This week in BCM304 we explored the ideas of research and creative processes, starting to reflect on our own forms of generating content, and also took a dive into the world of work that we are soon to be thrust into.
Having never really considered anything specific as research when creating creative content, it was interesting to discover ways it was performed. In our seminar we looked at how something as simple as a style guide based on other sources can be commonly used, as well as just immersion within a context. A main take away was the importance of journaling (or blogging!) throughout the research process in order to help establish ideas. We looked at the three stages of practise based research:
Research, Practise, Knowing.
Basically, the best research you can do in the creative field is a culmination of interpreting and applying. Since there is no set creative process, everyone’s will differ, but it remains that there needs to be that initial idea, that’s then looked into a bit deeper, that’s then practised, that’s then consistently applied if found to work. The best forms of research should be reflexive. Your best form of research is the one that you build on.
For the remainder of our seminar, we completed a few activities that aimed to help us gain work in the future. I think the most important thing to note here is that our ‘dream job’ is rarely available straight after tertiary education. Personally, I acknowledge the need to acquire MANY more skills before becoming a producer of sorts, or starting a videography business. We learnt that we can look at the required traits for a certain job we may desire and use that as a guide for what skills we have to learn before applying. Most of these skills can be learnt through working other jobs – ‘stepping stone jobs’ – for a period of time, in order to make sure we are seen as a great candidate for our dream job.
The next task was an exercise in marketing ourselves for these jobs. We would reverse engineer a few of our past projects to gather details of what skills we already had. I looked at the short-form documentary I made within a group in second year, and wrote the following statement:
“One such project involved developing a short form documentary within assigned groups. Early on discussion and delegation saw us creating a reflective/observational documentary exploring four different artists and identifying the drive for their creativity. Within the group I engaged in the pre-production roles of thesis generation, talent acquisition, and equipment organisation. During production I took opportunities operating the camera, capturing audio, and interviewing the artists. My post-production roles consisted of file organisation, colour grading, editing consultant, and generating animations for both the title card and credit sequences.
Throughout the completion of this project, I gained a broad knowledge in many aspects of filmmaking. Most crucially I would highlight the ability to work with a diverse team while meeting a deadline, though I also was able to build experience working with technical equipment and Adobe software.”
In the coming week, we are to keep using past projects to find skills we will use to market ourselves for the coming CV and Portfolio assessment.
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