There’s a Thai film I’m familiar with called "Shutter" that’s to do with a photographer who has a disturbing past and finds that every time he takes a picture there is a disturbing ghost like figure lurking.
Having recently watched the American version, there was a specific scene I think could actually benefit my work in how they've done it. Instead of incorporating photography as a method of finishing my FMP, it could be a source of lighting.
I find it rather hard to find the clip that I'm looking for that would give an example of what I’m trying to put across, but a basic strobe like effect. A man in the studio finds himself stuck in a pitch black studio room on his own, with odd movements about him. In order to see he clicks the flash for this camera so that every now and then there is a burst of light. As the light flickers on and off you see the figure of a girl progressing behind him.
Though I'm not going for the horror feel that this film manages to put across in a blundering American kind of way, I thought it would be a good idea to do something like this for time. The camera could be in a steady place, staring into nothing but black, but every now and then there would be a flash of bright light, and a figure standing in front. As the piece progresses the figure gets older and older, seemingly going through generations, just to show how much time is fleeting.
There is always the chance that I can do it with a digital SLR camera and create it as a GIF as a practice for the idea in photography. It won’t be of a great standard but it allows me to manipulate the piece more for effects with the resources I have.
An Idea
With the aspiration to get into the University of my choice that combines two of my favourite subjects (Moving image and photography), I'm currently aiming to make a final piece using the two mediums.
I haven't quite decided how I'm going to do it, and I know there are going to be a series of experiments during the weeks I have to do my FMP before I can actually say " Its definately this", however my current thoughts on it is making a film through photographs.
I'd had an assessment yesterday with my tutor about my recent unit which I'd posted up pictures for, and it had been mentioned that my pictures were visually good and that my camera work needs to be up to that scale.
Thinking last night about how I could manipulate the studio in college to try and get the right lighting for whatever idea I may have. I'm starting to think maybe I'll use a series of photographs to create a short film, or possibly combine the two. Or even trying to use the lighting in the photography studio that I've become more familiar with to get certain effects in my film.
[Ref: "Film Final: Low Key Lighting, Directed by The Blue Group, 2009]
The above video is a thought of use for low key lighting. Though shadows will have been enhanced by the fact that its black and white, its a good demonstration of how low key lighting can be used for different things. I.e creating shadows to tell a story (which I've already done for another production) and even certain situations that people are familiar with for low key lighting.
The Relativity Of Time
I'm still unsure of what aspect of time I'm going to look at, there are many things that orientate around time along with theories and so forth, so its hard to pinpoint what I want to do.
Looking into short films for a source of inspiration for time, no matter the topic. I found this short (11 minute) film.
What if you died and were given an opportunity to go back to your body?The Relativity of Time explores the surrealist journey of a selfish woman who never had time for anyone, as she roams trough the land of the souls trying to prove worthy to go back to her body.This short film was shot in three days in two locations, one is a green, fresh and pretty place, and the other is a lifeless wasteland.Our biggest challenge while shooting was the constant flying of US Airforce planes and the strong desert sun.The sun rays were dealt with lots of sunblock, lots of water and by taking refugee in the Van we rented.On the other hand, airplane sound was registered on 70% of the shots we took, and took me days of work to get rid of in the editing room.This was a very exciting and international experience. There were 7 nations represented on set at all times, and communication was always great!
Director - Mauricio De la Orta - Mexico
CAST (in order of appearance)
* Mysterious Man - Aditya Nair -India* Winetka - Corina Hack - Switzerland* The Doctor - Andy Brosseau - USA imdb.com/name/nm2701359/
CREW* DP - Evangeline Avila - US / Mexico* AD - Sherezada Caballero - US / Mexico* 2nd AD - Alex Corkill - United Kingdom* PA - Aditya Nair - India* Sound - Yu Fujiwara - Japan
Produced by Westbridge UniversitySpecial thanks to NYFAShot at Los Angeles and Lancaster, CA. USA
[Ref: Mauricio De la Orta, 2010, Vimeo]
Back To The Past
Me and another student had spoken about ideas or photography shoots now that Unit 6 is over with, and looked into the 1930’s to 1950’s style of photography often found for portraits of celebrities. Specifically the thick eyebrows, beautiful full figured females and the obvious black and white theme.
This was a small "going back in time" project that had a quick turnaround as far as I was concerned.
[Ref: Audrey Hepburn on the telephone, Paramount Studios, 1953]
The above photo is the kind of image that I was looking at to bring out my own series of interpretations for that period (between 1930’s and 1950’s )
So dragging in a friend as my model with the full figure, and bringing in a hairdresser to do the hair that could be possible in that period of time, I set up the infinity curve with its beauty dish lighting like a previous shoot that I had done that I may post up.
With a little bit of editing to gain the dark shadows and darker parts of the model whilst trying to keep their skin flawless and pale, I finally finished with these images.
Holding A Piece Of Time
I'm getting the feeling I want to do something time orientated for my FMP, so I'm looking further into how people portray or capture time through the two favourite mediums that I like to use, photography and video.
For the moment I'm looking more into photography, seeing others views on what time is, and what they use to portray it. The picture I found that inspired me the most with its idea and the patience that must have come with it was this.
With the simple idea of watching a drop of water land on your hand and make a small pool of water that bounces, Micah timed how the frequent drops bounced off his hand, and then timed the shutter of the camera to the speed that it would take to get the perfect shot. Twenty shots later and he finally manages the perfectly clear piece that took perfect timing to get.
