Mason Mayfly Foundation Media Production: Developmental Stage

Testing: Smartphone Photography with Nico

Task: Take 10 abstract photos not including people.

My theme is 'Decay leading into new life' for this project, and the strain within this that I was exploring was Periods and Period Shame/Stigma. I used this photography session to explore these themes through an abstract format.

• Took the above as practise
• First was experimenting with my phones manual settings
• Other two were experimenting with inanimate subjects, perspective and zoom

• Increased contrast to create separation between white layer (back of mannequin) and black mannequin
• Upped the warmth and skin tone to make the white mannequin have more of a skin-like texture
• Taken to show differences in culture can single out people who menstruate

• Edited to highlight more of a dirty yellow
• Increased contract exaggerated the creases in the fabric at the waist and the pimple-like bumps across the butt area of the mannequin
• Taken to show hormonal changes [bloating- creases in fabric, bumps- hormones can increase spots/acne] that come with menstruation that are often labelled 'dirty' or 'wrong' (hence the dirty effect of the editing)

• Edited to make the 'executive' writing that has been covered more prominent
• Increased exposure and highlights to exaggerate the fluorescent lighting above
• Took away warmth, increased blue tone and added some vignette to give the photo dimension but also to give it some edge
• Taken to show the effects of executive dysfunction (difficulty with completing tasks, planning and time management) in neurodivergent people [bright light- pressure of task that needs to be completed, executive covered up- lack of ability to complete task]

• Increased exposure and white tone to exaggerate white line
• Increased black tone, but lowered shadows, to focus the photo on the light
• Tinted the line blue by lowering warmth to -100 and increasing blue tone to 100
• Taken to represent hue in menstrual blood, stigma has meant that the colour of period blood is not talked about as openly as it should, dark blue/purple blood shows low oestrogen levels and often comes paired with clots.

• Increased exposure and white tone to exaggerate white line
• Increased black tone, but lowered shadows, to focus the photo on the light
• Tinted the line red by increasing warmth to 100 and increasing pink tint to 100
• Taken to represent hue in menstrual blood

• Taken as a liminal, layered space
• Edited for a dream-like effect, making it seem otherworldly
• Increased whites and highlights, but decreased shadows and black tones, while adding some pink tint to create this effect

• Took this shot from to top of the water tank looking down
• Edited to exaggerate the blueness associated with water, increased blue tone and decreased warmth

• Shot of inside of folded paper
• Added some warmth, decreased contrast and increased white highlights to create a tactile softness about the image
• Taken to represent that soft cosy feeling of being under blankets when on one's period

• Shot through hole in a locker, reminded me of a pin point camera
• Edited to give a hazy dreamy effect, increased whites and lowered blacks slightly, also increased saturation
• Taken to show an amalgamation of body types via the mannequins and break the stereotype that all women menstruate, for one not all do (PCOS, menopause) and secondly not everyone who menstruates identifies as a woman

• Shot through hole in a locker, reminded me of a pin point camera
• Edited to give a hazy dreamy effect, increased whites and lowered blacks slightly
• Taken to challenge the stigma surrounding periods that they take away innocence and purity, the black mannequins contrasting the white pockets of purity

• Shot through hole in a locker, reminded me of a pin point camera
• Lowered black tone and shadow to -100 giving the purple effect when I upped the pink tint and warmth (used to created the red tint)
• Added slight vignette to add depth
• Taken to represent hue in menstrual blood, stigma has meant that the colour of period blood is not talked about as openly as it should, dark blue/purple blood shows low oestrogen levels and often comes paired with clots, the red blob, (cage like frames represent how period stigma can entrap people who menstruate .

Reflection: This photography task was very helpful to me in opening my mind to abstract and non-linear concepts. It helped me to detach the ideas I had from human and animal subjects and started helping me to learn how to attach them to insentient notions such as colours and objects. I had a lot of fun in editing with manipulating the colour to fit my theme. Overall, this was a useful bit of primary research and I will continue to experiment with colour, perhaps more along the lines of ink.

Self-Study Session: Research + Planning (08/11/22)

Primary Research: Survey

Primary Research: Interview

I conducted an anonymous in person interview on the topic of that person's experience with their period.

I found this had a very similar response and feeling towards periods that I saw in my primary research survey. However, this was still a very useful interview as it gave a more personal insight into the experience. It also further solidified my narrative that periods are a difficult experience for the people who have them.

Secondary Research

Colours of Periods

• I find periods are stereotypically represented with a bright red colour
• however, when on my period I experience many shades of blood
• I feel this presentation in media is damaging to youth with less access to menstrual education
• can lead them to believe their normal period colours (like dark red or black/brown) are weird/wrong
• alternatively lack of educating on the topic could even lead them to miss the signs of a health concern
• wanted to do research into the different colours of periods, thus this guide
• bright red: indicator of good menstrual health, won't look the same as a cut as period blood is different the blood pumping in our veins, fresh healthy shade of red, indicates good balance of oestrogen and progesterone, organs are functioning correctly
• deep/dark red: menstrual hygiene product needs changing, blood had time to dry, can also signal end of period as darker red blood can be an indication of uterine lining shedding
• black/ dark brown: progesterone levels may be low (eat foods rich in vitamin B), can appear at the start of cycle as leftover blood from last cycle, if progesterone levels are low body can't fully shed uterus lining, so some will stay behind until next cycle
• light pink: eat more protein rich foods, maybe consult your doctor, light (quick) periods are not actually all that good, can indicate oestrogen levels are low, recurring light cycles can indicate vitamin and nutrient deficiencies which can put bones and heart at risk
• Dark purple/ Blue: may have too much oestrogen, eat fibre more often (daily), flax is very good for breaking down oestrogen
• Orange: visit your doctor, can be blood or vaginal discharge, abnormal consistency or smell

• wanted more context for orange blood
• period can also carry out cervical fluid with blood, mixes to create a reddish orange
• orange discharge may by yellow or brighter orange
• usually means experiencing vaginal discharge with normal period, not usually needed to cause alarm
• can occur on first day of period when residual thick white discharge mixes with first day of blood
• can indicate a pregnancy
• can indicate finishing period, flow is slowing down, oxygenation of blood can change its colour
• it can be normal, however distinctly orange discharge may be something else
• orange discharge that happens between period is more concerning
• see a doctor if you have symptoms of itching or burning (can indicate an STI) OR foul smell (can indicate bacterial vaginosis, itching and burning also a symptom of this)
• should also see a doctor if you are pregnant and experience orange discharge to check everything is healthy
• orange blood normally doesn't require any special attention, can use more gentle hygiene products if worried about infection

• this was mostly to cross check what I had seen in this first guide
• interestingly it includes grey blood, which I hadn't seen before
• grey blood can usually be a sign of bacterial vaginosis or other infection
• other sign of infection are a foul smell, burning when peeing and itching
• bv usually treated with antibiotics, so consult a doctor
• if you have recurring bv, you can get a prescription directly from the pharmacy each time however consult a doctor about this if it is recurring, most cases are not - prior knowledge I have [my pcos led to me having excruciatingly painful bv for an entire year to the point I was constantly having to leave school because I could not function]
• grey discharge with blood clots/tissue can indicate a miscarriage
• other symptoms of miscarriage: cramping and pain in lower tummy

Reflections

• I learnt lots of new information
• I did not know nearly half of those period colours were even a possibility, I initially saw periods as shades of red but there are a lot of other colour to know
• I have had menstrual cycle education, and they did not teach this at all
• menstrual education needs to be more in depth, not just tell us the basic science but what different feelings and sensations mean
• everyone regardless of gender should learn about the menstrual cycle, or at least have the option to, as it effects such a large percent of us

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

• Ferraro, T. (2018). Period Blood Color Guide: What Colored Blood Means For Your Health. [online] Teen Vogue. Available at: https://www.teenvogue.com/gallery/period-blood-colors-what-they-mean [Accessed 8 Nov. 2022].
• Livi. (2022). What does your period blood colour mean? [online] Available at: https://www.livi.co.uk/your-health/what-does-your-period-blood-colour-mean/ [Accessed 8 Nov. 2022].
• Rael. (2021). Orange Period Blood: What It Means and Is It Normal? [online] Available at: https://www.getrael.com/blogs/r-blog/orange-period-blood [Accessed 8 Nov. 2022].

Planning

I had made a plan of what to do for each day of the week. This plan did not end up being followed through in it's entirety due to time. However, I still included it to show that I can timeline myself, although for this project I needed to timeline myself a bit more realistically. Next time I will try to take into account time constraints and not think too big.

Self-Study Session: Further Research + Final Concept (09/11/22)

Storyboards of Initial Ideas

Autoethnographic Research

I have looked at the wider experience of menstruating through my primary research, which is the ethnographic research. However, I find I work best when I can apply my own experiences to a piece as well. Therefore, I'm also going to look at my own internal experience with menstruation.

This task has been very insightful and helped me to expand on my ideas for visuals with this piece. I feel I have a better grasp on what I might do for the final piece.

Object Metaphor

Object metaphor, better known as a visual metaphor, is the practise of using objects and/or environment to create subtle symbolism. Visual metaphors are often seen in film and TV shows, but can also be in other areas of media like photography and adverts.

