Mason Mayfly Foundation Media Production: Diagnostic Stage

In the end, most of the photos I took of pieces related to error quite strongly. They don't relate to my concepts surrounding error that I am focusing on as much of them are more physical in error than societal, but I think this was good in broadening my horizons of how views on error might be represented.

This is the first piece that stood out to me. 'Tongues' was in the tanks and includes 14 tongue sculptures and a 15th sculpture sat in a dish of water. I really didn't understand what was going on at first and it was quite an unsettling sight. I think what put me most on edge was the fact I didn't quite understand at first and I felt like I was supposed to know what was going on.

This unsettling feeling and my initial confusion was the main reason that this piece was left particularly strong in my memory at the end of the visit.

Serpentine Pavilion (27/09/22)

As a class, we had a trip out to do gallery visits. We met here at the Serpentine Pavilion and had a look at this large outdoor installation.

I thought the use of staining the wood rather than painting over it was very interesting. It shows the natural grain of each piece of wood meaning every single slat is different. You might view this as natural beauty because of its uniqueness or natural error as things aren't the same.

Other than that, I didn't take much from this piece in all honestly. It just didn't go along the strands of error that I wanted to look into.

V&A Gallery Visit (27/09/22)

For our first day, we had a day trip out to the V and A as a class rather than a studio session. I looked on the V and A website and planned that I wanted to look at the Islamic Middle East and South Asian rooms.

ISLAMIC MIDDLE EAST (ROOM 42)

SOUTH-ASIA (ROOM 41)

THE SURROUNDINGS

V and A Visit Summary

Independent Gallery Visits (27/09/22)

As I was already in central London, I decided to visit a few other galleries after the V and A visit. I could have gone home as this wasn't specifically tasked to us, however, I felt like I hadn't had much opportunity to explore the other strands of error (like death, decay and war) because the V and A ended up being a very socio-politically orientated visit. I wanted to expand on my other ideas before making a final decision on my project's focus.

Tate Modern

I didn't find much inspiration for error based on the strands of death, decay or war in the Tate Modern. The trip was still useful though as I knew I would be unable to attend the Contextual Studies the next day so I read the project brief and did the work to find an artwork to focus on the essay for. On my trip, Babel and Tongues stood out to me most for the essay.

Bankside Gallery

I really enjoyed the trip to Bankside Gallery, I found a lot of inspiration.

The above pieces all show decay and death in different manners and presentations. I think my favourite of them all was 'Disintegration', the piece with the mushroom head, as I really like the form the artist used and also the positioning.

The above piece is called 'Ukrainian Saint Javelin'. I assumed from the name that this piece has something to do with the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine. I really love the use of tonal reds in this piece and the juxtaposition of the saint-like figure holding a weapon of war.

There was a mixture of nature scenes and pieces depicting manmade structures. This made me think of that nature vs. manmade theme, which is something I often depict in my photography work.

Woodlands Photography - Primary Research (28/09/22)

For our self-study day, I decided to do some primary research while on my weekly woodland walk. I thought this would also help balance out my research into decay as a theme of error since it is Autumn and much of the woodlands is slowly adjusting to the new climate.

• Took photos of mushrooms as they relate to death, eating toxic mushrooms can be deadly no matter how delicious (same with berries photo)
• Photos of fallen leaves as research for decay
• Broken bench, links to decay and nature vs. manmade
• Experimented taking photos of cars on the roundabout for a blurred effect, an error

5 Gallery Responses to Topic of Error - PADLET TASK (28/09/22)

I made a presentation (below) researching into 5 of the gallery pieces I viewed during all my gallery trips. This was a set task on Padlet.

Error Lesson - Methods of Research (29/09/22)

Error Lesson - Practical Primary Error Research (29/09/22)

This was a studio session where we went out and took photos relating to error. I took these on my camera phone.

• Empty chairs to represent loneliness
• Food on table, waste
• Plants, transition to decay

• most staged shots oppose the 'rules', sitting on floor despite there being a chair
• also Aleks modelling for me sadly on the edge of a bench, loneliness, depression

Error Lesson - Mind Maps and Planning (30/09/22)

Pinterest Moodboard (03/10/22)

Secondary Research

Stuff the British Stole with Marc Fennell | ABC Podcast | Ep 1 'A Tiger and a Scream'

I was suggested to listen to this podcast as part of error research by Grace as feedback on my thoughts on the V and A visit.

