DEVELOPMENT
How does the light and weather change what we see? As the weather transforms and will evermore continue to do so, we are immersed within it. Us, the landscape and it’s perpetually changing form is hard to tease apart, henceforth, we feel among these changes. Upon closely considering this notion, I had figured that as the weather is a mere “experience of light” and that “as the weather changes, so does the look and feel of the world we inhabit,” our perception of the world can be altered by said natural forces. When wanting to portray this on-screen, I exhibited the very intimate association between the weather (thus light) and its effects on emotionality. In doing this, I depicted a very personal space where I most primarily reside and (through narration) suggest how the amount of light that I allow into this space can truly form the way in which I feel and think.
The first thing I think about when I wake up is hot coffee, not merely hot coffee, however, also a slice of raisin bread smothered in butter. Most of my mornings I will move through this space, interact with various objects and this exchange will produce differing sounds. The merging of these sounds make up the soundtrack of my mornings. Upon the conception of this piece, I had intended to plunge viewers within the very intimate space and activity of making oneself breakfast. I had chosen to utilise photography as my medium of choice in order to challenge myself creatively. How could I possibly portray a sense of movement through a mere gathering of still images? Furthermore, I wanted to primarily focus upon audio exploration so I had attempted to illustrate this sense of motion via the sounds in which these interactions would produce. A sense of process and progression is clear yet viewers do not see the act, moreover, they understand the sounds and still images, I wanted audiences to be able to visualise the movement and interactions within this space solely from the sounds heard.
The act of wearing and walking in high heels is performative, a performance in which we feel compelled to play. An illusion of stability and composure we wish to embody as we step, spin and glide, it is a shoe of events. However, unable to move slowly, fluidly or gently, I am utterly hopeless. Within this piece I had attempted to portray an experience in which lacks stability, whereby the mere change of footwear can transform a hard, flat surface into a wavering, faltering and irregular trudge. When wearing high heels we attempt to give our best performance of both figurative and literal balance. I wanted to exhibit this on-screen and planned to do so through the utilisation of steady and repetitious camera work which is quite a contrast from the intimate struggles of unsteadiness experienced while walking in high heels, where we attempt to portray the best possible illusion of our ‘balanced’ selves to onlookers.
REFLECTION
This body of work truly centres upon notions of intimacy, closeness and emotionality, I found that upon the conclusion of my previous three pieces there was an unintentional and perhaps more implicit display of said themes. Furthermore, I had decided to tap into these preceding themes and motifs for my forthcoming pieces in which are then to be artfully strung together as a collection. The varying use of iconography and aesthetics such as the darker, sombre utilisation of low-key lighting, frequent panning and dutch tilts used in order to portray the psychological uneasiness and the use of very private spaces such as a bedroom which is not a location that is necessarily rich in composition or visual texture. I wanted to further explore this notion of intimacy as our “sensations and sense-making body forth a sensuous self: a performative, reflexive, perceptive, embodied being-in-the-world” (Waskul, Vannini & Wilson, 2009, p.6), as we exist within this world our active bodies are not merely isolated. I wanted to explore this notion of inherent closeness within my body of work as existing boundaries of the body-in-practice are somewhat permeable, we move through spaces and interact we “partially merge with our surroundings” (Mol & Law, 2004, p.53) whereby we feel among them.
As I had discussed previously different mediums merely replace one illusion of reality with another, the divergence of these realities can result in differing impressions and emotional resonance with viewers. Thus, when exploring separate mediums I had learnt a great deal about their affordances and in what way said affordances can affect those in which engage with the piece. Film (which is predominantly my medium of choice) allows for a more comprehensible execution in which other mediums may not able to accomplish in the same manner. However, what occurs when this sense of moment is removed? Within my fifth portion of the collection, I had chosen to utilise photography in order to experiment with quite an unfamiliar methodology. How could I possibly portray a sense of movement through a mere gathering of still images? Furthermore, I utilised these images in conjunction with varying diegetic sounds (the use of audio is also quite foreign) in order to illustrate this sense of motion via the sounds in which these interactions would produce. I feel as if I was able to successfully portray this sense of progression and motion through still images when accompanied by sound. In addition, when creating media for this body of work I looked to utilising methodology in which I found to work successfully within its predecessor such as experimenting with altering volumes where I purposefully selected some pieces of audio to be heightened, this ultimately caused some sounds to be more salient than others, in doing this, differing sensations can be better noticed due to how they are organised collectively.
Overall, I am very pleased with the outcome of these three works and their contributions to the collection. I feel as if these pieces have been much more successful in conception and execution than its predecessors, which truly demonstrates the benefits of exploration and experimentation. Thus, through the making of these pieces, I have learnt a great deal, I have especially learnt a significant amount from classmates and my tutor, I am so appreciative of all the constructive criticism in which I had received and I definitely have a lot to learn in order to improve my skills as a creator. Most notably, I was prompted to consider not moving the camera frame quite so often as it may be disorientating, this was a feeling that I wanted to evoke from viewers however to an appropriate degree. In retrospect, I can recognise that I was very heavy-handed with this particular stylistic effect whereby it was not needed and in fact quite unpleasurable to engage with. This criticism has allowed me to improve myself as a media creator as it has provided me with insight on something that I had not noticed myself. Furthermore, for these more recent creations, I have employed this visual technique however to a much lower, more appropriate degree which I found to work quite well. What perhaps didn’t work so well was the utilisation of static shots within the sixth portion of the collection. For this weekly task, there were in fact parameters of which limited myself creatively, however, prompted me to try new techniques. Techniques such as the lack of camera moment (which is not a visual effect that I quite often exercise) truly tested my skills as a creator. I feel as panning/ zoom/ tracking shots conjures a lingering curiosity and enticement, however, I needed to evoke such interest yet with the lack of a clear movement/ progression. I gave it my best attempt yet I do not know how successfully I executed this.
Through producing this collection of work my understanding of the ‘enacted body’ has developed quite a great deal. Upon conception, I looked further into notions of what is a body and what is a body in relation to space, in order to embed these ideas within my work. “The body we do is neither a whole nor fragmented, instead it has a complex configuration” (Mol & Law, 2004, p.57) whereby in practice we enact them as a part of our daily activities, we “do our bodies.” (Mol & Law, 2004, p.57). Attending not only to the body ‘we have’ yet also the body ‘we are’ requires knowledge from the inside, self-awareness. I had attempted to heighten this personal concept of self-awareness through my varying media pieces, ideally resulting in viewers bettering their own understanding of the “body they do” (Mol & Law, 2004, p.57).
In conclusion, some concepts in which I would like to explore further within group work for future activities would be most notably my preliminary ideas of closeness and intimacy. I believe that it is very important to address these ideas as they are closely aligned with more significant/ bigger concepts of sensuality and our ‘enacted bodies’, as they too very much relate to personal and private experiences.
FINAL COLLECTION : https://drive.google.com/open?id=1k6lnrZNPyM54-G10B50BIdk_OrqGkvnz
LINKS TO BLOG POSTS :