A lot of running around University

 Dance Video - Pre Production

I was at a point where the idea for my project was complete, and I had to start the actual work on it. Like I've said multiple times already in previous post, I knew that finding a location was going to be my biggest problem - as my shoot required quite a specific set of needs. (Water outlet, electricity, a way for the water to run off, and enough space to make the set.) With this complication I also had to make a massive risk assessment to make sure that the electricity didn't touch the water, the dancer didn't get ill or cold, etc. I knew that the pre production that was ahead of me would be extensive, and difficult. 

I sent out multiple emails to places I thought might be able to host my shoot, including public pools, car washes, and fire stations. I also emailed Surrey County Council and Surrey Film Office for help, and in case I needed additional permits. Sadly none of these hailed fruitful as they were either too expensive, or not able to host at all. So for now I still didn't have a location although I still had to keep working on the rest of my production pack. I kept emailing similar places, and I also kept this one area in mind outside my house in the back of my mind as a backup, should I not be able to find anything. 

I carried on planning my shoot, and my production by setting the 4th - 6th of April as my potential shoot days. This way I would be able to finish my production before Easter, and get a head start on editing, as I would not have that much time before hand in after Easter break was over. I also started looking into my budget and what I would need to aquire for the shoot around this time, and I ordered different materials such as a hose, sprinkler, and cloth for the set. At the same time as I was working on this I also had regular meetings with my dancer. I was very lucky to find a dancer fairly quickly, as I posted on the students facebook page and got a reply within the hour. Gabby Ellison, which is her name, is an aquaintance of me, and I really think this was benefical to the project as we could very comfortably explore and shape the chereography together. Within our two first meeting we had the routine finished, and we had agreed upon how the dance would transform throughout the video. She showed great enthusiasm for the project, and loved the idea behind the narrative, as well as the message I was trying to send. We also stayed in touch outside of meetings by sending each other videos of different dances as to contribute any inspiration we could find. I tried my best to keep her updates on any dates that changed during pre production, as well as how the set would look, and how we would take care of her safety. This was my first time directing a dancer, and I was at first very insecure about what to do, but I figured that she probably felt insecure too, so I therefore decided that she would never dance alone during practice, except when looking over the final routine. I always did the moves with her, and we warmed up and stretched together as well. I think this made the whole practice feel less strict, and more fun. 

I tried uploading the video we took of the finished routine after our second meeting, but for some reason neither blogger or youtube was able to upload it even though it is a .mov file. Anyway, here are two screenshots I took of the video. During our third meeting we went on to work with water, and how the water would change her movement, but I don't have any visuals of that.

 

I also discussed costume with Gabby, and what we thought would fit the film. We both agreed that we wanted it to be inspired by marital arts and yoga, as well as still being flexible enough to move comfortably in.  

I was also working on the rest of my production pack even though my location had still not be procured. In the synopsis and treatment I pretty  much just summed up what I have written in my previous blog post about the project. In cast and crew I made sure that I would have enough people on location to help with filming, lighting, and taking care of the dancer. 

For equipment I kept it fairly simple. I wanted the GH4 so that I could shoot in 50fps to properly catch the water, and film better at night. The lighting was very basic as well, as I wanted all the attention to be on the dancer. I also made sure that I already had sandbags so that the lights would be secure. I also chose to have a slider for my shoot, as I wanted to explore shots with only slight panning, this was just so that I would have more options to choose from during the edit.