Notes written while listening:

• Lovely sound design, recorded on his phone so you get a natural hum of background noise
• Cut together clips from various interviews I suppose he has done, gives a good overall of the episode at the start
• I relate to him a lot in the sense of not really speaking the home language or knowing about your heritage's history, just isn't something that's taught
• 'Cultural shaming' it hurts but it's true, you either aren't white enough or you aren't brown enough, again I relate
• It's interesting doing this as a podcast and not a documentary, you don't see the pieces but you can imagine them from the descriptions
• Also the lack of visuals means you don't see the people talking, and I think that's purposeful, it's not about how those people look and the lack of visuals allows you to separate that and focus on the origin of the pieces
• Colonialism history!!!
• 'Contested histories' - something museums say to suggest the origin is "disputed" to avoid saying they were stolen
• Institutional museums like the British Museum and the V and A only have around 5% - 10% of their collection on display
• 'Official looting' - looting that was acceptable according to the British Institution
• Took everything that was valuable like the throne and melted them down, but the wooden tiger had no materialistic worth so it got sent back to England for display
• In the V and A collection (was on display at the time of podcast, Nov 2020)
• "East India company, in effect, a commercial army in service of the British Empire"
• I knew the East India company pillaged and looted villages but I didn't realise there were full blown wars that occurred between them and the Indian natives, it's something that has never been taught and also in the V and A it was not mentioned either in my primary research - in fact the V and A acted very much like the East India Company was beneficial for India
• They demonised Tipu Sultan, he's controversial within in India because he massacred Hindus and Christians but he was also highly against British colonisation of India and fought against it
• There were four Mysore wars against Tipu and the East India Company (British), Tipu lost the third
• 1790s, Britain and France were at odds and so Tipu helped the French and made an alliance with the French
• The mechanism inside the tiger is clearly European, must've been made by a French person using Indian wood
• The French's message was intercepted by the British, causing them to attack sooner
• I find it personally ironic that the British found this piece and have kept it since, it is a piece mocking them and their history put they display it so proudly
• "that would never happen if it was in Bangalore", so is it justified to keep the piece just to educate? to preserve a history, but in reality is the history even being preserved if the museum ignores the British's part in it? Personally I disagree with this statement so much, why is it that we assume that the British are the sole reason for things' prosperity, who is to say it would not have been equally revered had it been returned to Mysore?
• "all for things of iconic value, say religious value, being returned" who values that? the British? because the more iconic the piece the more likely they are to dig their nails in deep and clutch to the piece. and religious value? there are literal holy texts displayed openly in the V and A, they don't care about religious value. Moreover, our cultures are SO MUCH more than just religion, we get boiled down to religious practise so often but our culture and religion are separate, we have art and art is important to any culture.
• "the reason that it survived was because it was shipped of to Britain" Why is it that the British need to 'safe-keep' our history and our art like we are five year olds incapable of managing the preservation of our OWN history and culture? People who believe the British preserved vital parts of our histories that we would otherwise destroy and revere them for that are holding on to imperialistic and frankly white saviour ideologies, and it's sickening.
• "if someone dug your father's grave up and out it on his display in his backyard, would you feel the morality was on his side?" EXACTLY, I was astonished when I went to the V and A and saw literal grave markers hung up for viewing, stealing is insensitive. at this point it doesn't matter if it would've gotten degraded, if it didn't survive it wasn't meant to, it's the principle of not dictating another cultures history, they took so much control over us and they still can't let it go.
• "the people who went against the British are in bad shape today"
• "whether he was a war criminal or whether he was a great leader, the heritage that's there belongs to all of us" I agree, I think it's less about Tipu himself it's about the piece and the history it holds for Mysore, not about Tipu.

The video referred to in the podcast.

• I find it highly ironic that they are playing a piece made to mock a British soldier and an aspect of British history that they somehow manage to shrug off and brush under the rug in the exhibition I went to.
• The comments section of the video has a lot of discourse about returning the item to Mysore

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• open.spotify.com. (2020). A Tiger and a Scream. [online] Available at: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3AeDuZBPgcAz8pnvWLrdIQ?si=z4DSN8goQzusDO05qFOLHg.
• ‌Victoria and Albert Museum. (2019). V&A · Tipu’s Tiger. [online] Available at: https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/tipus-tiger.
• ‌www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Conservation: Playing Tipu’s Tiger. [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/hhIIEv5Rt9g.

Partition Anti-Memorial Project | Pritika Chowdhry

The Anti-Memorial Project is a partition art series of anti-memorial art work exhibits. Each exhibit focuses on a specific aspect of the partition.

