Media Project - Stage Five

Thinking about this section, I went back to the beginning of the module and decided to include some of the Theory text. Using the YouTube clips posted on Blackboard, I downloaded the video 'ways of seeing' part 4. I captured this video and used it in the new section, with text explaining the context. I also found images of Roland Barthes and Walther Benjamin. After arranging them using various framing conventions and creating the zoom effect with the camera, after watching the video through I also thought I should expand the Anchorage section.

I also added a lighting section which is incomplete at this stage. I used Caravaggio's supper at Emmaus, which I masked out the background and added a simple background. Using After Effects lights, I tried to get the shadow of the figures to cast on the simple background. I think while the effect is good, it is still lacking something. (see last posting for a link to the video)

Thinking ahead I think I have a few sections left. Must do a semiotics section, I'm thinking of leaving out Matte paintings as that did not really feature within the main module frame work, but It may depend on the length of the film piece. I'm aiming for 2 Min's or there abouts.

I am still wanting to expand on the perspective section, using a layered approach like in the Game titles. I maybe could cut up an Escher like false perspective thing. I will have to look into that and do some research.

Media Project - Stage Four

I'm half thinking that once again I have given myself too much work to do. The thing is, is that I'm enjoying making it. Using a lot of tutorial knowledge I have accumulated over the last few years, I finally have chance to use it.

So my next section was going to be Anchorage. I started out looking over my blog and decided to use the same images of the picture of the explosion by Goran Tomasevic and how the different newspapers used it to report different things.

Taking the image I duplicated it and then cut the 'cloud' part away from the foreground. I further cut the cloud down into different parts so I could animate them separately.  So as the camera arrives at the image it is animating out, and I put in a camera flash and sound. Overlaying the different Newspaper heading and Text it shows the difference.

I also think I have to expand each section, to 2 item maybe. So I have put the image Will used from his anchorage lecture, and animated different word appearing on it.

I'm also thinking of doing a semiotics section, expanding the perspective section, a Light and dark  painting section and a section for the 3 main texts for the module.

I have also found some music I like to put over the video, but music and divide people. Different tastes can put people off so I may try and find some neutral music also.

Anyhoo as usual progress so far is posted below.

Media Project - Stage 3

Stage 3 of my media product and I wanted to link the intro to my Review movie to starting to Visualise some of the key parts of the module. I remembered that a website http://www.wordle.net/ can create a visual word cloud by entering a url or paste some text. I create a word montage using my blog website as the base, and created the following.

Using this as a base, I thought id use the 3d camera to zoom into the word 'Thirds' then zoom out visualise the 'Rule of Thirds'. To demonstrate this, I re-used the Cezanne painting from our previous lecture and blog, and decided to actually split the painting into the rule of thirds spacing.

Thinking ahead, I decided that I would zoom on through split image and move on to Perspective. Having free styled this project, I came across a bit of a creative block on how to present perspective. I thought I would use the same images from my blog again, but how to visualise 1 point perspective drew issues.

After a few experiments, I drew various masks over the painting and cut it into concentric squares. Moving each section on the z axis, gives depth effect to the painting further illustrating  1 point perspective.

So section 2 is now finished and I will have to think on what other illustrations I wish to present. Top of my list so far is Anchorage and using some of the Ways of seeing footage.

See below for a link to section 2.

and a combination of stages 2 and 3 with a few sound effects.

Media Project - Second stage

So I decided to make a start on my media project. Not having too much of an idea of what I wanted to make, I thought it would be appropriate for a Visual Communication sequence to follow the main threads of my blogs. I decided to start the sequence within an art Gallery, so using texture images of Bricks and a wooden floor, I started to build my first set in After affects.

(so using the elements above, I created the 3d room below)

I re-used some of the images from my blog and placed them on the walls to form a virtual Art gallery. I thought id use the Mona lisa as the first image the camera would zoom into. Thinking back to my blogs on lighting and contrast, I tried to light the room in a contrasting way by adding 2 spot lights focussed on each image, and brought the ambient lighting down.

Seeing that my inital set was contructed, I set about creating the main intro text. I used an online tutorial to create a 3d glowing text effect with reflection, to be placed at the start of the film.

Using a suitable position to start the camera in, I lowered the lighting of the entire set, then used a camera movement to fly from the start position to ending on a close zoom of the mona lisa.

Below is a link to the 1st attempt. (poor quality version because I skimpt on render time.)

I think it needs some sound effects and maybe slowed down a little.

