ideas
Provide documentation of the developmental stages of all new work. Tis is an important element for assessment of the critical journey
Good creative playfulness which is important to research and idea development
Use and apply the assessment criteria within any reviews of work
A good thoughtful intellect which continuously raises and considers questions around the assignments
Try to get access to better quality image making equipment to explore the important relationship of medium and message
Good content when writing but at times move the writing into a formal tone and bring in credible external references to support your critical position
Please establish a way to check all of your writing to ensure that it reads in the way you intend with good grammar.
Be sure that your final solutions are the best they can be technically and in terms of the form that they take
Tutor name
Dr. Andy Langford
Date
30.01.2019