Rough Trade.

Watching the piece in it's current form it is a great opportunity to reflect on it and review how it works and ways to improve it.

Amongst the things I have been aiming for within the piece have been thematic conveyences of solemn and ethereal emotions that derive from the lack of human presence which would have detracted the focus from the beauty of the landscape achieved to some extent by the overlayed light flashs dissipating in and out of the footage hinting at it's origins in the Arthur C. Clarke novel and lending the film a more abstract, experimental glow.

The backwards guitars of the soundtrack although initially conceived as a happy accident quickly became integral to the piece and once identified as being so effective have been reworked and I feel really bring the video the fore and heighten the pastoral yet dark and melancholic emotion of the piece.

whilst adhearing to no definative structure, it can be said that using video I am defined by scale, proportion and format, that being said I have found the whole adventure somewhat of a creative experiment that will be transposed to a new level when installation begins to become my focus as it is beginning to at the moment and I feel that these intentional stylistic choices whilst brave to include have really giving the film a signature look and feel that I feel works really well.

Earth Day.

 To commemorate 'Earth Day' Lomography have compiled a stunning gallery of photographs focussing on the beauty and complexity of the planet we live in and the varying landscapes native to countries around the world, made up of images from lomographers (fans of analogue technology who use lo-fi techniques to create unique photographs) around the world.

I particularly like the image above which due to the film being out of date, a habit favourable amongst many lomographers, adds a distinct washed out appeal to the images, similar to the photography of Neil Krug.

The above image reminded me very much of the forest sequence at the beginning of my film where the light tries to make it self seen through the trees and rain.

Herbert Ponting & Wim Wenders.

I was in London this weekend
A very brief and breathtakingly beautiful exhibition of Herbert Ponting’s photography is soon to finish at Atlas Gallery, London. This show, commemorating the death of Robert Falcon Scott who he joined as photographer and cinematographer on the fatal Terra Nova Expedition in the early 1900s, is a remarkable account of artistic craftsmanship in the most testing of conditions. As we can now appreciate the fineness of the images as objects of art, so do we understand more fully the gravitas the moment they arrived from.
The exhibition is in association with the Scott Polar Research Institute.

Fantastic exhibition of Antarctic photography by Herbert Ponting at the Atlas gallery, London. The platinum prints, published in association with the Scott Polar Research Institute, are in commemoration of the death of Captain Robert Falcon Scott.

Whilst depicting deifferent climes, tehre is still a focus on the vast scale of the enviroonment, something I was striving for when making this piece, and there is also very much a feeling of the climate and weather having a huge impact on the photography in terms of preventing and forcing change upon shots, something I experienced a little too often on my shoot.

I found it really useful to witness  such a throrough and in-depth ortrayal of a natural landscape at this stage, especially when I am editing my own work as it enabled me to take a step back and regain focus on exactly what I am doing. I have been wary of getting too bogged down with layering effects, which while I feel work with the footage I have selected, I realize that I have to be carefull t not get too carried away, especially when someone like Ponting achieved so much clarity and effortlessness with the simplicity of Black & White photography.

Whilst in London I also went to the latest Wim Wenders exhibition at the Haunch of Venison gallery

Instead of a new film, this time it’s photography taken in various countries around the world.

 imagery without definitiv narratives that led the viewer to draw their own conclusions, but how much can this be achieved when considering artistic lisence and creative input into the work?

This question feeds very much into the argumetn I've been having with myself over the course of creating this work, how can my film be evidential and experimental at the same time when to be be one seemingly voids the right to be classed as another?

It’s not too much of a stretch to say that without Wim Wenders ‘indie cinema’, particularly that of the late 80s and 90s, would lack a defining visual style. Growing up in provincial England, but in the days when BBC 2 and Channel 4 could be relied on to show off-beat films fairly regularly, his was the style that defined for me cool away from the mainstream. The eye that showed a fascinating, enigmatic world away from the mundane. Now Wenders is a photographer. A shot from this exhibition (just transferred from Sao Paolo) made the cover of the British Journal of Photography and a steady stream of people were popping in to Haunch of Venison to look over the 47 images on display. But this really isn’t a showcase of a filmmaker’s hobby – this is high quality photography and a major, important exhibition.

