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:

Post production. Premier Pro/After Effects

Todays seminar included tutorials on working in After Effects and Premier Pro. I felt rather competent when using Premier Pro as it's a program I often used during my two years at college, however I didn't feel very experienced with After Effects as it was something we went through very briefly in college so I have little experience with using the program. 
Firstly we decided to take a look at all the footage we had captured, we then renamed each shot and created a list of the order each shot would need to go on. As Phoebe felt she was the most experienced editor we decided as a group that she would take on the role and edit the sequence on a different program she felt more competent using which was Final Cut Pro. We then decided to take a look at the green screen footage which was of a piece of would being pushed through a hand. We opened this into After Effects and took out the back ground and then changed it to black so it would fit in with the atmosphere of the piece. 

Filming the sequence

Today was the day of the sequence shoot. Unfortunately I was unable to attend as I had to take time in hospital. However Bryony was able to run through what happened with me so I was able to get an insight into how the sequence was set. We had two actresses in the shoot, one little girl and her mother who was more than happy to help out. We had the little girl playing the role of the child and the mother playing the role of the grandmother. Both Bryony and Phoebe agreed the actresses where perfect for the roles and was directed very well.

Adding more to the set.

With our wall paper up we started to have a look at the props we had collected and where they should go. We decided to use a fire place to make our positioning of the walls look like a real room. We put the dolls we had collected on the fire place and in filming shall be using them to create stop motion of them coming to life. We have decided to use the taxidermy rabbits which we shall also be bringing to life using stop motion. We shall also be using stop motion to create a bleeding effect on the wallpaper, to create this we shall drill small holes into the walls which we shall be inserting small tubes filled with red paint, bit by bit we shall release the paint so it looks as though it is seeping from the walls. We want to create a set where the room itself is coming to life with dolls and rabbits moving and the walls bleeding. To add the finishing touches to the set we have decided to use red roses and decaying flowers which again creates a life and death like feel. 

Adeline de Monseignat- Hairy Eye Ball

When researching The Uncanny theory linked with art I came across an exhibition set up by curator James Putnam. I came across a piece created by Adeline De Monseignat who works on sculptural and installation exhibitions. The piece is named Hairy Eye Ball and was created in 2012. After reading up a bit more on the artist I found out she had  read Sigmund Freud's essay The Uncanny 1919, this interested and inspired the artist to create work based around the theory.
I find the piece extremely interesting. It has been made with only two objects, vintage fur and glass. The piece looks as though something is alive and living with the way the fur is positioned in the glass as though it is an animal sleeping, I think the curve of the glass also adds to the alive like feel. 

This piece has inspired me to look at using other textures in my work, myself and the group have been looking at some taxidermy rabbits Susannah has collected. I'd like to use them to create the same alive but dead like feel which I get when I see Adeline de Monseignat's piece.

Building the set

With all our props, wallpaper and paint bought and collected we started to build our sets. Firstly we started to strip all the excess wallpaper from our boards which had been left on from previous sets we then started to construct our boards using screws and drills to create a standing set of four walls, this part proved to be rather difficult and involved heavy team work, myself, Bryony, Pheobe and Ellen had to work well together in order to get the boards up safely. Once the boards were up we then began pasting our wall paper on bit by bit, once the first wall was up we started to paint our bloody roses on, half way through constructing the walls of the set we realised we wouldn't have enough paper to fill the last wall, we went back to Wilkinsons only to find that roll had been discontinued, we were all rather disheartened but decided to go back and buy another four rolls of wallpaper and to keep on going. Once we had finished putting up our new wall paper we realised this option of paper looked much better aesthetically and were all pleased with the end result. We then started to drip red paint from the roses to create a bloody effect.

Set design, props and group meeting.

Today myself and the group met up to discuss our ideas for the design of our set. We went through the kind of set design and props we wanted for Pink Nightmares. We made a list of this:

• Floral wallpaper
• Pastel paints in baby pink, dark pink and light green
• Feature wall paper
• Red paint
• Imitation red roses
• Dolls, teddies and other various toys

We then went and bought all on our list. We shall be building our set next Wednesday. 

Production meeting and main idea.