Object metaphors are often used in art mediums as a tool used to encourage insightful thinking. The artist will provide the metaphor without a clear explanation, and it is thus up to the audience to decipher and apply their own meanings to the piece. They can often be used in narrative pieces to establish motifs, progress a plot and provide points of relation between the audience and characters.

Visual metaphors are advantageous because they can make more complex, intricate topics and concepts easier to understand for viewers. They are also useful to make pieces more engaging and can establish more brand personality with your audience.

Object and visual metaphors are important because, without them, pieces become unmemorable and not as engaging. When a film or TV show lacks visual metaphors, it in turn loses its individuality and depth. The market is so saturated now that there is very little that hasn't been done before, but visual metaphors can allow for repeated ideas to be fed to audiences in a new light. This type of engagement with audiences is what gives them that refreshing feeling, like they've never watched something like that before.

While there are advantages, I would argue that visual metaphors can create draw backs in a piece, if they are done wrong. To do them correctly, you need to have a good idea on how to apply symbolism to your piece without over complicating it or oversaturating it with them. Having a good idea on your audience demographic would be advisable because you don't want all these metaphors to go straight over their heads. You actively want your audience to be able to catch these metaphors, as well as being able to decipher and understand them. The satisfaction of being able to decipher the metaphors are what keep the audience engaged with them.

However, of course, there are still times when this disadvantage does not apply and is in fact used purposefully. By this I mean, some piece may not be made for the purpose of engaging the audience, or for them to understand. The aims of the piece may be to raise a bigger question, and to point. For example, with my own piece for this project, my intentions are not for the reader to understand the visual references and metaphors I use. My aim is to make them feel the same sense of frustration and feeling of being lost that one can feel when on their period. When used in this purposeful way, the disadvantages of object metaphor become an advantage for the artist, allowing them to manipulate their audience's reactions to a piece.

A good example of object metaphor in wider media is in the enemy music video by imagine dragons from the TV show, Arcane.

From 0:58 to 1:04, there is a short clip of the character 'Powder' lying on her back as a firefly (in the show referred to as 'firelights') emerges from out of her mouth, leaving her and flying away. This short 6 second clip tells us a lot about the character without any prior context through the use of a visual metaphor and the symbolism behind that. To begin with, fireflies are often discussed in an awe-like sense within media. I associate them strongly with a child-like wonder and innocence. Already, we know that this character loses her innocence and possibly part of her childhood along with it because this symbolism of innocence is directly leaving her body.

The firefly is green and the colour green can represent new beginnings, growth, resurrection and life. The metaphor is set up like the life is leaving her body, in fact the entire framing and set up of the shot is. The imagery of Powder on her back with her eyes closed as the firefly leaves her mouth is almost mimicking of media representations of someone's soul leaving their body. However, this is a new beginning for Powder, she does not actually die. Her death is metaphorical. This is confirmed by the split second shot at 1:03 showing Powder in the same position, but grown up.

So, from 6 seconds the audience has learnt the main basis of this character's arc. When she is a child, she loses her innocence and her child self metaphorically dies to lead way for this older version of her. Perhaps that metaphorical death is caused by a specific event or by another character marking her as 'dead to them'.

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

• Chapman, C. (2010). Color Theory for Designers, Part 1: The Meaning of Color. [online] Smashing Magazine. Available at: https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/01/color-theory-for-designers-part-1-the-meaning-of-color/#:~:text=Green%20is%20a%20very%20down [Accessed 9 Nov. 2022].
• League of Legends (2021). Imagine Dragons & JID - Enemy (from the series Arcane: League of Legends) | Official Music Video. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://youtu.be/F5tSoaJ93ac [Accessed 9 Nov. 2022].
• www.google.com. (n.d.). Visual metaphor - Google Search. [online] Available at: https://g.co/kgs/tW5CwV [Accessed 9 Nov. 2022].

Final Concept

My final concept for this piece is a multi media film including sound design and photography. My focus for this piece is the menstruation experience, specifically how a lack of appropriate education, due to the stigmatisation of periods, has led to people who menstruate to struggle with the experience of it.

I will explore this by applying my own experiences as well as the wider experience of others to this piece. In my experience, I find bus rides and post-punk music soothe me when I am on my period. I also find that I end up spending a significantly increased amount of time in the bathroom. The wider experience appears to be that periods infringe on people's day to day living and can disrupt their plans, cramps and pain cause them to not feel up to going out of the house or socialising.

Studio Session: Testing + Practical (10/11/22)

Testing: Sound Piece

I went through the stages of changing a pad (menstrual hygiene product) and recorded the sounds it made with a recorder.

I decided not to use this sound piece in my final product as I felt the atmospheric sounds of the bus from the filming worked better with my aims for the piece. The sound piece felt a little bit out of place with the rest of the film, so I left it out. If this was a project where I had more time, I would likely have done multiple iterations of this sound piece where I could experiment with it until I found a composition that worked for me.

While I did not end up using these in my final piece, it acted as a medium test for me. It was a really great activity as it allowed me to get into the mind set of being on my period and running through the emotions I feel when on it. Physically doing the actions really helped to get me into that head space, which was very useful for the auto part of my autoethnography and when editing the final piece.

Close-Up Flash Photography

This was a photography experiment I did where I turned off all the lights and used the flash on my camera to take photos of the environments in my house that I associate with periods. These environments where the bathroom and the cupboard of sanitary products in out house. I purposefully chose to do extremely close-up photography of these environments to force the audience into the experiences I have with periods, which is that the week ends up seeming like a blur. When on my period, I end up having to go to the bathroom so often to change my pad or check I'm not leaking that I get so sick of it, and it's almost like random bits and piece of it's environment get stuck in my head throughout the day. Similar to when you look directly at a light and it leaves a spot in your vision.

I really loved this photography, particularly the shots of the water and tap. The effect of the flash on the water makes it look so fake almost like hot glue, and reminded me of the fake milk you see in cereal adverts.

Videography

I recorded the bus shot as one continuous shot on my phone camera. I had two iterations of it, one that showed slightly more out of the bus window and one that was partially covered by the bus window.

I decided to use the long shot that was partially covered by the bus window as I felt it better portrayed my aims. With the filming of the bus, I wanted to firstly mimic the view I often have on the bus when on my period, in which I often curl into my seat and look down at the moving road. Secondly, I wanted to make the reader feel trapped, unable to experience whatever is happening just past this threshold of the window, similarly to how periods can disrupt the lives who have them. The pain, discomfort and exhaustion of having one's period can often leave one staying in bed and not having the capacity to socialise, which can cut people off from experiences or opportunities that they might want to go to.

Music

Post-punk music is a comfort from me when I am on my period. The sounds and pacing soothe me a lot and can help to make going outside with my period more bearable for me. I wanted to incorporate this into my piece, but I also didn't want to use copyrighted music.

I looked for copyright free post-punk music and surprisingly found a lot of it. I chose the above track for my piece for a few reasons. The main reason was because I could visualise in my head how I might edit the photography to it. Other supporting factors were that I the pacing matched up very well to the pacing of the bus filming, and also that it had a similar sound to one of my favourite bands, Molchat Doma.

Studio Session: Final + Feedback (11/11/22)

This is my final piece, it is a multimedia piece that incorporates moving film and edited photography. I used autoethnographic research to portray the wider experience of people who menstruate. I am very happy with how it turned out, I wanted to really put the audience inside of those experiences and I believe I have achieved that.

Feedback

25/11/22

Context

Briefing:

• Metamorphosis- Franz Kafka, transformations, change
• 2 week group project
• Multimedia film, include photography and animation
• Utilise group's individual skill sets and speicilaities

Initial Ideas

Chosen Concept

Research

Prior Research

Character Design Inspirations

Visual References

Planning

Self Study Days Plan

Photography and Videography Treatment

• Cover page - main photo, date, shoot name, contact info
• Overview page - type of shoot, date of shoot, logline, themes
• Synopsis - describe exact ideas for shoot, intentions
• Overall Moodboard - photo references that tie all the vibes together, colour palette
• Setting - photo references w/ basic captions, colour palette
• Cast - model references, requirements
• Costume + Makeup - photo references, description
• Crew - DoP, gaffer, stylist, makeup
• End Page - secondary photo, thank you, contact info

Character Design List

• Final Design for monster and woman - merge designs
• Close-ups main feature - nails, eyes, mouth
• Background Information
• Full body Annotation relating to uses and character personality

Production Planning

Planning with Sound design

Post Production Timeline

Character Animation List [for Sahin and Nicole]

VFX Animation List [for Rosie and Connor]

Pre-Production

Project Script

Art Direction Treatment

Storyboard

Film Production Risk Assessment Sheet

Call Sheet

Creative Development

Initial Character Designs

Final Character Design

Photography Testing

Practical Effects: Fake Blood

The fake blood washed out of the shirt successfully, not leaving a trace behind. However, in a later scene I am covered in fake blood in a dress with embroidered patterns. Initially, the blood did not wash out of the embroidery. I soaked the dressed in a solution of water and stain removing detergent powder, which removed the residual blood for the most part. It left only a very faint yellow tin on some parts of the dress. This is something I will keep in time the next time I use practical effects like fake blood. If we had had more time for the project, I would've likely opted to do patch tests to see if the blood would wash out before going straight into it like we did for this project.