• focusing on the map that meant the division of the country
• Interesting concept, the sewn lines are very poignant and while it is not outwardly written in it obvious from one glance that they are mimicking that of a map, sectioning areas off with the overlap of the thread lines.
• thread looks red like blood, the borders ran with migrant blood, reference to that
• they use a blouse to present this on, which is n piece of clothing often worn as part of a saree
• use of blouse may be a reference to femininity and by extension the sexual violence women faced during the gang massacres of the partition
• however blouse may also be reference to British colonisation as sarees were not worn with a blouse before the British arriving in India, the blouse became a part of the saree due to British soldiers sexualising it.

• Ceramic, hollow feet glazed black inside and out and filled with salt water
• the use of a feet allows for the people represented to be androgynously presented, meaning both masculine and feminine bodies are recognised as sites of sexual violence during the partition
• the hollowness of the feet echoes the empty way victims of sexual violence often describe feeling while in recovery
• for me salt water is often associated with cleansing, I grew up always rinsing sores and cuts with salty water, so the salt water filled in the feet is almost like cleansing out an emotional wound

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• Pritika Chowdhry Art. (n.d.). Partition Anti-Memorial Project by Pritika Chowdhry. [online] Available at: https://www.pritikachowdhry.com/partition-art.
• ‌Pritika Chowdhry Art. (n.d.). Partition of India, 1947 | Partition Anti-Memorial Project. [online] Available at: https://www.pritikachowdhry.com/partition-of-india.
• Pritika Chowdhry Art. (n.d.). Remembering the Crooked Line | Partition Art. [online] Available at: https://www.pritikachowdhry.com/remembering-the-crooked-line.
• ‌Pritika Chowdhry Art. (n.d.). Silent Waters | Partition Art. [online] Available at: https://www.pritikachowdhry.com/silent-waters.

Google Search: Reunion | Google India Advertisement

This advert was made to specifically target the relationship between Indian and Pakistan and try to bring the rift together. The piece was publishes on YouTube first and then went viral and was aired on TV for the first time two days later.

• balances being light and wholesome really well with moment that make me want to cry
• 'visa requirements' strict borders
• 'had to relocate overnight' its true for so many people and its so important that a big company like google is talking about it, I just wish they would do it in western adverts as well not just directed at India

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• India, G. (2013). Google Search: Reunion. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHGDN9-oFJE.
• Wikipedia. (2022). Reunion (advertisement). [online] Available at: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reunion_(advertisement).

The 1947 Partition Archive | Oral History Excerpts

The 1947 Partition Archive is a non profit organisation that collects, preserves and shares accounts of the Indian Partition. I watched two videos in their collections section on their sites. These were oral history videos, which is what this organisation specialises in. For a final piece an interview with my nan talking about her experiences, intercut with clips of things that feel like home [neh cooking, roti puffing up, general chit-chat) - could be a solid idea.

• Speaks in home tongue, I want to do that for an interview with Neh
• Sat somewhere homely and relaxed, also want to do this with Neh

• Talking about her and her families experiences with the partition
• Also talks a bit about the general impact

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• www.1947partitionarchive.org. (n.d.). Collections | www.1947partitionarchive.org. [online] Available at: https://www.1947partitionarchive.org/collections.
• ‌www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Kazi Shamsuzzaman. [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/hpcW_XpeheY.
• www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Ajit_Cour. [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/i8LFUFVHMhw.
• Wikipedia. (2021). The 1947 Partition Archive. [online] Available at: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_1947_Partition_Archive.

Experimentation

Shooting B-roll

My nan is moving house very soon and so parts of our house are empty and bare, making for a huge amount of echo and liminality. I decided to film myself and the house. This was partly for myself to have record of the house and to say goodbye to it, but I also felt like it would be interesting to compare the idea of moving house in this respect where you have time to process and say goodbye and pack, to having to leave overnight with what you can carry.

Recording foley

The same concept with the b-roll above, I wanted recordings of the sounds of the house as it has very distinctive noises that I will miss terribly. Also, my research pieces had very interesting sound designs so I wanted to do some form of sound layering and design.

Newspaper Experimentation

For this, I compiled some film photos that were taken in Pakistan by my relatives. I was not born at the time of these photos being taken, I'm using them as "archival pieces". My mother has these photos and she gave me access to the ones she didn't mind me using, I went through and picked photos that I liked based on their colouration, composition and how I thought I could relate them to the theme of the 1947 Indian Partition [based on setting, items, people etc].