Take just one image at random. Okay: it’s #38 which comes in room 6 (there are 7 rooms). “Armenian Alphabet, Armenia, 2008″. Firstly let’s talk about the scale. In common with most of the works here it’s large. Not overpowering but appropriately vast. This time though we’re fairly close in to the subject which appears to be various characters (I’ll take on trust they are letters from the Armenian alphabet) standing like Rapa Nui statues in weak summer light in what appears to be a remote location far away from sight. Technically, the image is perfect as the light balances neatly with the natural colours of the landscape and the artificial tones of the oversized letters. Without a full page of explanatory notes I doubt I could ever comprehend what I am looking at. But not only does it fulfill the title’s requirement – strange and quiet indeed – but the places the viewer is taken in their mind as they reassemble and give meaning to the image are intriguing and ever so slightly disconcerting. The pictures may not be in motion any more but Wenders is still directing in that enigmatic, cool way.

In keeping with the title and focus of the works there aren’t many people present. A lone sunbather is almost lost amongst the loungers and the scenery; the Brisbane rodeo clown shot from behind. The style is very much of the time – using what could be termed a cold eye and in the main a washed-out pallette. If this wasn’t at Haunch of Venison it would fit into the Photographers’ Gallery programme without any major fuss.

There are some exceptions to that overall norm – for example the “Twin graves and drive in cinema, Marfa, Texas”, taken in 1983 and presumably at the time when Wenders was scouting for locations for ‘Paris, Texas’ that began his focus on this kind of photography, looks for all the world like it could come from Robert Franks’ ‘The Americans’, such is the use of juxtaposition in both framing and title. It’s one of only a few where the mood feels more forced.

Which is not to say the work is derivative or too stylistic. It certainly isn’t from that spectrum of modern photography where the artists’ vision needs to be explained before the viewer is able to formulate their response. Wenders says he is photographing things that are out of place or places that are strangely quiet (or quietly strange). And even without the gallery notes so much would be obvious. There is no deeper message other than: stop for a moment, consider this … And the exhibition is rather remarkable (and highly recommended) as a result.

No Use For A Name.

Whilst only a simple matter, the decision to include a title and how this would completely change how the film is viewed in a loop was  one I laboured on for a while, eventually deciding to include one. I realize that this now adds what will be perceived as a beginning to the film and it mean it doesn't loop seamlessly from end to beginning now, but I feel that the title I have chose is not imposing and simply does it's job giving details about the film without effecting the  rest of the piece.

Editing.

In our recent exhibition exercise in which we were asked to exhibit a piece of current work in order to prepare us for the degree show. I exhibited a piece of audio which was in fact a older segment from the film, and played this from a speaker situated in a plinth which stood in front of a still from the film. Whilst only intended as a way of linking the sound to the landscape in which i was created and printed cheaply using standard inks, the image gained a lot of comments due to it's striking tonal quality which was said to be reminiscent of traditional landscape paintings. 

I found these comments very interesting as whilst it was not intended to be the main focus the editing which I had done on the film so far as depicted in the still was already well received.

This has led me to look further into examples, based purely on their tonal depth and aesthetic qualities and how they relate to the landscape in which they depict.

As this researched  was spurned by comments relating to landscape painting, this is where I started.

Peter de Wint was my first port of call as I wanted to look at how painters themselves have looked at the sky as a means of expression, with sky shots making up a lot of my film - varying degrees at different lights. Using particularly light gestural movements as a tool to convey the desired emotion for their piece, both personal and how they would like the piece to look in terms of tone.

A Cornfield - Peter De Wint - 1815

In the editing process I have been experimenting heavily with the contasts of colours, in some places this is quite drastic with filters added to completley change the mood of the piece, in others I have continued the cinematic quality, given by exporting in widescreen, by grading the film footage to give the film a quality instantly reminiscent of classic film from the 60/70's where film was completely manual and obviously giving inferior quality compared to the HD of modern film, but it is the tone and sheen of the imagery which ironically many film makers, including myself on this piece, try to replicate through computer based post production purely for aestheic reasons.

