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Final pin u p

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Final Mockup

Today I printed the image labels at Pinklime on 250gsm paper. Then I went to warehouse stationary and got clear files to use for the colour layer - I decided to go for the feedback idea of shades of blue, to stick to one colour scheme and overall emotion (also more visually concise). I then spent the afternoon cutting all of the pieces to size, and have arranged them above to roughly what I will do for the submission. I will pin them up on the day with small minimal sewing pins, spacing the image and colour underneath them to effectively show the different layers.

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Image Labels Mock-up

Scene Description

Film - Director

Series Title, Date

Photographer

Size, Medium.

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Current Direct Analogue Prints

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Darkroom Continued

Spent another 3 or so hours in the darkroom today, enlarging my final images. Went through quite a few test strips to figure out a balance within some of the images which had more contrast with the figures in almost a silhouette. Managed to get all 6 of my chosen images printed at full scale, but will go back in for final touch ups and some more recreational prints. Other than that, I will now need to seek out the transparent colour layers to pin over the top if the images as the manipulation of emotions side of my work.

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Scanning Negatives 

I am currently in the process of scanning the negatives we have developed in the darkroom. Above are the contact sheets of 2 reels, as well as the final 6 images that I will be attempting to expose at full size with the enlargers.

These include stills from the films (in order of full images shown) Moonrise Kingdom, The Virgin Suicides, Hanna, Assassination Nation, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, and Se7en. From the previous post, it was the second shot above that I started to enlarge first, where we had to use dodging techniques to balance out the foreground shadow.

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More darkroom development.

After developing the final rolls of film, we have begun attempting to expose our images with the enlargers. This requires lots of contact sheets and test strips, to figure out the correct amount of time allowed for exposure, before creating full size prints. This is done by leaving some strips of the practices to be exposed to light for longer than others, usually in 5 second increments, as well as correcting the colour filters to adjust tonal levels etc. They are then put through another chemical process, to develop the paper into images (using developer, fixer, wetting agent, then rinse).

Another technique I used, for the first prints (panos) above, was dodging, where you quickly move a piece of card over the points which appear too dark (but are the primary focus) back and forth so that it gets gradually less exposure time without any harsh line, ultimately balancing out the range of the full image

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Civilisation, Photography, Now

Auckland Art Gallery Photography Exhibition

Today I went to the art gallery to look at the photography exhibition, since we can access it for free through Aut. The exhibit is separated into multiple rooms each with categories like Hive, Escape, Flow, etc, all displaying beautiful professional photos of our world today. With various artists, I could see all of the different ways the pieces can be printed, framed & installed at a large scale, giving me a sense into the strong feelings that you want to provoke through the final pin-up - making viewers contemplate the visuals with the meanings that influenced them.

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Critical Analysis

Asking students outside of the Manipulated Image for feedback on my work and ideas so far:

Try to avoid the installation of the prints unintentionally becoming a pride flag (since the key idea is about recognising emotions). Possibly choose more muted tones or arrange them out of order from the rainbow. - Arlena

Possibly choose one colour, singling out one emotion rather than all of them. Could even use a range of different shades of the same colour, say like blue, showing the different values of sadness within the movie stills. (also connects to the cool uncomfortable blues of the formative pieces) - Dylan

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Film On Film //

Above are some examples of film images I already had, and how they tie into similar aspects of film stills.

1. Michael Keaton surrounded by Christmas lights in Birdman 2014 (Alejandro González Iñárritu), becomes my friend in the Newmarket mall light installation. The key colour of the movie is also red, which I have quickly applied to the image, making the comparison uncanny.

2. The group of Salem high-school seniors blissfully unaware of the millennial purge about to occur, becomes my friends relaxing on a bed in the afternoon sun, with added purple. Assassination Nation 2018, Sam Levinson.

After these comparisons, I have realised how simple it is to recreate versions of film into everyday life. By making my friends do things from movie clips, I can blur the lines between the meanings of what is actually happening, removing the drama and dismay and making it mundane. Essentially my aim is to take film photos of film stills. Not necessarily recognisably so, but enough to tie the emotion of the film which should be noted on the Chicago style image label during pin-up.

Below are some more stills from specific movies, and I have applied the key colour from the scene or movie that I would use on my images in post. For example, the director Wes Anderson prolifically uses a yellow faux-vintage filter in his movies, say to add to the glorification of childhood in Moonrise Kingdom, etc.

