Capstone Exploration Reflection

I interviewed Tyson Tiede, a student presenting a capstone. You can download the (very low quality) audio of the interview here.
Tyson said a lot of things that I've heard a lot from many sources leading up to capstones. Notably, he talked about how the week had been pretty stressful, that getting his project done had come down to the last minute, etc. He also advised that students treat the capstone like it was "due next week." Interestingly, he said that his project ended up very similar to what he initially had in mind, which is different than what many other sources have said.

The approach of the class seemed pretty good for the most part. The gap in the second half of the semester seemed a little wasteful, especially for me since I already had a mentor and was working on the project as an independent study. I liked the student guest speakers, especially as opposed to faculty. Having faculty talk to the students could be useful, but since everyone has to have a mentor and do mentor profiles they're going to interact with the faculty anyway, so exposing them to students who recently presented capstones seems like a really good idea, and I know it was helpful for me.
The peer group assignment was useful, though it could have used a little more structure. Even though they are required outside this class anyway, I thought the proposal and timeline assignment was useful in that it ensured that students knew about those requirements and got them done. The early assignment of listing different capstone ideas seemed a bit useless to me, since I was already working on mine at the time. The same goes to a lesser degree for the mentor profiles, since I already had a mentor and a backup selected at the time.

Progress Report

I've made a lot of progress on my project since turning in my timeline and proposal. I've shot a lot of B-roll, and a couple of A-roll interviews. I've composed some of the music, and recorded a rough demo of one piece. I edited together a promo for my friend's (the subject of my documentary) art show, using the footage I've shot and the demo music. Finally, I've made arrangement for a few more shoots during the remainder of the summer.

View the promo I made here.


Learning to Write Again - Promo from Thomas Travis on Vimeo.

I've met with my mentor about once a week, skipping a few weeks here and there when she was unable to meet at the time we'd set. We've discussed a lot of the logistics of my project, techniques and problem-solving, expectations, and so on.

My timeline hasn't changed much because, as I mentioned in my last post, I (at my mentor's suggestion) made my timeline for next semester only, as though I was going to do this whole project in one semester. This semester I am essentially just working ahead. The biggest difference from the timeline I turned in and what I'll actually be doing next semester is that I've shot a lot of the footage, and I'll probably end up using a lot of the shooting time next semester for additional editing and music composing.

The biggest thing I need to complete before my capstone officially starts is shooting, because the subject will be graduating this semester and I'll have limited to no ability to shoot anything with him after that. I also need t get transcripts of all the interviews done so I can work on assembling the script next semester.

The biggest significant change to my project is one I fully expected, and that's that the form and style of the documentary are evolving to suit my content as I capture it. For example, the topics I'll explore more deeply will be determined by what is said in the interviews, and I think I'll be using more b-roll and less a-roll than I had originally assumed. I've also decided to focus pretty heavily on the music for the project. I was already going to make all my own music, but I've decided to make it more of a priority than it was because I'd like to be able to potentially get a job working with music in some way. I figure that if the music is really good in my capstone then it can help me get a job in that field just as well as it can in the video field, especially if it was a job dealing specifically with music for video.

Timeline

Under the guidance/direction of my mentor, I did my timeline according to the provided form. I met with my mentor and together we mapped out the most essential milestones (the end of shooting, rough edit dates, etc.) From there, I planned as best as I could anticipate what I would do and what I would get done each week. Of course, some of these are virtually impossible to predict with great accuracy, but at least it provides a list of milestones and a rough idea of what order things will be done in.
Interestingly, the timeline I did is only for next semester. Rather than putting in the work I'm doing this semester, my mentor suggested that I go ahead and put everything in the timeline as if I was going to do the whole project in one semester. This is what I did, but this obviously would make for an incredibly difficult semester, especially given that I will be taking the capstone class as part of a full 15 credit hour semester. The idea with my timeline, however, is that I will obviously accomplish a fair amount of the content of it, especially the earlier parts, this semester. This will give me leniency in the timeline, and allow me to spend more time making sure I do the best job I can. For instance, if my timeline says I should be doing some shooting and some editing in a particular week, but I have already done all the necessary shooting this semester, not only does that relieve me of the stress of trying to balance shooting and editing in the same week, but it frees me up to spend more time editing. The overall idea is that this timeline, if I followed it exactly, would be just barely able to be accomplished, but it would be possible, so I have about half a semester this fall to get ahead, giving myself some leeway and making sure I can do a really good job, and not just one that gets by.

Project Development Issues

I haven't really had as much time as I'd like to meet with my group and discuss a lot of this stuff, but here's what I've got from what I have been able to discuss with the group and (mostly) from my own observations.

