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.