The Location Drama

It was now a week before the shoot, and I had given up on finding a location. I therefore decided to go with my backup although it wasn't the best at all. I did my risk assessment accordingly, and hoped that it would be enough. I went to my final tutorial with Rosie, and she immidietly says the she doesn't think she would be comfortable with me filming there, as there were certain aspects of it that were unsure, and could be unsafe. We start brainstroming where I could shoot, and if I possibly could shoot on campus, as this would make it safer, and easier to transport equipment. She makes a couple of calls and we discover that there is one spot that matches all my requirements. This started my most efficient, stressful, and productive week of my entire life. If I were ever to film on campus with electricity and water I would need to be signed off by Health and Saftey, the Campus Location Manager, and my Course Leader. This included having a risk assessment of massive proportions, a set that has been constructed safely, ladder training, and First Aid perosonell on site in case something goes wrong. I had multiple meeting with Julia Critcher about the set and how I would make sure it was safe in every way possible. I had multiple meetings with Tipu and Emma from Healthy and Safety to make sure that all my materials, equipment, and risk assessment would be safe for actors and crew. And I had countless meeting with Rosie to update her on how I was doing. I kept updating and adding to my risk assessment to make sure that everyone was fit, and in the end everyone signed off on it and I was ready to go.

This was the biggest production I had ever done, and it was my first time producing, so everything took its time, but I think I did an alright job in the end, and I am very happy with how I pulled together and managed to pull it off. 

-TJ

"Research was done, 

and research was doneth"

Dissertation Proposal Research - Beginning

In the middle of everything that's going on towards the end of the term I am finding it difficult to find time for research for the dissertation proposal, but in this post/ presentation I will sum up what I've found, what I want to write about, and how I'm gonna turn a proposal into a dissertation. 

The whole unit had completely slipped my mind until I had my tutorial with Liz on the 17th of March. We discussed my essay - what I did well, and what I could improve. I was very happy with the result I got on my essay, and furthermore was happy with the work I had done. I felt like I had a really good workflow, and managed to back up all of my arguments with good sources. My paragraphs were pretty long, but they all had a relatively good structure, with an opening, and argument, and a sources to further explore the subject. 

On this basis we discussed how I could further pursue this topic into my dissertation, as we both felt that there was plenty more to write about the subject. For an example, in my essay I only touched upon the subject of characters such as Divine, the work of John Waters, and RuPaul. This side of transsexuality would be very interesting to look more into, as well as cross dressing and the psychology behind it. I already looked at the works of Freud, Jung, and Erikson in my essay, but there are so many others I could look into that might show a completely different perspective on the issue. 

In my essay I explored the biology, psychology, and social reasons for how transsexuality has been portrayed in cinema, so for my dissertation I want to do something similar, except that I want to explore further, and deeper. I want to question everything, and explore more throughly, and also look at real world cases. For an example Liz mentioned a woman who dressed up as a man her entire life to work as a doctor, and she wasn't found out until they did her autopsy. 

For this I am going to look into these books: 

J. Phillips, 2006. Transgender On Screen. Palgrave Macmillan

J. Ruppert. 1994. Gender, Literary and Cinematic Representation. Florida State University

Maps and Networks comes to an end

I have now come to the stage of this project where I have to think thoroughly about my installation while also finishing my project. I have my clips, and I just have to edit them properly - maybe remove some noise without losing too much information. But that comes further down in this post, first I want to talk about installation. 

Hallway Gallery - advantages/disadvantages

During my first presentation I said that I simply wanted to have three screens right next to one another in the hallway. A simple way of showing all three colours and the contrasts between them. Since then I have a thought about many different way of doing it - projection, have the screens on top of another, make a three wall thing in a corner - but they all sort of do the same, they just show the pictures without adding anything. The whole point of putting thought into your installation should be to a) give additional meaning to the project, and b) make people who pass by want to stop and have a closer look, preferably standing there for a while. At this point in my work I decided to do two pictures instead of one. This lead me to think about duality, and how I could show this through my installation. Red and blue are very contrasting colours that both catch the eye, and it is my thinking that if you put them right next to one another you might lose some of that, because they lessen each other. Another thing I wanted to show was that these emotions that the images are based on don't necessarily flood your mind at the same time - they usually linger in intervals. When you're extremely sad and lonely, you feel less passionate, but it is still there in the back of your mind waiting for its chance at the wheel again. 

To portray this I want to place my two screens on opposite walls. 