Tonto retires to the desert - Lone Ranger 2013, Gore Verbinski.

Lydia discovers the afterlife glow - Beetlejuice 1988, Tim Burton.

Richie gives himself a haircut - The Royal Tenenbaums 2002, Wes Anderson.

Detective Mills hears of the 6th murder - Se7en 1995, David Fincher.

Lux wakes up at dawn on the football field - Virgin Suicides 2001, Sofia Coppola.

Scott waits for Ramona Flowers to deliver an amazon package - Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World 2010, Edgar Wright.

Suzy and Sam escape to the mile 3.25 tidal inlet - Moonrise Kingdom 2012, Wes Anderson.

Hanna on her way to Knepfler at Spreepark - Hanna 2011, Joe Wright.

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Theme Development //

Through the course of learning how to use the darkroom after the formative assignment performed online, I have been slowly developing a good idea of what to display for the summative hand-in. In the notebook pages above, I slowly flesh out my new-found topic.

Isolation - Throughout isolation, I shot a lot of figure analysis photographs, to use for the formative presentation. These were in digital format, as well as not completely meeting the technical standards I was looking for (blurry). I am now developing my skills in film photography and would like to produce my prints through either dark room full size film exposures, or scanning my negatives in the inkjet lab.

Tone & Emotion - I would also like to carry on developing the idea of colour summarising the emotion of an image, like how I picked out the deep blue to evoke sadness in the figure shots of my brother, and applied it as a colour filter on photoshop.

Strengthening ideas - One thing I have become very good at over the periods spent at home, is losing my everyday structure and routine for streaming movies online. I have consumed some much cinema in one week, its surprising I’m not a film major. Films, however, are proficient in summing up the key feelings or ideas in one composition, especially through the colour choice. This can be with the colour palette in a single scene, or noticeable throughout the whole movie.

Semiotics - In short, I am taking that original idea of transforming the emotion of an image by a single colour, and merging that with the concepts of movie screencaps. This will summarise the different tones of each film, that have either been naturally emoted, or put there on purpose by the creators.

Concept - FILM ON FILM - This idea is drawn on by the release of feelings through isolation - and living vicariously through films when living becomes mundane, almost unbearable. 

I would like to capture some stills I saw over the quarantines, as well as some of my favourites. But I will do this in a way that is not strict to the original shot, and becomes almost candid, so that it doesn’t become a complete mockery of the films I use. These will be taken on film, in the same angles and actions as the original screencaps, but with my friends as models in everyday locations - expanding that signifier from the original into a new interpretation. This also stretches the idea of the media I consumed in isolation back into real life, almost as if I am experiencing the scenes of the movie now that we are let into the outside world.

This can then be printed through either dark room full size film exposures, or scanning my negatives in the inkjet lab. This is where the colour comes into play - again, I plan to apply a single colour over the top of these black and white images. This could be either through photoshop filters if I scan the negatives and edit them in post production before printing, OR alternatively I apply a coloured film over the top of the darkroom exposed prints. This could even be done by hand during installation of the summative pin-up, by laying coloured transparent cellophane over the print and pinning them up as separate layers, giving the presentation an added depth (tiny diagram in 2nd note above)

This ties in the film on film idea with the colour and emotion idea, essentially laying the key colour of the screencap over the black and white film image, to show the true generalised feeling of the scene or movie.

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1. “Photo provocations”, 1995 (above)

© Sergei Chilikov / Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow

Soviet film photography was not considered a legitimate art form. As it was not included in museum exhibitions, photographers started their own clubs, exchanging work with other clubs and organising their own exhibitions and festivals.

Above are some of the examples of the style of photography displayed during this time. They are often everyday moment made staged. The natural tones of the film create an even greater sense of off-put. I just love the way film can create such a sense of sorrow or nostalgia through the way the lighting is caught. For instance these two images taken on regular 35mm c41 film below: with the way worm or cool tones effects the way you percieve the situation.

