The Exhibition Plan.

We started planning all the exhibition, painting boards and putting them up and so on. Deciding on the layout and speaking about who was going to go where, what they wanted and what they were going to put up if they had an installation, I ended up having a discussion with the tutor in an attempt to decide whether being in the room dedicated to film, presented as a cinema and shown as a projection would benefit my work more than showing it on a small screen with various other activities going around that could easily drag the audiences attention away.

It also occurred to me that the sound is going to be better, and the headphones that would have been good to use I put on loan to another student for his piece, which left me with very little options and all this seemed to go through my head it seemed that the answer was going to be pretty simple. 

So any plans that I had made for the installation, any progress that I had made with my book was put to a halt as I decided to go for the big projection in a room dedicated completely to pieces of work that needed your full attention, and won't be distracted by other pieces, would serve my piece to its full advantage.


This is how a piece of work evolves through experience, experimentation and trial and error.

The Final Appearance.

The above image is a picture from the screen that was currently showing my triptych whilst I was editing. As you can see the layout goes TV, celebrities and then football. I felt that it seemed to make more sense, the celebrity being in the middle was a definite,. They want to be the centre of attention, its what they aspire to be, to be loved by everyone and watched by those that love them.  So it made sense to put them in the middle, Football and TV didn't really seem to have much of a reason as to why they were placed where they were, other than when I reviewed the footage on my own computer from practicing, the layout of the TV, celebrity and then football seemed to look aesthetically pleasing. 

The Sound

Sound was always going to be something I had to be wary of in my piece. With three panels demanding attention, decisions had to be made about what parts needed more attention in certain places or how i was going to present the audio.


Previous plans had been to grab pieces of audio from the various clips that i had, and other clips that i could get for this sole purpose, grab segments of each and create my own message through the manipulation of pre-recorded audio, there were slight problems with this, the isolated sound that may not be loud enough to grab the audiences attention or even coincide with the idea of footage running against each other in a form of competition. I also found that some of the re-scribed footage that I had captured, with the audio being streamed into the camera from the computer, that some of the footage was out of sync and would therefore look odd if it were to be played on its own. It was a problem that had to be solved, and it wasn't until I'd played my test of the triptych with all its audio and listened to all 3 audio pieces being played at once, that I decided I liked the muffled sound that were spewing out of the speakers, overwhelming the audience with the whole sound and footage constantly changing.


Like many things in my project, this decision had to have a meaning, if i were to create a piece and have various lines of audio running at the same time to make an incoherent sound of people talking over each other, there had to be something behind it. 


In the world there are many religions, all saying the same things, be a good person, do good things for others, help each other, and don't kill each other. They all seem like the basic morals of a human being, but like many things where there is more than one found in the same area, all religions are crying for their voice and their beliefs to be heard, some a little more drastic in being heard than others.


In technology things are constantly competing to be bought, celebrities are constantly competing to be liked, and will slander against any other if that raises their popularity or at least destroy the competition, and of course football fans want to put across, time and time again, why their team is better than any other.


It all seems like a constant race to be heard, and to finally sway people in to thinking you're right. It's this that i wanted to put across in the audio. This idea that everything is trying to get your attention, and in doing so there is just this constant uproar of voices, singing and so on.


With the use of adobe audition to make the mix downs of the sound clips from the celebrity footage, or the TV footage, or the football footage, I managed to make a sound of constant chatter, constant noise, and constant need to be heard, though some channels may overpower others on occasion, I found that with this type of audio, through getting other students to listen to it, that the audience can in fact zone in and out of sides, they can listen to some of the TV if they so pleased, or even the celebrity parts.


It took various attempts at adjusting the sound in order to get the levels right I found that after a few play backs that the TV part of the sound seemed to be overwhelming other parts of the audio with its music etc, but having it on adobe audition in separate clips then as a whole as a mix-down, it made adjusting the levels a lot easier than attempting to do so in adobe premiere.

Problem Solving.

In an attempt to lower my own stress levels, and keep within the time limit given to finish off the piece of work, I wished to start editing out the piece of work I'd been previously planning on my own computer, I need to get onto the official editing suites in college that are of a better quality, in order to finally finish, if not make a huge dent, in my work.

