Tag: microproject

Live Brief – Project Review

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Live Brief – Week 10

Now that we have reached the end of the live brief project and delivered the final pitch, it is important to have a debriefing and review the project. As we are all approaching the deadlines for assignments this term and trying to keep up with the workload, as well as jobs and other life demands, it seemed that there was not time that we could arrange where everyone could be present to do a debriefing discussion. I took it upon myself to start a document and share this with the rest of the team so they could add to it in their own time. It seemed the best solution to allow collaboration for a team working remotely. These are some of the main points extracted from this:

What did we do well?

  • We understood the brief quickly and did very thorough research which allowed us to meet the brief accurately, identifying the most appropriate social media channel and understanding the organisation’s ethos and way of working collaboratively. These formed key parts of our campaign.
  • Communication was excellent with use of Whatsapp, conference calls, Google Drive. Weekly meetings were well attended and documented in the event somebody couldn’t attend.  
  • We always worked respectfully and heard each others viewpoints even if we didn’t always agree.  We were always able to give and receive feedback within the group and could adjust accordingly. We received tutor feedback very well and used it to develop the project further. We changed course quite dramatically in response to the feedback in our second review and this was a positive move.
  • We worked extremely well as a team.  Great teamwork with people putting in as much time and effort as possible, and voluntarily covering when others couldn’t.  
  • We were willing to take a creative risk and this was well-received.

What could we have done better?

  • If we had identified earlier that we were doing far too many different work streams, we would have been able to work with more focus and more efficiently.  We could possibly have come up with more of our own creative content if we had gone with a narrower focus. 
  • It would have been great if more of our own content had been included in final pitch (however, I know for all of us this was based on time constraints and the demands of work and studies).
  • It would have been more professional if we had agreed on a budget and minimum rates prior to the pitch.  

What are the lessons learned that we could apply to future projects?

  • After the initial creative brainstorming, it is important to narrow the vision down so that the project becomes very focused, efficient and streamlined. Agree on a set of clear parameters so everyone can participate creatively on equal terms to produce consistent results.
  • More frequent reviews, both of project milestones and the creative output from the team, are important to ensure the project is staying within scope, timeline and according to brief, as well as working effectively.  Question the plan if things don’t appear to fit and be confident in raising any issues or concerns. Being able to adapt and adjust accordingly is essential.
  • Make sure that every possible detail has been taken care of before the final pitch.  A rehearsal of the pitch may be a good way to identify any missing information, areas that need more work or questions that may arise.  

Looking back, this has been a very intense 9 weeks working hard on our studies and also on the live brief. Despite the challenges of working long distance and never meeting face to face, we managed to collaborate and create together. It has been a tremendous experience to be able to work on the live brief and gain valuable knowledge through this process. I think we did a great job to deliver our final pitch to deadline and it was a real pleasure to work on this project with Bloo, Raeann and Oliver, who were always positive, always willing to pitch in and do the work and considerate of each other every step of the way. We made a great team!

Live Brief – Action

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Live Brief – Week 4 & 5

After the review with our tutors, we met to discuss the feedback and reach a decision on the concept of our campaign.  We reached agreement around creating a video which would illustrate the hidden aspects of brain injury by using the concept of not always being able to see everything that is actually there.  As a group, we took on board the feedback received from our tutor, Jesse, about making short video clips rather than one longer video.  There were a number of ideas put forward and Oliver, who came up with the initial concept and has experience with creating video/film, will be working on creating the first video clip.  Bloo also has film/video experience and has agreed to create storyboards to illustrate the other ideas for short clips.

I expanded on the mood board concept that was introduced by Oliver previously and looked for images that represented the editorial look and feel that had interested our tutors and which also inspired us prior to the group meeting.  We discussed this and came up with an artistic direction to try for the stills that we would use in the campaign – the approach would be to create images that showed our subjects ‘breaking through’ and emerging from paper or fabric to represent the experience of brain injury impacting on personal identity. In the group discussion one of the team members suggested doing a workshop with the members of Headway in order to create the photographic stills and possibly we could incorporate some of their artwork.   

We each then created sample images for photographic stills which returned mixed results for various reasons.  I was not happy with my image quality as I had to rush it to deliver on time while juggling work demands.  I took quick ‘snapshots’ to illustrate my concept which was a person emerging through paper – I used newspaper because it was a resource I had, however, my vision was for our subjects, the members of Headway East London, to ‘emerge’ through paper covered in artwork they had created specifically for our project, in line with the workshop idea that we had discussed.  I chose to repeat the concept with a second series of images which were actually self-portraits, something I have not done before as I am rather camera shy. 

The other members produced images in their own unique styles, with Bloo cleverly emerging through white paper with reading glasses incorporated into the image, Oliver doing self-portraits with Stik-it notes on his face and our project leader, Raeann creating beautiful images working with a model.  There was some stunning work produced but I felt we lost focus by working individually in this way as we have such varied styles and genres of photography.  The ideas we have come up with as a result of this process are very creative and I still feel that we are working well together as a group, especially considering the challenges of working remotely from each other and juggling the demands of life, jobs and our coursework over and above this.