So scene one is in the can, It took approx 4 hours to make, and I think im quite happy with the result.
For the next sequence, im thinking of showing the Cezanne painting and the rule of thirds by virtually slicing the painting into thirds with maybe text or some choice words for anchorage.

Anchorage

I have touched on already the manipulation of an image to convey a meaning or mood a little before, but having just read up on Roland Barthes Rhetoric of the image it re-enforced and added greatly to what I was aiming for before.

I noted that Anchorage plays quite an important part role in today's society, weaving its self through newspapers, news reports and advertising. The basics are, adding a caption, word or line of text to show meaning. Its a simple trick, but once text has been implemented to an image, it is hard to unconnect the forced meaning.

I searched through this months front pages of the main newspapers/tabloids to find examples of where one image has been laced with different meaning and came across a recent example.

Daily mail has a clear message, where as...

the Scotsman disagrees, and ..

the mirror goes for the sensational.

So the same image is shown three times, and each has a different way of shaping opinion. I personally don't read any newspapers any more because I don't want to have my opinion shaped by anyone.

News papers are not the only ones to sensationalise events. I discussed in one of the seminar how moving images can be used totally out of context to make a completely different story. I'm a big fan of Charlie Brooker's views on TV and the media and below is a clip showing media coverage of the Haiti earthquake back in 2010. Around 2mins 30 he explains how disconnection between the footage and the narration is the main cause of misunderstanding the context of the actual story.

So this post may have turned into a bit of a rant, but I like to form my own ideas and thoughts on issues, take up some time to analyse all points of view then arrive at a decision. I do understand why and how anchorage is used but it is something I disagree with if using it with intent to create falsehoods. The image is innocent in all of this, just a re-interperation of an event that happened, although as said before in this age you have to question everything, research, and not take the 'hollywood' mode of history where things are shown more for the sensational effect rather than factual.

lighting in movement

While searching the t'internet about the links between paintings and film lighting, I stumbled across an article from the film industry network here. It's an interesting read where it talks about Cinematography (literary translated as 'lighting in movement')


The main focus of my interest laid with this quote.


The Influence of Rembrandt : For cinematographer like me, as well as generations of art lovers, Rembrandt is the acknowledged master of light and shadow. His chiaroscuro technique has influenced some of the most important light-cameramen in cinema history. In her study of the relationship between painting and the cinema, ‘Moving Pictures’, Rajiv Jain argues that without the paintings of the 17th century Dutch master, many of the masterpieces of the cinema would not have been possible.

I had discussed in our seminars the influence of Caravaggio's high contrast painting style between light and dark and it seems that there are other influences  as well. I thought id look into a few Rembrandt paintings.

Obvious attention has been paid to light sources and shadow but I still prefer Caravaggio and seeing as he was around before Rembrandt, Caravaggio wins. 


Looking into the role of Cinematographer, or Director or photography, does seem like a modern day painter, so many things to think about. They shape the whole look, feel and mood of the film using colour and lighting.

I had to leave this post and sleep on it for a while as I ran out of things to write about and didn't just want to re-hash bits of the article. All I can expand on is that lighting is not an area I have really given much consideration to, which I see now was a short coming on my part. I have always thought that even now where digital manipulation and special effects are mainstream, it would be foolish to forget that sometimes its the things that you cant see, that are only hinted at and left for our imaginations to fill in the blanks are important. Use of light of what you reveal to the viewer is very important and a device that horror movies have used for years.

Semiotics

Ok, so I'm finally going to tackle the topic of Semiotics in a mostly text form where I'm trying to explain to myself.

So what is Semiotics all about?

Using Will's lecture notes, Semiotics was first defined by Ferdinand de Saussure as ' a science that studies the life of signs within society' back in 1916. So what does that all mean for us.

Well the sign is broken down further into two parts, the signifier and the signified. The example we were given was a rose. The signifier (Rose) signifies the meaning of Love.

So how did a rose come to mean love? It does tie in with my earlier post about stereotyping, as this is one of the earliest symbols to pertain love. It has appeared in numerous paintings, poems and films. I must say, I do fight this symbol as my association with roses are somewhat different, thinking of pain. Is this because I was once hurt by love or more to do with the fact I fell into a rose bush and it hurt like hell? (I suppose nowadays an Apple is a sign of ones cool-ness if iPhone would have you believe.)

