20.02.11
Storytelling & Staging: My short film
Escape;

15.02.11
Practise using Windows Live Movie Maker
In my tutorial today Fabrizio said it would be ok to use whatever video editing program was easiest for us so I have made this very short piece on Movie Maker to practise. I don't have a mac and would like to be able to make my video on my own laptop so I have easier access to it so I think this is the program I'll use.
I took some quick photographs of the tortoise moving across my desk, uploaded them to movie maker and played around until I found how to change the duration each image is shown and sped the sequence right up to 0.50secs per slide. This is the finished 2 seconds of video!

14.02.11
Interesting collected items; Escapism short film
I went home this weekend and acquired some interesting items that I might use in my film. I have been researching animating objects and keep coming back to the idea of using these porcelain animals tying in with Lucy's collecting and imagery from my look book. My current idea is to use the figures as the protagonists for my film, they are escaping/looking for a safe place and could be seen in lots of different scenarios. Alternatively I could use them in one shot of the sequence but I am still undecided.
The piece of card with the heart cut out I think could also be useful, somehow...
Here are some other animals;




Sort of sweet looking yet depressing...

And a beaver with no face.

I also liberated this old suitcase from my parents loft after remembering this image I had collected of one being used as a puppet theatre. I thought it might be useful in the film in some way as it ties in with Lucy's style, my look book mood and something could escape from it/you escape on holiday when you pack a suitcase...

After looking at this website www.jellymongers.co.uk I have the urge to encase my porcelain animals in jelly and eat them free. I think they offer quite a good opportunity for a quirky, amusing yet slightly sinister film about escapism... acting things out through them? As i have blogged before,

'Could my film be lots of shots of animated objects 'escaping' and coming together at the end in some way to suggest a safe place or permanent home/environment?'

11.02.11
http://vimeo.com/19044038
I found one quite interesting video about Escapism called Curiouser by Michaela Lynch, she says the piece "explores the ideas of escapism through three different endings. While investigating what traps us, why we are miserable, why we want to escape." When i was watching it I didn't really feel escapism was being communicated to me, more the mundane of everyday and how it grinds you down. However visually I thought it was really attractive so have included some stills below. The one to the left was from the start of another film but I thought I would record it. Perhaps I might start my piece with a definition to set the tone?




I liked how the space fills up with boxes as the film goes on and reaches a denouement where everything becomes to much and she has to go to bed with the quilt over her head.



This film was just something I came across on stumbleupon.com, not really relevant, just a clever little film with interesting effects. And an interesting soundtrack.



I have included this film for its use of text in the video. It just something else I stumbled upon but I do really like it. The way the words illustrate the song and glide across the screen kind of draw you in to the music more.

11.02.11
Inanimate Animation
Ive collected some examples of pieces animating inanimate objects as I am really being drawn to working this way for my film. I feel like I want my piece to be of a handmade quality, to tie in with my look book and so it is of a form that represents its context, Lucy and her work. Use of collected found objects will also relate to Lucy. I think I want my short film to be playful and fun so it can interestingly deliver its message.

This piece uses PES sweets to create a fireworks display;



I really like the use of stop motion animation with these everyday objects, I think its probably the most effective way of plausibly making them move. The way the sock appears to be 'escaping' here is quite interesting and possibly the kind of scenario i want to create, just with a little more romance, not so everyday sock.



This piece was the most professional of the 3 here as each still is of photographic quality and scenes obviously well considered. Its a well made and amusing little video very apt for Valentines day! It also uses porcelain animals which I have considered for my film as I used them in my look book and Lucy collects them;



The start to this piece is completely what I would love to be able to do in my film (if only I knew how!) It incorporates paper cutting with the animation of objects as a butterfly shape flies out of the paper and around the house. The video wouldn't show on here but below is the youtube link;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOGJX79MTcs

11.02.11
Analysing my concept through moving image and staged scenes; Making my film.

I have never made a film before and am quite unsure about how to go about making one now. However afew weeks ago I had never made a book before and the ones I've tried turned out ok! My initial thoughts are that I hope to create a piece that is visually appealing and interesting around the concept of escape/escaping/escapism. Possibly bringing to life some of the imagery used in my Look Book.