Considering that its a narrow corridor, and that at multiple point there is a wall directly on either side, I think it would be perfect to have one screen showing the blue footage on the left wall, and one screen showing the red footage on the right wall. That way when you look at one of them you have to turn your back to the other one, just the way emotions do. I think this definitely adds to my project and I hope it can be done. 

Completion of my work 

As I discussed in an earlier post I decided to switch over to Premiere Pro for my editing, as Photoshop didn't quite work out. To be honest that did simplify the process of my videos a lot, and maybe it very easy to complete this task. I simply made sure I had the point of where the screen/phone flickers off, and then alternate between normal footage and reversed footage to make it look more fluid. I did this in Premiere Pro, so that I also could add the tone and bars, and countdown clock. 

This is my finished work: 

Blue

This my final blue piece, without bars and clock. I feel like this video accurately depicts loneliness through colour and visuals. I am also satisfied with the flickering of the screen. Although a lot of people won't realise that it spells out S.O.S. I think it adds a lot to the project. 

Red

As you can see the red is slightly noiser than the blue. I tried very hard to get rid of this and by adjust the original light source, but what you see in the final version is the best I could get. I like the colours, and I like that it has captured an "intimate moment". I also think it works very well in comparison to the blue. 

-TJ

"were you ever happy? and if you were, did you realise at the time"

- the best years of our lives (2016-2026)

Loneliness, anger, happiness - and the headache of it all

After the presentation for this project I left that room with a number of thoughts swirling around inside my head. There were so many things I wanted to do with this project - things I wanted to accomplish, things I wanted to explore. One idea I liked a lot was the idea of changing the haiku I had planned to something a lot simpler, like "help" or "sos". No only does simplify my editing process, but it also fits the simplicity of my idea - the emotions I want to explore are after all basic; the primal feelings that we all feel. 

RED - SEX AND PASSION, image from foot end of bed, raised back, hand on wall, bathed in red light,

BLUE - LONELINESS, asleep in front of computer

YELLOW - HAPPINESS, two people eating together having a good time,

Later in the project I decided to not do yellow, as I feel like red and blue have a nice duality on their own. They are both darkly lit, and portray strong passionate emotions, while yellow might look like an odd out. I also had an idea for how to present it in my installation that would suit two screens better than three. More on that in my post about installation choices.

I've decided to do these images because they represent those different emotions and feelings to me. I am the happiest when I socialise with friends, I am the loneliest on late nights on my own, and I feel the most passionate during sex. 

I've looked into cinemagraphs for this project as well. A cinemagraph is essentially a gif, were the image is frozen, but one aspect of it is moving. I think this would look really cool for the morse code, as it is a subtle way of implementing it into my installation. 

I think this would look awesome

After looking into cinemagraphs, and how to make it, I started thinking about how to use it in my images. In subtle ways, that makes it seamless and not out of place. For the red I was thinking about having the light under the door go on and off, for the blue I want the monitor in front of me to flicker, and for the yellow I want a phone on the table to flash. 

I think I'm ready to do my first shoot, to see how they turn out. 

I decided to first try with the blue image. Right of the bat I ran into some trouble as I had to redo all my setting in my camera to make the quality as good as possible. These shots will happen in very little light, and with that comes noise, thats pretty much unavoidable, but I can try to make it as little as possible. My first try was horrendous. 

As you can see, there is a lot of noise and grain. But I did choose to use this clip to experiment with cinemagraphs. 

Making the cinema itself didn't turn out to be very difficult, but that doesn't mean it was successful. I did it in Photoshop by importing it as frames, then deleting all the frames I didn't need. I then created a copy of the first frame in the sequence - this would be my static layer mask that keeps the video frozen. To then only make the computer move I selected the brush tool and marked the entire area of the computer so that the remaining frames could be seen through the mask. This was all well and good, but after that I encountered two problems. 
1. Because the top frame was a still, the light from the computer would still light me up, even after it was turned off through the mask. This just looked weird, and out of continuity. 
2. I could only save this as a GIF file, which would only be accessible through the internet. This in turn gives me a lot of trouble for the installation, as it would be dependent on the internet. 

