Left Video
Middle Video
Right Video
* To get the obtain the best viewing experience open up all three pages, dedicate them to a screen (left video = left screen) and select 'full screen.' Now play every video at the same time.
Evaluation
Despite the video not playing in an installation, I feel the three videos, when playing together, impact just as well. With an accurately worked out script I was able to time everything perfectly. For example, the key swapping from one screen to another only worked because it was well planned and timed correctly.
The main criticism of the videos is getting them to play back at the same time. If I were to have all three clips in one video and upload them to 'YouTube' so that they could be displayed on this blog , the 'full screen' option would have only covered one screen, instead of the desired three.
Apart from this set back, I believe the video is an interesting concept, that, due to in depth planning and timing, was executed successfully.
Sunday 22 May 2011
Friday 20 May 2011
Final Coursework Piece & Script Used
3 Screens
(Middle Screen) Time 01:00
My main focus of my A2 coarsework was to experiment with interpreting surrealism into different forms of media.
In this final piece I wanted to experiment with manipulating video along with how the viewer would react.
To do this I want to focus on the theologian John Locke. On the topic of protestation, he came up with the concept of a man in a locked room.
(Right Screen) Time 01:00
In the story the man in the room believes he can walk out of the room at any time as he is unaware that the room is locked and therefore he stayed in the room.
The problem is, if the room was revealed to the man as locked with no escape it would drive him insane, so therefore it he is left unaware.
(Left Screen)Time 02:00
This is similar to life, if we found out our lives where predestined our freewill would have been taken from us and we’d have no control over our actions as an exterior force has already predetermined it.
Reveal Key
Originally, in the build up to this final piece this video was going to be played in an installation, of which I would have a physical room where, you, the viewer, would sit and the door you came into would be locked and the key would later be fed into the room so at the end of the video the view could get out.
Throw Key to Middle Screen
(Middle Screen) Time --
Instead, I want you to focus on the subtlaties of your everyday life, the routines, getting up, going to work or school. The way we watch television, and are spoon fed on how to dress, and think and interact with others. This alone is telling us how to live our lives. To think, we are caught on CCTV cameras around 300 times a day. In my experients, and which was outlined in my proposal, I wanted to manipulate my work using different forms of media and for example, in the stop motion pieces I work on I am litterally controlling every shot, one frame at a time.
I’m not suggesting an extior being has power to control how every move, but ask yourself with all the media manipulation influencing our actions, can you really just get up and walk out of that door, or are you trapped…
Just something to think about.
Monday 16 May 2011
Script Used In Essay Response Video
- Quote: “Of course, there will always be those who look only at technique, who ask 'how', while others of a more curious nature will ask 'why'. Personally, I have always preferred inspiration to information.” Man Ray
- Proposal: Michal Gondry, Mystery Guitar Man
- Man Ray: was an American artist who spent most of his career in Paris, France. He is best described a modernist (Modernism was a revolt against the conservative values of realism) who contributed majorly to the Dada and surrealist movement. He also experimented with photograms, which he called ‘Rayographs.’ However, he is best known for his heavily stylised and impassive portraits.
- Photo – Tears: real tears = incontrovertible sign of grief, then glass tears a sign of insincerity. It was shot like it was because in the 1920’s Man Ray was attentive to signs and fragments: lips, eyes and profiles.
- This first photo was taken in the early 80’s of a relative who was in Paris at the time; I wanted to use an old photo to help relate the portrait to Man Ray’s photographs. This was meant to capture an element of Man Rays flare and was styled similar to how he worked.
- Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members.
Surrealist works feature the element of surprise, unexpected associations and non sequitur; however, many Surrealist artists and writers regard their work as an expression of the philosophical movement first and foremost, with the works being an artifact. Leader André Breton was explicit in his assertion that Surrealism was above all a revolutionary movement.
Surrealism developed out of the Dada activities during World War I and the most important center of the movement was Paris. From the 1920s onward, the movement spread around the globe, eventually affecting the visual arts, literature, film and music of many countries and languages, as well as political thought and practice, philosophy and social theory.
