We saw Chris R today and explained our ideas to him and where we were up to. He liked our ideas - the dust, the book, etc - but he pointed out that these ideas were not gelling together in their present state.
He showed us the Radiohead album Amnesiac which was also has book style package (in its special edition form). It is a hardback and inside there was library stamp card - very old school. From there we looked at the other pages that were mainly image based; a collection of collages merging drawing and photography and it was all quite contempory especially compared with the books cover and the library stamp system. We talked about how this was appropriate for the band Radiohead and they are an experimental band, merging many genres, styles, instruments, etc.
We were creating an older style of book to suit the Blue Roses but I also thought it would be a good idea to combine old and new. At this point, after hearing Chris' feedback and input we were all a little lost, frustrated and fed-up as we had spent along time making images, creating styles, etc and we couldn't really put it all together. Plus, we knew we also had another photography session in the afternoon and we needed to decide exactly what we were doing.
Chris gave us great ideas and themes to explore like 'lost' objects, things that once belonged to someone and had a purpose but were now forgotten about.
After further discussion we decided that perhaps we should completely simplify our book: have a hard cover with dust jacket, the pages that follow will be mainly text based featuring the band's lyrics and in the center spread we'd have a picture of a 'dust scene'. The center pages would be our only imagery and we thought this would be an interesting constrast and would work with our lost/found theme as the reader would almost 'find' the image hidden in the middle of the book.
Another idea I had was that in our photograph we should show that something has been removed with a clean-spot in the dust and the missing object would be the actual CD that the person is seeing the image in (if that makes sense). I thought although not 'geneous' it would get an 'ahhh' from people who discovered it and it also shows that the CD has also come from this forgotten place. This would be further emphasised by the 'dusty' dust jacket.
Wednesday, 3 February 2010
Monday 1st February
Although we were all in on Friday we didn't actually meet up and discuss any further on our ideas or about the presentation on Thursday. So today was a catch-up in my eyes where we discussed the events of last week and shared any further ideas that had developed over the weekend.
We had an intense discussion of exactly how our ideas were going to work. We had lots of ideas and had a general idea of how it would all work but when we actually attempted to visualise the final product we realised that maybe as a whole not everything would work.
We want to create our CD packaging as a book with a hardcover and a dust jacket. The hardcover would just be a faded blue colour and made of a canvas material similar to old books we had found. We wanted the pages to follow this old book style (off-white coloring, times-style font, etc) but realsied that our images as they were would perhaps look to conpempory for this style of book.
I toyed around with the idea that maybe this clash of old and new would create an interesting hybrid and could possibly work. I saw Blue Roses in a similar fashion: they were a folk band with a retro/traditional style but they were a modern band and their sound did have a modern sound buried beneath it's traditional roots.
After this we discussed the photo- shoot for tomorrow and exactly what shots we wanted to get and what sort of narrative we wanted to create with our images. In the end we decided that the pages of the book could be a collection of song lyrics with images representing each one. For example, one of the Blue roses songs is about time stopping and for this we could use Lauren's grandfather's pocket watch that was actually broken and had 'stopped'.
We had an intense discussion of exactly how our ideas were going to work. We had lots of ideas and had a general idea of how it would all work but when we actually attempted to visualise the final product we realised that maybe as a whole not everything would work.
We want to create our CD packaging as a book with a hardcover and a dust jacket. The hardcover would just be a faded blue colour and made of a canvas material similar to old books we had found. We wanted the pages to follow this old book style (off-white coloring, times-style font, etc) but realsied that our images as they were would perhaps look to conpempory for this style of book.
I toyed around with the idea that maybe this clash of old and new would create an interesting hybrid and could possibly work. I saw Blue Roses in a similar fashion: they were a folk band with a retro/traditional style but they were a modern band and their sound did have a modern sound buried beneath it's traditional roots.
After this we discussed the photo- shoot for tomorrow and exactly what shots we wanted to get and what sort of narrative we wanted to create with our images. In the end we decided that the pages of the book could be a collection of song lyrics with images representing each one. For example, one of the Blue roses songs is about time stopping and for this we could use Lauren's grandfather's pocket watch that was actually broken and had 'stopped'.
Friday, 29 January 2010
Friday 29th January
Yesterday we had our presentation with Mike, John and Ian. Unfortunately we didn't realise the presentation would be as formal as it was so our actual presentation skills left much to be desired.
I think the tutors were overall pleased with our 'Hidden' theme and covering objects in dust. We explained that we wanted our chosen objects to look as though the had been lost. The had once belonged to someone and had now been left to the elements.