Editing The Film

Feedback from Laura on Rough Cut

Problem Solving

Responding to Screening Feedback: Making a Revised Edit

Production + Post-Production

Shoot Day 18.11.22

Shoot Day 21.11.22

Credits

Studio Session: Project Briefing (28/11/22)

Briefing Notes

• Autoethnography - researching cultures
• Methods: journaling, archival records, self-interview,
• Different perspectives of London, multicultural and large

Reflection: I think I will make a zine because I have never made an entire one before and try do give myself the 1 week for the project so I can catch up on previous projects next week.

Autoethnographic Research

Reflection: I found this task to be very useful in helping me to understand autoethnographic research methods because it gave me the format to actively do in lesson. I was a bit shaky on the way to do autoethnographic research at first but by the end of this task I felt I had a much more solid understanding. It was also a very useful task in pin pointing the most prominent aspect of my relationship with London, which is cultural assimilation in relation to race as it's something I experienced upon moving here. (Auto) I found it very useful to listen to other people's experiences during the group task as I found I could relate to them but I also found there topics, though quite different to mine, had similarities in the way they are experienced or cause you to feel. For example, Rosie's experiences with anxiety and feeling like she has to constantly mould and reshape her personality to fit others, to the point she feels she has lost herself; is extremely relatable to me and to the topic of cultural assimilation, which in and of itself is the process of adapting your identity to the society you are in and rejecting any aspect of your identity that makes you different/stand out within society.

Branding Ethos Workshop w/ Dudley

Reflection: This was a handy workshop, I will be utilising the templates shown to us in in it. The workshop helped me to have a bit more direction in terms of what specific research I should look into for brands. I will limit myself to looking at 5 publications/editorials and refer to the suggestions given in this workshop for what to look at.

Task: Write about your influences

Reflection: This task helped me to summarise and condense my thoughts. I found it very helpful to have my thoughts laid out clearly rather than racing around my head chaotically. I will implement an outlining task similar to this in future projects as it works well with the way I am as a creative, and would help organise my thoughts and cut down on a bit of my chaotic process.

Idea Development

I created a little log of some of the ideas I was having for the project on the way home from Uni.

Reflection: It is a useful way to get some of my ideas out, although I might struggle writing out visuals or more abstract concepts like this. I think my sketchbook is still more useful to me, but I will utilise this at times when I am travelling or on a walk to quickly jot down some ideas.

Self Study: Idea Development (29/11/22)

Today I did not do very much as I needed a break to rejuvenate some of my physical and creative energy. I expand on this in sketchbook page 1, under 'self reflection'.

Sketchbook Pages

Mindmaps

I found I was struggling with having a lot of ideas but also having none at the same time because they were all moving so fast it was hard to latch onto one. I noticed a difference in this project to previous ones was that we did not have a mind mapping task. I think this greatly affected my process as the mind maps were helping me to get every little random thought I had down for reference in an organised manner.

Although it was a frustrating experience, I'm glad to have had it because now I am aware of how vital mind maps are to my individual process. I will now be doing mind maps for my projects, whether or not I am prompted to.

I like to start my mind maps with a wider topic and then narrow my thinking after deciding on a specific topic from the wider topic.

Reflection: The mind mapping session was very successful as I now have a much clearer view of what my goals are within the project. The zine and brand mind maps have specifically helped me a lot with pin pointing the types of brands to look at and has helped me to start thinking of the visual language of the piece.

Self Study: Brand Research (30/11/22)

Brands Excel Sheet

Final Chosen Brand

I chose weirdo as my brand out of the brands I did a breakdown for because I felt it best fits my ethos and it has a similar target demographic to me, catering specifically to a South Asian community.

Studio Session: Research (01/12/22)

Research Methods Workshop

Zine Research

Planning and Development

Changing My Idea

My London

Problem Solving

I changed my idea from doing a photography based zine taking photos of physical copies of music from South Asian artists, to a poetry based zine comparing my experiences with how cultural assimilation affects London and comparing it with my home town of Birmingham.

I changed my idea because my original idea was too inaccessible to me, I didn't have the resources for it as I incidentally don't own any physical copies of music from South Asian artists [trying to slowly change that] and no one I know did either. So instead I decided to do a poem, which is something that is feasible for me to do in the time limit.

However, now that I've change my idea, the brand I originally chose [Weirdo Zine] no longer fits with my concept, so the collaboration does not make much sense. During a convene with Grace, we discussed possible brands that I could do that fit the concept and poem I have.

Thus, the brand I am now going to be metaphorically collaborating with is Faber and Faber. They are a publication company, and they do print poems. However, they print books, not zines, so my zine collaboration with them is to open up their market to a younger audience and expand their short form range.

Final Outcome

I used a varied selection of tools to mark the paper and didn't limit myself. I had no real pattern to what tools I was using when I just used them as and when it felt right. I did a similar thing with the patterns, scratches and marks I was making, I did not have much rhyme or reason to it I was mostly just dumping any thought I had on to the film.

The results show above are an equal mixture of abstract and more linear concepts. However, even the more linear concepts still weren't particularly planned and occurred more organically.

Reflections: I had a lot of fun making the director reel. It was something new, but something I would definitely do again if I had the opportunity. I became completely engrossed in the process from start to finish. In relation to the London project, this task didn't help much in my development of the visual language for the piece, however, it did help a lot with pushing my topic further. The task made me realise just how integral bhangra has been both to me growing up and to the Pakistani culture. It is a sound that instantly sounds like home, I would like to find a way to involve it in the final zine.

Final Piece

We projected the classes film reels on the 9th of December. We took a recording of these screenings.

Overall, I'm very happy with my first attempt at director reel animation. It's definitely a medium that I enjoy and hope to come back to in the future. Now that I have seen how my reel turned out when ran through a projector, I think I have a much better understanding on how the animation aspect of director reel works.

Studio Session: Shadow Puppetry (08/12/22)

Briefing with Grace

• An art form that originates from South-East Asia and South Asia
• Shadow Puppetry is all about shape
• Do not need to do facial expression or details as we won't see it

Initial Concept Planning

I started off by just quickly sketching and jotting down absolutely any idea that came to my head for the project in my sketchbook.

By the end of this process, I had 9 very basic and simplified ideas of what to do. I would've loved to expand on all of these a bit more, but as it is a one day project I decided to limit myself a bit.

Concept Sketches

On an A3 piece of paper, I sketched out developed concepts of some of my initial ideas.

After taking some votes and coming to my own conclusion, I decided to go for the little clown guy, the sun and the moon as my shadow puppets.

Planning and Tests

Before drawing out my puppet shapes, I broke down what shapes made up each character, and how many I would need for each character.

I sketched out all my shapes free handedly, so for some of the more complex shapes I drew them within a mapped out box.

For the moon character, I wanted you to be able to see his big grin so I did some tests for his mouth. I cut out two mouths in different ways and looked at how the shadows of both of them cast on a wall.

Puppet Pieces

First, I drew out all of the shapes for the puppets, referring to the checklist I made for each puppet. I tried to draw these out in a way that conserved the most amount of paper so that I didn't waste too much of it.

I then added in all the details for the puppet pieces that needed them, like the facial expressions or clothing patterns.

I also shaded all the parts that I needed to cut out with an exacto knife, so that I wouldn't miss any.

I cut out all the pieces and then jig sawed them together. I found laying them out before moving on with them was useful as it allowed me to catch any issues I would have with pinning the puppets together. For example, I realised the clown's hair would show through its cut out eyes if I placed them at the sides of the head, so I moved the hair pieces further up to get around this problem.

Finalised Puppet

I then cut out all the greyed sections of the puppet pieces with an exacto knife and put them together with push pins.

I am actually really happy with how my puppets turned out. It was interesting to do such a hands on form of character creation and concept work. I could feel the characters' stories coming to me as I pieced them together. It was really fun to bring paper to life.

Finished Shadow Puppetry Piece

I incorporated all the puppets into one final shadow puppetry show piece and created character backstories for each of them. I played with the interaction between each of the puppets. You can look at the backstoires in the description of the youtube video.

I'm really happy with how this piece turned out. I really enjoyed learning about and making shadow puppetry. This is definitely a medium that I want to come back to and develop my skills in further.

Studio Session: Traditional Animation (09/12/22)

Briefing with Grace

• Looked at different animation types
• 2d animation - hand drawn
• 3d animation - computer rendered
• 2.5 animation - a mix of 2d and 3d animation
• Tasks for today: shadow puppets, traditional animation and watching the director reel.

Sketchbook Pages

I roughly sketched out three possible ideas for a traditional animation piece. I then chose one out of the three to develop further and plan out.

Self Study Session: Testing (14/12/22)

While the rest of the group did research on mythology and folklore, I conducted tests for our stop motion animation aspect of the multimedia piece. I experimented with using a blue and black background to see if it made a difference to the animations. I felt that the blue made the white paper appear more yellow, so I felt the black background was the best to use.

I also put these into premiere pro and tested different ways of 'green screening' or overlaying the stop motion on to photos without the backgrounds showing through. I felt the colour key and overlay effects achieved the best outcomes.

Studio Session: Animating (15/12/22)

Peer Feedback

For the start of the session, we went around the table and shared what different groups were doing and asked for feedback.

