Tuesday 14 October 2014

COP2 - Visual Analysis

Kristen Lepore -  'Bottle'
Lepore uses the animation method of pixilation to create her short film, she uses natural materials, sand and snow to create the figures in natural light. Depending on natural light meant the the photography of the scenes had to be in the same time of day to run with the previous shots, meaning the weather had to be taken into consideration as well as to ensure that the rain wouldnt ruin the sand and the snow figure as well as the lack of light.

The main narrative for this short film follows a sand figure who empties a bottle of snow which was carried to shore by the sea foam. After emptying the bottle the figure fills it with sand and puts it back into the sea. The bottle arrives to the shore of a snowy terrain and is picked up by a snow figure much like the sand figure. The bottle is then sent back and forth between these two figures with different items in them, ranging from seeds to seaweed, that eventually make facial features for both of the figures. The short film concluded with both of the figures meeting in the sea but only to dissolve before they are able to stand in front of each other.

Screen shot of 'Bottle'
The passing back and forth of the bottle reminded me of Ray Johnsons mail art, a neo dadaist who experimented and collaborated with other artists with mail. Johnson wanted to use this concept of talking to each other through mail, through the use of art, how art would be effected, what would happen if someone added to this mail art? Would this make it someone elses possession, someone elses identity. In my opinion the contents of the bottle, change the concept of the bottle, it changes just like the mail art that Ray Johnson created. The contents of the bottle changed the identity of the figures, the objects gave each of figures an appearance that each thought was an identity. This could be further linked to social media in the modern world, through how you present yourself anonymously, an artificial persona that is expected or created by the masses.
Ray Johnson Mail Art
Siri Melchior - 'The Dog who was a Cat inside'

Melchior uses computer generated 2-D animation to create his short film. She uses block geometric shapes for the dog character and curved lineart for the cats, with a mainly desaturated colour scheme.

The narrative shows a dog with a cat drawn inside its body, the audience follows the main characters as they wonder the city and how they interact with one another. The cat scratches the dog and the dog retaliates causing them to fall into the water, as they sink deeper the characters learn to work together to co-exist. As they resurface they discover another character just like them, but with the cat presented like the dog and the dog inside the cat. I believe that this animation shows the viewer a contrast of characters that we would stereotypically think that dogs hate cats and vice versa. The identity of this character is lost, the viewer question which is the most dominant role, the cat inside the dog or the dog? This can suggest that people forcibly identity the character as the dog, as the dog is more prominent compared to the cat.

This can be linked to transgender, the struggle of not wanting anyone to know about their true identity or not sure themselves in what their true identity is. The cat could be symbolism through the curves of the lineart as the female role with the angular forms of the dog symbolising the male role.
In addition it could also be seen as a struggle with mental health issues for instance spilt personalities, through how the dog is oblivious to issues and the cat being self aware, able to look after themselves compared to dogs.


Comparing these animations, there is a strong theme of identity in both of the short films however both approach this theme differently. For instance, the 'Bottle' shows the identity perceived by others and how they cloak themselves in this different persona, how people also want to be seen. It appeals and is understood by an older audience compared to a young audience, the underlying message would most likely be lost by the younger audience through the appearance of the short film.  Whereas in 'The dog who was a cat inside' suggests the struggle of identity not only to themselves but to the public and can be enjoyed by a younger audience through the cartoon appeal of the animation, the narrative can still be seen as just a dog and cat who finds another like them, with the older audience perceiving the identity theme. It could be seen as offensive to people who do struggle with identity, through how it is portrayed in a cartoon appeal, it could be suggested that the cartoon appeal makes light of the theme. However if the theme was created in film, it could be seen as taking light of mistaken or lost identity as well, it would be hard to create such a deep contextual film that could be shown to both young and older audiences. The animation makes it easier to show to all ages, ensuring that the message is seen by all of the audience.

Thursday 9 October 2014

COP2 - The Gaze and The Media













Additional notes:

 (Quote 1) - Page one of lecture notes
"According to usage and conventions which are at last being questioned but have by no means been overcome - men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at" 
Berger 1972

Hans Memling "Vanity" (1485) was depicted within the Period of the Hammer of the Witches where women who would aid people in medical need, teaching one another medical tricks, where classed as witches. Anything in which was deemed suspicious or an act that was better of man where categorized as witches. Supposedly the Church believed that the witches would be cleansed with fire and reborn as a man. In addiction the Church believed that the Devil only affected women through the Biblical story of Adam and Eve, where Eve ate the forbidden fruit.
(https://www.marxists.org/subject/women/authors/ehrenreich-barbara/witches.htm)

Guerrilla Girls (Page three of lecture notes) - founded in 1985 - are a group of women who began to make art in response to sexism, to reveal facts of discrimination of women to the masses, using humor to display information and provoke the public. To remain anonymous, the group assumed dead womens names and still wear gorilla masks when in public, concealing their true identities.
(http://www.guerrillagirls.com/admin/moreherstory.shtml)
I believe that the approach of the Guerrilla Girls towards sexism works well due to how they remain anonymous compared to women who are threatened via social media due to making their stand clear against sexism; women should be able to be stand up against sexism without having to hide their identities, without having to fear for their lives. 

"In everyday interaction, a high level of gaze is widely interpreted as reflecting liking (Argyle 1975, 162). In some well-known studies Hess found that pupil dilation can also be a reflection of sexual attraction, and that photographs of female models in which the pupils had been artificially enlarged elicited unconscious pupil" http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/gaze/gaze03.html
Interestingly, the gaze in photography of women, especially in fashion magazines, the pupils are artificially enhanced to show sexual attraction, in an attempt to increase the attractiveness of the model. However most photography of women in fashion are taken so that the model is looking away from the camera, to make the viewer feel comfortable to look at the model without being judged. When the model does look directly at the camera, the gaze becomes intimidating, the viewer perceives the idea of being stared at, knowing that they are being looked at back, making the viewing less comfortable. Its interesting through how not only the gaze of the direction of the model is interpreted by the viewer, signaling whether or not it is okay to look, but also the body language. In the painting Titian's Venus of Urbino, her body appears relaxed and her composure makes the viewer seem comfortable to view the nude. However looking at this painting my gaze hits the two figures in the background, it seems like the woman in the foreground is used as an distraction, to hide what is happening in the background. The two figures body language in the background are more hunched and seem secretive compared to the confidence of the nude. Comparing this to a modern interpretation of Olympia 1863, the pose of the woman is very similar, however her hands cover her body more and her position is sat up right more compared to the previous painting, making the viewer less comfortable to view. 

Thursday 2 October 2014

Introduction to Context of Practice 2

The first Context of Practice lecture was an introduction into the year and with information on future lectures that will be discussed. These lectures seem to be more contextual about society and how subjects are perceived by the public, such as the media and how it afflicts different groups of people, how it can force an opinion. I believe that these lectures will help with looking deeper into artist movements and how these contextual backgrounds affected the art and the artist.

At the end of COP 2, there will be research into what theory that we will research in depth for COP 3 for the 6,000 - 9,000 dissertation and related practice work.





Animation Journal - Jstor - Good sites for researching information for books that can help with essays - states the bibliography information needed, date of publish, author, etc.