Important bits and pieces i’d like to point out..

1. Ideas of creating a fantasy world. ( 6th March, 2010)

2. First Proposal ( 12th March, 2010)

3. Rethinking and brain storming ( 3rd April, 2010)

4. Project update, current position ( 1st May, 2010)

5. Rethinking and finalizing my thoughts (25th May, 2010)

Another sneak peek..

Printing!

After a printer malfunction on Friday, i’m off to the printers tomorrow (Monday) morning.
Each image (four in the series) is to be 63cm x 38.1cm
Black and White, letterboxed.

Exhibiton Practise lecture, 1/6/2010 (notes relating to my presentation)

Considerations:

• Is the method of presentation suitable to the work?
• the space, lighting, angles of few
• purpose of the work, scale, stepping back, physical dimensions, correctly bringing out different themes (or hiding?)
• intention to sell? (framing, quality, mounting, deterioration
• groupings/hangings
• continuity

Why Frame?

• Protecting, controlling the surroundings
• adds value (also, aesthetically, it adds value too)
• creates a ‘look’

B/W Frames, window moint, full frames, box frames
Mounting, sticking onto a surface

You don’t always need frames!
– some might want spectators to engage in the prints

Hanging:

• Split battens, loops and rods, eyelets, pins, mirror plates, hooks, flush against walls or floating, titles and spacers. (ALWAYS USE A LEVEL!)

Text information:

• Vinyl lettering, text panels.(name, digital prints, dimensions, title etc.)

Drumroll please…

One of my finals..watch this space.

Noir, and ideas of how i’m going to title my images.

I’m tossing up whether to name my four emotions (as in, titles of my final images)

Confrontation
Seduction
Death
and Fear

After notable Noir films.. for Example:

The Seduction Image = “In a Lonely Place”
– a film with the plot of confused identity and tormented lust, and is a mordant comment on Hollywood mores and the pitfalls of celebrity and near-celebrity   – We are surrounded by temptation and lust in this day and age.

The Confrontation Image = “Night of the Hunter”
–  The novel and film draw on the true story of Harry Powers, hanged in 1932 for the murders of two widows and three children in Clarksburg, West Virginia. – A film about Secrecy and hunting down
– In one point of my life, the situations, secrecy and the thrill of the chase were what I thrived off, and I think i’ve already taken an image that fits how I felt at that time perfectly, and this title fits with the image perfectly also..watch this space.

The Fear Image = “Shadow of A Doubt”
– one of Alfred Hitchcock’s finest films, in my opinion. The film’s plot basically is suspicion, and revelation. – There is just two of the strongest emotions one could feel, nothing can douse suspicion, and no one can delay a revelation. – Sometimes, I fear what I think I saw, and sometimes realisation can hurt more than secrecy, and i’m not ashamed to say that in some cases, ignorance is bliss, but what happens when it comes to the surface?

The Death Image = “The Big Sleep”
– the plot deals with the “process of a criminal investigation, not its results.” – to me, it’s not the end result, it’s the cause, and I feel no better title could be fitted to the “Death” image, firstly because of the face value of the title (the big sleep, death to the sensitive?) and secondly, once one has died, one ceases to exist, but the story around the death may never die.

But, in naming my images, am I contradicting myself? Will I be feeding the spectator a storyline?

Probably the most important post on this blog..

I’ve realised with my images, there are different ways of photographing emotions.
With my images of death (out of the many themes i’ve shot), they’re too obvious, and this “crime scene” style has been done to the days.
So, i’m re-writing my proposal – and shooting – as we speak, to make it more..personal.

Film Noir focused on emotions instead of wide angle modern shots, like the ones i’ve been taking. Back in the 1940s to the late 1950s they didn’t have the technology to achieve this, and now i’m taking it back to how they framed and captured the emotions in their Noir films – and like Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock) used close ups, and emphasized small parts, that created the bigger story.
It’s not so much about making it look like a film still, but by working with a genre that has it’s roots in film, on face value, it might. It’s more about using the low key lighting, and my own emotions, but putting it into my own memories, much like what later 1960’s Noir films did, by using a self reflective manner.

So, using what i’ve learnt, i’m putting my previous shoots into the past, i’m going to work on Self Awareness, and Subjectivity – but the way Film Noir painted it.

• Self-awareness is the awareness of the self as separate from the thoughts that are occurring at any point in time. Without self awareness the self perceives and believes the thoughts that are occurring to be who the self is. Self awareness gives one the option or choice to choose thoughts being thought rather than simply thinking the thoughts that are stimulated from the accumulative events leading up to the circumstances of the moment.

• Subjectivity refers to a person’s perspective or opinion, particular feelings, beliefs, and desires. Much of scientific evidence, statistics and methods of measurement are considered subjective although the term is frequently used casually to refer to personal opinions. In philosophy, the term can either be contrasted with or linked with objectivity.

Also, not forgetting the Film Noir visual style in that era (40’s – 50’s) was commonly associated with German Expressionism (Noted for their use of Silent Film, which was said to be far ahead of Hollywood cinema.) Knowing that now, I don’t want Hollywood Cinema. It’s fake, it’s reproduced – it’s just another modern twist on an old, overdone tale. I want my images to speak for themselves, and the spectator is not force fed the ideas, although in a media saturated world we roam, this is going to be the most difficult obstacle to stomp down.

From now on, I will be considering the essence of Film Noir, the emotion, the mood and how to create an image the way they used to, but with my own experiences, and from now on, words are in the past.

I want to work with the available, the places I used to roam – i’m coming up to twenty this week, and i’m suddenly looking back at what i’ve achieved, to be alive is the main thing, but if I was to leave this planet, is there anywhere that is purely me, does a part remain? and can it live on? A body can be easily removed, changed, but the soul holds, and nurtures the emotions that we all share – now, I plan to put these emotions in images, working with the ideas of:

Confrontation, Seduction, Death, and Fear – and how I react to those, collaborating my thoughts and making them bloom into four different images, which will come under the title of Noir – a dedication to the genre that made me rethink how I see an image.

Decisions..

Most of my images work when “letterboxed”, but this one seems to lose it’s sparkle, so I prefer it without:

1990 – 2010

Letterboxing my images to create “Film stills” – success!!

With this image I decided to work with death in a direct obvious confrontation..It’s not normally my style, I like to be a little more subtle.  I should’ve splashed about some fake blood though..

I shot this on my Canon EOS 1000D, from a three storey fire escape, to give the spectator a wide angle of view, and a birds eye view of sorts. We’re spying on the figure from above.

The still looks a lot more “film like” with the letterboxing, and i’ve decided to continue this with my post-processing.
The colouring for my images is going to be in black and white, I feel it makes me rethink taking the image, considering all possibilties for tone and lightplay, and also staying true to the original look of Film Noir.