Today we met up as a group to pick and discuss our idea for the uncanny project. We decided to go with Phoebe's idea as it was one we all felt would make an interesting project based around the uncanny theme.
Our project shall be called Pink Nightmares and will have an Alice In Wonderland kind of theme. The film shall take place in a playroom styled set. The walls shall be covered in floral wallpaper which we shall then paint pastel flowers on to create a childlike atmosphere, this wallpaper shall cover each side of the set. The middle of the set shall have a feature wall of black outlined roses which we shall be painting red, we will have the red paint dripping off the roses as though they are bleeding linking with the Alice In Wonderland theme. (painting the roses red) There will be various props such as a fireplace against the feature wall with dolls lined up on top of it and dolls and toys strewn across the floor creating a play room like feel to the set. The film will feature a young female aged around 7 years old and elderly female. The film shall tell the tale of a young girl playing in her playroom with her grandmother knitting beside her with her back turned towards the camera. The grandmothers knitting speed shall increase and the room will appear darker, the red roses will then start to bleed and the dolls on the fireplace will start to move turning towards the little girl, moss will then start to grow on the walls as though the room is coming into a life of its own. The little girl will walk over to her grandmother who will be knitting extremely fast, her back will still be turned away from the camera as we see her arms moving as she knits. The little girl will then call her grandmothers name to which her grandmother doesn't reply. The little girl then reaches out to put her hand on her grandmothers shoulder. The grandmother then turns around and we see that she has been knitting her own face, a mixture of black goo and blood will seep from her face as she widely smiles into the camera. For the knitting of the face we shall be using latex. 
We shall use a green screen to create the movement of the dolls coming alive.

Another piece I find really interesting is Pauline Bunny by Sarah Lucas which was created in 1997. Every time I look at this piece I am as equally disturbed as the last glance. The figure seems to have a human like form upon first glance but once I stared at the image for longer the less human the figure seemed. The way the figure is draped across the chair with (what appears to be) their legs slumped out seems like a very human like position. Looking at the two flesh coloured pieces of the figure at the top confuses me and creates a feeling of great discomfort. They look as though they could be human arms or bunny ears. I appreciate the piece greatly, I find it a very interesting mangled representation of the human body.

Art and The Uncanny.

A few of the pieces I shall be looking at are part of the Uncanny exhibition curated by Mike Kelley before his death which was then revived and updated by The Tate Liverpool.

I find this piece by Marc Quinn really interesting. It was made in 1996 using rubber. The piece is named No Visible Means Of Escape. It shows two bodies suspended on what looks like a piece of string as though hanging. Either way the figures look as though they are dead or nearing death. All though the body image is quite distorted I still get a sense of disgust and discomfort when looking at the image as the sculpture does posses human like qualities.

Descriptive outline of idea based around 'The Uncanny'

Throughout the past week I've been racking my brain for ideas to do with 'The Uncanny' , at first I was thinking about my previous experiences with the feeling of the uncanny but these experiences didn't have the criteria need for the project brief such as a suitable way to incorporate a green screen.
I then began to think of things I am familiar with, books I've read and things that inspire as I feel I always find my most creative ideas through these things. I then began to think about art. I'm interested in all kinds of art, paintings, audio visuals, sculptures and so forth.
I then began to think about the set design, what we would need to make a realistic set, the measurements, how long it would take to build and the budget. Bearing all of this in mind with my initial thought of having an idea to do with art I began to get a grasp of what I wanted to do; An artists creative block.

The Set:
My set shall be in the design of an artist studio, the walls shall be bright filled with scraps of paper filled with drawings and paintings clinging off parts of the walls. There shall be an easel in the center of the room which shall feature the green screen . To the left of the set there shall be a pop up wooden table covered in paint with paint brushes in jars and paints arrayed over the table which has a wooden stool under neath. To the right of the set there shall be a sculpture.

The Uncanny:
To get a sense of The Uncanny I have 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.

The Uncanny.

The term Uncanny is a theory which has been developed over the years by psychologist such as Friedrich Nietzsche, Ernst Jentsch and Sigmund Freud.  They described Uncanny as a mixture of feelings such as discomfort, familiarity and terror a person feels when a once familiar object, person or situation becomes unfamiliar and strange.  
Sigmund Freud believed ''Once something that we are familiar with undergoes change, and appears to be estranged from its original meaning or contexts, that is when we become afraid, or at least wary, of it.''
A prime example of this comes from my own experience as a child, I had a room filled with pot dolls and one night had an uncomfortable notion that the dolls were moving amongst the shelves as though they were alive.
Another good example of Uncanny is shown in a photo I found from the internet. The photo shows a cake which matches the exact features of a humans head, the cake looks disturbingly real yet has a slice down the middle showing the inside of the head to be in fact cake. 

For our first task we have been asked to create our own small set within a group of three other people, within the set we shall be shooting and editing a sequence based around the idea of Uncanny. My group consists of Bryony, Ellen and Phoebe. The brief states that the sequence must contain one special effect and one visual effect using a green screen.