Assignment Three – Tutor feedback & response

I’ve had the feedback on my submission for Assignment Three and the key points are:

•  Positive on the exploration of different forms of presentation/outcome;
• Confirmation of my assessment that the material I got from Paris Photo is ‘mixed’, reflecting that somewhat vague starting point;
• Some questions marks over my magazine payouts, especially the Sunday Times one – not all of which I agree about, but maybe not relevant, given what follows;
• On my choice of images, the message seems to be that I’ve been somewhat generic and conservative – which I agree with, but think it reflects my feelings about the images as a whole.  Starting with a fairly ‘average’ set, I’ve tended to look for those where there was some technical/compositional quality to recommend them, and rejected some of the more interesting ones where technical quality might be questionable.  The mistake, if there is one, was in not being more adventurous in what I shot in the first place.
• But, the message from my tutor is to focus on developing the video, which shows potential.  In that context, he:

§  Likes the approach – seeing it as an exciting format which I’m approaching well;

§  Approves of the juxtaposition of Paris Photo & Leeds Market;

§  Likes the irreverence, which is enhanced by the ‘mash-up’ of material;

§  Thinks this has been a good way of giving voice to material that was, perhaps, underdeveloped (not technically underdeveloped but creatively underdeveloped) at the time of shooting;

§  Has a whole range of suggestions for possible refinements;

§  Is offering to take a look at another edit.

So, I’m quite happy with that assessment, which broadly reflects my own thinking about the submission.  And I’m inclined to get on with more work on this sooner rather than later.  I think my approach now needs to be to go more or less back to the drawing board but with the specific aim of producing a better version of a similar structure.  Two things, in particular:

• Look again at all the images & re-select with the video concept in mind rather than the thought ‘What is the best quality set?’;
• Look at some better software for the video editing – not a case of ‘blaming the tools’ but a recognition that Moviemaker lacks the sophistication needed to turn out something closer to professional standards.