Zoe Horn Haywood

Zoe Horn Haywood

About Zoe Horn Haywood

I live and work in Bristol after moving here in 2012 so that I could enjoy some of the creative atmosphere. So far so good! I currently work as a graphic designer for a small publishing company where I design book covers and page layouts all day, which I thoroughly enjoy. I also offer out my services as a freelance designer and have had the opportunity to work on lots of interesting and exciting projects, my skills and experience also include designing apps, websites, logos and promotional material. I have a great love of anything beautifully crafted and printed or pieces that show a personal element or a handmade touch. I also have a huge interest in film, at the moment I have a particular fondness for anything directed by Wes Anderson or Michel Gondry. I am really Looking forward to the Future Producers programme so I can get stuck into Bristol's creative scene and expand my skills in a social and creative environment by meeting and collaborating with interesting folk!

Zoe Horn Haywood's blog

Interview Someone Working in the Arts. Unit 1 Part C #3 (Grace Denton)

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I decided to interview Grace Denton who is a multi talented artist and producer working in Bristol. I knew that Grace worked on a variety of projects in the city and wanted to find out more about her career path. Grace has a strong online presence and there where a lot of resources to look over.

Im here with Grace Denton, who is the Digital Publisher at Watershed, she is also a Photographer, a Blogger, an Events Co-ordinator and Publisher at Often and Mistakes. She play’s music in 5 bands, was Producer for Made-Up, wrote and performed music for ‘My Robot Heart’, on the events team for Café Kino and Founder of Something Good in Norfolk.

First of all where do you find the time for all of your projects? Haha well I often look back and wonder how did it all fit in! When was I sleeping? I suppose when you are doing something that you think of as your Art you don’t see it as work, its not a chore, and a lot of the stuff I do is within kind of DIY communities, so everyone is generous with their time and working non stop so it feels like the norm. Obviously there are times when you are exhausted though and it does feel like hard work and occasionally you have to flake on your friends because there is so much too do, but people understand.

So when you do get those moments when you are frazzled and looking forward to the end of a project, how do you find the motivation to carry on enthusiastically? If it’s an independent initiative and I’m lacking motivation I speak to others to get their take on a situation and give me a pep talk maybe. Or I will read a book or watch a film that fires me up with inspiration, unrelated things mostly. Lots of the things I do are collaborative though, so there are always other people around where we all keep each other motivated and have the end goal in sight, you want your work to be great for them not just you.

I know you did a couple of placements after graduating, could you tell me a little about those? I stayed in Norwich for another year after finishing uni. I volunteered at the Norfolk and Norwich Festival, which is a pretty incredible outfit, lots of arts and culture all around the city and then the rest of the year they operate around the county.  Then I got two funded internships. One was a research placement for a woman’s organisation into how they marketed themselves, so I started writing a marketing strategy for them. I had never written anything like that before and it was crazy that they trusted me to do it. The other internship I did was with the Architecture Centre in Bristol, they had me writing press releases and things, there was lots of material for me to work from and research, always someone wanting to check what I was doing before things went out. I then worked as iShed co-ordinator for a while, supporting the project and getting more into the producing side. I then met Molly and Byron from Made-up.

Ah yes, Made-Up, that sounded like a fantastic project to be involved in, how did your involvement in that come about? Well Molly and I met in Norwich, she was doing poetry and I was in a band, we met and got on really well, we worked together for a bit there, I did some music for one of her shows. So when it came to Made-Up it suited them to have a producer who was starting out and might not cost as much, and learn with them as they where doing their first run of the show. Again it was great to be trusted with something like that. We where also wonderfully supported by Mayfest which was great and really, really helped.

Made-Up

Story recipients gathered for final Made-Up show

So what did this role involve for you? I wrote the first draft of the call outs and as the producer I had to lead on everything then making sure things didn’t drop of the list. I had to work on expectation management, we wanted it to be huge but had to set our self limits that where actually achievable. Mayfest hadn’t done a commission that had that broader scope before, so we where all really finding our feet together there. I remember we had a meeting with Mayfest to pitch for it, they said ‘oh Grace, its not really a big fee for you is it?’ and I was just like, ‘oh I’d do it for free!’ which probably wasn’t the cleverest thing in hindsight! It was great experience though, and I loved doing it. I did bits of design and photography and my Usher job to help make ends meat at the same time, I couldn’t have got by otherwise.

All the producing roles I have done, have varied massively, and often I have taken on a wide variety of tasks that, had there been more budget you would pay someone else to do, but instead I end up making the posters and doing the PR, but you get stuck in, if it needs to be done you do it. It is great to have that responsibility and the freedom just to run with things though.

It looked like the Made-Up project was really rewarding? Yes all the participants really loved it and had an amazing time, and although I was terrified and stressed most of the time, that doesn’t really matter because we brought a really special experience to lots of grateful people.

Ok so other than Made-Up, one of your other big collaborative endeavours is Often and Mistakes, which is a creative publishing and events company that you run with Rose Robbins, tell me how this initiative came about. Hmmm Rose wanted to publish the first collection of Dog Comic’s; she felt she needed a kind of name to do things under. I cant remember how the conversation went, but I was interested in doing some similar stuff, not so much comics but publish my photography and writing and I suppose our different interests made it gel.

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Often and Mistakes

How did you set the boundaries for that project? You must have a lot of ideas, how do you sensibly decide what you should do? Its kind of our own interests, we help each other out on each project, Rose does her comic stuff and I proof ect and then vice versa. So I suppose there aren’t really any boundaries, if just one of us is willing to take the lead and do something then it will happen. Stuff kind of just happens adhoc at the moment, which we are fine with.

Grace Denton Today Colours 09.01.14

Photo, Grace Denton Today Colours 09.01.14

Tell me a bit about your photography, you have a lovely eye for composition, where does this come from? I just kind of started taking my 35mm Camera everywhere, I was hanging around Bristol doing a lot of gigging and stuff and it just became this compulsion to document things. I realised when we where on tour I wasn’t taking photos of action but the still, quiet and reflective moments. That’s when the idea for the ‘Still Lifes’ book and show came about. It was really incidental before hand, it was kind of a fashion blog but instead of over posed snaps they where little snap shots of colour combinations within my outfit. The Today’s Colours pictures are mostly taken on my phone! The quality isn’t great, so there isn’t a great deal I can do with them, but it’s a nice record and reminds me to think visually and notice the world around me. I am now looking to do more staged shots now, to do a series of photos. I am thinking of doing an MA, maybe combined with Fine Art, it could spill into video? I need to begin to define my practice, from working with Watershed and doing digital content for the website I can see that I am leaning to that kind of work now.

Grace Denton Today Colours 07.11.13

Grace Denton Today Colours 07.11.13

I was going to ask how your role at the Watershed feeds into your creative endeavours? Everything I learn at work is really valuable, even from my first interview for iShed I realised I enjoyed drawing the story out of people and projects and getting to showcase artists. Its great to work within the arts, but it is a little separate from my creative endeavours, which is good. I learn about all sorts of structures and ways of working, it’s a constant source of inspiration and help when it comes to personal work.