How can I improve this, and make it work? 

Well, first of I can change my camera settings. I kept my ISO under 1600, and turned my aperture down to 4.0. Ideally I would use a lens that can go as far down as 2.8, but I don't have that at this time. (I also discovered that my camera was only recording in 720p this whole time. I of course turned it up to 1080p)  Furthermore I can make sure the frame is slightly better lit. I do want the image to be low lit, and moody, but to make up for the reduced ISO, I will have to increase the light. 

Instead of using Photoshop, I will move over to Premiere Pro to keep it as a video, instead of turning it into a GIF. Because of this choice I will have to limit the movement in frame as much as possible to still almost create the cinemagraph effect. The tiny amount of movement might even be in my favour, as it could give the image more emotions. 

-TJ

"try to think of a new colour"

What do colour means to us, and why?

"Notes on a page" (2016) by TJ Tvedt

For this unit I want to do a lot of research into colours, and why they mean what they mean to us. I mean, I feel like personally know they mean for me, but that might not be universal. I think a lot of people will have different connotations to the colour than me, just based of memory and experience. For me, red is the colour of anger and passion, but for someone else it could represent fire. This could be for number of reasons; maybe their house burned down. That's an extreme example, but you understand what I mean. 

BLUE.

Blue has been used in art and decorations since ancient times. It is a primary colour, and because it can create such a wide range of other colours by being mixed it has been heavily used for a long time, for an example in making up all the colours in screens. Blue has been used to represent the sky in paintings for as long as we have been able to dye stuff blue, and in modern times it has been used in flags that represent harmony and togetherness, like the European Union, and NATO. When asked through surveys people say that they associate with intelligence, harmony, coldness, distance, and sadness. It is also considered to be the most masculine colour, and dark blue is the most common colour for business suits. In Europe it was also chosen as their favourite colour by almost half the population. 

In modern times blue is considered a colour of royalty, which is ironic as in Greek and Roman times, blue was the colour of the working class. This was because blue was a colour that was quite difficult to make, and thus came into popular use lone after other colours like red, yellow, white, and black. It was also considered a barbaric colour as Julius Caesar reported that the Celts and Germans dyed their faces blue to frighten their enemies- quite a different meaning from today's "harmony". In Egypt on the other hand, blue was considered a divine colour as it was the colour the gods painted their faces to fly invisibly across the sky. This could be because Egypt had earlier access to blue, as it imported lapis lazuli from Afghanistan. I would not be surprised if these contradicting associations with blue are connected. The Roman Empire especially was famous for alienating every other nation that wasn't Roman, or "civilised", which would cause colours that for an example Egypt considered divine, to be uncivilised in Rome. 

But I think that the reason blue today is associated with tranquility, harmony, and sadness, is because of the sky. Staring up at it and its vastness you can feel calmer, but if you're sad already, it will only make you sadder. It is after all a very solemn colour, although I doubt you would feel calm if you had a barbaric Celt running towards you, screaming, with his face painted blue.

The Colour Circle

RED.

Red has been used in art for even longer than blue due to it being fairly simple to create. Iron oxide has long been used, and it is also what gives the Grand Canyon and Mars their colour. Because it is the colour of blood, red has since ancient times been associated with war, anger, passion, and sacrifice. The word red actually goes back to the Proto-Indo European word rewd, which is Because of this association with passion it was chosen as the colour for the ideologies communism and socialism - not to be confused with the original meaning of the Red Square in Russia, as red was considered to mean "beautiful" long before the Russian Revolution. But similarly, red was used to evoke passion during the French revolution, because they used a simple red colour as their banner. Red was used as early as the Egyptian Empire as make up to redden cheeks, and dye hair. 

YELLOW.