- Salvador Dali was a surrealist painter best known for his striking and bizarre images in his work. He worked alongside Man Ray in the surrealist movement and is best known work is ‘The Persistence of Memory.’ His imagination allowed him to create different worlds within his paintings which is comparable to Anthony Green. He is an English contemporary realist painter and printmaker best known for his paintings of his own middle-class domestic life. His works sometimes use compound perspectives and polygonal forms—particularly with large, irregularly shaped canvasses.
- Introduce swirled photo.
- Another main inspiration Magritte, another surrealist painter well known for his witty and thought provoking paintings: “Everything we see hides another thing; we always want to see what is hidden by what we see.” Main philosophy for stop motion
- Modern day Magritte is comparable to Banksy (look right photo)
- Quote again “there will always be those who look only at technique, who ask 'how', while others of a more curious nature will ask 'why'. Personally, I have always preferred inspiration to information”
- Conclusion.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Google Images
Wikipedia
The Photo Book
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/man_ray.html#ixzz1MC5GEni7
- Proposal: Michal Gondry, Mystery Guitar Man
- Man Ray: was an American artist who spent most of his career in Paris, France. He is best described a modernist (Modernism was a revolt against the conservative values of realism) who contributed majorly to the Dada and surrealist movement. He also experimented with photograms, which he called ‘Rayographs.’ However, he is best known for his heavily stylised and impassive portraits.
- Photo – Tears: real tears = incontrovertible sign of grief, then glass tears a sign of insincerity. It was shot like it was because in the 1920’s Man Ray was attentive to signs and fragments: lips, eyes and profiles.
- This first photo was taken in the early 80’s of a relative who was in Paris at the time; I wanted to use an old photo to help relate the portrait to Man Ray’s photographs. This was meant to capture an element of Man Rays flare and was styled similar to how he worked.
- Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members.
Surrealist works feature the element of surprise, unexpected associations and non sequitur; however, many Surrealist artists and writers regard their work as an expression of the philosophical movement first and foremost, with the works being an artifact. Leader André Breton was explicit in his assertion that Surrealism was above all a revolutionary movement.
Surrealism developed out of the Dada activities during World War I and the most important center of the movement was Paris. From the 1920s onward, the movement spread around the globe, eventually affecting the visual arts, literature, film and music of many countries and languages, as well as political thought and practice, philosophy and social theory.
- Salvador Dali was a surrealist painter best known for his striking and bizarre images in his work. He worked alongside Man Ray in the surrealist movement and is best known work is ‘The Persistence of Memory.’ His imagination allowed him to create different worlds within his paintings which is comparable to Anthony Green. He is an English contemporary realist painter and printmaker best known for his paintings of his own middle-class domestic life. His works sometimes use compound perspectives and polygonal forms—particularly with large, irregularly shaped canvasses.
- Introduce swirled photo.
- Another main inspiration Magritte, another surrealist painter well known for his witty and thought provoking paintings: “Everything we see hides another thing; we always want to see what is hidden by what we see.” Main philosophy for stop motion
- Modern day Magritte is comparable to Banksy (look right photo)
- Quote again “there will always be those who look only at technique, who ask 'how', while others of a more curious nature will ask 'why'. Personally, I have always preferred inspiration to information”
- Conclusion.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Google Images
Wikipedia
The Photo Book
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/man_ray.html#ixzz1MC5GEni7
Sunday 15 May 2011
Evaluation
The final outcome of my contextual essay response turned out slightly different to what I had originally propose.
After trail and error of filming the essay I found having to continuously stop the video to change something (e.g. a tie) meant I couldn't get into what I was saying, and once I got comfortable again I had to stop filming.
Also with too much going on in one video it would distract the viewer to what is being said.
However, after sticking to a clean white background video I believe I successfully delivered a complex response to the contextual essay, but also I expanded my knowledge of the artists and photographers that influence my work which, in turn, will help my work grow in future projects.
After trail and error of filming the essay I found having to continuously stop the video to change something (e.g. a tie) meant I couldn't get into what I was saying, and once I got comfortable again I had to stop filming.
Also with too much going on in one video it would distract the viewer to what is being said.
However, after sticking to a clean white background video I believe I successfully delivered a complex response to the contextual essay, but also I expanded my knowledge of the artists and photographers that influence my work which, in turn, will help my work grow in future projects.
