Digital Memory

Frames from all 9 Harry Potter Films in Chronological Order

As I've been thinking about the Photography project I've been leaning more and more Digital Memory, after my experimental 'fail' something I did find interesting was the use of the internet in how I got the images for the Merlin Filmography slideshow (Thank you ColinMorfan and LadyOfTheLake on Tumblr!). Whilst I don't intend to make the project interactive, I did start thinking of art that is made in Tumblr/Internet fan-bases, something that caused a lot of comments on Tumblr (something I saw years ago and is still popular today) was the use the key-frames in an image. A fan had condensed the key frames/key colours from the Harry Potter series into one long image, I find this fascinating as just looking at the colours, they way they get darker as each film ends, the colours get cooler as the series goes on and finally the white line near the right of the image symbolizing “Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, when one only remembers to turn on the light.” - or at least that's how Potter fans look at it.

So my initial idea for the project is very similar, but instead of using films I'm going to use Digital home movies, therefore creating a tangible object (the photograph) out of something that in a few years time might not be readable (MP4 files). Whilst I dabbled with this technique a few years back I haven't really looked at it since, I'll post here when I have a first draft!

Talk About Feminism....

From an earlier post regarding my portrait project, regarding 'GamerGate'

'Now you see I call myself a Feminist, for a long time I didn't because the word was tabbo and if someone called themselves one they got verbally attacked. It wasn't till very recently that I would call myself it and now everything I do is surrounding it in some way or someone will make a comment and I will want to comment back because of how sexist it actually is. This seemed to consume my time and mind for the past few months and everything seemed fine, a few arguments here and there but other than that it's been fine, yet I read an article a few days ago that really scared me.

The basis of the article was really simple, a feminist author called Anita Sarkeesian was asked to lead a lecture at Utah State University and when someone found out he* threatened not only her but everyone who was going to attend the lecture. This person stated that they would commit 'the deadliest school shooting in American history' before commenting 'I have at my disposal a semi-automatic rifle, multiple pistols and collection of pipe bombs'. Read the full article here.

All this because a woman was finally standing up for playable female characters in Games! (Also know as #GamerGate apparently).

*I can't find the article with the exact name but I remember them being male, this isn't me making assumptions. Just clearing that up.'

Regeneration

When I first looked at this title I was reminded of a photography style that went around Tumblr Fandoms a while back in which fans who were touring the set of the Film/TV shows would print out stills from the feature and match the image up with the tour they were on. It's something I loved looking at especially if the series is over, it brings a person back to that episode or feeling - regenerating it.

However I decided to look for a different approach and with a quick search I found Regeneration, The Photographers' Gallery, I really loved the concept of taking existing photos and making them into something different, so after looking at some other links to their work (Here) I decided to have a flick through my own photos (all taken between now and September 2014) and see what I could make of them now.

Virginia Echeverria, Untitled, (2013)

What I find intriguing about Unititled is how seamless the edits are, they are very simple and add to the portrait rather than take away. I feel it is very easy to get carried away in these types of edit but the subtly of the colours and their placement give this image in particular a graceful presence.

For my take on this project I decided to go a bit outside of the box because I just wanted to try something new. I don't have a graphics tablet so I was just drawing little sketches in my sketchbook, photographing them and editing them in photoshop. Now this isn't something I do often as I try to stay away from unnatural photoshopping so this was out of my comfort zone but at the same time pretty fun. Also drawing is not my strong point so, it's the thought that counts.

Ooooo it's a Ghost

To get a better idea of what I'm aiming for I decided to mind map every route I could think of in regards to House. I personally am leaning towards the 'Ghost' idea, the fact that the house is a ghost/memory of what once was - to do this I'm going to use the classic house noises but with a ethereal atmosphere about it.

I'm still thinking it through in all honesty, I believe this is something that is going to be made in the edit. I'm also experiencing the same thing I did in Music Tech - trying to think too logically.

When I had to produce dubstep I had a slight meltdown because the way of composing the music was completely different to classical (It doesn't use sheet music, this threw me a bit too much). I did eventually get the hang of it but getting back into that mindset is proving difficult.

For now I need to get my head around the narrative I'm aiming for and who I need to research in regards to the actual sound portion of this task - I'll get there, give it time.

Creative Writing.

My Object: A Mini Tripod.

100 Word Description

Small, black and malleable, no more than 10cm tall. 3 legs contorting different ways giving you complete control over where the camera is going to be, each black and textured with a spiral edging  giving you better grip. It's shadows make it appear taller than it is, dwarfed by cameras small and large - large making it topple over unless it's so close to the ground a decent size book would have been a better option. But it does it's job - even the most inexperienced photographer can use it and get stunning images.

