'Home' Gallery Visit

During our Manchester Trip, we visited 'Home' Gallery, a more of a modern gallery with digital sorts of media.
There was certain piece that really stood out to me and that was a futuristic piece developed in 3D aspects.

Manchester Art Gallery Visit

Visiting the Manchester Art Gallery, was an influential trip as it not only allowed me to gather information and example pieces relating to my keyword of 'Silence' it also allowed interpretation of the Channel Ident Brief and being able to select pieces of interest to me in general.
Due to having visited the gallery before I went to the recently altered exhibitions to see what would appeal to me.

'Microphone' 2015

Pat Flynn's Exhibition-
Half-life of a Miracle.

Pat Flynn was one of the contemporary artists that really stood out to me as his pieces retained the isolated composition that I was looking for in order to link the art to my keyword. In particular there was one piece there that really appealed to me of Flynn's and one which I felt directly linked to the theme I was looking for and that was 'Microphone' 2015 a piece that seemed photographic but either way resembled a microphone. The plaque that was next to the piece says:

'Flynn's microphone is permanently suspended, waiting to be heard and yet has nothing to say'

I like the metaphorical and symbolic aspect that this piece explores as it delves into the fact that even though an object is drawn, painted etc. that doesn't mean that it becomes the object. Flynn's microphone may be a drawn picture of a microphone, but it will never truly serve it's purpose, and despite being an obvious representation of a microphone, it will always remain silent, linking my keyword directly to this piece. In addition to this, the negative space around the piece adds to the isolation of the silence, with having the microphone suspended in such a space adds more of a silent, isolated tone.
I think it's an interesting concept to consider that objects represented using art materials will never be or function as the object does, making even loud representations of objects quiet, as essentially, when constricted to visual forms, all art is silent.

Film4 Inspiration

Shira Karumata - Revolving Cabinet

When looking around the gallery, the Channel Ident project was also on my mind, and that of the red stripe type patterns that I have been looking out for. Generally, after having not known for definite which idea best suits me, I have learnt to absorb whatever seems inspirational to me. Generally speaking, there seemed to just be the aspects of red that caught my eye, especially in line form, which goes to show how much an audience would actually connect the red line idea with the aspect of Film4 as I found that with both me and my peers, we were reminded of Film4's design aesthetic by looking at such pieces.
There was  tower of red plastic trays which really stood out to me the 'Revolving Cabinet' By Shira Karumata, was one which was fascinating as I've liked to look into the idea that some objects of the same colour can look in place when placed on top of each other etc. I think this is an aspect to be considered in the making of and the animation/film itself that I produce for the Channel Ident for Film4 and ensuring that the recognisable and memorable aspects of red, which for me represent the glamourous side of film as well as otherwise with it reminding me of: Red ribbon to be cut in opening ceremonies, red carpet, red stripes on popcorn wrappers, red seats in cinemas etc. as well as more genre based things such as red representing love or blood in some cases.

Garry Cook Lecture

Garry Cook is an alternative photographer, who has developed an element he calls 'Performance Photography' where he interprets photography through performances. Using an array of photographs, he uses his performances to use more interaction within the pieces. An interesting piece of his was where he had produced a slideshow of images through Northern History 1910-present day. Within such famous images such as Hiroshima Photography, 9/11, Margaret Thatcher's reign, Nelson Mandala freed etc. were more benign images of friends and family's own photographs showing their place in history, such as their children's birthdays etc.
He spoke of how he feels more supported by the theatre industry in contrast to the photography, as he spoke of financial impacts this decision of taking up performance photography has in fact made to him. Interestingly he spoke of how being a photography requires you to be non biased and open to both sides of the story, however he says it's increasingly hard to not have an opinion within society these days.

Synopsis of Gathered Texts

Looking for references for the keyword of 'Silence' has been difficult in order to find relevant references, but using a range of resources I have gathered a list of publications and texts I have looked into and would like to read a bit further into if I can access them more. Here's my small synopsis of what I thought each text was trying to get across:

(Google Scholar) Reference 1.
'Emotion & The Structure of Narrative Film' (Film as an Emotion Machine) by Ed. S. Tan
This book is an array of alternate techniques used for film, but interestingly looks into the psychology behind certain techniques, silence in particular. The book argues that each of us experience each aspect of a film individually dependant on our own personal experiences, and this can be altered as we grow up around alternate films and their narratives. In particular, silence allows an audience to project their own emotion onto the storyline within the silence supplied in the film. However, as well as allowing a discussion into how the emotion depends on the viewer, the book also looks into the aspect of the Directors and Producers manipulating the viewer with the techniques in order for them to feel a certain way.

