MEDI 127 (Sound and Image Project Critical Evaluation)

Our Film ‘A pebble love story’ is a tragedy about, well, pebbles. The basic Idea was to have a stop motion animation where we used googly eyes and marker pens on pebbles to effect emotion on the pebbles. My particular inspiration for this came from a picture where people had put faces on fruit and made a story out of them, the way this was done made it very emotive and I thought If we followed a similar tack we would be fairly successful in our aims.

However the actualities of filming were very different. We had very limited equipment as there were no tripods available in the hub and all the best cameras had been taken.  Also trying to hold a camera steady in the wind is a tricky thing to so it’s not quite stop motion. Also we couldn’t use markers to draw faces on as it would not have been logistically possible since for the most part it was raining....

The actual filming took place on location at a beach and it was freezing cold and also very windy. This made sound recording hard since the wind distorted the sounds and they are nowhere near as crisp as we would have liked. The pebbles ‘voices’ however were recorded later and sound much better. 

We had the idea of making little squeaky kind of noises to add to the comedic effect of the piece, as without the humour it is fairly sad.  The ‘voice’ noises worked in achieving a comedic effect I feel and in particular made the ‘pebble sex’ scene funnier. Originally we were toying with the idea of having sounds of pebbles hitting one another or making some form of cheesy 80’s porno sound track for it but I think what we went with was funnier.

It’s not as good as I would have hoped and next time I would like to have had better and more equipment. It would have been nicer with a warmer place to film but the location and the weather add so much to the film I feel as the grey and cold looking beach adds to the sombre tone that we wished to create.

MEDI 118 (Critical Evaluation)

Critical Evaluation:

My Film is an adventure film that explores fantasy and reality from the views of a role player.  It is light hearted and playful with the switch between character and person. It focuses centrally around one battle and in specific an interaction between two friends.

The storyboard is not as complete as I would have liked it to be because I couldn’t find photos to fit all the scenes. I used this method originally to compensate for the fact that I feel I am bad at drawing. However I think given the end result of this method I may try and improve my sketching for the next story board I work on. Also maybe I shall experiment with different techniques so that I have a wider range of story boarding options. Alternatively I would try and organise a photo shoot but since this is such a complex film storyboarding it for anyone without a considerable amount of sketching skill would be hard.

The Script I am quite happy with and although it had its teething problems it eventually worked out ok. I feel I have found a style that is comfortable for me and easy to understand. I feel that I have covered and conveyed the story successfully by this and that the story board only adds a feel for the colour of the film and not the description or action.

Considering I’m more practised with storyboards than scripts I am a little surprised at how this turned out. However I feel it was valuable to experiment with the technique I used for story boarding since it has let me explore new ways of approaching it.

My idea hasn’t been inspired by anything other than LARPing or Live Action Role Play itself, which I think is a plus point as this makes for a somewhat original movie. I am pleased with the overall idea of it however given more time I would have expanded on the ‘it wasn’t really real’ theme and maybe have polished or rounded it off a little better, perhaps even developing it further.

I have consistently developed my story up to a script level and the end result is I think a true reflection of the story but has been made a little more interesting.  Given more time I feel I would have fleshed out the plot perhaps a little better and also expanded upon the story taking it farther than one encounter.

I have included character descriptions in the script as I felt it would make the script as a whole easier to follow, having already been given a background on the characters, also I feel it helps set the scene and to the readers ability to picture the battle knowing what people are dressed like and armed with.

The actual use of pictures from the events in the storyboard I think helps as it is showing you what it looks like there and would help the costume and location be replicated. I would maybe next time for the models use actors and that way ensuring that I get the facial expressions I want.

I have enjoyed this project but would have liked more time to explore different techniques and methods.

MEDI 127 (Ideas for the film)

Our group for 111 has decided to make a film that is a love story between pebbles. My particular inspiration for this came from a picture where people had put faces on fruit and made a story out of them. We aim to do the same thing in stop motion. Here is the image that inspired me and helped me think about giving them faces. I feel If we do do something like this it would be very effective since it is still very emotive despite them being fruit.

In retrospect though because we used googly eyes the film turned out more like anouther funny fruit series that I have seen and also is reminicent of a new childrens program.

MEDI 118 (Script)

Script:

Characters:

FIONN/GIRL
Plump and short, dressed in a fur vest top and baggy trouser/shorts with red tartan sash at waist, armed with a long stick.

