Video Self Crit

The one main thing that I remember I was thinking while standing up there in front of the class with 50 some eyes glaring at me was to stand up straight! When ever I look at pictures or videos of myself more often than not I am slouching over with my back arched and shoulders curved in. Now this is something that mostly I myself only notice but it really really gets on my nerves. So lately I've been making a serious effort to try my best to correct this whenever I catch myself doing it, and I'm happy to report that I exhibited very little slouching in my video. It was nice for me to see this improvement because I know that it is one of my crutches, such as saying 'like' too much, and I'm finally starting to kick it

Next came my little speech. I'm not one for doing copious amounts of preparing when I have to give a presentation, and this time was no exception. I'm not saying that I was totally winging it, but I have a few ideas in my mind that I want to get out, and I let them fall naturally into place. I really can't stand it when someone reads off a card, I might as well just read the card and look at your work, you learn nothing about the artist when they read a prepared statement. Anyway, while I am fairly happy with what I said, I do wish that I would have prepared my thoughts just a little bit more. Not in scripting, but in taking more time to really truly think about what the nature of my work is. Some of the things I said and the way that I answered some of the questions was not really the way that I actually felt, it was more of a slightly nervous answer because I did not completely know the answers to all the questions. Mainly when Tom asked me if I was going for a big picture corporate idea, I said that I sort of am, but am definitely not. I know this will come in time and the more I discuss the work with people the more I will be able to solidify my ideas about this work.

I felt like this was one of the more constructive crits that I have had in a while, in a very good way. A lot of the input from Jeff and Tom raised questions in the work and presented me with new avenues of exploration. The comment jeff made about the differences between the three pieces and how they seem to be three separate directions tied together by visuals was interesting to me. He pointed out that the image of the dry-cleaning and of the printing press are places that someone would generally not look into at night, and really have no reason to based on the nature of the business. Photographing something that is generally not paid much attention to is an idea that is going to stick with me through this project. Tom also commented on the red image's abstractness and how at first the scale was confusing to him, in a good way. The red piece was also the on that received the most input throughout the video, so I feel that it was the most successful. The biggest criticism that I heard the most of on the tape was the Papa Johns sign and it's need for removal. It was pointed out by several classmates as well as Tom, and is definitely something that I overlooked. I think that if I can play off of these pieces strengths as well as their weaknesses and be able build on them with the new Ideas I received so I can really take this project to the next level.