I admire many video works of this era in particular the cinematography of William Friedkin and Owen Roizman in the 1971 film French Connection owes much to the stock of film it was shot with. The faded nature of the imagery and the deep contrast can be seen in the below screen shot of Sidney Lumet's 1973 film 'Serpico'.

Continuing this element of achieving modern work with vintage techniques is the photographer Neil Krug, whose use of dated film stock in extreme weather conditions edits the photographs itself given an immense aesthetic that increases the power of the images and ultimately makes the work transmit better making their desired effect greater.

Aiming for this kind of vintage tone which I hope to achieve by combining this with the clarity gained from shooting in HD will I hope emphasize the drama and atmosphere already in the landscape.


In terms of soundtrack I originally intented to achieve this relatively simply - I recorded myself playing guitar over footage which whilst sounding great, especially through the high quality speakers of the sound booth, just didn't have an edge that I was hoping for ad just sounded like it was, guitar played over footage.
I then had a eureka moment whilst playing the film back I accidently lent on the shift key which in final cut plays the footage in reverse, including the audio which was then transformed into a haunting sound with no obvious strum pattern distinguishable. I then played in sequence to reversed footage, so when I made the footage play normaly the audio would then be reversed.


Always referring back to Arthur C Clarke's Transience in particular when included the segments of the snow landscapes filmed on the morning after the main day of filming. The contrast between the snow landscapesacting a a similar tool as the sea and desert in 'Transience' the short story.

Using cross disolve sparingly has added the disorientating effect I was after, coupled witth he shrill and strange nature of the soundtrack, the two elements work together to create a really haunting atmosphere that heightens the emotions experienced when out in the landcape itself, as this is my basic intention - to represent the alienating, vastness and magnitude on what is ultimately a 2D medium.

Whilst not adhearing to any distinctly strict chord progression, there is a definate theme and haunting build up in certain segments which I wanted to float road very much like the footage does, especially the parts filmed at the full mercy of the wind owing to a blurry, headache inducing feeling that adds to the consuming nature of the piece.

When showing it to others for feedback they have agreed how effective this eireey sound is to the piece.

Something that became intrinsic to me whilst creating the piece was the simultaneous editing process, whereby I would play over the video footage I was in the middle of editing in order to gain the closeness and ensure the two mediums linked together and locked in with each other as much as possible.

Yearbook.

As part of our contribution to the degree show yearbook we must each have a mug shot taken and submit an artists statement and up to 3 images relating to our practice to be used in our Artists profile page.
How I am perceived by an audience potentially made up of people with great creative links and opportunities in store, is something of high importance.

Here's my Mug.

 

And one of these images will make up my large centrefold image, most probably the image below as it is a colour image, and will separate the monchrome of my 'Presence through Absence' images which will be seen as thumbnails.

Morricone for the Day.

Today I took my video editing to the next level, using the colleges sound studio facility, I set about recording the soundtrack and continuing the video editing simultaneously.
Stripping away the piece to just the video footage then adding the recorded segments of sound from the field trip, I then set about adding a basic chord sequence in response to the tone of the work as a way of generating a feel for the work.

It was at this point that I have had to think more about just what the tone of the music will evoke and just what I want the piece to sound like sonically.

Loosely taking on a fairly Somber sequence to emphasize the gravely impressive landscape. Invoking a tranquil tone.

I am very conscience of the connotations of what I play upon the piece and how this effects the overall tone and feel of the video and how that affects it's interpretation and as discussed in my tutorial with Dan, there is no right or wrong way of going about this, I just have to be conscience of how I manipulate the elements of the piece and how this affects the result.

Working simultaneously on both elements has allowed me to get a better grasp of how they can work together.

I have decided that I have much more freedom in terms of editing when working in this space as I am able to adjust both elements at the same time. So I have taken the decision to use this room as my future editing place and will be using it again on Thursday. The momentum of the work is also on target and is coming together well.