After selecting these photos, I confirmed with my mum that they were all okay to use and she had no issues with my selection. She only asked that I censored people's faces as she couldn't ask for their consent (but she didn't mind her face being left uncensored) and that for the photo showing a grave to cover the text.

Next, I sourced a British Metro newspaper on my way home one day to be used for the clippings. In fact, the newspaper is what started the idea for this experimentation. I picked up a copy of the newspaper to shake up my route home and to see if it gave me any inspiration, and it luckily did. The inspiration came from reading over the different headlines and noticing a lot of violent terms like 'fight' and 'beat', as well as some others like 'family' and 'help'.

I spent an evening carefully cutting out the words I wanted, which I selected to specifically tell a narrative linking to the Indian Partition.

I didn't want to limit myself for street photography as I wanted to take shots that I don't usually take in my photography to expand myself as a creative artist, so I didn't head out with one overarching theme. Instead, I thought about themes such as liminal space, film noir and conversation.

All of the above photos were ethically taken, photos clearly including people's faces have been verbally asked for consent to be used on this site by me. I did want to try and get out of my comfort zone with this task and experiment with taking candid photos of strangers as this is something I have never explored in my photography before. For these, I took them from afar on a balcony at angles were people's faces were either out of shot, unclear or generally not visible.

I did also take some interesting shots of the balconies of buildings in the area. The shots I took were quite nice but was ethically questionable as it could be considered an invasion of one's privacy, and I felt quite morally grey taking them.

I don't think I will likely experiment with taking photos of people without direct consent in any manner as I as a photographer did not enjoy the process or think the work I produced in that manner was even particularly great. I much preferred the candid shots I took of my peers where I asked them prior if they were okay with me taking pictures of them as I went along. I then went through the photos with them after to see if there were any they disliked being used.

Overall, I am happy with how this task went as I explored an element of photography I had never experimented with before and although I didn't go in with clear themes I can see distinct motifs threading through some series of photos.

Fashion Photography Research (06/10/22)

Ideas of things to research:

• Clothing brand
• Street fashion
• Fashion street photography
• Importance of editing
• Fashion magazine
• Artist example

The Amazing Spiderman (Andrew Garfield)

• Clothing - layered, dark colour palette, hoodie, backpack
• Colouration - under saturated, bleak, grey toned, muted pops of yellows
• Setting - industrial, grey, dirty, depressing, street

• Editing - exaggerated contrast, muted whites and exaggerated highlights, high shadows and black tones
• Crisp close up of hand

• Subject pose - unnatural, hard-to-get-to places, climbing
• Lighting - harsh white, no soft yellow lighting, bleak, creates prominent shadows

• Clothing - very layered, hoodie and jacket, warm, autumn/winter, loose fit, smooth canvas textures
• Props - camera, backpack, glasses

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• www.youtube.com. (n.d.). THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 3D - Official Trailer. [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/-tnxzJ0SSOw [Accessed 26 Oct. 2022].
• www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Spider-Man Subway Fight Scene - The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) Movie CLIP HD. [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/rXWOpZ7W2fA [Accessed 26 Oct. 2022].
• Amazing Spider-Man Wiki. (n.d.). Spider-Man. [online] Available at: https://amazingspiderman.fandom.com/wiki/Spider-Man?file=Peter_with_his_camera.jpg [Accessed 26 Oct. 2022].

Fashion Photography (07/10/22)

10 Fashion Photography Photos Task

For today's task, I had a very specific idea of what I wanted to shoot based off of the research I did into film stills from The Amazing Spiderman with Andrew Garfield. I wanted to capture streetwear, with the skater style (minus the skateboard as I couldn't source it as a prop) and the city photographer aesthetic.

I chose to do streetwear as my overarching theme because I think it's a very nostalgic 2000s type of fashion. Fashion is quite high-end or experimental in today's age and I wanted to reign that in and go for something that might be comforting and evoke memories for the audience.

As my theme is streetwear, my street photography research has also inspired me for this task. Particularly, my research into the film noir feature length, Terminal (2018). Mary Ellen's approach to letting the subject have more control over the photography in terms of positioning has also inspired me. I think I will place my subjects in the settings I want and ask them to experiment and do as they want and I will take the shots when I see the right opportunities.