We explained out idea: A surreal European-folklore based multi-media piece marketed for UK gallery-goers. The main folklores we have drawn off of being Baba Yaga [Italian], Baba Roga [Italian], Vodyanoy [Slavic] and the Tooth Rat [Russian].

We also showed them some of the work we had already made towards the project, such as the puppets and photography.

Positive Feedback: The puppets look very professional, likes the shading on the puppets, like the incorporation of folklore.

Constructive Criticism: Perhaps there is too much detail on the puppets considering the short amount of time they're each on screen, perhaps think about how you would position the puppets within each frame and in relation to the photo background.

Art Gallery Audience

We had a talk with the industry teacher and he talked about target audiences, specifically the demographic of people who would go to a gallery.

• Typically more critical
• Do not want to be spoon-fed information
• Leave things up to interpretation
• Are people interested in culture

Reflection: I think the nonsensicality and surrealism of our piece fits this bracket well and therefore would be well received by gallery-goers. Furthermore, our incorporation of folklore means our piece is culturally charged.

Discussing Edit with Group

To have a better idea about what my edit should look like, I asked my group a few questions I had on specific aspects of the edit.

• Positioning in relation to photos - float around wherever, surreal
• Effects - possibly a swirly effect overlay
• Music - edit to music beats, loop music once [so piece is 1 minute]
• Photography - set to 50% saturation
• Speed - normal speed
• Aspect Ratio - 4:3

Planning

Prep for Animation

Animating

Final Animations

I read over Aaron's message and made notes on the server channel so I could breakdown the information for myself and have quick access to the links I needed.

I also made note of the two pre-tasks I needed to complete and jotted down the key information so I wasn't overwhelmed when I came back to work on it.

Self-Study Session: Pre-tasks (22/12/22)

Pre-Task 1: Understanding the Brief

I went through the 7 page pdf brief on Aula and noted down the key points so I could refer back easily. I also find that noting down briefs in my own shorthand I remember the information better and also understand it easier.

Pre-task 2: Padlet Post on Artist/Creative Practitioner

Finding Artists

I made the above mind map of things I may want to look into for the final essay. I looked over them all briefly and picked one to do for the Padlet task. I plan on looking at some of them in more depth for the initial research before deciding on a final artist to do the essay on.

Padlet Post

Text from Padlet:

Brutalism was the product of a post-war UK in the 1950s. It's not only an architectural style, but also holds the philosophy of creating simple and functional buildings. Raw concrete is often used for brutalism buildings due to it's low-cost, but there have also been use of materials such as steel and timber in brutalism architecture.

The Barbican is, I would say, more decadent than the typical brutalist building. The three architects contrasted the raw concrete with hanging plants and garden sections with water features.

The Barbican interests me because of how it has taken this minimalistic architectural movement and managed to turn it on it's head, while still following many of the main principles. I find the contrast of the concrete to the many plants, hanging off of the balconies, gives it a particular Post-Apocalyptic feel. Despite the, what some might call, crude and harsh architecture, you feel immersed in nature.

Some people describe brutalist architecture as cold and emotionless, but I personally find them warm and welcoming. That may have something to do with my upbringing in Birmingham, which is a city occupied by many Brutalist buildings due to being the 2nd heaviest bombed city in England during WWII.

Brutalist architecture reminds me of home, so I suppose I find the Barbican interesting because it's like a familiar face in a sea of strangers.

Studio Session: Idea Development (09/01/23)

Padlet Presenting w/ Aaron

I presented my Padlet post about the Barbican to the class. I talked a bit about the Barbican itself, why I chose it and how I felt it related to the essay topic.

Aaron gave feedback saying he felt it was a very interesting piece to pick and that he liked the focus on Brutalism architecture.

Idea Development

The Barbican is one possible route I could go down for the essay, however I'm currently struggling to think of a critical question for it that links it back to social change. I'd like to also explore other artists to see if there is something else that speak to me a bit more.

I jotted down some ideas on my project discord channel for possible other pieces that I could do. They both relate to social change. I find myself very much drawn to these pieces that battle against conformity.

The Barbican goes against the preconceptions of brutalism architecture, possibly being a catalyst for eco-brutalism, as well as a balanced border between the two extremes. The oil machine, talked about in my notes above, discusses the conformity of a 9-5, the endless cycle of work in modern day society, in a negative and extreme light. The film Raw (2016) goes against the grain of typical cannibalistic films by showing the violence in an almost innocent light.

Self-Study Session: Initial Research (11/01/23)

For this essay, we need to look into a variety of artists as part of our initial research. I'm looking into three different pieces and their artists briefly in order to help me decide which one I would like to make the focus of my essay.

Raw (2016)

• Type: Feature Length Film
• Year of release: 2016
• Director and Scriptwriter: Julia Ducournau
• About: Justine is a vegetarian and is a new student at a veterinary school, which her older sister also studies at. The school has a harsh initiation process known as the 'hazing week'. One of these initiations leads to Justine having to taste meat for the first time, which leads her down a road of lust, intoxication and a hunger for meat. Her need for meat is more than just carnivorous, and she starts to discover her cannibalistic tendencies.
• Shows how we are all at the mercy of our own bodies.
• Wanted to go against typical depictions of feminine bodies. Doesn't glamorise them, even uses body horror to completely oppose it.
• Showing cannibalism as a normalised part of humanity, show the monster in all of us.

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• Godfrey, A. (2017). Raw director Julia Ducournau: ‘Cannibalism is part of humanity’. The Guardian. [online] 30 Mar. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/mar/30/raw-director-julia-ducournau-cannibalism-is-part-of-humanity [Accessed 11 Jan. 2023].
• Multiple Authors (2020). Raw (film). [online] Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raw_(film) [Accessed 11 Jan. 2023].
• Nast, C. (2017). Cannibalism Meets Feminism in France’s Stunning Horror Film ‘Raw’. [online] Vogue. Available at: https://www.vogue.com/article/raw-horror-movie [Accessed 11 Jan. 2023].

The Barbican (1982)

• Type: Architectural Piece, Brutalist Architecture, Estate + Arts Centre
• Year: 1982
• Architects: Geoffry Powell , Peter Chamberlin and Christoph Bon
• About: Designed in 1950s by three architects after the Second World War as part of England's reconstruction efforts. Construction began in 1965 and lasted over a decade. It was opened in 1982 by Queen Elizabeth II, who remarked the building as 'one of the wonders of the modern world'.
• Was not a social housing project, it was a way to repopulate London after the War.
• Took the concept of brutalism architecture, which is a fast form of architecture that uses concrete to create structures, and elevated the concept.
• They used green spaces and water features to make a typically dull and unfeeling architectural style, more encapsulating and warm.
• Possibly paved the way for modern architectural styles like eco-brutalism.
• Moved away from the idea of estate buildings just being a place to live. It had outdoor spaces and an Arts Centre.

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• Barbican (2012). Construction | Barbican. [online] Barbican.org.uk. Available at: https://www.barbican.org.uk/our-story/our-archive/construction [Accessed 11 Jan. 2023].
• Elwyn.co (n.d.). Building the Brutal. [online] Building the Brutal. Available at: https://sites.barbican.org.uk/buildingthebrutal [Accessed 11 Jan. 2023].
• Vadot, C. (2017). Brutalist Utopia: The Barbican Estate Lives On as an Iconic Londonian Complex. [online] Architizer Journal: The Official Architizer Blog. Available at: https://architizer.com/blog/inspiration/stories/barbican-estate/ [Accessed 11 Jan. 2023].

Can't Help Myself (2016)

• Type: Art Exhibit, Mechanical Sculpture Piece
• Year: 2016
• Artists: Sun Yuan and Peng Yu
• About: A robotic arm that has been programmed with 32 different human-like moves that resemble dances and frustration. Tasked with making sure a red liquid leaking out from under it does not cross a certain threshold. A camera and motion detecting system notifies the machine when the liquid is getting close to the threshold.
• A piece that causes the audience to empathise with a machine
• The robots movements show desperation and cause you to sympathise with the machine stuck in the walls of its cage.
• The red liquid resembles blood to me in its colour and viscosity. Almost like the machine is wounded and bleeding out, but rather than finding help is simply trying to scrape its blood back in distress.
• The frantic sweeping movements of the robot to pull back the liquid causes the liquid to splatter across the white wall in the background, making the scene poignantly violent.
• The whining that the robot makes as it moves sounds like its in pain.

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• ArtLike (2019). Sun Yuan & Peng Yu - Can’t Help Myself - Venice Art Biennale 2019. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://youtu.be/SpEtwRvugRY [Accessed 11 Jan. 2023].
• VernissageTV (2019). Sun Yuan and Peng Yu: Can’t Help Myself. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://youtu.be/ZS4Bpr2BgnE [Accessed 11 Jan. 2023].
• Weng, X. (2016). Can’t Help Myself. [online] The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation. Available at: https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/34812 [Accessed 11 Jan. 2023].

Self-Study Session: Focused Research (18/01/23)

After having done some initial research into some different artists and their work, I have decided to choose to focus on the piece 'Raw' (2016) for my essay. I did this as I felt it was the piece that spoke to me most and I felt that I could link back to social change effectively.

