I installed this in the basement installation room. I have 4 projectors, 4 dvd players and 4 pieces of A1 tracing paper. It worked well, that when you were walking amongst the projections, they didn't go because of your shadow, the tracing paper worked well. I had 4 different aspects of the trenches playing in here. It was suggested that maybe i just have the one film but play that on these 4 sheets, making it that you cant break free. That was a useful comment, as when you were in the middle of it, it was very submerging. Unfortunately, due to the heat of the projectors, the whole room was REALLY hot. If i were to do this again, i would like to have it where the room was cold and damp, and you had this happening around you. This would work well for my lake/ mountain piece. I don't yet know how i would accomplish a damp room, or if that would be safe with the projectors, but i could definitely make it cold. Also, if i were to be having this as my 'final show', i wouldn't have the projectors on stands, but placed up high on shelves, so you could walk fully around the sheets without the projection vanishing. I might present my work for the final assessment like this.
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As well as filming my sculpture, i also took some photographs. This model proved to be the hardest to gain photos from due to there being such a big difference in the scale of it. However, the most effective photographs gained were the ones with the water reflecting the mountains, and where you look over the tops of the hills and you can see almost a hill valley. Unfortunately, i didn't get a chance to photograph these with the fog machine, unlike the films.
Today was my death café. I opened with a passage of text by Christian Boltanski. (Find below). It speaks of how with a photograph, there is always an absence of people/ the lapse of time – photographs echo death. This element interests me with my own art practice, as I enjoy having the absence of a human within my work. It is often this that helps my audience place themselves with my films. I played a film of my diorama mountain and lake, where it opens with a view of everything and then slowly, the camera moves into the water and you become submerged. This film was played over two shopping bags of stones. This scene is based on a place in the Lake District, Wast Water. However, this sculpture, although based on this place, was constructed out of my memory – it is probably not a direct replica when placed next to a true photo of the original. The places that I create are all from memory. This one from how when I was about seven and driving past the place, my mother telling me about how people commit suicide there. Murders in woodlands, that I have seen on tv as a child with my family ( Midsummer Murders). These places have almost been forced upon me and have henceforth been preserved in my mind. People said they found my work arresting, part of it – and this is what I want them to feel. Like these events were put onto me, I want to somewhat pass them on for others to experience and see.
Interestingly, some spoke of how, as children, they too had had imprinting moments. Someone spoke of how their mother and them would go to a grave yard, and how he would play with the goat there. Another mentioned, how the ashes of people would be held in their house over night and how she and her dad would go dig the place for the ashes box in the graveyard. I recalled how dad first told me that our old gravedigger would sleep in the graves the night he dug them, ready for the next day. In each of these experiences, there is something very innocent and naïve happening. It is no wonder we have a heightened interest in death. With this film in particular, you get the sense that you are being taken on a journey to death, the slow progression making it almost calming, ritualistic, like it is washing over you. This piece is intended to focus on suicide. The two heavy shopping bags, almost in the placement of Justice Scales, are heavy enough to keep you under water. We then discussed that how some religions believe that those who commit suicide will end up in limbo. I feel that my scenes are a good reflection of this limbo. They are in a state of reality, yet they are not. They are uncanny. We spoke about how this piece could be more inclusive of its audience. There were the ideas of projecting the film lower to the ground and having water on the floor. There was also the suggestion of a heavy item of clothing being worn by the audience to again be inclusive. Finally there was the idea of the condition of the room – making it cold, dark, damp etc. This would involve more senses and further the audience feeling apart of it. There was the thought that some actively seek places of suicide and graveyards. In Paris, Père Lachaise Cemetery is a huge tourist attraction, and some people even eat picnics at graveyards! Needless to say, most suicides happen at beautiful places, like cliff tops, quarries and bridges. When people go to these places there is almost a sense of being grounded. By seeing “RIP” written on little crosses and flowers laid down, you gain a strong sense of your own mortality. You can clearly see that human form is not strong and existent and, but frail and mortal. It is a confirmation that death is evoked through the absence of people, hopefully just like in my work.
