The project has now been given the title "we don't walk; we dance and has been produced using the digital media programmes Adobe Photoshop, Flash and After Effects. My main aim was to create a piece that was visual pleasing and kept the audience entertained, I now feel that if my piece were to be used I would like it to be set up as an art installation and just set on a loop timer. Using theories of gender, sexuality and race were of importance to me, though I did not want his to be direct (for example I wanted quotes which were not direct statements about these theories), but still was able to have a meaning behind it.
Each part of the piece features a different routine and slightly different style of dance. From the beginning I thought the idea of using four dancers and equal gender and racial groups would make my piece successful, but I am now pleased with the outcome achieved by using just three people and still both male and female dancers.
Initially I became very stressed with the piece as it was not going how I had planned it in my storyboard or brain storms, I was not sure if my approach would work because of the few problems I encountered. I now feel that because I approached the project in such a personal way, it has worked to my benefit as after developing my first idea over the Christmas period I now feel that the piece is more individual and relates to me more. This is what I hoped to achieve as it is my final piece at university and wanted to have a very personal sense around it. The websites and books I read proved to be influential and allowed me to gain a better understanding of how to get my message across using images alone. However, with reflection to how the piece is formed in relation to theory I feel that I did try to convey too many different ideas and theories in the one piece, and hence I have the feeling that I did not go far enough with any of the concepts. Putting this aside, I do feel that my stop motion piece has a message behind it from the use of the chosen people who featured in it (gendered and through racial representation) and the contrasting styles of dance which feature. My favourite part of the piece is the shoes; I feel that this got across my sense of wanting it to not be a strictly serious piece of work. I wanted entertainment, not analysis of my piece.
This would be a piece that still needs developing and could work very well if more time was given to it and now that I am familiar with the programmes and not at such a poor level of understanding of, in particular, Flash. I feel could have achieved more had I understood the programme better, as even the online help, core readings and guide books proved difficult to use. Overall, in regards to how I feel about the piece I can see that it does work, fits well with the music and incorporates my choice of topic and logo. I enjoyed branding myself and found this exciting to do. I finished my project in enough time to not feel rushed, as I spent many extra hours in the media studio and did not leave it all till the last minute. I showed my piece to several people (not all friends of mine) and got very positive feedback (especially the people who featured!) so I felt satisfied with this, though in future I think I would also send them my blog so that they can see my trail of thought and allow them to be critical by maybe posting a response and so on. So finally the project is complete and although I am a little disappointed that I did not get my full range of dancers to feature, I still enjoyed the process and seeing my ideas develop and change.