Ok to finish off then, where do you see your career taking you in the future? A few years ago I would have said a gallery director, but now I’m really into cinema. I want to stay in documentation and work as an online presence, but see where the MA might take me.

Thanks Grace!

Interviewing Grace was great for me to see how I can develop as a creative and that it doesn’t really matter if I pick a specific path right now. Grace is still working everything out and trying new things. She is getting noticed in the circles she wants to be recognised in, she is fine tuning her art practices and figuring out where she wants to go with them and how they can be combined to define her future career. Im really impressed by her ambition and pro-active approach to everything, if there is something she wants to do, she does it. I will definitely take this as inspiration for my future projects, to give me the confidence to undertake things I might not have prior experience with, that I should trust myself to be capable. I have also been really inspired by her photo blog, Todays Colours, and will take further opportunities to take photos and find other ways to think visually to help me to develop as a designer.

Get Involved in the Arts World – Unit 1. Part B. #2

So on my quest to get some hands on experience in a creative agency I called a number of companies that sparked interest and inspiration in me, letting them know that I was interested in coming to do some work experience with them for a short while. I then followed each call up with an email that re-capped our discussion, what my current professional situation was and why I was interested in working along side them.

Work Experience

I received polite rejections from the most of the contacts, stating that they where either too busy, or not busy enough to take me on.

However another opportunity within my own company presented itself during my correspondence with these agencies. During a conversation with my Publishing Manager at Read Books ltd, where I design book covers and page layouts as their in-house graphic designer, it was mentioned that they required our publications to be converted into e-books. If I could incorporate it into my work flow it would make sense if I could create them. It was decided I was to do 2 days training with Mark Kendrick – the Senior Creative at Read Books ltd and Creative Director of KDK Media.

EPUB is the most commonly used electronic format for publication as it is termed an ‘open’ format, allowing adjustment to the file depending on the reader you use. Font styles and sizes can be manipulated based on your ebook reader parameters, and you maintain the formatting of the text.

Mark took me through step by step everything I needed to know about working with EPUBs. We started off with going through the programmes I needed to use, Adobe Indesign, Adobe Digital Editions and Miss’s Kindle Fire for PC.

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I was shown how to prep my InDesign files for EPUB, how to name my image files and links, a refresher on using and installing scripts to help me quickly rename any linked files appropriately. He taught me how to set up my Indesign workspace for working on EPUBs, how to create an interactive contents page, how to make sure there are correct chapter breaks within my document using existing paragraph styles and how to correctly embed fonts.

IMG_2582It was a lot of information to take in and after the initial step by step sessions I put my new knowledge into practice on a few different documents. It was great to be able to watch Mark go through the process and then repeat the method myself, following him as he went, asking questions along the way. Even so it still took a fair amount of trail and error to get the final product looking the way I wanted it to. I definitely learn best from watching others and will continue to build upon my skills by taking the time to do online video tutorials.

Screenshot 2014-02-13 09.15.28

 

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Learning how to create EPUBs is an excellent addition to my skill set, I adore working in print mediums and love designing books for people to touch and feel, however in this wonderfully digital age we live in, its increasingly important that I expand my knowledge of digital design. According to Roy Lindemann in 2012 sales of e-books overtook the purchases of physical books, showing the shift in buying habits. There is a very large market for digital publishing so being well versed in its design application is a handy skill to have, not to mention making me a more valuable asset to my company and any other future job prospects in publishing. Im going to continue to develop my knowledge of e-book formatting and make sure I know how to manually clean up further formatting issues should they arise, by learning a bit more about the code in the ‘back end’. The books we make are relatively simple formats so when I next get the chance I shall play around with something containing more images and a more complex typographical layout.

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Attend Arts Events Unit 1 Part C #2 (Project Wild Thing)

I went to see a film called ‘Project Wild Thing’. I was interested in its topic of getting people back into the great outdoors by using modern marketing techniques.

Screenshot 2014-01-26 14.33.53Project Wild Thing Trailer

David Bond sets out as the Marketing Director for Nature, using focus groups, his own family and teams of experts to research and identify the underlying problems with modern society that keep us locked in doors. He then attempts to counteract them with fun and engaging ideas of why people should go outside and what there is to do.

I really enjoyed the film, it was brilliantly executed, hilarious throughout and an inspiration on many levels. Not only did it immediately make me want to go scamping about in the countryside but it made me think about ways to approach design and marketing briefs. Watching the process of the branding teams and their outcomes was an excellent insight into a large scale operation like this. It was an absolutely wonderful example of how to successfully market an idea. I will draw from this documentary a wealth of knowledge and ideas, as well as an underlying mentality of what projects I would like to work on in future. This film demonstrates a wonderful ethos of getting back to nature and doing things for the good of man kind. I will be purchasing the DVD so I can view it multiple times!

9342242149_2726f6c615_c 9344988486_6c00ec84e4_cProject wild thing brainstorming sessions

Since viewing the film I have continued to feel online engagement via their twitter account and have been impressed by the overall design of the campaign to help to snowball interest. They also offer a simple and effective free App, offering ideas of what to do in the wilderness, so that the adventure can continue for audience members. This is also a reminder to myself that I am capable of producing such apps using software like AppFurnace, that are highly effective and well worth the effort.

Examples of the ‘Project Wild Thing’ campaign designs:9343142752_24aa206053_c poster

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Attend Arts Events Unit 1 Part C #1 (Immersive cinema experience)

I decided to go along to Future Cinema’s immersive experience – Dirty Dancing. I was very intrigued by their marketing technique, as a designer it is my job to sell things on their appearance and sculpt information to spark interest in the viewer. Their technique was that of a wonderful mystery, all I really had to go on before parting with my £40 was a single e-poster. What had me so interested was the film its self, not necessarily by the way it was presented, like most things. I already had a relationship with this film and a love for it, I was already expecting to have a great time before I knew anything about it! That being said, the poster did help, omitting a vintage style true to the film, with a current edge. The Future Cinema logo itself sparks electricity and excitement with its hipster use of lightening bolts.

future-cinema-poster

As Future Cinema keep their event intentions fairly mysterious I talked to a few people about their attendance at previous functions and looked for reviews online. No-body had a bad word to say about them, and re-called their experiences with lots of enthusiasm, my excitement began to mount. I was really interested in how they would immerse us into the movie, I love films but have never felt much of a connection to theatre, so was intrigued to see how the two would be blended and how I would feel part of it. I didn’t have to wait long. We received an email in the style of a vintage airmail letter.

Future Cinema Kellerman email

Which included links to various pages, such as the Kellerman’s Brochure, which was in the style of an American holiday camp pin board, providing lots of information about the summer vacation ahead, featuring american retro images.

