Studio Prac - Major Project

Studio Practice - Major Project

Due: Week 16 – 21/11/2014

Week 11

Notes on the Brief:

Take a notion – an idea or thought – and find a form for it. The notion is a private concept that is not chosen to please others or to fit perceptions but something that comes from yourself.

Finding the form is an experimental method that will require materials and techniques dictated by the notion itself. I will become for a tool for this notion.

A number of approaches will be needed to develop the notion in such a way that takes it away from being understood. The final form should feel awkward.

Ideas:

I decided to take a notion that began years ago when I was about nine or ten years old. The notion was from childhood drawings that I drew as 2D representation of giant cliff faces that were built out with strange steps, ledges and buildings. These buildings sometimes had small figures or strange symbols that formed parts of codes.

These drawings, as seen above, took up numerous pages of a green, lined, A5 notebook that I called a ‘scribble book’.

I have decided to develop a series of line drawings based on these designs. Below are some ideas of where I want to start with these drawings.

I then made these larger drawing in an A3 visual diary based on ideas from the first drawings.

  

Week 12 

Ideas:

The other day while I was gathering some material for Collaborative Studies from the garden at home, I happened to climb over one of the branches of my childhood climbing tree and saw the symbols I had carved into the bark years ago.

Symbols on Tree

The symbols are now quite hard to make out but they are my initials ‘K.M.T’ in a code that I made up when I was younger. The code is based on binary, which my older brother had taught me to count in.

Counting in binary means you can use one hand to count all the way up to 31, so I adopted it into a code that would be easy to remember by making one equal ‘A’, two equal ‘B’ etcetera. I then devised a simplified way of drawing my hand in these positions.

 Character Key

I now plan to add these symbols to future drawings as a way to answer possible questions asked by viewers in a way they will not understand.

Here are these new drawings that include my secret code language.

The second image is also based on my initials; the symbols are the shapes built around by the stairs.

I also began adding mushrooms, which had been a large part of the original drawings.

Week 13
During week 13 I made four drawings. The first to were reasonably simple with a few new elements added. I did, however, stop making the text descriptive and instead wrote random lines, often related to what I happened to be thinking about at the time.
Here are pictures of them: 

  
















For the next two images I decided to test my self-made rules that had guided me in making the drawings.  I began experimenting with my works so as to make them strange to my own perceptions with structures turned sideways or upside-down and stairways that have begun to loop around in ways that should be impossible.

Each of my drawings is a development on the style I am using. In some case the style is altered or changed but this is done as a process.

Here are the drawings:

 

Close up of new code design.

 

I also created a new variation of my code language as seen above.


Week 14 
I created two more images, the first of which is distinctly different from the rest. It is the Rosetta stone of my new 'Square Language', but only if you know how to read the original binary characters.

The Square Characters are actually based on the 'Classic Binary Characters' and can be deciphered without the additional text. The Square characters are really a kind of different typeface. I actually don't like that image all too much.

The second image is further evolution of the impossible staircase idea.

 
















Week 15 
I completed my final two images. The first is the last evolution of my staircase cliff-face notion and the other is yet again something quite different. It was inspired by the Square characters being a different typeface of my original characters. This lead me to create a drawing where each line of text is in a 'different font'.

I also finally decided how I want to display my work. They will be arranged on the wall in a 3x4 images arrangement it a left to right, top to bottom sequence of completion to showcase the process I went through.

The images have no narrative and make less and less sense. The text itself is random, often making little sense, if any and is there more for aesthetic purposes that anything. I will not be displaying the key to my secret language with these images as I have no desire for it to be easy to decipher, although it is not impossible if someone were to make the right connections. 

Final Notes 
Most of the aspects of the pictures take attributes from different experiences. I don't know where the notion for the original cliff face drawings came from, other than the idea of drawing 2D images that build out of the page. My childhood images all had stories that I related to them too; like what the buildings were for and who used them.

The mushrooms, that became a large part of the earlier drawings were partially inspired by one of the many books that I read as a child. In this story, there was a another world that could be accessed from our own, where magic was real but there were no flowers and no guns or combustion engines. But in a distant cavern near the edge of the world there were special mushrooms that turned into crystal flowers in a spray of poisonous spores.

My first drawings in week 11 show a rather different inspiration - the video game 'Minecraft' as I have played it a lot. This can be seen in the rather 'blocky' appearance of these images.

I was then reminded of my old secret language made up of characters based on the binary counting system. This is system originally discovered by Gottfried Leibniz in 1679 and used since for programing computers and storing information on them.

Then there are the structures I drew through-out my images. Staircases supported but extensive cross-bracing, which is admittedly completely over engineered, but inspired by the engineering side of my family, as well as old buildings where the cross bracing forming X's, rather than perfectly capable single '/' brace. The cross bracing may be unnecessary, but to me they are a sign of craftsmanship and care in work and I prefer the way they look. All of this came from observing the exposed rafters of an old, wooden building in Wellington years ago.

