Hayle and rain, and stormy seas.

I just thought i would give time to reflect on what i think of the new project,  its initial potential and hopeful outcome. 

Firstly, i think that this project has true worth to it. Its not particularly glamorous, or original and won't propel us students onto much of a wider stage, yet the idea behind the radio producer's initiative, creating a stock of audio memories from elderly members of Hayle, is hugely valuable.

Speaking as somebody who as lost a grandparent very recently, part of my grief was to do with the fact that our relationship had deteriorated over time, and although i new he had lead a hugely interesting life, i was never truly able to ask him about it.  And now i never can.

I think that it comes with age, an appreciation of the older generation. As a child, its hard to believe that my grandparents were ever young. I new it as fact, but could not envisage it. It is as though i imagined them being born at 60, retired, doing gardening, wearing slippers and watching daytime TV. Understandably because that is all i have ever known i my lifetime . Yet, elderly people, although highly cliched, do contain a great amount of wisdom when asked to share. My other grandparents are full of stories of great romances only fit for Disney films, travel and adventure in foreign climbs, war, conflict and suffering that i can never apprehend. 

So, back to the project, this was the sort of material i was hoping for from the sound clips provided to our class. The concept of animating to interviews, isn't a new one. Especially evident as we all know Andy used to work at Ardaman who produced the legendary, " Creature Comforts",  based soley on this format and whose box set sits on my shelf. However it does have a large scope for experimentation and new skills to be learnt. This is the first major project where we have a story telling capacity, which we can either use or reject for multiple other styles, such as pure narration with lip-synching (as seen in creature comforts), graphic imagery etc. On first hearing the assignment i was very pleased and excited about the projects potential- i love trying to do things that have already been done. Measuring yourself against a benchmark and aspiring to a certain level of sophistication. It doesn't ever worry me that my work might be unoriginal due to this because in my experience your outcome will always be significantly different to your inspiration. And as soon as heard the project i was inspired.

The new project includes a further challenge to overcome, than the last. We are to work in groups. HA. yeh. This could either be good or bad. It could either cut my workload, or increase it. Be less stressful or greatly more so. I was quite nervous at the thought of working in a team, for many reasons. One being conflicts of creativity, I don't think anybody in our class doesn't aspire to be a director in the future and have creative control, so there is a large possiblity of strong minded people clashing over ideas. I include myself in this, and will have to regulate my assertiveness and make sure I'm not being unreasonable. A group has to work as a team so i am going to have to come to terms with the idea that whatever we decide to do the final result is going to be a comprise from the original vision. Another problem, is the distribution of workload. Unfortunately some people sometimes don't pull there weight, and this might have to be addressed, as it increases the amount of work for others. I'm also worried about my skill set within the group. Some people in the course have skills far and above what i have at the present moment with some pieces of software like photoshop/flash and adobe after affects. If they were included in my group, the situation might turn out to be that they complete most of the work because they are faster and produce better results. However this means that i will have very little role, won't be useful to the team and will not learn anything through the process. I hope this will not be the case, but if so i might have to assert some authority and ask for work. I hope i will not be under estimated by my teammates. I may not be naturally technically minded, but i am learning fast and have grown to really enjoy the maya software, and think that i am completely able to produce good results. I hope my teammates will have that faith in me.