MAPS AND NETWORKS: Narrowed Down Idea

Another idea which has sprung to mind also is the idea of disconnection, which is the opposite of the other ideas I have mentioned before which would focus on connection. The route I would take is how people can disconnect themselves from the earth around them. People disconnect themselves in many different ways and for many different reasons. I could still use the diegetic sounds of peoples voices and warp them in ways i.e. how the voices in these sound like -

I want to include music, potentially warped and experimental, around these voices too. Visually I still want to incorporate multiple screens (minimum 3 screens), inspired by John Akromfrah's 6 screen 'Purple'. Another thing I liked about this piece is how some titles were included in between the landscape shots that had an entire purple background with just a tiny little white title in the middle. I liked how since the screens were so big and there were multiple of them, the purple lit the entire room. This got me thinking about lighting and how I want to incorporate it into my piece. I would say my piece would be a sound video installation. Another option is to make it interactive by asking questions to the viewer through titles or deciding to take the opposite route of sending a message and vibe to the viewer through aesthetics, visuals and sound.

The way I want my piece to be presented like is inspired by the way a lot of the pieces in The Store X are presented. I really enjoyed and took a lot of inspiration from this exhibition when I went last year in October 2018, I loved the piece Wu Tsang's 'The Looks' and Kahlil Joseph's 'Fly Paper'. The sound and music for both of them is what I loved most, how it really made an impression and left a certain vibe to the viewer.

I searched disconnection art in google and I found a photographer called Jamie Brisick, who took a series of photos which portray disconnection and alienation, mainly within a big city. He said this:

“These photos are about the alienation and the disconnect in the big city. When I first moved to Sydney I was here by myself so I probably felt very disconnected by being on the other side of the world, and disconnected to the space and the big city. A lot of the photos I take are about the disconnect, and to some extent I’m always searching for that disconnected look in people.”

I took a lot of inspiration from these photos for my own project:

There's also the option of combining disconnection with fears and anxiety. One of mine being fear of illness and death, so I could explore that fear and isolation it brings me, with shots of hospital wings, things within a hospital, all with a certain aesthetic in mind. I would bring in colour correction and things like that which have strong yellow colours, reds for blood etc. The only issue that would bring is getting permission to film in a hospital. In my head an ideal thing for me would to have a shot of a nurse taking a sample of blood from someone from their arm, or injecting them with an injection. The easiest way to do this would be to film myself since I can provide my own consent for it but I don't know if it's possible to get permission to film in a doctor's practice or hospital. This collection of shots would help me face and deal with a very deep rooted fear of mine to see it all on screen, of things happening to me in a hospital. The way this idea would link to Maps and Networks however is through how it connects to a wider network of anxiety that a wide array of people suffer with, even though this specific fear is relevant for me.

STUDIO SHOOT: The Brief

To gather my thoughts, ideas and plans I decided to include all the brief for the studio shoot in this post. Our two main groups were decided today for the studio shoot.

My Group:
Evie G
Ben
Carrie
Katie
Hazel
Alex
Richard
Majd
Dani
Terrell
Cristina
Nathan
Suriñe
Evie M

My initial thoughts have been that I have wanted a role in directing or cinematography. The roles in the group are:

Producer
Production Designer
Director
1st AD
- With this role, I'm aware the person will take on jobs such as assisting the director, coordinating all production activity and supervising the cast and crew. Core responsibility is to keep filming on schedule by driving it forward, so they frequently make announcements and give directions to coordinate the cast and crew.

They are also in charge of a department of other assistant directors and runners. Overall, they provide the key link between the director, the cast and the crew, while also liaising with the production office, and providing regular progress reports about the shoot.

- create filming schedule

2nd AD
DoP
Camera Operator
Digital Imaging Technician
Set Design
Costume Design
Props
Sound Recordist
Boom Operator

So far, we have placed a few people in roles such as
Producer: Hazel
DoP: Katie
Boom Operator: Richard
Sound Recordist: Alex
Production Designer: Cristina

I am now interested in the role of 1st AD or even Director.