• Muted, grey and blue colour grading
• Converse, very street wear so wanted to focus in on them
• Flooring echoes colour of the shoes
• Industrial white strip lighting

• Harsh white sky, almost cloudy affect over layered (echoes an industrial area that would be very foggy)
• Hood up, layered clothing
• "Spidey Pose" (inspired by research into Subway Fight Scene in The Amazing Spiderman)

• Confident stance, looking down on the camera
• Harsh white sky

• Camera as props (inspired by research into Andrew Garfield in The Amazing Spiderman)
• Candid shot
• Symmetry
• Tree leaves in background make for a very scratchy background

• Layered, nature at front with an industrial, urban background
• Looking away from camera, audience is not important, mysterious
• Close up, more of an "aesthetic set-up"

• Layered, nature at front with an industrial, urban background
• Looking away from camera, audience is not important, mysterious
• Mid shot, can see more clothing

• Jewellery
• Shot inspired by Subway Fight Scene in Amazing Spiderman
• Dark colour grading

• Slight canted angle
• Nice layering of subjects and background
• Edited to exaggerate folds in the denim jacket

• Lengthwise shot
• Edited to bring exposure down
• White light highlighting the knees
• Camera prop

• Element of climbing
• Harsh white sky

• Extreme canted angle
• Subject looking into camera, direct and confident
• Added slight vignette to focus into the subjects more

• Extreme canted angle
• Spider web like frame (inspired by Spiderman)
• Industrial setting in background
• Camera prop
• Edited to mute yellow

• Edited to add more light and clarity to the clothing
• Green and red pops (inspired by research into Terminal for street photography)
• Confident, striking pose

• Confident, striking pose
• Harsh white sky
• Glasses prop (inspired by research into Andrew Garfield in The Amazing Spiderman)

Photography Questions (08/10/22)

What have you found that stuck out to you in the history of both elements of photography?

In street photography, there is a history of questionable ethics within the community. Taking photos of people without their consent and even taking very close, uncomfortable photos of people without warning. An example of this would be Bruce Gilden, who takes photos so close to people that they often look behind them to see if he was taking a photo of something in the background. He doesn't seem to question the ethics of this method of shooting.

In fashion photography, there is a history of oppression of minority groups. Looking through photos of 1950s pin up girls, I can see that the women that were being photographed were all white skinned. Some might say that fashion photography has revered women and brought them to the spotlight but I think fashion photography has actually been very oppressive throughout women's history. Fashion photography in history has sexualised women for the male gaze, perpetuating unattainable body standards causing a history of young girls having low self-esteem and low self-worth.

What do you think of the current applications of both fashion, and street photography? Are there positive and negative uses?

Street photography has started to move forward in modern practices, with the some of the community recognising the ethical concerns with the methods of some iconic street photographers. There have been moves to consider ethics when shooting, and to ask consent when taking a photo. This is a positive development, although I think the rule should be to ask before as I personally view it invasive to take a photo of someone and then ask for consent on the photo they weren't aware u were taking.

Fashion photography has become a lot more open and inclusive. It's typical to see a mix of skin tones in shoots, although, I feel that South-Asian and East-Asian skin tones are still lacking. The fashion photography industry is moving forward positively in it's acceptance of different body types and identities, however I think there is still a long way to go. I think they particularly need to evolve in the way that they treat their models.

Structured VS. Unstructured Final Pieces (09/10/22)

I felt the above street photography photos had the best composition and colouration of all the photos I took. The middle photo was actually a candid error shot as my initial aim was to take a photo of just the pigeons and then the person walked into the shot just as my phone had processed the photo. They also had a running strain of film noir themes, and therefore I chose them as my final pieces.

For the afternoon of this lesson, we had the practical task to go around in pairs recording foley sound to use for our sound design piece. I was in a pair with Aleks. For my sound piece, I am going to use foley I already recorded as part of my error project, which are the sounds of my nan's house when it is empty of people. So instead of recording my own foley, I helped Aleks to record theirs and made sounds that they requested of me.

The above photo is what I will be responding to for my sound design. The photo was taken by a family member on a trip "back home" to Pakistan, I was not born at the time of this photograph being taken. The "Can't Survive" is a newspaper clipping that I layered over the photo in order to sensor the faces in the image as I don't have a way of asking for consent. This photo is a part of a series I created for the Error Project.

Sound Design Research (14/10/22)

Ideas for research:

• Cildo, Babel Tower Tate Modern
• Something going on above my head, Tate Modern
• Waterfall instalations
• Innocence
• Overwhelming-ness in sound

'Babel', Cildo Meireles, 2001

Babel is a sound installation in the Tate Modern that was created in 2001 by Cildo Meireles, it took Cildo around 10 years for him to take his initial concept and visualise it into this final sculptural installation.