(Google Scholar) Reference 2.
'Television & Sound- Why the Silence?" by Michele Hilmes
Although generally a more academic book on the deeper forms of sound communication within television, Hilmes intricately analyses how silence has become important in film and television and how this is because of the evolution of music and sound effects within television that has, in effect altered the effect of everything else. 

(MMU Library) Reference 3
"Silence" by Toby Kamps
This book is definitely a book I'd like to take out of the MMU Library as it's perfect for what I'm meaning to research into, Kamps looks back historically on how silence implicates certain roles, referencing artists and productions such as Bruce Nauman and Andy Warhol, and how such things implicated the aspect of silence within film and what it represents.

Silence In Pixar Films

From Opening Scene of 'Up'Silence within Pixar Films

Through looking at some texts gathered through research of my word 'Silence' a particular subject was the aspect of silence within film, in particular the example of Pixar was a particular topic that kept cropping up within texts, as the silence used in Pixar is more of an emptiness in order for the viewer to supply their own breadth of emotions.
Scenes such as the opening scene of Pixar's 'Up' allow the viewers to reflect their own experiences and emotions onto the characters who are in silence, allowing it to be more of a touching experience for the adults as well as the main audience of the children within the family audience. Children are said to react in a different way, allowing the storyline to develop but not with the same emotion, it became a milestone in Pixar's way of narrating things with more power by using the technique of silence.

Charlie Chaplin

In the past, silence in films had been used mostly in horror or action circumstances, to build tension, but in these circumstances, I think it's interesting that silence is used as a tool to narrate the story in more of a powerful way as the silence allows the audience to make their own interpretations of the storyline and apply their own emotional journey to the silence that surrounds the powerful images.

'Wall-e'
A particular example of said emotions being able
to be inserted into the silence is Pixar's 2008 film 'Wall-e' about a lonely robot who is isolated in a world destroyed by humans who no longer live there.
The film begins in a silent way, with the isolation of the robot being shown by the fact that he is the only living thing other than a small insect, who also doesn't resemble much life or have a personality of sorts. The influence of such silence usage comes from those of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, with their reflection and influence having an effect on the consideration of silence representing an aspect of isolation.
An important aspect for Pixar has always been to alter some perspectives of certain things, and for the audience to learn certain things through their films, in this instance to perceive life in a different way and the impact we have on living things and the environment in general.

Whitewall Art Gallery Chester

Outside of the Whitewall, Chester

Whitewall Gallery Visit
Over reading week, I've visited the Whitewall Art Gallery in Chester, where they have a range of art forms, in a nice space around the city centre. I liked the various forms of colour and media that are shown within the gallery and within the alternate pieces.
 The actual layout of the art gallery was well kept I think, with the more surreal art together whereas the landscape and urban paintings and pieces were on the parallel side of the gallery. I loved the aspect of movement that was within the composition of the pieces in the gallery, although each piece had it's own energy there were a few that really appealed to me, as looking at them, they seemed to show movement within a stationary form, something I was pretty interested with as I could imagine the piece animating before my eyes, and this was pretty successfully thought out by the artist in showing an aspect of movement.

My Favourite Artwork
Paul Kenton

London- Paul Kenton

One of my favourite artists that featured within the exhibit was Paul Kenton, an artist originally from Derby who likes to capture movements and energies of certain people and places through his art work, he particularly enjoys visiting cities as these reflect a lot of movement and colours that reflect the energy that can be contained within his work.
Paul Kenton uses an aspect of paints, inks and varnishes to add streaks of what seems to be movement and light, something that appealed to me as I think it beautifully shows the energy and movement of each of his pieces to reflect the city he has captured within the piece.