Planning

I made a plan for the essay in order to keep myself on track and make sure I don't miss out on any steps. Having steps written out helps me a lot as I have a point of reference when I'm stuck and lost on what to do next.

Watching the Film

My first step was to watch the film itself. I haven't actually watched the film before, I've only watched a lot of clips and analysis on it. This being my first watch, it was the first time I had the opportunity to fully experience it all in a linear manner, as well as making my own interpretations of the piece.

After watching the piece, I noted down any themes within the film that stood out to me, particularly ones that related back to the topic of social change. It was good to get my thoughts down immediately after, as I had a fresher view of the film and my thoughts surrounding it. I avoided taking notes during as I felt I would've missed bits of the film, and not have been able to fully absorb the nuances of the piece if I was distracted.

Critical Question

After having made notes on reoccurring motifs within the piece, I moved on to create some possible critical questions for Julia's work. I thought it would be good to construct some now while the viewing experience was still fresh in my mind.

Laura Presentation

Scriptwriting:

• Exposition - giving the audience a brief introduction to the world
• New rules in sci-fi, so these rules need to be shown to the reader
• "Action is character" - Syd Field; what the actor does is what we take as more genuine than what they say
• Showing exposition and making audience read between the lines makes it a lot more memorable than just writing/ narrating it out
• Will often have voice-overs in this genre since they often come from books, and therefore the writer may quote the book in the script in this manner
• Furthermore, voice-overs in sci-fi can allow u to be more in the protagonist's head/pov similarly to a first person sci-fi book
• False endings - makes you relieved by the time you get to the actual ending
• Twists - a major plot twist right at the end, creates emotionally cathartic endings

Storyboarding:

• Keep shot descriptions concise (i.e. extreme wide shot ---> ews)
• Write shot descriptions OUTSIDE of your storyboard of frame to avoid cluttering the image
• Three things to write under storyboard frames: action, sound, music

Cinematography:

• Often uses hand-held, shows more of the chaos, makes it more personal, often used in exposition
• The Matrix; highly stylised, comic book style shots

Mise en scene:

• Mise en scene is everything in the frame that create the atmosphere of the shot
• 4 main elements of mise en scene: set design, character design,

Mise en Scene Task

Pick a film and list all the mise en scene techniques you can see in it.

Chosen film: Hunger Games (2012)

Reason for choosing: Despite not being necessarily a super 'complex' sci-fi film, it is a really good example for mise en scene as its worldbuilding and design are super effective in portraying the different worlds and spaces we see in the story.

Costume

In the Districts: The clothing is all very similar, in drab dull colours even their 'best' is washed out and blends in to the surroundings. They don't stand out and it doesn't show any personality, showing how the totalitarian government of this world has affected the major population. These working class people are not intended to be significant at all. Their clothing is practical and worn down. Colours are washed out blues, greys and creams.

In the Capitol: The fashion sense of the capitol is an overwhelming explosion of bright, saturated colours that emulates current 'modern fashion' trends. It shows the fast fashion type of mind set, playing on an exaggerative view of current day trends. The clothes are made of luxurious materials with excessive frills and adornment, highly juxtaposing of the simple district clothing. Shows how sickeningly rich the capitol residents are. Exaggerates their status above the district people, and shows how they in reality could share with the districts if they wanted to.

In the Woods: Katniss' and Gale's clothing in the woods is still simple and distinctly 'district', but they often wear warmer hues and earthier tones in this setting. This shows how they become part of their environment, part of the woods, when they are there. Furthermore, it also shows a lot of personality. Implies that they can only truly express themselves in the woods, which is true as it is the only place they can freely speak out against the Capitol's reign.

In the Games: The tributes are all made to wear the exact same outfit, and can only bring with them one small token that is only allowed through after vigorous checks that it could not be a weapon in any way. The use of the exact same outfit for all shows the Capitol stripping the tributes of their personality. It suggest that they are trying to dissociate from them as people, to dehumanise them before sending them to slaughter each other. Feels like sending lambs to the slaughter, they all look the same. However, I feel the story also uses this to it's advantage. The tributes each end up utilising their outfit in different ways. Some parts might get damaged or rip during the fight for their survival, and I believe this can be a metaphor for the district people and the tributes' personalities still finding ways to shine through despite the capitol's overcast ruling.

Compiled Group Research and Idea Development

17/01/23 - 22/01/23

I was off these days and unable to do work as I had a cold which developed into a bad flu. I was very ill to the point that I could not get out of bed for two days. I kept communicating with my group about this, although I didn't receive any communication back on the project's progression. When I asked what was happening with it, I was continually referred to the miro board we had created on the Monday. The miro board, however, is very overwhelming as it was added to throughout the project and is more of a notes board so it was very difficult to decipher without having prior context.

Studio Session: Concept Work + D&D (23/01/23)

Briefing with Grace

• All to create our own OC character and write out an interaction between our characters
• Our final piece must include a character but doesn't have to include all of our characters

Initial Character Concept

DND Character Sheet

It was my first time filling out a dnd character sheet, so I'm not sure that I filled out everything in the right places but that's okay. It was a useful activity as it helped me to organise my though process and evoked specific response from me in terms of the character's design.

Mini DND Session

Storyboard

Self Study Session: Character Design (24/01/22)

Character Illustration

Character Item Illustration

Final Illustrations

Self Study Session: Character Sheet (25/01/22)

I did not manage to get all of my character sheet done as I had planned to. This was due to the time it took me to get the illustrations done, which took me a long time as I had the learning curve of using a graphics tablet and new software for the first time, as well as still having residual illness from my flu meaning I was functioning slower. I also had my own person issues for the rest of the week to do with being overwhelmed and burnt out, which meant I didn't manage to finish it at a later date.

I do have all of the character info mapped out in my head and I would have liked to add that into the sheet. I also planned to annotate off of the character and goggles to provide context for the way they function and/or their significance.

For next time, I will try to focus on getting the base illustrations done and then move onto annotations. Then, if I have time, I can detail and shade the illustrations.

Studio Session: Whole Day Workshop (26/01/23)

Compiling Other Work

I have a wide variety of mediums that I've worked with and developed in over the years, but they're all very scattered across various hard drives, USB sticks and cloud storages. I took this project as an opportunity to really sift through and compile all my work into one main place.

I think doing this really helped me see my progression within my art practices over the years, and in general is beneficial to me as I now have a point of reference for my work.

Curating A Portfolio

For this Maker's Intent curated portfolio, I decided to focus only on three of my mediums as I felt like this would be a good balance to show variety while not being too overwhelming.

I decided on adding photography because it's one of the mediums I am most confident in. I have been doing it for years and am most developed in it. I also chose to add some of my film work in because it is quite experimental and is one of my mediums that pushes the viewer the most. I also feel like it's the one where I clearly make more active and direct pushes for South Asian representation, and where I platform South Asian stories/voices. Finally, I added in concept design work because it's what I think I would want to go into for industry, so it's presently relevant to me, and I think it is much stronger and more varied than my animation work.

Self Study Session: Logo Design (01/02/23)

As part of branding, we need to create a logo design for our brand. So, today I did some research and thinking about the logo and sketched some iterations of the possible design.

Sketchbook Pages

The questions I used in my self-directed research where from a website I found that was talking about what you need to research before designing a logo for a company. I found the activity to be very useful because, while I had most of those ideas floating around my head already, it was nice to have them clearly laid out and organised for me. It was especially useful when I was designing the logo as I had that to refer back to and keep me on track for what my aims were.

I made 8 iterations of the logo design and it was good to just get as many as I could out an visually see them all next to each other. My initial main idea that I had in mind for the logo was the first design that I sketched out. However, I did some consumer research with my sketches and asked friends and family to vote for their favourite design for my branding. To my surprise, they all picked design seven. I did quite like that design, so I trusted their judgment and went on to develop it into a final logo design.

Final Logo Design

• Round, but pointed, edged typography: feels soft and personal while taking away a bit from the 'bubble writing' type of typeface. Also, in my digital art, I use square brushes because I prefer the feel of working with them, so the less rounded edges reflects that.
• Sketch-like line art: recently with my digital art I've been enjoying leaving my line art with a bit of a raw, almost unfinished feel to it and so I wanted to add this into my logo as I feel like it may be a part of my art style. Reminds me of a farm from the hay-bale like texture. I also really like art with texture so this type of line artr reflects that.

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• Would re-do the 'M' if I ever went back and redesigned this as, looking at it now, it looks a lot less firmly grounded than the other letters. It is teetering a bit too much to the left and looks a bit unstable.

Comparison of Old and New Logo

• Drastic design changes: I've developed a huge amount and my overall style has changed a lot since I designed that first logo. I also have a lot more design knowledge and access to advanced softwares to design on now.
• More artsy: I'd say the first logo feels a lot more film studio like (albeit a small one) and the new one feels more like an artist logo because it's illustrated as opposed to being vector designed.
• Colour palette: The current palette feels more personal and reflective of me now. I'd say it also feels brighter and happier.

