A summery summary
Phil has been berating me for my lack of updates over the summer, so, with just 10 days left before I move back to uni, I'll let you know what I've been doing since I last updated you (In April :s)!
Big News
If you don't know already, where have you been? Me and Phil got engaged over the summer on our 4th anniversary on the 30th June. We're not planning on getting married for the next few years, since I've got a BA and Phil has a MA to get out of the way, but thank you to everyone for our lovely cards and presents - we hope everyone who was able to come enjoyed our party.
Assessments and the Like
I completed assessments in POP2 practicals, POP2 written assessments, Collab practicals and Collab assessments (that's the dreaded portfolio and Critical Evaluation) before I came home at the end of May, so for people who I didn't tell (or rather, offload on) about what happened, here are the relevant marks and, er, experiences.
POP2 Practical - This was the piece I was rehearsing for when I last updated, and, unfortunately, after a positive start, the group experienced an awful lot of problems to the point where we had to devise and finish the whole piece the day before it was due to be assessed. The structure of the group changed twice during the devising process, which held us back a little, and which meant that a piece that was supposed to be 20 minutes long (5 minutes per person), had to be lengthened to 35 minutes. Since we weren't able to produce that amount of material in a day, we were worried that we may get marked down for our "efforts", but the marks weren't that bad after all:
Conceptual Development: B
Content: C
Skills and Techniques: B
All comments: Overall, this was an intelligent piece which found two good sources to weave together: the Surrendered wife and the Roald Dahl story: Lamb to the Slaughter. You used the space and selected props effectively to explore the issues arising out of these sources and were careful to transform the uses of, for example, the washing line, so that it became a dynamic sign on stage. Your playing style was appropriate to critique the ideas represented in the surrendered wife section and there were some strong and committed performances within the group. There were, however, some failings which arose from a lack of balance and overall coherence in the performance score. Whilst your written sources were rich and had great potential, you did not research these well enough to exploit them fully. The Roald Dahl line through the piece was reduced to a gesture of beef pounding until the revelatory ending and this needed more careful thought so that juxtaposing testimony from surrendered wives with the radical act of murder had real purpose. In addition, there were some individual scores and texts which were more fully developed than others. Individually, your performance was strong and well integrated into the piece.
Overall mark: 63%
So, not too bad overall, but I'm really hoping for some higher marks this year, as I haven't managed to achieve a 1:1 in a practical piece yet.
POP2 Critical Evaluation - When I wrote this I wasn't particularly happy with it, and I had to rush it because I had several deadlines around the same date, so, to be honest, I probably deserve the comments the lovely PhD student made about my work. However (and there's always one where he's concerned), I'm not sure about his reference to a "reading list", since we were never given one... but meh, never mind.
Investigation/Research: C
Coverage: C/B
Analysis: C/B
Presentation: B
Comments: You proffer some interesting arguments in this essay but your tone is a little too conversational to be adequately incisive. There is a tendency to make sweeping generalisations without proper support. The essay also lacks analysis as it is more descriptive than critical, it is important that you always interrogate the arguments you set up rather than simply writing a diary of the process. It would have been interesting to see
you relate theoretical arguments on the implications of this type of performance back into the process you went through in reaching your performance. More extensive reading will help you to both focus your ideas and will encourage you to integrate theory and argument more full. Try to expand your reading outside the given reading lists. Overall, this piece of work shows potential but is substantially underdeveloped.
