#fmpresearch

Armenian History of the 1915 Genocide - FMP Research

For Ziazan Wolf I want to have 1915 Genocide aftermath as the main theme. But to express the correct representation of this it’s best to explain and understand the situation and terms of the Genocide.

In 1915 neighbouring country of Armenia - Turkey, ruled by the Young Turks Party committed genocide killing 1.5 million Armenians within Turkey and in what was historical Armenian land. They killed Armenian leaders before attacking local people, enslaving them and later raping and slaughtering in varied painful and unforgivable ways. They destroyed ancient artifices and iconography to erase any sign of Armenians had once lived there. 

Yet hundreds of interviews reflect on the memories of its survives, insuring that these events had in fact taken place. 

Turkey still deny the Genocide and brainwash generations into believing these events are all lies. Fights and invasions continue on Armenian land between neighbouring countries including petty acts in events such as the removal of a Female Armenian Chess champion in a Turkish tournament due to Azerbaijani influence based purely on the fact that she was Armenian. They’ve suffered being removed from shows or events or being in fear of their safety entering countries that continue to have national incidents with Armenia. 

The Genocide spread Armenians globally leaving many disconnected from their motherland and trying to find a better future moving to places such as America or Australia. This doesn’t stop Armenians gathering together globally to march for their country and the crimes that were committed against their people, for the constant denial by governments of this grave smudge of death. Even the UK and USA (with one of the biggest populations of Armenians) government has yet to recognise the Armenian genocide for what it is. 

Finding that speaking out had no clear message to get people to understand this incident Armenians moved on to expressing this crime in the form of art and film such as latest block bluster “The Promise” which found itself being cut from theatres in Turkey and leading to a large conspiracy as Turks book out cinemas in LA and cancel tickets last minute to stop Armenians from watching the film that takes place during the Genocide. 

One of the greatest names to come out of the Genocide to campaign and inform people of what had happen was Aurora Mardiganian who wrote a book and stared in the film “Auction of Souls”. This itself was cut from cinema for the violence it portrayed and was considered too controversial for it’s time. Yet Aurora left such a mark that the Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity was established in her name. 

Cut out and Collage to the Extreme - FMP - Research & Inspiration

Work of Dustin Yellin 

“So it’s sort-of all born out of accidents…. the idea that all of your memories are stuck inside of your bone marrow, and if we can somehow open that up so that everyone can see it”

When I first saw Dustin Yellin work I thought that it was a story in a storm of images, like the world had been spun around and everything had been mixed together forced into the same picture and you had to find a way of telling the story. 

Depending on the final story I would want to attempt corporate this style into my own work. Whether it be for Ziazan Wolf or Mother Natures Warning idea, I think it can be applied in a successful way. One thing that is clearly noted from  Dustin Yellin’s work is these layers to build up this world, this magical piece. But purely looking at the process and a close up of a piece it looks both random selection and at the same time thoughtful placed. It’s crazy how the overall image looks moulded together and how flat each individual layer must be at the start. One thing to note is the use of colour, each piece with a different colour pallet sells a different mood.

Walker Evans – The Poetry of Plain Seeing (2000)

“While Evans gave much effort to photographing poor people, their houses, rooms and the things they made, it is far from clear that poverty is the point of his best pictures.

https://americansuburbx.com/2012/06/theory-poetry-of-plain-seeing.html

Top Papageorge 

Tod Papageorge, Dr. Blankman’s New York – Kodachromes 1966–1967

These are some links given to us by Ulrike during our first group tutorial session. These could possibly come in useful during the duration of my project, so I have shared them for easy access.  

British Journal of Photography: bjp-online.com

Photoworks: photoworks.org.uk 

 The Photographers’ Gallery:  thephotographersgallery.org.uk

1000 Words magazine:  1000wordsmag.com 

 The Photo Eye:  photoeye.com 

 LensCulture:  lensculture.com 

 Artquest:  artquest.org.uk 

 Artist Newsletter:  a-n.co.uk 

 Pylot:  pylotmagazine.com 

 Source magazine:  source.ie 

 Foam:  foam.org london-photography-diary.com

Firecracker: fire-cracker.org 

Fashion Blog:

https://www.fashionrevolution.org/usa-blog/style-in-the-age-of-instagram-and-fast-fashion/ 

“ More often than not, I see people dressed in a ‘fashion uniform’ – to be noticed, but not stand out.”

Written By Fashion Revolution’s,  Sonia Kovacevic. 2 years ago. 

Online Denim Store Infleuncers/ store Page. The aesthetics of this website is very controversial. Razor’s aesthetic in general has a 90’s vibe, baggy mom jeans, jeans shorts and jeans shirts. Small detail about this website keeps the aesthetic pleasing to the viewer, with filler images of close ups, jewellery, shoes and digital editing to create a unique aesthetic. I like the variety of locations, mediums and subjects they have used to create this aesthetic and hope to learn from this for my own photo shoots.