Future Cinema Kellerman web

After days of Facebook links, dance video’s and online holiday postcards the day of the event finally arrived. We where plummeted into the world of Baby and Johnny at the Kellerman’s resort, cheesy American slogans came over the tannoy’s, over enthusiastic camp reps escorted us through to a range of activities and the smell of hot dogs and candy floss was ripe in the air. We took part in dance lessons, book making, fencing and we found our way to the off limits staff quarters for a wild party. There where look-a-like actors roaming the grounds, watermelons in abundance and over excited participants in 60’s outfits everywhere! The film itself was accompanied by live re-enactments by the actors and hundreds of people quoting the famous lines. To finish it all off the whole crowd joined in for the final dance with beach balls flying everywhere. It was a truly excellent experience from booking the tickets through to leaving the venue and beyond.

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I took so much inspiration away from this event, the Future Cinema guys really know what they are doing. We where thoroughly entertained and spectacularly immersed into the Dirty Dancing swing of things. Every detail was considered from the off, the catalyst to their success was in picking an iconic film to drawer in an audience, but they followed it through and delivered an epic adventure by embracing the mood of the movie and drawing on engaging elements. The fun really did start when we started receiving the wonderfully considered visual teasers that will forever inspire my future promotional material. I recommend the Future Cinema experience to all film lovers, fun lovers and aspiring event curators.

The whole event experience was a wealth of a inspiration, he future cinema email presentation really effected how I wanted our own event email correspondence to look which you can see feature in this blog. Their excellent choice of movie also had an influence on me when making the decision for our immersive experience, capturing the audience imagination before they know too much is a great way to increase anticipation and secure an audience. I also saw the benefit of the online interaction leading up to the event, so I tried to engage with our Gothic audience in a similar way, posting photo’s and quotes to keep the publics attention on each screening.

Twitter feed promotion

Arts Leadership Unit 2 #10 (Leadership / Communication / Planning / Design / Retrospect)

What I have learnt about leadership is that I must gain the confidence to delegate slightly more than I have done, and that when I took the time to step back and relax a little, it became clear that my team where more than capable of handling things and that panic and stress help no-one. All in all I thought I was good at leading the project.

I kept the lines of communication well and truly open with various ways of us getting in touch with each other and sharing information. I learnt that Doodle is great for scheduling plans with large groups. Getting across the correct information to the right people in an easy and digestible way was very important, at times I may have provided too much information on irrelevant aspects for people. One of the main things I had to bear in mind throughout the project, is that not everyone is accessible at the same times; I sit at a desk all day so could remain in contact for vast amounts of time, but this isn’t the case for lots of people and is where I had to remind myself to be patient.

What I learnt about planning is that you can never plan too much, but that you can plan too early. I was very keen to get decisions and brainstorms underway, wanting to divide up responsibility and tasks from the very beginning. This would have been counter productive though, we needed a thorough understanding of what we where setting out to accomplish before planning the finer details. Also keeping clear and up-to-date lists of what needs to be done by who and by when is very important, ticking things off and monitoring progress is a sensible way to keep a project on track.

I have learnt a few valuable things about Graphic Design along the way, my meeting with Smith and Milton and the Watershed Comm’s team was very insightful. It showed me how to conduct a professional meeting, how to present work to a client, how to process a clients ideas and how quickly work can be turned around. I really learnt how valuable networking is to my industry and that being pro-active on social media can help to widen my reach as a designer. I also learnt that there are lots of restrictions when it comes to html emails, that although I had a design mocked-up in photoshop, that it wasn’t as easy as dropping it into the body of an email.

If I could do anything differently, it would be to spend more time and attention on the designing the signage for the event, trying to propose for extra budget to be used and making the most out of that opportunity. I would also liked to have run the event for three nights, it was a lot of work to be all over in one shot, three nights would have made it more profitable for the Watershed and all our hard work wouldn’t have been over in such a flash.

Arts Leadership Unit 2 #10 (How it worked & feedback)

On the day of ‘The Shining’ event our team arrived at the venue early, we spent the time cropping and mounting photos, placing props, arranging furniture and setting up the lighting and sound. When all our extra staff arrived I held a quick meeting to go through how we wanted Hotel Staff to behave and what was expected of them. I showed everyone where they needed to stand and what time they should be in position by.

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Myself and Flo created a document containing a character brief for the staff and a list of everyones duties which was circulated – Usher Roles 26.11.13.

Flo had the stressful job of artist liaison on the night, dealing with all the acts to make sure they where provided with everything they needed and received any drinks vouchers ect.

Everyone did their bit to make sure the night was a success and that the audience where taking in the full experience we provided. In one room we had actor Dannan McAleer playing the part of a crazy writer (Jack Torrence) as a theatrical installation, however the audience didn’t linger in this room as much as we had expected. To re-engage the audience with this element, and to draw the focus from the reader who was attracting more attention than they could handle, I encouraged Dannan to follow me into the main room and shout at me, which worked excellently.

After the film screening everyone made their way into the Watershed bar, which had ben decorated during the film. We had offered the free service of a cloakroom which required people to collect their belongings, but also ensure they stuck around to see the slow, strange, dancers perform to Al Bowlley’s ‘The Midnight Stars and You’, and have one or two more drinks.

The Online response was great, I put together a Storyfy page to collate some of them, which can be seen here : http://storify.com/ZoeHornHaywood/the-corridor-sessions-presents-the-shining

We also received excellent feedback from the Watershed Analytics team, who processed all the feedback forms. The majority of it was positive, with a few ideas of how things could be improved, such as extra bar staff and more promotion about the pre-movie entertainment.

Shining-Analysis_Page-1      Shining-Analysis_Page-2

 

What I learnt from this feedback, is that although we did bring in a new audience it only equated to 14% of our guests, and that only 22% of the audience where aged between 18-24, so although we managed to bring in a small amount of our target audience, it wasn’t very substantial. However on the plus side 83% of people had a ‘brilliant time’ and 14% a ‘good time’. From picking out key words from the comments I can tell, we achieved our plans of trying to entertain people whilst scaring them a bit with our gothic theme. We also picked the correct film to ensure a packed house, and we can tell that there is strong encouragement for the Watershed to do similar things in the future.

 

Arts Leadership Unit 2 #9 (What was produced / enjoyed / challenging)

We screened 4 fantastic Gothic Horror films to a bunch of very happy customers. We sold over 40 tickets for the first 3 late night movies, with our final showcase selling over 150 tickets, which sold out nearly a month before the event.

The night of The Shining was a brilliant showcase of all the hard work everyone put in. We had terrifying actors, spooky and unnerving magicians, a photo-booth, an interactive two-way radio, and the Overlook Hotel Horrorgami art installation. People ‘checked-in’ to our back entrance reception where they received their key for Room 237, they where introduced to the event by the Hotel Manager guiding them through the corridors. All the staff we organised behaved in an odd manor to disconcert the audience and we had RedRum cocktails flowing at the bar. We showed the extended version of the film then finished up with some eerie dancing and discussion of the evening at the bar.