I've previously retrieved footage off the computer over a period of time, finally it came to the time when I could edit and finally finish my piece once and for all, and with some time to spare for my sketchbook. 


Now previously I'd been using a different file type for things like the footage that I'd grabbed from the TV, and then converted it to work with Adobe Premiere, however it seemed that the task was not to be that simple when it came to using things from the internet.


The footage that I had gained from the computer was under the file type of MP4's, as there was little option for anything else, and it seemed the only ones that were available were for mobiles etc. After speaking to the technician in an attempt to sort out my problem, we found out that the programme he had specifically for converting files to work in Adobe, didn't support the file that I was attempting to change, which meant I had to use one of my own. And though it finally worked after many trials and putting videos through numerous times in order to get it to actually convert, I finally had the correct file, an AVI file. 

With the light at the end of the tunnel slowly coming to view, I attempted to place the files upon my USB and then onto the computer tower I was using to edit the footage. This in itself seemed rather time consuming, as converting the file seemed to more than double the size of any other, limiting the amount I could fit onto the USB and slowing my progress.


When it came to looking over the footage that I had, after finally converting the programmes with Prism, I realised that the quality had lowered so much that a lot of the footage became pixelated, unusable and out of sync, all due to the many attempts at conversions, compressions and then trying to raise the quality of an already low quality film. 


Going back to the original files, We were thinking about changing computer to one that holds a couple of different programmes that would allow me to work still without affecting the quality too much, however it again would take too many hours to do from sheer size and work that would be needed. Leaving me with very few options, the final decision made in an attempt to cease the problems, was to re-scribe the video piece, a suggestion offered to me by my tutor who'd had some history of doing it himself.


In order to re-scribe it meant that I had to set up a camera in front of a screen, which is playing the footage I wanted to use on my piece, and then film it from the camera, which seemingly gave it a better quality than it had on the screen. Re-scribing allowed me to edit on the current computer I had grown accustomed to using. It also seemed to blend more into my work, recording off the very screen that people worship just seems to re-inforce my statement that it seemingly solves many problems in life, helps people in their time of need and not forgetting is a good use of escapism for those with the need to live another life. 


Re-scribing also allowed me to do a basic edit of the footage I wanted. Going through each clip that I had on the hard drive, I had to make an editing decision on what footage I wanted, needed, and what would be best served for my piece and how it would look in the end, all this giving me more creative influence on footage used.

A problem in the process.

To make things a little easier I aimed to get footage for my piece of work from both the TV and the internet, allowing me  a  vast field of footage, information, and messages that I could cut up, place together all in aid of creating my own message. 

However I've been struggling to find a suitable programme to retrieve the footage off the computer. There had been various reviews, suggestions etc that I had looked at to see which programme would be the best. After following many of the suggestions put to me, I am still struggling to find an adequate programme.

The main problem was with quality, even with a lot of these programmes set at its highest quality, I find that the footage jumps, though the sound remains unaffected, and when the footage jumps it becomes pixelated, which will affect the quality of the work over all, even if the images won't be on a huge scale on the screen. 


It seemed logical to assume that recording off the computer screen would lower the quality, as well as struggling every now and then with other programmes to deterime the output of the audio (as some programmes record off the microphone of the computer, therefore picking up all the noises of my surroundings and making it harder for the audio of the video to be picked up).  Therefore, I deemed it better to find a programme that allows you to download current footage used on the web-platform. Upon further research I finally managed to find a programme, which I have checked the playback of, and found it a decent quality that shouldn't affect the outcome of my project, as well as using the original audio file that comes with the video, and not recording it off your computer with all the background noise that could occur. The next task that should bring me closer to the end of my project is converting the files to work with Adobe Premiere, and then placing the pieces of footage in the time line originally planned and practiced on.

The exhibition.

Sticking to my current plan of having the piece of work I aim to create as an installation, reinforced with a bible like book in front of the viewer upon a lectern, giving off physical religious vibes, I'd arranged a carpenter to specially make a lectern for my piece of work, one that was the correct height, had a little design within it, stained wood etc that my bible could rest on open and the audience could then just skim through the book during, before, or after the piece. 

