DVD snapshot

Pre production for Art Installation

Is DVD dead?

A DVD is a disc storage format which holds digital information, generally in forms of films, programmes, music and games. Over the years DVDs have evolved and have wiped out VSR and took it out of the market as it lost its convenience in its use. For the past couple of years DVD have gained a lot of digital competitors and people would argue that there are other digital softwares that have more convenience than a DVD or Blu Ray. In this day and age technology has evolved tremendously. We now have the choice to watch films and TV programmes at our own disposal with portable devices such as Smart phones, ipads, laptops where you can download films online from an online on demand internet streaming media provider such as Netflix and iLovefilm which is very popular world wild. Netflix and iLovefilm are much cheaper than buying DVD's that amount to about £10-£15 per dvd when an online provider subscription can cost no more than 4.99 a month allowing you to watch unlimited films and TV series.

As well as it being cheaper to watch online it is at your own disposal meaning you can watch it when ever you want and where ever you want. However with DVD's you either have to order it online which can take up to 5 working days or go out of your way to make a trip to the shop to buy the DVD which can be tedious for some people. Furthermore DVD did have some perks in its day. Blockbusters was one of the biggest movie rental stores in the UK a couple years back but the company is now slowly dying and has become bankrupt because of the fall in numbers of customers and so is HMV at the moment. Online technology will slowly put companies that predominantly sell DVD's and CD's out of business.

DVD's features the film, trailers, back stage footage, games and interviews which give a deep insight of the film and to introduce us to the characters and production team. Also including moving images which are cut scene and footage that have not been used in the film. The copyright protection warnings are usually shown right when the DVD is being played before the DVD menu which informs the viewers their rights to the DVD e.g.. copyright infringement, pirate DVDs etc.

The DVD menu helps the users to navigate around the DVD allowing you to select different buttons that link to different things. You as the viewer are able to control your viewing experience by adjusting the screen size, adding subtitles if needed and audio description. In most DVDs moving images from scenes of the film will be showed either before the menu is shown or behind the menu as a background

film review - genre: horror

Content analysis of horror films:

Horror film: can bee seen on tv, dvd, cinema, blue ray, theatre

Radio: radio 4 horror session

Audio: audio horror stories

Print: horror literature

Production technology , in the 18^th and 19^th century horror film derived from gothic English literature only. The facilities that we have now to watch almost anything on any device was not around back in the day. 

art installation evaluation

Art installation evaluation

In class we were shown different contemporary video artists work and discussed how controversial they were. This had taught me how bizarre and outrageous a piece of work could be and seeing the art behind it. Our first task was to research and write up information about 3 contemporary video artists and how their work is controversial. As well as it being just a boring written task I was able to educate myself on different artists, looking at their work and getting inspiration to create our own art installations. We then had to brainstorm our own ideas and create a moodboard of what we would include.

I was very excited by this project because this is the kind of thing that I am into. I could create absolutely anything and it could mean nothing but look good and cause controversy.  It has always been a habit of mine to visualize a video when listening to a song. Whether that be at home, on the train or walking I always seem to take my mind to another place and visualize how I would make a video to compliment the song. So although I had created a moodboard it wouldn’t be of much use if I didn’t have the music. So I started backwards and hunted for songs that I could create my art installation for. At the time it didn’t take me long because previously I had opened my eyes to a genre that I never really acknowledged. This kind of music would immediately put you in a trance and you would just zone out. In my eyes this genre would work best with a weird, artsy video. I picked the song XXYYXX – About you. This song is quite slow and dreary with lyrics that are played backwards which is strange in a cool way.

My first idea that came into my head was a red liquid pouring out of different people’s mouths in the same frame. This frame would stay the same throughout the whole video and would only include the head and shoulders. I made this decision because I thought it would look much more professional, slick, clean and I wanted to keep the video simple and easy to edit. I used Karina, Tyler and Ilya as characters. I directed them to keep their faces neutral throughout the whole video unless advised not to. Before hand I had bought a few different colours of food colouring to mix in with a bit water to create the red blood substance pouring out of their mouths. I shot the video in the TV studio and the equipment I required was a Canon 60D camera which I borrowed off Sammy, a light, a plastic tray for the red residue to poor into, different translucent sheets to attatch to the light to alter the colour and a tripod to keep the frame the same. One by one I had each of them stand in front of the camera, poor the liquid into their mouths and direct them from there. At the time I found that improvising the directions I gave to the characters worked very well. I chose to do this initially because of the foul taste of the food colouring and the stain and mess it had caused for each character. So letting them go up one at a time for a minute or two was needed. To my surprise I was able to shoot the whole video in under an hour which left me lots of time to edit the footage and meet the deadline.

I must say editing the video did take quite a while because the whole song I had chosen was just under 4 minutes. And I only had about a minute footage from each person in my video. So I had to really focus on different styles and effects because I would have to repeat a lot of clips in my video. So I picked simple techniques such as reverse, fast forward, slowing it down, syncopating the shots with the music etc.

The story behind the art installation was to show people losing their mind and I feel that I put that across effectively because of the content of the video. I made sure that there was a clear story and build up throughout the video. Starting out with them slowing opening their eyes, then pouring blood out their mouths, wiping the blood from their mouths looking mischievously at the camera; the point before they “lose their minds”, then losing it and then ending on them back to their neutral phase. I would install the installation in a dark empty room with a projector so the visuals in my video look more elucidating and the audience would get the real feel of the video without distractions from a white back drop.

I grabbed inspiration from a contemporary video artist Bill Viola. Specifically his soundless work 'Silent Mountain'. I feel that I matched up to his professional standard and produced something strange that would cause controversy which a lot of his work does.

