Stage 4 - 'Do' Your practical work

 Stage (4). Do. Now you execute your plan/intention - you engage with a practical activity - take photo's, work in the darkroom, or work on some post production work using Photoshop. As you produce this work you write it up in your design sheets and then you...

Stage 4 is you producing the work in response to the research, in accordance to your plan. 

For this section you need to describe and explain the kind of things that happen at the doing stage. 

1. What does the doing stage look like (Use some of your previous examples screen grabs of your design sheets)?
2. What's involved?
3. Where does this work appear (E.g. throughout the work after after the research?
4. What's the guidance regarding the balance between use of images and written work.
5. What's the most difficult aspects of the doing or getting the practical work evidenced?
6. What types of things are typically seen in the practical work - what are you guided to include?
7. How important is it to read the criteria in conjunction with the practical work?
8. Is there a limit on what you can do?
9. What sorts of activities are involved at the practical stage?
10. How long does it take to get the work into the design sheets?
11. What problems do you encounter?
12. What resources do you require to get the work completed? 
13. What do you produce at the end of the practical stage of the work?
14. What do you do with the end product of the practical work?

NEW - Use images to from your Unit 04 work to show what your work looks like when you've done the practical work previously. Use a screen grab from Unit 4. 

Similarly mention the fact that a key part of the practical work is producing final images and images for your portfolio - again use a screen grab to show what they're like typically. 

Write up any other activities or aspects involved in the doing stage that you can think of. Use image from your previous shoots, examples of equipment used at the doing stage - wide shots or the results or parts of your work produced during the doing stage. 

Stage 5 - Reflect (Post practical)

Stage (5). Reflect. 

Stage 5, follows your first practical activity and all further practical activities.

You'll use the same reflective method (The Gibbs Reflective Model) used to reflect on your research. You'll use the same 5 or 6 prompts...

What Happened - How do I feel it went - What was good/bad - Analysis - followed by a plan.

Most of the prompts above, only need to be short responses. The analysis section is the most important as it offers the opportunity to explain and Analyse your work. The plan that follows the analysis needs to be detailed too.

It's important that once you've uploaded your work into your design sheet it's analysed or at least explained in terms of...

1. What have I learned (Photography -wise)?

2. Is the work meeting the brief and or the criteria?

3. What could I have done differently that would have resulted in a better outcome?

4. Evaluate the extent to which the stages interrelate with each other and how important/useful this is. *Use the word interrelate in your explanation.

These four sub-prompts used in the analysis section are advised as the minimum.

The final section of the reflection is the Plan AKA "Action plan" or "Planned intentions".

Finally Explain

After you've done your first shoot you then do a series of additional shoots where you try and improve the work over several stages until you run out of time. Each of these shoots needs to be preceded by a plan and so you go through a process of repeating stages 3, 4 and 5. So, for the duration of  the brief you then...

Plan - Do - Reflect usually several more times until you reach the final stage 6.

That's it, that is your way of working from now on.

1. Research first
2. Reflect on research.
3. Plan 1st practical work
4. Do - produce your first piece of practical 
5. Reflect on your practical work
6. Plan next practical work
7. Do - 
8. Reflect 

Repeat stages 3, 4 and 5 again an again till the end and then write a final evaluation. 

Read this 

If you use this creative process correctly your main body of practical work should have far less written material among the images. You should aim to produce short and concise annotations with your photographs, contact sheets, floor plans and diagram. The larger written components in the practical work should be The plan/Intention (highlighted blue) and the Gibbs reflection. (highlighted pink). 

Stage 6 - The final Evaluation

There is no generic approach to the final evaluations.

It's really important to read the criteria in each brief to ensure you know what is required for that specific brief. No two briefs have the same requirements and this in the main thing you need to understand and be aware of as you go forwards with your assignments.

They're important 

There's a tendency for student to produce excellent practical work and then let themselves down with the evaluation - leaving it till the last minute. You should always try and complete the practical work including printing out your final images for your portfolio a day before the deadline, leaving at least a day to work on the final evaluation. 

Keep in mind that grade-wise, the evaluation is worth up to a 3rd of the grade and if you produce distinction level research and practical work and pass level evaluation - the work is graded based on the lowest scoring part of the work e.g. a pass overall because the evaluation was weak.