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PAPER ART BY MARC HAGAN-GUIREY – Horrorgami Overlook Hotel http://paperdandy.co.uk/tag/horrorgami/

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Photo by ClickSnicket photobooth – props provided by our team

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Telecoms unit provided by Compass Presents

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Hotel Manager showing guests our photos of previous guests – made by me

It was great to see everyone having a fabulous time and hearing comments about how brilliant the event was.

The main thing I enjoyed on the project was meeting and working with so many new people, it was nice to get in amongst it and learn so much from the people around me. The staff at Watershed where wonderful at helping us to achieve our goal, as well as teaching us lots of valuable lessons in working in a professional environment. I also thoroughly enjoyed researching for the project, watching the film over and over, reading the book for an extra insight, scouring the internet for photos, footage and social media contacts. Bringing a design element to the project was also great for me, I really get a kick out of it, and seeing how Smith & Milton work really helped me as a professional and gave me a bit of confidence.

I am a very pro-active person and like to be well organised and ahead of the game, in the case of this project I was quite quick to identify jobs that needed to be done. However I find it quite difficult to relinquish control or to delegate tasks, I don’t like having to ask someone to do something necessarily, not because it was a job that I want to do myself but because I don’t want to sound too bossy. In other cases I would just find it easier to do myself, then I would know it was done how I had intended it, this caused me at times to become overwhelmed with the workload. It is important to ask for help when its needed and for work to be distributed evenly amongst a team, I will have to continue working on my delegation skills, working out the correct way to approach such issues isn’t always easy but definitely worth doing.

Arts Leadership Unit 2 #8 (What Happened on the project)

The project has been an absolute joy to work on, and at times very hard and demanding. I think on the whole our group did a fantastic job at pulling everything together to produce a successful series of screenings and a fun, intriguing, immersive finale. Here is a brief overview of what happened on the project:

I watched lots of Gothic horror films and noted my opinions to aid us in settling on a programme.

Cat People Wickerman

House Frankenstein

We all put forward names for our season of films, settling on Flo Fitzgerald’s idea of calling it the ‘Corridor Sessions’.

After brainstorming and collecting ideas I communicated our basic set of intentions for the events to the Watershed Comm’s team for the online copy to go on the Watershed website and any visual ideas we had for the Late Night Flyer. We worked simultaneously on an online G-Doc I created to accumulate and discuss our thoughts, then refined it for the Comm’s team.

IdeasForWatershedComms – Live working G-Doc

GothicIdeasForWatershedCommsFinal – Final Summary of Ideas

I attended a meeting with Smith & Milton Creative Design Agency to discuss our flyer ideas and get a glimpse into professional designer and client meetings.

I kept up to date with all meeting notes and current objectives, keeping the entire team, Compass Presents and Watershed staff up to date with ideas and discussions and who was responsible for completing what. I also organised regular meet ups for the group to discuss progress, struggles and changes.

Email

I produced a detailed and thorough document outlining all our plans for the immersive night, explaining what would happen where and when, using time lines and maps. This would be given to anyone with any involvement on the immersive night so that they had a clear view of what we where trying to achieve. I used an earlier version as the basis for discussion at the Watershed Ops meeting that we held, so any issues could be worked out.

The Shining.OP’s Doc 26.11.013 – Detailed info for Immersive event

The Operations meeting was was a great opportunity to meet any of the staff that we had not previously encountered as well as work out lots of the finer details, raising any concerns ect. I was really nervous before hand but, as the meeting progressed I felt like I had a really good grasp on the project and had come well prepared.

To make sure things where moving along and tasks where not being forgotten, I regularly checked on the progress of team members, checking we where all on track and where receiving the support we needed from each other to complete the tasks.

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I personally designed all the signage for the event, Its a shame we didn’t have more budget for this as I would really of liked to make something special and slightly more impress, however it didn’t seam to make sense to spend it all on printing and was not as important as other elements to for creating the right atmosphere for the night.

Signage complilation

Previous to the event, I had hoped we could send out a themed email that I had designed, I felt it was important to stand out from the other Watershed emails and begin the anticipation for the night by really capturing the imagination of our audience by treating them as a hotel guest. Unfortunately my skills are limited in HTML so I wouldn’t have been able to carry the task out on my own and we had no budget to pay for the extra time of professionals. Below is my original idea for the email, although we didn’t manage to send this version out, we did get to personalise the email a fair amount and include our own copy.

Overlook Email

 

Arts Leadership Unit 2. #6 (H&S Considerations)

There where lots of Health and Safety considerations to be looked into for our final event. After attending a Introduction to Operations and Health & Safety talk I felt confident enough to deal with lots of the issues that might arise. The talk was given by Layla Barron the Head of Operations at Watershed, details of the talk including slides can be viewed here.  

Our plans to keep our audience separated from the general public at the Watershed posed a few issues. We planned for our guests of The Shining event to come into the building via a back entrance fire exit, we had to carefully plan how our audience would flow from space to space, not blocking any vital doorways or entering no go areas. We wanted to block off various windows and signage so as to keep our Hotel illusion as much as possible. Any cables we needed would have to be properly taped into place and out of the way. All electrical equipment had to be supplied in advance to the Watershed tech team for PAT testing and any fabrics needed to be treated so as to be flame resistant in the event of a fire. We also accounted for the arrival of any guest with disabilities, ensuring they could enjoy the entire experience.

Click on the image below for an enlarged view of the risk assessment I completed for the events at the Watershed.

H&S Areas to consider-1

Arts Leadership Unit 2 #7 (Measuring Success and Back-up plans)

I will measure success of the project via the feedback we receive from our audience and impact data from the Watershed. At each event there will be feedback forms for people to fill out which will ask the relevant questions to our audience, so we will know if we succeeded in acquiring a new audience in our target age rage, how they felt about our events and if they attended more than one ect. I will also survey any online interactions where our events are mentioned and take note of the comments.

My main worry is the space, that we will not have enough props to make the venue look anything other than the conference room that it is. With the little money we have left for decor, myself and Jessica are having to be very savvy about ideas to transform the rooms. Lighting will play a key role here, the darker it is the better. I have also been collecting black and white vintage photographs to display on the walls, which will mimic the style at the Overlook Hotel in the movie, hopefully this cheap and cost effective idea will fill some of the void.