Overall mark: 60%
Collaborative Processes Practical: Where to start on this one? Collab was one lengthy period of frustration and sitting about not doing very much. Our group really only started working the week before we were due to be assessed, and stronger people within the group eventually took over, which meant that everyone else had very little to do (and therefore not much to be marked on). Our actual performance was disturbed because, after we managed to get everyone into the auditorium with several people on stage holding freezes for about 15 minutes, someone called out to turn the lights up, the music off, and proceeded to pick people out of the audience since they had allowed too many people into the auditiorium. It was an absolute mess and completely spoiled the atmosphere and the set up of the piece, and by the time we had finished, everyone seemed a bit down but relieved it was over. Below are the marks for the whole group (we didn't get individual marks for this one):
Conceptual Development: B
Creativity: C
Content: C
Skills/Techniques: C/B
Investigation/Research: C
Comments: You were a pleasant and articulate group to be working with, and I enjoyed seeing your piece develop. I feel that you were particularly creative in response to the stimuli, and things that were generated from it, such as the very strong image provided by Libby and ideas arising from excursions and workshops. In a process like this, there is always a transitional period between the ideas and the pragmatic (“only 2 weeks left – what can we realistically do?”) stages. While you managed to transfer some concepts and images, I feel that some strong ideas got lost due to technical restraints, compromise and lack of attendance or time input. Again, the balance between creativity and feasibility is a difficult one to negotiate, and the short get in and tech time is certainly taken into consideration here. In terms of communication, every group struggles to make every member’s voice heard, and your process was no different. Although I could detect certain authority struggles, you kept it together when it really mattered, and were always checking that you were contributing to the project as professionally as possible, and not so much concentrating on personal relationships. That is a very good learning outcome. Performance day was a big challenge, and it is to your credit that concentration and energy were largely maintained in difficult circumstances. I do, however, think that you could have invested more time developing the piece, and that its shortcomings are not down to lack of creativity, but to late decision making and in some cases lack of commitment. You had a tight rehearsal schedule over the last few days, but had the sense of urgency kicked in earlier, the quality of the work would have profited.
Re the audience chaos at the beginning: I realise it was too late to supply additional seating by the time you had rigged and set up, but you could maybe have done something about it early in the day. Not a marking-related point, but it would have been nice to get all your year group in.
I feel the piece was at the penultimate draft stage by the time it reached performance, for reasons outlined above. The connections between the scenes were functional, but not as dramaturgically meaningful as they might have been, and it could have done with more content, co-ordination and polish overall. I really liked the idea of the double ‘Sam’ (a lot of research connections come to mind – Artaud, CG Jung etc etc), but feel it could have been established much more strongly in the opening scene. It wasn’t until the fight scene that I got a satisfactory sense of the duality. The performance has left me (and colleagues) with some very strong images (the umbrellas, the weatherman gradually being stripped of status and turned into a torture victim, the speeding up office, the significance of water etc…) and some very good sound work, live, as well as recorded (the latter of a professional standard). While I was not necessarily looking for the linear, and while you inserted some sense of the cyclical, the piece was a bit short on context. The images and scenarios certainly all connect to the overall notions of ‘water’ and ‘war’, but stop short of making proper points at times, and could have developed much further – just think of where the umbrella scene might have gone after such a strong initial image! The dance, although dynamic and imaginative, could have been contextualized much better. Strobe was used in to inflationary a way, and the costumes, although striking, were out of kilter with the rest of the visual style (I do realise they were inspired by the candles, but that was not very obvious semiotically). So, an interesting, but fragmented piece, where the notion of fragmentation could have been exploited in a more performative way, and as a choice that could have come across as more deliberate.
Well done to all of you for performing it with energy and commitment, and I hope you can profit from the huge collaborative learning achievement you have created.
Overall Mark: 59%
Collaborative Processes Written: Ah, the dreaded logbook and critical evaluation. The bain of my existance since Easter, and the cause of many sleepness nights. And what did Kara have to say about it? That my writing was too small. I did feel inclined to tell her to get her eyes tested and to equip her with a magnifying glass, but, after hours of work, I seemed to lose my gutsiness by the time it got to the end of the year.
Investigation/Research: B
Coverage: B
Presentation: C/B
Analysis: B
Comments: While tidy, organised and very detailed indeed, your portfolio is very difficult to read, as the writing is very small. Your visual resources are well chosen and very relevant, but sometimes there are too few to integrate with the very wordy resource.
Your critical evaluation sets up an interesting question about the nature of collaboration at the start – a useful thing to do, especially as you then use other sources such as Belbin to continue the discussion of group behaviour. You are also analytical and honest about evaluating your own input; this is promising. It is worth paying a bit more attention to the piece, its narrative and its dramaturgy.
Overall mark: 65%
I can't believe she gave me a C/B because of my writing for presentation!
Overall, I got a 2:1 for the whole year (and I found out that I got a 2:1 for the summer exam as well), which is pretty good, so hopefully I can improve on that next year!
