jdaymajortwo2021

[jdaymajortwo2021]

Reflective Statement

In reflection of my final piece ’Living Is Agony, Dying Is Agony’, I have come to the conclusion that this has been the most exciting but also terrifying experience, creating this film. Every time I show it to a friend, a group tutorial or a one to one, my heart rate skyrockets, then, a rush of satisfaction comes in when the film ends, and the spectator either loves it or hates it. I would prefer  to cause a stir.   

Aesthetically, the ‘abject’ has been a constant point of reference for me throughout this project. Spectators and people will have various degrees of how much abjection they can take - which is why I do not care for the spectator because as soon as I dilute it to meet one person’s threshold - for another person that is too much. Poor images reframed onto mini dv has allowed me to play with focus and frame, dictating the gaze of the spectator, while crushing the resolution. 

Visual references include Dogme 95 movement; (Lars Von Trier, Harmony Korine) ‘Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom’ (1975), ‘ The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ (1974), ‘Slaughtered Vomit Dolls’ (2006) all influenced my piece. Installation artists such as Do Ho Suh and Ibriahim Mahama for their use of fabric. Kristeva' ‘The Powers Of Horror:An Essay On Abjection’, ‘Inventing Right and Wrong’ (1977) J.L Mackie, and ‘The Holy Bible’ :Genesis’ have theoretically underpinned this project. ���Genesis’ allowed me to extract the idea of ‘sin’ and thus the seven sins as a structural device. Kristeva's theory took me further to understand abjection, and readings on morality helped me realise that our society is one of privilege. 

To escape evil, all we have to do is reach for the TV remote and turn off the news. I feel this is why I do not care for the audience, as my audience is middle-class England. The least we could do is peek through at what is really happening outside our ‘castle walls’ - and if not, remain shielded from it - by the fabric cover within the installation.         

Technically, this piece was demanding. The soundscape was built upon layers of audio and effect processing. It was my first time using a mini DV camera, and I had to install a capture card. I went beyond the normal route of using archive footage as I refilmed the clips myself, letting my gaze imprint onto the images and thus constructing the frame for the spectator.   

Overall, I am satisfied with my piece/installation. My practice has slowly become more morbid as I have progressed through university, and I feel only now I am achieving my artistic aims. I want to open a slit into the darkest activities of humankind, interwoven with how this is reflected in nature, and thus into every single one of us. I want the spectator to leave feeling disgusted, but conflicted. If a spectator doesn’t make it through the film, rejects the film, and walks away - that is part of the piece, and my statement.  

[jdaymajortwo2021]

P10 Final Piece - Living Is Agony, Dying Is Agony

[jdaymajortwo2021]

Visual Language created through multiple clips

The blurred image of the Komodo dragon head. 

The blurred image of the Gay man masturbating. 

The blurred image of the head of a Deer being eaten alive. 

These three clips have all been sequenced next to each other and it cuts in the order that I have listed them here. Each frame aligns when the last one finishes however a further visual language is created as it could be perceived the gay man is pleasuring himself while looking at this footage of the deer being eaten by the Komodo Dragon. 

I have done this several times throughout the project with various clips sequenced so they align with movement, framing, context and figure. 

This creates a deep visual language within the film which ties the footage together to reinforce the conceptual framework that the ‘natural evil’ is within everything, it may come across as ‘random clips’ but they are deeply interwoven and the order to them is vital for the concept to work. 

[jdaymajortwo2021]

Soundscape Overview / Effects Processing

For the soundscape I have tidied each individual part of audio with a fade in and out - some are too small to see from the overview but each part of audio has one as part of my feedback was there was small ‘blips’ in the audio. This should have smoothed those out now. 

Going into more detail about each section of audio, at the end I have added a train sound to give the spectator a hint to what they’re seeing on screen as the image quality is poor - it becomes abstract. This is sort of why I have placed that clip last as it is one of the poorest images and yet the more I look at it - the more it’s quite hypnotising.  I like playing with that audio/visual experience and adding in the non diegetic sounds of diegetic objects within frame I feel helps the spectator to put themselves into that frame a little more than just seeing the image without.

You may also notice some ‘dubstep’ type sounds which I have created through multiple delay passes - and reversing and slowing down the audio from some clips. 

Here is an overview of the effects processing I have done to some sounds to achieve that: 

   The idea is to have multiple delays of the same sound to achieve quite a ‘washy’ sound, and this is the sound just delayed and sent through feedback of each delay which builds up. 

I also added a lowpass filter to the sound so only frequencies of below 900Hz would pass through. Achieving a thicker bass sound - which helps the spectator to feel it in their stomach/heads when played through loud speakers/high quality headphones. 

[jdaymajortwo2021]

Cost of the installation / Use of Plinths

For my installation I would budget at least £150 - £200 for the installation, if I were not doing it at a uni space as I would prefer to buy plinths/buy wood to create them and then buy enough fabric to cover the duration of the installation and then rent high quality headphones and a good projector. . 

