White Paper - Abstraction
The intentions behind this photography was to focus on abstraction via the photography of a piece of white paper. To enhance this idea of abstraction I had to manipulate the light via it's colour, softness, hardness or amount of light to make the image more than just a piece of paper. By changing the environment in which I shot this also added to the idea of abstraction as it made it more bizarre, in addition a variety of close ups and panned out shots was necessary to create variety and further the theme of abstraction.
WWW: I managed to present the piece of paper in different way via use of light, environment and how I manipulated the piece of paper. When I crushed the paper I tried to elevate it's status via shooting it in the studio making it into a sort of art piece. When the paper was flat or only slightly folded I focused more on how the light effected the paper which I think was successful in my production of a good photograph.
EBI: If I had had more variation in my angles and distance of my shots, perhaps this would have led to more differentiation in my images.
WWW: I managed to present the piece of paper in different way via use of light, environment and how I manipulated the piece of paper. When I crushed the paper I tried to elevate it's status via shooting it in the studio making it into a sort of art piece. When the paper was flat or only slightly folded I focused more on how the light effected the paper which I think was successful in my production of a good photograph.
EBI: If I had had more variation in my angles and distance of my shots, perhaps this would have led to more differentiation in my images.
Contact Sheets
Edits
Abstraction Development
Carrying on from the white paper abstraction, I cut up pieces of paper and used different textured glass in the dark room to create some photograms. I focused on making bizarre shapes and having different textures to enhance this idea of abstraction that would reflect well in my images. I made about five of these photograms before testing out them out in the reflection and choosing which ones I would shoot with. I used glass and different light to create more reflection as the light bounced off the shiny photograms and the glass.
WWW: I think I have a variety of different shots from different angles which gave me more to work with when it came to editing. I also felt my images were reflective of the genre of abstraction as they were quite kaleidoscopic despite being in monochrome.
EBI: I had different settings in which to photograph my images as the photogram was either flat on a table or resting against a wall with a mirror against it. Thus if I had used more of a variety of light and positioned my photograms and glass in different scenarios I feel that my exploration of abstraction would have been vaster.
WWW: I think I have a variety of different shots from different angles which gave me more to work with when it came to editing. I also felt my images were reflective of the genre of abstraction as they were quite kaleidoscopic despite being in monochrome.
EBI: I had different settings in which to photograph my images as the photogram was either flat on a table or resting against a wall with a mirror against it. Thus if I had used more of a variety of light and positioned my photograms and glass in different scenarios I feel that my exploration of abstraction would have been vaster.
Contact Sheets
Edits
Tate Britain - Painting With Light
Compare three images.
- 2 Photographs taken by James Robinson in 1859, hand-tinted albumen prints on stereo card.
- In this particular image Robinson has manipulated light via this photograph being back lit.
- The extinguished candle is not a use of light but the lack of it symbolises death.
- Despite looking identical, both images show a varied amount of light being let in through the window, creating different shadows. These shadows create a sombre atmosphere surrounding 'The Death of Chatterton'.
- This photograph was taken by Roger Fenton in 1858, albumen print on paper.
- Fenton has ruched the awnings of the skylight so that the light diffuses, creating more peculiar and haphazard shadows.
- This manipulation of light gives the photograph different levels of depth of field and clarity.
- The aspects of white on the clothes of these subjects also reflect this diffused light, giving the image more texture and elements of brightness.
- This photograph was taken by Alvin Landon Coburn in 1909 (printed in 2016), facsimile from autochrome on light box.
- Whilst not so visible in this version of the image, in the exhibition the use of a light box illuminated the photograph, creating a harsher contrast and vibrancy to the photo.
- In this version of the image light is used well to give the object at the forefront of the image have more clarity and a stronger contrast, and the background to fade slightly due to the use of shadows thus a less harsh contrast.
All three of these images are different, and were displayed in the exhibition in alternative ways. Fenton and Robinson manipulated the light in their images physically by ruching skylights or building part of the image to allow a certain amount of light in/out. However Coburn's photograph appears more natural when it comes to lighting, the way in which the image is composed is quite abstract yet realistic, as he captures only part of the whole picture, making us wonder where and what is in this image. All in all, each of these photographers use light to set an atmosphere within their image, whether that be sombre, vibrant or just a feeling of normalcy.
Compare a photograph that has influenced an art piece or vice versa.
Both of these images are about idealised community faces, thus it is focused around beauty.
Both of these images are about idealised community faces, thus it is focused around beauty.
Photographic Walk - Abstraction
Following on from the white paper task I explored abstraction further on a photographic walk, however this exploration did not consist of one subject but many. I chose to concentrate on the idea of only showing part of the picture as I had seen Alvin Landon Coburn do with images of the thames in London. I used techniques such as negative space, perspective and the rule of third to compose my images in an interesting but abstract way.