Studio Session: Colour in Design (02/02/23)

Potato Talk

• Personal - work that you do for yourself, often without a budget
• Editorial - work you do for a magazine or something similar (think vogue), often unpaid work, good for getting your work out there
• Commercial - work that you do for a company to promote their product and/or brand, pays often very well

Colour Connotations Lecture w/ Grace

• Colour is extremely important in branding
• Your branding becomes incredibly linked to the colours you choose for your branding palette
• Red is seen as patriotic and fascist
• Yellow - serenity, sunflowers
• Blue - no.1 favourite colour on the planet, positive associations, bright royal blue is trending right now, blue is a good colour for colour blindness, best colour for neurodivergency

Primary Research Task: Colouring your brand

After showing my peers my work, I asked what colour palette they would associate with my work and branding. I got a lot of sage green, browns and beiges mentioned. Someone also suggested a sort of muted white of cream white.

This is quite in line with the colour palette I had in mind for my branding, so I'm glad this came across well without me mentioning it to them.

Secondary Research Task: Practitioner Palettes

I really love Henry Selick's work on Coraline and think colour was really effectively used within the stop motion film.

Task: Design Your Own Colour Palette

For this task, we had to create a colour palette based on our primary research from earlier. I wanted to create a main and secondary palette so I could have a bit of variation.

I made the above colour palettes and then asked my peers what they thought of them and to vote for the palettes. The final palette decisions are shown below.

I've chosen the above palettes as my final choices because in my view, and the view of others, I feel like they most accurately represent me personally. I want my branding to be a reflection of me and for it to give my audience the feeling like they can know, connect and relate to me.

The main colour palette includes a lot of earthy tones with a lot of greens and browns because I love nature. A lot of my work incorporates nature in some way, most of my narrative film work and photography has a forest setting and my photography also explores the relationship between the man-made and natural.

The secondary colour palette includes some accent colours that I would use to break through the over wash of brown and green a bit, and add some more pops of colour within the branding. They mostly hold true to the earthy tones but in a softer pastel or muted way. There is the addition of purple which I think works well with the earthy tones and reminds me of the bluebells that come out in spring at my local forest.

Incorporating My Colour Palette Into My Branding

I really want to make my branding cohesive and recognisable, but I also want it to personally reflect me and my values. Therefore sticking to my colour palettes as much as I can is very important to me.

When illustrating my logo, I made sure to refer back to my palette for the background and text colour and used the exact hex codes from the palette to colour the logo.

When designing my portfolio on Canva, I stuck the concept of earthy tones for the palette of it and I added illustrations of flowers to further push across the nature-themed message. I wanted to make the portfolio inviting and have a serene, relaxed nature to it rather than feeling overly formal or business-like.

Studio Session: Curated Portfolio Critique (03/02/23)

As I have been having a lot of struggle with anxiety, I did not feel comfortable presenting to the whole class. So, I discussed this with Grace and she said that this was fine and that she would send me a written critique for the final portfolio.

NOTE: I actually did present to my group of friends because we had some extra time and it felt more achievable to me. I also presented to my parents.

Final Curated Portfolio

Peer Feedback

• Liked the style, they felt it reflected me as a person very well
• Branding feels very personalised and humane
• Liked the mentions of poetry, gives more insight into my self expression
• A nice balance of the types of work I do, and good use of the word 'multi-media artist'
• Enjoyed my photography work and felt like it was very strong, nice colours and alignment

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• Glad to hear it reflected me and felt personalised as this was my aim
• Was worried it wouldn't flow well from photography to film to concept design but they felt it was balanced
• I specifically picked out the colour for the photos so I'm glad it translated cohesively in the presentation

Parent Feedback

• Again, glad to hear that presentation and design was good and that it felt balanced
• With the films, that's kind of the point and is the exact reason I put those pieces in there. They are challenging and don't make it easy for the viewer, and they were made like that purposefully. I think they show uniqueness in my portfolio, as opposed to putting a music video in there, which is something industry has seen rinsed and recycled over and over again. They are pieces that make me stand out and memorable because you won't understand it on the first watch, they get stuck in your head and, yes, they are frustrating, but frustration makes you dwell on the thing and that's my ultimate goal.
• The photography that they described above implies a more editorial studio like style, which is not my style. I've experimented with that and tried it but it feels so much less personal to me and I don't gel with that style of photography. I prefer the intimacy of capturing candid moments.
• The 'feels like anyone could take them' did admittedly cut a little bit at first, but looking back they really aren't. My style has been a trial and error development over the course of years, I don't just go out and take photos of just anything willy-nilly. There's a lot of consideration of composition and symmetry that goes on behind the scenes and often (when I'm working digitally, sadly analogue doesn't offer such flexibility) there will be 20 iterations before I get the final shot that I'm happy with.
• Reflecting on the comment, however, I know I have more interestingly layered shots and I admit that. I would've liked to add more variation but the photos I selected where the ones that I felt were most professional looking. I have a lot of photography work to sift through and if I make a full portfolio in the future I would likely dedicate and entire section to my photography to fully display my variety.

Teacher Feedback

My perspective on the Church community is much more of that of an outsider. I wanted to include and outside perspective to the narrative as I thought it would balance it and tell more of the whole story, a non-biased one.

Portraiture Testing

I did some portraiture testing of shots I had in my head for the shoot. Rosie [white jumper] is in place of Tara [Mother], and Aleks is in place of Eden [daughter].

This testing exercise was useful to me as I started off with just one shot idea and while I was physically testing it others came to mind.

Photography Shoot Planning

With the shoot, I plan to make use of levels and height to reflect the hierarchal nature of the church. I want to show their mother daughter relationship and how the church effects that relationship.

I plan on them wearing rather plain clothes with inspirations from the TV Show 'Anne with an E' (Netflix, 2017), with very little use of props apart from perhaps a rosary that the mother will wear. The use of he rosary would be to link the picture clearly back to the Church through the use of religious imagery. However, I don't want it to be oversaturated with religious imagery, I just want it to be there just enough to add more depth to the final shot.

Secondary Research Into London Church Culture

What is inclusion and diversity? | St. James's Place

Biblical diversity vs. secular diversity

Why Diversity in Church is About More Than Race

Census 2021 guidance note on religion questions and religion outputs

Don't Put People in Boxes

Why should the church be interested in cultural diversity?

Let’s Chat: Diversity and Inclusivity in the Church

LGBTQ+ Inclusion and the Church

Why Equity, Diversity, and Inclusivity Are Not Absolute Values

Comment: Can the Church’s culture change?

Overall Thoughts:

• all sources that were from people of power/had a title within the church where older white men
• seemed like a fair few of these conversation were brought about by the death of George Floyd
• most people who advocated for diversity within the church were overly focused on racial and ethnic diversity and seemed to miss out on other aspects of diversity
• lgbtq+ topics were either never mentioned, steered clear of or demonised when discussing inclusion and diversity within the church

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• Adams, J. (2020). LGBTQ+ Inclusion and the Church – Diversity Digest. [online] Diversity Digest. Available at: https://blogs.kcl.ac.uk/diversity/2020/02/21/lgbtq-inclusion-and-the-church/ [Accessed 7 Feb. 2023].
• Bishop Robert Barron (2021). Why Equity, Diversity, and Inclusivity Are Not Absolute Values. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://youtu.be/hqY0O0xNZJA [Accessed 7 Feb. 2023].
• Converge (2019). Biblical diversity vs. secular diversity. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://youtu.be/CN_qY4hJs08 [Accessed 7 Feb. 2023].
• NewHope Church (2017). Don’t Put People in Boxes. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://youtu.be/zRwt25M5nGw [Accessed 7 Feb. 2023].
• NISRA (2022). Census 2021 guidance note on religion questions and religion outputs. [online] Available at: https://www.nisra.gov.uk/system/files/statistics/census-2021-guidance-note-on-use-of-religion-question-outputs.pdf [Accessed 7 Jan. 2023].
• St. James's Place (2019). What is inclusion and diversity? | St. James’s Place. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://youtu.be/imhsWXjiklo [Accessed 7 Feb. 2023].
• The Good Book Company (2017). Why Diversity in Church is About More Than Race. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://youtu.be/-WPM8Kmc0MY [Accessed 7 Feb. 2023].
• Tomlin, G. (2020). Why should the church be interested in cultural diversity? [online] Diocese of London. Available at: https://www.london.anglican.org/articles/why-should-the-church-be-interested-in-cultural-diversity/ [Accessed 7 Feb. 2023].
• Vonn, A. (2020). Let’s Chat: Diversity and Inclusivity in the Church. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://youtu.be/Qi3IycRTm7I [Accessed 7 Feb. 2023].
• www.churchtimes.co.uk. (2020). Comment: Can the Church’s culture change? [online] Available at: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2020/12-june/comment/opinion/can-the-church-s-culture-change [Accessed 7 Feb. 2023].

Self-Study Session: Practical (08/02/23)

Change of Plans

Unfortunately I won't be able to do the shoot as I had planned due to Eden's mum being now unable to make it today to do it. As I only have today to do the shoot, I will have to go ahead and change my ideas of how to do it.

My initial idea for the shoot made use of the levels between two people, as I don't really have the time to figure out how to get a similar effect with the use of one person, I will have to adjust the shoot by a lot. I think the shoot will now have to be more prop based to convey the message I want it to.

Interview with Eden

What is your personal experience with the Church community?

• both positive and negative experience
• community was very lovely, big family atmosphere
• people were very nice, go out of their way to be kind to each other
• teachings to children and teenagers were quite harmful
• having Christian parents was a more negative impact on her life

Do you think the Church community is inclusive and diverse?

