Evaluation

When writing my proposal I aimed to create a set which reflects my chosen themes of play and recapturing the inner child within adulthood. Throughout the development of my project I kept these ideas as my focus. For my final piece I created a set and a short stop motion film. My design for the set was to create a 3D child's sketch, because I was inspired by the crude style and the freedom of their imaginations. I wanted to challenge the ideas of perfection that a lot of adults have, as children have not yet absorbed these ideas, their work and expression are not crippled by self-consciousness and expectation. Within my set there is clear evidence that the props were designed from children's sketches as I purposely created jagged outlines, and painted out side of them. The characters on the set were important in conveying my concept, there are three women, a child, an adolescent and an adult, they are all intended to be the same person at different stages in her life. Each separate stage represents the notion of recapturing the inner child at different points in life, I have attempted to show this by keeping the adult and adolescent models, in the child's drawing style. I feel this is not directly obvious to the viewer, but it is clear that the three characters are not a traditional family because they are 3 women of different ages in the same house, this is supposed to encourage the viewer to question the story. I also wanted to express the unrestricted nature of children's imagination and drawings, and I did this by making the home in the set roofless. The various other props on the set were to indicate the domestic scene of the home, whilst the cloud imagery conveyed the freedom of imagination. I also created a short stop motion animation explaining my concept, as well as showing a brief glimpse of  what the viewer is to expect from the set. The story is about the young girl looking at her future selves, with them looking back and acknowledging her. The film is resolved by ending on the child models face indicating that the adult and adolescent know that the child is an important part of them and shall not be forgotten. 

I have used a variety of methods to show how my learning has effected my project such as sketchbooks, my blog, and my FMP plan. The most useful method for me was my sketchbook, this allowed me to document ideas as they came to me, designs and freely experiment without overthinking which was an important theme of my project. However the blog was most useful in helping me develop my ideas because it gave me the opportunity to reflect on what I had researched, created and designed. Once I had reviewed what I had learnt I could then move on to think about the next stage of the development and how I was going to approach it. The FMP plan helped me keep on track of my project and manage my time, making sure I did not get lost in any stage; research, experimentation or development.

Fortunately I managed to keep ontop of my action plan at the start, but when it came to the making of the set that is when I fell behind. I had not anticipated the amount of time it would take to create the prop, and some of the problems that I would overcome, so I had to add an extra week on to finish making everything and updating the blog. I quickly managed to get back on schedule, which meant I could still make my short film at the end.

One major development that affected my final out come is the decision to create a set in the style of an actual drawing. Initially the set was going to be more fashion oriented  and the focus being on the garments that the models (human and non human) were wearing. However I developed an interest in children's sketches and wanted to incorporate them into my final piece, especially as by this point my concept was more important to me than the final outcome. An additional development to my project was to create a short film, modeling my concept and creations. This was inspired by the short films that accompany fashion shoots, and new collections. 

During the process of researching my final major project I was given advice about set designer Carrie Louise to look at her child themed sets, aswell as the collaborative work of Shona Heath and Tim Walker. Whilst their work did not link directly to my project, perspective and fantasy are elements that I was influence by in my project. For example using the models as dolls or props in the set, rather than humans, I used this technique aswell, playing with fantasy and reality was a feature of their work that inspired me. When making my final major project I got some advice about how to make the outlines of the 3D sketches I was creating, using the coloured cables that the college provided to create a smoother finish to my outlines, rather than wrapping the wire in string to thicken it.

Overall I achieved what I had set out to achieve in my proposal, using the skills I had learnt in Design, Promotions and set making from the previous units. However I focussed a little too much on the sketchbook, neglecting my blog and only making weekly updates. Next time I will have to focus on keeping my blog updated because this is important for allowing me to reflect on where I am and what I am to do next in the project. It also allows me to analyse my ideas, designs and experiments in more detail, which helps to enrich the concept and the final results. By maintaining a blog I can stay focussed and critical during any future projects I may undertake, ensuring that I get the most out of them as possible. Time management was another area I was weaker in, keeping up with my project plan was tricky, I think that my goals for each week were not manageable. In future planning I will have to think more carefully about how manageable some of my targets are, especially as I aspire to work as a hair and makeup stylist for photoshoots and films. By learning how to properly construct a self-managed project I can apply this to my future projects I will undertake in the hair styling business. It has taught me how to work independently which is an essential skill for self-employed workers.