Seniors Please Read This

Senior Proposal for Fall 2011 A typewritten proposal (two copies) of your senior project must be brought with you for Ian van Coller and Alexis Pike at the time of your pitch (dates and times listed below). Consider this to be your project's thesis statement--something you might consider hanging on a wall alongside your work in a gallery, or to introduce your portfolio to a potential client. The goal of this proposal is to help you clarify your direction and should clearly convey the central theme and subject matter of your project. The proposal should also be clear on how you plan to execute the project and complete a coherent body of work. Oral presentations will be used as an opportunity for faculty to give feedback on proposals. After the first day of Senior there will be no changes allowed in the project, so by the time your project proposal is written and pitched, it should be well articulated. Pitch Dates: Sign up on the sheet located on Alexis Pike’s office door. Please arrive ten minutes early. Thursday, August 25th, 2011 11:00am – 1:30pm Tuesday, August 30th, 2011 10:00am - 1:00pm Please address the five ideas listed below in the body of your proposal. Your proposal should not exceed one page in length and should be single-spaced. It is not necessary to strictly follow the order below. More importantly, the proposal should be coherent and flow, and as a result you will have to rearrange your structure to fit your needs. Feel free to address any ideas in your proposal that might be different from those listed below. 1. Subject matter: what are you going to take photographs of? Think carefully about what you will actually be able to accomplish in a semester and what you actually have access to. It will ultimately be helpful to your project if you can be as focused and specific about your subject matter as possible. Keep it simple. Think globally, photograph locally. 2. Content: what ideas do you intend to convey with your images? Will the work be conceptually or formally based? 3. Audience: whom do you hope to reach with your images, and what effect on them would you desire? If your project is intended to be a commercial one, what audience are you hoping to sell your services to? If it is a fine art one, what audience will be your viewer? 4. Influences/context: what things, activities, people, photographers, styles, writings, etc. have influenced the kind of work you intend to produce, or where does your work place in the realm of photographic history? It is not sufficient to simply state that you like “such and such” a photographer and therefore they are an influence. Be specific and explain what exactly your work has in relation to or in the context of your influences. 5. Technique: describe the process you will be using, and how you will be visually realizing your project; for example, materials and equipment you will use, such as black and white, color, digital, alternative process, etc. Articulate why your choice of technique and materials is appropriate for your subject matter. Technique should not be the whole raison d’etre of your project, but should be addressed in light of how it will affect the content of the project. It is least important of these 5 ideas.