B&W framed photos

 

Altogether though I think the whole project has been very thoroughly thought out. Some of the actors have been hard to pin down for confirmation but we have gotten there in the end. Some acts are more important than others, in some cases we have back-ups in some we don’t, there is little more we can do now though. What will be will be and as long as there is a bar, I cant see too much going wrong…

Arts Leadership Unit 2. #5 (Plans and Promotion)

We eventually decided upon 4 films to show, they all centred around a Haunted kind of theme to tie them together as a programme. The Final line up:

01/10/13 – House, Nobuhiko Obayashi

15/10/13 – Repulsion, Roman Polanski

22/10/13 – Suspiria, Dario Argento

29/10/13 The Shining, Stanley Kubrick

The Shining would be the finale event and would be the centre of focus as the Immersive themed night. We planned to use the space at the Watershed as a Hotel, as the film is set in a Haunted Hotel in the Mountains. The nights events will involve theatrical appearances from actors posing as staff at our venue, as well as interactive installations for our audience to engage with. I contacted two Magicians to get involved in the night, the plan is for them to tie various parts of their acts in with The Shining story and further un-nerve our audience before the film screening.

The events will all be publicised by way of our Flyers, designed by Smith & Milton along with input from us. I attended the designers briefing to get a better picture of the relationship between a client like the Watershed and an agency like Smith & Milton, and to see how ideas are communicated. We where all very happy with their final outcome.

photo

Flyer designed by Smith & Milton

I would also do my best to spread the word via social media, targeting individuals as well as groups, looking for conversations to jump in on and spreading info and visuals about the films. I tried sparking interest on student pages or making a link to other current social activities, always plugging our nights using BFI hashtags ect. I also attended some of the Ben Wheatly late night screenings to make sure the audience where also aware of the ‘Corridor Sessions’ screening – the title we had given our Haunted Programme.

Twitter feed promotion

Twitter Feed Promotion

 

Arts Leadership – Unit. 2 #4 (Resources and Costs)

Resources – What I will need and where I will get them from:

This project is being funded by the BFI as part of their nation wide gothic season. After paying Compass Presents for their professional support on the project we are left with £350.00 to spend on the promotion and screening of our four films along with the Immersive experience.

Communication – To maintain a high level of communication within the team I will use various online tools to keep us all in contact and up to date with current details. Obviously our main source of contact will be correspondence via email, however as we are all new to this type of work and constantly bouncing ideas around we are also using a Facebook group. I have found this incredibly useful when needing a couple of peoples input on an idea very quickly, there have been times when we have used this to have group discussions when working to a tight deadline and to communicate where we all are with individual progress.

I have also used Google drive and Dropbox to share and work on current documents with the team. To organise meetings with a high attendance I have used Doodle, an online scheduling tool, to ensure the most suitable time and date are considered.

Doodle

Online Content – I will collect any visual teaser content for the project using Pinterest as a means of storing original links and resource information, I find this a very helpful way of creating visual brain storms.

Pinterest_Suspiria

Online Contacts – I researched social media contacts that would be useful to communicate with via Facebook and twitter to create online discussion and interest in the gothic programme.

Gothic Contacts

Zoe Horn Haywood, Social Media Contacts Spreadsheet

Evaluation – I attended an evaluation workshop to help me understand why and how we evaluate a project. Most of our feedback will be collected in the form of online interaction, feedback forms and a breakdown of project impact on the watershed. We have also introduced the idea of having a ‘visitors book’ at the Immersive event as this will tie in with our hotel theme for the night.

Most of the above mentioned resources are free of charge as long as I stay within standard usage allowances and do not update to premium accounts.

Signage – For signage requirements I will need to design and print suitable posters and signs to inform the audience of their whereabouts and any information they require on the night of the immersive event. I will have to consider where to print these and what they will cost.

Acts – In terms of Artists and Performers, we set our sights on finding friends and acquaintances, contacts with strong links to the Watershed and anyone recommended by Compass Presents to be involved in the immersive experience. Our aim is to get as many people as possible involved at little to no cost, however we have set aside a small amount of budget to sweeten any tricky deals.

Props – For our props we will use as much free stuff as we can get our hands on or already own. A trip to Compass Presents overflowing lock-up was made, I made a trip to the Children’s Scrapstore and filled a trolly full of supplies for £14. The rest of our Props and costumes would have to be paid for from our budget.

Sound – Any sound clips are to be sourced from the movie, and any songs to be purchased by the Watershed, as they will re-use this for further events they will be paid for out of a separate budget. We have also secured the involvement of the Hellfire DJ’s to perform before our first late night screening, as they are working on  number of other nights at the Watershed this has also been accounted for out of a separate budget.

Lighting – All lighting is to be supplied by the Watershed.

Flyer – Our Programme is to be advertised on a Watershed flyer that will advertise their entire autumn series of Late Night Events, due to this it will also come out of a separate budget. However I along with the rest of the team have offered to help distribute these to necessary venues around Bristol.

We plan to create a proposal for the Watershed Management staff should we step outside our budget limit and feel we absolutely need the all the items accounted for.

Arts Leadership – Unit. 2 #3 (Project Brief and Roles)

I am part of a team involved in putting on a series of screenings and events aimed at bringing a new audience of 18-25 year olds to the Watershed. We know our audience pretty well as the entire group fall into that category and we have plenty of people to bounce our ideas off.

We are going to screen 4 gothic films, the fourth of the series will double up as an immersive event with live performances and audience interaction along with the screening.

I will be project manager for the Gothic Season. This role will involve maintaining a high level of communication and understanding within the group, along with making sure everyone is in touch with the professional contacts they need to work with. I shall also take the lead on social media marketing, liaising with the communications department of the Watershed, and aiding in Evaluation plans.

I plan to motivate my team by leading by example. I am quite organised, methodical and extremely dedicated to getting work done, meeting deadlines and being prepared well in advanced is crucial to a happy working environment for me and I will support my team to do the same. I hope to encourage people to speak up, get involved and take responsibility for individual tasks. By keeping up to date with project progress I can gently nudge team members that might be flagging or aid people when they need support.

The Team:

Me – Project Manager, Marketing Visuals and Evaluation Planning.

Alexandra Ricou – Copy Writer for Promotional Content. Alex will write up copy for teaser release on social media outlets and draft out initial ideas for audience interaction via email and for a flyer.

Florence Fitzgerald – Artistic Liaison and Character Development. Flo will source and liaise with artists and performers we are interested in working with for our immersive event. Once booked she will work with them on character development and make sure they are all in the right place at the right time and have everything they need.

J Gibbs – Budget and Props Management. J will make final decision on all the props we need to source, gathering quotes along the way to work out our budget. Manage the budget itself. Making sure everything is H&S checked and addition pieces are altered to requirements.

James Staynings – H&S assessments, Technical requirements and Evaluation Planning. James will undertake the H&S assessment of the spaces we will use. He will make not of all the technical requirements we have and source the correct items by liaising with the projection and technical department of Watershed. Together with myself we will work out how to evaluate our project.

Varun Raman – Sound requirements and musician liaison. Varun will source and liaise with any professional musicians we work with. He will also be responsible for sourcing all the sound bites we need for the Immersive event and deciding where and when to feature them.