"Sunflowers" (1888) by Vincent Van Gogh

According to surveys in America, Europe, and Canada, yellow is the colour most often associated with amusement, gentleness, joy, happiness, but also envy, and jealousy. This duplicity of meaning took place because yellow became the colour associated with Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed Jesus, in the Middle Ages and renaissance. This "trend" evolved into marking non-Christians with yellow, which in turn is the reason why Jews would have to wear a yellow star of David during the times of Nazi-Germany. 

Vincent Van Gogh was an especially fan of the colour yellow as he expressed that it reminded him of sunshine, although he also felt that the word "yellow" did not thoroughly enough explain the beauty of the sun - bright sulfur yellow, pale lemon gold. I have to say that I agree with him. I think yellow is a beautiful, very awake, colour. Because of this "awakeness" it is often used in warning signs. But even more so it reminds me of happiness, daytime, sunshine, and good memories. 
In China it is also seen as the colour of glory, and wisdom - which is funny, because in Europe more people associate wisdom and intelligence with blue. It is actually seen as a colour of nobility. Chinas compass has five directions; north, west, east, south, and the middle. Each direction is symbolised by a colour, and the middle is symbolised by yellow. China again is called the Middle Kingdom, and the Emperors palace is seen as the exact centre of the world. 

Thoughts:

I feel like I now know a whole lot about colours that I did not know before. Did I need this knowledge? I'm not sure, but either way, I know have it. One thing is for certain, this has given me a new perspective. I had no idea that one colour could mean such different things for people living around the world - how blue could be considered a divine colour in Egypt, while a worker class colour in Rome. But, although this is all very interesting, and knowledge that I might use in a future project/ future game of Trivial Pursuit, this specific project is very personal to me, and my own feelings. Therefore it is important that the representations of the colours I end up using are my associations, based on my experiences. So I'm sorry Egypt, you might think that blue is divine, I think it's loneliness and sadness, and that's what I'm going with. 


-TJ

Our brief and first couple of meetings - what worked , what didn't

Thus begins pre-production. We are to make a 3-5 minute short film, using only 5 words of dialouge, and a photograph for inspiration. The photograph will be our inspiration for the film and should spark some sort of narrative. These are the photgraphs we were given:

Blind Twins (1980) by Jane Evelyn Atwood, King and Queen (1970) by Diane Arbus, Untitled 1997 by Hannah Starkey, and Untitled 1962 by Ralph Eugene Meatyard. 

Sadly I was ill in bed on the day of the brief, but I kept in contact with my group over text, where we discussed possible ideas and narratives to explore. As a group we decided that we preferred "King and Queen", and "Untitled 1997", and these were the images we wanted to use as inspiration. 

"King and Queen" by Diane Arbus

"Untitled 1997" by Hannah Starkey

As I was ill the day of the brief, I sadly lost out on a lot of the discussion around the different ideas and so on, but when the idea did reach me, the group had arrived at a dystopian narrative where food and essentials are limited and scarce. I found this to be a really interesting concept, that can birth numerous narratives, and I was looking forward to our first meeting the day after. 

During this meeting we didn't get very far. A lot of people had a lot of ideas, and a lot of people felt very strongly that their idea was superior, this lead to a lot of discussion without anything actually being decided. We did agree that we liked the slightly dystopian setting with scarce essentials, but we had a lot of different ideas about how to show this. We discussed everything from mannequins, tadpole soup, shots of water, and insanity, but ultimately we had to scrap most of it because of our limited budget. We finished our meeting with a lot of half baked ideas and no set sketches, as our set designer was ill. This in turn made it very difficult for me to start designing visuals, as I had no idea what our restrictions and limitations were. In the end Preston (Assistant Director) and Natalie (Director) sat down and created a narrative that was practical and creative. Natalie wrote a rough draft of the script which she shared with the group, and after minor changes we decided to make this our film. 

A world were words are a money, and when you run out of words you die. One of our main characters would have an illness that would force them to almost run out of credits (as we could only use 5 words), and the film being centered around their relationship and their final days together. 

After this we could finally start designing the set, and working on our storyboard. I had some creative input into the creation of the set, and where our light sources would be, but other than that I focused on creating the feel for the film in cooperation with Natalie and Preston. 