ERIC
Skinny and tall, dressed in green tartan kilt and white top with sleeves ripped off. He is armed with a two handed axe and a pair of short swords.

MAN
Fairly average build and height, dressed in a blue tartan kilt and a black top. He is armed with a sword.

WIDE FIELD – Midday

Opens to a mass of people, focus is on main character fighting her way through the battle dodging to not be hit.

The music of an epic and fantasy-style nature and is also fairly fast paced to match the battle there is also the woodland and battle sounds.

Main character is of a larger than average build yet seems to notice the physical exertion of her running. She is absorbed and concentration on what she is doing intently.

 She is searching for something.

The camera dips violently to match her as it pulls back up with her dragging a man in a tartan kilt up off the ground.

She gets the man to his feet and places her hand on his chest and chants as she drags him back.

FIONN
By the grace of Bronwyn I cure your wounds

 She chants this around four times.

Once they are out of the battle a little way she stops and he gets to his feet; thanks her and heads back into the battle.

Close up of her face with an expression of slight sadness and guilt.

Music softens and calms yet retains a fantasy feel.

Panning shot from her POV of vast rolling green fields broken here and there by trees and also a lake in the distance. 

You can hear her sigh in a contented manner but then the camera snaps back to look at the battle and again panning shot in her POV.

Eric walks up panting and puffing. 

ERIC
I think you better look at this Fionn, it feels broken

He flops his left arm at her to further show her it’s broken.  Dangling it like it’s jelly.

The girl walks up to and places her hand on him mumbling a few words and then nods.

FIONN
Sorry Eric... All healers low on power have been given the order to save it for fatal wounds... I only really have about two shots left.

 She has a look of extreme guilt and shrugs when she says this.

However she then picks up a booklet looking thing from around her neck and opens it to show him two blue cards and a load of others ripped halfway up.

He nods with an understanding expression.

She looks for a moment at his two handed axe and frowns.

FIONN
Your arms broken so you can’t use it. Take my stick and I will swap you your short swords, you can have more range that way.

She wiggles her left hip towards him where the stick in a leather holder. He does so. 

He looks shocked when she very quickly unsheathes both short swords faster than he could react too.

The fantasy music stops and all you can hear is the actual sound around them.

She sticks her finger in the air and he follows suit. She leans in and speaks very softly.

FIONN
I’m really bored and I want to hit go hit things, Fionn has had enough she can be angry now she’s not much use as a healer anymore.

They then put their fingers down and each nod and dart into the battle in separate directions.

Music starts again.

Close up of her face smiling.

Wobbles into a campfire at night, in a dream sequence manner.

Fionn is singing round a campfire and drinking. Many others round it.

The music now is her singing and the popping of the fire, talking of people around it and forest night sounds.

Ends on a mid shot of the fire.

MEDI 126 (Media Cultures - Presentation)

RUDOLF SCHWARZKOGLER

Background:

He saw his life as a priesthood with an artistic articulation"- Heinz Cibulka about Schwarzkogler

•  Rudolf Schwarzkogler was an Austrian performance artist closely associated with the Viennese Actionism group that included artists Günter Brus, Otto Mühl, and Hermann Nitsch. 
  

•  He is best known today for photographs depicting his series of closely controlled "Aktionen" featuring such iconography as a dead fish, a dead chicken, bare light bulbs, coloured liquids, bound objects, and a man wrapped in gauze. The enduring themes of Scwarzkogler's works involved experience of pain and mutilation, often in an incongruous clinical context, such as 3rd Aktion (1965) in which a patient's head enswathed in bandages is being pierced by what appears to be a corkscrew, producing a bloodstain under the bandages. They reflect a message of despair at the disappointments and hurtfulness of the world.
  

•  There is a myth that Schwarzkogler died by slicing off his penis during a performance. (The castration themes in some of his aktions — for example, in Aktion 2 he posed with a sliced open fish covering his groin — may have helped to fuel this myth. Ironically, the protagonist of this aktion was not even Schwarzkogler himself but rather a friend and model by the name of Hans Cibulka.)
  

• In reality Schwarzkogler died when he either fell or leapt from a window, possibly with the desire to emulate Yves Klein's 'Leap into the Void'
  

His influences:

• The Grand Guignol as a possibility? - From its opening in 1897 until its closing in 1962, specialized in naturalistic horror shows. The name is often used as a general term for graphic, amoral horror entertainment. –Since it is suggested that his works were not actual harm but more elaborate stage shows that were faked
  

• The theatre, who's actors were primarily homeless people, street criminals and prostitutes, specialised in recreating graphic scenes of disembowelment using nothing other than exceptionally well conducted live effects.
  