WWW: I felt that my variety of images shot from different angles and of different subjects gave me a wide choice when it came to my edits. It also meant I had a wide selection so in my edits I could show different techniques and subjects and how I had explored abstraction fully.
EBI: I had more of a variety of subjects, for example most of my images are of urban settings, if I could have included a variety of environments I feel this would have strengthened my work.
WWW: I felt that my variety of images shot from different angles and of different subjects gave me a wide choice when it came to my edits. It also meant I had a wide selection so in my edits I could show different techniques and subjects and how I had explored abstraction fully.
EBI: I had more of a variety of subjects, for example most of my images are of urban settings, if I could have included a variety of environments I feel this would have strengthened my work.
Contact Sheets
Edits
Markets - Columbia Road Flower Market
I took pictures of Columbia Road Flower Market because I needed some photographs to put up on a wall at school. I chose this particular market because of all the bright colours and variety of textures that come with a flower market. In addition to this there is a lot of different people at a flower market, for example a lot of locals, tourists and then flower sellers who have come from all over London. When I arrived there was a lot going on and I felt that was great so I recorded and filmed the chaos that was this market, yet at the same time I had the difficulty of taking images of just the flower sellers, which was a lot harder due to the amount of people at this market.
WWW: I feel I managed to capture the sounds and colours and vibrance of this flower market via my short visual recordings, photographs and voice recordings. I think i was successful it capturing the whole experience that was this flower market.
EBI: If I had got more close up and portrait images of the flower sellers, when it came to choosing which ones to edit I found some of them were blurred due to the fact you were constantly being pushed along in the wave of 100s of people. Thus I felt I didn't have enough to choose from, but the ones I did have I thought were good.
WWW: I feel I managed to capture the sounds and colours and vibrance of this flower market via my short visual recordings, photographs and voice recordings. I think i was successful it capturing the whole experience that was this flower market.
EBI: If I had got more close up and portrait images of the flower sellers, when it came to choosing which ones to edit I found some of them were blurred due to the fact you were constantly being pushed along in the wave of 100s of people. Thus I felt I didn't have enough to choose from, but the ones I did have I thought were good.
Contact Sheets
Videos
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Sound Bites
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Edits
Chemigrams
Chemigrams are created via an unconventional process similar to the dark room, in the sense you use developer and fix. The differences are that you are not in a dark room, there is no set order in which to use the developer and fix and you do not use stop. Firstly you get yourself a piece of paper that reacts to developer and fix but is not ruined by light, thus we did this in our classroom. Following this you choose any sort of liquid to put on your paper such as honey, hand cream, orange juice and olive oil, depending on their viscidity the effect they have on the paper changes. To get a white background you put your paper in fix first, to get a black background you put it in developer first. From here on you swap your paper between fix and developer being sure to bathe it in water shortly in-between your transition from fix to developer or vice versa. You can rub off the liquids such as honey or hand cream as little or as much as you like in the process when you have it in the water but once your happy with it you must wash it all off in the water then put it in fix for five minutes before placing it back in water for a further five minutes for all the chemicals to be removed. It is interesting what colours and textures you get depending on the liquids you use, it is especially interesting to watch how the developer eats away at these liquids creating strange shapes and shadows. This process was a response to painting with light due to its similarity to the traditional dark room photography and it's intricate and random results.
Cyanotypes
The cyanotype process consists of painting a piece of light sensitive paper with a cyanotype ointment, that allows it to process in the Sun and have this blue quality. I used negatives, lemon slices, flowers and my necklace to create these two cyanotypes. The effect the citrus fruit had on the cyanotype was interesting as it left a stronger imprint than any of the other objects I used. To make these prints you had to go outside, place your objects on the piece of cyanotype paper and then place glass on top and set a timer - in this case it was for ten minutes as there wasn't much light but on really bright days you can lower this time. After this you bathe your prints in water which is when the blue colour deepens and the outlines of your object begin to stand out. This process was in response to the painting with light exhibition we saw, as this is a form of painting with sunlight.
Response to Art
My initial thought of Ennis' work was that it reminded me of smoke, thus the first idea that occurred to me as a response was to use this idea of smoke and manipulate it on Photoshop to give it this pale pink, off white hue. So I decided to burn five sticks of incense in my garden and use their smoke to photograph. This was difficult as the smoke was sometimes too thin, but when it was dense and moving in quite a majestic fashion it was perfect. Yes, this was a rarity but I managed to capture some good images, whilst the background isn't black like Ennis' it is a response after all. Therefore my background is of my garden, against the window the smoke was quite difficult to see but against the brick walls and grass and shrubbery in my garden it stood out very well. I then uploaded my favourite onto photoshop and edited the gamma correction, offset, contrast, hue, brightness and levels to create an image similar to Ennis'. However mine has more colour but holds the same shape as Ennis', it is quite grungy and hypnotic, with a variety of bright fluorescents created via the changing of the hue of the image.
