Final Documentary Project

"ASSIGNMENT 001 (80%)
A project proposal / learning agreement, as outlined above, to be submitted (email word file to proberts@glos.ac.uk) for discussion/approval to tutor by Monday 9thOctober 2018 at the latest.  This will form the basis of tutorial conversations and should undergo further development as the project progresses.
Set(s) of images and/or moving imagery clearly fitting into the genre of Documentary Photography and forming a substantial body of work - a final Major project or portfolio of photographic work and supporting material. Submissions should reference details in the submitted proposal. Deadline is Monday 13thMay 2019 at 13:15 to module tutor. 




ASSIGNMENT 002 
Supporting materials including risk assessment and evaluation of work 
A Risk Assessment submitted and approved BEFORE any photographic work is undertaken. Failure to undertake a Risk Assessment, and putting yourself at unnecessary risk, may result in the University rejecting your work for assessment.
Submission Checklist Assignment 002

• Research, Development and Production ‘notes’; clearly showing the development of the work, research material should be critically evaluated and there should be clear reflective analysis of the photographic work / project as it evolves – this will take the form of an online blog. Provide the URL. This blog can also be submitted as a PDF file through https://www.blogbooker.com. You will also be required to undertake a formal presentation about the development of the work and expand on the intention and final resolution of the work to audience in the lead up to the final deadline.
• An extensive reflective, critical and evaluative written analysis of the final work including consideration of the audience for the work and the effectiveness of the selected presentation format for exhibition/publication/dissemination.
• Your ‘in progress’ personal development plan, which should identify your career aims and your goals over the next 12 months and your plan to achieve these goals with the intention of maximising employability.

Deadline is Monday 20thMay 2019 at 13:15 in Room HW AP015A to module tutor." - Noodle. 



Proposal:


The goal of this project is to compile stories for a book based particularly on the UK Hip-Hop scene; with a concentrated focus on artists creating what is recognised as 'LoFi HipHop' and 'Funk' music and performing sets to the public domain within Cheltenham, using ‘Contact High’ and also ‘Magnum Contacts’ as my main inspiration for presentation (design) and photographic aesthetic considerations (contact sheets and editing) and (compositions and locations) and for conceptual ideas I will be using writings from various sources including these individuals. Ever since seeing photographers work presented as contact sheets and prints in these books, I have always been surprised by the level of engagement that this type of work allows for. The contact sheets reveal the inner workings of the photographers attention, and allows the viewer to peer behind the moment of the selected frame(s), and to be able to watch a moment unfold, also to be able to see how the photographer edits their work, the viewer is able to see how the photographer sees composition and the light. The contact sheet is like going back stage and speaking to the band and being let in on a secret. Being able to see the scene come together for that one frame is somewhat enticing, the images really take you into the story and engages the viewer to connect all of the frames together themselves, to visualise the moment, in this case to be able to feel the vibe and hear the music. “The birth of British hip hop was triggered by New Jersey crew Sugarhill Gang's 'Rapper's Delight,' which reached number three in the UK singles chart in December 1979 and was the first time most people in the country heard rap.” https://thevinylfactory.com/features/the-10-records-that-helped-british-hip-hop-find-its-own-voice/ Accessed 5/3/19 @ 09:36. 40 years later, British Hip Hop is more alive than ever, the songs and the visuals that go with them are now deeply engrained in the millennial generation, Although Jack Farai from 'Motion Enterprise' says that "Hip Hop died in 2000". when I was speaking ot him recently.   
I intend to create a substantial body of photographic documentary prints, including contact sheets, single negative prints (Silver gelatine and Platinum palladium) and a fully realised and finalised book, which documents the Local ‘Hip Hop’ Scene in Cheltenham. Picking up on cultural identity and the background of that which is now in the fabric of the mainstream. I intend to capture the individuals ​that represent the hip hop sound and to explore the culture and identity of this era, I will be submitting unpublished work going all the way back to the start of university when I first started shooting them, like the third week of uni I think. I aim to create over 50 contact sheets consisting mostly of black and white negative and some colour negative and a few E-6 positive slides. Although the slides will not be in contact sheet format, in their frames they will be from various points in time and different gigs around cheltenham, portraying a visual narrative, (maybe chronologically). The contact sheets will be used to analyse each negative and exposure, I will show the edit on the contacts with certain colours that conform to the books overall colour scheme and design (Black, Gold, Burgundy and white). Using only the black and white contact sheets, which I will be creating myself (the colour will be sent to a lab), from the edited images I select, I will print in the darkroom, depending whether they are square format or 35mm or 6x7 even, I will aim to create consistant sized prints, which reflect my highest technical and documentary ability, Either way the prints will digitised for the book so the size of all the images will be adjusted digitally. All of the original darkroom prints will be used to make a one off hand-made book If I have the budget post shooting.