Saturday 14 May 2011
Video Storyboard
To make sure I stay on topic and know what to say next I have drafted up a storyboard of the video:
Thoughts about the video
Due to the nature of my previous work I wanted to include something unique in my response. Not only will I show and explain the things I have worked on for this essay. But I wanted to include a hidden message. For example: Looking at the film Fight Club there is a scene where you are introduced to one of the main characters:
FIGHT CLUB SCRIPT:
INT. PROJECTIONIST ROOM - THEATRE - NIGHT
Jack, in the foreground, FACES CAMERA. In the BACKGROUND,
Tyler sits at a bench, looking at individual FRAMES cut from
movies. Near him, a PROJECTOR rolls film.
JACK
Tyler was a night person. He
sometimes worked as a projectionist.
A movie doesn't come in one big reel,
it's on a few. In old theaters, two
projectors are used, so someone has
to change projectors at the exact
second when one reel ends and
another reel begins. Sometimes you
can see two dots on screen in the
upper right hand corner...
Tyler points to the side of OUR FRAME and the TWO DOTS
briefly APPEAR ONSCREEN.
TYLER
They're called "cigarette burns."
JACK
It's called a "changeover." The
movie goes on, and nobody in the
audience has any idea
In my head the changeover idea meant I could flicker images on the screen whilst I was talking. If you were to play the video backwards the flickering images would have been stills of a stop motion.
However, in practice this idea was too complex. This is because to produce a decent stop motion hundreds of photos would have to be taken. That would mean in the essay response the flickering images would distract you from what was actually being said.
FIGHT CLUB SCRIPT:
INT. PROJECTIONIST ROOM - THEATRE - NIGHT
Jack, in the foreground, FACES CAMERA. In the BACKGROUND,
Tyler sits at a bench, looking at individual FRAMES cut from
movies. Near him, a PROJECTOR rolls film.
JACK
Tyler was a night person. He
sometimes worked as a projectionist.
A movie doesn't come in one big reel,
it's on a few. In old theaters, two
projectors are used, so someone has
to change projectors at the exact
second when one reel ends and
another reel begins. Sometimes you
can see two dots on screen in the
upper right hand corner...
Tyler points to the side of OUR FRAME and the TWO DOTS
briefly APPEAR ONSCREEN.
TYLER
They're called "cigarette burns."
JACK
It's called a "changeover." The
movie goes on, and nobody in the
audience has any idea
In my head the changeover idea meant I could flicker images on the screen whilst I was talking. If you were to play the video backwards the flickering images would have been stills of a stop motion.
However, in practice this idea was too complex. This is because to produce a decent stop motion hundreds of photos would have to be taken. That would mean in the essay response the flickering images would distract you from what was actually being said.
Contextual Essay
As a repsonse to the contextual essay task I have decided to make a video. The main focus of this essay will be on Man Ray and continue on from my proposal.
Initial thoughts are to branch off into a theme, like surrealism, so it will give me a chance to talk about other artists and photographers that have influenced my previous work up till now.
Initial thoughts are to branch off into a theme, like surrealism, so it will give me a chance to talk about other artists and photographers that have influenced my previous work up till now.
Monday 17 January 2011
Video Concept 2: Looping
This video has no hidden cuts and was filmed all in one take:
My ambition for this experiment was to see if this concept was possible, which, I can conclude, it was. My next step is to take this one step further and incorporate it into my final piece. I could explain within the video my project and I could manipulate how the viewer takes it in. (Sketch of installation and thoughts are in my sketch book)
My ambition for this experiment was to see if this concept was possible, which, I can conclude, it was. My next step is to take this one step further and incorporate it into my final piece. I could explain within the video my project and I could manipulate how the viewer takes it in. (Sketch of installation and thoughts are in my sketch book)
Video Concept 1: Infinite Corridor
In preparation for my final piece, I was exploring concepts to decide whether they worked or not. The first experiment was the "Infinite Corridor" idea.