A Journey - Mallorca and Croatia
Over the summer I documented my trips to Mallorca, Spain and Split, Croatia using a DSLR camera and disposable camera. On the DSLR I focused more on the documentary style by taking pictures as the journey continued, from on the plane, in the airport at the hotel and sight seeing. However I used my disposable cameras to capture the more raw enjoyment of my journey , fair to say they look like holiday pictures, but they were part of the journey I took. In Mallorca majority of our time was spent in a villa up in the mountains thus there was not much movement, hence I began photographing the people I was with making them pose and taking pictures of us having fun and enjoying ourselves as part of the course of my holiday. In Croatia I took more historical images as we stayed in a house that was five minutes from Split's beautiful Old Town. I think my images of Croatia show the beauty of this historical town we visited every day, in addition I think they contrast with the fun, friends and family images I captured in Mallorca. Furthermore I think by using two different types of camera to capture my journey gave them more texture and depth as not only do I have clarified digital images, I have images that look a lot more aged, that I can imagine seeing in one of my mum's holiday scrap books from when she was my age. When I documented my journey I didn't want to just take boring images but show what really happens when you go on holiday - the lounging about, the meals, the pool, the view and the chatting and having fun, which I think I represented well through my sets of photographs.
DSLR Plane/Airport Journey
Disposables at the Villa
DSLR Quick Day Trip to a Hotel
DSLR Old Town Split
Tell A Story - Croatia, Game of Thrones and Tourism
Split, Croatia has become the second best place in the world (after Dubrovnik, Croatia) to go and see where the Game of Thrones is filmed, thus creating a surge in tourism revolving around the biggest TV show in the world right now. Split's Old Town used to be a quaint city (and still is to an extent in the non-tourist months), rich with history and bustling with locals, now in has become a tourist attraction for the masses. Only 1,000 locals still live in Old Town, unlike Dubrovnik where tourism has taken over completely, locals have fled, selling their homes in return for three so many holiday goers wanting to live among the set of the Game of Thrones. Meanwhile Split only has three main tourist attractions for the Game of Thrones' fans, but this hasn't stopped every tourist and souvenir shop being half filled with Game of Thrones' merchandise. In addition, tour guides can now charge 300kn (£37.50) per person fro a Game of Thrones tour full of the sets whilst also including the vast history of Split's Old Town. One tour guide in Old Town told me how him and his friends have been on the Game of Thrones as extras, he told me how this is a regular occurrence for locals in both Split and Dubrovnik. It would seem the Game of Thrones has become deeply ingrained and involved in Split and Dubrovnik since 2011, 5 years down the line and with only a few seasons left this tourist attraction is still in full swing. However it seems to have killed the city of Dubrovnik according to a tour guide in Split, the city relies on the tourism of Game of Thrones and the new Star Wars film that has recently also been filmed there. In the winter the city of Dubrovnik is lifeless, all the locals have gone and there is no one left to charge ridiculous prices for a Game of Thrones mug or a Star Wars t-shirt, thus the students move into the apartments only to be kicked out again once the tourist season comes around once more. Split have learnt from Dubrovnik's mistakes, making sure locals still live in the Old Town and giving tours on the history of Old Town rather than the Game of Thrones. Their ports bring in thousands of cruise goers so hopefully when the fanfare around the Game of Thrones finally dies down Split will continue to thrive off tourists and their rich culture and history.
Exhbition - Ljerka Vladovic, "Reciklirana Ljepota" (Recycled Beauty)
I stumbled across Vladovic's work whilst wondering the streets of Trogir, a beautiful old town on the sea in Croatia. I was attracted by Vladovic's use of bright colours and was intrigued by faces of well-known models. Immediately I loved the composition of Vladovic's collages filled with characters and motifs related to the fashion scene. Vladovic manages to bring context to her collages, commenting on the cruelty of the fashion world whilst also leaving the glamour there to appeal to our eyes. She is commenting on the thin line in fashion between reality and imagination, these models may be real people but the way they look or are forced or manipulated into looking allows us to question what is real in the fashion industry and what is not.
Youth Subcultures
Brief: Document different eras in relation to youth and culture through either stills, moving images or both.
I began this process thinking about taking still of different youth subcultures on the streets of Brixton or clubs of Chelsea and Fulham. However on reflection I decided to film members of my family and explore youth subcultures through them. Below is the first piece of work I created in relation to this idea. Looking back on this and looking at the title I gave it I realised I was beginning to look at the culture of an era. The youth part comes in due to the fact the people I am documenting are talking about their past. Thus I have began to interview different people in my family and explore the eras in which they grew up through moving image and stills. Further through my development I may take stills of different modern day you subcultures.