Imaginative Short Story

The year 3015.

Location, London England.

The government has finally completed its mission of wirelessly controlling the entire nation. No one get’s in, no one get’s out. Cameras are everywhere, they follow your every move. They can speak to you directly in your mind, see your thoughts, nothing is personal.

To only way to escape, the mini tripod.

One of the things they never thought to confiscate. It’s small and compact, meaning it couldn’t be used for anything other it’s purpose right? Wrong. It’s contorting shape makes it great for say, lock picking the gate to the giant epicentre of the internet war lords digital hideaway. Never underestimate the power of a small metal object in the face of a digital world, sometimes tangible objects really are better.

Post Film Daze.

For me a good indication of a good film is 1) I actually went to see it in the cinema 2) When I left the cinema it took me a while to come back to reality.

Also this is a review so spoiler alert. But the book has been around since 1933.

When I first heard around Testament of Youth it was because of actor Colin Morgan, who I’m a huge fan of. But for me to go to the cinema and watch it (therefore spending £10 on a ticket – it’s a serious commitment!) I have to do a bit of research around it first. I knew of the book before the movie was even brought up, a librarian recommended it to me when I was in school after I said I felt Private Peaceful didn’t capture the whole story, however I never got around to reading it. To 13 year old me Testament of Youth was just a sad story about a time I really had no interest in.

During my research I found out more about the principle cast and watched some behind the scenes footage so I knew what I was getting myself in for, plus I also knew not to get attached to many of the main characters. A mistake I’ve made too many times.

In the woods just before the 'meaningful' conversation.

My first opinion of the film was it was amazing; it captured the essence of Vera Brittins voice perfectly, almost poetic. Cinematographer Rob Hardy possibly over uses soft focus just a bit but other than that I think the cinematography was outstanding. There are 3 scenes that stick out for me
(well from my memory) the first in which Vera tells Ronald that she wants to be a writer and Roland becomes the first person to tell her that she should write. It’s rather minimalist, a two shot between Ronald and Vera in the woods but he shot is so tight on their faces with soft focus it is the literal viewing of ‘nothing else in the world exists’.

The next shot is the eye opener for me. It’s a crane, tracking shot of Vera when she has made her way to the front line, it follows her making her way through the lines of men on stretchers in between the medical cabins. She seems pretty nonplussed by the situation having ‘turned her mind off’ at the recommendation of a fellow nurse, however once she has made her way to the clearing the crane starts zooming out, Vera comes to a stop yet the crane keeps going and going, showing rows and rows of injured men. It’s the final wide shot that really indicates the reality and the brutality of the war, something that the director seems to have skirted around.

Finally we return to the soft focus, tight close up, this is nearing the end of the film and shows Vera beginning to rebuild her life. It shows Vera back at Oxford being shown a new life by her new tutoring partner who also served as a nurse in the war. You see Vera walking around under a blossom tree, admiring the world around her for the first time since she first saw Oxford in person.

Vera as a character is highly intelligent and stubborn, at the beginning of the film she is in constant argument with her parents over her perusing her degree in English, the only thing she has ever wanted. When she arrives you see the joy on her face, the sheer pleasure of being there and you feel it through the smooth yet quick camera movements making the audience feel fully immersed in Vera’s mind. When I came home I mentioned to my friend that if you don’t connect with Vera’s Character within the first 20 minutes then the rest of the film won’t have as much ‘clout’ as it ought to. I mean that in the sense that the camera movements mimic her train of thought immersing you in this world, exactly how reading her memoirs in the 1^st person would do.

I also mentioned that the film skirted around the gruesome brutality of war, something I didn’t realise when watching it, I only realise now having looked at some reviews, critics are using this against the film but honestly, I didn’t miss it.  I believe that war films have become pigeon holed when it comes to showing gore and active combat, now there was no shortage of blood in my opinion and you see your fair share of severed limbs and dead bodies. But something that must be addressed is this is a honest and detailed retelling of someone’s life that was deeply effected by war, not a war story with a female lead.

I also read that people thought there wasn’t enough ‘raw emotion’, again I have to disagree. It is my personal belief that those who think that people must completely break down and cry immediately when a loved one dies have not had to experience it for themselves, much less experience more than one at the same time. Peoples minds work in different ways and shock and outright denial cause delayed reactions and this is what I think we see in Vera. However something most people seem to have overlooked is Vera isn’t the best at talking, within the first 30 minutes of the film she has already had a huge argument with her parents, and been pretty rude to the others in her life, with her actions speak louder than words. To deal with her grief of Roland being sent to France she drops out Oxford to become a nurse, when Roland dies she doesn’t react until she has found some hidden letters in his desolate uniform, when Victor dies she moves to the front line, when Edward dies she runs into a field and submerges herself in mud to try and connect to his experience – she delays her grief by trying to be as useful as possible.