I was very pleased to find that thanks to early planning I finally have part of my exhibition , a finished lectern piece, specially put together and stained for my use. 

Another Choice In Found Footage

Green Street 

[Ref: "Green Street Hooligans", Directed by Lexi Alexander, 2005]

Green Street, released 2005, is a British/American independent drama film about football hooliganism in England. The idea of the film is to show another culture, an american college student, suddenly being chucked into the deep end of the West Ham football firm, who spectates their commitment to each other, to football and what they believe in, and is morally transformed.

I felt the film was a good example of where worship comes into football. The lengths that people will defend their beliefs. People supporting certain teams can take it as a personal insult when they lose, hooligans can become aggressive, and will fight for their team until they die.

The opening scene, in a way, reminded me of a great religious battle. Opposing sides taunting and mocking and finally having a battle with each other, seeing who's worthy enough to come out on top, but creating complete chaos around them.

It also supports the idea that the support of a team is passed down in generations. In the story you have brothers, both sharing the same past of hooliganism, the support of a team taken to the extreme of violence, and death.

Both the footage and the chant of West Ham team that is frequently sang within the film, with fierceness and undying support in it, I feel would benefit my piece. When it comes to editing, if i were to use specific scenes, I'm hoping that the audience won't have to watch the film to understand what the idea is behind having the footage involved in my overall piece.

A Choice In Found Footage

Lady Gaga

[Ref: Lady Gaga, Front cover of single ' Judas', 2011]

With my new idea under way, to use found footage, I began to scope through various types of footage that I think would be suitable for my piece. That’s when the newest ‘Hot’ celebrity popped up onto my TV screen singing one of the many famous songs “Bad Romance”. No other than the “Mother Monster” herself, Lady Gaga.

Over a period of time, she’d been striding her way into the public eye, getting noticed and becoming a stand-alone icon of worship and inspiration. Known for her eccentric music videos, and further eccentric style of fashion. It’s become hard not to notice her existence, and a further struggle to fall into the category of appreciative fan, whether it be for her music, her creativity, or her bravery for half of the clothes, make up, accessories, and hairstyles she wears.

 If there was ever a celebrity to be classed as the closest to a religious idol, Lady Gaga is striding forth to that title in bright colours, and catching the world by storm. With the amount of publicity that is heading her way currently and no doubt will in the future, and seemingly being this generations biggest influence in pop  music ( other generations having ‘The Beatles’ , ‘Prince’ , etc. )                 

Some footage of her, back stage, on stage etc, felt almost compulsory. Luckily for me she was doing one of the biggest shows of her life, one that she herself had been building up to and dreaming about on her way to the top. In her realisation of her dreams, the footage of the show, covered by HBO, involved backstage footage of her speaking to her friends in confidence, as well as her big show in front of thousands of people. It gave the audience, able to watch the HBO cover, an insight into her true feelings, her background and this ability to relate to her before you see her in front of millions showing her talent. 

Large shows like this are a very good example of worship. People pay a lot of money, the bigger the show the more you pay, to spend hours after hours listening to them, staring up at them and pretty much worshipping them. The hysteria of being star struck catches on through the crowd and one can't help but be swept away by it all. 
With its clear relationship to worshipping, and Lady Gaga's rising popularity, it seemed more than apt to have her within my piece of work, simply to reinforce the idea to the audience. 

A Change In Ideas

Previously I’d gained some footage from the TV that I attempted to make into a triptych as an experimentation to understand how the editing works and how the look can be achieved.

Upon reviewing the footage, and having it played side by side, it came to my attention that it held a certain appeal; it seemed more eye-catching than the previous idea of silhouetted figures, inspired by Daniel Askill. For a second opinion I grabbed one of the tutors in order to see if the aesthetically pleasing look was the same for them, seemingly the turn out was the same, and the idea was put across that I use found footage to bring forth variety and larger amounts of footage.  