Catch Up
Its no lie that my work will lean upon the basis of work I've already done this year, as this blog is going to consist of ideas, what I'm doing and my progress, I might as well start with what I've done previously. Plus the initial idea previously posted about Irene Werning.
Recently we were given a unit to do that has to be the most free of the units I've done. It was in our hands what we did, and how we did it as long as we showed some sort of progression in our work and that we experimented and learnt from any mistakes possibly made.
Now I won't lie. Out of the three years that I've been spending doing media pieces, be it audio, video and even photography, I have never struggled with a unit as much as I struggled with this one.
The idea of this unit, was to create 3 pieces or more, obviously these weren't a definate number but it was as solid an amount as we were going to get. All of these pieces had to be based on the theme " Hope", " Fear" , and " Desire" and were to relate to a powerpoint that we had previously done.
My powerpoint was about what inspired my work, and that was the glamourised social realism that we find on our screens or in films, more famously in Danny Boyles film " Trainspotting" about heroine abuse, and a brazilian film entitled " City Of God"
[Ref: 'Trainspotting', Directed By Danny Boyle, 1996]
Because my powerpoint was orientated around this specific style, I was to do something simular for this unit. It was clear I wasn't going to make the new City of God, or Slumdog Millionaire, but you could make something of a much smaller scale that could be considered in the category of social realism.
Two pieces of the unit were film, which I'm hoping to post up once I get a hold of them from the edit suite in college, the other I can show.
I had applied to a film and photography course, as well as a TV course for university, so because there was photography involved in one of my choices, I felt it smart to do something photography orientated, though I'd never really need an excuse to get behind a digital camera in that studio and play around.
Inspired by Trainspotting and its blunt view on addictions, I wanted to portray addictions, at different stages and different types, from my own imagination.
Above is the addiction to sweets, or rather sugar. It's becoming increasingly known that some countries are suffering from obesity. It'd been America mainly for a long period of time, and has now grown to include Britain. There are many articles, posters, tv broadcasts and so forth that are giving people the hard and cold facts about the impact its having on everyone. Starting with adults suffering from obesity on a very dangerous scale, to those of a younger age, and it now spreading to teenagers and kids who are suffering from the same fate and ridicule.The main factor of this obesity will always come from what you eat, and there is nothing worse than orientating your diet around sugar, saturated fats and more. So in my picture I wanted to capture this, how these delicious looking treats, aren't as nice as they appear.I used low key lighting to bring out a darker feel to it, had it been normal lighting the viewer may have been confused by the bright colours and the sweet looking food as to why it could be concieved as a negative view, but I feel this dark background reinforces the severity of the situation I wanted to put across.
Next on my theme of addiction was nicotine. Its a frequent addiction in life that a lot of the population 'suffer' from. It can end up being the cause of death, and creates a huge dint in health budgets.
Again with the low key lighting, I felt it made the image darker, and gave it a more serious feel.
This picture is in the middle of the scale that I attempted to show through the series of 3 photographs. Where the sweets were the beginning of an addiction, hitting at a young age and later people suffering for it. This is one that could attack quicker, and no doubt will. The amount of cigarettes shows the severity of the addiction, where its not just one cigarette at a time, but many. If someone were to smoke like this for any length of time, it would be questioned how long they would survive doing so.
Final was the main " Trainspotting" inspired, with its abuse of heroine that had finally caught up to the abuser and had spiraled so out of control, that the only route was death.
The experimentation for this particular part of the unit had to come with the lighting, as it seemed to take a while to finally get the lighting and the effect that I wanted. Especially with the first style of photograph (the sweets) trying to get the hands and the arms in without getting everything else in and making sure all the surroundings were black, and then finding the right angles with all of them.
When I'd finished taking the photos I felt it could be bettered with photo manipulation in photoshop, which I found enhanced the meaning behind it and almost brought it more to life or made it more clear. More specifically the heroine photograph, enhancing the light around the body to make it resemble spotlights, as well as creating the marks on his arms to show what the story is behind the photo.
The Panic Begins!
Finally been told more about the Final Major Project, and figured it was about time that I started looking into what I wanted to do and where the ideas come from.
I recall most recently seeing a project that photographer Irina Werning took upon herself to do. A basic idea of " Back To The Future" where she will find an older picture of her model, whether it be a baby photo, or a school photo, and then re-create the scenario, the clothes and everything else to make it exactly the same bar the age, and you can see how much these people have changed.
I find the concept interesting. To see how people change, almost wishing you could find what causes some of these changes, what events they'd been through in their life and if they really thought they'd changed so much.
Though I'm unclear on exactly what I'm going to do with my FMP, I know this could easily have some influence in it, with its simplistic idea done well.
[Ref: Irina Werning, PANCHO IN 1983 & 2010, Buenos Aires, 2010]
I love old photos. I admit being a nosey photographer. As soon as I step into someone else’s house, I start sniffing for them. Most of us are fascinated by their retro look but to me, it’s imagining how people would feel and look like if they were to reenact them today... A few months ago, I decided to actually do this. So, with my camera, I started inviting people to go back to their future.
2010 ONGOING PROJECT...
by the way, this project made me realise Im a bit obsessive... [Ref: Irina Werning, http://irinawerning.com/back-to-the-fut/back-to-the-future/, 2010]
[Ref: Irina Werning, La Negra 1980 and 2010, Buenos Aire, 2010]
Rest can be found at http://irinawerning.com/back-to-the-fut/back-to-the-future/
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