SIBLINGS: REFLECTIONS ON PROJECT

This project has been a huge learning curve and there have been many lessons learnt from this project and I have outlined many of them below.

• Less is more. Paring and stripping down my work and not throwing the kitchen sink at it can work. From initial OTT graphics, effects and animation by getting the the essence of the piece and simplicity the message can be stronger.
• Ideas, concept and the work should dictate the style not the other way around. With the Poetic Love piece I was developing with my grandma I tried to shoehorn it into a preconceived style and it was round peg, square hole. Similarly with the Siblings piece I went OTT on style at the start. I need to consider getting form to serve content and character and narrative in my arts practice more.
• Installations can inform, educate and entertain and documentary work and ideas can be interpreted in an installation.
• Working on three screens and to get them interacting offers huge narrative and character as well and storytelling opportunities.
• I actually do like and can enjoy and appreciate installations and have got over my hang-ups about them. As with everything there are the good and bad but I need to experience even more and in-situ if possible.
• Working with 3 kids and three sets of kit for 3 screens is hard. Meticulous planning and execution is needed.
• A lot of discipline is needed when working with family. A separation of parent and film-maker is needed to retain objectivity about the work and avoid too much subjectivity. Impossible to do 100% but you need to almost operate two personas. Dad as dad AND dad the filmmaker.
• Post production with three screens and narratives that are interdependent is a brain melt. Detailed planning and preparation and organisation is a must.
• I can extend my practice into other interesting areas. Far from being separate from my previous practice they can both influence and inform each other.
• More research testing and understanding is needed. In future i would do lots more testing and get a close as I could to a full scale mock up of the installation in advance of the screening of the piece. It was very close to the wire.
• More experimentation with technologies to ease the screening of the installation.
• A clarity of vision is great but I need to experiment more and be more flexible. That said the final installation structure in the gallery itself is very close to how I imagined it. The content on the screens however has been the real journey.
• More looking around at other practitioners has opened my eyes to lots of possibilities. This is from not only moving image based work but also from other art spheres and disciplines.
• Balance looking around for inspiration with not being too influenced by it. I have found it is far too easy to pick up lots of tropes and ideas but sometimes they can influence my work too much. I feel I need a clarity of vision and idea before doing too much research or it is too easy to be influenced by others.