Photoprovocations by Russian Sergey Chilikov https://flashbak.com/photoprovocations-sergei-chillikov-draft-60200/ By Rob Baker on December 2, 2019, accessed 2/10/20

2. Ray & Liz, A film by Richard Billingham

Tony Way stars as the wayward Uncle Lol © Rob Baker Ashton

Ella Smith as Liz on the set of Ray & Liz © Rob Baker Ashton

Rob Baker creates an unflinching depiction of his parents' chaotic home lives, with a film inspired by his childhood. The cinematography given just through this site, sets the awkward mundane scene that is the middle to lower classes of our era. A mixture of fast-produced clothing with old dreary housing creates that slight sense of unhappiness in the characters, without even watching the way the act.

Noticing the way settings or people naturally emote an emotion, in this example an unhappy tone, influences my interest in the way your photography technique too effects the emotion. 

https://www.bjp-online.com/2018/10/ray-liz/ Written by Tom Seymour, Published on 19 October 2018, Accessed 2/10/20

3. Doug Dubois: My Last Day at Seventeen

Peggy Sue Amison, Artistic Director at the Sirius Arts Centre in Cobh, County Cork, Ireland, shared some work from Doug Dubois that she has recently curated into an exhibition. Doug has been in residency at the Centre for the last four years, making work about a local housing estate, "focusing on the young people with a specific interest in the 'bravado of youth'."

The series depicts a somewhat fictional, somewhat documentary account of adolescence in Ireland. Capturing raw actions and event of a specific individual. This is good to get a balance between stages and candid events.

https://acurator.com/blog/2012/12/doug-dubois-my-last-day-at-seventeen.html Series by © Doug Dubois, published by aCurator date unknown, accessed 2/10/20

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Semiotics

Today in class we learned about the importance of semiotics when translating your work from its original context. For example, figuring out the sign and the signifier of an everyday object. Essentially semiotics is the study of sign process and the production of meaning. This can be anything that communicates a meaning, that is not the sign itself, to the interpreter of the sign. I assume this is useful for the production of ideas and making meaning of our images. I believe that having deeper thinking behind an aesthetic creation, adds layers of interest to a project.

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Darkroom Progress

Over the past couple of weeks we have been learning how to develop footage with the chemical processes in the darkroom. Today we exposed contact sheets by figuring out the length of time exposed to light each image needs, in terms of the technical choices made when taking the photographs. 

Above you can see the difference between two different reels of film. The more faint and grain of the two, was taken on a Halina Super 35x, and left in the camera since my Dads technical design classes in the 80′s. Whereas the more legible strip was taken a month or so ago, on brand new ilford hp5+ b/w film. 

During the next class we will learn to print full size film images, and I will also try develop more film reels, that could be used in summative.

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David Benjamin Sherry

An american photographer creating a ‘nature with colour filter’ series, developing monochrome photographic composition of nature, appearing rather utopian or dreamscape theme.

He uses a coloured filter, available as on-camera attatchments, or screens to lay over negatives during the printing process, this way more of the original colours and tonal range peeks through. Whereas, the below example uses black and white edits of a digital image, then editing a single colour filter over the top through photoshop.

http://www.fubiz.net/2015/02/18/nature-with-color-filter-photography/ written Nature photography with coloured filter - D. b. Sherry, written by Valentin, on 18/2/15 - accessed 30/9/20

Colour overlay filter on b/w images:

Photography technique I could use on top of black and white developed film for a unique emotion (depending on colour choice) for manipulated images. This can tie into the use of deep unhappy blue tones on portraiture/figure photography (like formative shoot of my brother).

Something to try, is to use that natural rough photography from film developing processes, and apply a colour layer over the b/w in post-production.

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Manipulated Image & Film / Emulsion Lift

Emulsion lifting is a method of transferring polaroids (not Instax) layers onto another surface (like paper or even glass) by introducing warm water. This is an effective way of manipulating the common polaroid photograph, creating a unique warped translucent version of the original image. 

This sort of distortion is an interesting path to take for the manipulation side of the pieces we will be making, and could tie into the use of film photography and the darkroom. I would like to play with the idea of ‘wrong’ images made through the chemistry developing process - as it is likely i will make a lot of mistakes, why not use these by making some sort of overlay or collage idea...

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Final Exquisite Corpse

Pasting the view of the ocean over the night time street scene as the sky. Used different photoshop overlay settings to get the two concepts to morph. Also put in black and white as a sort of faux-nostalgia concept researched in past class readings, and so different colour schemes wont clash.