With the new plan going ahead, I aim to put across the feeling of worship through different aspects of my subjects. Previously mentioned with my editing experimentation, I aimed to get an array of programmes for TV to put across the idea that the public would watch anything, and a lot of the programmes that we do watch and surround us have the purpose of escapism. There are other programmes that act as a guide to how people should live their lives, dress etc. These are the certain types of TV footage that I wanted to get, as I feel it links to the Bible. The Bible acts as a guideline on how to live a full life and to be a good person, the modern form of a bible is more about self-image, a way of living and how to behave, or rather how not to behave (I.e. programmes like Big Brother that seem fond of showing people at their worst and most stupid.) 

I'd spoken to one of the tutors about footage that could be gained and took the suggestion of what kind of footage I could get, specifically for football. Within the discussion I had to consider what message I was trying to put across about football and how I was going to show it. Taking all possibilities into consideration, I had to make a decision on whether I show crowds being happy, chanting, whether I show hooligans and violence or whether I were to just show the highlights of football (mainly scoring goals.)
I had to stick to my original idea of showing worship, and with that in mind I was shown various pieces of footage available online and on TV, that would allow me to show football crowds at their best and worst, how far they go in their 'religious' beliefs ( painting their bodys, tattooing themselves, to the further extremes of all out gang fights with other teams nationally and internationally.) 

And finally Celebrity footage will orientate around such things as red carpet scenarios, premieres and even golden globes, showing celebrities when they're celebrated for their roles in the media, and also delving into the idea that these celebrities are idolized, stalked, copied, set as heroes in peoples eyes etc. Putting across the idea that people set celebrities as their gods. 

As far as my piece is concerned, I felt that using TV as a source would also reinforce the theme of TV as one of the styles of triptych. With the ideas that are going to go into the type of footage that I want to get , and why, I feel that footage gained will convey a better and more stronger meaning behind my piece than my original plans.

The Book

Todays activity has been in aid of the exhibition. In an attempt to spread it all out evenly so I'm not rushing any of the aspects of my work, I'm spending time doing my sketchbook and the "Worship" book for my exhibition, and spending week days in college doing production stuff.

We had a talk with the main art tutor about the exhibition space that is available to us, and had some suggestions on the way we could set it out. Whilst this talk was going ahead, I began to draw out a plan of my exhibition. There was a choice of having it separated via an installation or having the piece on a show reel with other film pieces. 

As shown in the above image, my idea for the set up of the triptych is in an installation, as I feel it strays from the conventional documentaries, films etc that are going to be put together on show reels, and also isolates the audience, giving a clear sign that this shouldn't be treated as another film on the show reel, but rather an experience. 

As explained within the image above, the installation allows a border to be around the screen. With a screen to host the film piece, the audience will stand in front of a lectern, with the worship book placed in front of them, allowing their attention to switch between book and screen, that will hopefully fill in any questions that may be asked about the piece, including a synopsis etc.

A lot of my focus today has fallen upon little details that will make the book seem like the  bible. Many bibles and books from medieval periods in time begin their sentences or pages with Illuminated Lettering. A style of lettering commonly using gold and black, with designs either in the shape of a letter, within the letter, or around the letter.

The next little details come with the style of writing. Hand written as they often were, those who wrote a bible or created them, wrote in calligraphy style. Through various tutorials either online or in a specially bought calligraphy style book, with the correct apparatus, I'm aiming to mimic the style as shown below from an example of a bible page from the Marazin Bible, however the style that I will end up writing in  the book may have a more modern feel, to keep up the feel that this piece is a modern take on an ancient custom (worshipping).

And finally, the main detail is the book front cover. Getting a leather style front cover was the main detail that I wanted for the book, basing the front cover of many leather bound books i.e. the old style English Dictionary, and even Adam Douglas Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy black leather bound book with embossed golden writing. I feel as much detail as possible needs to be put into the book, giving it an air of credibility and enhancing the realism that the book is genuine, though it won't have the clear wear and tear like it's a book that has been read frequently. 

This is the current state of the front cover, a leather bound effect is wrapped around the original book with a seem across the spine to make it look more authentic. " Worship" is to go across the front cover of the book in embossed gold lettering, keeping the cover simple and minimal. 

Experimental Editing

In an attempt to understand how to edit a triptych, and have more of an understanding of why its crucial to measure when filming so I'm aware of how to edit, I've began to practice on editing the triptych on my own.

