VIVA practice and final

On the 14th of May I had my practice VIVA. If you're not sure what a VIVA is, it's basically an oral examination where I have to talk about one of my projects from the final year. It's not my work that is being marked but my awareness of the work. The guidelines included things like what is the context of my project, what research have I done, what theory have I looked at, what experiences have I gained from this project, etc etc etc. And you have to cram it all into 7-10 minutes. I decided to talk about my Succession project as I literally know everything there is to know about succession now. The practice was terrifying. I was surprisingly nervous, even though I practised multiple times! The only thing that threw me were the questions at the end, there isn't really any way you can prepare for that!!

I had my actual VIVA on the 24th of May. I took some notes with me as well as some hand outs for who ever was marking me and two books: Clyde Butcher's and Peter Lik's book. Another thing that was very difficult was the fact we had to do it in front of two people, the first was a lecturer who obviously knows all about our work and saw us progress, but also someone else who isn't part of the photography department and might now know anything about photography. This meant that instead of just saying "a deadpan style of photography" I had to go into what deadpan photography is. Same for the photographers mentioned. Again, all that in 7-10 minutes!!! I don't think I ever talked that fast in my life. I can honestly say I don't actually remember much of the VIVA presentation, and I can't repeat the questions!

Before I walked in I heard my lecturers talking about me saying something along the lines of "The next student is extremely talented" and then them joking around how I'll go far, followed by my lecturer saying "she probably will go far".... WHAT!???? I can't believe I heard my lecturers say that!! When they came to get me I obviously had to pretend I didn't hear anything, but wow!!

Officially done with University

It's been a little while since my last blog post and that's because of my hand-in. Our "final" blog post was marked (previous post) so I couldn't blog until I got that mark back, which I've got back now!! The blog and my portfolio were part of the same until called Professional Practice and I got a 2.1! If you aren't sure what that means, it's the second best mark you can get. It goes First (70%+), 2.1 (60%-69%), 2.2 (50%-59%), Third (40%-49%) and anything lower than a 40% is a fail. I'm extremely excited with that mark because in my last portfolio tutorial, my lecturer wasn't very impressed with my portfolio... I also got back my mark for my VIVA presentation. The VIVA is an oral exam where we got 7-10 minutes to talk about our work (what it's about, research we've done, experiences gained and a whole lot more). This was one of the most nerve-racking things I've done on the course as it was in front of a lecturer and another person who doesn't necessarily know anything about photography. Instead of just going straight into each artist I looked at, or talking about what style of photography I used, I first had to explain who they were or what it was.... all in 7-10 minutes! Anyway, back to the point, I also got my mark back for that and I got a first!! I am incredibly happy with it, especially because it isn't the work that is marked, but it's how much you know about your work that matters. The VIVA and the dissertation are part of the same unit called Visual Cultural Dissertation, so my final mark for that is now a solid 2.1!

I'm only waiting for two more marks, which happen to be the most important marks! The first is my practical work of my 7591 Miles project, and the second is my research mark for both my Succession work as well as my 7591 Miles work. I should be getting that back sometime this week.

Other than the marks, a lot has been happening! Firstly we had the preview night of the Portsmouth Show which was a great success. Before the show I emailed my lecturer to see if I could create a time lapse of the night. He was very enthusiastic and recommended I work with another student interested in time lapses called Will Rudman. On the preview night we ended up using 4 cameras to take time lapses and some videos. We spend four and a half hours editing it yesterday and I am so proud of what we've made. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aepp6JEchwY&feature=youtu.be.

I've also continued the weekly photo challenges, but I will create a separate post for them. I will also add some more specific posts after this one to show you in more detail what I've been up to!

Update

It's been a little quiet lately on my blog and that's because the majority of my course work has finished. Like I said in a previous post, all I have to do is hand in my portfolio and a final blog post and set up the Eldon exhibition and my VIVA presentation!

First of all, I got my dissertation mark back. I got a 2:1, which I'm obviously very happy about, although I would have wanted a slightly higher 2:1. But it's a good mark and that's all that matters. Also part of the dissertation mark is our VIVA presentation. This is basically just a chat about my work with two lecturers (one from my course and one randomer). I have decided to do it about my Succession project as I'm more confident talking about that one. It's a 7-10 minute chat about the concept, the research, how I have arrived at my final, and future plans. Squeezing that all into 10 min will probably be the hardest part. I have a practice VIVA on the 14th of May and my actual one is somewhere towards the end of May.

Last week I had a portfolio session which didn't go too well. After first recommending a box portfolio, my lecturers have now suddenly decided that a box portfolio isn't a good idea. They definitely didn't like my layout of it, so I'll have to change that.... somehow...... As for the final blog post. I literally have no idea what to write. At the moment my plan is to go to Australia for 2 years. I'm not specifically looking for a photography job to begin with, so I'm not sure how I'll get marked on that..

The eldon set up has also began! There has been a bit of drama about the fact that the people exhibiting in London have their own catalogue, while that same catalogue will also be presented at the Eldon show. Thus about 7 people who are part of the Eldon show aren't in the London catalogue! A special facebook group has been set up for the people not taking part in the London show where we have discussed the idea of making our own small catalogue to go alongside the other one. It would be about £27 each for 500 copies. We'll each have one photo in the book (I'll do my succession one, even though I do have the second project in the show too) and a little section explaining the work.
This week we've been put into groups to get Eldon ready for the show, eg. painting and setting up. I wasn't selected to be part of this weeks' work so I'll be in next week to sort things out. On the 16th and 17th we'll be hanging up our work, which will be a very interesting day.

So that's a little update from what's been happening over the past week!

Hand-In

Last Thursday was my hand-in for two units: Advanced Practice Research and Self Led. For Advanced Practice Research I had to create two research workbooks for each of my projects (Succession and 7591 Miles). Self Led only referred to my 7591 Miles project. For this I had to hand in my three finals, my development workbook and a reflective writing, which basically just sums up all the research I've done and how I've come to my final.

It's a bit of a strange feeling now that I've handed this in. It's the same as after my dissertation hand in - I'm happy that it's all done, but I've still got another hand in and a whole exhibition to set up! Usually the hand-in means the end, but we've still got so much to do!!

The next deadline is the 16th of May, which is when I have to hand in my portfolio (pretty much done) and a final blog post explaining what I'm hoping to do over the next 5 years and how the course has helped me get to that. This means I won't be blogging for a while after the 16th (until I've got my mark back).

Anyway, a few days before that I have my VIVA practice presentation. The VIVA is an oral presentation about my work, however it's not my work that is being marked but the way I talk about it and my knowledge of the subject matter. I will be talking about my Succession project for this as I feel the most confident at that project. My actual VIVA is sometime closer towards the end of May. Also around the start of May we have to start setting up our Eldon exhibition. We start setting it up and deciding where all the work is going to go on the 7th of May, but the actual exhibition isn't until the 31st of May! I'm a bit worried about hanging up my work, since my Succession photo is incredibly heavy and I literally know nothing about drilling holes and stuff.....