If I were doing it at uni, the cost would be much lower. As I could rent out the close range projector for free, and have access to headphones and walls for free. 

I would like to produce a massive picture (and not requiring the projector to be far away, hence the use of the close range projector) onto a big blank wall - as we have lots of big white walls on the second level of Edward street. 

The projector could be hidden by the bottom of the hanging fabric, which would hang from plinths that I would set up a few feet away from the projection. 

I could also hide all the cabling at the bottom of the fabric since the spectators won’t be looking at that area. 

The use of plinths to hang the fabric I think is quite essential and plays into the concept framework of the piece as plinths have been used for religious sculpture to place a figure of knowledge, spectacle or importance. 

I could also make a plinth into a more monolith design as this would draw associations to Kubrick’s 2001 A Space Odyssey, as a monument of knowledge/evolution/god. 

I feel this fits as the ‘evil’ of nature and our reality is so overwhelming - you cannot possibly grasp it fully, and I am only offer a small slice of it.  This could represent how vast and unimaginable the scale is of evil.

[jdaymajortwo2021]

Exhibition Test with Fabric

Tonight I managed to create a mini test version of the installation with some fabric to give an idea of what the experience would be like. Ideally I would have liked to actually built it in the studio but due to the current restrictions I am not really going into uni. 

However I was able to find some semi transparent material and I used my iPad in a dark room to illuminate through the material. I made slits with a knife and start to rip them a little wider and peak through into the screen. 

The blur that the material gives the screen is quite interesting as without the music even the home footage of the children looks quite obscure and daunting.  

I like how it forms a psychical shield between the screen and the spectator, and the spectator must become involved with the piece to experience it. 

I had my roommate peak through and rip the fabric to see what it was like and it worked quite well. It would be nice to do a proper built version once the restrictions become more relaxed. 

[jdaymajortwo2021]

Slashing the fabric - link to the slasher genre

When thinking about the slashing of the fabric, the slits I would make for the spectators would somewhat link back to the slasher genre, with films like Halloween, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and even Psycho. 

All of which feature violence against women. So I feel this further enforces my choice of material and the initial slashes I would make in the fabric for the spectator to rip further or peak through. 

[jdaymajortwo2021]

Fabric choice - Women’s polyester

The material I would use would be this dark grey semi transparent, polyester. This would be easy enough to rip, with some small slits already made by myself to give the spectator a start point. 

It is also dark enough that the screen would be obscured to my liking - I think white would be too clean looking for this and black would be too dark - so this grey is a nice medium. 

It’s also interesting to note that this material is often used for women’s clothing - dresses, skirts, evening wear. I feel this fits somewhat into the project, as evening wear is quite formal but as clothing it hides the female body, and to rip through that in a violent act, creates the spectator to be ripping through and exposing themselves to ‘sin’. I feel this represents a shield but also the act of peaking through it is somewhat in line with the voyeuristic camera movement.  

[jdaymajortwo2021]

Artist Research - Do Ho Suh

As I’m thinking of semi-transparent fabric for my installation Do Ho Suh’s work stood out to me when researching. 

I love how we creates these intricate designs using fabric. It creates a level of exposure within his work as you are able to see right into his houses, and even through them completely. 

I think I semi transparent fabric would be ideal for my installation as I’d like the spectator to see the colour, having it blurred so when/if they do peak through, they see it in a much shaper and lurid detail. 

I think having the fabric placed at a few feet away from the screen would help obscure the image even more. 

Do Ho Suh work also engages the spectator through their senses. I remember reading about his work and how he uses sensory information to his advantage.  Perhaps the ripping of the fabric - that act - would that effect the spectator? 

[jdaymajortwo2021]

Artist research - IBRAHIM MAHAMA (fabrics/materials)

https://nataal.com/ibrahim-mahama 

Ibrahim Mahama is an artist who works closely with fabrics on a large scale. 

I love how his fabrics cloak buildings, hiding away some of the mundanity, creating a big curtain like effect on a whole building. The excessive of the fabric that droops over is quite spectacular. 

https://www.irenebrination.com/irenebrination_notes_on_a/2019/04/ibrahim-mahama-porta-venezia.html 

This article goes into a lot of depth of how these jute-sacks represent the labour, exploitation, and export of Ghanaian goods. He typically places his work over entries to a city - where the markets and trade would come in through to further highlight this.  

I love how big scale his work is, as it confronts the spectator to really notice it and also take it in. The material here plays a pollical role for Mahama, and this is something to think about with my work.  

[jdaymajortwo2021]

Artists Research - Installations that use fabric

http://www.gallery1957.com/artists/serge-attukwei-clottey/ 

Serge Attukwei Clottey is a Ghanaian artist whose practice heavily focuses on the use of fabric and material to create abstraction in the form of everyday objects, focusing on the political trade and reuse and migration of Ghana. 