How Not To Exhibit.

Today we had an exhibitions exercise aimed at preparing us for the eventuality of our degree show exhibition where  we were asked to exhibit a piece of current work in order to prepare us for the degree show. I exhibited a piece of audio that I had been working on and exported this as an mp4 file, and played this from a speaker situated in a plinth which stood in front of a still from the film. After being ridiculed on a whole for what was a shambles of an exhibition with sounds leaking into one another and placement not thought out, we were then grilled on our individual exhibits, which thankfully went a lot better.
My only criticism of this process was that whilst I received no essentially negative feedback my soundpiece which was the intended focus of the piece was relatively ignored in favour of how the piece was exhibited, with the plinth and cheaply printed photograph gaining most remarks, which were oddly complimentary considering the little effort put into them compared to their audio counterpart.

Tutorial With Dan.

Today I signed up with a tutorial with Dan to discuss where my project is at the moment which has left me with a lot of things to consider....


What is my piece, I have been calling it an Evidential Film as it is documenting what is there, but I have also discussed plans to implement the piece with my own artistic decisions, such as editing and soundtrack, do these decisions detract from the evidential nature of the piece, if so are they necessary, and if they are then what do I class my piece as?

How does the sound piece work? Bill Fontana's water recordings Primal Soundings a permanent installation at  Leeds City Art Gallery.


How do I approach the piece and soncially this will affect the video piece or if they are approached as separate entities and displayed way from each other. I previously talked about Gustavo Santaolalla




In preparation for Monday's Crit in the seminar spaces where we are required to exhibit a piece...

Cross-Year Presentations.

This afternoon marked the first of a proposed series of cross year presentations similar to the ones I experience with the 3rd years last year.
I was first up and decided to just talk informally about my work using this here blog as a means of showing my FMP's progression.




As I was put in charge of my group I allowed us to talk more openly and informally, leading to greater response from participating student. Relevant to my own work was Lauren's suggestion of the similarities of my works intentions with that of the Qatsi  trilogy of films in particular Powaqqatsi as it clearly shows the juxtopostition of mand-made and natural elements which ties in with my theme. I had only previously seen Koyaanisqatsi, whose sound work by Phillip Glass is well renowned and may help me in the way I establish a them for my own piece in terms of the elements and structure of the sound.

Capture.

After getting a hard drive to enable me to keep all film files in one place, I began to capture the footage from the expedition with much trepidation as I was unsure of how it would turn out.

The Creative Chinwag.

As promised today was used as an informal day of presentations between the Interdisciplinary and 3D courses.

Started off by Pete from 3D, the morning was a great success and saw us all getting involved in no pressured conversation that seemed to benefit each others projects especially those who are still at the very initial stages of their FMP's.

All In The Technique.

Using the SLR shots I took on the shoot I carried out a few experiments using Photoshop, of ways the stills could be manipulated to create interesting visuals. Duplicating layers, taking the opacity down and rotating them whilst placing them in different areas of the image allowed me to create a really textured look that adds another dimension to the way we would traditionally interpret a landscape

 

Unintentionally the image I feel is reminiscent of the rolling hills of Pieter Bruegel the Elder''s Netherlandish Proverbs pictured above. The multi-faceted arrangement keeps the eye looking for detail in less obvious places.

Artist Talk - Hondartza Fraga.

This morning I attended an artist talk by Spanish artist Hondartza Fraga in the lecture theatre.

I originally attended the talk just because I was free and like attending these things when I can, so was surprised at the relevancy some of her pieces had with my own current thinking especially her video piece - Bearing Elsewhere. 

A documentation of travel which took place during her residency in  Trondheim, Norway at the beginning of 2010.

Incorporating a sound piece created by a friend she met whilst on residency, Farga managed to evoke  more of the emotional starkness of the landscape. Created using a handmade native Swedish instrument, the sound track like the video was intentionally fragmented to hint more at the elusive nature of travel and the idea that detaching ones self from the scale of the landscape by making relatively small scale piece makes the pieces into souvenirs of the landscape. 