So i have been on a bit of a mission creating films from my mountain piece. They are all listed below. I found that there was a bit of fortunately and unfortunately happening with my pieces. The ones which i had created with the use of fog, were mainly from a high up viewpoint, so when looking at these films it is hard to see yourself within them as you would be in a state of hovering. The films in which i had the camera low down and amongst the bank, unfortunately didn't have the mist in. Finally, the ones where the camera travels under water, these being my favourite, because being filmed on a GoPro were filmed with a fish eye lens - really throwing off the perspective and size. There was one where i sliced to pieces together. This was noticeable to different pieces, i would rather there was a smooth transition between these two.
I took around 22 short films and refined them down to these, yes these are refined to what i believed to be the best! I want to take aspects from some and place with others. I want to connect the low down, scrambling over the ground beginning with going into the water. I am hoping to borrow a waterproof film camera off a friend - one that does not fish eye! I will also think about filming this one outside, as i my not put the for with this. However, i may try again with filming this with fog at the lower level, whilst i still have the fog machine. Once i have filmed the actual model, i am going to take some footage from the sea. I will put the camera underwater and slowly let it travel down until it becomes dark. I will then leave the film at that point black, and finish on it being left there. I intend to use premier to smush the two films together into something coherent! If i have the chance, i would also like to have another go at creating something montage like again, but with the mountain this time. I have also had the suggestion that i place three different films together running side by side, a triptych.
So after i had made my small room setup, i made a carpet to go in and went about setting up all the furniture in there. I set it up next to a window, so it had the look as thought it was looking out of a window and then went about setting up the fog machine to blow into it. I enjoyed making this scene, it felt like a bit of light relief. The smoke billows a bit too intensely and doesn't 'sit' the way smoke naturally would. Nevertheless, it was something different creating an interior to a natural exterior! I am still unsure as to whether i enjoyed using bought items within the work and not using made things. I wanted to further this scene by setting it up in a way where the room would be flooded, furniture floating and hopefully a little mould/ damp setting in. Looking at my time frame, i am unsure whether i will get round to doing this - but i would like to try! Note to self, if you want the smoke thicker and contained, may need to use a nose on the end of the machine! The parts that i enjoy the most about these scenes is where the smoke makes the camera become unfocused and it struggles with realigning itself.
The piece i like the most is the final black and white one with the almost glittchy slide to it and the camera direction that it goes in. There is something really appealing about this one. It reminds me of when people are talking about something horrific they have been in on the TV and they try to film a reconstruction. The slowness of it also adds a sense of bullet time.
From left to right, top to bottom: Coat hanging with stones in pockets - film camera crawling over bank, coat hanging stones in pockets with two shopping bags full of stones - two films put together, coat hanging stones in pockets with two shopping bags full of stones - film camera crawling over bank, two shopping bags full of stones - film camera submerging under water, rope and stones - film camera submerging under water, clothes folded and piled with other personal items - film camera submerging under water.
From doing this i realised that i didn't want some things to be directly obvious, for example the coat with the stones in the pockets. Out of all the items placed here, i found that the bags worked the best. It was commented on how because they had designs on them, that was a little distracting. Maybe next time i would try to get clear bags? However, people did mention how they could almost see themselves holding them as they were in the perfect slumped position. There was an absence here. Someone else also mentioned how the way they were positioned looked like the Scales of Justice, like in the commonly known Egyptian drawings, will they proceed onto a good afterlife? This is interesting to have with a scene of suicide as often, people believe that those who commit suicide do not go to heaven. So, overall, i believe that the only object that added anything were the bags. Once i have made my new film i will try projecting over this and see how it goes. |
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April 2016
Kerry FosterThird Year Fine Art Student at Falmouth School of Art. Fellow artists: |