Follow the guidance you're given, work hard on it and take it as seriously as you have the rest of your work. There's no word count or page count - but you have to respond to the evaluation criteria.

Top Tip Use the wording in the criteria in your evaluation. If the criteria wording suits it, use the wording as the headings for your response. That's normally a really effective way of working in a concise and to the point way.

Click here for Stage 7 (Putting together the actual Decay project) 

The final evaluation for real._______________________________________________________

Start the evaluation with explanation of what you've learned and gained from this unit, primarily discussing it in terms of what you've learned with regards the Creative process. Then apply the stage below...

If you look through the criteria you'll see that in the Merit criteria a number of phrases/sentences that include the words analyse and evaluate. These phrases/sentences are copied in a modified form below to use as the headings for your evaluation.

(1). How the stages and activities in the creative process were used to develop and refine ideas to realise creative intentions.

​(2). How the stages can interrelate to develop and refine ideas and develop skills and own working practice.

​(3). How the stages and activities within the creative process helped develop ideas and produce outcomes

​(4). To what extent do the stages and activities within the creative process help improve future art and design practice.

Write your responses to these prompts underneath each one. With each prompt ask the question what if and discuss the outcome if you hadn't applied the creative process or some of the components (Stages) of it. How would that have affected the work? 

Finally make an overall judgement on the use of the creative process or any of the components of it, has it added value to what you do, do you think that you're work process will be more efficient in the future and do you think it will make a difference to your grades - how, why?

Stage 6:1 (Practice run - putting the process into action).

 So, at this stage, you'll be given an in-class activity to do on the theme of Decay, where you'll be walked through the production of a project implementing the The Creative Process in full.

This short project we'll try and get through and complete in 2 days if not faster, so you need to move quickly through it. 

(1). Research___________________________________________________________

• Research the work of Chris Jordan Midway https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBfNyq44hWM watch the video. 
• Screen grab images that illustrate the light used and comment on the light.
• Screen grab images that show the use of the camera and the type of camera and other equipment used.
• See this video here re equipment and process.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-M9t2fm__K0&t=184s
• 1 - 2 columns of images - 1/2 column of text. Add more images of the birds and the plastic so that you fill the full page - change the size of the text so that the page is full.

Time allocated - 45 mins

(2). Reflect on research (Gibbs)_____________________________________________

• Write up a quick Gibbs reflection - keep it simple and concise.
• In the Analysis section discuss why it was of value - explain what aspect of the work you could adopt...
• Looking down on to the subject
• Consideration of the background
• Use of a tripod
• Type of light used
• The theme dead animals - human activities impact on nature
• Explain in your plan you're going to shot skulls & skeletons.

(3). Plan_________________________________________________________________

• Write up a plan explaining In the next few days...

• Theme/Subject
• Where
• What camera
• What background
• Who your assistant is 
• What media you're using
• Whether you'll use a tripod
• What light
• What camera settings 
• How quickly you'll get it in your design sheets
• Floor plan of the lighting you might use

(4). Practical - Doing it______________________________________________________

• You'll be supplied with a range of potential backgrounds and props - skulls and skeletons and you need to photograph these on different backdrops - shooting from different angles including from above a la' Chris Jordan. 
• Use reflectors and shoot in diffuse light, but if there's an opportunity to shoot in point light do so too.
• Make sure your camera settings are appropriate 200 iso or thereabouts - large files, high quality.
• Shoot at least 2 different objects.
• Get someone to do a wide shot of you taking the pictures - showing the 'Set' e.g. how you're lighting and going about your process. 
• Same day - in the same session get these off your camera into the design sheet.
• Make a contact sheet - have this following the plan + your wide shot
• Tweak the better ones in Photoshop if needed (Sharpening - Auto Contrast/colour) 
• Aim to fill 2 pages with this work.
• Choose the best 1 or 2 shots and Produce 'Final style' full page single images.

(5). Reflect on Practical work_________________________________________________

• Keep the reflection short
• In the analysis explain what value there was in producing the images and then explain the value of going through this process under guidance. Add the what if component. For example -if you've not gone though this quick How to process producing this practice run would you have known how to go about it and how quickly it is to turn photo-shoots around and get them into your design sheets? 
• In the action plan section look at the images you've done and make a plan to now do post-production work using some form of creative approach to make some of your better images look more decayed.