The one concern I have and which I raised with the group, is that I cannot see the link between our video concept and the photographic stills we are creating.  This leaves me feeling there is a lack of coherence in the design of this pitch and it actually feels like we are almost creating two entirely different campaigns.  We will continue this week to create more content for the presentation to put forward to the tutors next week and will start compiling a folder of the work that will be put into a presentation.  I will not be able to attend the next group meeting due to work demands so this is rather disappointing but I will contribute as much as I can prior to the meeting and will rely on the group to update me on the feedback. 

Developing the Live Brief Campaign

Live Brief – Brainstorming

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Live Brief – Week 2

This week, we held our first meeting as a group.  As we are located in different parts of the UK and in the world, we will be using a webinar format to hold our meetings which we agreed will need to be on a weekly basis.  Our aim for the first meeting was to start with some initial brainstorming and agreeing on our next steps as a group. 

We began by discussing what we had observed in the brief and identified these key points:

  • Headway East London are looking for an online campaign
  • The campaign is to be utilised during Brain Injury Awareness Week in May 2020
  • The aim of the campaign is to raise awareness about brain injury
  • Important areas are the hidden aspects of brain injury, the fact that it is unique for each individual, and the impact it has on identity.

As a group we were clear that we wanted to keep our campaign positive and focus on the strong sense of community and encouragement that we observed about Headway East London during the brief and by looking at their website.  We discussed some of the activities and projects that members of Headway are involved in, art exhibitions, writing projects, music groups, cooking and food events, gardening and youth projects.  These all reflect the tremendous sense of community and empowerment that is integral to Headway East London, while also showing the diversity of its members. 

We came up with a number of different ideas during the brainstorming session, including the idea of creating a video alongside photographs to create a striking online campaign.  We discussed the potential of a video done on location, interviews with members, incorporating their artwork and music into videos and photographs, and even including family members.  It was it agreed that we needed to contact the organisation first to discuss whether it was possible to have members participate in our campaign and for us to work on location. 

It was a full session and very productive with great ideas coming forward.  We rounded off with clear action points for each one of us for the week ahead – these included me doing research on their use of social media, while other team members were to research past campaigns, what other similar organisations have done, potential audiences and various other planning tasks.  I am pleased with the outcome of our first meeting and look forward to seeing what we come up with.  

Artwork done by members of Headway East London. Source: http://headwayeastlondon.org/about/who-are-headway-east-london/

Live Brief – Introduction

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As part of the module, Sustainable Prospects, students have been given an opportunity to participate in a live brief.  There were mixed feelings among the students, with many raising concerns about the workload for this term.  Working on the live brief is voluntary so not all students have chosen to participate.  I am also concerned about the workload and keeping up with everything during this term, however, I am very excited about the opportunity to participate in a live brief and have chosen to take part.

We had different briefs to choose from and these were for Oxfam, Headway East London and City ID who each presented a video for us about their respective campaigns.  Although City ID was probably the most logical brief for me to choose, it was Headway East London that really drew me and I put this forward as my first choice to work on.  I based my choice on the brief that I most wanted to work on and give me time to, the one that I connected to the most.  Headway East London’s video was great and I really felt that I would be proud to work with this organisation and I absolutely support the great work that they are doing. 

I was delighted to find out that this was the campaign I was allocated to with three of my fellow students – Bloo, Raeann and Oliver.  We have set up a WhatsApp group and have planned our first meeting as a group to do some initial brainstorming and discuss our next steps.  It was a great way to start as everybody in the group seems very enthusiastic about this project and eager to pitch in and do the work.  We will need to deliver the live brief for a pitch within 9 weeks and I look forward to working on this as a team.

Visit the website to find out more about this local charity and the amazing work they do.

Creative Collaboration

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Two photographers with different styles and working in different genres, living in two different cities in the UK paired up to create this project.  The connection happened through posting of two quotes that immediately revealed a similar vision or outlook on life.

Photographer 1 – Dean Belcher

Quote:  “Life is just a bowl of All-Bran. You wake up every morning and it’s there.  So live as only you can.  It’s all about enjoy it ‘cause ever since you saw it there ain’t no one can take it away.” – Lyrics from Happy Days Toytown, by the Small Faces. 

Photographer2 – Juanita McKenzie

Quote:  “To me, photography is an art of observation.  It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place…I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.” – Elliott Erwitt

Organic in its Evolution is a project named after the process of collaboration as it unfolded but also describes the essence of our urban environments and their relationship to nature.  It reflects our human responses to this constant dance of cycles between the apparent opposites and it speaks of our human desires to have spaces of our own and mark them in some way to defy the transience and isolation of modern and urban life. 

Note: Journal reflection on this project can be read here.