The image that shows the 'Square Language' with the 'Classic Binary' language translation took inspiration from the Rosetta stone, one of the greatest archeological discoveries in regards to the Ancient Egyptian history. The Rosetta stone was inscribed in three languages that all said the same thing, one of the languages being known already.

The image showing different typefaces for my language was in part, inspired by the previously mentioned image, but also by Typeface family example images I saw in my Typography Class.

A couple of popular culture references also made there way into some of the coded text. All the translations are in the images ALT text.

Lastly, I signed all my drawing in the bottom left corner with my 'Sign'. I have been using this to sign things since I was twelve and it even features,  in one of its earlier stages, on the pencil case I made in my first year at high school. This sign is also 'mentioned' in one of the images.

Final Display

Collab - Major Project

Collaborative Studies - Major Project

Due: Week 16 - 17/11/2014 

Week 10
We began generating ideas for this project while still working on project one and decided to play to our strengths. Our initial idea was to create our project using the medium of film.

The theme of the project is inside-out and we quickly decided to take an abstract view of this, focusing mostly on death.

A selected videos that were felt to be related to our core ideas were posted on our Facebook group. During the holidays some of the group met to discuss the plot further and those of us who could not make it kept up to date on Facebook.

Our group was also joined Allyson who is now the main actress of the short film.

Week 11
In our first class back from after the holidays we had an idea for the storyline and some scouting had already been done as to the location where it would be filmed. The plan for the film is to use our star actress Allyson and Pastels little niece Charley to create the appearance of mother and daughter. The story is simple but twists at the end (the rest is spoilers). 

We still had to decide where we wanted to shoot the film and one of our planned locations on the Te Henui  proved to be out of action due to maintenance when we walking there to take pictures to plan shots.

This lead to much discussion as to where we could film instead as Pukekura park had already been scouted and deemed too iconic and the rest of the Te Henui walkway was overgrown and not pretty and we wished to set our story in a park or garden that could not be easily identified and which could appear to be almost anywhere in the world and which looked lovely.

I was also tasked with organising the props for the following Monday. This required me to make two small, floatable boats made from flax wood and other natural materials, as well as two daisy chains, a cross that could be staked in the ground so as to look like a grave and some lily's and other flowers.

  

I also made some biscuits for the group picnic we planned for while we were filming.

Week 12
On the Monday I went to WITT where I met up with Alyse and Pastel and then followed them in my car to the Tupare gardens. We walked down to the bottom of the park near the lowest of a series of cascading pools. I set up the boats for later by tying the leaf sails on with some flax and then waited for the others.

After Alyse applied Allyson's makeup we decided it would be best for Alyse to go and get her recently injured toe checked by a doctor. As Pastel had given Alyse a lift to the park she did not have her car with her so I offered to take her to a Doctor because the rest of the group were far more vital to the filming at that time.

Alyse and I returned and hour or so later after she had gotten an X-ray which proved she had not broken her toe. By this point their wasn't much filming left to do as little Charley was getting tired. I did have to fish the boats out from where they had gotten stuck which required my to crawl down a bank through some bushes so that was fun.

At half-past one Alyse and I had the go back to WITT for our next class; 3D with Donna. At this time the filming had virtually stopped and Logan and Jay were planning to leave soon too so as to get the footage onto a computer.

Here are a few imges from the days filming:

In the first two images, Allyson or Charley are holding flowers that I brought. The last image shows Charley launching one of the boats that I made.

Week 13
Due to Labour Day, we had no class on Monday. Jay and Logan began cutting the footage and realised that we just did not have enough. They compiled a list of the shots we still need to get.

We decided to get the rest of our footage during our class on the coming Monday. It was my job to once again get the props ready. Due to time issues and other commitments, as well as the lawn at home being freshly mowed, I could not make a new daisy chain, however, I did get more flowers and the materials I needed to repair the boats.

Week 14

During the Monday class we once more went to the Tupare gardens to get our missing footage. Despite the mornings foul weather and the increased number of other people in the park due to the Garden Festival, we managed to get all the shots that we needed.

This included finally using the cross that I had made as well as fresh flowers that I had bought from home. Alyse and I were also able to find enough daisies for suitable daisy chains.

Here are some images from our second day of filming:

Editing on the footage was also begun.

Week 15

We all viewed the current version of the short film. This can be seen here or on our Facebook page.

We then went through unedited footage and figured out what could be usable as well as what was in each file. I went through the random 'Filler' clips and noted what happened and at what time.

My notes on the filler clips

We also discussed what filter and transitions we might use to enhance our film. We also discussed what music we should use, although we had previously though of using a Wanderhouse cover of Ellie Gouldings 'Lights' and I still prefer this song although I understand not letting it look like a music video.

