Final film
Titled ‘Back to the Melting Pot’
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Georgia O’Keeffe
I focused on improving ‘Part IIII: Growth’ (Plant - Ginkgo biloba). I looked at Georgia O’Keefe’s work to help me reference the human form in my plant-like hybrids. I focused on presenting malleable, morphing shapes to reference both flesh and plants growing. Instead of only having Barbie limbs, I wanted to make it more uncanny through the “imaginary” or still, becoming a “reality” through movement.
Exploring projection. Projecting photos of moss I took as this is both resilient and connects with my tardigrade section as this is where tardigrades usually live. Although the viewer may not pick up on this, I wanted to connect the different life forms in this way.
An opening - ‘mother nature’ as a metaphor for creation.
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Inspired by Elizabeth Price’s films, I customised text in photoshop to make the language fit more cohesively with the imagery.
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Drawing on Himali Singh Soin’s ‘we are opposite like that’ film in particular, I developed my use of overlays. The image above was successful - smooth blend of overlay and image below. Both referencing the micro, through the close up image of the costume, and the macro, through being reminiscent of the sky, this is very in line with my aims.
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Key bits of feedback to take on:
- explore VOICE in different ways - get different people to narrate and see how that changes the tone
- the film is dense - explore split screens
- Questions about why Barbie limbs? Not sure if I agree that Barbie limbs are too much of a loaded visual symbol, however, I think I will obscure the images more. Subtle humour but make it a bit less distinctly doll limbs.
- incorporate images of close ups of E. coli costume into the performative footage. References small vs. large scale.
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Final crit
The summary of the work I gave to people:
The bacteria and plant sections are pretty unfinished. What I was thinking about and what I want viewers of my work to think about is humanity’s place in the world, specifically in relation to non-human life so animals, plants, bacteria.
I’m not sure how successful this is right now but I was looking quite a lot at the uncanny valley - the real and the unreal - as a way to challenge people’s perceptions and challenge the extent to which we trust our human knowledge about evolution, creation, our origins, our place in the world.
I do want people to think a bit about hierarchies, for instance, plant, animal and bacteria (spinning spheres) are placed at the same size
^Once I have edited the plant and bacteria sections, I want to make sure each life form is given the same weight
The installation:
Ideally, I would use surround sound. A voice coming from above so it is more booming (a sort of God-like, omniscient feel or the feeling of being watched).
^So that the language, such as about humanity being reformed, becomes bolder statements.
Alongside this, I want other sounds to be coming from different directions.
I wanted the installation to be quite neutral.
FEEDBACK
how big was the bacteria?
Around the height of me
play with that more
the close up was good, really showed the scale
then I saw it (when you were standing up?) and was wondering is that a different thing?
^revisit close up shots to confirm that it’s the same thing
the tardigrade part feels shorter than it did before - liked it when it was longer, was looking for more of that
started black and white - well put together, gave me “throwback vibes to the start of life”!
^ “colour came in and looked very modern”
got the opening, then 3 distinct sections, marked by this ticking
^give the beginning and the ticking it’s own identity so that it’s distinct from these 3 individual sections
^voiceover at the beginning - the 3 sections are distinct from each other but the stuff that frames it needs to have its own language as well
^your surround sound idea - the voice being higher - would help that
felt “seriously sequential” - bridging elements need to be pulled out and amplified a bit more
^right now I’m looking at this, how does this link back to this/link back to the last chapter
^not sure where I am, what I’m looking at
would like to see some sort of film score - how this is put together, the overview of it
^could offer it to the audience in the form of a drawing
include a sort of contents table?
introduction: that is about x, y and z
first chapter: tardigrades is about evolution
I’m not sure if the scientific and historical elements you spoke about where evident in the film
If you want it to be about hierarchies you can spell that out more
^For instance, showing humans above then reformatting it and making it in line
What do people think about the installation?:
Could put the things you made onto the black bit of fabric
^Last week you had the projection over some of the things you’ve made which was very effective
^Because I can tell how tactile the bacteria and other things are, I really want to see them in the flesh coupled with the video
What’s the black cloth for?
Brought it to black out a space. Firstly, to cover the ugly white paint on the floor, interesting to mark out a space people can’t enter but I’m not sure how that shifts the meaning of the piece.
Missing details of the video because of the background, the white wall, is that what I’m looking at
^A darker space could help make it clearer what you’re actually looking at
Bertie’s thoughts on the sound:
really liked it
the speaker might be too big but it’s worth it
^even sitting at a distance, it is almost like the sound is rebounding off the wall
sound in lots of different segments, in between the segments it was so deadly quiet
^have a background that carries through the whole thing
at certain points, such as the tinging sound, the way you did it was very much ‘ting’ and then you cut it
^fade it out so it’s cleaner and not as sudden silence
try other voices - people often go for a super serious, art narration voice - quite ubiquitous in a lot of art videos. What does it sound like if someone else says it
main thing = a bit choppy and changing right now
what do people think of the painted Barbie arms?
couple of people said they like it
“I’m not sure why but I really liked it”, just painted with acrylic but for some reason there was “a texture on them that made them look more natural and plant-like” which I liked because “the narration at that time, it made sense to me”
but “then I questioned why is it Barbie’s arms?”
Barbie = quite loaded as a visual symbol
Lot of work gone into it, looking good just tightening it up
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Painting Barbie limbs for a plant section of my final film - Gingko biloba, a highly plant that survived the Hiroshima bombing.
As Ragnhild Tronstad argues in ‘The Uncanny in New Media Art’, “movement… is a sign associated with (real) life”, effacing the “distinction between imagination and reality”.
This, coupled with stillness, creates uncanniness. I want to draw on this to question the viewer’s certainty, therefore static limbs feels fitting.
I want an element of humour to the work. Subtle humorous limbs with more poetic/serious poetry?
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Stills from Busby Berkeley’s ‘The Gang’s All Here’ film. I want to draw on the cell-like kaleidoscopic feel and also symmetry as an expression of patterns and order appearing - the irregular becoming regular and balanced after the irregularity of creation. The first image reaffirmed to me that I want to use circular projection in my E. coli film to reference microscopes and a world beyond what we can see with the naked eye. The blurred sections creates a sense of movement in the second image, something that I want to draw on to create energy.
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I mixed ink with dish soap and filmed myself blowing bubbles. I wanted to draw on the E. coli colours and present the micro - i.e. cells - as linked to and forming the macro - my oversized E. coli costume.
Editing the colours to further imitate the E. coli colours.
Final clip used in the film. Drawing on Busby Berkeley’s, ‘The Gang’s All Here’, I think the circular format effectively references a microscope image.
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