Project 4 Report notes

Report

For the Project 4 report we worked out the following structure delivered in a separate google-doc, with the link added to the final blog entry that has the final iteration of your prototype documented in it. Also, as a back up the report google-doc link is included in the assessment doc in the Project 4 section with the iteration blog entries and the final video work blog entry.

i.e. For Project 4 in the assessment doc for each student

Iteration 1 Prototype – link to blog entry
Iteration 2 Prototype – link to blog entry
Final Prototype – link to blog entry (included in this entry a link to the report g-doc)
(For back up) The report google doc link

Suggested structure for each student to follow…this is what your teacher will expect when marking the report. The structure is on this g-doc (which you can cut n paste).

Portfolio essay notes

Portfolio

The Portfolio essay (1000 words) is written in a blog entry. In your individual assessment doc it is added as a Portfolio section and has one link to the essay blog entry.

i.e.

Portfolio essay – link to blog entry

It is personal and more informal that the report. It does not necessarily have a reference list. The Portfolio essay is informed by the key question:

How has my practice changed over the duration of the semester in this studio? What have I learnt?

You would be thinking about all the practices you have engaged with in the studio:

Case Study analysis
Sketching
Presenting
Practice-based research (Practice-led research; theory-led research)
Experimental video practices
Reflection – blogging, documenting processes, writing your thinking out, learning how to use reflection to solve issues and problems as they arise in your practice and the research inquiry …

You would be considering how these practices have changed the way you conduct yourself as a media professional. For instance, what did you learn from the sketching process? Did you like it? Was it useful? How would you do it differently next time? These questions could be applied to all the varying activities you have engaged with in the studio.

In this essay written as a blog entry, you would be linking to previous reflection blog entries that you made that demonstrate/back up some of the changes you are discussing.

You could also include a short list of specific blog entries after the essay that you want your teacher to look at, if you cannot link all of them into the essay itself.

Remembering that this essay is being used to summarise the reflections you have made using your blog, over the duration of the semester. The aim is to highlight moments that have been important to you, in relation to using reflection to develop your skills and knowledge as a media practitioner.

It is being used to help your teacher assess the blog category you have created for this studio, and your ability to reflect on your practice.

Studio Activities – Wk 10, Session B

There is only two more weeks of studio sessions left to go, which is 4 sessions. Therefore, make sure you make the most of the time in the studios and bring any questions you have regarding the remaining Project 4, Portfolio briefs and Exhibition in wk 14.

The following notes are for the Wk 10, Session B studio. Check them out in advance and bring any queries you have to the session.

Things to be focusing on:

Project 4:

Prototype

In regards to finalising your 40% project/prototype to lift things up to the end point of the studio. Keep in mind presenting your outcomes to the whole of the media cohort at the exhibition in week 14. This means working on developing something that you are interested in presenting.

A draft iteration of your prototype – the sooner you get onto making this happen, the easier it will be to refine it for submission and presentation in the exhibition.

Reflections/blog entries/report

Ongoing reflections that accompany each iteration (or other material) associated with the development of your prototype. (these reflections/blog entries – “explain technically how they were made, along with any issues that occurred and how you iteratively responded to problems to progress your practice inquiry”).

Thinking about and preparing your 1000 word report on the final prototype you produce.

A key point to remember is that this report focuses on a response to the studio prompt – so write directly to that question – How can video, computers and the network be used to redefine online video practices? Use your own practice (what you have experienced) making the sketches and prototype, in combination with connections to theory (the readings). A key thing I am looking for here is your own thinking in regards to a response rather than regurgitating the readings. In the short word count aim for one idea and reference a few readings you know well rather than spreading it to thin. Propose an idea and write around it using your practice and the theory as a way to provide evidence… (demonstrate your understanding of your idea in relation to the practice and theory). Include an appropriate bibliography. Think about your reader – provide some context up front i.e. new media, online video practice, narrative/non-narrative, form…what you explored in regards to the online video practice you chose to explore…

Look at the blog entry and video on critical reflection.

Presentation

The presentation will have the following format ‘Project 4/Prototype Presentation‘. With this format in mind work on refining the title of Project 4 and your probe as you go. Also, think about collecting lots of images of your work-in-progress, as these will be curated into your presentation, and used to demonstrate what you made, and how it works.

Portfolio brief

First of all it is good to be reminded that this Portfolio brief is the only individual assessment item in the studio. A good approach to this task would be to draft an essay before the end of week 12 so you can get feedback from your teacher.

For the Portfolio task – by this point in the semester you would have completed on top of your reflections on each sketch you made for Projects 2 & 3 at least one or more additional reflection blog entries each week. (As discussed at the beginning of the semester and reiterated here in the blog entry PORTFOLIO reflections.

These reflections are described in the Portfolio project brief:

An important part of conducting a professional media practice is the ability to reflect on processes and problems as they occur. This reflection involves learning to articulate thinking using written text, drawings, photos and audiovisual documentation. It is expected that these reflections will be self-initiated and include responses to exercises in the studio.