-TJ

Director of Photography, Cinematographer - doesn't matter what it's called, it's still my first time doing it

At the beginning of this year we researched film crew roles (see my post on Continuity supervision), and one role that really struck a cord with me was the role of DoP - the shot creator and head of the camera department. I would be responsible for making technical and artistic decisions for the image, or "look", of the film. This is of course a massive responsibility, and I want to tackle it with all my attention and innovation - but, it is also my first time doing it, so I assume I will make mistakes. To avoid making a horrific number of mistakes, I am doing this research to best prepare me for what is to come. 

My first step was to look at films and series that I know have an aesthetic look, as to see if this is the work of any cinematographers I can take inspiration from. Like most film students I really like Wes Andersons films, so that was my first stop. 

"Moonrise Kingdom" 2012

I quickly realised that Robert Yeoman has been the cinematographer for all of Wes Andersons films, probably because they have similar creative visions. and work well together. I know that its not uncommon to keep working with people you know you work well with in film, so this makes sense. Their shared style is very symmetrical, and linear, as you can see in the picture above, and below. As well as most shots being centered, most of the camera movement is very simple. They use fast pans that usually go in straight lines, which adds a very clear structure and style to the films. I quite like this style as it tells you what you need to know in every frame, and then quickly moves on to the next frame without too much "filler." I think I want to use the centered style when I design my shots as I quite like the aesthetic of it, and I also feel like it tells the story without having to add unnecessary filler shots.  

Another example of Anderson and Yeomans style.
Pictured from left to right: "Moonrise Kingdom", "Fantastic Mr. Fox", and "The Royal Tenenbaums"

Furthermore I looked into a recent favourite of mine, "Mr. Robot". The look and feel of this tv series is quite unique and unconventional, and I that is something I figured was worth looking into. Created in 2015 by Sam Esmail, this series has a dark, moody, and gritty feel to it, not afraid to use a lot of shadows, and unusual colour in their shots. Tod Campbell is the DoP for the series. (He was also the DoP for two of the episodes for the massive hit series Stranger Things.) Not a lot of information is available about Campbell, but what I could find was quite interesting. 

"Mr. Robot" 2015

In an interview for vulture.com, Campbell explains the different choices he made in his visual approach and why he did what he did. He says that a lot of the characters have quite big, bulbous eyes, and that because of this he used a Cooke S5s lens, because it is a bit rounder than most lenses, and therefore frames the face, makes lines softer, which thus brings more focus to oblong shapes - like eyes. I need to think about decisions like this for our shoot - which lenses to use to better compliment the visuals of the shot. 

Furthermore Campbell explains that he had long talks with creator Sam Esmail about the feel of the film, and what he wanted. As you can see it the still above, the shot is framed unusually. The characters are pushed down in the left corner, almost out of frame. This is very different to, for an example, Wes Andersons style that we discussed earlier in this post. But Campbell explains this visual choice by explaining that because the series relies heavily on narration and multiple characters isolation he wanted to show that through his look. Thus he created a frame where you can clearly see the huge amount of "nothingness" that weighs on the characters. I think this is a very interesting approach, and although its not something everyone would immediately think of, it makes sense, and gives the series a feel that puts it ahead of its competition. 

Through my research I have learned a lot of things that I did not previously know or even think about, and I think this will help me when I start working on the feel of our film. 

What do I expect from this unit: 

I realise that being the Director of Photography is going to be one of the biggest challenges I have ever taken on, and that it will consume a lot of my time to get right, but at the same time I feel invigorated after my research. I feel ready to start the project and to create something that I can be proud to put my name on. I understand the importance of working as a team, and after my research I understand it even better. If Sam Esmail and Tod Campbell didn't talk properly then maybe Campbell wouldn't have thought of that specific way to frame his shots. But its not just important that the Director and DoP talk often and throughly, but also that I am clear about the shots that I have designed. I am not a very confrontational person, and usually prefer to compromise rather than start conflict, or even debate. I think that is something I need to work on for this unit, so that I will be able to politely, but firmly ask my Camera Assistant to set up the tripod at a certain place, and also properly explain to my Operator how I want it framed, without backing off completely if someone has a different vision. I think its a good thing to talk about the visuals with your team, and let them have input, but ultimately, if it goes against my preferred visual, I'll have to clear about what I want. Its going to be a challenge, but I am ready to face it. 

