Today we learnt to write a good reflection. The 4Rs are good guideline to writing an effective, impactful reflections. Our first exercise was to write a reflection blog post on the issues or problems that came up during our studio sessions for Online Video Experiments. Here goes!
Reporting:
Back in week three, we were discussing about the sketch ideas. My partner, Peter and I were discussing to come up with a concept statement. We put our two case studies together and came up with a vague statement, “We aim to achieve a participatory narrative where the user decides through interactivity.” It was too broad so we narrowed down to ‘multi-narrative in terms of participation‘. Peter suggested, being inspired by the interactive documentary, he thought of constructing a multi-linear narrative of a mundane life. Unfortunately, we had not gotten the idea of this project so we were off track.
By the end of week four, we had gone back on track after many feedback from Seth and our peers. We were supposed to pick out certain elements from one case study and re-create them to understand the process. We were not supposed to create original contents in relation to our case study but break things down from the case study. Now we know!
Relating:
It was an eye opening process when I made the first mistake. It made me understand the project clearer. I still had questions on the process of sketching at that time as it was a new concept to me. We used Peter’s case study as an inspiration to start our sketches when we actually just had to use the case study to tear apart some elements and recreate them in a way that benefit us to learn. I definitely have a clearer structure on making my sketches now. The skills required for me to complete this sketches are a little easier for me as we are just recreating certain aspects from the case study.
Reasoning:
One of the reasons why this issue has to be addressed because one mistake in the beginning can lead to a different path. The sketches are to prompt you to research on the different elements from the video itself. If we do a different style, it does not fulfil the criteria from the project brief.
Reconstructing:
This issue is definitely a crucial problem that needs to be tackled at an earlier stage. With the time constrains for these ten sketches to be completed, all my uncertainty has to be cleared at an earlier stage or I would be rushing my work at the last minute, producing a quick and shallow sketches. Making mistakes in the beginning is a good thing so that we can learn from them and we know not to do it the next time. My teacher in high school once said, ” They are not mistakes, just learning experience.”