FINAL PIECE PLANNING - VIDEO
One of my final piece proposals is making a video. My idea is that I would show my most successful, edited photos in a montage which would match the music playing with it. I've always thought that music is absolutely crucial in influencing an audience's emotions; I think that finding the right piece to play would emphasize the photos I've taken, therefore making them more effective and thought-provoking. To experiment with this idea, I will use iMovie, a video application, to arrange my photos together, and test different paces, songs, and the order of the photos. I want to try using all different kinds of genres to find the most fitting, classical, pop, etc. I've taken inspiration from one wedding video I found online. What interests me about this video, is not the content of it, but rather how the photography and music matching, makes it more impactful.
INSPIRATION
VIDEOS
The following videos have been made on iMovie where I matched the photos I took to the beat or words of the songs. I apologise as the songs are of very low quality (the audio is from my phone), you may need to turn your volume up to hear them properly. I wasn't worried about making these too perfect because they are just an idea of what my final piece could look like.
David Popper: Dance of the Elves
I have made this video in iMovie by taking my images and matching them to the song, "Dance of the Elves" by David Popper, a famous cellist and composer. I have gone with a classical piece here to experiment with a variety of tempos and styles to match my images. I have the utmost respect and adoration for classical music however, I do not think that it fits my images well (or at least not this piece) because it feels almost too dramatic and there is not a clear enough message in the outcome of the video. I love classical music and how it looks with pictures but it's important that the conceptual element of this project is demonstrated.
Prince and The Revolution: I Would Die 4 U (1984)
I have made this video in iMovie by taking my images and matching them to the song, "I Would Die 4 U" by Prince and The Revolution. I picked this song because I wanted to see how my images would look paired with a pop song. I have also picked this song because Prince is an icon when it comes to gender expression and identity. This song is full of biblical allusions but in it, he also references his own gender identity ("I'm not a woman/I'm not a man/I am something that you'll never understand"). Just like how a song can be catchy, I also think that this song makes the images more "catchy".
Ezra Furman: Body Was Made
I have made this video in iMovie by taking my images and matching them to the song, "Body Was Made" by Ezra Furman. I picked this song because the lyrics are very impactful and relevant to this project. I matched my images to the beat of it and I really like how it turned out. The alternative-rock nature of the song allows the video to be more relaxing and it's easier to delve into the meaning behind all of it and take in the photography and lyrics. I specifically paired the photos with the verse, "My body was made this particular way/There's really nothing any old patrician can say/You social police can just get out of my face/And my body was made" because I like the message that Ezra sends here.
DOUGLAS GORDON - FILM
"recognition and repetition, time and memory, complicity and duplicity, authorship and authenticity, darkness and light."
Douglas Gordon (Scottish, b. 1966) is an artist known for his piece, '24 Hour Psycho' (1993), where he took Hitchcock's notorious, 'Psycho' (1960) and modified it to 2 frames per second - as opposed to the average 24 frames per second. This piece has a 24 hour run-time and is projected onto a massive single screen suspended from the ceiling in a large room. 24 Hour Psycho tests the viewer's memory of the original and transforms the tense atmosphere into a sort of fatigue and anxious atmosphere. Whilst the context of the piece does not relate to my project, the idea of projecting a video in such a large scale proves very impactful and could be a good option for the final presentation of my final piece.
TIME LAPSE
This final piece proposal links to my artists for a few reasons. Firstly, it will be mostly just the culmination of every conceptually element I've looked at, along with some of the aesthetics. I plan to use exaggerated makeup, influenced by Cindy Sherman's theatrical style, I will use a white background and white lighting, inspired by Alex Orellana, and as for Guy Bourdin, his work will be implemented more conceptually. My aim is to show overt masculine and feminine sides to link to this idea that you can be whoever you want to be - what you identify as or how you want to be perceived does not have to be dictated by a set definition or social standards. My idea is to create a time-lapse video of me doing my makeup to emulate stereotypically masculine and feminine extremes. By doing so, I am depicting a spectrum which is really what gender is. I plan to film it in a portrait orientation (this only makes sense as that's what my whole project has been) and I will do a time-lapse so that the video goes by quicker. Because it's a video, it will only be digital
Transformation Time Lapse
Transformation Time Lapse with Reverse
POEMS AND FILM
I have created this final piece in iMovie by compiling clips that I have recorded of myself saying lines from a poem that I wrote. It is heavily influenced by the poem and video, "Be A Lady They Said" which I have adapted to be applicable to both sides of the gender spectrum. I have put on heavy makeup to emulate masculine and feminine extremities, linking back to artists like Cindy Sherman and Alex Orellana. I wrote lines that demonstrate the struggles that both women and men have to go through. I then spoke these lines and put the clips one after the other, overlayed with a melancholic instrumental that I have found online (copyright and royalty-free). I have learnt how to utilise the split-screen function in iMovie and I have used this to fix the opening and ending lines. I think that overall, the concept of this video and the poem is successful, however, the production and execution are not. I filmed the two parts in different locations and at different times, therefore there is inconsistency in the lighting and setting. Secondly, I do not think that I spoke loud or clear enough. Lastly, I should have used a tripod because I have very shaky hands and this was evident in the video. I am slightly disappointed with this outcome however I like the concept.