Now I have no idea why this film is still on my mind at 3:00am it may be because I admire it, it may be because I see far to much of myself in Vera than I care to admit but most of all, I recognise that today I witness the slow demise of a young woman as she became haunted by experiences that still happen today. And I don’t think that has quite registered yet, hence the post-film daze.

House.

So I've done some reading and I think I finally have an opinion on this sculpture, although it's political as per usual. 

What I found intriguing was the fact that this sculpture's creation rendered the thing it's embodying useless. An interesting quote from Rachel Whiteread, Shredding Life; 'It raises more polemical issues in contemporary society: the right to have a home, control of property and the demise of areas of free access in the urban context.'

What I want to do with this project is embody everything about it, first impressions, political views and it's creation. I was brainstorming ideas and my first idea was pretty plain, general house sounds. Then  I started thinking about how houses are recycled throughout generations and given to different families through different circumstances.  I will then speed up the sounds and make them more and more condensed to show the over use of the property. Followed by a penultimate crash symbolising the creation of the sculpture (which included knocking down the property surround the mould) but also symbolising a tragedy in the life of the current occupants rendering the building empty. Now whilst I'm unsure of the following but I want to show the politics of the situation, the fact that they are so many homeless people in London yet they are knocking down accommodation that they could have used. Over all the ending would be a complete 360, a new family would move in and the cycle would start again. 

Hence this weird list/mind map was created.

Hopefully it will make more sense when completed. 

The art of not being an Artist.

Art; The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture , producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional  power:

When people call me an artist I feel wrong. To me what I do isn’t art. I’m not a painter or illustrator which is what, in my head, constitutes as art. Whilst this argument is more complex than I originally thought I still cannot shake the feeling of unease when someone calls me an artist.

To me art is a rather pretentious hobby that middle class people force their children to view because they feel the need to live a cultured life. Not a kid making Youtube videos in their bedroom to distract themselves from doing homework or studying. It may have been the way I was brought up, it may have been something that I’ve picked up myself but there is still some uncertainty I have with being under the same name as Picasso. (Bit of an exaggeration but you get the idea?)

I believe that whilst ‘art’ has seemingly similar intentions lugging everything from film to theatre to paintings somehow demean them. I personally get more satisfaction being called a filmmaker than I do being called an artist. ‘Artist’ being used as such a broad term, to me, looses its uniqueness - ironic for a sector that is built on unique interpretation.  I understand that society has a need to categorise everything and that ‘Art’ is simply a large container filled with many other smaller ones but art is supposed to be a very personal thing, why we don’t treat it’s name as such bothers me.

 

This entire thing entered my head because I got assigned my photo for Image Factory and it’s of a sculpture called ‘House’ by Rachel Whiteread – I know nothing about sculptures or how to interpret them.

I learnt a long time ago that some sculptures have meaning and other don’t, or they do but they may as well not. (A bit harsh I know, but it’s the truth)

A few years ago in Middlesbrough the council unveiled a new sculpture near the riverside and Transporter Bridge that locals assumed was there to promote the towns past. However when Temenos (Anish Kapoor) was unveiled I can safely say it wasn’t what people were expecting, even 5 years later as locals we are still unsure as to how and why the sculpture was built. It says a lot that in the suggestion box at the bottom of The Guardian’s article about Temenos there is a link to another article titled ‘Anish Kapoors Temenos sculpture shows how uncool Britain is’.

Temenos is described as a butterfly net, brilliant! What has it got to do with Middlesbrough? Middlesbrough has and always will be an industrial town, most people who live in the area work as engineers or somewhere in that line of work and it’s been that way for over 100 years. The area is even known for being the home of the first public railway – so why on earth do we have a sculpture of a butterfly net? What’s even better is the project cost £2.7 million to make, yet to my understanding none of the steel came from Middlesbrough’s steel works, it was all shipped in.

The point of that story is I am very much aware that an artist can have good intentions, just not for the community they are exhibiting in. Whilst what I have read about ‘House’ makes it seem that all intentions were pure I can’t help but think there is more to this story than meets the eye.

Therefore I have some books, some websites and an open mind.

I hope Whiteread is worth it.

A Creative Challenge

I forgot to post this here back when it was published before Christmas, I did a vlog on what I did in November including the Creative Challenge Residential in Le Harve. Enjoy!