Critical Evaluation

Critical Evaluation

Upon starting the module we were presented with a clear outline of what the module would entail, this included two assignments and an ongoing blog which weights 40% of the overall mark. In the first two weeks we were presented the concept of Uncanny which well-known philosophers such as Friedrich Nietzsche, Ernst Jentsch and Sigmund Freud each elaborated on and discussed the concept in their works.  I began researching the concept further and came across some interesting theories. Sigmund Freud in particular had some interesting theories on the concept he described the theory as “This class is frightening things would then constitute the uncanny; and it must be a matter of indifference whether what is uncanny was itself originally frightening or whether it carried some other affect...for this uncanny is in reality nothing new or alien, but something that is familiar and old fashioned in the mind and which has become alienated from it through process of repression” (Israeli 381). My understanding of the concept is the thought process from being familiar with a person or an object which we are now frightened of and unfamiliar with, a good example of this can be seen in my blog, this piece is named Pauline Bunny by Sarah Lucas. The piece looks like the lower body of a female yet the top looks like a long set of ears, the piece reminds me of a mutilated body. I began to look at other types of Uncanny found in arts and came across a piece named The Hairy Eye Ball by Adeline de Monseignat, this piece in particular has the aesthetics of an animal yet is enclosed into a small glass ball making the piece unfamiliar and uncomfortable to view.

After researching various art pieces and concepts of the uncanny it was now time to get into groups to decided which project idea we would be developing. My group consists of myself, Bryony Wilshaw, Ellen Bounds and Phoebe Chan. We had various meetings to discuss each person's idea. To get a sense of The Uncanny I decided to bring a painting to life. The artist shall be suffering from a creative block in which he/she paints a strange looking creature out of frustration. After painting the creature the artist shall throw down the brushes and sit on the stool, they shall stare at the painting clearly looking frustrated. Using a green screen covering a canvas which shall be situated on the easel I shall bring the painting to life to which the artist is left feeling stunned, scared and uncomfortable. The painting shall then turn back to a still image leaving the artist confused, the artist shall walk over to the painting and touch it to find the image is in fact still but he will never forget what he saw. I presented this idea to the rest of the group and they seemed to like it, however when Phoebe presented her idea we all agreed that was the most appealing to take through for our major project. Phoebes idea was named Pink Nightmares, this sequence would tell the tale of a little girl playing in her nursery room with her grandmother knitting beside her, we brought inanimate objects to life using stop motion and after effects. Her grandmother then turns her back and when facing the little girl again she is shown knitting her own face whilst vomiting black goo. We did this using latex and after effects.

Before filming the sequence we had to build and design the set to the artistic aesthetics we desired. This step of the module proved to be a great learning curve as we used a lot of trial and error. Firstly we had to strip all of the wallpaper and assemble our wooden panels which went rather smoothly. We then went to buy our wallpaper but was quite undecided on what colour scheme we wanted to go for, in the end we went for black and white floral paper which we wanted to paint pastel pink and green floral patterns on to. Half way through doing this we saw this was not going to fit the high standard we were aiming for when building the set, we decided to scrap all of the wallpaper and start from the beginning.  Truthfully as a group we were rather worried at this point as we seemed very behind schedule compared to the other groups. We decided to book the space out on days we were not scheduled learning time to enable getting the set finished on time. Thankfully these extra sessions paid off and we had the whole set including props and painting finished on time for shooting. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to attend shooting due to being admitted into hospital for a week, however the rest of the group passed on all knowledge of filming and I was able to attend the edit sessions the week after.

The edit sessions proved to be the most difficult task of the module for myself personally as I feel less competent and experienced on programs such as After Effects, however with various taught lessions on After Effects I felt more competent on the program and was able to create a sequence in after effects I felt pleased with which was the vomiting scene in which I was able to use the masking tool to create the sequence . Phoebe then started to edit the project to a pleasing standard and even got a friend to create a musical score to accompany the piece.

