Day 41: Research Day

Today I had my research day for the Colour Project and I knew I wanted to do a response to something current and up to date but found it hard to think of ideas within the print, paint, book and photography guidelines. I therefore used them as rough guidelines and found myself filling with huge ideas of installations and photo shoots! My ideas included:

• Covering my room (at halls of residency, Tuke House) in newspaper and magazines as a response to the impact of media on a students life
• Making a short film of the art students life
• creating an installation reflecting my negativity towards the rise in university fees
• turning my room into a huge nest as a response to creating my own home, away from home

The ideas above really got my mind exploring all ideas but then also making me re think certain ideas as it must be possible in afew days!

Rise in fees

Below is a response to the rise in university fees going up to as much as three times the existing fee. The first few photographs would be my life at university if I had to pay three times as much...

My two roommates would not be here as two thirds of students are now considering not doing a degree.

With the cut backs from university funding, accommodation prices would rise and space reduced.

Due to the rise in fees I would have less money for basic living needs, e.g food.

The cutback in university funding would also result in smaller facilities and not as high standard.

As a result of raising university fee's this would have a direct impact on the future working population...

Fewer people would graduate and therefore a population with fewer qualifications and skills

As a direct result of fewer qualifications, people would therefore have a low income, or none at all, and therefore more people jobless and homeless.

It has been shown that the more stress experienced in younger life the more likely to de depressive at a later age, through the stress of university application and money this could lead straight to depression.

Film Lecture- Tremough Campus

Neil Foss

I traveled up to Tremough campus after being invited to a guest lecture by the BA Film lecturer which I met at the film festival. I found the actual lecture itself rather boring as he went over things which I had already learnt from the film festival. I did enjoy his short film as there was amazing lighting but found the storyline very confusing. 

The wow factor of tonight was Neil Foss showing his favourite short film directed by Tony Zoreil, called Tony Zean. This short film had amazing everything! Great storyline, good editing and good camerawork. Below is the link to the trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgWI_RzDzMs

Week 8 Review

Cornwall Film Festival

This weekend I have been doing voluntary work for the 9th Annual Cornwall Film Festival. My role has included working on 3 screenings and providing general help to visitors.
Saturday
My first screening was '3D: An in depth look'. The workshop which included a preview of two 3D films, one on elephants and another fiction, and then a talk at the end. I found this really interesting as I have a personal interest into wildlife so found that 3D can turn it into an experience as if you are there watching these animals. It was also interesting to hear how they manage budgets and the process of filming for 3D. The second 3D preview I was not as impressed with as the storyline was very confusing and as a viewer 3D made me feel very disorientated.
The second was screening for students work which I found rather simple, didnt seem to have a storyline and basic shots.
I was very lucky because I was volunteering I not only got a free T-shirt but got a free pass for the day so when I had finished my shift I was able to watch a feature film called Restrepo from Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger. This documentary follows a troop of soldiers into Afghanistan for a year, showing their battle for everyday life. This was very touching as throughout the film you are shown recent interviews of the soldiers reflecting on their time and how it has been so emotional. I think the editing is very effective and really helps tell the story.


Sunday
I was very lucky to be able to take part in a workshop run through the Cornwall Film Festival.  The workshop was 'An introduction to directing' and gave me the opportunity to work along side real life actors and learn from an experienced director and crew. I found the morning as a great insight into the world of production and afew key tips when working with actors. The main tip for a director was 'do it your way but communicate it in a different way'.  We were given a section of a script and could interrupt it in any way we wanted. In pairs we then had a chance to work with the director of photography and the actors to produce afew shots.

What I found really helpful is that after the workshop we were invited to attend the talk by the director on his latest feature film, 'A Weekend Retreat'. The talk went into every stage of directing and producing a feature length film and the positives and negatives.
Finally I had my last screening of the feature film, 'The Girl who kicked the Hornets Nest'. When it first appeared in a different language with English subtitles I was dreading 3 hours of reading! But after about 20 minutes you get used to it and don't think about it. This film was amazing and I would recommend it to anyone.

Day 40: Futures Lecture

Viviane Schwars (Illustration) and Oliver Sutherland (Film)

This lecture was really nice in terms of atmosphere as they studied at Falmouth University so they were speaking from experience andI felt like I could relate to both of them.

Viviane
Only two things can describe this artist, illustration and cats!
I found it inspiring that she had a dream to become an illustrator and loved cats and has been able to turn that into a job for herself, as she now writes and illustrates children's books. In terms of illustration I have never been interested in it myself and don't see it as a path I want to pursue. I also found it interesting that she commented how she works using all types of media such as drawing, making and digital. This just shows the wide variety which is needed to research deeper and develop an idea in many forms of communication.
A quote which I really appreciate was about the Foundation course at Falmouth, 'Its about the experience rather than the work', as I get really wrapped up in the work and ned to learn just to take a step back and enjoy the year, mkaing the most of the resources and variety of skills I am learning.


