2. Process â Week 1To start this project off we had a little talk with our tutor about what was expected from us for this project. One thing that was made very clear, was
that the PowerPoint we are given to fill in, contain the bare minimum of what is expected from us(to get a pass grade). For this project I would ideally
want to get a distinction, so I know I'm really going to have to work at filling out those PowerPoint to the max, going in lots of detail to obtain the
desired grade. The grade for this project is particularly important as it is worth a certain amount of UCAS points and I need the UCAS points to get onto
good courses at university. This is something I am not really worried about but it is something that I am definitely aware of and will be trying to do the
best possible to ensure that this does not become a worry. The first piece of work we did for this project was writing down our initial reactions. I
always like doing this as it helps me to organize my thoughts about the new project. For this project my main feelings are excitement and interest. I am
really excited to start a project where I am dictating what is happening as it gives me the opportunity to try something new and explore different ideas
that I have had before but have been unable to anything about until now.
Our next task was to create a mind map exploring the different potential ideas we had for this project. With my mind map I wanted to include as many
ideas as possible even if I knew already that I would not be taking it any further, as this shows I have thought of all possibilities. Due to this I also
decided to colour code my map using the colours, Green = really like, Orange = Not too sure, Red = Not taking any further. Colour coding these initial
ideas helps to make it very clear about what I am more interested in just by looking. At this point I still wasnât sure what sort of idea I wanted to focus
on, so I decided to do mind maps on each idea exploring it further. This really helped me to decide as I explored each idea in depth and was able to see
what I could potentially create with each idea. For each idea I did two mindmaps, one was simply just bullet points, this was so I could write down lots
of ideas quickly. I then did a mindmap with paragraphs, this was so I had the opportunity to write in more depth and really explore the idea. I also
stuck with the colour coded ideas for the âgreenâ ideas I tried to write a lot more and spread out the writing over two pages, whereas with the âorangeâ
ideas I tried to stick to I page. Exploring each of my ideas in so much detail really helped me to decide on what would be the best option for my FMP.
With some of the ideas it became clear that they would not work for the main idea as there was simply not enough to create/write about. However
these ideas are going to be useful to use as my side products, as they donât require much work but are still effective.
After going through all of my potential ideas in detail I knew which one I wanted to take further. I decided on creating an exhibition. This is because
this idea allows me to explain my artistic ideas whilst also allowing me to create several side products as well. I much prefer this as I think having my
attention spread out across several different products will keep me interested and focused as everything is always changing which needs
concentration to keep it in check. Finally for this week we created a mood board. This is where we choose lots of different images that will inspire and
influence your creative process. For my mood board I focused on 3 different aspects of my chosen final idea. I looked at different exhibitions as I
thought this would be good for inspiration. I really enjoyed doing this as it was actually really interesting to see how people have changed the
traditional idea of an exhibition where the art is displayed hung up on a wall. This was really helpful to look at as I am pretty sure that I want to display
my art in a more modern manner to match the genre of my artwork. For my second mood board I looked at different digital art pieces, I found this
interesting to look at but not particularly helpful as I think basing your artwork off of someone elseâs is sort of âcheatingâ and isnât entirely your own
work. However these pieces were nice to look at and I did get a few ideas from it. For instance the idea of movement was represented very clearly in
all of the pieces so replicating the idea of fast tracked movement might be something to think about when creating my own pieces. For my final mood
board I looked at a range of different side products. I think this mood board was the most helpful as I wasnât too sure what side products I actually
wanted to create, looking at different examples really helped me to see what would work with my exhibition and what wouldnât fit in as well.
Next week I will be focusing on research for this product. Normally I really dislike doing research I find it quite boring and a bit of a drag. However for
this project I am actually quite excited to do it as I am actually really interested in my product and what other people have created surrounding that
topic.