• The Grande Guignol closed its doors for the last time in 1962, shortly before Rudolf gained notoriety for his work. Also he himself visited it as a child and one scene bares remarkable resemblance to his works.

Possible links to Jewish death camps (AKTION):

• The term Aktion Reinhard was the code name for the extermination of Polish Jewry in the Generalgouvernement during the years 1942 and 1943. It should be noted that there were many different variations of this term, including Einsatz Reinhardt, Sondereinsatz Reinhardt, and Aktion Reinhard.

• Rudolf himself sighted the holocaust as one of his primary influences.

In depth look at the ‘Crystals and Fish’ performance:

• Along with Günter Brus and Hermann Nitsch, Schwarzkogler was among the leading artists associated with Vienna Actionism, a movement centred around anarchic, often violent and sexually charged performances that flouted the repressive socio-political conventions of post-war Austrian culture.
  

•  Hochzeit, the first of Schwarzkogler's actions, was performed on February 6, 1965, for a handful of friends and the camera (all of his subsequent actions were performed exclusively for the camera).
  

•  Standing before a table covered with a white tablecloth and accompanied by Gregorian chants, Schwarzkogler played the role of shaman/priest/alchemist, performing his private ritual with dead fish, a dead chicken, various animal organs, eggs, coloured liquids, a knife, and scissors.

Herman Nitsch’s background:

• In 1957, Hermann Nitsch’s idea for a radical theatre was conceived, which he called the Orgien Mysterien Theater. The O.M. Theatre took its shape from ideas about Aristotelian catharsis, Freudian psychology, conventional theatre, and Dionysic orgy. It is an attempt to create a Gesamtkunstwerk, a ’total art’, or mystical experience that involves all the senses. 
  

• The first performances of the O. M. Theatre consisted of Hermann Nitsch and friends using animal carcasses, entrails, and blood in a ritualistic way. The cloths, bandages and other fabrics used in these performances introduced Nitsch to the idea of making paintings. 1960 saw the first exhibition of his 'Aktion' paintings in Vienna. In the mid-60's Nitsch’s theatre pieces were also performed in Vienna. 

Collaboration: Nitsch + Rudolf:

•  Not only did Nitsch and Rudolf collaborate but also in the Vienna Actionists were Gunter Brus and Otto Muehl. 
  

• This groups work all has the same shocking themes and even common styles can be seen between them. Between them they made movies and art and gave performances that were then photographed with those photo graphs becoming art in their own right.

Artists from the 1960’s and how they compare and contrast:

•  Gustav Metzger -led a movement in the 60's called the auto destructive art movement
  

•  This could have been either as a result of / in inspiration to or just the same school of thought as Rudolf. 
  

•  They bare similar themes of destruction and although Metzger's work is not as shocking it carries the same destructive and anarchic feel.

Artists from the 1960’s and how they compare and contrast: 

•  Roy Lichtenstein (October27, 1923 -September 29, 1997) 
  

• A very light hearted artist, prolific with pop art and reflecting popular culture. Very outro-spective  as opposed to the strong contrast of Rudolf’s work.  

 Movements and music from the 1960’s and how they compare and contrast:

•  The ‘New Age’ movement - characterized by an individual approach to spiritual practices and philosophies, and the rejection of religious doctrine and dogma.
  

•  The Hippy movement –basically just expanded upon the new age movement turning it into a specific subculture.  
  

•  Psychedelic rock -is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among garage and folk rock bands in Britain and the United States.

Chris Burdens –The links of destructive performance: 

• Chris Burden filmed himself being shot with his own gun. 
  

• This work ties in with the aspect of the shocking destructive performance.
  

•  Rudolf's work was influential to this. 

Link to his video "Shoot"

What Schwarzkogler wants the viewer to experience:... 

• His work was, in the 1960’s, part of the Vienna actionist movement, and although he was the least publicised at the time, his work was just as interesting in the context of art then. The Americans were beginning to look at consumerist culture, commenting on the economy and broadening the spectrum of fine art into graphics, typography and illustration. His work, by contrast, is focused internally, on what it is to be human rather than what humans create around them. 
  