Work at Home
Since I couldn't sit about at home for 4 months, I decided to look for a job to occupy my time so I didn't go bonkers. All in all, I applied for about 11 jobs, and was given 4 interviews: Dorothy Perkins, Superdrug, Past Times and Monsoon. Although I didn't get offered jobs at DP and Past Times, Monsoon, Superdrug and Mothercare offered me work, so I decided, since I've always wanted to work for them, to go with Monsoon. After the initial thrill of getting a job, I soon came down to earth with a bump when I realised that they were only offering me work for a month, something they didn't tell me in the interview. As I had already turned down the job with Superdrug, I had to keep with Monsoon, but was still incredibly worried about how I was going to make enough money to cover two lots of summer rent and September's rent on a month's work of work at 8 hours a week. Luckily, I was actually working for about 6 weeks and I ended up working pretty much every day for several of those weeks, and I was even told that they would try to sort me out a job up in Leeds.
Ok, so you can't have everything your way. They didn't do anything about a job in Leeds for me, and they didn't want me to come and work for a bit after our holiday either, but they DID pay me holiday pay, even though I wasn't entitled to it, so I can't complain too much! And the boss there is willing to act as a referee for me when I start applying for jobs next week, and since I managed to open 3 accounts (quite a feat, I'll tell you), hopefully she'll have some good things to say about me!
Our Holiday
After working away solidly for 6 weeks, our holiday in Spain was lovely! Here are some photos, since they explain more than writing:
House News
We've had several issues with things in the house, from internet problems, TV licence issues to confusing messages to and from landlords, but I think we're all sorted now and ready for the big move in on Friday next week. If you don't have my new address, please ask me for it - DO NOT send anything to my previous uni address, as they are not forwarding my mail! I'll put some photos on here once we're moved in so you can see our new house!
Fish News
As some of you know, I am getting fish to accompany me in my next two years of uni, and Phil and I have been researching for the last week into all the relevant equipment, etc. Hopefully I'll have bought everything I need/want to get by the end of the weekend, and I'm off searching for a stand/table thing for the tank today. The fish are being introduced on the weekend I move up, so I'll have some more fishy updates and pictures then!
Big News
If you don't know already, where have you been? Me and Phil got engaged over the summer on our 4th anniversary on the 30th June. We're not planning on getting married for the next few years, since I've got a BA and Phil has a MA to get out of the way, but thank you to everyone for our lovely cards and presents - we hope everyone who was able to come enjoyed our party.
Assessments and the Like
I completed assessments in POP2 practicals, POP2 written assessments, Collab practicals and Collab assessments (that's the dreaded portfolio and Critical Evaluation) before I came home at the end of May, so for people who I didn't tell (or rather, offload on) about what happened, here are the relevant marks and, er, experiences.
POP2 Practical - This was the piece I was rehearsing for when I last updated, and, unfortunately, after a positive start, the group experienced an awful lot of problems to the point where we had to devise and finish the whole piece the day before it was due to be assessed. The structure of the group changed twice during the devising process, which held us back a little, and which meant that a piece that was supposed to be 20 minutes long (5 minutes per person), had to be lengthened to 35 minutes. Since we weren't able to produce that amount of material in a day, we were worried that we may get marked down for our "efforts", but the marks weren't that bad after all:
Conceptual Development: B
Content: C
Skills and Techniques: B
All comments: Overall, this was an intelligent piece which found two good sources to weave together: the Surrendered wife and the Roald Dahl story: Lamb to the Slaughter. You used the space and selected props effectively to explore the issues arising out of these sources and were careful to transform the uses of, for example, the washing line, so that it became a dynamic sign on stage. Your playing style was appropriate to critique the ideas represented in the surrendered wife section and there were some strong and committed performances within the group. There were, however, some failings which arose from a lack of balance and overall coherence in the performance score. Whilst your written sources were rich and had great potential, you did not research these well enough to exploit them fully. The Roald Dahl line through the piece was reduced to a gesture of beef pounding until the revelatory ending and this needed more careful thought so that juxtaposing testimony from surrendered wives with the radical act of murder had real purpose. In addition, there were some individual scores and texts which were more fully developed than others. Individually, your performance was strong and well integrated into the piece.