Compass Presents – Professional Advice. Compass Presents will aid us in achieving our goals for the immersive event by offering professional advice and helping us to find contacts and source props.

Get Involved in the Arts World – Unit 1. Part B. #1

I have looked into adult courses at UWE and the Bristol Folk House along with print making courses run by the Print Shop and Drawn in Bristol. However although some of these avenues interest me greatly I don’t think I would benefit as much as by working alongside industry professionals in a working environment.

I have been looking into a variety of Bristol based companies I might want to approach for work experience which include:

I have been deliberating hugely on where to develop my professional practice. On the one hand I very much want to explore the world of producing events further and gain more hands on experience doing this. On the other hand I would love to develop my design skills and gain further work experience within a creative agency. I haven’t worked alongside other designers and mentors since I studied at University so I think the face to face and hands on Interaction would benefit me massively.

I plan to approach a few of these companies with an email, including a CV, links to my work and an outline of my current creative activity.

Extending My Own Arts Practice – Unit 1. Part A. #3

So I had my installation, I had my photographs of the installation, now to introduce my design skills and get working on the poster.

I used my favourite photo as the main focus for the piece, accentuated the colours, added Watershed branding along with some short detail about the workshops and a website address. It didn’t quite feel right though, so I created a second poster using edited photographs from the kids workshop and some vector icons to convey more of the story behind the promotional material.

poster 1 for blog poster 2 diff

My designs where formally viewed by a panel of artistic enthusiasts and some staff members from the Watershed, a creative arts centre in Bristol, including Hannah Higginson the Engagement Project Producer and Veve who works in front of house as well as being a film-maker and workshop co-ordinator.

I presented both posters which received good feedback, everyone enjoyed the images of the children interacting with my installation and could gauge the message i was trying to get across. However for the most part everyone I discussed the project with was far more interested in my installation than my design. Everyone who saw it in or out of setting commented on it. On reflection I really feel I should have focused on the branding of the original piece, so that some of the questions raised by the installation where also answered there and then, and the question would not be “oooo whats that?” but “ooooo what is Cinekids at the Watershed?”.

I wish I had blended graphic design and installation in a more natural way and from the very beginning, why did I not plan to have informative design surrounding my installation? Some eye grabbing, ascetically pleasing, signage!?! On retrospect I think I should have made the installation complete with branding and signage, made the piece visible in the Watershed Box office window and potentially getting rid of the the fence line base, made some sort of fully interactive pulley…! 

However I am still very happy with my final designs and feel I have really started to grasp the concept of installation art, and how I can use it in conjunction with my Graphic Design. I really want to continue expanding on this knowledge and to also get more practice behind a camera.

Check out the discussion about my Cinekids project work here:

Zoe Horn Haywood: Illustration & Graphic Design – Extend your own Arts practice, Future Producers, Watershed 2013. from Watershed Bristol on Vimeo.

Extending My Own Arts Practice – Unit 1. Part A. #3 (Progress)

My idea for the Cinékids artwork project is to create a piece of installation art that reflects the qualities of the Cinékids workshops as outlined in the brief using a popular children’s film as the inspiration. I then plan to photograph the installation being viewed and explored by children. Using my graphic design skills, I will use one of these photo’s as the focus for a promotional poster or advert for the programme. What I am most interested in, is exploring my ideas for promotional material by taking them off the page, by creating an engaging story, in the hope I can catch the imaginations and curiosity of my intended audience, then reverting back to my primary art form to bring the story together to be used in a more conventional graphic design sense (as a poster).

For my installation I decided I would create a scene influenced by the children’s Pixar film ‘UP’. This would then be installed at the Arnolfini during an animation workshop “Impossible Quests” led by Aardman animator Will Becher. The Workshop was set up by a fellow Future Producer Christina Hawkes-Blackburn, as part of the Watersheds involvement with the Encounters Film Festival. I thought this would prove a fitting setting for my installation as the film ‘UP’ involves the impossible quest of a man taking a journey to Paradise Falls by tying helium balloons to his house and flying it. The kids taking part in the workshop would have to form their own stories based around an adventurous journey, and could perhaps use my installation as added inspiration or at least enjoy its presence.

DSC_0356 DSC_0359 DSC_0364 DSC_0358

The children at the workshop seamed to enjoy the piece and made the connection to the film it referenced. Phase two of my plan was to photograph my installation whilst being viewed by the kids attending the ‘impossible quests workshop’ I got some really nice shots of some of them getting a closer look at the art work and although I haven’t completely honed my photography skills it was an interesting lesson in trial and error.

So my intention is for there to be two stages of an audience viewing my work, initially just the installation at the Children’s workshop taking place at the Arnolfini Gallery. Then finally a broader audience would view the poster or advert online, at the Watershed, on billboards and in magazines. However for the purpose of the project I will show my final design to a panel of fellow artistic enthusiasts and members of Staff from the Watershed Bristol. I will take note of their feedback and the session will be filmed to look back over.

 

Arts Leadership – Unit. 2 #2 (Project Introduction)

Its been an interesting and insightful month for me. I don’t think I have ever watched so many dark and disturbing movies. I really went off scary films when I was about 14 but this project has completely re-ignited my appreciation of them. Through our extensive research of the gothic movie genre we have ended up forming a completely different selection of films than we had set out to. Our initial ideas had been themed around the Dark Arts, however our final line up consists of films all based around a Haunted House vibe.

Our brief involves us putting on four late night screenings of Gothic films, the fourth of which will be an immersive event including music, visuals and installations. We are very excited about our chosen film for the finale, the Watershed as a space really lends itself to the project. We also plan to run a music workshop for dark instruments including the theremin.

Our events our aimed at an 18-25 audience, and more specifically people that wouldn’t normally venture to the Watershed. We all fall into that age bracket (more or less) so as a group we think we know our desired audience pretty well. Keeping this age range in mind we want to keep our events pretty low cost, we want to make them as fun and engaging as possible and we want to aim our marketing at universities, local music venues and bars. We also plan to spread the word via social media and influential online groups.

Our group seem to be working excellently together. Everyone has plenty of useful knowledge, experience and enthusiasm to make this project a success. We have all been highly motivated to complete the programme of films so that we can move forward into the next stage of planning. Which we are all really looking forward to.

 

Extending My Own Arts Practice – Unit 1. Part A. #2 (Research)

The Watershed regularly run Cinékids events that give children aged 6-11 a chance to explore how films are made by learning about and experimenting with different processes. My intention was to find out a little more about these events to 2013-08-23 16.39.18help me with the piece of Cinékids Artwork that I have to produce for my Gold Arts Award. The purpose of this artwork is to promote these sessions.

This seasons films for cinekids have all been dog related to tie in with the Bristol Gromits. So the kids where going to create some canine themed animations, set in luxury dog homes that they had decorated.

2013-08-23 16.38.43

It was great to see how the workshop was run. This week the kids where being taught how to use some stop frame animation software, filming from a birds-eye view. The kids where very enthusiastic about their projects and put their active imaginations to work. They created their sets and worked out story lines to act out with their characters.