I thought it was quite interesting how Attukwei Clottey creates language within his materials, and meaning through how he reuses them from the origin from which they came. 

It makes me think what my materials should be - and how they will form a meaning on my piece. I know that I want my material to act as a shield for the spectator and when they rip it open they are exposing themselves to the screen.  

[jdaymajortwo2021]

Exhibition Plan

So for my piece ideally I’d like to create an exhibition for. 

My plan would be to have a really dark room, hosting a big screen/projection screen that is covered by fabric - and the spectator would peak/tear through a small hole so they could see the film. The headphones would be attached to the plinth using hooks, and long cables to ensure easy movement, or bluetooth headphones so they could be wireless. However, the headphones MUST be able to play lower frequency sound, so the bass drops and kicks that enforce the spectator to feel uncomfortable come through.  

  The fabric used, would be a semi-transparent fabric, something thin and easily rippable. I will go into more detail on a separate most about the fabric specifically. 

The idea is that the spectator rips/finds a small hole so that they can peak through into the film. This is creating a physical barrier ‘beyond the castle walls’ of our comfort and literally taking a peak into a very dark reality of our world. 

It is up to the spectator of how much they can see - some may watch without the sound, some may only just listen to the sound - and watch it through the fabric - utilising it’s blurring effect on the image - I want the room to be quite dark so the screen can really illuminate through the fabric - so the fabric creates a physical ‘shield’ - blurring the atrocities/home footage on screen that is shown. When it’s blurred like this - you cannot tell what is the ‘nice’ footage and what is the ‘evil’ footage. Further insinuating it’s all really the same. 

The use of headphones containing the sound would be intentional as I want the sound/world to be held within this space and not be leaking out into the whole room as this is reflective of how middle class England is so devoid of the noise that is happening around the world and how we are privileged enough to just pick and chose what bad news we listen too. 

[jdaymajortwo2021]

Final 1 to 1 tutorial feedback

So the feedback here was positive. However there are a few things I need to think about : 

- exhibition - and a want to show my plan for this. I think I will create a small model of what I’m thinking and do a separate blog post to further explain. 

- The sound blips is something I need to iron out, so it’s more smooth in listening and making sure nothing peaks over -4db. 

I also want to think about the implementation of the film into our online exhibition. What could be part of my artist statement? And what description could be attached to this film? 

[jdaymajortwo2021]

Latest Experiment

This is the latest addition to the project that I have exported ahead of our tutorial. 

I have added in the home footage of the babies and children, which have created a counterbalance. I feel this works and I’m eager to hear the feedback from my 1 to 1 tutorial. 

I have also left the ending on black so when the project loops it does create a fully even loop and won’t look weird when it gets back to the start. 

[jdaymajortwo2021]

Using lower frequency sounds to create and reinforce physical ‘feeling’ in the stomach

Here is an annotated screenshot of my soundscape. I have used a high pass filter on the ’upbeat song’ to get rid of any lower frequencies so when the bass sound hits -  the lower frequencies will really push into effect creating a feeling in the stomach. 

On the correct set of speakers or headphones that can produce those low frequencies at a loud volume the sound will penetrate right through your stomach and body helping the spectator to feel uncomfortable. I have also used the thunderclap as a auditory transition from the upbeat song to the dark bass kick, which aligns visually with the kids falling on the trampoline, and I’m quite happy with the outcome of this transition. It has produced some really interesting effects.   

[jdaymajortwo2021]

Soundscape work

Reversing some of the sounds and metal songs has been key to create a very harsh soundscape that is pretty brutal. Also this was a common practice in catholic and christen schools to deter young teenagers to listen to those bands. 

I have also reversed thunder sounds to create a smooth transition from the harsh sounding soundscape to the upbeat music. Using sounds from nature like rain and thunder was a key and conscious choice because I want to keep the soundscape nature based, to further reflect my concept of natural human sin. 

Above is a screenshot of how I have used fades to create layers of sound that intertwine and meld together. I have shown this because I have thought deeply above how the spectator can have room to ‘breathe’ throughout the film. Having a more journey-ordinated experience instead of being completely stream rolled. However, some bits are harsh and this is purposeful because I don’t want to loose that ferocity but also sequence it into builds and explosions. 

[jdaymajortwo2021]

Building a visual vocabulary (2)

This is another example of two clips that I have sequenced together to show the parallels of two very different situations. Above we have a child playing with a toy gun - and below we have a shot of a solider firing a machine gun (wrath). 

I have created a sound bridge, between the two clips - the happy upbeat music is abrupted by the sound of the soldiers turret. It is quite hitting and noticeable - and I feel this really reinforces how our everyday lives are so sheltered from what is happening around the world and how that naturalistic desire for sin is within every single one of us, as even the child plays with a gun, holding it and shooting it just as the solider below is dong for real.