Another issue for discussion was the name and came up with a list of possible alternative as our original idea of 'Weeping Lily' would no longer work.

I talked to Jay and Logan later in the week. They had added a few more scenes and added a few new transitions to mark the flashback scenes.

Some effects still needed to be added, as well as credits but the film was to a nearly finished stage at that point

Since then the film has been completely finished and is ready for presentation on Monday. You can watch it here.

Plot:
A mother (Allyson) and daughter (Charley) spend time together in a park; making daisy chains, floating boats, walking together. They then sit together by a cross/grave. It is then revealed that the mother is dead by a series of flashbacks, showing the daughter doing everything by herself. She merely imagines her mother is there, and in a sense she is. The death mother is the inside out aspect of the film, for she is really a part of her daughter who is projecting her into real space.

Studio Practice

Week 2 - Exaltation

"Take a single and very small detail of one work, and reproduce that detail in some appropriate form so that it is completely unrecognizable as the original."
 
I used my musical instrument from last semesters, Creative Technologies 'Sonic Unsensible' project to create my 'exaltation'. I took close up pictures of the instruments circuit board and created a simple line animation that cycled through while music I recorded from the instrument, which I slowed down, played in the background.

Above is the video I presented in class in Week 2. Below is the final video that I revised from the original.

Week 3&4 - Volumetric 

"Take an aspect of the volume of F Block and interact with it in some way that defines that volume. You only have 2 weeks to do this so your work will have to be clever in achieving such a result without a month of full-time construction."
 
I was sorted into a group with Hana, Allyson and Gina (who was absent in the first week of this project).

After discussing the problem, we devised a plan for our solution which was to create long tubes of brown paper (a suitable, easy to manipulate material), decorated only on the inside with interesting artworks, and hung from the ceiling in the common space of F block in such a way that the viewer has to look up to able to see the otherwise hidden work. This would help draw people to look up and appreciate spaces of the building they would not normally notice.

We initially had some issues trying to devise a way to insure that the work kept its shape. We suggested using card instead of paper, or to reinforce the paper with card, but found that in did not bend as nicely into shape as we'd hoped so instead opted for stainless steel wire, which could be bent into supportive rings and taped onto the outside of the brown paper tubes.

Materials:

• Brown Paper

• Paint

• String

• Wire

• Tape

Allyson, Hana and I painted what would become the insides of the tubes and also added pinprick holes to one of the tubes to add an interesting light effect.

The following week we were joined by Gina who had been sick, as well as Nick. Together we assembled our three tubes and hung them. Our position in F block also had to be revised to account for moved furniture and so we ended up displaying in the center of the space rather than by the doors to the courtyard area.

These images show us with the constructed tubes before we displayed them. The wire was not heavy enough to hold the tubes as we had hoped and they bulged in strange way. Hanging them did not help this effect, in fact it made it worse and bent the tubes further out of shape. However, the tubes were still cylindrical enough to see how the design should have functioned.

While the tubes lacked the desired shape, they still drew people to look up, as you can see by the people in the photograph's above, who were interested enough to be drawn to look up the tubes.

We also set the tubes and varying heights, with the lowest at a point where most people would have to duck under in to see. This encouraged people to stick there whole head in the tube for a unique experience and view.

Week 5-8 - Objects in Space

For this project, I was sorted into a group with Hana and Simon and we were later joined by Nick. We were also assigned our "problem that relates to the volume and scale of the central space of F Block, or alternatively, the Gallery corridor behind F Block", which was "Passage - Document in some innovative, alternative, and unobvious way, the passage of a person through the length of the space".

We spent our first session together brainstorming ideas and getting to grips with the problem.

Our ideas, spanned a 3D, mathematical chart of movement through the area to filming a blindfolded person being instructed through the space.

We eventually settled on an amalgamation of a couple of our original ideas, with a series of cubes showing each side of a person walking throughout the F-block common area on its respective sides, with the boxes following the path of the person .

We agreed to meet up on the coming Thursday to begin taking photos and mapping the path, however I could not help at this next meeting as I was sick and for this reason I had to miss the Friday class as well.

It was decided during those meetings that the boxes would be too difficult and time consuming to make, and the person walking was removed from the shots altogether. Instead, two shots (rather than the original four) were taken, one facing the wall at the workshop end of F block, and one taken facing the opposite end for every string in the journey sequence. The strings were included in the shots.

Here are some of Simon's sketches of this concept:

The pictures then had to be cut out and mounted on card, with the correct images on each side. This was a very confusing and difficult task, and we also discovered that some of the photos had gone missing as we began mounting them.

We decided to draw our impression of the perspective view from each string where a picture was missing, in place of those images but we were dissuaded by Peter, who told us we had to have the pictures.

In the end, we went through our images and reprinted the missing ones, ensuring that all of the strings had their two, corresponding photos.

 

Above are images of our photos, that record and mark a journey through the F-block common space.