3. Process â Week 2Our second week of our project is focused on research, Secondary and Primary. This is an important aspect of our project as it gives you the
opportunity to see what has previously been created, giving you inspiration and potentially even new ideas for what you could create. This part
of research is called Secondary research and is the part of research that normally I find really boring to complete. However for this project I was
really actually looking forward to conducting my secondary research. I think this is because I am actually really interested to see what other
people have managed to create, who had the same starting ideas as me. I am particularly interested in the exhibition side of things. I want to see
how people have made exhibitions more exciting and modern. Making my exhibition more modern and exciting is really important to me as I
think the âtraditionalâ method of displaying art at an exhibition is extremely outdated and is not intriguing the younger generations, which it
desperately needs to do to avoid dying out.
The second part of the research is known as Primary research. This is where you conduct the research yourself gaining first hand answers. The
best way to do this is to conduct a questionnaire and then interviews. The questionnaire allows for a wide range of people to answer quick fire
questions. It also allows you to ask a larger number of questions as they are simple yes/no answers. I also really like questionnaires as you get to
find out who your target audience is. To figure this out the first two questions should be about age and gender. With those answered you know
who has answered the rest of your questions allowing you to cater for the audience. For example in my questionnaire my target audience is
primarily made up of both genders from the ages 16-19. Although not everyone who answered my questionnaire fits into this, the vast majority
do, making it my target audience. The interviews are also very important as it allows you to ask more in-depth questions, which gives you loads
more information about what your audience actually wants to see from your project,
In my secondary research the product I found the most interesting to research into was the Van Gogh Alive exhibition. This was because it
demonstrates exactly what I am wanting to do in my own project. It is showcasing work in a brand new and exciting manner, which attracts
people from all over. The idea of bringing the art to life through animations just adds to the idea of displaying art into so much more than just
hanging it up on a wall. What makes this exhibition just a bit more exciting was the fact that the art used was Van Gogh's, this work has only ever
been displayed through hanging. Showing it through projection and animation completely reinvents and refreshes an otherwise old piece.
Another thing that makes the idea of this so exciting is that it is attracting and bringing a new audience in and changing their opinion on art. Art
should never be directed towards specific people, it should ignore age, gender and social status. However some people myself included find that
viewing art where it is simply hung up is extremely boring and the excitement of the piece is taken away. Displaying it in these new and different
ways allows more and more people who otherwise wouldn have looked twice at an exhibition to come and experience art in a manner which
they can actually appreciate.
The product that I found the least interesting to research was the T-shirts. I found this really dull as none of the designs were nice, and they were
quite simple, as in they had simply just placed the art on the short and left it like that. Researching into the t-shirts has made me wonder
whether I do actually even want to create t-shirts. I am thinking this as before researching into the t-shirts I wasnât sure how I would go about
making them as I'm not good at designing clothes, so I had hoped researching into them would have helped, however none of the designs that I
found did appeal to me. I think I will continue to make them and will just have to create a few variations and decide which one I prefer the most.
For the primary aspect of my research I found that coming up with questions for my questionnaire was quite difficult as I wasnât sure what I
actually wanted to find out from my audience. It did take me a while to figure out what questions would be the best to ask to gain the most
information whilst only using closed answered questions.
4. The easy bit of the questionnaire was analysing the answers, I quite liked doing this as it allowed me to look
at each of the answers in detail and really think about what it was that my audience wanted to see from my
exhibition. Knowing what your audience wants from you really helps when coming deciding on final features
in a project as big and as important as this. For me I found that it really helped to validate and add to my
own ideas. This was because I know it wouldnât just be me who wanted to see certain things in the
exhibition, the majority of my audience did too.
The final aspect of my primary research was individual interviews. We were told that we were expected to
do two interviews, however I felt that I needed more than that to really understand and take on board what
my audience wanted to see. I ended up conducting seven interviews, I stopped at seven because I had
started to get repeating and consistent answers so felt I had exhausted all the answers I would need for my
project. Although I did need more interviews than two for the information, i think I underestimated just how
much work needed to go into analysing each of the interviews questions, individually and in-depth. It took a
very long time to analyze each of the interviews answers, however I do think this was a good use of my time
as I feel more in touch with what my target audience are expecting from my exhibition.
To finish off my primary research I did a questionnaire summary and an interview summary. These
summaries quickly say what information I need from each of the different answers. I decided to do this as
when I am creating something but need to check if it fits with my audiences wishes I can quickly look at the
summaries and see if it lines up.
