#negotiatedproject

FILM202 - Online Sketchbook

I’ve always been interested in making photos more physical and how to use physical manipulation in place of digitally transforming an image. My first glance at this type of technique was in Ashkan Honarvar’s work, which can be quite unsettling as it uses images of the body in more presumptuous ways and images of wounded soldiers. 

Here is one of his pieces that I always feel quite strongly about (this is quite a visceral image, be aware)

FILM202 - Online Sketchbook

In order to create the pinhole-esque images without the need for expensive light-sensitive paper, a pinhole camera and lots of bright weather. I chose to make a lens that reintegrates the structure of a pinhole lens but can be attached to a digital camera. This process is super simple and works very effectively if all aspects are thought about properly and with an idea of how to correctly create a pinhole lens. The steps that I use are as follows, however some other pinhole lenses can be made that are more technological. 

1. Find a tube that fits around the cameras lens mount.

2. Make sure the tube is as dark as possible on the inside to prevent light from reflecting inside the tube.

3. Create a plate to put on one end of the tube and place hole in the direct centre of it with a needle. 

4. Attach the plate to the tube and amend the camera settings to work without a digital lens attached.

Here is the lens that I made and used for this project, it’s very rough but it does the job:

Some technological issues with a pinhole lens is that light needs to be very accessible otherwise the camera sensor cannot pick up any light. Therefore you usually have have the shutter speed at around 1 second or more (more than you are comfortable with), which leads to blurrier images, this is all part of the aesthetic of pinhole cameras. It’s also worth noting that only DSLR camera’s can use this type of lens as the digital lenses are dismountable and leaves the sensor open for the pinhole to do it’s work. It’s also not possible for a DSLR to function is a digital lens is not attatched, but my Nikon D5200 can do so. 

Although the fun of having a whole pinhole camera is leeched when using a digital camera, the final images can be astounding in their textures, tones and the ability to have colour, alongside such a strangely dreamlike nature.

Here is just one of the examples of my photos that show how the style of pinhole photography can be very effective, portraying a sense of the ethereal.

FILM202 - Online Sketchbook

Quick warning, these images may not be all too enticing for some. There is some blood, some skin and images that are made to look either NSFW or gross in general. So be warned.

This is the first ‘draft’ or at least version of the photobook that I ave attempted, it took me a long time to design the front cover  yet ended up choosing a simple cover with washed out tones. I used this to contrast the darker images that are shown in the book. The font type is Sylfaen which is installed on almost every PC from my memory, it is a simplistic, strong yet kind of mesmerising to look at, this paired with the intentional non-capital casing really hits it home that this is an unconventional photobook, with the intention to be shocking. 

(Note: this is a very dodgy mockup, but it shows the general layout and shows the cover and chapter pages in full detail.) See further:

FILM202 - Online Sketchbook

Following my last few posts, I have decided upon creating a pdf. document in the same format of a regular photobook, I will create chapters for each theme that coincides in some of the images. I hope to write small introductions for each chapter and perhaps note of the artists that gave me the ideas for those images. I’d also like to stress the importance of how photos can be viewed within a book, as I would’ve liked to have 2-page prints and suchlike, however that isn’t technically possible when looking at a standard pdf document.

I want to be able to create certain moods with each chapter, to be able to distinctly change and misrepresent how the body can be presumed or thought to act. Upon first thought, I believe it would be a better idea to not involve drawing or digital art into this piece, as the photography needs to stand quite strongly and potently by itself.

There’s many photobooks and general books about photography that I brought myself to look into and to exercise some of the things they bring up. Especially in Jackie Higgins’ ‘ Why It Does Not Have to be In Focus: Modern Photography Explained’ which outlines many artists and their careers to a concise and consistent point. I love every artist that is mentioned and this book allowed for me to look at photography in a different light even from my early career in photography.

This is what I have so far in terms of planning for the book:

FILM202 - Online Sketchbook

Due to the nature of the current environment I must of course consider the lack of access to printing facilities and suchlike, so I was noted that perhaps a pdf. format would be able to aptly exhibit my work whilst also being universal enough for anyone who is sent the file can view it. I would prefer to have all the images laid out on paper, as the feeling and textile quality of paper is what sometimes makes the image and image. I looked at the style of exhibition that one of my favourite photographers uses, Masao Yamamoto, he choose to print his images quite tiny in comparison to others work, he then creates space with his images in such a way that you can consider their positions art in themselves. 

FILM202 - Online Sketchbook

After having my session with my lecturer, I am much more stable in my ideas that I will pursue for this project. I have decided that I will create a book of sorts to contain photography that I have and will take. All of which will be wrapped in the ideology and ideas surrounding surrealism’s representation of the human form. Similarly to my GCOP200 essay, the themes will focus quite solely on how the human form and body is shown and made example of in surrealist work. However I wish to explore this theme in a photographical context, I’ve always loved photography and wished to continue my work in this sense. Therefore I will start by planning what kind of photo book I will produce, how to exhibit it and how I will present the book itself.

I’d ultimately like to have a piece that I am proud of having completed and to have successfully explored the areas of surrealism that I so dearly wish to delve into. 

I’d also like to spell negotiated properly for once.

Upon first thoughts into what kind of tone I’d like to have for the photobook, I created this document that outlines some of my initial thoughts and inspirations. From this it is quite evident that I enjoy the creepy or more grotesque types of art. I especially enjoy it in terms of surrealism though, the dreamlike essence and imagination behind such images really grab my attention and I like to imagine the artist’s thought process at the time of creating such images. Most of my life has been engrained in art as it is anyways so I love looking into those who bend and break the rules of what can or can’t be ‘art’.

By the end of this module, we will have created a 3-8 minute film piece. Alongside a blog and 3-5 minute sketchbook film that detail the workings and process of production of the film.

This is expected by the 11th of May.

There will also be a document outlining these aspects of the filmmaking:

Overview / Synopsis of the film (50-100w)

Credits (Cast & Crew)

Technical Specifications

Critical Evaluation (500w)

Blog Link

These will be expected to be complete by the 19th May 2020.

We are expected to create a film of our choosing, however, we should take input from the sessions taught on certain elements of film that are more theoretical and based on art and experimental film. This and the entire project will be backwheeled by our tutor, so that they understand our journey through the module.

The outcome of this project is ideally to be used within an art exhibit. Titled 'Film Art'.

Through this, we can take the understanding that 'film' and 'art' must be or in some way are mutually exclusive. We can find, that narrative films, if based on something true and distinctive, will feel less like 'art' and more like a classic example of film for escapism and voyeurism.

Each session must have a related blog post, add theoretical and research based knowledge via the theme of the session. Detail the important nuances of the project and session in these blogs.

What do you want at the heart of this project:

- To portray the body as something both gross and beautiful, without the need for sexualising or objectifying the model.

Initial Ideas

Theoretical and Technical Focus:

A film that focuses almost entirely on the sound and voice acting. The image is just a script or a version of the story of the film in a text medium. It would be visible on screen and following the events of the reading of the story. Similar to a radioplay, however the script would also be affected by parts of the story that would understandably be affected.

Experimentalism and 'Art' Focus: