Final Reflection

This project truly felt like a culmination of everything I've learned so far - about engaging, attracting, and communicating with the audience and all their senses. With my ball project, I situated it in an unexpected place, but as a result many people simply walked past it and forgot about it. On the other hand, this piece attracted many people's attention, enrapturing them much like I was in the video, and I got a lot of positive feedback on it. In my communication project, people found my piece a little too convoluted and esoteric (although that was mostly intentional), but here (partially thanks to rebounding ideas in a group) the storytelling and symbolism feels a lot more straightforward and approachable, and as a result the message is easier to communicate to a wider group of people. And throughout design, I've learned a lot about trusting in the process, being lead by the media you're working with - the key part of the project was the red ribbon, and it couldn't have worked without it. It acted as the lure into the physical space, and the titular 'dancer' in the film; laden with connotation in both colour and material.

It was exciting to utilise my skills I had learned in my Film Studies A-level, trying to incorporate a range of shot types and taking advantage of lighting gels to heighten the sense of danger in the film.

At its heart, this piece was all about creating an atmosphere and an environment, and photography and moving image was simply one part of that. However, I am a little disappointed with how some of the photos turned out. The difficulty of working collaboratively is that sometimes your instructions can get lost, and it's a struggle not to seem too bossy or controlling. As well as this, low-light conditions can be very temperamental, working with various kinds of artificial lighting and having to experiment with all of them in different positions and so on. This was one of the fun parts of the project, but it was definitely frustrating too - it felt very difficult to capture the feeling of the physical installation on camera because of the lighting. We had to do a lot of problem-solving along the way, mostly in regards to time management and difficulties with software. I edited the film using VN on Cymon's iPad, an app I had to learn as I went along although it was quite intuitive. Down to the last minute, we were struggling with printing out photos (which was a somewhat impulsive addition to the installation), and getting the video to loop, however quick thinking and inventiveness saved us and although I was quite stressed during this pre-exhibition rush, it all paid off in the end and although no artist is ever truly satisfied, I felt very pleased with the final outcome.

Design: Theatre, Screen and Performance

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