Being involved in the session allowed me to develop some of my ideas for my promotional Cinekids artwork and get a good picture of what it is I am trying to promote. It also taught me a few things about Stop Motion, facilitating workshops and how inventive and intelligent children are! 

Unpaid Internships (got my goat) Unit 1. Part D. #2

Intern Presentation_No1

I delivered my presentation using a slideshow of visuals, adverts and information I had pieced together, to peers I thought would benefit from my experiences and my research. I was addressing the issue of unpaid internships, something I feel the Arts Industry has noticed as occurring more regularly and that most young creatives have come to expect. This issue is something I am quite passionate about, especially as I feel that I, and others I know, have been taken advantage of during an Internship that was not paid.

Intern Presentation_No2

Zoe Horn Haywood Powerpoint talk on Unpaid Internships – Above shows excerpts from the Arts Council Guidelines on ‘Internships in the Arts’.

See my presentation on Unpaid Internships here: Zoe Horn Haywood: Unpaid internships – “Got My Goat” presentations, Future Producers, Watershed 2013. from Watershed Bristol on Vimeo.

I had some really good feedback and interaction with the group.

Rosie Cooke posed the question : If education alone isn’t enough to get people ready for the work place how do we broach that gap? My response was that placements should be a necessity within courses. Students should be encouraged to complete such programs as part of their education, as they do in may other professions.

Hannah Williams Walton asked the question: What about in instances where the person doing the intern really needs it as an introduction to industry and the work place, having no previous experience? I feel that in many cases internships are beneficial to people, however in some cases people are advertising for Interns that DO have prior experience, DO have an extensive knowledge and are asked to complete difficult tasks prompted by their own initiative. In my opinion Interns who receive no pay should not be held so responsible and should have no prior experience or knowledge of the role they are entering.

Luke Tucker asked what I thought about: The fact that some very reputable institutions ran unpaid internships and now after criticism have withdrawn this opportunity as they could not justify paying wages to them. I suggested that if those companies where benefiting in any way from Interns working from them and that they where producing work that someone else might otherwise be paid to do, then yes those placements should be investigated and reviewed. An internship should be more beneficial for the intern than for the company, especially if the intern receives no money.

I also spoke to Amy Draper who explained that she found her 5 month unpaid internship extremely beneficial and that she landed a job at the end of it. She learnt a lot and all her work was reviewed to help her develop at every stage. However she did mention how by the end of the 5 months she had begun to work as a regular employee with the same responsibility as paid workers. I do wonder how many other people would be able to financially support themselves in such a way after years of education and the current cost of living.

I do think there is a great deal of benefit to be had from experience that an Internship can offer, however I think the system has thoroughly been abused and tighter regulations should be in place to ensure the welfare of employees, that there is zero discrimination of applicants to a role, and realistic time limits should be set on anything unpaid, along with a clear understanding of what both parties achieve/gain from the experience.

I am constantly involved in this discussion and will always take an interest in how young people in the arts are being treated by the industry. Im now keen to see a wider range of help for people and will start to look into whether universities and colleges educate their students on the matter and try to guide them away from being taken advantage of. I am also keen to read the magazine Intern and see what the nation has to say on the matter.

 

 

Unpaid Internships (got my goat) – Unit 1. Part D. #1

This Thursday I shall deliver a presentation discussing a topic that upsets me within the arts industry. I have chosen to broach the subject of the thousands of unpaid interns that are potentially being taken advantage of. I have had my own personal experience of being an unpaid intern, although it is true that I have learnt skills whilst in these roles, I pose the question ‘Is that not what you do at work?’. I will outline what the responsibilities of an Intern should be and what they shouldn’t with the aid of the Arts Council Guidelines. I will note how and why the boom in british internships came about, as well as drawing on my own personal experiences and those of others. I will try to give my peers tips on what to look out for in the hope they don’t find themselves in illegal internships and can question what is legally and morally acceptable.

I really think its a problem that should be properly addressed within society, with harsher punishments for those in the system that abuse young workers. With 130,000 UK companies admitting they use unpaid interns, at a time when we have a staggering unemployment rate, why is this allowed? If a business needs that job role to function properly, and they advertise for it, surely it is worth paying someone minimum wage for?

How are these young professionals supporting themselves? Many of whom are graduates, who no doubt have already accumulated debts from education? Why is our young talent being undervalued in such a way? What does this mean for the future of the industry? Is an elite society being formed where only middle and upper-class families see their young progress into creative careers? 

I will also discuss the misuse of Interns, where unpaid workers have been instructed to perform tasks that have no educational value and the court ruling’s that follow such cases.

I suggest that anyone unsure of their intern situation should read the Arts Council Guidelines.

 

Sources

The Graduate Frog – http://graduatefog.co.uk/2011/1491/unpaid-interns-dont-exist-hesa/

Forbes – Susan Adams – http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2013/06/14/is-the-unpaid-internship-dead/

Arts Council – http://creative-blueprint.co.uk/library/item/internships-in-the-arts

BBC News Magazine – Jon Kelly – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-10891905

The Guardian – Shiv Malik & Rajeev Syal – http://www.theguardian.com/money/2011/nov/04/internships-scandal-britain-unpaid-army

Deviant art – goat Roar – by fbcota – http://fbcota.deviantart.com/art/Goat-roar-150016394

Gum Tree http://www.gumtree.com/;gtbuyersessionid=BFD12AB1EA6227DB4C70CEACF6E497C8

   

Extending My Own Arts Practice – Unit 1. Part A. #1

My brief is to create a piece of artwork to promote Cinekids, which is a monthly slot at the Watershed in Bristol that allows children aged 6-11 the opportunity to explore the stories they see on screen. This piece should reflect childlike characteristics such as playfulness and being adventurous.

My primary art form is Graphic Design; I do promotional material, branding, book covers, page layouts and some digital work. I suppose I really see myself as a creative designer though, doing more hands on work with my projects.

For this project I will learn from some fellow Future Producers that specialise in art forms that differ from my own. I have chosen art installation as the new art form that I would like to learn so that I can expand my creative knowledge and experience to a more three dimensional media. Installation art is a wonderful way of engaging people in a subject that they might not have been interested in, had it not been for the way it was presented to them. Much like graphic design. Many creative design agencies look for new and innovative ways to promote companies, like Taxi Studio and their promotion of Whittard of Chelsea brand with “The Tiger Who Came To Tea” installation. I see further knowledge of this art form being very beneficial to me as a creative designer.

Taxi Studio - The Tiger Who Came To Tea

Taxi Studio – The Tiger Who Came To Tea

I have also opted to expand my knowledge of photography. Photographs are a very important tool in graphic design and it would be great to create a piece from start to finish, as opposed to using stock photographs.