The rose is an Arbitrary sign as no actual link is present between a plant and an emotion, but instead built up through repetition and we are taught the link through images gone by and commercial greed which is Valentines day. (I really don't get Valentines day and a quick wiki search suggests that there is no real St.Valentine as many as 13 are disputed and it did not exist until Geoffrey Chaucer's Parliament of Foules was written about made up traditions.)

Anyway, Iconic signs are obviously different, as in they actually have that natural link such as a Crown is actually linked to Power, rule etc. Or Blackpool Tower is an iconic sign of Blackpool.

I suppose it more on the side of Arbitrary signs that most Stereotyping is rooted in. Watching QI on TV regularly debunks these common misconceptions. A quick example I can think of is that the idea of Napoleon Bonaparte being a small man is entirely false. He was 5"7 which was average height for the time a full 2 and a half inches taller than Nelson. Many images from the British press depicted him as small to lessen his power at the time. (See Below)

From one image a myth is born, which is very showing in today's age. Political Correctness is dominant with wars nearly started with disparaging depictions of religious figures, so now you have to be extremely careful in the images and words you publish.

Looking forward, I wonder if its possible in the age of Brands and Brand management to create an arbitrary symbol that has no meaning and construct in an Emperors new clothes type of way, something that everybody recognised but did not understand what it is.

Media Project - first thoughts.

For the second part of this coursework we have to create a 'media product' . So far I am putting ideas together and I am currently torn. I discussed with my lecturer the possibility of creating a storyboard for a short film sequence, reflecting on what I have learned in the module  and implementing it into the storyboard.

So set on that idea I was starting to formulate a plan of attack, and in some rare free time started to play a new PC game Called Dragon Age 2. I was inspired by the stylised cut scenes that told the story of the hero.  (see below)

Now I am thinking if I could do something similar, a story based version of what I have learned in this style. Giving an overview of either the main points of this module or some of the thoughts I have constructed, coupled with some of the images I have already used.

I have already thought how I could link one image to another by zooming the camera through one painting into another, dodging though either text or quotes from the module.  I could use it as a review of the visual communication module or a 'Promo' style movie image.

Using a combination of Photoshop and my previous after effects knowledge, I think it could be really well done and I am already excited about what it could look like. It would be an extention of my previous blog with the matte painting and motion with the train.

I think the first step should be to draft the concept, ideas and images I want to present and how I could mechanically link this ideas using a visual form.

Using Artwork in films

After some time looking at still images and paintings, I tried to see the relevance in my area of interest, namely film. Remembering  a star wars exhibition I attended years ago at the Media Museum, I saw many matte paintings used as backdrops in the original films and recall how beautiful they were as standalone works of art.

Original matte painting from IML on glass.

A quick search on the internet brought up another artist called Dylan Cole, who has done matte paintings for lord of the and The Chronicles of Riddick and are stunning works of Art. (see below)

It is easy to forget that while paintings are a more traditional medium, their relevance stretches throughout all others. Advertising, newspapers and moving images all conform to similar conventions of paintings, (rule of thirds, composition, lighting and so on).

In this age of digital manipulation the viewer of films and images cannot be sure that what they are viewing is actually the original image. The old saying 'seeing is believing' is harder to qualify these days.

Here is a before and after image from Frederic St-Arnaud for work on the film Wind in the Willows.

Only the middle section of the house remains, but re-textured and rebuilt using other image components.

Using another of Frederic's images

I thought I'd try and compose my own version of this train scene using different image components within after effects and add a little motion.

(my rough attempt)

After a lecture from Will Godfrey about form and structure, I wanted to research a little deeper about Ritual Condensation. Using different framing and symbolism, the images shown to a person can shape how the viewer interprets them.

The image that Will used was this one.

Using what we can see and what we already know, assumptions are made about what is happening in this still frame.

People generally see the character wearing black as the bad guy. The camera position is close to the ground looking up at the 'bad' guy which also creates a feeling of intimidation. Our subconscious pieces this altogether in an instant automatically after years of stereotyping through film imagery, and photography.

If you remove the stereotyping and look at the image in its simplest terms, it looks like the guy in white is about to shoot the guy in black in the back, which in this instant make the guy in black the victim rather than the bad guy.

While thinking of possible short films or sequences, I constantly think of playing with these set image 'Rules' and turning them around.

A short example of how sometimes not conforming does add different moods is good old Star Wars.

Here Luke Skywalker (forward figure in white) is shown as the hero, dressed in white. Using white again shows many stereotype meanings, Innocent, pure etc.