Overall mark: 63%
So, not too bad overall, but I'm really hoping for some higher marks this year, as I haven't managed to achieve a 1:1 in a practical piece yet.
POP2 Critical Evaluation - When I wrote this I wasn't particularly happy with it, and I had to rush it because I had several deadlines around the same date, so, to be honest, I probably deserve the comments the lovely PhD student made about my work. However (and there's always one where he's concerned), I'm not sure about his reference to a "reading list", since we were never given one... but meh, never mind.
Investigation/Research: C
Coverage: C/B
Analysis: C/B
Presentation: B
Comments: You proffer some interesting arguments in this essay but your tone is a little too conversational to be adequately incisive. There is a tendency to make sweeping generalisations without proper support. The essay also lacks analysis as it is more descriptive than critical, it is important that you always interrogate the arguments you set up rather than simply writing a diary of the process. It would have been interesting to see
you relate theoretical arguments on the implications of this type of performance back into the process you went through in reaching your performance. More extensive reading will help you to both focus your ideas and will encourage you to integrate theory and argument more full. Try to expand your reading outside the given reading lists. Overall, this piece of work shows potential but is substantially underdeveloped.
Overall mark: 60%
Collaborative Processes Practical: Where to start on this one? Collab was one lengthy period of frustration and sitting about not doing very much. Our group really only started working the week before we were due to be assessed, and stronger people within the group eventually took over, which meant that everyone else had very little to do (and therefore not much to be marked on). Our actual performance was disturbed because, after we managed to get everyone into the auditorium with several people on stage holding freezes for about 15 minutes, someone called out to turn the lights up, the music off, and proceeded to pick people out of the audience since they had allowed too many people into the auditiorium. It was an absolute mess and completely spoiled the atmosphere and the set up of the piece, and by the time we had finished, everyone seemed a bit down but relieved it was over. Below are the marks for the whole group (we didn't get individual marks for this one):
Conceptual Development: B
Creativity: C
Content: C
Skills/Techniques: C/B
Investigation/Research: C
Comments: You were a pleasant and articulate group to be working with, and I enjoyed seeing your piece develop. I feel that you were particularly creative in response to the stimuli, and things that were generated from it, such as the very strong image provided by Libby and ideas arising from excursions and workshops. In a process like this, there is always a transitional period between the ideas and the pragmatic (“only 2 weeks left – what can we realistically do?”) stages. While you managed to transfer some concepts and images, I feel that some strong ideas got lost due to technical restraints, compromise and lack of attendance or time input. Again, the balance between creativity and feasibility is a difficult one to negotiate, and the short get in and tech time is certainly taken into consideration here. In terms of communication, every group struggles to make every member’s voice heard, and your process was no different. Although I could detect certain authority struggles, you kept it together when it really mattered, and were always checking that you were contributing to the project as professionally as possible, and not so much concentrating on personal relationships. That is a very good learning outcome. Performance day was a big challenge, and it is to your credit that concentration and energy were largely maintained in difficult circumstances. I do, however, think that you could have invested more time developing the piece, and that its shortcomings are not down to lack of creativity, but to late decision making and in some cases lack of commitment. You had a tight rehearsal schedule over the last few days, but had the sense of urgency kicked in earlier, the quality of the work would have profited.
Re the audience chaos at the beginning: I realise it was too late to supply additional seating by the time you had rigged and set up, but you could maybe have done something about it early in the day. Not a marking-related point, but it would have been nice to get all your year group in.
I feel the piece was at the penultimate draft stage by the time it reached performance, for reasons outlined above. The connections between the scenes were functional, but not as dramaturgically meaningful as they might have been, and it could have done with more content, co-ordination and polish overall. I really liked the idea of the double ‘Sam’ (a lot of research connections come to mind – Artaud, CG Jung etc etc), but feel it could have been established much more strongly in the opening scene. It wasn’t until the fight scene that I got a satisfactory sense of the duality. The performance has left me (and colleagues) with some very strong images (the umbrellas, the weatherman gradually being stripped of status and turned into a torture victim, the speeding up office, the significance of water etc…) and some very good sound work, live, as well as recorded (the latter of a professional standard). While I was not necessarily looking for the linear, and while you inserted some sense of the cyclical, the piece was a bit short on context. The images and scenarios certainly all connect to the overall notions of ‘water’ and ‘war’, but stop short of making proper points at times, and could have developed much further – just think of where the umbrella scene might have gone after such a strong initial image! The dance, although dynamic and imaginative, could have been contextualized much better. Strobe was used in to inflationary a way, and the costumes, although striking, were out of kilter with the rest of the visual style (I do realise they were inspired by the candles, but that was not very obvious semiotically). So, an interesting, but fragmented piece, where the notion of fragmentation could have been exploited in a more performative way, and as a choice that could have come across as more deliberate.
