This module has been the basis for huge learning curve over the different briefs I've attempted. My intention was to make the most of the openness of the module and select a diverse range of briefs in order to introduce myself to a range of different skills and practices. As a whole the responsive module was one of the hardest I've had to do because of the number of unfamiliar situations I was placed in. An example of this was the collaborative brief. This was the first time I have worked on a project with more than just myself and one other person so there was a level of communication and organisation that I had to strive for in order to conduct a successful attempt at the brief. Working in a group like this allowed me to approach the collaborative brief with a fresh outlook and simultaneously pushed the boundaries of my individual ability, my time management and my capacity to communicate effectively. The module as a whole was an opportunity to develop new skills but also further develop my pre-existing skills that fall into pre-production work, post-production work and the process of image making - which was enhanced throughout the Secret 7" brief. When shifting from brief to brief I've tried to adapt my skills when undertaking contrasting practices. For example the short time between the UCC Coffee brief, a branding project and the Feathr brief, a pattern making project.
In terms of the briefs that I selected I'm happy that I chose to do the Feathr brief, and it turned out to be my favourite brief of the four I did. I was able to experiment with colour, which is something I love to do. I often feel like my knowledge of colour is limited so this provided me with a chance to expand what I know about colours that work together and the way colour works in design. The Feathr brief as a whole took me back to what I would call basics in terms of shape, colour and form. I based the foundations of each of my designs on the natural world and the chaotic and unordered structured it often presents. Looking at imagery and objects that are all around us gave me a good insight into how natural shapes can be applied in areas that I often overlook and a fountain of inspiration that I can translate into other projects in the future.
Approaching all of the different briefs that I was with a lack of experience meant that I expected things to go wrong. The biggest problems I faced throughout the individual briefs were due to my lack of knowledge when it came to the best creative processes behind designing for certain things. The UCC Coffee brief took a lot longer than I hoped it would because I had to do a lot of research before each step. For example, I had to spend a large amount of time looking at various types of packaging and the number things that are relevant to rebranding an already existing brand. I found myself revisiting different sections of the brief in order to remember specific details, making sure that the brand remained consistent across all of the promotional material I produced. I believe if I had prior experience I could have completed the project in a more time efficient manner, but this is a problem that can be solved with more familiarity with this type of work. When it came to the Feathr brief I found it difficult to determine a solid starting point for my designs, so I undertook some perhaps unorthodox methods in order to kick-start the design process. Finally, the collaborative brief was the first time I have collaborated with a group of people on a project, and all from a different creative background than myself. Despite this I'm pleased to say that I really enjoyed working with everyone involved and ultimately we all contributed a lot to the successful undertaking of our animations and the brief as a whole. Specifically, we were able to manage the workload relatively well and discovered a good working process for us all to work with. I think something that helped us solve the brief, as a group was that everyone involved was allowed and encouraged to play to their strengths. This in turn allowed everyone to learn from one another. There were many occasions over the course of the brief that I felt like I needed to step up and work harder than I was to ensure I didn't bring the quality of our groups work down. In summary the experience of the collaborative brief was difficult at times and I often felt out of my comfort zone. However, it has given me invaluable communication skills and shown me how to take specific roles within a team.
I always think about what could have been achieved with any brief if time wasn't a constraint on the vision of a project but of course deadlines and realistic time frames are a natural factor in any brief. I think if my collaborative group and I had more time to refine and experiment further with the story and the animation as a whole I think there is a few things that I would have liked to change. Firstly, because of the pressing deadline and two month time frame of when we formed our group until the project end we had to come up with three plot lines in quick succession. With the brief we were working on we also had to factor in a lot of different requirements and considerations when mapping out the plot itself. I think because of this limitation our storytelling and the way the narrative was communicated to the audience suffered slightly. This could also be due to the over ambitious idea to tell stories of the complexity we wanted in the short timeframe of 20 seconds, not that in itself it was overly complicated but perhaps too difficult to communicate within the timeframe we had. The other difficulty I discovered with this brief I found was finding the time to meet up and make quick progression with our work. There was an element of conflicting schedules that meant we had to take every opportunity to meet and discuss work and progress made. I feel that in this respect I was lucky to have such a committed group to work with that made themselves available whenever a session to talk in person was organised, and without this level of commitment the project would have been a lot tougher to complete to a good standard.
As a whole the module and the briefs that I attempted were quite daunting due to a mixture of inexperience and unfamiliarity. I think now the process is complete I'm happy that I pushed myself to try new ways of working across a variety of mediums and with tools that I haven't necessarily had the opportunity to work with. It has been a great experience to collaborate with people across courses and combine disciplines to create a final outcome. In addition I believe that it has given me good experience and acted as somewhat of an introduction to the way collaboration works in industry and in all types of other situations where teamwork is essential. I'm pleased with the work I've put in and produced during this module, however if I had committed more to the module earlier on I may have been able to fit in another brief and expanded the different areas of practice I covered. I'm hoping that I can build upon what I've learnt throughout the entirety of the module and apply it to other areas of my practice.
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