UNIT 7 Evaluation

Leah Harston/Group B

UNIT 7: Time-based Media in Art & Design Evaluation

My experience of working with contemporary time based forms of art has been invaluable to me as I have gained skills and knowledge that allows me to further explore into a branch of art and design I didn’t know existed. Therefore I can widen my options for the future and create new opportunities for myself.

Unfortunately I missed out on the zoetrope workshop however I did complete the zoetrope work station during my visit to the AniMotion exhibition at The Civic, which worked really well due to the fact that by following the steps given and tracing the cartoon everything was simple and easy however what I gained from that experience was an understanding of how the mechanism works; combined with my research I believe I would be confident in producing a zoetrope if I were to create one. In the iMovie workshop I felt was my biggest weakness out of all the workshops as I found the software quite confusing to use however with the help of the hand out I began to find it a lot easier, after watching back the iMovie I think it was good and I managed to edit all the elements into a sequence that collaborated well however I think if I edited the iMovie a little more I could try make a higher quality video. My third recording is of an action painting inspired by Jackson Pollock’s work, the idea of the video was a really clever way to record Pollock’s method however it could’ve been more successful. If I were to repeat my video again I would like to have made sure the plastic was cleaner/clearer, I would record in a room with a plain white ceiling and possibly add lighting underneath the plastic so that you can distinguish the difference between the colours of the paint better. My recordings of reportage drawing weren’t as successful as I would’ve liked due to the fact that I am not a quick drawer however I found that as we went on I adapted to the speed and towards the end of the workshop I found my drawings were more successful. Stop motion animation was my most successful recording in my opinion, I had a good understanding of the process allowing me to get on with the first part of the task confidently. I was less confident on the second part of the task due to my lack of editing skills however the result was successful, if I were to change one thing it would be to create more fluidity by using more frames and smaller moments on certain parts of the animation.

My research into time based media proved to be very useful as I gained a vast amount of knowledge and understanding from looking at the development of animation and its various methods such as the zoetrope and stop frame animation.  This research helped me when completing several of the tasks and whilst researching I found I had an interest in time based media. From looking at my artist research I realised you can be really creative and original with time based media for example a GIF is something I never realised could be art however Helen Greens work changed this perspective, David Hockney turned something that is supposed to be just fun into an art form using apps on apple devices and Bill Viola used a simple time based media, video, however he created beautifully meaningful pieces through simplicity. By looking at these artists work I was really inspired and tried be fairly ambitious despite my lack of skills in my workshops.

For my primary research I visited the AniMotion exhibition at The Civic to gather images and videos for my digital sketchbook. Overall, I enjoyed the exhibition, it had a wide variety of time based media and had many interactive exhibitions as well as workstations to create your own time based media. I learnt that time based media is continuously developing as technology advances widening the possibilities for artists and that it isn’t as limited as I first thought it would be.

Throughout my work I have planned, organised and prepared design solutions for time based media to help complete the tasks and workshops. For all the animation based recordings I have produced storyboards showing what I need to do and then proceeded to draw up designs and create sets where appropriate. When producing the iMovie I helped create a rough storyboard and write up a script in preparation for recording and for action painting I had to set up all the equipment in preparation for filming. All the preparation and planning was produced by creating and refining my ideas to create a final idea therefore I could then produce my workshop outcomes knowing exactly what I was doing.

During the production of my time based pieces I have used a variety of practical skills, methods and understanding in order to complete each of my outcomes for this project. Throughout unit 7 I have used my understanding of how time based media works, which I gained through research, to create several artworks independently. Through understanding the production of time based pieces it became easier to create them as I understood why the making process was done the way it was. During unit 7 I used several practical skills to produce my time based pieces: planning, drawing, photography, editing within various softwares and problem solving skills.

I have had to apply problem solving skills during this project to overcome the obstacles I have faced. Due to missing a week of college I had missed out on a the visit to The Civic, a few workshops and struggled to catch up however I made sure to put in all the hours I had missed during my own time to catch up to the best of my ability. I also visited The Civic myself and managed to complete the workshops I had missed besides the zoetrope however I made one at The Civic exhibition to be a substitute. Another problem I faced was uploading my videos to my blog therefore I uploaded them to YouTube and added the links to each of my blogs to make sure they could still be viewed easily.

I have used my blog for digital sketchbook therefore I have documented and recorded all the work I have completed throughout unit 7. My blog contains research, explanations of processes I have used, my preparation work, my workshop outcomes and some analytical content for different time based Medias. Therefore my blog has been successful in documenting and recording my work for unit 7. I have tried to make my blog more interesting by breaking up bigger pieces of writing and adding plenty of images and links to videos. However my blog is quite messy If I were to improve my blog it would be to go back and repost the blogs in order and make sure the font and size of the text is all he same.

Time management has been a problem particularly in this project due to missing a week of the project however I have tried by working a lot in my own time on my digital sketchbook, visiting the exhibition, researching and even creating some time based media myself. Despite my efforts I didn’t manage to complete all the work required for the deadline however I managed to complete the outstanding work quickly within a couple of days after the deadline. If I had just worked a little bit harder earlier on I probably would’ve completed the work.