• Overwhelming cacophony of sound
• So much sound it is impossible to latch on to any one singular sound or strand of thought
• Overtakes the mind, it's hard to think while listening to it
• Quite eerie, within the white noise blanket of human speech there are a few distinct rings of music that break out above the talking, uncanny strings

⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙•⋅⋅⋅•⋅⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅

• Tate (2013). ‘Babel’, Cildo Meireles, 2001 | Tate. [online] Tate. Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/meireles-babel-t14041.

Sound Installations of Contemporary Icelandic Artist, Rúrí

Rúrí is an Icelandic artist who expresses her art in different forms from orchestrated live performance, video, photography and sound design. She grew up around the magnificent Icelandic waterfalls and this is reflected in her work. A lot of her works focus on water as she values it highly since it is something we rely on for survival as humans, it gives life to almost all living things in this world. She uses her works to bring awareness to the climate crisis happening and how this affecting the amount of water available to us.

• Sounds like wind or wolf howling, similar to the wailing of a woman
• Rushing of water, like a brown noise backing track
• Clanging metal, rhythmic, adds beat to the chaos of rushing water
• Mono-tone announcing of facts about the crisis, becomes a part of the rushing water and blends into it
• The moment the electric guitars come in it's impossible to think, very overwhelming
• The humming sounds very unearthly almost angelic but in a twisted way

• The sounds of the cars are almost mimicking the sound of the rushing water
• Visual installations that are clearly available to view, but the surroundings act as the sound for it

⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙•⋅⋅⋅•⋅⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅

• Follow the Water. (2014). Listen to the voice of the waterfalls in Rúrí’s work. [online] Available at: https://followater.wordpress.com/2014/06/05/listen-to-the-voice-of-the-waterfalls-in-ruris-work/.
• ‌Anon, (n.d.). Vocal VI | Rúrí. [online] Available at: https://ruri.is/2014/09/25/vocal-vi-2/ [Accessed 26 Oct. 2022].

Sound Design Production (20/10/22)

I layered my audio a lot for this piece as I wanted to create an overwhelming feeling for the audience that echoes the overwhelming feeling Indians may've felt during the 1947 Indian Partition when they were forced to migrate and leave their homes of generations.

• Created a old radio effect using Parametric Equalizer and FFT filter for my poem voice over as this would've been a prominent medium of communication used at the time of the events in 1947, which I found out through my error project research.
• Keyframed audio gain to have more control over sound fades in and out and also for the way I wanted specific noises to build up
• Did use the pre-set fades in/out for more minor clips to save time on editing

Self-Study Animation Follow Up (18/10/22)

Self-Study Animation Follow Up (19/10/22)

Animation Lesson: Principles of Animation + Frame by Frame (20/10/22)

For the frame by frame lesson, I didn't have access to one of the Wacom Cintiqs as I didn't have the right port/adapter available to me. So instead, I did the frame by frame experimentation using my mouse and the animation feature on Photoshop. Since I was using a mouse, I decided to keep the animation very simple and to use a heavy line weight to avoid having to do details and so the line would have more the illusion of being smooth.

I didn't focus on doing my final animation gif based on "There'd Better Be A Mirrorball" during this session as I wanted to simply experiment freely and do whatever came to my mind. I think this helped me a lot with exploring the abstract and non-linear. In the end, this experimentation piece ended up unconsciously having links back to the themes of the song.

The 'blob' is trying to escape and shoots off to the ceiling only to splat when it gets blocked, it then dramatically slops off the roof and slumps down the wall in defeat. This frustration and caged element reflects the melancholic, reminiscent feeling of the song I used as inspiration.

After having talked with Grace, I have decided I will run with this 'blob' concept and rework the movement of it based on Grace's feedback on stretch and squash and anticipation. We also discussed not including the eye as it is quite linear and we both felt it didn't inherently add much to the overall piece. While I felt like the eye personified the piece yesterday, I realised the animation of the blob itself is very personified and almost human-like in the emotion shows through pure movement and speed.

Animation Research (20/10/22)

Ideas for thing to research:

• Line animation
• Mark making
• Song music video, visual concept idea

There'd Better Be a Mirrorball Music Video

• This effect is used at the start at end of the video
• Makes me think of him being caged within the frame

• There is a glare effect over this that creates scratchy lines over the screen
• Reminds me of mark making

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• Promonews (n.d.). Arctic Monkeys ‘There’d Better Be A Mirrorball’ by Alex Turner | Videos. [online] Promonewstv. Available at: https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2022/09/09/arctic-monkeys-thered-better-be-mirrorball-alex-turner/78221 [Accessed 26 Oct. 2022].