The above image shows an example of the effect you can gain from cropping video footage. I'd recorded off the HDD DVD Recorder that records directly from TV. I had a small problem with getting the recordings from the TV onto DVD, I asked the technician what the best dvd disk would be to use, and he suggested the DVD-RAM would work better than the current DVD -R that I had bought specifically for the job.

I used Adobe Premier for the purposes of editing.

The pieces of footage that I got off the TV at the time were various little clips. I felt I had to make it clear which topic was which, I did however struggle to find something specifically about TV, so as a general thing, I recorded programmes that are often popular on TV (I.e. News, Game shows, Sitcoms, Chat shows, and Make-over programmes.) As for celebrity programmes, I found a documentary on Michael Jackson, A brief outline of celebrity " goings on " through a quick 5 minute news flick. And a message made from singer Lady Gaga, to the public about Japan. And finally football is covered through a short documentary presented by Sir Alan Sugar, and a brief small league football match.

Following the above experimentation and putting the new learnt skill to use, I created a triptych and had it play when cropped. Without adjusting clips, just cropping them, meant that some of the image would be cut, and that a lot of the programme would be missing. It gave me an idea of how accurate I'm going to have to be with my images and make sure that they're all in the right measurement to make editing a little easier for myself. 

Finally, with a better understanding of what I can achieve, and looking at a tutorial on cropping etc, within adobe premiere, I was able to adjust according to the general layout of a shot. When it came to looking at the footage, I found a lot of the action  happened within the middle of the shot, allowing me to crop down to the middle as much as possible and then move it along with the use of the "motion" option. 

It's all really been beneficial, giving me an insight to how much can be done to get the triptych effect, and that quite a lot is resting on the idea that I measure it up properly. It's also made it clear how I want it to be set out, the neat black border between the three clips gives it a more formal and professional appearance.

It had been made clear, through the practicing on my own computer, that a laptop may be able to handle the programme but would possibly lower the quality of the footage due to lack of system tools/space etc. So I aim to be using this computer as a tool of practice and setting out the footage that I want playing at specific times, so when it comes to editing the process can be made shorter and planned. 

Timetable for this week

It's getting to the point where I can't be wasting any more time on research and building up on stuff , I can do this at home.

 I've started to look into experimentation. I have been going into the photography studio, seeing if I can film there and learned that I can't, but I can borrow the flash head which is almost vital to the celebrity piece. 

As i looked upon the timetable previously made that highlighted how little time I have left on this project, I made this attempt at controlling all the time that I spend on my FMP. Though things may change during the week that could postpone one production or change the outcome of another, it's at least a start on planning everything and pushing this production forward. 

Already there is a bit of a hiccup in my project that I feel I have to note as it affects the outcome of one of the pieces of footage. 

Previously I'd been speaking to a local football team in an attempt to gain someone with the athletic background behind them, giving them an air of credibility, to perform a couple of football tricks that I could film. However this plan fell through, leaving me with little time to find someone else without it affecting the quality of the shoot. 

Now I simply plan on having the football and footballer in view, as he moves the ball about switching from foot to foot and turning like he's dodging other footballers. Though it might not be as impressive as football tricks, it still seems obvious that this is a footballer, and the lack of detail allows the audience to believe that this is someone famous. 

Storyboards

I've finally managed to finish up a storyboard that I'm happy to show after the 2 other attempts made this week. Previously I'd been toying with idea's on what I wanted to portray and what I wanted to use to put it across. However, thanks to Daniel Askills advert for a shower, in the style of a triptych, I've managed to narrow down the style that I want to achieve and thus narrow the research required to build up a good enough storyboard.

As you can see from the storyboard, the figures are in a specific colour on a black background, this is due to the fact I want low key lighting for my film, and the silhouettes of the characters are going to have a coloured glow that will relate to what they represent (i.e green for sport, red for glamour/romance and white for technology/electricity) 

Within the text of the storyboard, its all rather basic explanations of what's happening within this and even relates to some research previously done specifically for the storyboard (i.e. the celebrity poses)

I think that it's a clear basic storyboard, that doesn't hold much detail in it, but due to keeping the context as simple as possible for a rather complex presentation, I wasn't expecting a lot of detail to go into it. 