Photo by Gregory Crewdson – Untitled (Dylan On The Floor)

We decided to split into small groups within our group, each group was designated a photo to research and look into more for pitch ideas. From this image I see a loss of self control, loneliness, isolation, anxiety, stress, crime, trauma.

notes:
man cant cope with his self loathing
man cant cope with inner pain from trauma or self
man cant cope with something he did, a crime maybe such as murder - the lights suggest fear/hallucinations of police coming and sirens.
man cant cope with stress, anxiety, having no purpose in life, depression - his work being too much to handle, he can't deal with the stress of it.
man's privacy being breached by others
house setting, all not perfect on the inside uncovered, but looks perfect from outside even though is not. - Melanie Martinez album of crybaby, song called 'Dollhouse' (creates same vibes as that song and music video)
brings in Riverdale vibes of perfect town and houses, but with hidden secrets and underlying or hidden spooky crimes
in terms of cinematography and design, there is darkness, coldness, pale colours, browns, blues and retro style. I also love how there is such a high amount of saturation but at the same time, low exposure and brightness. I definitely want to be able to use that style in our film.
could take a stance of following a male/or female following a traumatic event, lives alone (bring in Unbelievable - Netflix - those vibes)

Unbelievable (Netflix TV Series)

I really like the shots used in this series, the whole vibe of the show is created through the choice of colours throughout, colour grading and close up shots. It links to the Crewdson image from how he is alone in his home, he may be going through something traumatic in his mind, trying to deal with the pain. That is what this girl is trying to do in this series, even more so she is trying to hide from it, ignore it, try to pretend it never happened. I definitely like the idea of taking the route of there having
been a crime, therefore taking the route of crime genre.

Here is a shot from the series of the room where the trauma happened, it portrays a cold, chilling, psychologically disturbing eerie vibe.

I like how the man is in the shot on the back left behind the closed doors, it portrays he is potentially somewhat villainous, sick or disturbing. It portrays exactly what it needs to portray through the framing and positioning of the character. All again, was reminded for me by seeing the Crewdson image.

To link to this, another film that springs to mind when it comes to these sort of vibes and colour scheme is Gone Girl.






As you can also tell from all these photos, that there is low exposure and darkness in them. It is also low key lighting. I like how there is still saturation in them though, that brings out the fresh colours such as the yellows of the back curtain and greens of the grass. I've noticed all the psychological crime genre style films/series take these same signifiers and elements throughout.

Another one to mind is 'The Sinner'. This shot sums entirely my point, the setting is a room, with a lot of browns, yellows, beiges, greys and warm but pale colours. Also again the exposure and brightness is low. It portrays the cold but warm at the same time psychologically disturbing vibes.




Another one with great cold, but saturated colour schemes is The Mist (another Netflix TV series). It also has some really nice shallow depth of fields,

Carrie, who is in the same small group as me for researching more into the Crewdson image, took an interesting view on the image which is slightly different to mine. She took bright colours of clothing from it and historic, traditional, antique buildings and rooms. She made a moodboard to illustrate the vibe and themes she took from the image:

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/carinaboult/crewdson-image/?fbclid=IwAR1iPdbUCs4M9yxEZyljalLvmfnis4RsNlR-GpKgCaJDJl6Wkdl9CNtYelg

I do agree and really like the idea of using pale colours such as browns, beiges, greens, whites, greys, yellows and also blacks in the production, costume and set design and also within the shots and colour grading process in post.

In terms of narrative, we could be thinking of, as mentioned before, a crime based narrative. Maybe revolving around one person or more about crimes been committed and how these one or more people are linked either by being victims of a crime that has caused suffering and trauma or been the ones who have caused the suffering and are now dealing with that guilt. The crime narrative of the show 'Unbelievable' is following a selection of women who live alone who have been raped by a mysterious serial rapist, broken into their homes while they are sleeping and then raped for hours on and off. 'The sinner' (in both seasons) follows individuals who have been illustratively set up to look like they are the committer of a crime that they actually are the victims of. First season was a woman in her 30s, 2nd season was a young boy aged about 13. The show untangles the truth of what really happened in the situation, how the individuals got easily presumably blamed for the crime but when actually there is a way bigger picture of the amount of individuals who committed these entangled crimes.