• doesn't think the community is that inclusive and diverse
• diverse in some ways, but never truly inclusive to everyone
• a Christian might say it is, and it is true that anyone can walk into a Church and be treated with kindness, but they may not be made to feel included of feel truly welcome
• if she went back to church, she wouldn't feel fully welcome as she knows she would have to filter her authentic self to be properly accepted by the community
• the community's views are rigid and close minded meaning that people, who hold values or identities outside of those views, are immediately unable to be actually included

If you could change any one thing about the community, what would it be?

• for the community to open their eyes and see the harm that their community and religious views can be inflicting on other people

Conclusion

• experienced the Church community as a mixed bag of positives and negatives
• believes that the church is 'visually diverse', but not inclusive
• wouldn't feel comfortable being herself in a church community environment

Interview with Tara [Eden's Mum]

What is your personal experience with the Church community?

• Mainly positive
• Been in different churches, they were welcome to people entering the church [her personal experience]
• background, denominations and leadership of the church can effect the welcome certain people may recieve
• in her view, people have been made to feel welcome at the churches shes been in

Do you think the Church community is inclusive and diverse?

• from her experience, has been people from many backgrounds and faiths that were made to be fully welcome
• she is a from a Christian church
• if someone wants to be a follower of Christ, they would have to 'lay down what they had previously believed'
• anyone who comes in, can come in - so it is inclusive and diverse

If you could change any one thing about the community, what would it be?

• main thing: followers of Jesus Christ should be more like him, because then the world would be a better place
• following on from that: wants to change judgmentalism in church community, because according to her religious beliefs no one is perfect anyways and Jesus is the one true judge.

Conclusion

• feels her experience has been mostly positive
• believes church communities to be inclusive and diverse, but says that certain factors to specific churches can change the level of this
• acknowledges 'judgment' as a problem in the community and says its a way of thinking that should be stopped

Photography Shoot: The Church

While I have the planned portraiture shoot, the sun was very nice out today so I decided to go out and take some photos of my local Church.

I would say this shoot was more of a testing shoot, rather than one where I would consider the photos for the final piece. It was good to get into the environment and was a nice warm up activity for practising composition and layering.

Photography Shoot: The Portrait

These were the photos from the subject-based shoot, not all of them as I took quite a lot. Most of the photography I took at the start was practise in order to figure out what I wanted from my model and how to work with the environment we were in. Below are some shots that I would consider for the final piece.

I used my ring light for the lighting of this shoot, excluding the shots with the matches. My ring light has coloured light capabilities so I used this to create certain atmospheres within the shots.

The red light cast some harsh shadows on my subject, reflecting the feelings of shrouding parts of yourself to fit in with Church community circles. The colour red itself has differing connotations in relation to Christianity, relating back to the blood of Jesus and his sacrifice on the cross. I took this concept and related it back to the sacrifices you make against your true self in order to fit in within a possibly hostile community.

Blue in Christianity relates to freedom, so I used this lighting as a juxtaposition in the shot because the subject does not feel truly free. They are bound within their lies about themself. Green suggests rebirth within Christianity, and Eden mentions this idea of having to become a new person to fit in. So, I used green lighting in the shot of her clutching a bible as an implication that she is being 'reborn' into a twisted, untrue version of herself through the teachings of the bible and the environment of the church community.

I decided during the shoot to use matches as a light source for some shots because fire represents God within Christian beliefs. Matches also cast very harsh shadows, again relating to the idea of hiding oneself.

Studio Session: Curation (09/02/23)

Photo Curation

For our final piece, we have to present only one photo from the ones that we took. I started my curation my picking the photos I initially felt were of the best quality and linked back to my main focus for the project the best.

I dwelled on these five possibilities and considered which ones best conveyed the research behind the piece and the focus on the Church community. I decided I wasn't going to use the shots with the open bible as I felt that they weren't particularly strong, and brought the focus too much away from my model. I also concluded that I wasn't going to consider the bottom left hand shot for the final piece as I felt it held less depth to its meaning. That left me with the two shots below.

I felt these were both very strong in showing themes of self-repression, but in very opposing ways. The first showing it harshly with sharp shadows and extreme lighting, and the second showing it through soft-edged shadows and warm lighting.

I was finding it difficult to decide so I asked my parents and peers which one they preferred and why. I considered there opinions and used them to aid me coming to my own conclusion on the matter.

The Final Photo

Ultimately, I decided to go for the match photo as I preferred the softer approach to the subject matter. I also felt like this photo was more sensitive and ethically aware as the photo with the red lighting could be misinterpreted as demonising Christianity. Furthermore, the use of explicit religious symbolism with the use of a rosary in the shot could be ethically questionable as it could be mistaken as being for aesthetical purposes.

The use of a match to light this shot is to nod back to Christian belief that fire is a representation of the presence of God. The 'guiding light' in this photo being one's belief in the Christian God. The use of fire also introduces the main theme of self-repression as fire is often symbolically seen as a method of purging one's sins, and connotes to purification in Christianity.

The idea of self-repression is further solidified through the use of a 'mirror image'. The dark, shrouded reflection in the window represents the parts of ourselves that might be found unacceptable in certain church communities and that we, therefore, feel the need to hide away.

Overall, I prefer that the message of this shot is subtler and less 'in your face'. I like audiences to have to pick apart the meanings behind my work so I feel like this photo is most worthy of being the final curated photo for this project.

Manifesto

For our final double page zine spread, we needed to include a manifesto. I used the manifesto template and prompts on aula to create the below manifesto.

It was definitely a useful task for me. I've found doing things like this and the Artist Statement from Maker's Intent makes me dig a bit deeper into my work and my reasoning behind it. It makes me question myself as an artist (in a good way).

Conclusion on Church Community's Inclusivity

In the final zine spread, we need to have a paragraph on the inclusivity of our chosen community. I used the primary research I conducted and my personal standpoint to guide my conclusion for this.

I think my conclusion takes in to account multiple viewpoints, and acknowledges where the Church Community is doing well. However, it is also clear and honest on my overall feelings that the space is not inclusive. I also decided to add a bit about how that could change within the community, as this project is after all about how we might make these spaces more inclusive.

Studio Session: Final Product (10/02/23)

Sound Bytes

For our final zine spread, we can include quotes from the interviews we conducted if we would like to. I think including them would add some good context for the image and also give insight into the different perspectives behind it, so I am going to include one from both Eden and Tara. I listened over to the interview clips and noted down parts that stuck out to me particularly.

I think the above extracts encapsulate the themes of my final curated image very well and provide two differing standpoints on a similar topic.

Adjusted Artist Statement

We also had to include our artist statement in the final zine spread. We had created an artist statement in Maker's Intent, so I used that one. However, I received some feedback from Grace on the statement at the end of Maker's Intent, so I made those adjustments. I followed Grace's advise on moving the sentence that was initially at the end of the statement to the start of it. I also built a bit more on that point as it was a good selling point for my work and me as an artist. I also changed the bit about my mediums and avoided talking about what I've moved away from.

I think this new artist statement is a much better reflection of me and my work.

Finished Zine

The final piece is a double page zine spread. The first page covers me as an artist including my headshots, manifesto and artist statement. The second page covers the final piece for this project including the final photo, interview quotes and a concluding paragraph on inclusivity within the Church Community.

Presentation with Piers

Contextual Research

Before starting to generate some ideas for the project, I wanted to better understand what 'energy' might be defined as. I looked into the Google definition of energy, as well as simplifying it in my own interpretation of the definitions.

I think this was a useful bit of research as it gave me more context and further developed the reach of my idea development. With a better understanding of what 'energy' might be, I was able to then go on to think of more specific and intriguing idea responses.

Idea Generation

Mind maps help me a lot with word vomiting all my ideas out on to a page so that I can then refer back to them when I'm narrowing down or developing on them.

I explored quite a few different angles of 'energy' in this mind map. This is good because I have opened up my possibilities and scope for the project. However, this is also a fairly short project. So, I decided to condense the mind map down into a list of possible ideas for the sound piece. I also noted down what the visualiser piece might look like.

This list will be useful to look back on and develop during my research and idea development stages. I also like that I now have more of an idea of what the visualiser might include or look like as it helps to set the tone for the sound piece.

Self Study Session: Idea Development + Research (21/02/23)

Primary Research

Activity: Go for a walk and think about the noises that you can hear and what frequencies [pitch] they might be. (Based on the workshop with Piers)

This was a useful little activity that acted as a warm up for my ears. It opened up my ears and my ideas as to what noises and sounds I might use in my sound piece.

Secondary Research

Music Video: Weird Science by Oingo Boingo

ETHICAL CONSIDERATION: 'Weird Science' is a song made for a film by the same name. The film is a possibly problematic film looking at it from a current day lens. It has themes of misogyny through the objectifying of the feminine body and the idea of creating the 'perfect' woman through a male gaze perspective. While this is true, the woman that they 'create' is actually very independent and is the most intelligent character, having self-autonomy and agency. It also includes a character that uses homophobic slurs, although he is presented as an antagonist and is 'punished' in the film for his behaviour towards other characters. The music video of the song itself also perpetuates this idea of objectifying feminine bodies.