As a result I produced the art installation very professionally and the footage was in high resolution. I received feedback from my class and everyone agreed that the video was weird and twisted but amazing. That was exactly what I was going for. 

Throughout the whole project I feel that I worked well and improved some personal skills of my own, one being confident in showcasing my work in front people how ever weird it may be. I must say that this was my favourite project of my two years studying this course and it couldn’t have come at a better time, I am very proud of my work.

If I could go back and improve I would not have been so thrown off by editing because of how long and complicated it would be. However I am pretty pleased with the final outcome of everything.

Photography evaluation

Photography Evaluation

As a last project for our photography unit we were assigned to create our own pictures of our own choice for an article for a selected magazine. Before hand we had learnt valuable skills and techniques to help us produce elucidating images, and what we had learnt would come in handy for the last project.

Once given the assignment brief I followed each task required, most of it being pre production work to help us build up to the end result. In class I took it upon myself to brainstorm ideas of what I’d like to photograph which would then lead into creating a mood board. My initial idea was to take urban grungy fashion pictures for either the We Love page on the Topshop website which is basically a regularly updated blog which shows us the latest trends and ordinary people’s links to their blogs to show how they wore it and what they think. Another place I wanted to feature my images was the Grazia Magazine which is very familiar to people especially those that have an insatiable love for fashion and trends.  I made sure that I looked through the Grazia Magazine myself to see what their target audience was and what they feature inside; it looked like the perfect place to place my pictures.

I intended to inform and attract a younger audience with something they are familiar with. At this day and age everyone is in touch with fashion, what looks good and what’s on trend. It has been brought to my attention that soft grunge, 80s/90s and festival clothing has been a recurring trend for a while now and this has been reinforced by celebrity endorsement, style icons, music videos, fashion lookbooks, blogs, Instagram, Tumblr you name it, it’s everywhere.

This seemed like a perfect idea and I was all set to start taking pictures. Unfortunately I came down with a chest infection and missed out on just over a week of lessons and didn’t have any time to organise models, outfits, locations etc. Because I am creative thinker I began to plan out an alternative on my first day back. I had decided to take pictures of a story. This story would illustrate a woman being followed and then killed by a guy in a mask. This idea derived from my love for horror films, so I had seen enough films to direct my own scene. I was much happier with this idea because it was something I was more comfortable with and it didn’t take a lot of time.

 I created a mask which was to mimic the scarecrow mask in the film The Strangers. This was surprisingly easier than I thought because I had never made my own mask before. I used Karina as the victim, Ilya as the boyfriend and Nathaniel as the killer. These pictures were taken in the garden and graveyard across the road from our college.  The equipment I used to photograph the pictures was a Canon 1100D. I used a shallow depth of field to isolate certain characters or background so that the attention was one something specific. This also gave it a scary vibe that you would get in a horror film by not knowing what was going on in every frame just as the character would feel. I took a series of pictures to build up to the point where the victim and villain are face to face. I made sure that it would be easy to recognize the images looked like a story without words. I then edited the pictures with the editing tools on Iphoto. All I really did was alter the filter a bit and put it in black and white.

I am very pleased with the result of my pictures and I'm glad that even though I was little behind towards the end, I still found away to do everything in such a short time and produce amazing pictures. If I could do it again I would have managed my time effectively and stick to one idea instead of being indecisive. 

video nasties

Video Nasties

Bill Viola

Bill viola is considered a leading figure in the generation of artists. His work is dependent on sound, image technology and electronics in New Media. His ideas are based behind fundamental human experiences; birth, death and aspects of consciousness. Throughout his career he has drawn meaning and inspiration from his deep interest in mystical traditions, especially Zen Buddhism, Christian mysticism and Islamic Sufism.

Viola divides his work under 3 titles; conceptual, visual and unique combination of the two. It is argued by some critics that his conceptual work is ‘forgettable’ just like most video art. But others would agree that his visual work such as the “The Veiling” is very memorable and impressive.

Like most video installations they create controversy between the audiences. Some may find that Violas work is quiet offensive when it comes to his religious themes. Religion in general causes arguments between the people in the faiths. So it is very understandable that people would subconsciously disagree with his art because of their beliefs. However because I am not religious I see the art without looking deep into religious values. I find his work very meaningful and interesting to look at, and I admire his different uses of art platforms such as a sound as visuals.

Sam Taylor Wood

Sam Taylor-Wood is known as an English filmmaker, photographer and visual artist. An example of a highly controversial art installation video of hers is ‘A little death’. Now this would have to be one of the most disturbing video installations that I have ever seen. However I do agree that it refreshes the traditional work of still life and tells a simple story about the transient nature of life creatively.

This installation shows the audience a dead rabbit decomposing rapidly over a period of time through a cameras point of view while the peach besides the animal stays untouched. I think most would agree that it is quite disturbing because of the maggots and worms rapidly appearing and eating through the creature. Like most people that haven’t had a real feel of video art they would find the narrative behind it very strange. I even had to ask myself what is the story behind the installation? Why did she choose to bring the attention of something so simple and ignored? Maybe that was her plan. Art installations can be expressed in many different ways and can mean absolutely anything and with that being said although I found the production quiet strange and uncomfortable to watch, it was definitely something different and had great visuals.

Matthew Barney

Matthew Barney is an American artist who works in sculpture, photography, drawing and film. His early works are sculptural installations combined with performance and video. The Cremaster Cycle was described by The Guardian as “one of the most imaginative and brilliant achievements in the history of avant-garde cinema.”

The Cremaster Cycle is a series of five feature films, photographs, drawing and sculptures. This is known as Barneys greatest work.