Repeat Plan - Do - Reflect_______________________________________________________

• Plan - 
• Identify the process/s you'll try
• When 
• Where
• What resources
• Do - 
• Make the work - photograph the stages and process (wide shots of MTP's and equipment used).
• Import all the images into your design sheets and annotate if necessary
• Screen grabs of any Photoshop work (If new technique) with brief explanations
• Produce these developed ideas as full page 'Final style' images.

(6). Final Evaluation _________________________________________________________

Write a final evaluation that discusses these points from the Units Criteria. Discuss the work in terms of what value there was to undertaking this Practice task. Use the text below as headings for each of the sections. 

• (1). How the stages and activities in the creative process were used to develop and refine ideas to realise creative intentions.

  ​(2). How the stages can interrelate to develop and refine ideas and develop skills and own working practice.

  ​(3). How the stages and activities within the creative process helped develop ideas and produce outcomes

  ​(4). To what extent do the stages and activities within the creative process help improve future art and design practice.

Stage 7 - Research your Decay Project

Now it's down to you... You research a theme/idea and produce a project putting The Process into action.

Your first page will be a research page with an introduction. The introduction is simply an over-view of the assignment with the main objectives. It's also advisable to include the learning aims which are found on the front of your assignment. 

Find random Decay images from the internet and upload them to your design sheet. Try and keep each of the sections to full pages - so, with this part fill 2 pages. Allow space for the reflection at the end.

If you've been doing 'Empirical research' add a few of your own images - but make sure these are in a column of their own and you annotate that section to identify them as your work.

Although I've not done it on this example - make sure you indicate that these images are not your own and that they're researched images off of the internet used to just generate some ideas. Save links and have at the end of this part of the work.

At the start of the project also make a decision as to whether you want to use a 3 column template or a 4 column version. 

Click here for Stage 8

Stage 8 - Artist/Photographer research

Artist/Photographer research

This example here (Above) shows 1 x A3 pages. It features 3 Photographers with a column allocated to each Photographer. Half the column is taken up with images and the remainder of the column features the written explanation/analysis of the decay aspects of the photographers work and the Bibliography. *Note you can compile your bibliography on one page if you wish and this will need to produced as the final page of your work after the final evaluation. The column on the right is the Gibbs reflection.

.

Those of you that don't enjoy the research aspect of the work could target 2 really significant photographers who I'll normally list in the assignment or guide you to look at. 

You'll just have to ensure you target your commentary/description of the work, so that you identify and discuss the decay aspects and how the MTP's reinforce the decay narrative in the images. 

Similarly the 3rd column is the Gibbs reflection, reflecting on your research prior to planning your first shoot.

Again this approach isn't compulsory and if you want to use more images or write more, by all means do so. What I will suggest is that you write it and compile it so that it is contained in complete pages that are designated research only. Try not to let the research work continue into pages where the work is practical. You can do this by adding or deleting images or reducing or increasing the size of your text. 

This link here is for Stage 9

Stage 9 - Your first shoot

 So now you're in to the fun bit...

From here onward you start to shoot images. One of the key things in these assignments is that you show development. Development is basically improvement and it can be either...

•  The idea improving and becoming more coherent.
• Your practice improving - getting better at all the Photography elements.

Each practical activity needs to be better in some way than the previous.

Task 1________________________________________________________________

• Write your plan (Blue section below) 
• With your DSLR (Ideally) as it means you're actually learning at this stage how to use the camera, go out and photograph a bunch of ideas for decay, just shoot all sorts. *You could use your previously shot images at this stage, but the main objective is to look at a range of potential ideas.
• Get the images into your design sheet and then reflect on it (Yellow section below) 

The work will generally look like this... 

When you shoot your images, always shoot lots and try different ways of doing it, from above, from the side, close up, with different lenses/focal lengths. Shoot more than you need, as this gives you options and allows you to make decisions about whether each shoot in your design sheet takes up 1, 2 or more pages. (There's not an upper limit). Typically, 2 or 3 pages is fine.