Growing Up in the 80s
Development
This footage of my aunt I cutdown to around a minute. Using a tripod and manual focus I managed to focus on just her face and position the camera in a Lewis Khan style fashion. Additionally I added music to this footage and edited it so that images of her were shown whilst she was speaking.
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This footage I cut down to around a minute and added audio and images of my aunty as a New Romantic overlapping her speaking. I used manual focus and a tripod but it wasn't as clarified as it could have been, but the composition of the shot was influenced by Lewis Khan. Overall I thought this was an interesting way to film my interview with her.
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The footage of both these clips below was quite jerky. I used auto and manual focus to capture the environment of my living room and show how it has been influenced by my mum and dad's youth culture and musical interests. The footage of the CD's I put in slow-mo as it was quite a short amount of footage. The footage of my living room I cut into separate scenes, joining them back together so I could avoid the footage of me moving around the room from object to object. I also removed all audio on these clips before putting them in my video so that I could add my mum talking and music over the top. I took this footage to add to the general effect of focusing on the past. If I could film this part again I would keep the CD footage but stabilise the camera more, for the living room footage I would use stills to avoid the jerky movements evident in the footage above.
Outcome
My first response to the brief was exploring subcultures in the 80s via my mum, dad and aunty. All of them were involved in the subcultures that scattered the late 70s and 80s being New Romantics, Casuals, Punks and Rockabillys. I decided to combine interview style inspired by Lewis Khan, photos from their youth and images of the objects they had back then and what they have now that is influenced by their past. In addition I included music that they listened to in the 80s such as instrumentals of The Damned, George Michael, Simple Minds and The Clash, fitting with the person I was interviewing. Through this process I learnt about the clothes, the judgment, the music and the politics, giving me a great platform of information to explore my brief further. I found including images to go alongside the audio was difficult especially when it cut back to footage from the interview as the lip-syncing was off. Another issue that occurred was making sure the music didn't distract the viewer or over power the subject speaking. Both issues I managed to overcome by editing footage so lip-synching wasn't off and playing with the audio levels on both the music and the interview to create the perfect balance. Including music seemed a natural step as it was such a key element in the subcultures my parents and aunty were part of, additionally the images of them in the era seemed necessary to create more vivid imagery of what it was like growing up in the 80s.
Going into my next documentation I need to work on my use of manual focus and use more stills. The opening to my video is slightly jerky as I didn't use a tripod so it could have been beneficial to take stills, like Lewis Khan down. Additionally when focusing on my aunty's hands my use of manual focus wasn't perfect but it sufficed. Moving into my next project I need to be more meticulous with my use of manual focus over auto focus. I chose to use manual focus as it allowed me to choose what I focused on, auto focus makes this decision for you. To develop this further I plan to interview my grandma who grew up a a couple decades before my parents. As she lives in Plymouth and is at my house for the weekend I cannot film her possessions as Lewis Khan does as they aren't hers they are my family's. Thus I am going to scan all the pictures she has brought up from her past and ask her questions about how it was growing up during the war, creating a stark comparison to when my parents and aunty grew up.
Going into my next documentation I need to work on my use of manual focus and use more stills. The opening to my video is slightly jerky as I didn't use a tripod so it could have been beneficial to take stills, like Lewis Khan down. Additionally when focusing on my aunty's hands my use of manual focus wasn't perfect but it sufficed. Moving into my next project I need to be more meticulous with my use of manual focus over auto focus. I chose to use manual focus as it allowed me to choose what I focused on, auto focus makes this decision for you. To develop this further I plan to interview my grandma who grew up a a couple decades before my parents. As she lives in Plymouth and is at my house for the weekend I cannot film her possessions as Lewis Khan does as they aren't hers they are my family's. Thus I am going to scan all the pictures she has brought up from her past and ask her questions about how it was growing up during the war, creating a stark comparison to when my parents and aunty grew up.
Growing Up In The 80s from Ella Eddy on Vimeo.
