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Dissertation Proposal

BCU Visual Communication Contextual Studies

VIS5027 Identifying Direction

Dissertation Proposal

 1. Working Title

Does a GIF hold artistic value?

2. Dissertation Proposal [1000 words]

Within this essay will be a look at the GIF format, how it became so popular within today's culture and whether you could class a GIF as having aesthetic value. Since the 1990s artists have used the internet as a platform to upload, publish and share their art work to a multitude of people at the click of a button but has this diluted the value of the ‘art’ these people are creating, this is what this essay hopes to research thus reaching an understanding of this fad.  

The graphics interchange format most commonly known as a GIF, was introduced to the world in 1987.The GIF was perfect for running image transfers compatible with the slow internet connection at the time. It was also popular because it allowed colour which made the black and white encoding format RLE outdated. In 1998, the GIF format was opened to the public starting the craze that has developed massively over the past couple of decades.

 GIFs have gone through many different stages of popularity, style and usage. In the late 1990s the GIF was mostly used for adverts for big companies, they were usually used for many different graphical contexts and so the background was mostly transparent with classic animation just like the GIF on the old apple website (fig 1). The style of GIF suddenly changed with the birth of Myspace (fig 2). A craze of similar websites started up because all the younger generation wanted to personalise their own websites with these bold, flashing GIFs. The abundance of these glittery monstrosities allowed people to have whatever they felt like on their websites, making this fad the most important thing for kids in beginning of the 21st century. However more recently the most popular GIFs are those made from TV clips, funny YouTube videos and internet art. The beginning of Tumblr and other similar blog creation websites brought around this craze of these looped sequences made from captures of moves for example a clip from the new film Zootopia (fig 3) has become very popular in such a short amount of time. The ease of sending GIFs to people via iPhone and Facebook message has also even started to promote people communicating using GIFs. Although this craze just seems like a bit of fun, what can we really get from looking GIFs? Do they hold artistic value or are they all just for a laugh or to relive a certain moment from a film?

 Art and beauty are two concepts in our society that has an impact on our emotions, health and even to help broaden our minds. It makes us think of concepts that we wouldn’t usually be able to think about, for example Impact of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a book by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) changed the way we think about slavery because she portrayed slaves as people with aspirations and desires just like everyone else and not just a piece of meat to be bought and sold. Watching a certain film could make you change your view on life, or even influence you to change your lifestyle. However, would you say that a GIF could change your life? Philip Intile (also known as pi-slices) would argue that yes, a GIF can change your life. Philip Intile is the founder of the GIF Artist Collective creating moving pictures that loop endlessly on and on for Tumblr, Imgur, Reddit and many more. The GIFs that he makes (fig 4) are becoming increasingly popular for how simple they are and this leads you to believe that people are considering GIFs artistically valuable.

 The branch of Philosophy that concerns itself with art and beauty is called Aesthetics. It started in the eighteen century and although a lot has changed since then a lot of the work by philosophers is still relevant today. David Hume (1711-1776) stated that taste in art may be relative to the individual but overall, it is not random for example a GIF may be liked and enjoyed by many people but that doesn’t mean that it holds artistic value. People can judge how much a piece of art is worth; otherwise we would have no system put in place to determine how important some art is compared to others. For example, Van Gogh’s art work is more valuable than a drawing done by a child, why is this and how can we tell? David Hume’s theory on art and value is that there is the ideal critic who can judge art on a non-biased and educated view point. It is a wonder what David Hume and his ideal critic would say about modern day gifs and within this dissertation I am to understand what it is he would say on the subject.

 Another view on Aesthetics and the value of art comes from Hugo A. Meynell. He believes that there is an objective standard within art; ‘the goodness of a work of art is in the impact on the consumer and not within its concept or use’ i.e art is not like a fork or spoon, an object you can determine how useful it is by just looking at it. You need to experience art, the objective nature of its beauty does not live in the object, but the impact it has on its viewer, reader or listener. From this view point I believe many people would determine that a GIF does hold artistic value as many people feel gifs evoke an emotional response in the viewer.

 Many internet artists would also argue that Gifs are a wonderful creation and hold just as much artistic value as a film or a piece of art in a gallery. Robin Davey, an illustrator and animator states ‘for me it’s a supplemental skill to my career in illustration and animation, with that said gifs have been hugely valuable in populating my work and getting my name out there’. This statement is quite useful within this dissertation as it shows how gifs are useful in the world of illustration and animation. The research that will be conducted for this dissertation will include an interview with an internet artist who makes many gifs to have a look at those who make them, as well as producing surveys for the audience to tell us how useful and artistically valuable the public think they are.

