Friday, 29 May 2009
Been working on the idea for the 'hereditory language' video, which focuses uponn the beginning 'beauty' section. I want to show the idea of beauty in it's modern and newer version, as a result I have decided upon this idea that involves the manipulation of 40s pin-ups into their better versions. These retro versions of perfected femininity however beautiful and outerworldly their features now fail to live up to the idea of modern beauty. Bearing this in mind, I am asking how could they be improved today? picturing the pin-ups getting plastic surgery and suffering body anxiety. Because in many ways this is what pin-ups of every generation represent to their appropriate audience. (according to rosalin coward's theory on the look)
These lectures by Jean Kilbourne are really interesting. In my video I intended to look at the passing down of beauty ideals, but perhaps in a way I should find a way to critique their changing. One point that Kilbourne brought up that was shocking to me was that only 5% of women have the natural body type that is portrayed in the media, leaving the other 95% as the target market. Basically the media fail to represent these statistics.
Secondly, 2o years ago the body type portrayed in the media weighed 8% less than the average woman, now it is 23% less. Exactly as Kilbourne said, Marilyn Monroe would be considered 'fat' by today's media.
planning for next animation
I decided to use this audio track by Les Levine called 'Hereditory Language'.
Here's the blurb from ubu.com
"You're probably going to tall off your chair and think that this is a ridiculous position," says Les Levine in his most casual voice, "but I do think that I'm part of the history of Irish literature I very much feel that my ancestors are James Joyce and Brendan Behan and those kinds of people." The statement is not so tar-fetched as if might seem. Levine - who was, after all, born in Dublin in 1935 - from Irish Catholic mother and a Jewish father - who worked as a cabinet maker - is known pre-eminently as a visual artist. But his billboards, photographs, posters, paintings and videos have always involved to some extent what he refers to as "an investigation of language" apparent to the casual observer in the presence of printed words is those works. The nexus of words and visual images sometimes give his creations the look of advertisements - indeed, his subway poster picturing an Oriental couple with the readout WE ARE NOT AFRAID could have been a teaser for a forthcoming film that never, in fact, existed.
Back in 1969, Levine began calling himself a "media sculptor," perhaps the first artist to use that terminology to imply that the media themselves had become a medium that could be worked with like metal or wood. "My work is primarily about media," he says now, "which I see as an extension of the body, a farm of extraterrestrial biology." Recognizing that "media is a real generator of major illnesses," he has used same of the tools of media to present alternative ways of thinking about information. "I'm one of those people," says Levine, "who's naive enough to believe that the world actually has been changed by art."
With his work for this record, he is "showing how kids respond to certain kinds of information. The piece is about the state your mind is in when you're a child and how that's affected by the kind of adult mind that's around you." The track concerns the way language is transmitted to the young and operates as a model in their lives, "the way kids become receptacles far information, and the kinds of expectations it creates and the levels of disappointment it generates."
I like the idea of how information if passed down through generations. And also the idea that this sometimes can be detrimental by instilling certain ideals within the young, such as beauty ideals, which whilst these change with the fashions and times, the specific ideal created, generation after generation, remains as rigid as ever. As a self perpetuating cycle the focus on beauty remains constant and contradictions of such remain on the fringe.
Here's the blurb from ubu.com
"You're probably going to tall off your chair and think that this is a ridiculous position," says Les Levine in his most casual voice, "but I do think that I'm part of the history of Irish literature I very much feel that my ancestors are James Joyce and Brendan Behan and those kinds of people." The statement is not so tar-fetched as if might seem. Levine - who was, after all, born in Dublin in 1935 - from Irish Catholic mother and a Jewish father - who worked as a cabinet maker - is known pre-eminently as a visual artist. But his billboards, photographs, posters, paintings and videos have always involved to some extent what he refers to as "an investigation of language" apparent to the casual observer in the presence of printed words is those works. The nexus of words and visual images sometimes give his creations the look of advertisements - indeed, his subway poster picturing an Oriental couple with the readout WE ARE NOT AFRAID could have been a teaser for a forthcoming film that never, in fact, existed.
Back in 1969, Levine began calling himself a "media sculptor," perhaps the first artist to use that terminology to imply that the media themselves had become a medium that could be worked with like metal or wood. "My work is primarily about media," he says now, "which I see as an extension of the body, a farm of extraterrestrial biology." Recognizing that "media is a real generator of major illnesses," he has used same of the tools of media to present alternative ways of thinking about information. "I'm one of those people," says Levine, "who's naive enough to believe that the world actually has been changed by art."
With his work for this record, he is "showing how kids respond to certain kinds of information. The piece is about the state your mind is in when you're a child and how that's affected by the kind of adult mind that's around you." The track concerns the way language is transmitted to the young and operates as a model in their lives, "the way kids become receptacles far information, and the kinds of expectations it creates and the levels of disappointment it generates."
