During the introduction session to the Illuminate Project, I remember feeling overstrained by the idea of creating my own project for a big and international festival. My first thoughts were “Will I be able to do that? I don’t even have an idea yet. This project is way too advanced for me!”. These thoughts disappeared over the course of the last months, thanks to the guidance from Tim and Andy and my growing knowledge of Adobe After Effects.
I still haven’t completely made up my mind about the module. On one hand, it provided this amazing opportunity of being a part of the Illuminate festival, on the other hand it was a huge amount of extra work that had little to do with the Experiment module.
I would have liked a little bit more information at the beginning of the semester, because me and my classmates felt really confused about what was allowed and which locations were available. When we had to come up with initial project proposals, I struggled with the creative freedom of “whatever idea you like” and “whatever location you want”. If one of them would have been a little more restricted, I think my creative process would have been way better!
Unfortunately, with no limitations towards our ideas, media or locations, I was just overstrained with the possibilities: I didn’t want to put too much effort in a project that needed a specific place at the Mount Edgcumbe estate, because I couldn’t be sure that the location would actually be available. Maybe a list of locations or a guidance like “You can use the orangery, the Italian Gardens and the path in between” would have been helpful for me to come up with specific ideas. This is also the reason why my initial proposal was so unspecific regarding the location: I didn’t want to be disappointed if the location proved to be unavailable.
The tutorials with Tim certainly helped me a lot with the development of my idea. He always suggested artists that could give inspiration, critically described the weaknesses of the project and offered helpful suggestions for the further development.
Even though I decided not to take part in the Illuminate festival, I am still content with my final results. My project changed a lot during the last months when I changed from one idea to another, but I really love my final animations! I am happy the Illuminate project was part of my university timetable, I enjoyed working on it very much.
Documentation of MEDI512 "Experiment" 