2001 Photo by Ralph Eugene Meatyard – Untitled 1962 

Photo by Diane Arbus – King and Queen 1970

Photograph by Hannah Starkey – Untitled 1997

Meeting 23rd of October
Diane Arbus photo:
notes:
cuts to the shot of strategy map
empires come and go
king and queen have prosperous empire.
turning point when it crumbles
As their empire grows they become even less happy, finding a coping mechanism
become selfish, money can't buy you happiness theme
being drunk
set can become peasantry
strategy board - objects moving

Hannah Starkey:
notes:
individual isolation
mimicks a film narrative style
her work has 3 emotional aims
anxiety, doubt or desire
being trapped in present
composition quite strange
being trapped
morphe trapped inside it, see another woman from a different background
women relationship, what it means
traditional womens roles keep coming in
all around her trapped in a world
bus shelter - starkey works with ordinary environments
setting of prison, not very challenging, exciting or creative
colourful and floral
narrative allows all departments to see womens repression
strong narrative, magazine acts as mirror
handmaid's tail, in a modern society
society has created a metaphorical lab rat environment
internal mind as a prison
sat at bus stop, reading through magazine, quite isolated place, waiting and waiting
reading it going through it, being absorbed in it, then in the waiting room, background is waiting room
magazine triggers her to
womens magazine
blatantly trying to be sexist
almost suggests them to be in a submissive role
oppressing women magazines
one woman is trying to break out
ends with two women at bus stop.
moth being trapped
people who relate and people who don't relate to it, e.g. males instead
outdoor set - inside - everything has to be in the studio - bus shelter
woman puts really ugly make up on, make up starts to rot, starts rotting her face
end of times apocalyptic
woman will get pretty to go out right now on a night out, wants to relive that, wants to reminisce
she's trapped inside
cosmopolitan is a new form of government
magazine is a relic from the past
woman at the end thinks its the new magazine
self reflection of herself as a woman
being in a different world, being in present looking forward, being in future looking back,

future is a smarthouse
undergone some sort of surgery
can't speak
his struggle to access this smart house
smart house doesnt speak, just produces words, having wall of holes, LED panel, combine cinematography and set design
man could interact with these holes without speaking to it
smart house could register him as an intruder
struggle just to turn this alarm off 

MAPS AND NETWORKS: Inspiration

John Akomfrah's 'Purple'

In the summer, I went on holiday to Boston for 2 weeks and I got the chance to visit the ICA in Boston (Institute of Contemporary Art). There was an exhibition going on at ICA Watershed led by a piece called 'Purple', an immersive six-channel video installation. It was drawn from hundreds of hours of archival footage, combined with newly shot film and a hypnotic sound score to address themes related to the implications of climate change across the planet and its effects on human communities, biodiversity and the wilderness. I really loved it. I loved the entire vibe and mood the piece created atmospherically and emotionally. It created a somewhat fearful, guilty, cold and melancholic, nostalgic vibe, a somewhat contradictory combination. The sounds are what brought the cold, fearful, guilty feel to the experience and the slow motion, colourful somewhat warm visuals brought the melancholic, nostalgic, blissful, emotional feel to the entire thing. It was interesting

Ryoji Ikeda - Test Pattern at Store X
This piece 'Purple' somehow links to this piece by having a collection of shots of landscapes (in this case space atmospheric views) playing one after the other extremely fast. It makes you feel in awe and inspired.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y7WZk_IVqI

MAPS AND NETWORKS: Brainstorm

As I was sitting in the lecture today a few ideas sprung to mind. Firstly, after watching
I thought of the idea of including the sound of voices alongside my video, of people saying irrelevant but relevant things, alongside music also. I definitely would like to include music into my video, interweaving diegetic sounds and music with the visuals.