There is also the aspect of dark outlines that are then enhanced by small aspects of colour, something I think is a very successful aspect of enhancing the movement and energy. Personally I can see these urban landscapes being animated especially the New York piece that I viewed within the Whitehall Exhibit. The New York piece really enhances the energy that New York represents and I think this is one of my favourite pieces that I saw within the gallery, especially after having visited New York myself, it really gave an insight into the energy that needed to be captured in the aspect of Times Square and the reflections and track lines he has shown.

New York Piece By Paul Kenton

Tom Butler

Paris, Tom Butler

 An additional artist I found appealing was Tom Butler, who uses a mixture between collage and paintwork media, particularly this piece of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, which I found was a beautiful autumnal blend of colours and successfully effective use of collage with paint. Alike to Kenton, Butler captures an energetic feel to the city particularly with the text and colourful element that the collage pieces represents.

Musem of Modern Art New York. (Moma)

On one of the days we had a group visit to the Moma, an art gallery with a wealth of visual pieces for us to view. As well as the public gallery, we enlisted to view Picasso's sculpture collection.

Times Square - The Visual Arts

Through our visit to New York, although the general site seeing did appeal to me, something that definitely stood out both with interest and visual elements was Times Square. There is a vast amount of commercial advertising publicised on the huge screens mounted on the buildings. In general, there is a lot of consumerism in New York like any other city, with vast amounts of sales on stalls, in big companies and profitable organisations gaining commercial recognition from the big screens.

When standing and looking at the screens, I could tell that each advertisement had been carefully designed and planned out to catch the eye of the wondering tourist, or the busy New Yorkers.


Brief History of Times Square
Times Square began in the 1880's, starting as the 'Long Acre' a stretch of buildings with advertisements normally centred around horses.
However in the 1900's the evolution of electricity had impacted the settlement, and produced a nicer, safer environment for the people there, adapting the electricity to displays to bring in and welcome newcomers to what would soon be a large city. With technology constantly evolving, and coloured television and animation coming into the 20th and 21st century, the screens were a big kick off for the advertising and marketing industry.
Since opening of Times Square in a commercial way, there were designers who designed the huge billboards that covered the sides of the buildings, however in the 1990's LED technology had grown in popularity and had become a sustainable way of catching people's eyes. The LED screens are now either rented or bought by large businesses and corporations who can spend over $2.5 million to place their advertisements on the screens.

Technology In Times Square
Although popular technology of LED light screens are used for mostly all of the screens in Times Square, the set up and sustainability of the square relies on the technicians who ensure the screens can run for the demanding 24hours and 7day week running times, and for the 'city that never sleeps' this is of upmost importance.
In 1998 the first testing of affordable LED lights came to play, alongside ABC News, using software to synchronise the screens with the image, making it curve, or flatten dependant on the screen itself.
The resolution of the screens has improved over time, with some screens running in ultra HD whereas the older screens retaining the pixelated resolution in wider spaced plates on the screen.
 Behind each screen is a wealth of wires and a hard-drive that stores all the advertisement files, each checked on daily by a technician.






Design of Times Square
Times Square itself supports over 385,000 jobs, including technicians for the LED screens, but also the designers who carefully design, adapt and synchronise their designs to the screens on display.

Information Sourced from:
http://gizmodo.com/how-times-square-works-1582269710?utm_expid=66866090-67.e9PWeE2DSnKObFD7vNEoqg.0&utm_referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fgizmodo.com%2Fhow-times-square-works-1582269710
http://www.timessquarenyc.org/times-square-arts/projects/midnight-moment/servitudes/index.aspx

Using Coding For Nostalgia.

After having had the group meeting with the tutors to discuss the aspects of how to link what we've been doing in context to our collaborative work, Jane highlighted the aspect of Nostalgia that our technique had produced- and after having looked further into this, I've decided that it has a lot of good concepts to explore on in order to present in connection to our work.

Nostalgia- 

'A sentimental longing or wistful affection for a period in the past' 

For our collaborative task we have been evolving our idea of pixelated characters in a game type of setting to represent the importance of the baker's lives. In each of our 'levels' an incident will happen, costing the character (who is simply a pixelated dough ball and therefore anyone can relate to him) to lose a life. At the end of our animation we'd like a final thought provoking message that will highlight the whole theme of the game idea, and what it was supposed to present, the chosen message being: 

"You only have one life. Stop, Think, Go."