- TJ 

".. cause you're on your own from here, 

so are you happy?" 

- Bo Burnham, "Make Happy"

MAPS AND NETWORKS 

I'm not gonna be little liar - it took me ages to come up with my idea for this project. Call it what you want; struggles getting started again; summer brain syndrome; lack of talent - the list goes on. But my brain just couldn't come up with anything from the trigger words "maps" and "networks". I mean, sure, I saw plenty of connections to what the two words could mean, and possible uses within art, but nothing struck me as "Holy molasses! I've found my idea!" I honestly didn't know what to do. 

It got to a point where it was physically affecting me in a negative way. I think all artists have those periods of self doubt. 

"How can I be cut out for this course, or this profession, 

if I can't come up with a single idea?"

I was desperately looking for someone to tell me what to do next. To tell me what artists to look at to get inspiration. Just someone to help me on my way. But that wasn't happening. I'm 20 years old now, and for every year that passes I've got more responsibility, without a manual for how to deal with it. I'm moving into uncharted territory. I'm in control of my own life. Sure, I'm still in uni. I know what I'm doing tomorrow, and I know what I'm doing next week because I have a timetable. But in two years - what am I doing then? Honestly, your guess is as good as mine. The future is literally a blank piece of paper that I somehow have to make sense of. Stressful thought eh? Yeah, I feel. 

"In a way my project isn't about maps, 

but rather a lack thereof."

So, how do I portray this in an art installation? This feeling of insecurity, and "on your own-ness". What I decided was actually pretty coincidental. I recently watched Marvels new series, Luke Cage. And there is this thing that all those series (Daredevil, Jessica Jones) do so so well, and that is colour themes. Daredevil has a reoccurring red tint, while Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage have purple and yellow respectively. Because this fascinated me so, I've played around with this in my personal photography a lot recently. This is why I want to portray my project through colours. How is the question. 

This lovely assortment of colour is a still from Simon Payne's work "Colour Bars". Rosie referred me to him after our tutorial, and I found his work quite inspiring. The minimalistic idea of colour and human emotions was something we both agreed would make an interesting installation, so seeing Payne's work, and how simple but impactful it is gave me some ideas for how I could do my own. 

I've decided I want to do primary colours. There are multiple reasons for this. 

• Colours are often linked to emotions. Red - anger and passion. Blue - sadness and tranquility. Yellow - happiness. All emotions we go through every day. "But how does this relate to your project about insecurity in your twenties?" I'm glad you asked! Not only are your twenties the years when you need to figure stuff out, but also "the best years of your life." So make sure you enjoy them! Right? We have so much to think about, worry about, enjoy, relax, party, experiment - is it too much? 
• They are primary colours. If you look at the colour wheel with creative eyes, it starts to look like your life. You start out simple - three colours. But then you mix them, and you have nine! And so on. It gets more complicated. This project is a requiem to leaving those first colours behind. Even if it is scary. 
• With multiple colours I can tell three stories. A sad one, a happy one, and a passionate one.

But how are you gonna tell these stories? 

I want to use morse code. I want to have each colour tell a poem or haiku that relates to that emotion through morse code. Three stories that together tell a story of growing up.

Thank you for reading.

TJ 

"omg in this shot he takes his clock off, but in a shot a minute later the clock is back on his wrist??"

Essentially the continuity supervisor, also known as the script supervisor, is the person on set who makes sure that each shot follows the same time line. If something changes in a scene, and that scene needs to be reshot or shot from a different angle, the continuity supervisor makes sure that anything that was changed during the shoot has been reset.