Oliver
Oliver had his entire education set out in terms of what he wanted to study and where, then later on, found that he didn't enjoy it and was able to transfer to Falmouth in his 2nd year from The Slade in London.

My favourite pieces by Oliver are an installation using cassette tapes(right), a room with 'the world's strongest magnet' and his ironic response to Christmas lights! I like the conceptual ideas behind his work as he found the worlds strongest magnet in the room was not as powerful as the sign on the door which made people curious, 'beware'. Another ironic piece is his iceberg installation (above) as it was a response to the nature where people want it to snow at Christmas, but put up fairy lights which look like snow instead, which therefore is using more electricity and on a large scale stopping the snow due to global warming!
Below is the link to Oliver's Website and blog:
Oliver Sutherland Blog
Oliver Sutherland Website

Day 39: Paint Workshop

The day was started with a mini lecture about fine artists and how they manipulate paint. We studied the language of paint expressing opinions, analysing and simplifying painting techniques. I found that the majority of paintings I liked, or learned to like or appreciate after looking at techniques. Afew of my favourites included Hockney's famous 'Splash' for the contrast in language and Peter Doig's 'What Does Your Soul Look Like'.

The first stage we had to paint using the opposite techniques which I found hard but refreshing as it produced a range of marks that I had never created. After group discussions and constant re evaluating pieces I finished the day with a final piece which started off as something abstract but then took shapes into life. Reflecting on the pictures I think I preferred the piece before I tried to remove sections I didn't like!

At the end I was left with lots of extra paint so instead of wasting it I created a really quick painting but using paper with a shiny surface so in the process of drying and working into it the paint cracked. I think this is really effective on a piece but obviously therefore means the artwork hasn't got a long life span.

Day 38: 4D Lecture

To be honest I didn't really understand this lecture! You may be thinking how can you not understand a lecture but to me this lecture made no sense! The lecturer has been never really introduced himself or what he does and the lecture hall were just sitting there thinking who is he! In basic terms he was talking about 4D and interactive websites etc. The lecture was a mess with random talks, clips and alot of going off ubject it just got very confusing.

One thing which was really good though was an interactive website- http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/
and he also mentioned the website vjtheory.net alot!
He briefly covered cinema and choreography and also painting on film by Stan Brakhage.
There was one film which I loved as it was an installation but Bill Viola used film to capture the movement. This is the link- http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4498864086957786589# and to the right is a still from the movie.

Day 37:Photo Workshop

The photo workshop I enjoyed because it gave me freedom to explore a different camera and my own time to capture images. We were all given the same camera to make it fair but I found that as I was so used to using my G11 I had to adapt my skills. 

I am really interested in the texture and surface and use macro alot but found that on the other camera it would not focus as close as I wanted it to, this process was good as it made me practice other shots. 

The tutor also briefly touched upon manipulating the shutter speed and aperture to create abstract photos which I would love to experiment with. Below are the key photographs I took and plan on editing afew in photoshop.

 

 

I chose my favourite pictures and edited them using Photoshop. The Pictures are below.

Day 36: Colour Workshop

Tasks:

• bring a colourwheel using paint and 3 drawings of the same still life
• paint another colour wheel
• graduate colours going from a secondary to primary
• paint 3 drawings- tonal, two primary's, one secondary and one primary

 I found that I most enjoyed and found the tonal painting to be most effective in creating depth and experimenting with a range of tones. The second was experimental whereas by the magenta and green painting I had worked out what tones work together. I found that when creating the colour strips at the side I could get a huge range of colour using a limited palette and created some really nice tones.

Week 7 Review

Day 35: The Eden Project

Today we had a trip to The Eden Project for the day. I was very excited as I have never been there but heard amazing things form my previous art tutors. When I arrived I was truly gobsmacked by the architecture and placement within a huge valley of the Eden Project. Once inside the biomes I was transported to a whole other country! The atmosphere within these environments was so captive that it was a very inspiring place. I found that I was mainly attracted to the wide range of colour. Below are photographs which I have taken and edited using Photoshop. 

Another main interest of the day was being able to handle Owls as I have a personal interest in owls and their beauty. I find the faces very characterised and expressionate mixed with the intricate detail in the feathers.

I found it great that the other day we had a lecture which mentioned Peter Randall-Page's artwork, 'Seed', and then afew days later I was able to see it for myself.

Whilst in the rainforest biome I experimented with long exposure on the waterfall to try and capture the movement.