In this image,

Luke is wearing all Black. At face value, it is hard to decide who is being presented as the bad guy. They are all wearing similar tones. Is this signifying that Luke has joined them, he is conflicted whether to be good or evil, or just that he has lost his innocence that he had in the previous films? Or could it just be that wearing Black is cooler that white?

So where do these stereotypes come from? Well I’m glad you asked because semiotics will be given its own blog post.

Perspective

My last lecture featured a lot of images explaining perspective. This reminded me of an Art lesson many years ago when I was still at school when we were shown the painting below.

The Battle of San Romano probably about 1438-40, Paolo Uccello

This painting was one of the earliest examples of One point perspective using the lances and body of the soldier in the foreground. This was an early experiment of creating depth and presenting a 2d image as 3d to the viewer.

Different techniques can be employed to present an image which is flat to appear more like something we would see ourselves. Moving on from the above 1 point perspective came 2 point perspective.

2 point perspective also gives depth and as we the viewer recognises the lines shown, we interpret this as depth, accepting that objects get smaller the further away they are from the foreground.

Knowing how a viewer 'sees' and how images are interpreted by the viewer, artists can manipulate and confuse the viewer by breaking these conventional 'laws'.

The most famous artist to play with perspective laws was Escher, who must have studied perspective intensively.  Below is an example of his endless stairs.

Although he did toy with his false perspective, he did produce some exquisite studied works such as the hand with reflective Sphere which I do think is amazing.

On reflection, I'm starting to re address my previous ideas on Art. In today's time, images are everywhere. We are constantly bombarded by images in newspapers, TV, posters and online, and I used to take everything at face value. Actually 'Seeing' an image is totally different from viewing an image.

Deciphering what the Artist is trying to show you, the rules of form and the subtleties of manipulation is 'absorbing' the image, where previously I just classified the images I saw instead.

Composition

Following on from one of our previous lectures about composition and form, I thought I would analsye some paintings and apply some of the theories to them.

In this lecture we were shown this picture.

This painting conforms to the 'Rule of Thirds'  (nine equal parts by two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines) shown below.

The image is separated by the foreground (forest), the subject matter (buildings) and the background (mountains). Other separations are present though, namely the tones and colours used in each section. The foreground uses dark tones, subject warmer colours and background uses washed out blues and colder tones. The eye is drawn to the subject matter.

One of the posted clips on blackboard Ways of Seeing, had a painting by Caravaggio. I remembered a recent documentary I watch about his life, and started to look on the Internet at other Paintings by him.
I started to notice a pattern in his works.

He uses diagonal right angle lines a lot in his work to construct a subtle impression of symmetry.
(Update: further research shows that I stumbled upon a form technique called the 'Golden Triangle/Ratio' which would take another blog in its self to explain. Interesting though.)

(this painting always made me feel uncomfortable, mostly that due to the fact I thought the fruit bowl would be falling off the table at any moment. Im guessing that its a symbol for the precariousness of the life of Jesus at that time)

Caravaggio uses light and dark contrast to bring his subject matter to the front of view, hiding most of the background in darkness. Some may say that that reflected his life style, but I would say it just provides a striking, sharp, beautiful but always sinister mood to all of his Art.

Visual Communication - The Beginning.

This is Post one of twenty, in a series of blogs connected to Visual Communication. In these posts I will be investigating the theories and various ideas connected to Imagery, semiotics and composition. Using material from my module lectures, reading lists and my own research, I will be composing my thoughts within these pages.

Firstly, Using the reading lists I shall start to understand some of the established theories, and hopefully find some examples to either back them up or give evidence of my own thoughts.

So, I have just finished reading and watching extracts from Ways of Seeing by John Berger. There were many ideas to think about from just this small amount of material. What connected with me the most was how original works of Art, or Original images can be manipulated through either editing, taking smaller sections out of context or application of other media such as sounds / music.

  

In this clip,Berger toys with this theory of how various works can be manipulated to 2 different moods, using a Caravaggio painting of Christ. Using 2 different music scores, 2 different stories are presented.

This prompted me to experiement with this idea and create the video below.

Using this painting (John Everett Millias' Ophilia), I created 2 clips using different portions of the image, set to 2 different pieces of music.

For the 1st video I brightened the image and used music with a warm feel.

In the 2nd clip I darkened the image to give a more somber feel and also added more sombre music. This time allowing the viewer to see the body of Ophilia in the water.