The tonal elements of the piece were also really interesting. 

As Farga was in Norway in winter, she was expecting the landscape to be bleak and dark, but what really confronted her was a bright white landscape that she used to her advantage in post-production by fading in and out of the white.

It struck me how by just creating work, Fraga wasn't forcing herself to be anything, which came across as a really organic approach to work and subsequently, maybe without her own thinking, has made her an interdisciplinary artist.
Farga's Saatchi profile can be found here.

The Tan Hill Trek.

With Army boy Andrew taking charge of camping and routes in return for some homemade bread, yesterday we set off to the Yorkshire Dales weighed down with Bergens to carry provisions and filming equipment. A bright but cold day greeted us when we arrived at Kirby Stephen with the intention of reaching Tan Hill by nightfall. Our expertly co-ordinated maps would hopefully help us get there...

We got sidetracked within the first few minutes of our hike, but who couldn't resist photographing these cool Ponies?

We then left civilization and headed out into the great wide open.

We walked for over an hour into the hillsides helped us escape the buildings and wildlife that I didn't want to be a part of my footage as I wanted to focus more on the 'natural' landscape.

So off we set, walking from Kirkby Stephen through to Birkett Hil and beyond.

After coming across appropriate scenery we cracked open our lunch - homemade chicken stotties, and commenced filming.

Adopting a very warm color balance with an enhanced contrast enhances the depth and richness of the imagery.

The ironic thing of the trip was that my intention was to go out and capture the natural beauty of the landscape but in reality the environment was very harsh and bitterly cold, as shown by my wind-chilled hands above.

We didn't catch on just how cold it was until our equipment failing to work several times in a row confirmed that our batteries were in fact freezing! 

This wasn't something we had accounted for but we nonetheless had to overcome this. Filming until the batteries gave up was the tactic we had to revert to, which was ok for the video equipment, unfortunatley when the batteries fail on the sound recorder you loose the piece it is currently recording! This resulted in only being able to record short snippets of sound which is not what I had in mind and means I will have to piece a soundtrack together from the snippets, which whilst not being as 'natural' as I'd hoped, will allow me more control over the sound and tone of the piece.

After stopping for firewood we spotted another variant on the landscape, this dense patch of moor grass which was great to film in the wind and provides further breadth to the footage.

 

One of the sticking points for me was, as I previously stated I would try to eschew as much evidence of humans from the landscape as i could, whether I would keep in the fences and dry-stone walling that covers much of the flat ground. I have always enjoyed the aesthetic of these walls as although clearly man-made they look natural and unimposing, so this is something I will have to decide upon in editing.

One of the aspects I was keen on documenting was both the height and scale of the landscape, in particularly it's vastness.

Now very much in the thick of the landscape, surrounded by hills and fells which we later indentified to be the start of the Nine Standards Rig, beyond Birkett Hill and Hartley fell, this was very much the kind of scenery I had anticipated and aside from the wind and temperature the conditions were perfect to film in, with the bright light cutting through the March mist making for some interesting time lapse footage in a truly-breathtaking landscape.

We came across this great visual feature which I managed to get more detailed video footage of, a waterfall with the blistering winds peeling the water away, something I may slow down in post-production to emphasize.

With the light darkening my filming time for the day was drawing to a close, but this also provided me with some lovely deep tones, that while hard to pick up, with a bit of post production, look stunning.

With the light getting increasingly darker it was time to retire for the night, not to a tent but a sleeping bag under a sheet of tarpaulin, this being the beginning of March and with temperatures below 0, you can tell how good a nights sleep we got!

Rather than one continuous piece due to failing battery life I had no choice but to make the piece using short excerpts, which isn't the only reason. I feel the piece will show a greater range of the varying landscape if it is made up of varying scenes and will also create alternating moods which coupled with the soundtrack will make an astounding environmental piece.

The above footage shows just how difficult filming is with prevailing winds resulting in the tripod tipping over.