 The combination of knowledge from philosophers like David Hume with the opinions of internet artists and bloggers alike will help to bring some reasoning to this question of Gifs and their artistic Value. Is this just a craze or is there something more hiding behind the endless loops of The graphics interchange format?

fig. 1

fig. 2

fig. 3

fig. 4

3. Reference List 

Art & Education. (2017). The Affect of Animated GIFs (Tom Moody, Petra Cortright, Lorna Mills) | Art & Education. [online] Available at: http://www.artandeducation.net/paper/the-affect-of-animated-gifs-tom-moody-petra-cortright-lorna-mills/ [Accessed 22 May 2017].

 CARPENTER, J. (2017). Can GIFs be considered legitimate art?. [online] Stuff. Available at: http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/70413738/can-gifs-be-considered-legitimate-art [Accessed 22 May 2017].

 Carpenter, J. and Carpenter, J. (2017). Meet the artists turning GIFs into legitimate careers. [online] Washington Post. Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2015/07/20/meet-the-artists-turning-gifs-into-legitimate-careers/?utm_term=.a1fd5d8a782b [Accessed 22 May 2017].

 McGorrigan, B. (2017). Objective aesthetic values in art. 1st ed. University of Nottingham.

 Philosophynow.org. (2017). What is Art? and/or What is Beauty? | Issue 108 | Philosophy Now. [online] Available at: https://philosophynow.org/issues/108/What_is_Art_and_or_What_is_Beauty [Accessed 22 May 2017].

 Snyder, S. (2017). Summary: David Hume, "Of the Standard of Taste". [online] Academia.edu. Available at: http://www.academia.edu/3018449/Summary_David_Hume_Of_the_Standard_of_Taste_ [Accessed 22 May 2017].

 Web.mnstate.edu. (2017). David Hume on the standard of taste - basic outline. [online] Available at: http://web.mnstate.edu/gracyk/courses/web%20publishing/Hume%20on%20the%20standard%20of%20taste-LectureNotes.htm [Accessed 22 May 2017].

 Willette, J. (2017). Kant and Art for Art’s Sake. [online] Arthistoryunstuffed.com. Available at: http://arthistoryunstuffed.com/kant-art-for-arts-sake/ [Accessed 22 May 2017].

 4. List of Images

 ali0044 (2017). Gif of what apples website looked like in 1990. [image] Available at: https://appadvice.com/post/gif-apples-website-late-1990s/727581 [Accessed 22 May 2017].

 CompuServe (1989). a rotating globe in gif format. [image] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIF [Accessed 22 May 2017].

 DISNEY ZOOTOPIA GIF. (2017). [image] Available at: https://giphy.com/gifs/3NtY188QaxDdC [Accessed 22 May 2017].

 pi-slices (2017). trippy abatract sunflower. [image] Available at: https://giphy.com/gifs/trippy-abstract-3ohzdOtBjFE3JwFBHG [Accessed 22 May 2017].

 5. Chapter Structure

 ·         Introduction

-introduce my subject and aims

          History of a GIF

-section surrounding the history of a GIF, how it got to be so popular

-look at the beginning where it wasn’t allowed within the public domain

-look at the 21st century,, the starting point really.

-how gifs are affecting us now, using them almost instinctively.

 ·         From a Philosophical view point

-David Hume and his idea on the ideal critic and what he would say about gifs

-Kants idea on concept; it holds no artistic value.

-Hugo’s idea it is the audience that gives it meaning

 ·         What do internet artists have to say?

-my primary research interview with an internet artist

-my results from surveys

-what internet artists must say about gifs

 ·         Conclusion

-come to a rational conclusion based on all the data gathered.

 6. Reading List

Belloc, H. (1967). On. Freeport, N.Y.: Books for Libraries Press.

Berleant, A. and Carlson, A. (2007). The aesthetics of human environments. Peterborough, Ont.: Broadview Press.

Carlson, A. and Berleant, A. (2004). The aesthetics of natural environments. Peterborough ON: Broadview Press.

Gracyk, T. (n.d.). The Philosophy of Art.

Guter, E. (2010). Aesthetics A-Z. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Nanay, B. (n.d.). Aesthetics as philosophy of perception.

Sheppard, A. (2009). Aesthetics. Oxford [Oxfordshire]: Oxford University Press.

Soderholm, J. (1997). Beauty and the critic. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press.

Stecker, R. and Gracyk, T. (2010). Aesthetics today. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

Townsend, D. (2005). Hume's aesthetic theory. London: Routledge.

Townsend, D. (n.d.). Hume's aesthetic theory.

 7. Primary Research

The Gif Collective

-message the gif collective and ask for an interview

-ask them to put a survey up on their Tumblr asking questions about my dissertation title; do you think a gif is a work of art? Does a gif create an emotional response in you?

Famous Gif Artist (Maybe Robin Davey)

-interview him on the importance of Gifs and how they have changed your life

 Survey for The Public

-send out surveys to the public asking them similar questions to the survey sent out to the followers on the Gif Collective.

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Small Evaluation

I wanted this project to be very open to allow my creative process to grow in a more natural way. I think I would rather become a free-lance illustrator since I work better when I can create whatever I want to. Thus picking a few small briefs to kick start my creativity, exploring the projects in any way I wanted to.