There isn't a variety of shots either within the storyboard, in fact its all just a full length shot, this is again due to the inspiration created by Daniel Askill's piece, with his simplistic advert that was shot really well. 

Research Celebrity Poses

In order to get a better understanding of the poses that a lot of the audience will associate with celebrities, and also giving the celebrity mimicking footage an air of credibility, I looked into common poses when celebrities are confronted with a red carpet situation. It's often found that they simply stand and pose for the camera for their little bit of publicity and to show off their new designer dress, allowing the designer to gain some publicity as well. 

Looking through various magazines, images etc that showed celebrities posing for the camera, I managed to narrow down the most common poses found. 

 

[Ref: Photos: Lisa Rinna (top right) & Debbie Matenopoulos (bottom left), Feb 10, 2008, Credit - Frazer Harrison.

Camilla Belle - "Push" Premiere (bottom right)] 

The above page is dedicated to a pose that commonly involves one hand resting on the hip, the other hanging down their side and more commonly crossing their legs close to the ankle. Further research told me that this particular pose allowed the celebrity to look slimmer, more lean, have a smaller waist and elongated and slim legs. 

[Ref: Dakota Fanning (Top right) - Movie Premiere "Push" 

Giuliana Ranic (Bottom Left) - Feb 10, 2008. Photo credit- Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Hayden Panettiere (Bottom Right)  - August 2008 - Whaleman Foundation Benefit]

 This is your standard pose, demonstrated by the three named celebrities above. There's a variation in angle, but they all seem to be of a relaxed and composed nature. With a slight bend at the knee, arms by their sides, it seems the most frequent users of this pose seemingly have a strapless dress. The slight bend of the knee would cause weight to shift and their hips to move slightly to one side, giving the effect of a more curved figure. 

[Ref: Megan Fox (Top left) - Getty Images

Lisa Rinna (Bottom Left) - Grammy Awards - Credit: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Kellie Pickler (Bottom Right)  - CMA Awards - Photocredit: Ed Rode]

This is a more mysterious and alluring pose that the three are demonstrating above. Hands on hips to make the waist smaller, clingy dresses to show off the hour glass figure, and a " come hither" look over the shoulder that makes the photographer and the public want more.

[Ref: Emmy Rossum - Photo credit: Bill Davila/Startraks

Christina Aguilera - Photo credit: Jason Merrit/Filmmagic

Jessica Simpson - Photo credit: Axelle/Bauer-Griffen]

In the style of the 1920's where the Charleston was popular and flapper dresses were worn ( a style of which is being worn by Emmy Rossum). It brings back a classic period of time, thus a classic pose. This is a more quirky pose, which there a lot of. Each celebrity has their own signiture pose, i.e. Miley Cyrus and her 'peace' sign. Or Lindsey Lohan and blowing kisses. 

[Ref: Fearne Cotton (Top right)  - "Glamour" Magazine - Photographer: Walter Chin (April 2011 issue)

Victoria Beckham (Bottom Left & Right) - "Glamour" Magazine. - Photographers: Pacific Coast News/Getty Image]

Another standard pose with the hand on the hips, to frame the waist, to show curves and so forth. Many females who are doing said pose somewhat lean to one side, giving off a sign of 'attitude'. It's a good standard pose that I've used previously when doing photoshoots, and a pose I think a lot of people tend to just fall into when having their photo taken, possibly, due to being surrounded by it in magazines etc.

A move forward.

In an attempt to move forward with my FMP, I've been building up idea's that I intended to pursue. Coming up with a storyboard, shot list, and how I wanted them to be set for the upcoming exhibition. 


The original idea was to make a visual three screen piece, that could be used as a panoramic view, building on that and looking at other examples, I've seen combinations of the two being used. Based on the variations of religious triptych's that came to my attention, I wanted to make a modern form of worship through the use of TV as opposed to paintings. 


