ITAP LECTURE 9

Image and text

An image, especially a photograph should have a description, title or even have text included within the image. The text should fit the Image. The image is “Nude” until you put it into context. It may need to go with other images also to give it a description of what it is.

Sophie Calle’s work is very interesting. Born in 1953, she is a French writer, installation and conceptual artist as well as a photographer. Her work is distinguished by the use of arbitrary constraints. It evokes the French literary movement of the 1960’s, which is also known as Ouilipo.  Her work frequently depicts human vulnerability, which examines identity and intimacy. She has a detective like ability to follow strangers and investigate their private lives. Her work usually includes panels of texts, which is usually her own handwriting.

Sophie Calle

Sophie Calle

Sophie Calle

In her work entitled Suite Venitienne, Sophie followed a man she had met at a party in Venice in 1979, She disguised herself to follow him around the city and photographing him. The images she captures are in Black and white and are accompanied by text. She carried out the surveillance of the man only identified as Henri B

In her project “The Hotel” she got herself hired as a chambermaid. She explored the writings and objects of the hotels guests. This project involved text and photography.

Barbra Kruger born in America in 1945 is a conceptual artist. Much of her work is black and white photographs overlaid with declarative captions.  The phrases she uses often include pronouns such as “you”, “your”, “I”, “we”, “they”.

One of her pieces includes the phrase,” I shop, therefore, I am”

She has said that, “ I work with pictures and words because they have the ability to determine who we are or who we are not”.

Barbra Kruger

Rene Magritte was born in 1898 in Belgium and was a surrealist artist. He became well known for a lot of witty and thought provoking images that fell under the umbrella of “Surrealism”. He challenges observer’s preconditioned perceptions of reality within his images.

Maigritte

Maigritte

Bibliography:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/René_Magritte

http://www.musee-magritte-museum.be/Portail/Site/Typo3.asp?lang=FR&id=languagedetect

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Kruger

http://www.barbarakruger.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie_Calle

http://www.egs.edu/faculty/sophie-calle/biography/

ITAP LECTURE 8

Bauhaus – A School in Germany, which combined crafts and the fine arts. The Bauhaus style became one of the most influential currents in modern architecture and modern design. It had a profound influence on subsequent developments in art architecture, graphic design, interior design, and typography.

Production

The worlds earliest dated book was produced in 400AD. It was printed with wood blocks onto paper. The Diamond Sutra, an Indian text translated from Sanskrit to Chinese, dates back to 868, although the full history remains unknown. It is thought that the first translation of the Diamond Sutra to Chinese, was made by the prolific translator Kumarajiva. He had a distinctive translation style, flowing in smoothness, reflecting his priortisation of conveying meaning.

In 1640 Stephen Daye of Cambridge Massachusetts, USA, printed the whole book of Psalms. It was the first book to be published in North America.

Another of America’s famous printers was Benjamin Franklin. He invented a method of Casting Type and making Ink, and the wooden screw press.

Etching is an intaglio process, illustrations had to be printed separately from the text and were “Tipped in” after the book was bound.

Task - When and How was the first ever book in Europe Printed?

The Gutenberg Bible also known as the 42 line Bible was the first major book printed with moveable type. It marked the start of the Gutenberg revolution and the age of the printed book in the west. It was widely praised for its highly aesthetic and artistic qualities, and its iconic status. It was written in Latin and has forty eight copies or substantial portions of the copies surviving. They are considered to be the most valuable books in the world. Although a complete copy has not been sold since 1978.

GutenBerg

Experts

Zuxana Licko is a typeface Designer based in San Francisco, but born in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. Travelled to the US as a child she studied Architecture, Photography can Computer Programing, before gaining her degree in graphics.

Zuxana Licko

Dorothea Lange was an influential American Documentary photographer and photojournalist. born from 2^nd generation German immigrants to the US Known for her depression era work. Her photographs humanized the consequences of the great Depression and influenced the development of Documentary photography.

In 1945, Dorothea was invited by Ansel Adams to accept a position at the first fine art photography department at The California School of fine arts.

Dorethea Lange

Ansel Adams – an American photographer and environmentalist best known for his Black and white nature photos of the American west and yosimite national park. He developed the zone system as a way to determine proper exposure and adjust the contrast of the final

Ansel Adams

Task – Who is your favourite expert? Why? Produce a reasoned well written argument.

I have many favourite photographers for many different reasons.  I have always loved David Bailey for the era of the 1960’s. He is a well exhibited Photographer. The fact he always stepped outside the box to get what he wanted. He pushed the boundaries and tried different techniques. He was and still is never afraid to try something new. He is the “godfather of Cool”

David Bailey

Jack Nicolson - David Bailey

Jean Shrimpton -David Bailey

Bibliography

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gutenberg_Bible

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin

http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/info/timeline.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Daye

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_Sutra

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zuzana_Licko

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothea_Lange

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Bailey

ITAP LECTURE 7

Interpretation

Zeitgeist
Definition - ‘The Zeitgeist (spirit of the age or spirit of the time) is the intellectual fashion or dominant school of thought which typifies and influences the culture of a period’.

A great example of this is if we look at Alice in Wonderland, created by Photographer Lewis Carroll, the pen name for Charles Lutwidge Dodgson.  The story has been recreated many times over by many, in many different formats. From illustrations, films, to video games.

When Tenniel first illustrated Alice in 1865 he created a quite fearsome character with some use of childhood but an older version of what was to come later.  His illustration was black and white and quite dark in thought.

Racham created a more child like character in 1907, which appeared to be more settled, as was Britain. The print is more sophisticated with some colour but still fairly limited. The animals appeared more realistic that previously with Tenniel.

Moving on to the 1920’s/30’s, Jessie Wilcox Smith, added more blondeness to Alice, The character of the queen of hearts was more defined and more use of colour was used.