Inspiration - Lewis Khan
'Georgetown' is a unique short documentary that follows an acquaintance of Khan's who suffers from mental health issues due to his constant smoking of marijuana. Khan explores his possessions, his every day actions and what his subject incoherently (most of the time) tells Khan about this life such as his girlfriends, mother and friends. Whilst the subject of Khan's short documentary differs from mine the filming technique is what I mainly used as inspiration. Khan doesn't just interview his subject via his face he films his lips, hands and actions. I felt that filming my mum make a sandwich or a coffee didn't really fit with the theme of the film but focusing on my dad's moustache or my aunty's side profile could add more interesting angles and composition to my film. Khan also filmed his subjects possessions generally, I mirrored this but with specific possessions that related to the theme of my film. I found this idea interesting as it presented the objects as an extension of his subjects personality but also symbolic of his everyday life - which I think is key to Georgetown. In my videos I have used personal photos and some objects to enhance the era they are talking about but also to symbolise how it has effected their lifestyle up until the present day. For example, my fathers love of music can be seen today through his collection of CD's, his vinyl player, his stylised furniture and his JukeBox.
Grandma
My grandma grew up during the war and lived in an era that was quite conservative but also enjoyed the luxuries in life. In this documentary she discusses the fashion of the era which is a subject that continues to be of massive importance in her life. She makes clothes now and is an incredibly creative woman artistically thus her love of the elegance of the time is understandable and still present in the clothing she wears today. A lot of habits that my grandma picked up in the 50s/60s such as smoking still live on. I wish I had taken some shots that showed her whole face in hindsight, however she lives in Plymouth so it is much more difficult to refilm. Nevertheless I feel that the shots I did take focus on her fashion and love of old jewellery, I just need to work on my use of aperture and potentially refilm a few parts to make the video more dynamic. My grandma has an abundance of images from when she was younger so these are not an issue, despite that the quality of each one varies. From here I need to work on more angles and my aperture as I progress to my next subject - my granny.
Development
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My Grandma is a very fashionable lady, always clad in jewellery and I wanted to capture this. At the same time I didn't want to film her in the same location as I had my previous video 'Growing up in the 80s'. So I chose to film her in my spare bedroom in which she was staying. I like the angle of this shot but my camera kept losing focus and when filming I was unaware of the layer of blanket obscuring part of the screen. Unlike my aunty her hand stayed poised highlighting how inanimate she was in comparison to my aunty. I used some of this footage and merged it with other footage that highlighted her earrings to give the viewer more to look at and also emphasise her colour coordination in relation to fashion. Using audio detachmentI was able to carry on the audio of my grandma speaking whilst overlapping it with other footage and stills of her as a younger lady.
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As my grandma is not a massive fan of music I didn't add any extra audio to the footage like I did in 'Growing up in the 80s'. In addition I didn't use as much footage from this video with audio, I took some of the footage and merged it with other audio. I did this using clip splitter, audio detachment and the cropping tool on iMovie. I chose to focus on her earrings and part of her necklace once again to reign on how important style and fashion is to my grandma. Music was key to my previous video, whereas here I had to make most of the colours and clothes my grandma was clad in. I used a small amount of music at the beginning of this video but purely as an intro to the video. I chose a sound effect that was quite old fashioned as to link with the title of my video 'Grandma'. This seemed fitting and gave the opening title a little extra as there is no music in my video just my grandma speaking and my camera skills.
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In this video you hear a lot more of my voice as I encourage my grandma to speak more freely. Giving her a list of questions for guidance, she seemed to take quite literally, so I received only short replies. This was strange as my parents and aunty had gone off on tangents in their interviews even though I also gave them a list of questions, but this did give me lots of footage to work with. In comparison my grandma's replies were very structured giving me less footage. However here she begins to loosen up and talk about the culture of the time for example the fact that everyone smoked and how it was pretty much a fashion statement. My voice is barely heard in my previous video and I didn't particularly want it heard in this one either. Why? - because I wanted this documentation to be more observatory, by the director (me) being out of sight and not heard so the sole focus is on my grandma. Nevertheless I am heard in this video but this seemed to help my grandma begin a tangent and for me to get a more in depth idea of what society and life was like for my grandma in the 60s and 70s. For the rest of the video I use bars of text to tell the viewers what question my grandma is responding to. I used a lot of clip splitter and audio detachment for this footage as I wanted to get the balance between stills from the era and footage of my grandma now. This proved quite tedious but rewarding - I also discovered I am becoming much more efficient on iMovie as this video took me less time to construct than the previous one. However I did have less footage and it is shorter in length but overall I think my iMovie skills have improved.
Outcome
India to England
Development
I took a compilation of 360 degree panned videos of my granny's garden and living room to get a sense of the environment she lived in. I thought they achieved this but I had to use the stabiliser tool on iMovie to make the video less shaky. Some parts of the 360 are slightly out of focus but they present the feel of my granny's home and her love of gardening. I added forest music over this to give it a more exotic feel to link it to India despite it being in England. The use of Indian music over visuals of my granny's garden and her making tea is quite abstract and disconnected but the idea is to make the viewer visualise India and strengthen the link visually that my granny has between India and England. My granny was quite reserved in her comments of her life in India, remaining polite rather than genuine, which is probably reflective of her upbrining where respect for your elders was a strong ethos. However, despite her failing to expose the grittiness of her upbrining and the emotional upheaval that moving from India to England must have caused, I think she is still genuine and lighthearted in her expression of her childhood.