Well done to all of you for performing it with energy and commitment, and I hope you can profit from the huge collaborative learning achievement you have created.
Overall Mark: 59%
Collaborative Processes Written: Ah, the dreaded logbook and critical evaluation. The bain of my existance since Easter, and the cause of many sleepness nights. And what did Kara have to say about it? That my writing was too small. I did feel inclined to tell her to get her eyes tested and to equip her with a magnifying glass, but, after hours of work, I seemed to lose my gutsiness by the time it got to the end of the year.
Investigation/Research: B
Coverage: B
Presentation: C/B
Analysis: B
Comments: While tidy, organised and very detailed indeed, your portfolio is very difficult to read, as the writing is very small. Your visual resources are well chosen and very relevant, but sometimes there are too few to integrate with the very wordy resource.
Your critical evaluation sets up an interesting question about the nature of collaboration at the start – a useful thing to do, especially as you then use other sources such as Belbin to continue the discussion of group behaviour. You are also analytical and honest about evaluating your own input; this is promising. It is worth paying a bit more attention to the piece, its narrative and its dramaturgy.
Overall mark: 65%
I can't believe she gave me a C/B because of my writing for presentation!
Overall, I got a 2:1 for the whole year (and I found out that I got a 2:1 for the summer exam as well), which is pretty good, so hopefully I can improve on that next year!
Work at Home
Since I couldn't sit about at home for 4 months, I decided to look for a job to occupy my time so I didn't go bonkers. All in all, I applied for about 11 jobs, and was given 4 interviews: Dorothy Perkins, Superdrug, Past Times and Monsoon. Although I didn't get offered jobs at DP and Past Times, Monsoon, Superdrug and Mothercare offered me work, so I decided, since I've always wanted to work for them, to go with Monsoon. After the initial thrill of getting a job, I soon came down to earth with a bump when I realised that they were only offering me work for a month, something they didn't tell me in the interview. As I had already turned down the job with Superdrug, I had to keep with Monsoon, but was still incredibly worried about how I was going to make enough money to cover two lots of summer rent and September's rent on a month's work of work at 8 hours a week. Luckily, I was actually working for about 6 weeks and I ended up working pretty much every day for several of those weeks, and I was even told that they would try to sort me out a job up in Leeds.
Ok, so you can't have everything your way. They didn't do anything about a job in Leeds for me, and they didn't want me to come and work for a bit after our holiday either, but they DID pay me holiday pay, even though I wasn't entitled to it, so I can't complain too much! And the boss there is willing to act as a referee for me when I start applying for jobs next week, and since I managed to open 3 accounts (quite a feat, I'll tell you), hopefully she'll have some good things to say about me!
Our Holiday
After working away solidly for 6 weeks, our holiday in Spain was lovely! Here are some photos, since they explain more than writing:
House News
We've had several issues with things in the house, from internet problems, TV licence issues to confusing messages to and from landlords, but I think we're all sorted now and ready for the big move in on Friday next week. If you don't have my new address, please ask me for it - DO NOT send anything to my previous uni address, as they are not forwarding my mail! I'll put some photos on here once we're moved in so you can see our new house!
Fish News
As some of you know, I am getting fish to accompany me in my next two years of uni, and Phil and I have been researching for the last week into all the relevant equipment, etc. Hopefully I'll have bought everything I need/want to get by the end of the weekend, and I'm off searching for a stand/table thing for the tank today. The fish are being introduced on the weekend I move up, so I'll have some more fishy updates and pictures then!
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, September 12, 2007 at 12:17 pm.
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Thats one EPIC post Lizzy. Its good you finally informed everyone about what you've been up to :)
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