Mark Making and Sound

• Important to ignore feelings of being silly or 'not doing it right'
• Form of emotional expression, no right or wrong way of doing it
• Can see how different shapes relate to certain sounds; harsher sounds are sharper edged
• Medium that you use can be important as different textures relate to certain sounds; watercolour > smoother, softer flowing sounds

• Gave me ideas for shapes and textures I might use: crosses, triangles, C shapes
• The way they laid out the paper, in little boxes 4 by 5 reminds me of the Mirrorball effect I saw during my music video research - will use this concept for my mark making, do a mark on paper cut into quarters

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• Anon, (n.d.). Mark Making & Sound: Part One. [online] Available at: https://www.accessart.org.uk/mark-making-and-sound-part-one/.

Paper Stop Motion Animation

• Used for ideas on tripods
• Possible tripod ideas: book tower, wire rack

Animation Production: Mark Making (20/10/22)

Animation Production: Stop Motion (21/10/22)

Practical Side

• I used a mixture of the suggestion in the video I used to research tripod ideas
• Because I needed the phone to be quite high up, I made book towers on top of chairs on either side of the frame.
• Then I balanced an ironing board across each book tower to create a makeshift bridge for the phone to sit on directly above.
• I set this up in a well-lit room and kept all the lights on while taking the photos for the stop motion.
• I used a lamp just below the ironing board as a fill light to avoid any of the papers having shadows cast across them because the lighting in the room is overhead lighting.

• Laid the camera flat on the ironing board
• Had to fiddle around a bit to find the right hole for the camera lens to sit on top so the all the papers were in shot
• The ironing board hole made a subtle natural vignette effect on the edges, which I quite liked

• Consistency is important in stop motion
• For that reason, I securely taped down the phone to the ironing board and the ironing board to the books
• This prevented anything moving when taking the photos so the frame would stay still in the animation
• So that the phone screen was not damaged by the tape, I cut a poly-pocket to the size of the screen, which sat on the screen when I taped the phone down
• Using a poly-pocket also allowed me to still see how the photo looked before taking the photo

• Using sticky notes, I set up a system to see which marked squares I had or hadn't swapped out into the shot yet
• I also had a system to tally every photo to have an idea about how many frames I had taken (I was aiming for about 100, I believe I took 122 frames in the end, which came to about 30 seconds of animation)
• My mother assisted me to tally each frame to speed up the process a bit
• You can see in the tally sheet the first row are crossed out; I took about 20 frames before realising my foot was in the corner of every shot, I retook these
• The system I used to swap sheets in and out: 3 photos moving squares around within the frame, swap 1 photo, 3 photos moving squares, swap 1 and so on

Why I didn't use a stop motion app

I didn't want to use a stop motion app because I didn't want to be confined to a specific frame rate. I wanted to have the stop motion exactly in time with the BPM of the song, because even though it's not obscenely obvious to everyone it does make it feel a lot more natural and satisfying.

Technical Side

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The above and below photo grids are a quick paired photography task that we did to show how camera angles and subject positioning can affect the interpretation of dominance and submissiveness.

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We then had a quick Padlet task to upload a photo of a character in film being in a dominant or submissive role. For my character, I chose Edward Scissorhands, I also included some analysis of why I chose him.

Over the course of the film, the character is a very submissive and naïve character who gets used by the other characters for their own gain and desires. One could argue he evolves into a more dominant role towards the end of the film when his actions become more volatile against the people who used him, but I don't think this is dominance. I think he stays submissive throughout the film, but at the end he's simply driven to anger and violence out of fear than out of choice.

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We were then put into groups for our group work film based on the theme of 'choice'. I was put into Group 3 with Benji, Oscar, Lotta and Dasha. I didn't know anyone in the group so I admittedly was a fairly quiet member. Although I wasn't as vocal as I usually was, I still shared ideas and made my strengths known. I have done most job roles within film as part of my previous course and I know that out of everything, the thing I most prefer is editing. I made it known that I would be best in editing and that is my job role now.

I perhaps could have pushed myself do something else, however as I still have work to catch-up on I decided not to push myself too much for this task as sometimes a comfort zone isn't always a bad thing, especially when you perform well within it.

We shared our ideas within our group and decided on job roles as we had our plot idea, which was the idea of someone tripping on their laces due to their choice not to tie them properly. This idea came from Dasha and we all agreed it was good concept so we went with it. I quite liked the idea as it reminded me of a piece of candid error photography I took earlier in the diagnostic period.

