Pitch and Crit Management
The group consisted of five students, three second and two third year computer artists. With the smaller group size time management was less of an issue. Another factor that helped in this respect was the joint project between two of the students for their sole module.
Providing feedback was slightly more difficult. As this is the beginning of the semester not all of the students have gotten into the work so much. The small amount of presentation material did not afford much to provide feedback on. Most of the advice given focused on planning for future hurdles. For example, one student with a programing background is going into a team next semester with the hopes of working on the art. My advice was to generate enough art to justify that position as the likely hood of being the only person with an ability to program is fairly high unless the work is outsourced. Also to the three second years taking their own developed game concepts into a group that will only produce a single idea - keep in mind they will have to justify why their idea would be a better investment of time and effort. Going into the group development without justifications backing up their own ideas is likely to result in it being ditched.
The joint animation project had more depth and development creating more opportunities for feedback. I began the feedback with some initial notes on their presentation style then moved into some finer points regarding the planned performances of their characters. Their project had enough substance to draw the rest of the group into discussion with most giving their own contributions.
In future sessions I hope to improve on my ability to appraise and identify weak points in projects with more speed. I found myself coming up with ideas for feedback after the conclusion of the session. From my perspective the pitch went well, hopefully the students will provide more practical work in the next presentation from which I can draw an improved understanding of any difficulties they may be facing.