The continuity supervisor is in a way every departments back up, and has to make sure that at the end of the day the film can be cut together, and that it makes sense. He has to work closely with the director and the DOP, because it's important that these three roles agree on what the scene should look like.

Actually the continuity supervisor has to work very closely with every department, as its important that everyone is on the same page, so that the film is coherent. He'll also have a look at the script before shoots starts and make comments to all the different departments. These comments are used to by the departments to create the most advantageous and efficient shoot order.

TJ

"...what I want out of art, and the things that excite me, are things that help us see the historical moment that we live in." 

- Trevor Paglen, Clarice Smith Distinguished Lecture (2015)

Trevor Paglen is an artist. 

Mrs Paglen is in every fashion of the word an artist. What I mean by that is that he does literally everything. Whatever tool he needs to show the world his art - he will use, whether its a wielding iron, a camera, or a pencil. Most recently he has tackled issues such as mass surveillance and data collection. For this he won the 2016 Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Price. 

When I read about his project I immediately thought of our Maps & Networks project, because I feel like that in our modern world "mapping" things is very important. We want everything in the clear, and know what everyone is doing. His installation is compromised of images of restricted military and government areas,  and skylines showing the flight of passing drones. Multiple ways humans are trying to "map" out the world. He goes on to talk about how he feels like we are unable to see the historical moment that we are currently living in because of all the distractions we endure. I think this fits nicely with our  current project.

Another of Paglens projects is this cube that you can see to the right here -->

This project is called "Trinity Cube" and is a part of the 2015 "Don't Follow The Wind" project. This is an inaccessible art installation in the radioactive area around the power plant that exploded in Fukushima, Japan in 2011. The cubes outer layer is made of irradiated broken glass from the Fukushima Exclusion Zone, while the the cubes inner core is made from Trinitite, the mineral created on July 16, 1945 when the USA exploded the worlds first atomic bomb near Alamogordo, New Mexico. Thereby incapsulating the humans race contact with atomic power. I feel like this could also fit our project, although in a different way. When human beings discover something, we become obsessed with fully exploring it. Sometimes this leads to great discoveries that furthers our sciences, and sometimes it ends with mesmerizing destructive force. Nothing fits both these explanations better than nuclear power. Whether its for energy, like in the Fukushima Power Plant, or as a weapon in the 1945 nuclear bomb explosion. It effects everything, thus connecting it to all our lives. 

The installation will become open for the public whenever the Exclusion Zone is safe to open again. This can be anytime from the next 3 years, to the next 3000.

If any of you want to read more about this, feel free to follow this link.

http://www.dontfollowthewind.info/

TJ

"There is... a lot of work located in galleries and put on a pedestal that wouldn't hold its own on the film festival circuit, where it would be seen as very surface and shallow."

- Andrew Kötting

Andrew Kötting - who is he? 

Born 16th December 1959, Andrew Kötting grew up in Kent, and later went on to study BA Fine Art at Ravensbourne College of Art and Design; MA Mixed Media at Slade School of Art, and is currently working as an artist, writer, film maker, and is teaching Time Based Media at University for the Creative Arts.  

Widely known to be an experimental artist, following the spirit of the late David Jarman, his work ranges from running around a field pretending to ride a horse, to feature length films like Gallivant (1996) and Swandown (2012). In interviews he has claimed that he still sees himself as a performance artist even though he now does feature films.  

"I wouldn't think of myself as a feature film-maker. I'm just making longer pieces of work."

All At See - 2016

In his latest work Andrew has collaborated with his daughter Eden, who at an early age was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder - Jouberts Syndrome - which causes a sort of underdevelopment in the cerebellum. They have also worked together in the past, for an example on his feature film, Gallivant. All At See is a companion piece to the film It's All In The Mind, and takes place at sea, featuring animated versions of Eden drawings. The video posted in the post is a compilation of Andrews recent work, including All In The Mind and All At See. 

- TJ

THINGS ARE NOT AS THEY APPEAR from andrew kotting on Vimeo.