Mike commented that some of the images 'worked' whilst others looked that they belonged in a 'nuclear winter' scene! Also we were informed that our images would be more effective if there was a narrative. The way I interperated this was that basically in one image we'd have all of our objects covered in dust and in another we have the same image with something missing, etc.
Overall I was pleased with our feedback from the presentation. Although it was painful presenting due to our poor preparation and having to improvise I believe that listening to the feedback from Mike about what was good/bad was incredibly helpful.
We need to be aware of our poses, what we talk about, visual examples of our inspirations, 'selling our idea' to the audience rather than talking as though we were in a crit, etc.
I think the tutors were overall pleased with our 'Hidden' theme and covering objects in dust. We explained that we wanted our chosen objects to look as though the had been lost. The had once belonged to someone and had now been left to the elements.
Mike commented that some of the images 'worked' whilst others looked that they belonged in a 'nuclear winter' scene! Also we were informed that our images would be more effective if there was a narrative. The way I interperated this was that basically in one image we'd have all of our objects covered in dust and in another we have the same image with something missing, etc.
Overall I was pleased with our feedback from the presentation. Although it was painful presenting due to our poor preparation and having to improvise I believe that listening to the feedback from Mike about what was good/bad was incredibly helpful.
We need to be aware of our poses, what we talk about, visual examples of our inspirations, 'selling our idea' to the audience rather than talking as though we were in a crit, etc.
Thursday, 28 January 2010
Thursday 28th January
With our images we made 2 mock-up CD covers and a poster idea for the presentation in the afternoon.
I am pleased with these initial ideas.
I am pleased with these initial ideas.
Wednesday, 27 January 2010
Wednesday 27th Jan
Team went to the photography studio and set up our props for the shoot.
We really wanted to experiment more with lighting but struggled to achieve exactly what we wanted. Whether or not that was down to not having all the correct equipment for the lighting I'm not sure.
We wanted to have dust floating in beams of light as though the light was shining through a window or door that was ajar. Unfortunately we couldn't achieve this effect. Reg explained that it was due to the density of our 'homemade dust'. It was probably too heavy to float and linger in the air for any period of time.
An idea I also had was to have multiple beams of light shining down/across to create a forest effect. The beams of light would represent the trunks of the trees. Again, we couldn't achieve this effect which I was really disappointed about. Reg explained the lighting wasn't powerful enough. We are going to have another photo-shoot next week and so I am going to bring a torch and see if i can create this light-beam effect with that. Eventually with achieve an effect that suggested a door was open and light was sneaking in and highlighting certain objects/areas of our scene.
From a narrative point of view I saw this as our 'scene' that had been forgotten about for hundreds of years had finally been rediscovered.
I was very pleased with the images we got.
We really wanted to experiment more with lighting but struggled to achieve exactly what we wanted. Whether or not that was down to not having all the correct equipment for the lighting I'm not sure.We wanted to have dust floating in beams of light as though the light was shining through a window or door that was ajar. Unfortunately we couldn't achieve this effect. Reg explained that it was due to the density of our 'homemade dust'. It was probably too heavy to float and linger in the air for any period of time.
An idea I also had was to have multiple beams of light shining down/across to create a forest effect. The beams of light would represent the trunks of the trees. Again, we couldn't achieve this effect which I was really disappointed about. Reg explained the lighting wasn't powerful enough. We are going to have another photo-shoot next week and so I am going to bring a torch and see if i can create this light-beam effect with that. Eventually with achieve an effect that suggested a door was open and light was sneaking in and highlighting certain objects/areas of our scene.From a narrative point of view I saw this as our 'scene' that had been forgotten about for hundreds of years had finally been rediscovered.
I was very pleased with the images we got.
Monday, 25 January 2010
Monday 25th Jan
Met with the team today and we all exchanged ideas that we had generated over the weekend based on our chosen theme: Secrets.
I had example of people camouflaged against walls covered in decorative paint and thought that this would be a very creative and fun and varied path to explore. Although it could prove to be difficult to execute if we used actual people against walls.
Jade brought in little boxes and trinkets/lockets, etc and explained that secrets things could be kept inside.
Sarah brought in various images of vintage wallpapers which would work well with my camouflaged idea.
Lauren had watched the 1993 film The Secret Garden and she showed the team a scene from the film where the lead character wanders around a grand, old and unfamiliar house exploring forgotten rooms where the furniture had been covered with blankets and dust. The little girl snoops into drawers and finds a large key (which turns out to the key to the Secret Garden).