I decided to do 4 brief but unfortunately I only got around to completing 2; the tote bag brief (which i changed from a farm shop tote bag to a tote bag made for the Botanical Gardens.) and creating my own shop which I have called Oddments (which I did replacing the Comoyoko brief).

The majority of my project was spent on the tarot card brief which eventually evolved way beyond what I had imagined it would. My tarot card sketches became 3D models of 2 of the characters, the devil and the empress. I really enjoyed this brief even though I didn't have an official final product to the brief however I have learnt a lot within the project and have developed many different successful experiments (shown below) 

Riso that I printed after the riso workshop, I drew the different layers and printed in just 2 colours on yellow paper. I really like this experiment and could end up doing a whole series of these. 

3D tarot characters that I created with cardboard, glue and paint. I wanted to turn these into the tarot designs however they work better as images. Maybe in the future I could turn these into a book with the small story that I wrote. 

If I had more time on this project I would have like to experiment more with my tarot card images as well as doing more research before doing my tote card brief, as i think that would have helped me a lot. I think over the summer I am going to go back to one of my old projects from year one of university. In this project we had to create our own world and i remember at the end of the project I was very sad because I felt like I had to finish it and move onto the next thing. Gareth made me realise that you should continue with the projects that inspire you, so there is no point in closing the door on that project. Hopefully over the summer this project will help me develop for my final year. 

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Here are some screenshots of my website design, I wanted to incorporate a few different elements like the banner I chose and the little doodle sketch. I think my chosen name ODDMENTS is good because I will be selling lots of different things on this shop (whatever picks my fancy to make) so oddments covers a wide range of bits and bobs. I also tried a phone version since phones are so important in today's fast pasted lifestyle people are more likely to shop and order things online off their phone.

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Quick idea for a website banner, just playing around with photoshop and scanned in doodles.

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Idea for the website banner, I really like this image however I prefer it more greyed out, with just the colour showing on the cheeks and mouth.

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Small experiments with type and my scanned in illustrations.

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I drew this little guy by looking at one of my toy bunnies and without looking at the page try to draw it. I really like how it turned out; it was supposed to be just a little doodle but I think it would work really well with all the stuff I have been doing on ODDMENTS.

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Here are a few of the first sketches and doodles of ideas when thinking about My online shop. I found it so hard to come up with a name, nearly every single idea I came up with was already taken and I'm not sure about the copyright when using the same name as someone.

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Oddments type idea; using clay to create type.

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Oddments type idea; using clay to create type.

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Oddments type idea; using clay to create type.

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Oddments type idea; using clay to create type.

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I decided to try and do some typography work for my online shop idea. I did some similar work last year for a personal diary project. I used clay to form the letters and then took pictures of them. I attempted to photograph them on black fur to get an interesting effect however the fur just turned out black with no texture. I still think they work tho as an typography experiment.

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Photos I took for the type/clay experiment

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CLAY WORKSHOP

After attending one session with Gareth for the Risograph workshop (where the riso machine broke with no chance of repair) I decided to join a clay workshop as well. Since I was thinking of selling my own clay creations on my online website I thought that it would be in my best interest to get some better knowledge on the subject of clay and how to use it properly. These are the types of things I am making at the moment; 

The workshop was actually really helpful. I learnt how to pull a handle for a mug by making a sausage shape and then, with wet hands hold it at the top and then pull it down with the other. I also got to have a chance at throwing on the wheel. I’ve always wanted to do this however to actually buy a wheel it costs crazy amounts of money. I manged to throw a a cup/mug on the wheel however it was very out of proportion and when I tried to take it off and had to chuck it. 

Im really glad I decided to do this however at the end of the workshop we were told we actually had to pay for the clay however at the start we were told it was going to be free because it is for the fine art students. I think this is seriously unfair, illustration students should be just as welcome in the clay room. Imagine if we told the fine artists they they were not allowed to use Illustration and Photoshop in the mac rooms? so I hope I can get some of my own clay cheaper than what the university were offering. 

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The Empress! I made the little tarot doll a box scene to live in and photograph, it was so fun making this, cutting out the different bits of wheat and the stars in the background. It was also really satisfying taking the pictures and trying to make it look like night time with the light and dark. I also used spotlights to try and force a shadow into the background as well as enhance the glitter in the background. I think these images turned out better than the ones I did of the devil. I think this because there is more colour in this image whereas the devil is mostly red and black, not easy to photograph.

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The devil! These are my final images for the devil. It was tricky trying to take images for this because I wanted it to look like night time and quite shadowy and sinister looking. A few of the images are slightly out of focus and I only noticed after taking them all which is a shame. It was really fun making the set for the devil, adding the bats in the background as well as giving him a pair of wings to make it look more like the original drawing. I am very happy with how these turned out all in all; I look forward to doing more stuff like this in the future for my next project.