Though humanity is separated through different beliefs, religions, and morals, we all share similar forms of worship, when it comes to celebrities, football, and technology. People often follow these three examples like they're religious icons. Celebrities have various things dedicated to them, people making them their idol, and even stalkers. Footballers have those who follow them in every match, they create their own chants, have their own special 'uniform' dedicated to them and are often followed religiously in matches and in life, they even have buildings dedicated to them. And finally technology,  or rather TV. It's used for all mediums, it's everywhere, and specifically TV is used for socializing, a gathering of people small or big, many if not all people own some form of technology, especially a TV,  and whenever a new item comes out (colour, then HD, now 3D ) everyone wants it.


Through studying red carpet scenarios I'm hoping to develop enough of an insight into the presence of a celebrity when faced with thousands of fans in one, as well as the press. To re-create the scenarios I wish to use Low key lighting and photography flash head to stand as a photographs flash when taking a photo. There will be spurts of light as the celebrity poses for the camera, however when the light isn't flashing the figure will be made out by a silhouette so the screen isn't switching between pitch black and bright flashes that would stun the viewer and make it hard for eyes to adjust. 


As for football I'd like to stick to the low key lighting and the silhouette shape so that little features that wouldn't give off little details that could destroy suspense of disbelief. Like many of the adverts that I've seen, that use footballers to sell their merchandise, I'd want said 'footballer' to be doing ball tricks, i.e. bouncing the ball off their knee etc. If the figure was too dark to see the ball or what they were doing, I'd have them stood sideways so you could make them out better. There is a problem with equipment when it comes to a ball, I'd try to keep the actions as minimal in movement as possible whilst making it obvious this is a footballer.


Finally technology, with the use of a TV and some static, I aim to push across to the audience that no matter what is on, people will sit there and watch it even if it's boring, as its something that they can see visually. The same goes for a various amount of technology. No matter what the media bring out technology wise, and no matter the reviews ( whether it works or not, whether its good at what it suggests it does and so on) people will still buy it, and they buy it for style, and suddenly forget what life was like without said product.


Starting next week, I'll be adjusting the lighting and doing practice shots to make sure that I understand what I can and can't achieve, and also begin adjusting the presentation for the exhibition.

The current plan is to set up a book much like a bible, with the words " worship" embossed on a leather cover, which I've already managed to get. And have it set on a lectern which a carpenter is making for me, this is all to push across the worship ideas that triptychs are often associated with.

Storyboards.

I've been touching up, working on any storyboards that I hadn't done for some of my ideas. It turned out it was easier to plan everything and set it all out if i considered the pieces to be 3 separate experimental pieces as opposed to one big one.


In my sketchbook I wrote down two ideas with another that's still to be formulated a little better, set out what I wanted to do, how it was going to be presented and the storyboard, as well as the exhibition layout. (Pictures for my sketchbook will follow after this post)


First 3 storyboards were for the multiple personalities idea I put as my starting point.

The next lot of storyboards was for another idea i'd been working on, based on worship. 

Work

Just to establish I am working even if i havent blog posted for a while. The above image shows one page of many within my sketchbook, this particular page briefly explaining an idea that I wished to put forward.

After my presentation, there were various ideas that I felt had to be planned and put forward. The "Time" aspect of my first proposal wasn't received as the best part of the idea, my plan was, therefore, to set out some ideas. 

Briefly, detail it out in a mind map and finally narrow it down to 2-3, creating a synopsis, inspiration, style, how its going to be achieved, storyboard and finally the exhibition layout. 

Mr Francis Thompson

Filmmaker Francis Thompson paved the way for  " Larger-than-life" Imax movies, with his multi-screen films. 

With research into multi-screen productions, his name came up for an Academy Award winning three-screen documentary entitled " To Be Alive!" that glimpsed at the lives of children in Italy, Africa and America, which was shown at the 1964-65 New York World's Fair.

Mr. Silleck described ''To Be Alive!'' as a simple film that sought to convey the joy of life, and he said the multiscreen projection, while not a new technique, inspired the Canadian filmmakers who went on to create Imax films, the big-screen shows that seem to bring the audience into the film.   [Ref: Francis Thompson, 95, Whose Films Inspired Imax, New York Times, 2003]

 It was said that his film was designed to celebrate the common ground between different cultures by following how children in various parts of the world mature into adulthood. The production was shot over an 18 month period in locations across the United States, Europe, Asia and Africa. 