Finally we had to keep a bibliography referencing any sources we used for our research. This was easy as I
simply used Neil's toolbox to write the references.
Process â Week 2
5. Process â Week 3
Our third week of our FMP was focused on creating experiments. At the start of the week we were told to focus on creating
experiments that really push the boundaries of our current skill set. This means following YouTube tutorials and instructions to create
something that we wouldnât have been able to otherwise. It was also the chance we needed to try creating something more risky,
something that might not actually be successful. It was important to make sure we were actually âexperimentingâ and not âpracticingâ.
In my project I am creating a range of products however for the majority of them I imagine that they will be fairly simple to create
and there would not be much room for experimenting. I am planning to also create animations to go along with the still image art in
my exhibition. I have had no experience in creating animations, so this week I am going to focus on trying out different types of
animation, to not only get used to creating them but to build up my skill set in that category.
The first experiment I tried was a very simple illusion retro tunnel. The software I used was Adobe After Effects. I found this software
easier to use than expected, I think this was partially due to the fact that I had a tutorial helping me. I fi had tried to do it with no
help I think the final piece would have turned out very different. Creating my retro tunnel took 1 lesson (1 hour and a half). I decided
that I wanted to create something different and a lot more complicated to test my limited skills and improve them. To do this I
decided on creating a kaleidoscope. I found a tutorial for the animation and got to work creating it. However about half way through
the animation just wasnât looking the same as the videos despite the fact that I was following it to the best of my ability. My finished
product did have a look of a kaleidoscope however it didnât manage to do the complete effect. This animation did take a lot longer
and a lot more concentration and although mine didnât turn out exactly how I wanted it to it still looked good so I was happy with my
attempt especially as it was only the second thing I had created using this software. For my next experiment I wanted to create
something with text as I might want to end up using text in one of my final products. The effect that I chose would work as an opener
as it is very attention grabbing. I found the majority of this tutorial very easy to follow. However near the end where the two layers
are placed on top of each other so that the text can be revealed, the layers didnât end up being the same colour and so it looked like
two separate layers when it should have looked like one for the effect to truly look like it was working. I went back over the tutorial a
few times to see if I had missed any steps, but I couldnât find anything that would make the different layers blend into each other
better. I found this very annoying as apart from that little blip everything else worked perfectly. For my final experiment I once again
tried to create something that was complicated and would test my skills. I decided on a rotating cube, I decided on this as I thought it
would be a very effective way of showcasing any of my artwork if I decided on creating an advert or something similar. I found
creating this cube actually quite easy and was extremely happy with the outcome.
Whilst creating my experiments I made sure I was taking screenshots of the process, this is to prove that I did actually create the
pieces and so that I have my own tutorial in place. I also made sure to analyse each separate experiment so that I would be able to
quickly remember how I felt about that experiment and its process and how relevant it would actually be to my project.
Next week I will be starting my pre-production I am excited to start this as I think it will help me to finalize in my head what I actually
want to create.
6. Process â Week 4
This week I was actually really ill and was unable to come into college all week. This was a major
disadvantage to my work as I wasnât too sure on what I needed to write in the preproduction
PowerPoint. I decided that the best thing to so was to leave the PowerPoint until I got back to
college and would be able to ask a tutor for help. I was a bit worried about doing this as it would
make me behind in my work. However in the long term this will be more beneficial as I will
know the PowerPoint is full of good quality work.
Whilst I was away I was able to do the proposal aspect of the pre-production. I was able to do
this as the majority of it as it is very simple, the only aspect that isnât being the audience part.
However we were given a PowerPoint that would help us write this particular part. I found this
extremely helpful as I was able to go through all the different aspects that needed to be
included and make sure that they were all written about. I spent a lot of time writing about the
audience so I think it will be very in-depth and detailed. For the other parts of the proposal we
were given different word limits, I did find these quite hard to stick to and I did go over on all of
them and had to spend some time editing and reducing what I had written.
I also decided that while I wasnât able to do any of the new work I was given I could catch up on
any unfinished pieces from the beginning for the project. This mainly included finishing writing
up any weekly reflections and finishing off my experiments PowerPoint. This was helpful as I
then wouldnât have these hanging over me when I did start my new PowerPoint.