Outcome
In this short video I filmed my granny who grew up in India as her father was in the army then at the age of 14 travelled to England, as India gained independence. I experimented a lot with my camera angles in this video alongside developing my focus on the camera in relation to aperture. I also used a type of shot called panning to add more dynamism to my video alongside point of view shots. I think my choice of angles was complementary to my subject and the audience's interest and entertainment. However, there were some jerky camera movements that I tried to eliminate via the stabilisation option on iMovie, there was also some background noise from my granny's dog and the camera itself. For my next video which will explore my sister who is 16 years of age and her views of society and this new generation, I will focus more on aperture, steadying my tripod even more and working on volume and background noise. Hopefully my next video will be of better quality than this one, though I do feel this response successfully complied with my brief as I explored a new era and a new life journey.
India To England from Ella Eddy on Vimeo.
Visual Brainstorm
Sixteen
For my next exploration of an era I have created two short films and a set of stills to coinicide with the information expressed in my interview with her. In the interview I use three different angles as she talks about fashion, music and social media in the 21st Century. My aperture and lighting is of a very high standard in my interview as I took multiple lighting test shots to figure out which lighting would compliment my subject best. I also filmed my subject (my sister) applying make up which is something she loves doing and does everyday for about an hour, it is even something she does for fun. To acheive this angle I placed the camera on a box infront of her, with her mirror next to the camera so it almost looks like the camera is the mirror. This was a very long video, so I decided to speed up the video 8 times more than its normal pace. I then added one of her favourite songs alongside it, to merge together her passion for make up and music which she discusses in her interview. After this I then took a abundance of still images of my sister which aimed to show off a variety of her favourite outfits along with her favourite brands. This was fun to shoot as we pretended it was a real fashion shoot and we experimented with lots of different angles to get a variety of images. I think this group of images was very successful in showing off the clothing of today alongside this generations comfort in front of the camera due to social media such as Snapchat and Instagram which are both photo based.
Development
Lighting Test Shots - Contact Sheet
Lighting Test Shots and Chosen Lighting
Editing on iMovie
Outcome
In this video I think my planning for my filming and its process is much clearer. Additionally I think the standard of filming has developed a lot since my first ever project. By working on lighting I think I managed to make my shots - even from different angles - aesthetically pleasing. The few added clips I think could have been of better quality but their angles meant that I couldn't use a tripod. However I did edit them on iMovie which can be seen in my screenshots of the editing process. Overall I think this is my most successful video especially when combined with the stills and other video I did to go alongside it. Finally, I think it is an apt represenatation of the society our generation lives in now with references to social behaviour, music, fashion, a comparison between eras, social media and the parts they play in 21st Century's young society.
Fashion Photographs
Contact Sheets
Editing on Photoshop
Outcome
Favourites
Inspiration - Alexandra Nataf
This set of images were taken by Alexandra Nataf of actress and model Phoebe Tonkin for website downthisroad.com.au. These images were inspiration for the set of images I took of my sister. Whilst my set is not in black and white, Alexandra Nataf captures Tonkin in branded uderwear by Calvin Klein but in a discreet way that it is not the focus just a piece of clothing. This technique was reversed to inspire my images as the aim was t cature my sister in her favourite brands, but without the captions I think these images are still quite discreet in flaunting the brand. Brands are so common now and stamped accross most pieces of clothing that in photography a brand being included doesnt always mean that is who the photographer is shooting for. Ironically, most fashion campaigns for big brands don't generally have the brand stamped across their clothing as obviously anymore.
The location of this shoot was also inspiring for my set of images as I shot my sister in a comfortable environment where she could laugh, pose and feel at ease when being photographed. It is clear in the set of images of Tonkin that she is not only comfortable in the camera from experience but also because of the environment, as she sits on her terrace drinking coffee and lounges and jumps around on what one can only assume is her bed. There is also a concious awareness of lighting in the images of Tonkin which I tried to translate into my stills as it has been a large factor in my filming. Some of my images use shadows but without the use of monochrome editing they aren't as abundantly clear. Despite this, I chose to keep my images in colour as I wanted to accentuate my sister's make up and clothing, keeping them the focal point; I feel this would have been lost if I made the images monochrome. Nevertheless, I think the use of black and white complements Alexandra Nataf's images perfectly.