I like the idea of how information if passed down through generations. And also the idea that this sometimes can be detrimental by instilling certain ideals within the young, such as beauty ideals, which whilst these change with the fashions and times, the specific ideal created, generation after generation, remains as rigid as ever. As a self perpetuating cycle the focus on beauty remains constant and contradictions of such remain on the fringe.
Friday, 15 May 2009
update
Untitled from eleanor woodburn on Vimeo.
I was worried about how the vector hands would work out, but I think it looks nice and with a bit of manipulation seems to flow ok too.
Untitled from eleanor woodburn on Vimeo.
All the work so far!
Thursday, 14 May 2009
I like the slightly grainy look to it as well, which could be recreated by using a hand video cam and also printing the frames. Using more processes will degrade the quality increasingly.
Research for 'flow of consciousness film'
For this, I want to use the narration as a kind of 'inner thought' whilst the visuals show the everyday and perhaps certain texts that span the inner and the outer.
I really like the aged, black / white super 8mm aesthetic. And the look of drawing on film.
This film by Eric Andersen gives an idea of this aesthetic at it's most basic.
Wednesday, 6 May 2009
phew
example of 'look' of the video. thank god it seems to be working out right!
Untitled from eleanor woodburn on Vimeo.
example of 'look' of the video. thank god it seems to be working out right!
Tuesday, 5 May 2009
styles
Been trying to experiment with the style of my animation by taking influence from various other sources.
These are some of my experiments so far:
This is a shot from a little tester video I put together. I used a graph background and inverted the stars film, when put together the effect is that it looks really handmade and the black stars look like little splodges of ink on a page, which I think it quite neat.
This look was inspired from the Adrian Tomine 'shortcomings' book cover. This is very graphic and completely different from the traditional / diy look i have been going for so far. But as something totally contradictory to what I have been doing I really like it, and because it is so different I think I would be able to style all the other scenes accordingly, rather than using images from what I have already done.
I would like to test the background colour for this, I would keep most of the images black and white and perhaps have the background colour changing constantly.
This has similarities to th previous idea. This idea was taken from certain comic books and also aiplane safety cards, hence the frame, which I actually think adds a nice touch to the images in containing them in some way.
I would however like to add a little colour to this but I am unsure as to how it could be done.
Using parts of the work I have already done I have experimented with printing the images out onto different papers. I quite like this look, I think that the lower opacity would make the globe seem flatter.
More paper experiments. I tried to see what the images would be like on aged paper to try give all the shots some consistency, but for me I don't think it works, in terms of image and in terms of the actual song I am using.
I have tried to desaturate the colour from the images I already had then digitally adding them in. I quite like the dotted background but it reminds me too much of the transparent background on photoshop too much!
This is where i desaturated the image and coloured it in by hand which I think loks better than the digital version.
These are some of my experiments so far:
This is a shot from a little tester video I put together. I used a graph background and inverted the stars film, when put together the effect is that it looks really handmade and the black stars look like little splodges of ink on a page, which I think it quite neat.
This look was inspired from the Adrian Tomine 'shortcomings' book cover. This is very graphic and completely different from the traditional / diy look i have been going for so far. But as something totally contradictory to what I have been doing I really like it, and because it is so different I think I would be able to style all the other scenes accordingly, rather than using images from what I have already done.
I would like to test the background colour for this, I would keep most of the images black and white and perhaps have the background colour changing constantly.
This has similarities to th previous idea. This idea was taken from certain comic books and also aiplane safety cards, hence the frame, which I actually think adds a nice touch to the images in containing them in some way.
I would however like to add a little colour to this but I am unsure as to how it could be done.
Using parts of the work I have already done I have experimented with printing the images out onto different papers. I quite like this look, I think that the lower opacity would make the globe seem flatter.
More paper experiments. I tried to see what the images would be like on aged paper to try give all the shots some consistency, but for me I don't think it works, in terms of image and in terms of the actual song I am using.
I have tried to desaturate the colour from the images I already had then digitally adding them in. I quite like the dotted background but it reminds me too much of the transparent background on photoshop too much!
This is where i desaturated the image and coloured it in by hand which I think loks better than the digital version.
Friday, 1 May 2009
mp3s
Looking for an audio track as the base for an animation, I have been rigorously searching ubu.com for a couple that grab my attention.
So far I like this track entitled 'i really should' by Kelly Mark, it is a long running stream of consciousness that explores the idea of 'i really should' one thing is reeled off one after the other, ideas that probably most people identify with.
And this track by Martha Rosier entitled 'whats your name little girl?' which explores the idea of names and what they have come to mean in relation to their history and origins.
So far I like this track entitled 'i really should' by Kelly Mark, it is a long running stream of consciousness that explores the idea of 'i really should' one thing is reeled off one after the other, ideas that probably most people identify with.
And this track by Martha Rosier entitled 'whats your name little girl?' which explores the idea of names and what they have come to mean in relation to their history and origins.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