In the screening of the production, he used three separate 18-foot screens which, unlike Cinerama that joins three screens into a single unbroken entity, they were separated by a foot of space. 

The production was only available for public screening in the Golden Rondelle Theatre in Wisconsin, and occasionaly shown in retrospective tributes to co-director Alexander Hammid, and there is currently no home video or DVD Release of the production. 

I think the thing that intrigued me most was the sense of social realism that this production seems to hold. Like many of my previous pieces, it's about real things that happen, however, shown in a documentary style and not an experimental film. 

The production and presentation for this specific piece seemed quite a good idea, allowing the audience to watch one panel, and then the following two afterwards and be able to compare and pull a message from it. It's definitely a piece that deserves the audiences attention, and its that that I want to put into my work. To make it worth watching. 

Unseen Cinema

Featured in the dvd pack of " Unseen Cinema - Early American Avant-Garde 1894 - 1841 " I found a triptych film that lasted 5 minutes and seemed to be older than Gance's 'Napoleon' that had been previously mentioned in one of my posts. 


"In Youth , Beside The Lonely Sea" (1925) Is a short Avant-Garde film that alternates between the panoramic view to three seperate screens. It's made for the poem of the same title by Thomas Bailey Aldrich, with music by Edvard Grieg. 

[Ref: "In Youth, Beside the Lonely Sea", Unknown Director, Thomas Bailey Aldrich's poem, 1925]

In the center panel, a young man muses on the seashore where mermaids beckon, then he walks through the woods, accompanies by Titania's fairy brood. He's then shown as a grown man, walking a city street where temptation and dissolution teem. Those images from his youth keep him away from sin. Then, alone in a bed sit, we see him old, with a bottle, despair, and fading memories. The fairies try a last visit. The words of Aldrich's poem appear above and below the triptych 

[Ref: "In Youth, Beside The Lonely Sea", J.Hailey, 1925] 

 The idea that the triptych is based on a poem really interests me. A poet that has influenced me and still does is William Shakespeare, and I think if i were to follow this idea of a poem or even a monologue, It'd be Shakespeare that would influence the contents. 
So if there is anything that this little piece, I was lucky to find, has given me, it's a path/idea that I could follow for my FMP.

FMP Schedule

Its something I hope will help me keep my time better. Though I've been doing little things such as reading up on some library books i'd taken out recently, I probably haven't been progressing right now as much as I should have been.
I've tried to keep the schedule as do-able as possible, There is always the possibility for change, but, its a schedule, I do want to try and keep to as much as possible.

Nam June Paik

I have just realised, that whilst I was searching high and low for artists and film makers that had presented their pieces as triptychs, I had been to see one, in exhibition, not too long ago.

Nam June Paik, the creator of fluxus and well known for his installations involving technology, mainly televisions, could be considered my main inspiration for this piece of work I aim to create for my FMP. 

Known for his pieces "Family Of Robot", "Video Buddha" and " Tv Garden", I recall a piece that instantly captivated me by sheer scale as soon as I walked into the exhibition. 

"Internet Dream" made in 1994 it was said that he was experimenting with what the internet may bring to our life. Not cinematic or narrative, it was intentional in their look (fragmented). 

[Ref: "Internet Dream", Steffen Harms, 1994]

Looking at that piece of work truly set me up for the rest of his work, but seeing it in such a large scale, in a dark room with others wondering around, soundless apart from the noise coming from his pieces, made me stand there and wonder what message he was trying to convey. If there was anything I wanted to do with my piece of work, that I can take away from his exhibition, would be to take the audience a little out of their comfort zone, to make them stand there for a while and try to put their own meaning to my work, not just trying to put across my own meaning.

Because I have found that some television programmes and especially with some films there is a tendencey to  spoon feed the audience when its not necessary, I want the audience to use their brain when watching and it not just be a form of entertainment. 

Inspired by Nam June Paik, I want my piece to provoke my audience to think about what they're seeing, both whilst they're there and when they're away from the piece.