U1B Feedback from Rob

Rob is going to add his feedback directly, as a comment to the blog.

AAA Meeting With Adviser

Today I had a meeting with Marina my adviser. We general discussed my progress on the Arts Award and my ideas.

General - I should rename the posts on the blog to make it easier to all looking at it to see what posts refer to what section of the award.
Unit 1

A - The idea is for me to design and print a leaflet for a college open house event which will feature my photography work. I will work with Matt Healey (media techincian), in Adobe InDesign and than share the work by having leaflets to hand out to the public.

B - Rob feedback sould be left as a post to the blog.
- Also I should include opportunity's for the career research for example - local clubs, light house Brighton, BFI, Tate gallery.

D - This should be based on my experience and after talking about what I found difficult the possible subject might be "how hard it is for someone studying a creative course in school to get an outside visit or resources and how this changes the way you work on the subject". This could be a talk, poster, video and also should include comments from others.

Unit 2

I should answer her questions for the previous meeting, the ones from arts award and any the council might have.

- Needs to be something I would want to enter.
- Where is the competition
- Who is it open to
- How to enter do I need prints
- Needs something to enter over / what happens to the image
- Judging - perhaps a local photography club, would they want to enter
- what to do with the images

I had the idea for the winners images to be made into a calender

- Sponsorship
- Logos
- Local support - parish council
- Where to get them made - National company (online) or a local printer
- How to share them are there sold or free

When I am organizing the competition I would need to work backwards e.g.

When do you want them,
How long to print,
How long to Judge,
How long to get the entries together,
How long is the competition open for.
How to spread the word.

U2.1 Council Advice Response

Here's an overview of what you need to think about. Feel free to ring me in the office next week if you want to talk about any of it in more detail, or email me if you prefer.

First off, you need a theme. We try to develop one that is relevant in a wider context/where there may be media coverage about a certain topic already as this means people may be more interested and aware of your topic. So this year, our theme is loosely based around the UN Year of Biodiversity - and our theme will be 'Hidden landscapes'. Choose a theme that allows for a number of different interpretations - so we are suggesting people can take photos of natural landscapes, urban environment, people or they can go for a more abstract interpretation.

Decide what categories of entry you are going to have - we have 3: 16+. 11-15 years and under 11. The hardest group to reach are the 11-15 years and we tend to have fewer entries from them. As we are a County Council, we allow entries from anyone who is resident in East Sussex. Will you be doing the same or going national?

Launch date and closing date. Allow enough time for people to enter.

Decide on how you will publicise your event - for us, we use our website and our Council magazine, plus we send out a press release to local newspapers, we design posters (A3) and flyers (A5) and send these to libraries and schools. You will need to design a poster and write the copy to go on it - think about the image you use on your poster (if you use an image - you may go for typography only). And write your copy so it makes the theme v clear but allows for people's imaginations to explore the idea. Don't clutter your poster - we put v little copy on there and point people to our website for more info. Could you create a website for the competition and that way you can display everything on there - the theme, the copy that explains it, the rules, the entry form, competition closing date etc. Then you can display the winning pics on the website after the judging.

You will need to state what the rules are somewhere - if you can put it on a website then you have more room. If you are only working on paper, then you need to write the rules v succinctly and probably put them on the back of flyers. These need to cover things like - what format can people send pics in, how many can they send (we allow 3), can they be b&w as well as colour, where should they be resident to enter the competition, judges decision is final, if they take pics of people do they need to have a consent form signed by the person they have taken the pic of, are you going to reuse the winning photos? If so, where? By entering, does the photographer retain the copyright but grant you permission to use the image for, say, 2 years and where would you use the image? (For us this is relevant as we often use the images we receive on our website or in Council publications). But you need to make sure you take any publications out of distribution once the permission for use period has passed. Create an entry form that people have to complete - to include name, address, email, phone number, titles of photos, signature, and that they have read the rules. They can submit the form electronically and the signature can just be them typing their name.

Prizes - ring local photography shops etc to see if they'll give you vouchers that you can give away.

Who will judge the competition - ask around anyone you know + in local camera shops, colleges etc if they know of good up and coming local photographers, or try to get a big name just be contacting them and telling them honestly what you are trying to achieve. Most people remember that they had to start out somewhere too and are happy to help if they can. You shouldn't have to pay the judge.

Regarding how can people submit the photos - in the past we have asked people to send them in as prints. This year, we are going to open a Flickr account for submissions.

Prize giving and a private view - try to arrange an exhibition of the winning photos either at a gallery or public space. Perhaps make the opening night a private view for the winners and their family and friends, and invite some press, heads of art or photography from local colleges etc.

I hope this helps - there's a lot to cover but as I said, I'm very happy to talk to you more about this.

Best wishes and good luck with it all

U1B Guests Speakers

Over the next few weeks A number of guests speakers will be coming to college to talk about how they got into the media industry and their experiences and advice.

I will be taking notes and writing a case study for each and using this as part of section 1 C.

Thu 22nd April

Alexis Somerville (Freelance Writer)

Mark Sheerin (Gig Reviewer for News of the World)

Thu 29th April

Andrew Raeburn and Juliet Perry (Eastbourne Herald journalists)

Thu 13th May

James Lloyd (Presenter, Heart Radio)

Thu 27th May

Paul Giddings (BBC Documentary Producer - Eastenders, Dr Who, Top of the Pops)

U2.1 Council Advice

Today I phoned the Local council to speak to the person you organize the their summer photography competition and I explained my Ideas and she is going to email some ideas to me and I can get back to her with any more problems, once I have this I can get the idea finalized and an action plan together.

AP Action Plan Outline Review

What I achieved in March 2010

Unit 1
A- Visited exhibition and finalized idea
B- Completed Rob's work shop write up and video

End of April 2010

Unit 1
A- Worked on planning project
B- Completed and checked by adviser
C - Write up Exhibitions
D - Started to think about ideas.

Unit 2
Made contact with council and got a solid idea and have a full action plan with adviser questions answered.