Inventive idea for a personal website

Silvia Cruz, photography

The Final Video: Lucid Dreams

Tell me what you think...

CD covers

Above is the inlay, for the front cover and the description when the cd is opened up 

Above is a piece which i personally don't think works particularly well due to the grainy foreground swimming image, in addition to the two photos are fighting for attention, with them both having bold imagery going on; however, i took the strong swing image and re-contextualised it below...

                                    

Using a more submissive photo merged with a bolder image works best, as this side view here is quite plain the two compliment each other very nicely. This is the back image of the cd case

Screen Shots from the edited footage

Surrealism

Surrealism is an ongoing theme in this piece of work, that i hadn't previously intended on, however when artists explore any part of the mind and it's subconscious state we enter a realm where the impossible is possible. 

Surrealism 

ENCYCLOPEDIA. Philosophy. Surrealism is based on the belief in the superior reality of certain forms of previously neglected associations, in the omnipotence of the dream, in the disinterested play of thought. It tends to destroy definitively all other psychic mechanisms and to substitute itself for them in solving all the principle problems of life.

This is a painting by Rene Magritte is called The False Mirror (1935). During this time, it was considered, among surrealists, that the symbol of the closed eye represented a subversion of reality by drawing on interior states, therefor the image of the open eye, usually interpreted as an access between the person and the world - their soul, was a false vision of a mirror. Reality lay elsewhere. This is a very interesting concept to me, as i naturally, have always perceived the eye to represent the 'window to the soul', however it's refreshing to interpret it this way. According to surrealist artists automatism is a the state or mental process whereby something is done without consciousness like a reflex action or an instinct that you aren't conciously aware of performing. Surrealists have a "pure psychic automatism" The Dadaists talked about the removal of rationality and logic to align with new art processes developed and structured through chance and irrational logic. In the case of the surrealists, chance was still a valid external force, yet due to their interest in psychiatry was equated with the unconscious in all its manifestations. For example, an automatic drawing would be one that was the most pure thought of unconsciousness, an instinct, maybe an accident, maybe it's only when we tap into this we allow the unnecessary clouding information to be bypassed and in turn stroke pure genius.

Cinematography

Editing techniques i have been interested by are the contra zoom, also known as the vertigo effect, the push/pull effect, the jaws shot, dolly zoom which all refer to the same technique... 




Where the camera runs of a track panning in or out while the lens zoom does the opposite, which creates an incredible illusion as if the background is coming towards the audience, yet the subject stays the same. This is a camera trick which has been used in many films, famously in Vertigo, Goodfellas, E.T, Matirx Reloaded, Lord of the Rings...
It is commonly used to represent 'falling away from oneself' or a feeling of unreality, it works by distorting perspective therefore distorting your perception of the situation. 
However, in practise this shot was unattainable for this particular piece, nevertheless i shall be trying this out in the future when i have a suitable dolly device, e.g a skateboard/shopping trolly/roller blades that will smoothly produce this effect. 




Long exposure photography works similarly to creating a time lapse effect in cinema. The longer the length of the exposure in photography, allows more light to enter the lens, giving a sense of movement, and life into the still image, which i think, is where the true beauty in photography lies. 

This image is quite beautiful, showing a street at night time, working especially well due to the symmetry. The main thing to keep in mind is keep the camera dead still, which i unfortunately couldn't do due to the absence of a tripod. Below i have found a video on youtube depicting the time lapse technique, i personally think the effect is mildly boring without a main character in, however at the same time it is beautiful to watch nature take it's course. This video is of London, Onntari, where 40cm of snow fell in 2 days...

Below is a similar video that i found while trying to find the previous technique, however it brings me onto the next effect i would like to talk about which is Stop Motion, where hundreds of photos are taken of an object moving, placed together in a film...


However, this is rather weird and bizarre... below is an extroidinary piece by PES called Western Spaghetti... 


This animation won the Sundance Film Festival 2009, and is truly beautiful down to the sense of imagination and visualisation, it teaches you to think outside the box, and create new meanings to everyday objects, much as the Pop Artists did. The visual connection always astound and inspire me in stop motion animation, similarly to the video 'Food about you' shown below...





