chapter 4 - curation & final

Multiple weeks later, here we are. An open exhibition titled Milieu?, everyone's work displayed and our own re-touched and finalised.

As soon as the four of us got back from the break, I went out to reshoot some bits and bobs. I completely replaced the camera and poetry book shots, and exchanged the throw shot for a cushion. I'm happy I did as the camera shot proved to be some people's favourite.

Emily re-edited the footage to 20 seconds length which we felt was perfect, and once that was done I retouched the colours one more time before Kylan created the new soundscape. 

Then it was time to struggle with the exports, staying in sync etc. In the end we lost the fight due to the fact that the TV monitors each had a separate media speed, thereby going out of sync before the video had even finished playing, thereby no matter how many loops we would export, the monitor would still finish playback a milisecond before the other ones. 

At the same time Brodie and I focused on curation. We chose Chloe's suggested title because we felt that everyone's work was focused on political, surrounding and personal environments, and we as a year were questioning everyone's knowledge, interpretation and opinions. The three weeks passed in a blur. Brodie and I followed up on everyone's requirements, suggested ways of presentation, wrote a list of necessary equipment. Whilst Brodie counted up all the items, I made our first map of the Gallery layout:

Then it came down to helping everyone prepare. We painted plinths, moved the walls, tried to catch everyone to see where they were at with their work. We helped paint Mindi's table, move around some work, etc. Laura said that if the work wasn't up by Monday evening, it shouldn't be displayed, so we did our best to have everything ready. Brodie chased everyone up for their individual risk assessments, as well as did the Gallery one and I'm very thankful she did! In the meantime I focused on messaging people about getting their Artist Statements in, as I was designing a booklet on Illustrator. 

Seeing everyone's work go up was the most rewarding feeling. Despite all the running around and some confusion, everything was mostly finished for the lighting on Tuesday. Brodie and I decided to be the ones opening up on Wednesday, but when we got there for 9:30, the Gallery had already been opened for Applicant Day. We turned on all the monitors and projectors whilst also making On/Off Instructions; powered Jasper's PC, turned on all the speakers and added headphone extensions to the first monitors to have the front of the Gallery looking as neat as possible.

My biggest disappointment was the misprint of my pamphlets - as they got copied, the direction of them got a little warped, so when I took them to the electric guillotine, some parts got cropped. Sadly the university printers wouldn't let me print the work out without borders, so they all ended up looking a little bit off (even with the borders left on!!)

BUT OVERALL, this was a great and rewarding experience and I'm glad I did it because everyone's work looks amazing!

Here's our final edit of A Brief History of Personal Objects, as shown in Milieu?

chapter 3 - all done

Both Brodie and Emily did a really amazing job at editing their parts. Brodie's audio piece was really enjoyable, and Emily's editing saw our footage finally joined together to create the story we wanted to tell. It was amazing to see how our piece shaped itself when put together. I'm glad I got to work in such a lovely, kind group because we supported each other through all the stressful times.

I was present for the post-production process as well, and together with Emily we did some colour-grading on the final footage & added some of the text and times we based off the footage. The text was in relation to small details about the location or the object that one wouldn't necessarily consider when walking past. The time was in relation to the time of the day we would use the particular object, starting at the morning and proceeding onwards into the day.

Overall, I'm so happy with how our piece looks. With a little bit more time and better understanding of our equipment, it would've definitely reached its full potential, but I feel like what it is now is a really great Beta that could be built upon some other time. I can definitely imagine this piece being an immersive installation when it comes to the exhibition in Hockey gallery, so I hope to pursue the design of the space we want, no matter how much time it takes, and I really do hope it all works out.

My journey from point A to point B is somewhat cleared in my Learning Agreement and my Evaluation, which I've printed out, ready to submit along the final piece and Production Pack.

chapter 2 - object, camera, ready

With our Production Pack having been signed off, we collected our equipment on Friday and this was probably the first moment we realised that maybe we were a bit too enthusiastic about what we wanted to use. The equipment was heavy and we realised it would be very difficult to carry it around.

On top of that, further into the weekend we realised that perhaps we didn't really have a good enough understanding of the use of the glidecam. It definitely swallowed a few hours from our previous shooting schedule. In the end, we came to the conclusion we should use a tripod and worry about the slow movement when we got to post-production.

Despite all this, the actual filming went past in a blur. We had quite long days of walking around and I think by the end of it we were all exhausted, but some of the shots we got we were more than happy about. The walk I had done prior to this definitely helped us find all the right spots for shooting and saved loads of time, so that was definitely a benefit.

Here's my lucky shot of the project - I was filming a bottle of shampoo when a deer ran past, chased by two dogs. I can't believe that actually happened:

My other top footage I got was of a postman walking past our mirror but that's a treat for the actual final piece! Serendipity at its best!