After conducting some initial research starting with the links we were given this is the piece that particularly stuck in my mind; http://www.itsnicethat.com/





I think that's because its such a simple idea and such simple actions but somehow its engaging and interesting. Maybe I will use lots of different items filmed in brief shots for my film?

I would like my piece to be a bit more artistic and staged than this though I think, maybe more like Min Oh's work;

http://www.min-oh.net/
Min Oh describes herself as a storyteller. 'She makes stories about tension between two contradictory qualities - sweet but disturbing, naive but violent, rational but personal, unreasonable but somehow reasonable. The constantly conflict but never leave each other. Instead they keep a weird balance between them.'
I think her work shares some qualities with Lucy's in this way, the whole sinister undercurrent to some pieces when the work at first appears pretty and innocent. Min Oh also collects found items,

"She used to go to a field trip to find new friends: parts of a broken paper clip, a bicycle or handle of a door... Anything that was abandoned or overlooked said hi to her"

These stills are from an Min Oh film called 'Objects' she manipulates the different 'faces' of this plug to make it look like it is breathing and moving. Most of the work is done by the clever use of breathing sounds over the changing pictures. It is quite simple animation of an inanimate object but a powerful and interesting piece.

These stills are from another piece of hers called ' Monkeys butt is red'. We see one hand holding one children's word card throughout the film but every time it is turned over the word and picture has changed to go along with the song being sung over the top. It starts of quite sweet and naive, how you'd expect children's cards to read and then become more sinister, although quite amusing;

I quite like the idea of animating collected inanimate objects in my film. The phrase 'Lucy's safe place' was used by someone in my last tutorial to describe what they though my space for Lucy was going to be. I think this is quite interesting. Could my film be lots of short shots of animated objects 'escaping' and coming together in some way at the end to suggest a safe place or permanent home/environment?

09.02.11
I love book binding!
I really enjoyed making my Look book last week so thought I would keep practising what Lucy taught us in book binding tutorial and make a tiny Coptic stitch book. I love the plaiting effect you get on the spine with this technique. I made the little covers out of leftover grey card and covered them in red paper to go with the ribbon which I found in my room.

07.02.11

My Look book

My concertina style look book communicates a feeling/mood of escapism through 12 fold out pages stitched together from 4 sheets of A4 paper using dental floss. The covers are made from wood covered in floral fabric and dark leather. The word escape is spelt out, a pop out letter on every other page, throughout the book. The imagery used is quite abstract, I have photographed the pages in pairs to give a brief explanation of my choices and so the details can be seen more clearly;

I selected the first image to represent escapism in terms of nature space & freedom, getting away from it all like Lucy does when she goes away by herself, plus its a beautiful photograph. The second page is a hand written letter containing the phrase 'travel hundreds of miles' with a stamp in the corner. Lucy loves letter writing and it can certainly be seen as a form as escapism in the same way as reading.

The third page shows a bird escaping from a cage, a more literal representation that also conveys Lucy's style as she has used imagery of birds in her books. The forth page has the sheet music for 'Lucy locket lost her pocket' in the background as music can be an escape for some people and Lucy said sound was important to her. I also used that particular song with the image of a tiny porcelain kitten because Lucy collects these 'lost' items because she wants to give them a home.

The fifth page shows sewn on butterflies escaping from a patterned carpet bag and the words 'halfway through' as the next page is the centre of the piece. This sixth page is an image of a Victorian lady holding a tea tray transfered on to fabric with the hand stitched letters 'Cup of tea'. Lucy said tea breaks are very important to her while shes working, this is like a miniature escape and moment to relax and reflect so I have sewn a tea break in to the middle of my book.

The seventh page is also central in the book so continues the tea break with imagery I think relevant to Lucy and a tiny spoon, an interesting found object that I thought I would include! The eighth page is a watercolor study of a bird in flight over top of some text out of an old stained book.