I also had the idea in this lecture today of going big size wise with my installation piece, having multiple big screens or projecting over a building or something big i.e. a big object alongside, as I have said before, atmospheric or dynamic music and sounds. These ideas beckoned me after watching this studio demo reel video by Light Harvest:

https://vimeo.com/246203328

In terms of concepts, I was thinking of potentially looking at a person's perception of the world, by showing their point of view as if they're existence is merely used to be a watcher and aider of others. For example, showing the perspective of someone working in a supermarket, who is meeting and greeting people all the time, or in a bar where the bartender has to attend to every customer's needs and in some ways forget about theirselves in order to fulfil everyone's needs. I would be interested to show how this can affect someone's mental worth and view of themselves. This idea's legs also began from looking at Marc Isaac's 'Lift' where people start talking to him telling him about their lives. This is the same sort of way people treat shop assistants and workers who are there to primarily aid customers and make customers' day better. I find it interesting that people like to confide and discuss about themselves with strangers just to get things off their chest and to make other's days feel even just a bit better. This then branches out into the concept of human communication and connection.

A way in which this communication aspect would interlink well with the overlay of diegetic sounds of voices is by recording people speaking about normal things they would speak about to strangers like a shop assistant. These voices could play and linger around while the video plays on screen, this could even portray how these strangers stories linger in a bartender's/shop assistant's mind long or short afterwards. This relates to my own experience as working as a bartender and shop assistant, I speak to people every day, even if I don't start the conversation, others speak to me, confide in me, retell stories etc. I think, in general, I am a person who prefers to watch people interact around me than actually partake in conversation and interaction. I don't like to interfere or interrupt with it. Therefore I let others entertain and fill a part of who I am as a person.

Those who take the time out their life or day to ask or be interested about me fascinates me. It's interesting how connections form with others. This, you could say, connects to the maps and networks idea through how connections form and take place through interaction and intimacy. How one person could potentially interact with others in certain ways in order to feel something better within themselves.

I also thought of the concept of filming abstract movements or actions of things personified as feelings and thoughts.

mental state -
depression
anxiety
cold
water
blue
fragile
thin
ice
skin
naked body
beige
flowing
waves
current
connection

Another idea which has sprung to mind also is the idea of disconnection, which is the opposite of the other ideas I have mentioned. The route I would take is how people can disconnect themselves from the earth around them. People disconnect themselves in many different ways and for many different reasons. I could still use the diegetic sounds of peoples voices and warp them in ways i.e. how the voices in these sound like -

I want to include music, potentially warped and experimental, around these voices too. Visually I still want to incorporate multiple screens (minimum 3 screens), inspired by John Akromfrah's 6 screen 'Purple'. Another thing I liked about this piece is how some titles were included in between the landscape shots that had an entire purple background with just a tiny little white title in the middle. I liked how since the screens were so big and there were multiple of them, the purple lit the entire room. This got me thinking about lighting and how I want to incorporate it into my piece. I would say my piece would be a sound video installation. Another option is to make it interactive by asking questions to the viewer through titles or deciding to take the opposite route of sending a message and vibe to the viewer through aesthetics, visuals and sound.

PORTRAIT SERIES: Final Images

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The final 6 images of my portrait series mounted on the wall

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To present and explain my final portrait series I have decided to make a powerpoint presentation - 
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PORTRAIT SERIES: Final Concept

For my final concept I have decided to explore voyeurism on fantasised women in anime and sci-fi/cyber/futuristic/fantasy media which could be in the form of video games, manga, porn, films, comics or TV shows. I want to portray how this ongoing sexualisation of women in these forms of media makes real life women feel. These forms of media are targeted at predominantly males aged 15-25 (also males younger and older than this too). Since they are targeted at mainly men, many women (referring heavily to myself) view these and question themselves on whether they are good enough or living up to this standard. The portrayal isn't a correct one because real life women do not look the same. They are glamorised and dolled up to look like something to eat or take a bite out of, with perfect shiny flawless skin, legs, breasts, body shape and hair. 

EXP VID: Personal and Political Task Video

Here is mine and Elisa's personal and political task video - exploring the issues of social media, sexualisation of women, sexualisation/glamorisation of violence and torture of the female body and mental health issues.

Referring to the sexualisation of violence and torture of the female body, female bodily fluid and blood, on show, gets related to the period and birthing only the female body can perform. This then constitutes motherhood as something society is taught to be disgusted with, feeding into this patriarchal world. 

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