This video displays how green screen is used in films such as Sin City, based on a graphic novel, where the footage is desaturated then used chroma key to highlight distinct bright colours of their choice, this is then interjected with parts of animation, to depict the dystopian city that is ridden with crime.
 
At 2.55 this exact scene is played the outcome of effects...

Treatment, Initial storyboards and Production Log

Treatment

The song 'Zwerk' by Bitbin, Mathew Hodson, has inspired a project combining audio and visuals producing a music video. The music itself could be described as experimental, ambient and thought provoking. The initial drone produced from a synthesiser, gives a sense of an epic atmosphere, which slowly forms into note patters that begin to repeat, accompanied by electro drum beats that almost slide over each other in layers. 'Plonky' beats form the basis of the backing, while a zappy mechanic space-gun sound effect stirs the soundscape. The song is quite progressive in a sense that it builds and loops over itself, all notes are quite whole sounding, often uncertain, but not uneasy or distressing. The piece gives off feelings such as a sense of hope, rhythmic almost walking, pacing, even akin to heartbeats, which makes the song seem personified. The song also gives feelings of an alien or extra terrestrial element in beats and overall style which gives feelings of uncertainty, the unknown and confusion.

Following research it could be interesting to produce a contrapuntal effect, also known as using parallel sound, in order to contradict the auditory experience; when we are presented by juxtaposing videos our brain is being sent two different messages which can create some interesting effects. This could be implemented by showing a laugh when the music is unnerving or dramatic. The song produces euphoric ambience, with the technologic beats along and the pacing gives a sense of nature vs technology, which then stimulated ideas of using water to symbolise feelings of a warped reality or a dream like state. In order to capture this, the perception of time would be distorted and reversed which could also represent confusion, disillusionment and a detachment from reality. Another adjustment which would be effective is when the action is filmed really fast and then in editing the motion is slowed down, also when the camera zooms out at the same time as moving away creates unusual effects. The film will be non linear, unpredictable and down to audience to interpret individually. Mental disturbance was intriguing as it is a completely personal experience

Artists which are similar in style are Aphex Twin, Portishead, Massive Attack, The pixies - Where is my mind and The Postal Service, these fall into the genre Trip Hop, playful yet solemn in nature. Videos which influenced this project include Roni Size - Brown paper Bag, Portishead - Only you, Aphex Twin - Rubber LoverThe pixies - Where is my mind, Everything is everything - Lauryn Hill. The character of Sheila in Shameless inspired the main role as she has a personal bubble existence where she's living in her own world. Also the Grandma from Requiem For A Dream, through the clever use of time distortion where section are sped up to highlight her internal stress. 

       

The first day of shooting was the 22nd May, a beautiful sunny Saturday, after driving down to Bognor, to find a more secluded pool, we managed to capture some good footage.
A downfall of this shoot was actually getting under the water long enough to get some effective shots. A good point was the amount of filming we actually managed to capture, a total of 200 seconds, and some beautiful shots.


Then i edited the footage on sunday night i edited the footage, followed by some extra filming on Monday 24th May, where i acted in the first scene - the girl is having a bath and slips into her dream like state, then she observes the outside world, separated by the window. A good point of this shoot was the time of day it was shot produced a beautiful twilight effect at dusk. A bad point was that we over filmed, however it's always better to have too much than too little to work with. 


I then met with Cecille the next day, who helped me cut down on the unneeded shots, and now it begins to flow much more fluidly, it's not good to change the amount and speed of frames as it confuses the viewer when it doesn't fit with the music. 


Then on Saturday 29th May, i went to Hollingbury Park to shoot some more scenic shot which would compliment the swimming shots. A good part of this was the roundabout shot that i plan to overlay with a shot of the eyes to give the illusion that it the state in the character's head. A negative point was that it was hard to plan exactly what footage to shoot before i got there, however when in the location it was easy to place actions and content to the scene. 


From then on i edited the footage together, changing and mixing up the footage to make the piece more seemless. I met with Cecille again on the 2nd June, who helped me by advising me of shots that weren't working.


For a full write up and evaluation see sketchbook...