Time Management Issues
Depending on how things go, this could either be a really small or really large concern for my project. Right now I'm pretty much just shooting, and when I can do so is determined by factors beyond my control, so there's not much time to manage. I just shoot when I can. Later this semester and next, I'll be editing, and since my computer can't handle extensive editing of HD video, I'll have to do this at school. This will force me to block out time to work on it, but will also limit when and how often I can.

Skills Needed
I think I have some extent of all the skills I'll need, I just need/want to hone them. I've done smaller documentaries, so I know I can do everything (shooting, editing, sound mixing, scoring, etc.) that I can see coming. I just want to be better at it.

Resources Needed
Theoretically, I should be able to do this project on my own (other than my mentor). Materials is another issue. I've been using the cameras and other shooting equipment from school, and I'll continue to do so. I'll have to use school computers for a good bit of the technical work, and I hope to be able to use the green screen from the school.

Budget
There are a few things I need now and I'm sure more will come up, so I'll need some sort of budget. I'm guessing at spending about $500 or so over the course of the project. That should cover technology costs for everything the school can't provide and also have some for unforeseen needs.

Team Issues
The team right now is myself, my mentor (Susan Tennant), and the subject of the documentary (Jordan Adair). So far I haven't had any serious issues, and I don't really foresee that changing in any major way.

Other Issues
Right now I'm trying to decide on a few aspects of the scope of the project. For instance, do I want to score it completely myself (I'd like to, but that's a lot of time I could use for other aspects) or have help or use some royalty-free music? Or how ambitious do I want to be with green screen use for interviews? Things like this are what I am dealing with most now, but soon I hope to have all this ironed out and be ready to start really getting it done.

Secondary Mentors

Prior to this class, I honestly hadn't really considered the idea of a secondary mentor. I do, however, see the benefit of it. I see a secondary mentor as someone who adds something that the student needs or could use and that is different from what is brought to the table by the primary mentor. The secondary mentor would not be someone who has similar expertise as the primary mentor, but covers some other areas. This could be someone from the school, potentially in another department other than MAS, or an industry person.

I interviewed two people (again, without mentioning the specifics of my project) to profile them as possible secondary mentors.

1. Mark Pfaff - One thing I want to do with my documentary is make it sound good. I see a lot of documentaries that look great but, because the student making it and his/her mentor both focus mostly on video, it doesn't sound great. I actually mostly work with sound outside of school, but I considered Mark Pfaff in the event that I need help with the audio side of things. He said that he would be willing to work as a secondary mentor on the sound side of a video project, but he also said he had limited availability next semester. If I do get a secondary mentor, it will probably be him.
2. Steve Mannheimer - I also interviewed him as a primary mentor, but I think if I were to work with him at all it would be as a secondary mentor. He said that the biggest area he could be of help would be in the generation of ideas, so if my project were to need more fine-tuning on the idea side of things for any reason, this might be who I would go to.

Mentor Profiles

My capstone idea is to make a documentary about a friend of mine who is a current student about to graduate from Herronw with a degree in painting. Though the documentary will focus on this one person, it will (hopefully) serve as a sort of meta-discussion about Herron, art education, art itself, and so on.

I actually already chose a mentor at the end of last semester, and the things I was looking for in a mentor (ranked roughly in order of importance) were/are:

1. Technical knowledge/experience. I wanted someone who could help me with the nuts and bolts of making a documentary. I have some experience with it, but I've never done it completely by myself, so I wanted a mentor who could answer any questions I have and give me advice on that side of things.
2. Knowledge of the subject. I wanted someone who knew about art or art education. I really don't know much about Herron, or art schools in general, or even traditional art, except what I've learned from my friend who is the subject of the documentary, so I figured someone with some knowledge of this could be very valuable.
3. Availability. Even though it possibly could go without saying, I wanted someone who would have time and be able to meet with me to help with the project. I didn't want someone to just fill the mentor requirement and maybe meet a few times, I wanted someone I could meet with on a regular basis and who would be available as I needed him/her.
4. Willingness to help. Not only did I want someone able to help me, I wanted someone who would really want to. Ideally, this would be someone who would really get behind the project and want to see me complete it.

I had these in mind last semester when I chose a mentor, but I also kept them in mind recently as I selected and interviewed a few faculty members.  I wanted to get their responses without being clouded by the specifics of my idea, so I asked them the questions without telling them what my idea was. Only my actual mentor, who is one of the ones I interviewed, knew the details. Rather than copying and pasting their responses to the questions here, I'll mention each one, why I thought of them, and a brief summary of what their responses tells me about their potential as mentors for my particular project.