• Conflates magic and technology; lyrics- 'fantasy and microchips' + 'magic and technology'
• It's an 80s song- in 70s/80s home computers were still a very new invention and therefore comparatively akin to magic for many and fiction often depicted them in a fantastical manner
• I like this blurred line between magic and technology as both are involved in my life, I think I may use this concept to influence my final piece.
• Song itself has a very energetic sound, but it also relates to energy through it's themes and lyrics; 'Electricity, we're makin', electricity = a form of energy, concept of creation- energy is required to fulfil such a process
• Has this 'Frankenstein' theme of bringing something inanimate to life; it is currently spring so perhaps I could do some sort of play off of that with the idea of new life in spring
• The visuals relate narratively back to the song; lab setting, bolts of lightning, cogs, candles, mannequin body parts- 'bits and pieces' [lyric]
• This overall has a very science lab feel, I think I want to go for a more fantasy, ethereal route. However, I do really like the idea of electricity and I really want to find some way to incorporate that into my final piece.

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

• genius.com. (n.d.). Oingo Boingo – Weird Science. [online] Available at: https://genius.com/Oingo-boingo-weird-science-lyrics. [Accessed 21 Feb. 2023].
• Hall, D. (2018). Problematic Movies of the ’80s | Weird Science (1985). [online] LITERATE APE. Available at: https://www.literateape.com/blog/2018/12/1/problematic-movies-of-the-80s-weird-science-1985 [Accessed 21 Feb. 2023].
• Rocha, C. (2011). Oingo Boingo - Weird Science HD. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://youtu.be/I23I7SW0Lvg [Accessed 21 Feb. 2023].

Sound Installation: Singing In The Dark

• an exhibition by David Velez, Ruchi Singh, Duncan Chapman
• exhbition is an immersive sound experience
• uses the sounds or rhubarb growing under a process known as 'forcing', where they are grown in the dark after frost exposure to promote starch production and growth, the stems make popping noises as they grow due to overproducing chemical energy, so acoustic energy is released as well
• sine waves are often using in horticulture as stimulant for crop growth and well-being; this is also used in the sound piece
• aims to immerse the audience into a soothing experience of darkness with the plants and ethereal sounds
• piece made partly as a result of research into bioacoustics
• I think this is such an interesting idea with a lot of intriguing research behind it
• I have always really like the idea of bioacoustics, always been very interested in the concept of music from plants and trees
• I don't have the resources personally for this project to get too deep into bioacoustics, so I won't be including that element in my own sound piece
• I do, however, think I could include a sine wave or something similar to one; the electric towers I want to record could possibly be pitch-shifted or edited in Adobe Audition to sound like a high-pitched sine wave

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

• amespace. (n.d.). Exhibition & Workshop/Talk/Concert | Singing in the Dark by David Velez, Ruchi Singh, Duncan Chapman – ame (art music experiment). [online] Available at: https://amespace.uk/projects/singing-in-the-dark/ [Accessed 21 Feb. 2023].
• Cultures of Place (n.d.). Singing in the Dark: the sounds of Yorkshire’s forced Rhubarb EXHIBITION. [online] Eventbrite. Available at: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/singing-in-the-dark-the-sounds-of-yorkshires-forced-rhubarb-exhibition-tickets-323069277907 [Accessed 21 Feb. 2023].
• Rodriguez, D.V. (2021). One Last Perfect Day. [online] habitat sonoro. Available at: https://habitatsonoro.wordpress.com/2021/09/16/one-last-perfect-day/ [Accessed 21 Feb. 2023].
• Rodriguez, D.V. (2022a). Acoustic energy: music to stimulate plants, by david velez. [online] Bandcamp. Available at: https://davidvelez.bandcamp.com/album/acoustic-energy-music-to-stimulate-plants [Accessed 21 Feb. 2023].
• Rodriguez, D.V. (2022b). Singing in the Dark. [online] habitat sonoro. Available at: https://habitatsonoro.wordpress.com/2022/07/06/singing-in-the-dark/ [Accessed 21 Feb. 2023].
• Rodriguez, D.V. (2022c). Singing in the dark: the sounds of forced rhubarb, by David Vélez. [online] Bandcamp. Available at: https://davidvelez.bandcamp.com/album/singing-in-the-dark-the-sounds-of-forced-rhubarb [Accessed 21 Feb. 2023].

Musician: Marsanne

• is a musician from New York
• she describes herself as making futuristic/ethereal folk music
• mainly uses synthesizers or 'toys that go plink-ploink'; has a very distinct style
• I found her through a tiktok of her performing a snippet of her to-be-released debut single 'Irreverent spell'
• I immediately fell in love with her distinnct style and the amazing ways she creates music
• I loved the noise of the xylophone machine she used in Irreverent Spell, which is called a xylomatic; she has a tiktok about it and I love her repurposing of an old instrument/toy
• she has vintage instruments/toys that she uses in her music which give it a very 'found sound' feel, as though her style and music is built and adapted around what she has to her disposable
• one way she often creates music is through sampling; she uses old toys or household items as sounds for her music
• she has a tiktok tutorial on sampling, which really helped me figure out how I can go about sampling sounds; of course I don't have the equipment that she does, but I can use alternatives like a recorder/phone app and adobe audition to do a similar thing
• overall, what I've taken from Marsanne as a musician is her practise of sampling sounds and the ethereal style that she has; I definitely want to try and implement similar styles into my piece, and I will be making my sound piece entirely out of sampled sounds

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

• marsanne (n.d.). marsanne. [online] marsanne.card.co. Available at: https://marsanne.carrd.co/ [Accessed 21 Feb. 2023].
• marsanne (n.d.). marsanne (@.marsanne). [online] TikTok. Available at: https://www.tiktok.com/@.marsanne [Accessed 21 Feb. 2023].

Developed Final Idea

Self Study Session: Testing + Practical (22/02/23)

Sound Recording

When I thought of 'energy', one thing that came to mind was what gives me energy, and what recharges me in a mental and spiritual sense. Being in nature and listening to birdsong and all the sounds of a forest is one of the main ways that I recharge myself after a long week. So, I went out to the forest to capture some of these sounds for my sound piece.

Another thing I linked to this was electricity, which was further inspired by the song 'Weird Science' by Oingo Boingo. I also liked the idea of using a sine wave (or something that sounded similar) in my piece, as inspired by my research into the exhibit 'Singing in the dark'. So, I walked to some electrical towers near where I leave and held a recorder as close I could to them. I found that I couldn't hear the hum of electricity on my actual recorder so I used a phone app instead, which came out much clearer.

Inspired by the artist, Marsanne, I wanted to create some sounds from around my house that had a 'twinkly' sound to them. One thing that came to mind was using glass. I also experimented with some ceramic items as well. I tapped different shaped glasses at different points with a knife to get different notes from them. I also did one experiment with water in the cups to emit different pitches of notes from the same type of cup.

This was a really fun test and not an experience that I have ever done before.

Visuals: Video and Photography

Two things I related to energy were nature and electricity, so I wanted to portray that through my visualiser. I went out on a walk and captured a variety of photography and videography of nature and electric towers. I wanted to create an ominous feel surrounding the electric towers so I went out to do this as the sun was setting on an overcast day for a bleak, dreary look.

Loosely inspired by my research into 'Singing in the Dark', I experimented with taking photos and videos of random found objects down a microscope. I've never done any kind of microscopic photography and I was using a very old cheap microscope that I had, so there was definitely a learning curve with this. The light on the microscope was dead and I didn't have a spare battery for it so I improvised by using a phone flashlight in a dark room to get a similar effect.

At the start, I just couldn't seem to see anything when I put my phone camera down the microscope, but eventually I realised I had to angle my phone slightly so the camera was pointed at the mirror inside the microscope. (I think that's what it was t least, I'm not sure how microscopes work.)

I liked this molecular kind of concept and I linked it back to the electric towers, sort of conceptualising how their cells might look if they were living beings.

Studio Session: Lumen Print Tests (23/02/23)

Lumen Print Workshop

• A lumen print is made by layering object over photo sensitive paper
• Wherever the object blocks the paper, it will be left undeveloped
• Using translucent objects or thing objects can create and interesting effect with the light filtering through
• Lumen prints develop by being left out in the sun
• Lumen prints will not get overexposed, but you do need to add a fixer/developer so that the print doesn't fade over time

Layering The Print

I layered my print with tissue paper, flower petals and random bits of dried plants. I also cut an electrical tower out of paper and added that to my scene. I taped the print down to a slightly larger piece of paper, and taped a plastic sheet over all of it. This was to stop all of the elements flying away as we were developing these prints on the school roof. The plastic also stopped the print from getting wet as it was raining.

As it was very overcast today and my piece had a lot layers, I anticipated needing to leave my print out for quite long for it to develop fully.

Processing The Print

I had left my print to develop slightly under a shade on the balcony so that it didn't get wet, however this meant the top of my print [seemed as though] didn't fully develop. After fixing and drying, the colour of the print drastically changed and the top of the print did become a lot clearer. I do still feel like the top of the print isn't as clear as I intended for it to be, maybe turning the print half way through and leaving it for a bit longer may have worked better. Although, the unclearness of the top could imply a fog which fits into my ominous/ethereal vibe for this piece.

Final Lumen Print