Group Critique

Yesterday we were told about a cross course critique we were taking part in this morning as a part of our project progression and as a way to get helpful guidance for our work. Initially I started to panic as I'm not the best speaker nor am I a loud person who likes to talk let alone present my project to a group of strangers. Although I didn't want to take part, I did force myself to do it as I knew it would be a great opportunity in order to get helpful feedback on what I had already done.

This morning we were put into our groups of around 10-12 people and we we told to make our work available to present. My group decided to sit in an informal circle to make the experience less daunting and more like a friendly chat. Before taking part in the crit we were all given 2 sheets of paper; one to critique another persons work and presentation skills and one to critique our own. We went around the circle giving a 3 minute presentation on our project ideas, research material and why we had chosen certain artists, experimental work and how we're going to evolve our projects. It was interesting to hear about everyone else' projects and how they've approached their first final major projects.

As a part of the group critique I had to give a graphics student some feedback on her project and her overall presentation. The sheet we were given had questions for us to write short responses to; one box with questions about their actual project (ideas, progression, time management etc) and one about their presentation skills and how clear they were when giving us information. I was critiquing a girl named Maggie' project which is all about emotion and personality in an animation. She's completed some rough drawing and sketches to evolve her workbook as well as good amounts of research and analysis. I found it very interesting as she was going at the project in a similar way to me as she was looking at her life and how certain things shaped her being as well as personality which is very similar to my project on character and facial expressions which create a moving image.

When I presented my project, I was being critiqued by Vicky who is a graphics student. Her feedback was all very positive and she gave me a few names of artists to look at to grasp facial expression. I found her feedback very helpful as she talked about my presentation skills as well as my project. She asked me a few questions about any problems I had which is when I picked up some tips on model scouting.

Self Critique - Constructive feedback on my presentation

- How do you feel you came across to others, and why?

I think my presentation went a lot better than I thought it would as I was confident in all I had to say, this is because it's my project which I created so I'm the one with the most knowledge about the topic and my work.

- Do you feel you explained your idea clearly?

Yes, I feel like my project ideas were all very clear as I didn't just talk about my ideas but I used visual aid from my blog. I showed a few images which inspired me along with my responses as well as my experimental shoots. I feel like showing work along with explaining my project would give them a better idea of what I'm doing visually.

- Did your presentation turn out as you expected?

My presentation was a lot more successful than I thought it would be as I was really worried about the way I'd convey my ideas.

- Did you keep to time?

Yes, I was probably talking for around 3 minutes and then I was asked a few extra questions and given advice.

- In your presentation, what do you think you did well?

I feel like I gave everyone listening a very clear idea on my project as well as my plans for the next few weeks. I was clear when telling them about what I was doing.

- In your presentation, what do you think you could improve upon?

Even though my idea were all successfully presented, I could've been more prepared with my visual aid and more descriptive when talking about what was on the screen.

- What questions and feedback did the group offer, and how did you answer them?

I was asked about any problems I had experienced when progressing which I answered with model scouting. I do find it quite hard to find people willing to model and then getting them to stick to a shoot date. I've already had 2 models back out of shoots at the last minute resulting in one cancelled shoot and one with my dad which wasn't planned at all.

- How do you feel the group offered their feedback to you (choice of words, tone of voice etc)?

When I was given some advice about who to look at in my research and tips on getting models they used a kind, gentle tone so that they didn't sound as if they were trying to put down my project but it was also very helpful. They used language which sounded intelligent and informed but also not too complicated just so that everyone could understand.

- Have you come away from your presentation with any new perspectives on your idea? Helpful Raised more questions? Alternative viewpoints?

In my first shoot I focused on facial expressions and body language but my plan for the next shoot is to look at my topic from more of a conceptual way. When I presented the test shots from my first shoots, I received some feedback telling me how I should stick to the facial expressions and what I had already focused on but to experiment with it more and go in deeper. I did enjoy the shoot for this sort of photograph as well as the post-production in Photoshop. It was interesting to see what I could do in Photoshop to pull out contributing factors.

- Were the opinions of the group useful, and has it changed how you think about your idea?

I am definitely going to take on board everything which was aid about my project but the thing I'm going to take the most is feedback to others on their projects. As I have already said one of the girls in my group is focusing on personality and the way it changes so drastically and quickly. I really liked hearing what people had to offer her about the 2 sides of a dramatic personality.