Lilly Fannon and Roseanna Dias will teach me how to make a piece of installation art, along with extra sessions in photography by Lilly. Their plan was to talk the process’ through with me and then go forward with some practical learning.

I wanted to find out what it involves, how to make an installation successful and potentially get some advice on my ideas. During out first session they talked me through the theory behind installation art. We discussed the term and what it meant or involved. I noted that the following elements where important; the creator, the presentation, the context (i.e. time, place), the audience, the journey the viewer takes in response, how it is observed and its meaning.

Lily, Zoe, Roseanna. My lesson in installation art. They showed me practising artist as they talked me through the process and meaning behind the subject.

Lily, Zoe, Roseanna. My lesson in installation art. They showed me practising artist as they talked me through the process and meaning behind the subject.

Lily and Roseanna taught me that through the use of light, form, colour and sound, an artist is free of boundaries except those that they create for themselves. That it is important to have a message in your installation, whether it be of a purely playful and enjoyable nature, or holding a particular view or meaning. Is it witty? Does it make the audience question?

I also took away from this session how important the setting and space surrounding the work is for an installation and how greatly it can effect it. A really brilliant introduction from the two of them, I was really looking forward to putting some of these ideas into practice.

In our Second Session Lilly, Roseanna and I set about creating a small installation on Bristols harbour side. The girls brought with them several balls of wool which we twisted and weaved around the barrier that bordered part of the waterfront.  We were making a colourful web of wool for the public to enjoy. During our session some people looked on or came over to offer their approval of the project.

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When we had completed our installation we left behind several balls of wool attached to the barrier. This was in the hope that people would take it upon themselves to participate in our artwork by continuing our wooly web. This is exactly what happened! When we came back the next day the original web had quadrupled in size. So i think our project was a success and great fun too.

IMG_1658

Through this second session Lily also taught us a few things about the art of photography. I learnt a bit about aperture, which refers to the amount of light you let into the lens to create your photo. This combined with the correct shutter speed for the subject matter will help you to get the right exposure. Which is the balance of light and dark in a photograph. We also experimented with focusing and angles.

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I definitely have a new appreciation and understanding for these art forms and look forward to further experimentation and research. I also really loved learning from Lily and Roseanna, it was great fun and has inspired me to get involved in other collaborative projects.

 

Gold Arts Award

Since our Pitching session I received an email informing me I would be working on the the Gothic Season Project, which I am ecstatic about! So much so I bought myself a sexy new notebook to fill with all things Gothic! (from awesome shop Something Else)

notebook

We have also been introduced to the Gold Arts award, had an events marketing masterclass, spent some time identifying opportunities for work experience, and along with my team, been beginning to work out which films we shall be showing during the Gothic season.

Gold arts award – I’m thrilled that I decided to take part in the Future Producers Plus, I can already tell that the extra skills I will learn will add to my personal development no end. The Plus course has been filling my head with thoughts of cross art form marketing, annoyances in industry and where I would like to gain further work experience. The latter of those is causing me a slight headache… I am struggling between a company that would offer me a further insight into graphic design and what studio/agency life would be like or a company that would introduce me to the intriguing world of event and set design and how to create stimulating environments. I definitely need to do further research, or time allowing, consider the possibility of both?

Events Marketing Masterclass – These talks were a great help in terms of all of the areas to consider when approaching marketing and reaching your audience. Since this class I have been looking into social media as a means to approach and engage an audience for our Gothic Season.

Gothic Season, the beginning – Well our team has started the mammoth task of programming the season of events. The list of films we have created is pretty vast, but I think we are all enjoying watching lots of dark and twisted movies! Its all a bit top secret at the moment, so I wouldn’t want to spoil anything by sharing too much about my recent viewings. As a group we all seam to be working really well together so far and although we don’t always agree and have some conflicting tastes everyone is very respectful of each others opinions, showing a willingness to compromise and review. The energy and enthusiasm in the group is exhilarating, I couldn’t be happier with our team and look forward to spending much more time with them over the coming months.

 

Arts Leadership – Unit. 2 #1 (Project Pitch)

I had to give a pitch noting which project I wanted to work on, why and what I could bring to the table including some initial ideas. I really enjoyed this session, it was fascinating to hear everyones different ideas and approaches to the projects we are most interested in taking a lead role in. I began to get a lot more invested in the other project avenues, thinking of ways I might be of assistance to the other groups. The comments and feedback from Hannah Higginson (Watershed Engagement Project Producer), Maddy Probst (Watershed Programme Developer) and Liz Harkmen (Encounters Managing Director) after each pitch really helped me to get a picture of the kinds of issues I might face, how our ideas will complement one an-others and also to start thinking about what might not work and why.

I was over run with ideas for the BFI Gothic season, my head instantly filled with the fun that there is to be had with the topic. Listening to the ideas by others on the same event, I began to get really excited by visions of the work we will do together. I cant wait to learn more from the team and see what wonderment we can produce collectively.

I decided to take the opportunity to do a big screen presentation as its an experience I have never undertaken before. As a graphic designer its my job to make information visually interesting and digestible, so this was my approach to the pitch:

 

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Off to a Good Start – Zoë.H

The introductory weekend to the Future Producers programme was a great experience and has already provided me with plenty of valuable skills to take forward. It has also been excellent to meet all of the talented and enthusiastic characters that I will be working with and learning from over the coming months.

Initially we started off brainstorming in small groups, each group discussing one of the four projects we will have the opportunity to produce. Our group came up with some really inspiring ideas for the Family Arts Festival. Due to this brief session I have already become quite excited with the potential for us to create an amazing event to feature at the festival. We came up with various promotional ideas and plenty of ways to involve residents of Bristol’s Pervasive Media Studios to showcase their skills and projects by using new and exciting technologies to engage the public.

Watching three hours of short films that where submitted for the Encounters Film Festival, in order to produce the programme for the 12-19 year olds screening, was a great pleasure. Not having any kind of background in Film, I found it liberating to have my views heard and discussed with so many people possessing a more in-depth knowledge. I think we are all very proud of the final programme and are excited to see how it will be received at the Encounters festival. Having the opportunity to work with Short Film Programmer, Gaia Meucci, provided me with a greater understanding of the profession. Knowing that many of our decisions reflected her own was a huge boost.

Flora Toulson taught us numerous tips to aid us in delivering effective presentations, which was incredibly beneficial to me as I find it difficult to hold my confidence when addressing an audience.

As a graphic designer I automatically find myself drawn to the visual aspects of each project. I have a desire to work on the branding and promotional elements and to try my hand at any potential set design or event décor. However, one of my main reasons for enrolling in the Futures Producers was my desire to work in direct contact with people, maybe in a co-ordination type role or aiding in the organising and delivery of workshops. The projects that stand out to me are the Family Arts Festival, for the chance to work in conjunction with the other cultural venues in Bristol, and the BFI Gothic season because of the wonderful imagery and fun there is to be had with the subject matter.