I then began thinking about my personal project and decided to create a propsal for an art installation named The Destrution Of Influences. The installation aims to explore and visually represent the explosive growth of digital media and social networking.

Projection 2

 For my second projection I shall be creating the same sense of lack of privacy, instead of being watched the audience will now watch a loop of recorded CCTV footage to again show we are always being watched.

Projection 1

                                                             

                                                    We are watching you.
The idea behind this first projection is to create the feeling that the public are always being watched and to give a sense that privacy is a thing of the past due to the rise of social media. In todays society you can track and see where abouts people are via facebook accounts. For this projection I'd like to create a series of watchful eyes, watching over the installation viewers. There will be a short sequence of eratically blinking and staring eyes played on a loop in one corner of the installation.

Basic layout structure of installation

Personal Project -Mood board

Personal Project

For my personal project I have decided to create an art installation using smashed televisions, old radios and visual and audio projections. The installation will be based around the notion that the media controls the world and although it is a brilliant way of communication it can also spew out propaganda and lies, I'd also like to show the explosive growth of the digital world. The world we live in today is now hugely controlled my digital media. More than 1.4 Billion people own a smart phone, 1.2 Billion people have a facebook account and 98% of people aged 18-24 use social media. For my installation I'd like to show these statistics visually. I'm not necessarily stating that the growth of the digital world is a negative thing, I'd just like to highlight that other great sources of information such as books and actual face to face conversation are being neglected due to this growth. I'd also like to create a sense that privacy is becoming more unobtainable as the digital world continues to grow. To show this I will show CCTV footage of people in train stations and on the streets through projections, I shall have another projection of a watchful eye as though its watching the audience whilst they are looking at the installation.

There will be a small set in an L shape, stacked up against the wooden boards shall be old televisions and radios. Most of the televisions will be smashed through the screen, the contents shall be cleared out of the television creating an empty space inside. Inside some of the televisions will be the wiring which shall flow down to the floor in a messy tangle, others will have torn pieces of newspapers stuffed inside and around the televisions. Some of the televisions shall have red spray paint splashed across them whilst showing a loop of news reports from natural disasters, terrorist attacks and reports of murder, other televisions will show static. Inside some of the televisions will be different lighting using LED lights. Again in a number of the televisions I shall have old dusty looking books to create a feeling that paper books are being neglected for the digital media. On either side of the set shall be two fans. Attached to the fans will be magnetic tape from video and audio tapes, when the fans are switched on the tape will blow from left to right. Between some of the televisions will be old radio recordings and advertisements to create a large jumble of sounds. On the floor of the set I shall have various newspaper pieces scattered around, each of them will have a footprint in black paint suggesting that the internet is not disposable unlike paper printings which can be lost, thrown away and torn up. Also on the floor I shall have old suitcases with pages of books and old letters strewn inside them to show how books and other forms of communication are becoming lost and forgotten about.

 For the visual effects in the installation I shall have a series of projections. My first projection will be of an erratically moving eye. To do this I will film a short sequence of the eye movement, using after effects I will then key out the rest of the face so that it's just a visual of the moving eye. I will then project this onto one side of the televisions to create the feeling that the audience is being watched whilst watching. The next projection I will be showing in the installation will be a loop of different parts of CCTV footage of people in train stations, at bus stops and on the streets creating  the sense that we are always being watched. This projection will be shown in a space in the middle of the installation playing on a continuous loop.

 

After Effects vomit sequence.

As I am not experienced with After Effects I did find it quite challenging in the beginning, Susannah went through most of the tools we would need to use when using the program so with this in mind I started to look at a number of tutorials on youtube. I felt this helped me to gain enough knowledge on how to create my own sequence with the footage captured. We had one set of footage of the Grandmother character vomiting and another set of footage where we emptied a can of dog food to create the contents of vomit coming from the characters mouth. 

Here is a print screen: