Judging criteria for ILDA Awards

Suggested judging criteria for ILDA Awards

The following is taken from "Back to Basics - Assessing a laser show" by Malcolm Hignett of Thames Valley University in London. This is a set of guidelines for judging students' laser shows. It may be helpful to ILDA Artistic judges. It was originally presented to ILDA at the 2009 Conference's Advanced Technology Workshop on June 7.

Edits from the original: A brand name was removed, the word "artifact" has been replaced with "artwork", and some British spellings have been Americanized (sorry, it keeps our spellchecker happy...).

Assessment Criteria

The assessment criteria for the Laser Display Artwork is as follows:

First 90-100%

An inspirational highly polished artwork, exciting, innovative and stimulating to watch. It is outstanding in its conceptualization - perceptive, articulate and imaginative. The piece is clearly structured both within the sequence of beams and animations and in relation to its audio track. The display maintains a high level of interest throughout. Very successful in communicating both on aesthetic and emotional levels. All visual elements are well designed and synchronized precisely to the originally produced soundtrack. This work shows considerable potential in beam show design and/or animation at a professional level. Technically very assured, showing total control and understanding of the medium.

First 80- 90%

An exceptional and highly polished artwork, exciting, innovative and stimulating to watch. It is outstanding in its conceptualization - perceptive, articulate and imaginative. The piece is clearly structured and maintains a high level of audience interest. Very successful in communicating on both aesthetic and emotional levels. All visual elements are well designed and synchronized precisely to the originally produced soundtrack. This work shows considerable potential in beam show design and/or animation at a professional level. Technically very assured, showing total control and understanding of the medium.

First 70-79%

Well designed and produced artwork - exciting and innovative. Well conceived - perceptive and imaginative use of the medium. Clearly structured, maintaining a high level of audience interest. Successful in communicating on both aesthetic and emotional levels. All elements combine to knowingly create the required finished product. Technically assured; wholly appropriate use of the medium.

Upper Second 60-69%

Overall, a successful artwork which fulfils its aim very well and with clear direction and cohesion. This work may have some of the qualities of a 'first', but without the inspiration, excitement or innovation. There may be very minor parts of the artwork which do not function to the utmost perhaps insufficient variety in beam effects and/or animations or insufficient interpretation/linkage to the audio track, This work would benefit from more attention to detail. However, it is technically assured and an appropriate use of the medium.

Lower Second 50-59%

Successful in meeting its aim and overall aesthetic qualities. There may, however, be problems with its structure or execution which prevents a smooth reception of the piece. This work will be lacking in imagination, uninspiring and conventional. Conceptualization is limited, so that the final artwork may lack cohesion and integration. The work uses over-extended effects and repetition to achieve completion. Little or no attempt to design according to the audio track's needs. Overall, technically competent (the lower marks may have problems here at times, but even these will have their saving graces). Generally appropriate use of the medium, but perhaps there is a better and more exciting way of doing it. Third 40-49% Aesthetically incoherent and confused making it hard for the audience understand the maker's intentions, Poorly structure with little or no consideration of the audio track's needs. Shows only a very limited ability to design, select, structure and prioritize visual elements to create a coherent experience. The beam/animated elements are repetitious, devoid of direction and unrelated to the audio track. The artwork may just communicate an intention, but only partially.

Referral 30-39%

This work fails to offer any coherence as a programmed visual sequence, perhaps through a mixture of lack of logical thought, poor organization and technical ineptitude. The work reveals crucial omissions in knowledge of the medium and its potential. Conceptually and technically, this work is flawed due to insufficient investment in time to acquire the necessary skills in the software to produce an acceptable artwork. Beam and/or animated graphics are totally unrelated to the audio track.

Referral 20-29%

This work fails to offer any coherence as a programmed visual sequence, perhaps through a mixture of lack of logical thought, poor organization and technical ineptitude. The work reveals only a superficial knowledge of the medium and its potential. Conceptually and technically, this work appears incomplete with beams and/or graphics used without any logical structure and without any relationship to the audio track. Clearly insufficient time has been given to acquiring the technical skills and aesthetic understanding to use the medium. Beam and/or animated graphics are totally unrelated to the audio track.

Fail 20% or less

Whilst there is some attempt to design some frames using the software drawing tools, there is no plan or purpose to the exercise. Frames might exist but there's no attempt to program them into a timeline and/or link to a sound track.

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