I originally wanted to have a film of me talking to the camera about my research and themes surrounding my project. However, I wanted the twist to be that the space of which I was presenting to the camera was looping. This means if I moved from point A to point B, by the time I had reached point B I would have returned to point A. In other words infinity, similar to the stop motion I did in half term (this then links in with John Locke story of how we think we're free, which is in fact false.)*
To start I wanted to test out a green screen and explore how much I could manipulate it. I used a standard definition Flip video, hand held.
The obvious flaw with the video is that it was shot hand held. With a tripod the result would have looked a lot more finished. But I learnt that it was possible to manipulate the back ground, using After Effects CS5, to give the "infinite corridor" feel.
The next video I solved the hand-held problem by using a tri-pod. However, as I needed the person to walk towards the camera, tat all times, I put together a moving tripod by taping and tying three roller skates to the legs and using planks of wood as rails to guide the in a straight line.
And the result was as followed:
Video 2.
The rail system worked and smoothed the camera-shake considerably, however, I encountered a number of problems. 1. The rail: I would need to have more planks to cover the whole corridor and I would need to paint them so that they could be edited out. 2. The corridor is too narrow to notice that the background is looping. With the character in the middle of the frame it covers the door way that shows that the setting is infinite, ruining the whole narrative of the clip. 3. There is still evidence of camera shake.
*Sketches of this idea are in my sketch book
I originally wanted to have a film of me talking to the camera about my research and themes surrounding my project. However, I wanted the twist to be that the space of which I was presenting to the camera was looping. This means if I moved from point A to point B, by the time I had reached point B I would have returned to point A. In other words infinity, similar to the stop motion I did in half term (this then links in with John Locke story of how we think we're free, which is in fact false.)*
To start I wanted to test out a green screen and explore how much I could manipulate it. I used a standard definition Flip video, hand held.
The obvious flaw with the video is that it was shot hand held. With a tripod the result would have looked a lot more finished. But I learnt that it was possible to manipulate the back ground, using After Effects CS5, to give the "infinite corridor" feel.
The next video I solved the hand-held problem by using a tri-pod. However, as I needed the person to walk towards the camera, tat all times, I put together a moving tripod by taping and tying three roller skates to the legs and using planks of wood as rails to guide the in a straight line.
And the result was as followed:
Video 2.
The rail system worked and smoothed the camera-shake considerably, however, I encountered a number of problems. 1. The rail: I would need to have more planks to cover the whole corridor and I would need to paint them so that they could be edited out. 2. The corridor is too narrow to notice that the background is looping. With the character in the middle of the frame it covers the door way that shows that the setting is infinite, ruining the whole narrative of the clip. 3. There is still evidence of camera shake.
*Sketches of this idea are in my sketch book
Thursday 6 January 2011
A Theologian and an Infinite Staircase
John Locke was a theologian, who, when debating about predestination, came up with a concept of a man in a locked room. The man believed he could walk out at any time as he was unaware that the room was locked and therefore he stayed in the room. If the room was revealed to the man as locked with no escape it would drive him mad, so therefore it he is left unaware.
This is similar to life, if we found out our lives where predestined our freewill would have been taken from us and we’d have no control over our actions as an exterior force has already predetermined it.
This concept will help the transition from my previous experiments to a final piece. I want to use this story as the foundation to an installation, were I can manipulate how the viewer reacts to my final outcome. I have included some rough sketches of plan drawings of an installation layout.
I have gained inspiration from Maurits Cornelis Escher and his painting of the stair case that gives the illusion that it is infinite. I want to create a short manipulated film using a green screen to explain John Locke’s story to the viewers in the style of the infinite staircase.
Depending on the outcome I will then follow the film up with another that will be displayed in my installation.
This is similar to life, if we found out our lives where predestined our freewill would have been taken from us and we’d have no control over our actions as an exterior force has already predetermined it.
This concept will help the transition from my previous experiments to a final piece. I want to use this story as the foundation to an installation, were I can manipulate how the viewer reacts to my final outcome. I have included some rough sketches of plan drawings of an installation layout.
I have gained inspiration from Maurits Cornelis Escher and his painting of the stair case that gives the illusion that it is infinite. I want to create a short manipulated film using a green screen to explain John Locke’s story to the viewers in the style of the infinite staircase.
Depending on the outcome I will then follow the film up with another that will be displayed in my installation.
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