The location of this shoot was also inspiring for my set of images as I shot my sister in a comfortable environment where she could laugh, pose and feel at ease when being photographed. It is clear in the set of images of Tonkin that she is not only comfortable in the camera from experience but also because of the environment, as she sits on her terrace drinking coffee and lounges and jumps around on what one can only assume is her bed. There is also a concious awareness of lighting in the images of Tonkin which I tried to translate into my stills as it has been a large factor in my filming. Some of my images use shadows but without the use of monochrome editing they aren't as abundantly clear. Despite this, I chose to keep my images in colour as I wanted to accentuate my sister's make up and clothing, keeping them the focal point; I feel this would have been lost if I made the images monochrome. Nevertheless, I think the use of black and white complements Alexandra Nataf's images perfectly.
Artist and Me
In both images, Alexandra and I are shooting in casual environments whilst covertly showing a brand of clothing. There is an air of informalness to both our images in the poses of our subjects. Neither are looking at the camera, seemingly oblivious of the pictures being taken of them. In my image my subject began laughing and I decided to carry on shooting, managing to capture a candid image, where she lets go. Usually subjects choose to pose and you see an almost artificial side to them, but by capturing them in fits of uncontrollable laughter you capture a side to their face that is much more authentic, in my opinion. Meanwhile, Alexandra's image still comes across as if her subject is posing, but is trying to appear more candid. The use of light and shadowing in Alexandra's image is emphasised by the use of monochrome. I think shadowing would have been more emphasised in my image if I had used monochrome, as she was lying on a bed surrounded by windows. However, the creasing in her clothes and the bed, and the slight angling of her face creates minimal shadowing. Nevertheless, I needed to keep this image in colour as I think the red of her top contrasts strongly against the white of the bed she lies on.
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Make Up Video
Editing on iMovie
Outcome
Make up videos are incredibly common online and are usually accompanied by either a voiceover in the form of a tutorial or music to show the transformation. I chose to use music rather than opt for the tutorial format as I wanted to emphasise my sister's love for make up and the skill she has for applying it, rather than teaching my audience how to do her make up.
Sixteen Make Up from Ella Eddy on Vimeo.
Inspiration - Free People
Free People is an American female fashion brand, with key elements to their style driven by travel, art and music. They are supporters and encouragers of female empowerment through the medium of clothes and adventure. On their Vimeo they have a selection of musically backed make up tutorials and short videos empowering the natural form of women and not conforming the societies pressures. These issuses are more prevalent then ever in society due to social media, a medium that my sister's generation live on. Thus the videos on Free People's Vimeo were inspiring in the making of my make up video and the aura I wanted to get across and the issues I wanted to comment on through an entertaining medium. Whilst the style of time lapse isn't used in any of their videos, I think the overall style of their videos and the theme behind them is similar to my video of my sister and reflective of her era.
Visual Brainstorm
Exhibition - Feminist Avant-Garde of the 1970s (works from the Verbund collection) , The Photographer's Gallery
"The exhibition highlights groundbreaking practices that shaped the feminist art movement and provides a timely reminder of the wide impact of a generation of artists. Alongside established practitioners such as VALIE EXPORT, Cindy Sherman, Francesca Woodman and Martha Rosler, the exhibition also provides a rare opportunity to discover the influential work of artists including Katalin Ladik, Nil Yalter, Birgit Jürgenssen and Sanja Iveković. Curator Gabriele Schor coined the term Feminist Avant-Garde to underline the pioneering achievements of these artists." - The Photographer's Gallery
This exhibition was really interesting as there were so many different mediums used by all these photographers. There was a mixture of literal art and abstract art, making the meanings behind them hidden or abundantly clear. The mixture of history and art I found very informative. I could also take away from it different ways of presenting my videos for my practical - such as on an old fashioned TV with headphones attached and a chair in front. I liked the informality of this set up for some of the pieces, making it more casual but also very unique. There was also a lot of documentary work which gave me new ideas for my practical work, and for future projects. As I have a great interest in feminism I found this exhibition truly empowering and informative in a way that wasn't attacking like how many people perceive feminists to be hence the modern term 'feminazi'.
This exhibition was really interesting as there were so many different mediums used by all these photographers. There was a mixture of literal art and abstract art, making the meanings behind them hidden or abundantly clear. The mixture of history and art I found very informative. I could also take away from it different ways of presenting my videos for my practical - such as on an old fashioned TV with headphones attached and a chair in front. I liked the informality of this set up for some of the pieces, making it more casual but also very unique. There was also a lot of documentary work which gave me new ideas for my practical work, and for future projects. As I have a great interest in feminism I found this exhibition truly empowering and informative in a way that wasn't attacking like how many people perceive feminists to be hence the modern term 'feminazi'.