The Disney version of 1951, depicted a younger Alice, who is soft, smooth edged. Alice was created for a mass audience. The animation was flat and in fuller colour, which also had the softening effect. Sound was also included in this version and Alice had a softly spoken English accent.

Disney Version

In 1960 a version that reflected the drug culture of that period was created. There was an intense use of colour, which depicted free love, peace, etc. the distorted camera angle also linked to the cultural identity of the time.

Ralph Steadman of 1967 had a more edgy and politically mirroring business man for the Rabbit.

Steadman

Steadman

In 1988 Jan Svankmajer made a film, which was very influenced by eastern Europe. Having originated from Czechoslovakia created a very dark and political version. Very claustrophobic, it breaks down into a repressive film made by stop motion animation.

Alice the video game by American McGee is a very dark game in which Alice’s family is burnt in a fire and the twisted game commences. Alice is all grown up so is wonderland. Fairytale becomes a nightmare, toys became weapons and the insanity begins.

McGee Game version

In 2003 Annie Leibowitz did her photographic version for Vogue US. Bringing inspiration to the concept of photographs. Highlighting up and coming fashion in Paris, using the designer Helmut Lang and Christian Lacroix.

Annie Leibowitz - Vogue

Annie Leibowitz - Vogue

Annie Leibowitz - Vogue

Tim Burton depicted his version in 2010 with a lot of technology. His perception in every detail allowed his fantasy to be portrayed.

Tim Burton's Version of Alice

Delivery

The use of technology these days is immense with the use of I pads, websites, IPhones, android Apps, Blogs, Social Networking such as Facebook and Twitter. There is a whole world of delivery methods as well as the more traditional ones.

Whether it be illustration, graphics, animation, moving image or Photography, there is no doubt that it will show your work to its full, and communicate your delivery. With HD in most of these formats the clarity achieved is spectacular.

Delivery of the website, blog etc., is vitally important to show your work to its best. Using a sting to promote work is another great method.

There is also the use of T shirts, badges stickers, flick books, magazines, fanzines.

Kate Moross is a brilliant example of a designer delivering her work via tmblr,  T shirts, posters ,cards, Google mural, Twitter, shows etc.

With Social networking they constantly have to be updated as do blogs, websites and so on.

Kare Moross

Kate Moross

Sarah Coleman does a mixture of self-initiated and commercially led projects. Calling herself Inkymole illustration she can real off high profile clients such as, Wall Street Journal in New York, Playboy, Tiffany, Starbucks, Crayola, Toyota, Kellogg’s, Cadbury, Crabtree and Evelyn, Saatchi and Saatchi to mention a few.

There is no doubt that getting yourself noticed and Delivery of your Work is an Important way to progress and keep working, and finally be successful.

Sarah Coleman

Sarah Coleman

 Bibliography:

http://disney.go.com/disneyinsider/history/movies/alice-in-wonderland

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_in_Wonderland_(2010_film)

http://www.ralphsteadmanartcollection.com/collection-view.asp?collection_urn=2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_McGee's_Alice

http://www.katemoross.com

http://www.inkymole.com

ITAP LECTURE 6

Three Act Structure

Every Film has to have a beginning, middle and end, but not usually in that order.

The “three-act structure” of story telling and fiction writing is a very old maxim. It is widely adhered to in writing today. Whether it is poetry, poems, novels, comic books, short stories, video games and the movies. Conan Doyle, Shakespeare, Aesop, Aristotle, Hitchcock all used this theory. Hollywood and Broadway use it so well it is irrefutable.

It is a simple formula which has been proven to be valuable for any screenwriter. There are alternatives but they can shock and disappoint.

Act I – Setup (Beginning)

Act II – Confrontation (Middle)

Act III – Resolution (End)

The beginning is usually used to set the scene and to introduce the characters and the world they live, in order for the audience to relate with the characters and to get to know them before the journey of the story begins. The beginning is used to establish, define reason and logic of the story.

The middle section is the main section and the majority of the film where usually a problem/crisis is introduce.

However, it doesn’t always have to be a problem but the middle section contains the main event. And can contain a subplot to keep the audience hooked and not bored. The subplot is a minor story layered under the main narrative.

The end of the film is where the crisis or problem is resolved, the final confrontation.

in some cases the ending may be the problem solved, others it may not be a happy ending, then sometimes you are left on a cliffhanger to decide the ending for yourself.  This act is usually the shortest in length as quickly after the second turning point of the script, the main character is face to face with the villain, showdown ensues, then conclusion.

Developing Character

Hero or Villain?

Hero, (Protagonist) or Good Guy, is sometimes used to describe the protagonist of a story in modern film. The hero is usually an ordinary person in extra ordinary circumstances.  In some fiction and fantasy, the hero may have superhuman qualities, strength or endurance.

Marty McFly - Hero

Biff Tannen - villain 

The Villain (Antagonist) or Bad Guy, typically the foil to the hero, is typically a criminal, wrongdoer. Usually a cruel and malicious character and causes the hero an uphill battle of some kind.

There are always good characters and bad characters in films. This enables the audience to feel different the emotions

In the back to the future trilogy of Films, Marty McFly, Played by (Michael J Fox) is the protagonist. Whilst the antagonist is a Character called Biff Tannen and his grandson Griff Tannen, played by the same actor Thomas E Wilson.  He was a passive aggressive, criminal and the “real” bad guy. His insult choice was to call everyone “Butthead”. He would always mix up his metaphors and knock on someone’s head and say” Hello, anyone home”?

The film had 2 sequels, all Directed by Robert Zemekis is a cult film from 1985

The Doc and Marty

Bibliography:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_to_the_Future

http://backtothefuture.wikia.com/wiki/Doc's_perspective