This week we had Lee Gretton present to us a client project case study in the form of his accomplishment of creating a sync music albums for Deep East Music. The aim of this lecture was to explain exactly how the production processes within his own work relates to how we can approach our own client-based projects and give us a better idea of how to suite the requirements of the clientele.
The presentation as a whole was built on the foundations of Idea > Research > Production/Delivery > Reflection.
During the first stage ‘Idea’, Lee spoke on the importance of creating the foundation of an idea, in his case being indie/rock instrumental album for sync. From this foundation, you can start to introduce other factors that work alongside the creation of the idea, this being for his project where he would record and who he’d collaborate.
The second stage ‘Research’ introduces the concept of collating valuable information that pertains relevance to understanding how you can execute the project. This could be from creating playlists as a useful reference point to understanding key production techniques typically found in the areas of interest.
‘Production’ being the third process he covered, he talked about how the team he had created to work on this project worked together as a unit to fulfill the common goal set out as the ‘aim’ (for him, the creation of his indie/rock instrumental sync album), which pertains great importance to how we can be approaching our projects; using those with a variety of skills around to help us achieve a finished product. He also covered how the allocation of a budget holds value when working within the industry; working within financial barriers yet having to complete a project that requires perhaps more than available. Expanding on this, he used the ‘Delivery’ portion of his presentation to explain how he communicated with his clients to ensure that what they were to receive would be exactly what they want.
To conclude his presentation, he spoke on critically reflecting back on his project and analysing whether it was truly successful, based on commercial success, his satisfaction with the end result of the project longside his client’s satisfaction of the product they received. This very much similar to the ‘critical reflection’ blog we are going to be writing by the end of this module.
What I really got from this lecture was not just the process of how to create, mold and execute a project, but the small steps of refinement that goes into creating a great project – the ‘small steps’. The going to and from creative minds, finding out how they feel about what he and his team were creating and taking their advice to make appropriate adjustments to suite the needs of his clientele. For me, this is extremely important and is something I’m definitely going to integrate more into my own work.
A process Lee brought up that really resonated with me was creating Spotify playlists of reference tracks for his work, so that he and his client are able to get on a similar wavelength in terms of stylistically how the music is going to be created. This is something I’m definitely going to be integrating into my work, so that not only those marking my work can see how my research has informed my practice, but also so I am able to better intertwine these two elements of my project.