Evaluation

18th May 2011

I chose to Supervise for my Self Directed Project because I felt that this would be a new challenge for me; something I have never done before. I was drawn to applying to this project because I knew I’d be working with the screen designer Frances Tempest and having an external designer to be there throughout would give a more realistic idea of what Supervising would be like in industry without the threat of actually being in industry.

I have both enjoyed and really hated this unit. During the Easter break I was even considering pulling out of the project. I feel this might have been because of a lack of guidance, and Camilla and myself being unsure of what we needed to be doing, and also having the tutors unsure of what we was needed to be done.

The main miscommunication at this point was how much budget we had to spend; Camilla and I were informed that we only had £500 to spend on everything (excluding stockings), so we were worrying about finding things like shoes and accessories cheap enough. Also, the control number for the budget wasn’t set up until very late into the unit – something else that hindered us with purchasing. It wasn’t until a very serious meeting with Rebecca, Sarina and Kat that we were told we basically had access to as much money as we needed; a contradiction in our education (we were taught to always work to the budget we are presented with).

During this meeting Camilla and I were both presented with the question, “Are you enjoying it?” to which we both promptly replied “No”. Camilla explained that she wants to concentrate more on Making in the future, and to be honest, I have no idea where I’m headed! This is where we found the main solution to the problem, the making of the petticoats was worrying me, because I don’t see myself as a maker and I don’t enjoy construction probably as much as I should do, and because we were trying to equally share the load, not much was getting done. Rebecca suggested that Camilla concentrate solely on the making, whilst I could do the more administrative side (sourcing, budgeting etc), which is what I excel at. It was at this point that we separated our tasks and were able to completely throw ourselves into the work and start to bring Moulin Rouge together.

Another problem I encountered was actually working with Frances, as I found her very duplicitous; she would appease us with the accessories and items we’d sourced, leaving us confident and happy then go and say completely the opposite to either Kat or Rebecca. This left me very unsure of where I stood and made me wonder if she did actually approve of what we were doing.

Once these issues were sorted out and we had a control number to work with (and also having the benefit of fresh student loans for the term) we could start purchasing and I felt that we really pulled things together and turned around very quickly. The ball got rolling and we got increasingly more and more productive.

I really enjoyed sourcing all the shoes; I created a special catalogue system to keep track of all the shoes we had purchased/sourced/been loaned. By the end I had ninety six shoes in the catalogue and several more pairs on standby.

Once I had a kick in the right direction I felt really happy to be working, I was in my element of organising, schedule and talking to all the first years. I made an effort to befriend them all, as I remember our Supervisor for VNC last year being very difficult to work with and very unapproachable. I wanted to make sure they all knew who I was, that they all felt comfortable contacting me any time and that I was actually there to help them, not to make their lives more difficult. I really connected with all of the girls, and by the time we had finished the 2 production days I felt like a proud mother. They even clubbed together to get Camilla and I a thank you card and a box of chocolates each!

It’s been great working alongside Camilla. I know I struggle working as a “team” member, but the balance of our personalities was brilliant. Having the other supervisor is really good, as we both played to our strengths but we separated and came together constantly, which was extremely effective and really worked for the project as a whole. Turns out, I really enjoyed supervising a lot more than I thought I would!