• Susan Tennant - Susan is my current mentor. I chose her because she has knowledge of documentaries and, as a former art student herself, knows about that end of things as well. She seemed and still seems to be the best choice given the criteria I had. When interviewed, she did say she preferred documentaries, which is a plus considering that that's what my project is.
• C. Thomas Lewis - I've had a few classes with Lewis already, and I considered him when choosing a mentor. I ultimately decided that he wasn't the best choice, and his interview confirmed this. He mentioned that he wants his capstone students to do very conceptually challenging, innovative pieces. Knowing what I do of his style, I take that to mean he expects experimental, somewhat unconventional projects. While I do want to push some boundaries and be somewhat experimental in my project, in the end it is something relatively conventional. He also said that his availability for mentoring is limited.
• Steve Mannheimer - After the other two, I honestly didn't know who else to look to. I couldn't find and didn't know of anyone else in video, and that's the main thing I wanted out of a mentor. So, failing that, I looked at the faculty list with my second criteria in mind. This led me to Mannheimer, because he has experience with art. However, the interview confirmed that he would not be a good choice for my project. He said that he could mostly help with idea conceptualizing, and my idea is already pretty flushed out so, while it will almost certainly evolve, that isn't the main thing I'm looking for.

P.S. Sorry for the long post. I wanted to answer each question in the assignment moderately thoroughly and didn't want to just copy and paste the answers to the questions but rather actually discuss them.

Capstone Category/Group

My capstone would fall into the general category of video, specifically documentary. Right now the only person I know I would likely be grouped with is William Backhoff. I know several other students are doing documentaries, but I didn't see which ones as they haven't posted their capstone category and group blogs (at least that I saw, but I may have missed some). Also if the groups are more general then there are many other video students I would likely be grouped with.

Class Discussion

This week's class was very informative for me. It really did a lot for giving me an idea what the expectations of a capstone are, and more clearly defining the idea of capstones for me. I haven't been able to attend a capstone event yet since I've been in school (I've tried to go to the last two, but things came up at the last minute that prevented me) so it was good to get more of an idea. Even though I already know what I'm doing for capstone, it still helped to know more about it. I was particularly interested in the discussion of playing is safe vs. taking risks. My project is somewhat safe for me, with several areas in which it does push myself and is more risky. When the topic came up I somewhat expected to hear that students should really push themselves and take risks. I was somewhat surprised to hear that students should stay safer and, though it is a balancing act, safer is good. I feel like my project is a good blend of the two, so I feel better about it now.

What Is a Capstone?

In Mark Pfaff's Advanced Audio class, we (the students) were given several different assignments that forced us to utilize different techniques and do certain things. Certain elements were explored in each project, so that after all of them were completed the student would have a strong grasp on many different elements of audio production. Then the final project came, and it differed from all the other projects in a couple of major ways. It forced the student to utilize most if not all of what they had used in the other projects, and it gave the student much more freedom in what exactly the project would be and how to do it. It was also the largest project in the class, and the most rewarding to complete.
I say this to say that I think of a capstone like that on a larger scale. As new students, we are put through several classes that teach us different things. Then, at the end of it all, we have the most weighted, most important project of all. We have to use many if not all of the things we've learned in our classes so far, and we have freedom to choose exactly what we want to do and how to do it.
Also, like the audio final, I expect that the capstone will be very rewarding. Of all the work in all the audio classes, I feel like that final project was the most beneficial part because it forced me to really do work on a scale that I hadn't done before, and it really encouraged me to make something I liked and cared about. That's what I expect out of the capstone: being forced to work on a bigger scale on something I really care about, and I expect that after it's done and all the inevitable stress of completing it has faded, I will look at it as one of if not the single most valuable part of my college education.
I suspect that the reason students are forced to do at least two semesters of work on their capstone is to force them to be more involved in it, and to magnify the scale of it so the students will really be able to do something great.

Capstone Ideas

I have already decided what I am doing for a capstone. I am doing a documentary on a friend of mine who is an art student at Herron. Here are my three ideas on how to accomplish the project:

1. I want to draw a narrative from the subject. If Jordan (my friend the art student) talks in his interview(s) a lot about the challenges of getting a degree in painting, that's what it'll be about. If he talks mostly about having an art degree post-graduation, it'll focus more on that.
2. I want to make the documentary relevant to more than just my friend, those who know him, and fans of his work. By showing and talking about him - his experiences, influences, opinions, etc. - I want to make or draw out a statement about art, or at least about art students (or whatever narrative comes up).
3. I want to make the documentary somewhat non-conventional. It's easy for art to have a perspective of being "boring" or "stuffy," and I want to avoid that and make it interesting.

Here are three things that inspire me in the project:

1. "It Might Get Loud," which is a documentary showing three electric guitarists, but makes a statement (or several) about music and art in general, as well as is very entertaining.
2. "Exit Through the Gift Shop," a documentary about street artist Banksy. Similar ideas and reasons as "It Might Get Loud."
3. Conversations I've had with Jordan, in which we've discussed things like the seeming issues of getting a "useless" degree, and the value of eductation, and so on. These conversations really made me think and reevaluate some things, and I think it's poignant enough that I would like to portray some part of it in this documentary.