The expectation to finalise this project is to write a (1000 word essay) in a blog entry that provides a summary of the reflections you have completed. A key objective of this essay is to summarise what you have put forward for this Portfolio project for your teacher. In other words your teacher should be able to use this essay to get a sense of the following:

1. Your ability to reflect on your practice and creative research.
2. An idea of how much work you have put into this project. Have reflections been done regularly each week? Are they articulating thinking as issues and problems arise? Do the reflections consider practice, theory and most importantly developments occurring in the person’s professional practice? Do the reflections go beyond the set course material? Is this student using extra research into practice and theory to clarify what is expected – understand what they are doing? (Therefore, you may write/integrate blog entries into your essay – using quotes and links to those entries).

How is this essay different from the Project 4 report?

It is not as formal in regards to links to theory.

It is more personal in relation to how your own practice has changed through the process of engaging with the studio.

A key objective of this essay is to make links with what has been done (the portfolio blog entries) and use it as a gateway to that work, for your teacher. Your teacher will use this essay as the first point to assess this project and then look at all your blog entries as a secondary point. Therefore, make sure you categorise your OVE studio blog entries and have it set up so it is easy for the teacher to look at what has been done as a whole.

Can I use reflections on sketches to demonstrate my ability to reflect on my practice?

Yes, by all means, if you think some of these reflections provide really useful evidence of your ability to reflect, then include them. But, remember your teacher is also looking for the additional individual reflections you have been asked to complete as part of the Portfolio brief.

Project Three presentations

The plan is to use the first assessment presentation to draft and finalise what will be presented later in the mid-semsester critique. Below is two sets of criteria for:

1. The Project Three presentation in week 7
2. The mid-semester critique presentation in wk 8.

Week 7, Project Three presentation

In this context, the main aim of this presentation is to share with the studio group what you have done.

In this 3 hour studio session, these presentations will be longer. It is useful to use this time to hear as a group what was sketched and what will be focused on project 4 in some detail. Think of this presentation as a long draft that will be edited down into a shorter presentation for the mid-semester critique.

It is crucial that each group meet the maximum duration so we can get through all the groups.

Presentation time 10-12 minutes.

1500 words takes around 11 minutes. (time converter for speeches)

I suggest you create a shared google doc and write your presentation to the 1500 word length. Have a good understanding of how the presentation will be shared in terms of the durations and what will be covered.

Structure is a follows:

a. Give your hybrid inquiry a title. Make this title work for you in regards to communicating your research inquiry.

b. Context – Briefly remind us of your original case study, the genre/type of online video practice you are working with.

c. Context – Tell us what your probe is and how you got there if necessary. Make sure your audience are provided with a very clear picture of what your probe is looking to explore. Think of using two different ways to communicate this… i.e repeat it in two different ways using different visual material to illustrate it clearly

d. Show your sketches. However, you will not have time to show them all. I suggest providing an overview of what you did and then focus on the ones that you want the most feedback on. Focus on a discovery or discoveries you made – things that you think are special or unique that potentially warrant further investigation in your major project/prototype.

e. Future directions – put forward what you plan to take on into Project Four for further investigation.

f. Raise any issues, problems and questions you want considered for feedback, and critique.

Week 8, Mid-semester critique presentation

In this mid-semester critique session we are working with a 2 hour time slot. I would like there to be time for discussion and feedback. Therefore each group will have a strict 5 minutes to present their material, with 5 minutes for feedback.

I suggest following the same structure above only now you have to cut your talk down by over a half. Therefore you will need to tighten everything up.

The main objective of this presentation is to treat it like a pitch to your client (i.e. the panel). You want to help them understand as clearly and succinctly as possible what you are doing, and what you have discovered and plan to explore in Project Four.

The key aim is to utilise this opportunity to get feedback on your idea and what you plan to do for Project 4.

Please note I will provide some context beforehand to the panel, mainly on the process we have gone through so far and the key objectives of the studio. i.e. to create hybrid narrative/non-narrative forms of online video practice.

Resources:

Tips for presenting well.

PROJECT THREE – sketching ideas

(Revised previous post which makes these a guide rather that mandatory) This means these criteria are not mandatory – instead they may used to inform the creation of some sketches or none of them, it is up to each group to decide…

Ideas that may be useful to inform some of your sketches in PROJECT THREE.

TWO sketches that explore the concept of “non-narrative” in relation to the (Bordwell and Thompson reading), i.e. “categorical, rhetorical, abstract and associational”.

ONE sketch (Working from Bassets’s “Anti-narrative” reading) that uses an “(…algorithm) to select/order certain assets”.

ONE sketch that works with the notion of sampling as means to form relations between parts and create a non-narrative or anti-narrative form. (This may involve using services or tools that utilise sampling as a process). i.e The work of Jonathan Harris shown in the studio.

ONE sketch that aims to integrate different “genres” of online video practice. i.e video reviews with game videos etc.