From watching this scene I came about the idea of having dust covering various objects such as Jades little boxes, lockets, etc. I thought this was a variation of the camouflage idea and would represent something that had been locked away and forgotten about like a secret. I thought dust would create rather dark imagery and mystery and perhaps even a sense of magic? The pictured lots of gray and black with dust lingering in the air.
We talked about having a dressing table covered in various items and all covered in dust: mirror, lockets, diary, boxes, tins - keeping it into the theme of 'secrets' where things can be stired safely or hidden. The mirror would be more metaphorical as it witnesses many things, for example. We could perhaps have some sort of imagery created from a reflection.
After our discussion we ventured into town and bought various items for our theme as well as flour and charcoal to create our dust. I suggested we used the dust from my vacuum cleaner but the girls weren't too keen on this idea!
We returned to Uni and proceeded to create a quick mock-up scene of a table top (or some wooden surface) with our items sitting on and have it all covered in our 'dust'.
I had example of people camouflaged against walls covered in decorative paint and thought that this would be a very creative and fun and varied path to explore. Although it could prove to be difficult to execute if we used actual people against walls.
Jade brought in little boxes and trinkets/lockets, etc and explained that secrets things could be kept inside.
Sarah brought in various images of vintage wallpapers which would work well with my camouflaged idea.
Lauren had watched the 1993 film The Secret Garden and she showed the team a scene from the film where the lead character wanders around a grand, old and unfamiliar house exploring forgotten rooms where the furniture had been covered with blankets and dust. The little girl snoops into drawers and finds a large key (which turns out to the key to the Secret Garden).
From watching this scene I came about the idea of having dust covering various objects such as Jades little boxes, lockets, etc. I thought this was a variation of the camouflage idea and would represent something that had been locked away and forgotten about like a secret. I thought dust would create rather dark imagery and mystery and perhaps even a sense of magic? The pictured lots of gray and black with dust lingering in the air.
We talked about having a dressing table covered in various items and all covered in dust: mirror, lockets, diary, boxes, tins - keeping it into the theme of 'secrets' where things can be stired safely or hidden. The mirror would be more metaphorical as it witnesses many things, for example. We could perhaps have some sort of imagery created from a reflection.
After our discussion we ventured into town and bought various items for our theme as well as flour and charcoal to create our dust. I suggested we used the dust from my vacuum cleaner but the girls weren't too keen on this idea!
We returned to Uni and proceeded to create a quick mock-up scene of a table top (or some wooden surface) with our items sitting on and have it all covered in our 'dust'.
Friday, 22 January 2010
Friday 22nd Jan
I've just come back from Berlin and I met the group to discuss where things were up to. They explained that they had a meeting with Ian and he bashed their idea for 'forest/trees' images which I was a bit confused about as I was sure that a week earlier we had already ditched having trees.
Anyway, Lauren explained that we needed to have a theme and based on what we already know about Laura Groves and the Blue Roses Lauren, Jade and Sarah decided that we should have 'secrets' as our theme which I was happy with.
My initial ideas/thoughts based on Secrecy were: things that we hidden, skin deep, white lies, near surface, childhood things,
Lauren mentioned the film The Secret Garden. I haven't seen it but I intend to. I thought of the Lion, the witch and the Wardrobe which although isn't primarily about secrets i just liked the idea of having something secret that you find as a child and it opens up this magical place that only you and your friends know about.
Also, I recall the film 'In the Mood for Love' where the film ends in Cambodia and the lead character Chow is seen visiting the Angkor Wat. He whispers several years worth of secrets into a hole in a wall, before plugging the hole with mud - a method he states a secret can be kept, whilst once dining with a friend in Singapore.
\
The film is also full of sublime imagery and is gorgeous to watch and is also quite quirky in places.
I found the trailer for the film:
Anyway, Lauren explained that we needed to have a theme and based on what we already know about Laura Groves and the Blue Roses Lauren, Jade and Sarah decided that we should have 'secrets' as our theme which I was happy with.
My initial ideas/thoughts based on Secrecy were: things that we hidden, skin deep, white lies, near surface, childhood things,
Lauren mentioned the film The Secret Garden. I haven't seen it but I intend to. I thought of the Lion, the witch and the Wardrobe which although isn't primarily about secrets i just liked the idea of having something secret that you find as a child and it opens up this magical place that only you and your friends know about.
Also, I recall the film 'In the Mood for Love' where the film ends in Cambodia and the lead character Chow is seen visiting the Angkor Wat. He whispers several years worth of secrets into a hole in a wall, before plugging the hole with mud - a method he states a secret can be kept, whilst once dining with a friend in Singapore.
\
The film is also full of sublime imagery and is gorgeous to watch and is also quite quirky in places.
I found the trailer for the film:
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