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This page contains
the detailed report written by a recent graduate from a ceramics degree
at a British University.
Positive points
of NEVAC material:
- So little material
exists about the crafts in the 20th century that NEVAC cannot fail to
be useful and worthwhile.
- Interviews with
well known names have been made alongside less well known makers, (such
as Sidney Tustin).
Positive comments
on the interviewing approach:
- I liked the fact
that the interviewers were knowledgeable and don't feel it necessary
for the archive to appeal to the 'man in the street'.
Critical comments
on the interviewing approach:
- I feel it would
be best to have a brief introduction to both interviewer and interviewee
and how they both know each other, (so the viewer may be aware of any
bias).
Criticisms of the
content of the video:
- The quality of
some of the recordings was poor, (such as the Roger Michell material).
- Colour bars appear
at the start of some of the recordings: it is not clear if this is an
error or intentional.
- There should be
more video of people making as this would make the best use of the visual
element of video.
- Some of the interviews
were a little dull as it was just the person talking and nothing else.
Perhaps, images or stills could be edited in to add interest.
Prefered layout
of the web-based video database:
Possible searches:
- Factory: (Moorcroft,
Spode etc.)
- Workshop/Pottery:
(Martin Bros., Winchcombe etc.)
- Technique: (throwing,
spraying etc.)
- Country: (for influences,
Spain, Greece etc.)
- People: (Pueblo,
Hispano-moresque etc.)
- Society: (social
dimension/influence upon making, i.e. 1950's)
- Artists: (Picassoettes,
Dufy, Cocteau etc.)
- Movements: (Arts
and Crafts, Art Deco, Brit Pop, Marxism etc.)
- Politics: (political
persuasion of the interviewee or a particular object)
When I was watching
the Anita Hoy interview the Bullers company was mentioned so at that point
it would have been useful to have been able to find out more information
about the company.
General points
about how the web-based video database may be organised:
- The web-based database
needs to be clear and idiot proof yet attractive enough to encourage
use.
- Information which
is misleading or confusing should be avoided. Search facilities, thesaurus
etc. should be made obvious.
- Words used need
to be clear and commonsense: don't use technical terms.
- All video should
be accompanied by the basic information, such as: interviewee, interviewer,
date, duration, synopsis, format, NEVAC reference number.
- When searching
for a person or clip, a brief synopsis of a couple of lines would be
helpful, to know what was contained on a particular video on the screen.
If I found a few clips I would like to see, I would find it useful to
be able to highlight them all and have them play in an order of my choosing,
but also keep a portion of the screen free for options such as pause,
rewind etc.
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