Regarding next week I know I will have a lot on with starting a new PowerPoint and it being the
start of my production weeks. I will however be focusing on completing my pre-production
PowerPoint. Partly because I cant really start production until it is complete and partly because I
would prefer not to start something new when I have something that important uncompleted.
7. Process
Daily Reflection â Week 1 Day 1
As I had missed the whole of the pre-production week due to illness, I was quite behind with my work. I had spent the week
off catching up with any previous work that hadnât been completed, I found this helpful, when I got back as I had just the
one PowerPoint to complete. I didnât want to start the PowerPoint at home as I wasnât too sure what was needed on it so
didnât want to end up writing about the wrong thing and for it to be a waste of time. I decided that I couldnât start
production until this PowerPoint was complete as I could have not planned for something that would be crucial in
production. I spent most of day one of production time, filling in the PowerPoint. I was quite annoyed at this as I didnât want
to be behind at this important stage in production. I also am aware that Iâve got a lot to create, so using some of my
production time on something that should have already been completed did add some extra worry and stress. Luckily whilst
I was ill I had managed to complete my proposal so I was glad that I didnât also have that to do.
Towards the end of the day I decided I had done everything possible on my pre-production PowerPoint, so I could finally
start on my production. I think that this was possible as I had, had the full day in college (6 hours) so I was given enough
time to complete the PowerPoint, which on another day would not have been possible. I wanted to take some photos as
the weather was nice and I was starting to feel fed up being in front of a computer all day. Whilst outside I tried to take
photos of objects that captured my eye or really struck out at me in one way or another.
One thing that really stuck out to me is the plastic water bottle I had with me. I had it on the table, with the sunlight shining
on it but still being able to look through it and see various colours and shapes, gave the impression of distortion. It also gave
me an idea of doing a short sequence of images focused on distortion through plastic bottles. I could scrunch up bottles,
place lights in and around the bottle and place things in the bottle. I believe doing this will create a really interesting
variation of distorted images, that can then be distorted more with the editing process. I could showcase these in the
exhibition as part of a themed portfolio with the different and unique art pieces I will have. I think doing this will provide
good variation within the exhibition. However when I do start production I will e focusing on creating the individual pieces
first as these are what the audience are more keen to see(Research from the questionnaire). Once I have completed this
and have enough time, I will start on the plastic bottle theme idea.
I was very excited when I had this idea as it was sort of a idea adrenaline boost that I needed to get production off on the
right foot. I am excited to start production properly tomorrow.
8. Process
Daily Reflection â Week 1 Day 2
Today I was able to start my production properly as I had completed any catch up work I had to do. I decided previously on
my proposal that I would spend the first week of production on creating my pieces of artwork. Overall I need to create 5-10
pieces (Research from the questionnaire). However I may end up creating more pieces due to some turning out better than
others, or new ideas arising.
Starting production on Day 2 I was very excited as I do create art in my spare time but I have recently hit a creative block.
Working on my art in-depth at college has helped to overcome this and get me back on track/ Today I worked on a piece
that was compiled of 4 different images from when I went on holiday earlier on in the year. These images were completely
random, a van, water Pillars, a patch of flowers and a tree. What brought these otherwise random images together was the
fact that there was something in each photo that stuck out as me and made me want to include it. For example with the van
I really liked the writing on it and that was why I chose it.
To create the art I cropped the van, flower patch and water pillars so the image was only of what I liked. I then complied
these 3 images together, messed around with the colour, saturation and inverting until I had a sort of repeating pattern, this
pattern was then overlaid with the image of the tree. Using the magic eraser tool on Photoshop I was able to partially reveal
parts of the pattern beneath the tree. I did this until I was happy with how it looked. I then had the final image that I could
move around and mess with effects until I had created the final product. I did end up creating quite a few variations of this
piece as I messed around with the final image quite a bit. I worked with changing the opacity of the different layers,
inverting layers, overlaying layers and changing sizes. I did this until I felt I had exhausted all creative options for the piece.
