Collaboration class # 9: Trust

Trust.

 Week 9

2. Reading Quiz 

 

1. Provide an example of a situation where you have to have trust – in the same vein as the author in his swimming lesson example. What made you trust in this situation and how did you feel?

When I was in high school I had the good fortune to spend a lot of time learning outdoors activities as such as abseiling and rock climbing. These sports both require harnesses and another person at the end of your rope that you DO trust. I have had a person at the other end of my rope controlling how much rope is beneath me, which is a good way to also know how far you will free fall before the rope and harness catch you, and the person in control of my safety is day dreaming and holding the ropes with a weak grip. It is not a pleasant feeling, I admit to also playing games and fooling around while someone is dangling in the air with their safety in my hands. Although I do think I still had their ropes tightly under my grip, It was simply my assurance and attention that the person in the air needed to trust they were safe. 

Typical group trust exercise.

2. Where in our exhibition do we need to instil trust? Give examples. How are we going to achieve this? 

We will need to trust that the visitors to the exhibition don't want to and run around and make a mess or be too loud or break or steal something. 

We will also need to trust that we set up a good enough exhibition to impress the viewers and entertain them. A very welcoming vibe should be presented throughout the exhibition wherever we can.

Nick Cave Exhibition

An nice video exhibition layout.

A nice example of good flow and lighting.

3. What strategies are used to instil trust? Examples? Where do we need to employ this in this year’s exhibition? How are we going to do this? 

Branding instils trust; probably the most obvious is McDonalds with the ads they make marketed towards children. I remember how good a "happy meal" used to seem, and mainly because of the collector toys. 

If we have CDU logo's at the side of art pieces and at the start of video presentations it will instil some trust into the viewer, in knowing that it was provided by a credible workplace and has the final touches that you see in professional works. 

I don't think the University will have any trouble being trusted by people, it's a very welcoming place and really easy-going. The rest is up to us to be welcoming and approachable and provide a attention grabbing exhibition!

4. If you could “undo” any aspect of the preparation for the exhibition to-date, what would you “undo”? With this in mind, what would you change now in your preparation strategy to overcome having to “undo” anything? 

Firstly, I would have gone back to the concept origination and picked a solid concept that wasn't too obscure and ambitious.

I think doing that would have changed everything, and there is nothing else I could undo.Looking back on the project, there hasn't been a lot of filming. A lot of planning, scheduling and conceptualizing. Just none of the material has reached physical presence yet.  



 One thing I wish i could have is an 'Undo' button for real life painting. Well, guess what!
I found something pretty close! watch the video below.

  

5. Homework: How are you using the laws in relation to your contribution to the student exhibition? Provide a short explanation and example for each of the laws so far. 

I have not been personally using the laws in relation to the exhibition, although I do appreciate the valuable lesson of Maeda’s laws and hope to remember them and employ them in any future projects I undertake.

1.     REDUCE. The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction.

We achieved this recently by swapping John over to be a “Photography guy”, and then I switched to “music guy”. This meant I didn’t need to make as many 2D animations and could focus just on the music for the video. This task was taken over by myself, as I am already quite familiar with music software and production.

2.     ORGANIZE. Organization makes a system of many appear fewer.

Our scheduling system was an attempt at organization and will prevail eventually!

Our initial success of organization was with storyboarding. We took photos of the areas we liked for scenes and had each other pose in various directions to give an idea of camera angle choice, distance and order sequence of the shots.

3.     TIME. Savings in time feels like simplicity.

I feel like we have spent too much time planning and not enough time doing. All our planning has been warranted, we have just not spent our time as wisely as we should have and would be in a good position with all the practice and planning we’ve done, if only we had more time!

4.     LEARN. Learn all you can about employee engagement.

We have learnt a lot about film production and the work and time involved. I think the biggest aspect for me is the technical side of things; it is also the most interesting at this point. I’m sure filming will become more enjoyable. I am excited to start editing as I believe that is one of the best parts of a project and a moment where you can enjoy the fruits of your labours… until the editing begins!

5.     DIFFERENCES. Simplicity and complexity need each other.

Everyone in our group gets along really well even though we all have different tastes and come from different backgrounds. Its always hard collaborating or doing a job with a new person, and I think we all welcome each other’s Idea’s and direction for the project with openness and don’t have ego’s getting in the way.

6.     CONTEXT. What lies in the periphery of simplicity is definitely not peripheral

The context is quite adverse and appealing to a variety of tastes.  I’m not sure what will actually end up in the video but we have planned to have 2D animation, 3D animation, Music, Video effects and text.

7.     EMOTION. More emotions are better than less.

The main way we will achieve emotion is through the music. It will have to be uplifting and catchy.

Within the video; the expression on our faces should be peaceful and focused. It should make the viewer interested in what we are doing. The different artistic practises we are all partaking in will also relate to any one who has spent many past times doing the same.

8.     TRUST. In simplicity we trust.

We all have to trust that we will do our part for the production. We have assigned each other roles and taken on tasks that we have experience or interest in.

9.     FAILURE. Some things can never be made simple.

Failure is not an option!

We have attempted a few different things and decided for the sake of finishing the video; we would cut those ideas out. These included technical shots and extra walking scenes.

10.   THE ONE. Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful.

I will use this law in editing and hope to gain a better method within editing processes.