The section that is High-lighted Blue is your plan and the part at the end that is highlighted yellow is the Gibbs Reflection. This same approach should be applied to work done in the dark-room and when you work with Photoshop in conjunction with a project. Here you can see the plan - do - reflect in action.

Each subsequent shoot or activity you do that follows this will be laid out the same - plan at the start, images of your work and activities followed by a reflection. In this example, there's no annotations with the images, but if you want to add annotations you can do, but I would keep them short, generally the commentary and analysis is in the Gibbs reflection. *Note the Gibbs reflection can be longer than this example. 

Below is another way of doing the same thing, but using 4 columns...

This 4 column approach is far more image heavy and looks very busy and if you feel it might work for you there's no reason that you can't adopt it. See the link in the side bar or simply ask me for a copy of the template. There's no reason you can't mix and match using the 4 column design sheets for some of the work and the 3 column for others. The only thing I would advise is that you start a new design sheet each time and bring all the work together at the end at the PDF stage. I wouldn't advise adding a 3 column to a 4 column in the same file. 

Unit 03 Important notice re 'Development'

With Unit 03 this first shoot needs to be a whole range of different subjects, showing that you've explored and visually researched the theme decay in a general way. What you should then do is look at what you've shot and make a decision with regards what you'll now focus on and develop further.

Keep in mind that you'll probably have to go back to your subject several times to develop and improve the images, so, if some of your initial images involved having to go miles to shoot them, you might want to consider shelving those ideas if it's not going to be practical. 

Another thing you might do is work on two or more ideas if you can't make your mind up which one you like the best, so with this set of images seen above, I might look at rusty cans, leaves and drinks cans again in far more detail before deciding which one to go with. This creates a lot more work, which isn't a bad thing as you'll learn lots, but it's not necessarily the best thing to do. 

Stage 10 - Developing your work

You're now into the Plan - Do - Reflect stage.

By repeating this process, you'll improve and develop your idea and technique, the work will be seen to get better and improve. It's also essential to develop the work as this is one of the criteria you're assessed against.  There are a multitude of ways of doing this...

• You should continue to look at photography and videos associated with your theme (On-going research) and if you see something that you can realistically add or incorporate to your project and so improve it, do so, but identify it. This may be another set of images that inspire you. You can do this by adding a minimal reference to it in the planning stage - a single image with an explanation of what it is that you've been inspired by or copying in terms of MTP's or equipment. 

• Change your light, consider where the shadow falls and whether the contrast needs to be reduced on increased. 
• Use reflectors to reflect light back into the subject and fill-in the shadows to control the contrast.
• Change your view-point and field of view.
• Change the background - use something that works in terms of the colour or texture or somehow reinforces the narrative.
• Use a different camera and approach.
• Shoot in the studio
• Use a tripod

To be continued...

So, let's say that you've been decisive and you've made your mind up that you're going to go with the shiny aluminium drinks cans

The final Evaluation

Allow a good few hours to write up the final evaluation as it constitutes 1/4 of the whole grade.

 

Key words and phrases to use when you produce this work include...

Value: Explain and demonstrate that you understand the value of adopting the creative process that you've explored in this unit. How does it differ from how you may have put a project together previously? You could possibly mention your previous Unit 09 and Unit 04.

What if: Use the what if prompt to discuss (Write about) how you may have worked on a future project differently with the knowledge of adopting our creative process. 

Interrelate: No.2 below is important, use the word interrelate in your explanation and discuss how each part of the process relates to the previous and the following section in a coherent manner. Use examples referring to your work. 

Use these headings below and write a detailed response to each of them...

(1). How the stages and activities in the creative process were used to develop and refine ideas to realise creative intentions.

​(2). How the stages can interrelate to develop and refine ideas and develop skills and own working practice.

​(3). How the stages and activities within the creative process helped develop ideas and produce outcomes

​(4). To what extent do the stages and activities within the creative process help improve future art and design practice.

Write your responses to these prompts underneath each one. With each prompt ask the question what if and discuss the outcome if you hadn't applied the creative process or some of the components (Stages) of it. How would that have affected the work? 

Finally make an overall judgement on the use of the creative process or any of the components of it, has it added value to what you do, do you think that you're work process will be more efficient in the future and do you think it will make a difference to your grades - how, why?