We feel as a team that this phrase perfectly sums up the purpose of us doing the game style and the fact that the lives of the bakers are in fact short and precious. In addition to this, we looked into and researched existing game styles and behaviours in order to ensure that the theme of retro 80's games was conveyed successfully.

In the production stages we have become more and more confident about the idea of the 80's pixelated arcade game style, as not only is it something every age range can generally relate to (due to the fact that the age range of the bakers when questioning the client is very wide) but it also brings in that theme of nostalgia.

Nostalgia is a key theme behind our design, and it very much links to the context that we've been learning in terms of Semiotics. We as 21st century students in 2015 are using our modern technology and softwares to try to replicate a past style of the 1980's. This therefore implicates the idea of coding and signs in the fact that we are purposely replicating such a style in order to take the audience on an emotional journey and to interact with the game aspect of the clip.

In further research of other methods of modern technology being used to create an emphasis of nostalgia, I have noted down some important matters that I feel could be explored further for the final presentation.

1. AkzoNobel using their technology to recreate and reconstruct a damaged Van Gogh painting "Field with Irises near Aries" the company also collaborate with the Van Gogh Art Museum to preserve and digitally restore his pieces by replicating his paint pigments and style using their modern technology. Sources: https://www.akzonobel.com/news_center/news/news_and_press_releases/2015/akzonobel_using_new_technology_to_recreate_old_masterpiece.aspx 
2. 3D printed 18th century Native Indian tools help develop further understanding on how they were used without damaging the instruments themselves.

Nostalgia in Music

Contemporary artist and DJ Calvin Harris produced a song 'Acceptable in the 80's' which was a song about the era of his birth, and it was cleverly produced to mimic the style of generic 1980's videos. In the video, there are various block colour bright screens with 1980's inspired outfits and big hair, the stuffed otter in the video is recurring throughout as well as separate job roles, a chef, a hairdresser and a Doctor. These roles all link back to the title 'Acceptable in the 80's' as the song itself is referring to the fact that using animal parts in the functionality of all those careers were accepted at that time.The video uses the elements of actual 80's era's music videos which includes:

• Bright block coloured backgrounds
• Big styled hair
• 1980's style clothes

References to the era's laws- the example being in Calvin Harris' music video, a stuffed toy otter is used as a prop to be tested on- linking back to the aspect that Animal Testing for cosmetics was still legal in the UK.I intend to play a short clip of this music video during the presentation we make to the rest of the courses and tutors, however to ensure that the video properly loads I shall have a downloaded version of the video on a USB stick as back up and some screenshots to help the viewers visualise what is happening. I think the screenshots will also show the colour palettes that are being explored throughout the video. Reading through dialogue of Calvin Harris being interviewed, he describes the video as 'bright and garish' (http://www.caughtinthecrossfire.com/music/interviews-2/calvin-harris-interview/) 

When looking at 1980's videos to compare the style components from genuine 80's style tracks the Harris' I found this quite similar coloured and brightened music video: 'Information Society- What's On Your Mind' As well as being colourful, the video also inherits the aspect of using negative space around the person in shot, sending the eye to the character as well as having the brightness of the colour behind them. 

Alike to Calvin Harris' video, the video uses a lot of props and the people featured within the video then use such props to dance with and join them in the shots. The overall colour scheme of such shots are oranges, yellows, blues and greens.

Steve Cutts Illustrations

I've found that after studying the aspect of Semiotics and signs (coding) in our context sessions, I have been more alert and aware of such circumstances that represent their own semiotics and mental concepts in everyday life - such pieces are especially found on social media sites, as in this generation people tend to be more impatient, and want an image that will be eye-catching and get a point across, therefore I feel like artists such as Steve Cutts who produces opinionated illustrations, needs to get their signs leading to a similar
point of view.
In order for his pieces to be effective, Cutts must know how to represent each of the symbollisations through representing them in hidden messages that with knowledge of the viewer, will become signified effectively. In addition to this, mental concepts such as the political and archaic points of view that the artist produces, must equal to a similar outcome for his images to be effective. It's obvious that the images themselves retain a purpose, and I think that there is a nice contrast between the childlike cartoon style and colour palette against the adult themes within the images.
Moreover, I feel that Cutts could represent such illustrations in Newspapers etc. without the content being signified by the wrong audience (such as young children) therefore using visual imagery it gets points across to a wide range of viewers that he may not be able to
sum up in words or it not be deemed appropriate to do so.