During the production week, I also helped Brodie record some sounds at mine - such as the kettle boiling, keys rattling, footsteps, etc. I feel like Zoom F8 now looks way less scary than it did when we were inducted, and I'm glad I could watch Brodie use it. She also wrote the first draft of our dialogue's script because I felt stuck on my own which I then tweaked with her help, and we tweaked it one last time right before recording in the foley room. When it came to recording, I listened back to my voice and realised it wasn't what I wanted, so in the end the dialogue was spoken by Brodie and Kylan, which I felt like was a much better match.

I think that's all I have to say about the actual filming & recording process. It really was a blur, but I'm glad we didn't come across any other issues along the way. I did use my DSLR for all of my parts of the footage, which made it a little easier to get the visuals I wanted.. and I also put my camera very close to this lovely stream in the middle of Farnham Park.

Overall though, I may not have achieved the level of understanding of the GH4 that I wanted, but I think it was my mistake to assume that I could learn as I went along - I should've definitely done more tests prior to the actual shoot. Due to the fact we were running out of time, we had to sacrifice the glidecam and the GH4 to trade them for the good old tripod and our DSLRs because to get the shots we wanted, we needed to be more comfortable with our equipment.

chapter 1.2 - all the decisions

Phew! I feel like I haven't slept in weeks! Maps & Networks has been a journey. This link takes you into the adventure that was my idea merging into a project between myself, Emily, Brodie and Kylan who all had very lovely ideas of their own that were linked together by what we wanted to look into and achieve. It also has all of my previous blogs in relation to Maps & Networks.

Despite some setbacks, some uncertainties, a very overwhelming start - boy oh boy am I glad we joined into a group. Despite being very tiresome, it was definitely the least stressful project in a while and I enjoyed 99.9% of it.

The 0.1% was me taking on the role of the Student Producer. If there's one thing I've always been mortally scared of, it's producing. Don't get me wrong, I like knowing what's going on, scheduling things, researching and so on, but for some reason as soon as I opened the good old Production Pack, my mind went blank.

Thankfully Kylan, Emily and I did most of the paperwork together in the time frame of one evening in Caffe Nero (this included location notifications, three separate risk assessments, a project outline and treatment, equipment list and a shooting schedule/plan). We based our three risk assessments off our original risk assessment that Brodie & I made a few days prior to that.

I then had to tweak it a few times over the next two days before it was good enough to be printed off but I can honestly say that I faced my fear (named Risk Assessment) and honestly, it wasn't that bad! I definitely learned a thing or two. After weeks of uncertainty, it was good to know that our project was going to be made and we knew what we needed to do and when.

Here's a lovely photo of us from that evening (Alex represents Kylan in this photo):

Next Kylan and I went to see Julie, booked out a bunch of equipment (we got too excited & got equipment we weren't a hundred percent sure of... this came back to bite us) for the following weekend, as well as the studio, and then it was time to breathe for a little bit.

Camera gear:
GH4 with Prime Lens Kit, Steadicam, C Stand for balancing, Tripod

Audio gear:
Zoom F8 (headphones), Pearls x2 (with leads), Two mic tripods

Lighting gear for studio:
Arri lights (300?), Extension Lead

I used the free time during the other group's studio shoot to go location scouting (perks of being the only person of Group A in your Maps & Networks group). This was actually a really good idea as it definitely helped me picture what I wanted as a DOP a little better. I noted down some places I liked and some shots I could imagine in my head already (as we didn't have a 'storyboard').

One of the visual things that inspired me was a photo I did in the summer for the summer project:

And here's some photos from that lonely walk I did:

 

chapter 1 - a brief history of personal objects

On October 19th, I booked out the infinity table and asked people to bring in some objects of importance. Although the RSVP was good, on the day only a few people showed up and I feel like that was probably for the best as I hadn't properly researched and dug into the use of the infinity table.

The photos I gathered were nice, but I wasn't very happy with where I was within my project and in all honestly I was starting to feel like I didn't want to keep it up.

So then I had a chat with Emily, and we found a similar interest in our projects. The same happened with Brodie and Kylan, and soon we became a four people team. After a group meeting, we decided to focus on the idea of homely objects. Here is our draft treatment for the idea:

Treatment for ‘A Brief History of Personal Objects’

The source would be bringing objects that would normally not leave one’s flat outside or into a studio space to create an atmosphere of oddness and puzzlement, accompanied by a soundtrack of each location and an intimate dialogue between two people about their stories via mention of the said objects.

This project started off as four separate ideas:

•  Ance’s idea being looking into people’s connections with their belongings. 
•  Kylan’s idea being an abstract portrait of home and family relationships. 
•  Emily’s idea being how an object can change value based on its environment and looking at the history of an object. 
•  Brodie’s idea being an investigation between peoples relationship with installation art, specifically focusing on the projection beam and themes of escapism and freedom within westernised society. 

The starting point for the development of this particular idea was Lucy May Schofield’s book Belongings, wherein people brought in objects that meant something to them, but never revealed their value to the authors, who then wrote a paragraph about the item based simply on its appearance.