Dasha made a storyboard for the piece after discussing the climaxes and solutions with us as a group. Her notes are above. I took a photo of her notes as this is good reference for me as an editor to know the order in which the story is occurring.

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While the rest of the group went out to film, I stayed back to review the storyboard and to compile some possible music bacling tracks for the piece.

List of non-copyrighted music that could fit with the short:

• Horror style- Shadowlands 4 Breath by Kevin Macleod (https://youtu.be/TX4CrS4jQ10)
• Upbeat Jazz- All That by Benjamin Tissot (https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music/track/all-that-chill-hop)
• Techno- Brainfluid by INIM (https://pixabay.com/music/beats-inim-brainfluid-122844/)

List of copyrighted music that could fit with the short:

• Suspenseful- Sculptures of Anything Goes by Arctic Monkeys (https://youtu.be/2B0TDFkj0IU)

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When the group returned, Dasha confirmed they had shot everything she wanted to and that she was going to label the footage for me before sending it over. When editing, I'm used to having to edit my own footage so this was helpful of her.

Dasha also let me know that they managed to film a second film concept about deciding to use the lift or the stairs as well, which is great as we are getting ahead on our 5 edited film concepts.

I asked Dasha about sound, sound effects and music, she said she doesn't have anything specific in mind but that I could see if I can use the natural foley from the clips as they recorded with sound. For music, she doesn't have a particular vibe that she was going for so I think I may edit without sound for one film and edit to sound for the other one, using whatever song I think fits best.

Self-directed Task: Idea Development (25/10/22)

MIND MAPPING

STORYBOARDING

FINAL DECISION

Self-directed Film Production (26/10/22)

For the self-directed, I already have the footage filmed as I did this for experimentation for error. I went through and labelled all of my b-roll (example below) as I watched through them.

While I was doing this labelling process, I was also copying the clips I wanted to use over to my rushes folder for the project (shown below). I included some extra shots that weren't storyboarded as well for montage possibility and I thought I could provide some extra narrative of that "goodbye" with the sunset clips. The rainy car clip was intended for an end credits background.

After sorting my footage, I sourced a non-copyright track from a YouTuber called LuKremBo. I downloaded the audio and saved it to my assets > audio folder (shown below).

Premiere Pro Editing Workshop (26/10/22)

For this workshop, we had Robert. He told us that we could use his footage or our own footage if we had any to edit on. As I had the laces film to edit, I decided I would use that footage to edit on for the workshop.

We went over the basics of premiere pro, colour grading, sound and stabilisation. I am very confident with Premiere Pro so I treated the workshop like a refresher. That being said, I did learn a lot of useful information about stabilisation in film.

The above is the final film, which I've titled 'Laces'. I added some extra b-roll to the film to add some more flow to it and bulk it out a little as using just the shots of the main plot felt very flat when I watched the clips over. I made the piece a bit comical and light as I wasn't given much direction into what vibe we were going for in the piece, so I did what I felt like in that retrospect. I manipulated the speed of clips to add disorientation and bring attention to certain narrative points. I furthered this disorientation by intercutting 50% opacity clips for high tension moments.

One-shot Film (27/10/22)

For this studio session we were going over iconic film scenes that were filmed in one shot. After going through this and talking as a class about what made them great and how they were possibly shot, we were asked to think of our own one-shot sequence film clips and choose one as inspiration for a one-shot film sequence.

As Dasha was not in today, Benji took on the role of director within out group.

Planning and Research

I suggested the opening sequence of Corpse Bride as it was the only thing I could think of, however I felt it was difficult to translate the animation concept to live action film, especially as the camera is in the 'sky' following a very delicate and easily skittish creature, making it near impossible in live action.

After we watched the Tim Burton sequence, we thought for a bit as a group about what sort of live action films have one-shot sequences. Then Benji suggested the above clip from 1917. We watched it and concluded that one-shots tend to have a lot of movement, constant walking, getting from A to B. I also commented to the group that the main focus character tends to have a sense of familiarity with their surroundings.

We noticed when watching the clip that there was a moment where people go past the camera. I know this is a way that they may've hidden a cut so I mentioned this to the group. We kept it in mind if for if we wanted to do a longer sequence, although Benji commented that he liked the way it looked in general and would like for something like that to happen organically when filming [it did a few times].

From this we decided to do simple walking shots with the focus of our character travelling from one destination to another.

Production Evidence