The ninth page is an image I found really clever, a figure being embraced by a page of text. I have written around the figure 'escape in to the arms of a good book'. The tenth page is a cut out of a vintage bicycle. Transport is an oppurtunity for escape, you could hop on that bike and go anywhere...

The eleventh page shows two flying kites and the text 'Let go'. The final image is a tunnel of books that i though was really relevent and interesting. You could crawl down there and escape in to another world...

03.02.11
Escapism Imagery

After looking at Su Blackwell's work again I felt I had starting point for creating the right mood for my look book. I was inspired by her use of escaping birds and butterflies and began collecting together more imagery I felt in some way conveyed the same feeling. I tried to choose images that I also felt would relate to Lucy so that as well as communicating a mood I would be communicating her style.

Birds.

Bicycles.

Books.

Nature.

Letter writing.

Porcelain animals.

Tea.

Text.

Here are some of the other images I've collected, I'm not sure which ones will defiantly make it in to the book yet but seeing them all together in a sort of mood board will hopefully help me pick out the stronger imagery;

I still plan to make a concertina style book so that all the pages can be folded out and viewed together. I feel this is the best format to create a mood and give a sense of a 'journey' through the book with the pop out letters 'e' 's' 'c' 'a' 'p' 'e' taking you from the first page to the last....

03.02.11
Olafur Eliassons House
Artist Olafur Eliasson designed a laser cut rendering of his own house for a one of a kind book commisioned by the Museum of Modern Art in NYC. 'Your House' demonstates how new technologies make it possible to rethink our daily products and breaks boundaries by bringing paper making, paper cutting, laser technology and architecture together in a single book made from 454 individual pages.

I cant remember how I came across this piece on http://cubeme.com/blog/2007/07/24/your-house-laser-cut-art-book-by-olafur-eliasson/ but I thought the idea of mixing all the diffferent art/design forms with new technologies to 'rethink our daily products and break boundaries' was a very interesting concept.

Lucy makes books that challenge the traditional form and uses everyday products within her work in unconventinal ways, creating a narrative for them.

03.02.11
Su Blackwell
In my one of my first blog entries I wrote about paper cutting artist Su Blackwell, I returned to looking at her work again today whilst trying to decide what it is I want to communicate through my look book. I was considering expressing escapism as it is a theme relevant to Lucy, her work, her bibliotherapy and the nature of books in general, however I wasn't sure of the imagery I would use. Some of Su Blackwell's pieces, I feel, really express a feeling of escaping/escapism using forms such as butterflies and birds, there is a definite sense of freedom as well as the capturing of a precious moment, a theme also connected with Lucy's work. Here are some examples of Su Blackwell's work that I feel express escapism beautifully, subtly and through the medium of paper;

http://www.sublackwell.co.uk/

Whether its a butterfly or bird literally flying out from the piece or a story bursting to life out of a books page, creating a whole new miniature world, Su Blackwell's work expresses escapism beautifully.

This piece is also by Su Blackwell but is a change from her usual paper cutting, 'Safety pin birds', as the name suggests, are tiny sculptures of little birds made solely from safety pins. I was drawn to this piece because the birds are so tiny and delicate but then you look closer and realise what they are made from, sharp metal pins that completely contrast with the idea of a sweet little bird. It reminded me of how some of Lucy's work may deal with themes of childhood and use attractive imagery but there is sometimes a more adult undercurrent at play as well.

03.02.11
Just Stumbling
Whilst researching potential ideas for the theme of my look book I came across these interesting bookcases on www.stumbleupon.com and thought I would 'make a note' of of them as they may be useful for inspiration further along the design process. I think I was attracted to these particular designs because they are all very individual and playful, different to your average bookcase! I think this style suits Lucy as she and her work are very individual.

I think the fourth image along of the silhouette bookcase is really interesting and suited to the sort of space i might create for Lucy, it is simple and clean yet eye catching, playful and different

I love this chair! I was looking at vintage luggage previously as I thought it suited Lucys taste (and she carries all her books round in big wooden suitcase) this is a clever way of maybe encorporating that style/look in to my space.