Introduction- I want to review and reflect on my work from this project and evaluate the different areas of my work to discover my strengths and weaknesses so that I may progress and become better and achieve those top grades that I need for my university application.
Research- Over the duration of this project I've researched a variety of different artists all using a different medium to creating contrasting concepts to each other. The first artist I researched was William Mumler who used photography to supposedly capture images of ghosts and spirits. I mimicked his use of a camera to recreate these ghostly images in the studio at UCA within the workshop.
One of the next artist to be researched included Cornelia Parker who took toxic imagery to the next level by using a medium of art that seemed to be toxic itself. Cornelia Parker used illegal pornographic content that been been destroyed and turned into a liquid that could be applied to wove paper to form ink blot work. Cornelia Parker did something so unique and powerful with the way she created her work that you can't help but be impressed.
The next portion of the research is generalised and does not dive into one artist but many techniques as a whole. I researched into camera shots, angles and transitions in preparation for my story boarding animation.
Overall I think that my research element of the project was fairly strong however I do believe it could have been stronger and I could have read more into the different styles and movements of art, such as surrealism. This is something I know I need to improve on if I am going to get the grades I need to get into my first choice university.
Photography- The first photography workshop was connected to the William Mumler research that I conducted. This workshop involved increasing the amount of time that the shutter was open for. This is how I created my ghostly images. Though photography isn't my strongest medium to work with, it still provided some valuable inspiration for my future work especially my Unreal Engine animations. Although these were separate workshops I still think that the fashion photography workshop should fit within this paragraph. The most influential element I learnt from this workshop was lighting and its direction, I really came to understand and experiment with light intensity and direction, by changing these variables you are able to create a narrative and an atmosphere within your images and from. I really enjoyed this workshop and found the lesson that it taught to be inspiration and helpful.
Ink blotting- Ink blotting was probably the least helpful workshop out of them all as a lot of the time I was stressing about not spilling any of the ink. Once I had moved past this I was able to create a few unique ink blots, however none provided me with any inspiration. I believe a contributing factor for me not to enjoy this workshop was due to it massively straying from my normal digital workflow.
Story-boarding- Story-boarding was a skill I wanted to improve at as I was working on an animation outside of school for my portfolio and I really wanted to refine my shots and camera angles so that I could make the best film that I could. I think that I have improved a lot with my storyboard skills and camera work, I used what I learnt in my animations and I've managed to make some short animated clips that I am very proud of. The skills that I have learnt from story-boarding can be applied to other areas of work and creative workshops. Story-boarding taught me about working in iterations and not being afraid to deviate from what you had originally planned.
Animation workshop- This workshop had nothing to do with my Unreal Engine animation work and instead used a program called 'Dragon Frame' which was linked to a camera suspended above our heads. This workshop gave us an insight into the programs used within the industry. Even though this is not a form of animation I am looking to pursue myself, it was still a compelling workshop that was enjoyable to be a part of. I think that within this workshop I could have been more experimental and bolder with the work that I produced.
Open day- One of the most important elements that took place during the second project of year two was the Hertfordshire University Open day and the Tutor-Talks. The reason why this was so important was due to the information that the university provided about the content of the course I was looking at taking. I was able to make the difficult but important decision to stop considering this university as an option due to the content of the course changing and no longer being relevant to my interests or aspirations.
Portfolio work- While outside of UCA I spent my time creating work that I could post online to start building up my digital portfolio. Skills and ideas picked up from each workshop were a great help when it came to my final concepts and organising my work. I am trying to compile the best parts of my digital environments work onto a Youtube channel.
This evaluation didn't reflect on every workshop I took part in, however I wrote about the events that had the most impact and importance to me within the project. Overall this project has been very influential on my ideas and concepts as well as reminding me of the important of conducting even more research.
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