Creating this piece did take all of the two lessons I had available to work in on Day 2. This was quite a surprise as I had
forgotten just how long it does take to create a piece. However I am not worried about time yet as I know I can work on
creating the pieces at home as well as in class. Overall with this piece I am very happy. The piece turned out out perfectly
and will fit into what I have planned for the look of the exhibition. For the rest of this week (Production Week 1), I am going
to be focusing on creating different pieces of art for my exhibition. I am looking forward to see what else I can create.
11. Process
Daily Reflection â Week 1 Day 3
For todays production I continued with creating the different art pieces I need for my exhibition. I need to create about 10 pieces of art at least, I
would like t create more just so I have more options for what pieces would be displayed. This however may not be possible due to time
limitations. It is taking longer to create my art pieces than I had originally thought, this is because I am creating different variations of the piece
so I have content for my guide book. Creating the pieces and then the variations takes a long time as there is so much to think about. I am trying
new stuff on Photoshop and working with those new tools. Sometimes as well I will create something and hate it so I go back a few steps and try
and come up with something new to try out. This can happen several times for just one piece lengthening the production time significantly. I
focused today on creating a piece that much like yesterdays piece was made up of four random images. I used the exact same process to create
the piece. This piece is very full of movement and colour which makes it a very energetic piece to look at. One aspect that I really like in the piece
is where I used an image of a path, the path sort of works as a focus point for the eye, leading the eye into the piece. I think this is needed in this
piece as so much is going on around it, the eye needs somewhere to focus on. As today was a two lesson day, I am going to need to continue the
work at home if I want to be at the stage where I can create other products. I am going to aim to create 1-2 pieces later on at home. This will
bring me up to a more developed stage in my production. I can then spend the rest of Friday and maybe part of the weekend to finish creating
my pieces of art.
When I got home I started to create a new piece, I wanted to do something a little different for this one as with my last two pieces I had created
images with trees as part of the main focus. I think this is because trees work quite well as you can create a really crazy pattern which would be
too intense by itself, but if you then lay a tree on top of that and manipulate the images together, it creates a focus point for the audience. It also
turns out different every time due to no tree being the same. I didnât want to start a theme around trees so I decided to do something
completely different.
I had some images that I took at a concert I went to recently, the lights used within the concert were incredibly interesting and exciting in how
they moved around and transformed the stage. I had a vast number of images to choose from but I ended up only using three. I think if I had
tried to combine more images the overall look would have been too busy and intense. As it was the three images proved to be a lot to try and
use without it looking over the top. I used the same process as before when creating the pattern. Once I had the pattern I used a picture with
lots of light lines on to overlay on top, I then used the magic eraser to get rid of everything in that image apart from the light lines. This created a
spider web effect around the pattern, which worked extremely well as it looked like it was encasing the energy of the concert. This however was
still too much too look at, as there was so much going on within the piece. I then used an image of the lights within the audience, darkened it
slightly and used that around the edge of the piece, this helped to further the effect of encasement whilst calming down the intensity of the
piece. I also ended up using a few rectangular shapes, with low opacity to help give more dimension and depth to the piece. This worked really
well as it helps to divide the piece up and helps to give a focus for the eyes whilst also lowering the intensity of the colours and patterns.
Overall I am really happy with this piece as it is personally something that shows the memories of the night in an artistic manner. It also works
really well for my exhibition as it is something different from the trees whilst still fitting in with the distortion look that my previous creations
have. I wasnât able to create any more pieces as that piece ended up taking a long time to create due to the busyness of the images used and me
trying to tame that. I ended up creating a few failed pieces as I tried to work with taming the images, I have included these as well as I think they
show the process that went into creating the final piece.
19. ProcessDaily Reflection â Week 1 Day 4
This production day is our last day of our first week of production. At the end of this week I am feeling quietly confident in keeping on track with
all of my production. I am also really happy with how production is going so far. I believe that the pieces I am creating are of high quality and are
all individual, unique pieces that still work really well together as a group. This is a necessity as they need to look good together to work for the
exhibition. Now that I have created most of my art pieces I can move onto creating the other products. I am really excited for this as it will be all
of my ideas finally coming together into something physical and ârealâ. I am also slightly worried 1nd nervous that the other other products wont
match up to what I have envisioned. However I am sure that these are just normal worries when starting something really important.