Andrea Minini

Andrea Minini is a designer who applies simplistic line elements to her work, with the animal collection, black bold lines and coloured backgrounds. I think this also applies to the Semiotics we're learning in Context, how denoting the image would simply equal to just thinking it's lines, but then learnt mental concepts make such things signified into knowing that they represent the outline of animals.
It also challenges the very aspect of representing animals, how far could you strip back the image but still know that it is in fact an animal?
These pieces are a good example for different concepts, with the animals only being symbolised basically in the pieces.

Semiotics, Mythologies & Disparate Truths

For this year's context, we have been introduced to the concept of Semiotics, and how to apply this in context to work and instances in the everyday. Semiotics, ultimately is the study of signs. Semiotics for which can be sectioned out into alternate things:

• Denotation- A term that refers to the common sense- the basic reading of an image, not applying learnt information into the analysis of an image.
• Connotation- A term that refers to making associations about words etc. it links to different things.
• Signs- (Can also be referred to as 'code') Is made of two parts- signifier- the form the sign takes- and the signified- the mental concept of the sign.
• Myths- Refers to the way in which culture thinks about something, a way of conceptualising and understanding it.

An effective example that Jane gave us was : 'Imagine showing something to an elderly person, and then to a young person, despite it being the same object, each person would have alternate mental concepts'

I found an effective example in the fact that in Pixar & Disney films, they have chosen to apply hidden jokes aimed towards the adults and older viewers in the audience, as they're aware that their films are for family entertainment, so want each film to appeal to any age range. The SIGNIFIER in these films are the jokes, and the knowledge that the adults have about the joke is understood and therefore becomes SIGNIFIED. However, in terms of the children watching the SIGNIFIER which is the joke, is something they may not have knowledge about therefore is not SIGNIFIED. In effect, this means that the adult is entertained at different points to the child due to the variation in mental concepts.

Jane showed us a variety of photos and asked us to denote them as effectively as possible, it allowed us to interpret the true meanings behind Semiotics and the fact that Denoting is literally saying what you see, but stripping back the use of learnt information.

Some important figures in the ideology of Semiotics are Charles Saunders Pierce (1839-1914) (USA), Ferdinand Du Saussre (1857-1913) (Switzerland) and Roland Barthes (1915-1980) (France) each shared their viewpoints on what Semiotics was and the effect it has on the viewers, this is something I'd like to look further into.

Timeline Task- Context

We were given the task of producing a timeline by Jane, to reflect a decade that she had selected for each of us at random. This decade would then be put in a timeline and presented to the Context group. My decade:

1980-1989

I first of all looked at the relevant historic moments in this decade to do with animation and Motion Design, but then I further established other cultural and political influences that there would have been within the timeline. Such politics included the ruling of Margaret Thatcher and the miner strikes that were the most poignant event of the era.

Dismaland

Just before we started again at Uni for our second year, a group of us independently decided to travel down to Weston-Super-Mare to visit Banksy's 'Dismaland' Bemusement Park. Focused in Weston-Super-Mare, a place Banksy visited as a young child, he hired out a courtyard where a variety of artist's works were shown, all with a deep political meaning.
There was a mixture of animators, photographers, and artists who contributed to Dismaland and overall I found it an inspirational and effective collaboration. All the pieces had their own political or social agenda, such issues as the Horsemeat Scandal were introduced and shown within the work and add a more sinister edge to the original escapism sense that the real theme park Disneyland possesses.
 The actual setting of the park itself is dismal, with the old concrete and overgrown surroundings, the many signs for queueing etc. All of which contributed to the impact the park had on the visitors.
Alongside such installations and Banksy's own graffiti pieces that as per usual also celebrate political values and sinister morals, there were certain pieces that really appealed to me, the aspect of the 'Riot' piece in particular as this was a small scale set that was so intricate and shocking, trying to mock up the idea of a police riot with tiny figurines.