TWO sketches that work with online video services or tools as a means to explore a hybrid form.

7 Group criteria:

Each group is expected to devise 7 of their own criteria and document this on their blog. The URL to this blog entry will need to be sent to your teacher for feedback.

PROJECT THREE – Speculative Sketching

This blog entry is to support the design and production of the PROJECT THREE sketches.

Working from the hypothetical example ‘concept statement’ blog entry that I used earlier to explain the process for producing the sketches in PROJECT TWO.

If I was continuing iteratively with what I learnt from the @555uhz project . I would have completed multiple sketches that deconstructed this work. These sketches would help me get a good sense of the ‘form’ of this work. These sketches would have also raised some interesting ideas in relation to what could be explored in PROJECT THREE.

An ‘idea’ or ‘ideas’ in this context is something that I discovered through the sketching process that could be examined further, or in other words extended into a practice-led inquiry that leads to the development of a more substantial ‘prototype’ in THE 40% PROJECT FOUR.

A prototype in this context is a major step on from a sketch.

…a prototype can vary in terms of scale and quality, depending on how it is developed to meet a design brief, but even in an under–developed phase a prototype serves a different purpose to a sketch. A prototype is more pragmatic and defined, with the specific intention to model and test an idea, whereas a sketch is exploratory and disposable.

References:

Keen, Seth. “Netvideo Nonvideo Newvideo Designing a Multilinear Nonnarrative Form for Interactive Documentary.” Doctorate. RMIT University Print.

Dunbar, Michael. “Beyond Skin Deep: Exploring the Contribution of Communicaition Design within Interaction Design Projects.” Doctorate. RMIT University, 2009. Print.

Also refer to the Buxton sketch reading.

Speculative Sketching:

So, in regards to nominating an idea/s to put through the next stage of sketching, I am aware: firstly of the approach taken towards this phase of the sketching (which is all about experimentation, trying things out to make discoveries…), and secondly that the end point is a ‘prototype’ – an example of a hybrid form of narrative/non-narrative online video practice, thirdly I am thinking about form (or materiality) over content (more on form soon in another blog entry).

If I was visualising what that might be in regards to presenting it to my peers in the studio and other studios at the end of semester) it would be something that boldly explores new territory…it could even not work properly or fail, but most importantly it demonstrates that I have an understanding of specific types of online video practice and what potentially could be conceptualised.

Here are some hypothetical ‘ideas’ that are made up, as I have not actually gone through the process of making sketches in PROJECT TWO – they are taken from the hypothetical example ‘concept statement’ blog entry.

First I would make up a list of things of interest (this may involve asking myself some questions):

1. Service/tool hack – In the @55uhz project the programmer/artist works with a social media (new media) service in a way that it was not intended to be used. How could I use a service or tool in a different way from what was intended?

2. Historical/New Media hybrid – The @55uhz project reduces a moving-image work down to still frames and takes a historical approach towards the creation of moving-image, through the use of a flipbook technique. What examples of early moving-imagery technology or techniques could I integrate with contemporary examples of (digital) new media practice? Could I work in reverse and take the digital to analogue – off the computer entirely?

3. Granular Extremes – The @55uhz project reduces video content down to a highly granular form (1 film frame). If I was taking micro-video like Vine to an extreme – What would happen if I work with video at a 1-2 second duration? What online video service or tool could be used to support this type of experiment? Is it already happening elsewhere?

My hypothetical is situated within what I call the ‘experimental genre’, so the prototype I envision will be an experimental form of online video practice. Your prototype will potentially (in most cases) be experimenting in the first instance with the genre you chose to examine in your case studies (i.e video review, skate video, game videos, cooking shows, comedy etc) – your aim will be to create a hybrid form of narrative/non-narrative within these genres or even mix them up.

Next process:

This is enough ideas for the moment. The next step is to decide what to explore. You may do some research and thinking before making this decision – but the important thing is to (I would suggest) pick one idea and work on it extensively.

So, say I chose no. 2 for example. The next stage is to put it through the speculative sketching process. The aim using this process is to see what I can discover using the questions I have put forward – What examples of early moving-imagery technology or techniques could I integrate with contemporary examples of (digital) new media practice? Could I work in reverse and take the digital to analogue – off the computer entirely?

Please note depending on your idea these phases could be reversed?

Phase 1

To do this I would devise a number of criteria to inform my sketches (this is the groups own criteria that is used to inform the creation of seven sketches, as the first phase of the sketching):

1. Make 3 sketches that refer to historical developments connected to the invention of the moving-image or cinema as we know it today? Use research into theory and practice to inform these sketches. ie in this case the camera obscura, the phenakistiscope (zootrope), the magic lantern).

2. Take one of these explorations and apply it to three different tools and services – to produce 3 sketches.

3. Reverse the @555uhz project concept by taking film frames (a digital images) into a hardcopy flipbook, or better still, work with one of the examples above in this case the camera obscura, the phenakistiscope (zootrope), the magic lantern).