I have decided to also start some of my evaluation. This is because as the production time is so long, I need to be looking back at what I have
made so far and seeing what is good and what I should continue to do but also what are the weaker aspects of it and how I could make that
better. I will also need to see what my audience thinks of my production. To do this I will be conducting weekly interviews maybe even some
surveys that will let me know what my audience thinks of my work and its processes. I also have an art Instagram (@Sumiah_rose) that I post all
my work onto, I will be using any comments I get on that as feedback as well. This is all going to be a crucial part of my
production/evaluation/reflection as it shows that I am not just using my own opinions and thoughts but that I am also looking at what other
people will think.
The first piece that I made today actually took a long time as there was a lot going on in the photos and it was really hard to try and bring it to a
level where it would make a decent piece of art. Iâm actually still not that happy with the finished piece, but I had to stop myself from editing it
further as it was getting to the point that everything I changed about it I didnât like. The strong parts of this piece is that it looks like you are
looking at a strange town/city, I really like this as it combines something that will be familiar with the audience, with something that they donât
understand. It leaves them guessing and therefore the piece stays in their mind. The weaker aspects of this piece is the fact that is so busy there
is no real focus point so the audience could get quite lost in viewing this piece.
When creating my pieces I always try and save the lead up photos as I think it shows the development of the piece. Sometimes as well you might
create something but still want to develop it further so saving it at that point gives you the chance to do that. In this piece I created a few pieces
within the final product that I think are really effective. My favorite ones are of the bicycle and cyclist, this is actually quite unusual for me as you
can quite clearly see what they are, normally with pieces that I like they are so distorted and manipulated with that you cant tell what the
original pictures were. I think I like them so much because of the colours used.
My plans for next week are to finish creating any artwork so I have at least 5-10 images that I am happy with. When that is all finished I am going
to move onto creating the rest of my animations for the exhibition. Once all of that has been created I can move onto creating the rest of my
products. I have designated more time to creating the art aspect of my products as the rest of my products will actually be featuring them so if
the art is of low quality the rest of my products will be as well. Although I should finish in time I think the final week of my production is where I
will fall behind as it is where the products I am creating, I donât actually know how long the products will take too create. I am a little
apprehensive about this but if I do start to fall behind I will just have to put more time into my work outside of college in order to catch up.
25. ProcessDaily Reflection â Week 2 Day 1
My plans for this week are to finish all the art/animation pieces for this exhibition. This needs to be completed this
week so that I can move onto creating my other pieces. I am feeling a little bit worried about how much I have said I
would create. I think to sort this out I will write a list of the important pieces that need to be created. Then spend the
majority of my time on them and then with any extra available time I will create the other lesser important pieces.
For my art pieces I have already created 4 pieces. I need to create between 1-6 more. I will know when I have got the
right amount when there is enough range in visual aesthetics.
This week started with me taking some new pictures to use in my art. For my other pieces I have been using photos I
had previously taken, such as when I went on holiday. These photos were taken with the intent of using them for this
project. I however wanted to start working with some newer photos. Last week I had stumbled across the idea of
somehow incorporating a water bottle into the photos. I was excited to use this idea in my new photos. I was at home
for this day of production so I had my camera to use to take the photos. My previous photos were taken using my
phones camera, which obviously doesnât take the photo in much detail. Having the added detail turned out to be
extremely helpful when it came to creating the art pieces, as much more depth was able to be added.
With my new photos taken I decided to move onto creating my art pieces. I knew I needed to create these quite
quickly so I could move onto creating the other pieces, I spent all day creating the pieces. At the end of the day I had
managed to create 3 pieces that I felt were good enough to be included in my exhibition. I now have 7 individual
pieces of art (as well as the other versions of these pieces) I believe that, that is enough for my exhibition to work
well, so i donât need to create any more pieces at the current moment.
For my first piece of work I had taken a fantastic picture of a bee on a flower. I wanted to use this as the bee was
framed by the flower, which would be a good concept for an art piece. I had also taken some photos that looked at
the bottom of a plastic bottle, I wanted to use these to further enhance the idea of a the bee being framed, these
pictures worked really well for this as they are circle shaped