We decided to explore home - the space closest to us - and its floorplan and the objects within. We chose specific objects of value to us, and stripped them of their surroundings, placing them into locations that we would normally visit on our walks and daily routines to create a new, surreal space that explores the mundane by making the audience question what these items mean.

As this is an abstract piece, it would be more ambiguous rather than narrative based, thereby open to audience’s interpretation of its meaning. Because of it’s ambiguous nature, our process in creating this is integral to our understanding of the piece as well. As we place these objects in different environments we’ll discover new meanings beyond our initial understandings. The meanings behind the objects and places therefore will evolve throughout our process.

chapter 0 - belongings & the first look

'Individual contributors were selected and approached with the simple request to provide the artists with an object that had a special story or memory attached. They were asked to record that story, yet not reveal it. The artists used the loaned objects as muse and stimulation for their writing to unfold, creating new narrative potential. The artists publication contains photographs of the belongings and the writings they inspired.'


- Belongings by Lucy May Schofield and Sylvia Waltering

◾ the self illusion by bruce hood - what exactly is 'you'?

◾ what if our belongings own us? when there's too much or they're too precious and we never have that sense of nakedness because we always have something that's ours. who are the people who don't have anything? is it refreshing to have nothing?

◾ do they speak about who we are or are they merely objects? 

◾ does location affect meaning of objects?

◾ objectified memories and ambiguity of belongings

Richard Mosse - The Enclave

'The Enclave, 2012–13, is a visceral and moving work by Irish artist Richard Mosse filmed in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Commissioned for the Irish representation at the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013, The Enclave is an immersive six-screen video art installation.'

 IDEA of what I want to achieve: 

 Description:  

An exploration of individuals and their identities through objectified (objectify [verb] - express something abstract in a concrete form) memories to shape a metaphorical and authentic blueprint of people.

The source would be an invite to people to bring in an object of importance or value and vague explanation of their choice. Outcome would be an audio-visual piece using speakers and projection.

 Context:  

I think foremost this work relates back to individuality, self-discovery and self-awareness that has previously been present in most of my written work, i.e. poetry. I’m interested in drawing a visual sketch that portrays the human nature, in questioning ‘US’ as both a large group and individuals that make it.

I believe this work will also push my VFX skills as it requires a lengthy and time-consuming use of After Effect, as inspired by the Pujottelua video. I also hope to pursue this idea further in terms of contextuality as I find using belongings to explore a person to be a very intriguing and obscure subject.

In terms of output I have thoroughly enjoyed Richard Mosse and the way the audience can walk around his projections, thereby almost becoming a part of the piece. 

 Skills:  

I am currently looking into the use of an infinity table within a studio to capture photographs of items to use for the project. To do this I will require the assistance of students who could volunteer to bring in items as specified in a post I will put up online, as well as provide me with a vague explanation of their meaning behind the items.

Furthermore, this piece will push my creative skills as it requires research into the relationship of audio and visuals within a piece that is meant to almost hypnotise the viewer. For the outcome it would be important to have a speaker and projector as I will edit the sound to have specific bass levels and for the video to have a certain level of contrast against a white wall.

 Audience:  

The work itself is meant to question how we view each other and ourselves, and whether our identities can be stripped until all that’s left is our belongings that tell a story of who we were as people. I hope that this piece hypnotises the viewer until they look away and question why they were looking at such a variety of objects, and whether it ever meant anything, unaware of the depth of the story behind each individual piece that will fade in this large project.

I have found that the vibrations of a speaker would push the atmosphere of the piece and the projector would involve the audience in a physical way, hence the certain chose for the technical portrayal of the outcome. 

chapter 0 - map of your head

Despite the very unusual and seemingly insensitive title, this short film tackles a dysfunctional family using non-standard documentary/experimental media techniques - it tries to get inside the late father's head by looking at his belongings and possessions, as well as conversations with the family.

The unique approach to stop-motion that seems to relate to the soundtrack is very enchanting, and the mixture of film sources used is both somewhat overwhelming and extremely intriguing. 

I feel like this is an interesting approach to 'getting inside someone's head'.

However, I am looking for a less 'short film' kind of outcome and more of a visual representation of a journey through.

With that in mind, here are questions I'm trying to answer:

1. Who's head am I trying to get inside?

2. How do I do this? How do I draw a map of someone's head?

3. Why is this important? How can it impact/change the viewer?

4. What format is this going to be in?

(Currently am leaning towards an After Effects project with minimum sound (but still present).

However I should probably explore the idea of both visual and melodic journey.)

The style of this short experimental film is amazing and I'm at a loss of words to explain how it's been done. To me it represents a thin wall between two worlds where if you look from a certain angle you can actually see through that layer.

Here are some After Effects experiments I've done, such as smooth zoom and 360 footage turn. I've just done these to get more comfortable with using VFX.