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Final Piece - Mock Exam
Inspiraton - Julian Rosefeldt, Manifesto
'By way of cutting back and combining the texts of various figures, 13 poetic monologues emerged. Julian Rosefeldt combined them with his interest in the work and lifeworlds of the present, bringing the new manifesto texts in this work together with situations of today, with women holding public speeches or interior monologues. They are all embodied and presented by the Australian actress Cate Blanchett. The individual films develop a spectrum of highly individual figures: using costume, make up, location, and her talented acting, Blanchett transforms into figures as varied as a teacher, a puppeteer, a broker, a funeral speaker, and a homeless man. In the role of these protagonists, Blanchett combines the texts with an unexpected, present context.' - http://www.smb.museum/en/museums-institutions/hamburger-bahnhof/exhibitions/detail/julian-rosefeldt-manifesto.html
In my response to Mainfesto I seem to have reversed the concept slightly, Whilst Rosefeldt uses the same person in different personas telling different stories speaking unanimously from different videos I have created something of the same essence just flipped on its head. In my video I have used a multitude of people talking about the same thing and put them into one video. However, Rosefeldt's work was inspiring in getting to the final edit of my piece, after watching short videos on Manifesto and hearing about the exhibition it was shown at in Berlin from some of my peers, I began to become more submerged in the idea. Whilst I haven't tried to replicate Manifesto shot by shot, I have used a similar style and plan to exhibit my work in the same way as Rosefeldt. For example, all my previous documentary videos playing simultaneously on separate screens, with my final video as the focal point tying everything together in the centre.
In my response to Mainfesto I seem to have reversed the concept slightly, Whilst Rosefeldt uses the same person in different personas telling different stories speaking unanimously from different videos I have created something of the same essence just flipped on its head. In my video I have used a multitude of people talking about the same thing and put them into one video. However, Rosefeldt's work was inspiring in getting to the final edit of my piece, after watching short videos on Manifesto and hearing about the exhibition it was shown at in Berlin from some of my peers, I began to become more submerged in the idea. Whilst I haven't tried to replicate Manifesto shot by shot, I have used a similar style and plan to exhibit my work in the same way as Rosefeldt. For example, all my previous documentary videos playing simultaneously on separate screens, with my final video as the focal point tying everything together in the centre.
Development
Lighting Test Shots
When it came to refilming my Grandma I wanted the lighting to be perfect by trying to avoid artificial lighting. We tried different angles infront of a bay window so that natural light would infiltrate into the shot. However, I didn't think this setting was of a high enough standard for my final piece so we decided to move outside. Whilst this may sound like a bad idea as outside equals noise, we were staying in the middle of a small cornish town where there was practically no noise, so combined with the beautiful view this seemed like the next natural step.
In relation to external sound in this setting the only ones we heard were church bells, boats, seagulls and an alarm. However we stopped filming when we heard these or paused and carried on allowing for easy editing and a more consistent flow. As most of my Grandma's replies were only 2-3 minutes there were more oppurtunites of silence than not. Also the setting for this shot is breaktaking and the lighting is of a high enough standard considering it is all natural.
I found with the lighting shots for my dad that facing away from the windows caused a shadow that wasnt particualrly flattering or professional looking. Thus when it came to filming him I decided to position him facing the windows as the natural light illuminated his face in a realisitc way that I felt artificial lighting couldn't. Thus all footage in my final piece is shot facing away from the window.
Final Piece
Editing on iMovie
Storyboard and Frame Times
In my storyboard I brainstormed by music and length of clip ideas. Additionally I decided which frame would include which person and estimated how long each one would be. I also clearly outlined my ideas behind the rewinding segment of my video.
In the process of making my video I documented the lengths of each clip to get a general idea of how short the clips should be in comparison the longer clips towards the end. It also allowed me to figure out the ratios of speaking time for each interviewee. This was also helpful to see the lack of music to music ration. Both of these were helping in the planning and duration of making my video. |
Final Outcome - Draft
After some reflections and pointers from my teachers I decided to change my mock exam piece by moving around still images and changing music choices and transitions. I also extended some clips for clarity and added a quote on the end. Thus, creating a new and slightly different video, which gave it a more timeless feel through the use of less generic music. Also by extending clips I felt that you could understand what the interviewees were saying more without ruining the fast pace of the video. A tedious task was finding new music that was less generic and more timeless. This called for a lot of brainstorming of ideas and coming across genres I was unfamiliar with but eventually we found a good song that worked with the pace of my video and the overall theme.
MOCK EXAM PIECE from Ella Eddy on Vimeo.
Fashion Quotes
Here I have researched some quotes that I could add to the end of my final piece, to give it a type of summary. Most of them are from world renowned fashion designers and others are just mottos all fashionistas hold dear to their heart. The idea through the use of one of these quotes is to display the power and importance of fashion - in all the eras that I documented, it was one of the main running factors. All these quotes were found on Google images.