Environment and Message - FMP - Research & Inspiration

One key aspect of Ziazan Wolf that I would like to take and re use is the bleeding red pomegranate blood on the trees which later will heal. It was such an important aspect when I first drew the illustration, as I believed this is what connects to the damaged history of the people the most. It would be a good triggering point for my character as she steps into the red blood and has a flash back on the terror of that night. When hearing accounts of the Genocide from the survivors, it makes you feel dread like being closed in and pushed into a corner unsure where the next escape would be. Yet these survivors manage to do just that no matter how much hardship has hit them. Whether many moved on to be orphans and lock away their past from their own children, I want to make it clear it is okay to reflect on those scars without having to repeat the stories. The importance of the forest and the colour that will be used is to say you can cross over that bridge you want to burn down, but as survivors doesn’t mean you do not deserve justice for the actions inflicted on you. 

I have a running theme in my projects to place my animation in the woods, I believe it must be due to how many different emotions, setting and themes can be used for such an environment. Above I have different examples of animation and emotions that all tell a different story or style with the work.

First two being my own work with “Mr.Wolf” and “Abigail” one is a revamped version of red riding hood from my 2nd year Elements project and the other from Stop motion portrait animation project in first year which tells the dark story of the Salem Witch Trials. Compared together they are on the complete opposite spectrum from one another as one is light and funny and the other dark and horrible. 

“Pine” a student animation film that mixes those two emotions, creating a lonely journey of a wolf trying to find a pack to be with as he wonders through the harsh and depressing whether before reaching a clearing full of light (imitating on the final of the first Ice age movie) Whilst “Zepo”  by Cesar Diaz Melendez is a very brightly tan coloured film with a young character to lead into horror and suspense. 

One traditional inspiration that I remember from first year is “Snow White” dark woods scenes as the trees seems to come alive in her panic as she starts to run looking for an escape. Whilst another Disney Princess film “Sleeping Beauty” uses the forest as a romantic location where Aurora spends her child hood dreaming of her prince charming sweeping her away to a better life (Much like the scene in Enchanted). 

In the rest of my moodboard I have looked at old inspirations from previous work such as “ParaNorman” stop motion film and “Hilda” the animated series (adapted from Luke Person’s Graphic novel series) Another that I have previously dismissed in the past is the group lead animation workshop film “Dark Dark Woods” which is about a young princess breaking away from responsibility and looking for adventure. 

Looking into use of VR in Drawn Animation - FMP - Research & Inspiration

Whilst investigating AR I learnt about the use of VR in animation and decided to see if it has been successfully used in films. I came across a studio that was launched in 2014 (ceased in 2017) as an extension of Oculus Rift “Oculus Story Studio” which was created to invest in creating animated films in VR.

“Dear Angelica” was one of its successes, a short film with drawings painted in Quill and created as a painted time lapse 12 minute short. It told the story on how we remember our loved ones in dream like ways, supported by narration. It was premiered at Sundance festival and had an amazingly positive response as it was an official selection. The short was directed by Saschka Unseld (who directed my favourite Pixar short “Blue Umbrella”) who has directed and pitched a range of both live action and animated projects, this being her first VR related one.

It isn’t necessarily a 2D frame by frame animation in VR but it was a stepping stone to create a short film in such a way, personally I can’t wait to get my hands on a VR headset so that I can see what the artist has created in 360 degree as I’ve only seen standard clips.

VR is becoming a mainstream platform for exclusive films and features such as the movie “Crow: The Legend” which can be viewed for free on YouTube both in standard format but also available now in VR. Few months after the animated films standard launch the VR version was made available to the public. Baobab Studios is dedicated in producing VR film and focuses on pushing the boundaries on Immersive Narration  instead of creating realistic animation.

Baobab Studios is probably the biggest VR Studio at the moment, picking up from where Oculus Story Studio had ended. It is currently being named the next possible Pixar as it has secured over $25 million in funding for the next generation of VR films, they themselves use VR headsets and joysticks in the pre production stage boarding in and painting the characters.  

Other big name studios have in the last few years started commission 360 degree experience VR shorts to accompany their films such as The Meg, Pete’s Dragon and Spider-Man: Homecoming.  It’s still early days but I’m sure with some form of experience with programs such as Tilt Brush, animation can be created in VR or AR technologies to promote short films too.

One artist who works with creating studies and illustrated VR pieces for both VR and AR platform is Estella Tse who has done a range of work with Adobe. Estella discuses how she used VR to create AR installation depicting the culture she is from, on her website she discusses the breakdown of the project and how she planned for the work be shown and seen by its viewers.