• In the modern day Schzarzkogler’s pieces still invoke a sense of horror and invite you to recoil, but with Damien Hirst displaying dissected animals we are becoming accustomed to facing death and horror in contemporary artwork. Perhaps his work would not be as affective or controversial now, or maybe art has come full circle and now Artists like Hirst are finding new ways of furthering his concepts.

My  interpretation:

• When I first saw the pictures I was gripped. They are compelling a nasty way. The sort of ‘cant take your eyes off’ reaction of a car crash. 
  

• Also it sickened me because originally we thought that he had actually done these things for real and taken pictures of them. 

• Research however seems to indicate that it is staged which is both a relief and a let down. 
  

•  It takes away some of the shock factor that was at first so compelling for me. I still however think the images are very unsettling.

Conclusion: 

•  Artists have defined the experience of Art as the ‘act of looking’, the emotional state induced by visual/auditory stimulus and the disruption seeded by causing debate and argument. 
  

•  Schwarzkogler’s work certainly encompasses all of these elements and as such is a good example of mid-late 20th century fine art. The experience of art work has changed since the early 90’s, leaving the gallery space and branching into our day-to-day lives; in some ways Schwarzkogler’s work pre-empts this. 
  

•  In all but his first performance piece he performed for no one but the camera, his environment totally controlled and only guessed at by the art critics and observers.
  

• He used this medium of presentation to limit the experience and focus the mind on the subject matter and the process instead of the locale of the work. 
  

• This lends it a timeless and consistently ‘real’ feel that stimulates even the most placid mind that happens to gaze upon his explorations of masochism, death, brutality and morality within the human condition.

(This is the text and images from my groups presentation. I have left out some images and information I didn't deem apropriate however.)

MEDI 118 (Story Breakdown)

Personal story action / event breakdown:

Opens to a mass of people, focus is on main character fighting her way through the battle dodging to not be hit. Main character is of a larger than average build yet seems to notice the physical exertion of her running.  She is searching for something
The camera dips violently to match her as it pulls back up with her dragging a man in a tartan kilt up off the ground.

She gets the man to his feet and places her hand on his chest and chants as she drags him back. “By the grace of Bronwyn I cure your wounds” She chants this around four times.  One they are out of the battle a little way she stops and he gets to his feet; thanks her and heads back into the battle, close up of her face with an expression of slight sadness and guilt.

Panning shot from her POV of vast rolling green fields broken here and there by trees and also a lake in the distance.  You can hear her sigh in a contented manner but then the camera snaps back to look at the battle and again panning shot in her POV.

A Skinny man in a white shirt with the sleeves ripped off and his arms covered in a spiralling woad pattern walks up panting and puffing.  “I think you better look at this Fionn, it feels broken” He flops his left arm at her to further show her it’s broken. 

The girl walks up to and places her hand on him mumbling a few words and then nods.  “Sorry Eric... All healers low on power have been given the order to save it for fatal wounds... I only really have about two shots left.”   She has a look of extreme guilt and shrugs when she says this. However she then picks up a booklet looking thing from around her neck and opens it to show him two blue cards and a load of others ripped halfway up. He nods with an understanding expression.

She looks for a moment at his two handed axe and frowns.
“Your arms broken so you can’t use it. Take my stick and I will swap you your short swords, you can have more range that way.” She wiggles her left hip towards him where the stick in a leather holder. He does so. 
He looks shocked when she very quickly unsheathes both short swords faster than he could react too.
She sticks her finger in the air and he follows suit. She leans in and says “I’m really bored and I want to hit go hit things, Fionn has had enough she can be angry now she’s not much use as a healer anymore. “ 
They then put their fingers down and each nod and dart into the battle in separate directions.
Close up of her face smiling.

Ends on a dream type sequence / thought bubble of her at a campfire at night laughing and drinking. 

Note: Music is very fantasy-like apart from where they have fingers in the air.

Note: The weapons are latex throughout.  

MEDI 127 (Black and White Photography Critical Evaluation)

Critical Evaluation:

For my black and white photography project I eventually chose to go with a theme on my experiences of Plymouth and although I had a lot of ideas I wanted to do none were feasible due to technical errors. The first idea I had was to focus on the struggle or balance of nature and manmade but there is also manmade nature to consider in this and although I wasn’t able to cover it in the detail I wanted it is still prevalent in my work as a whole. The second idea I had was based on lyrics from a song and in specific “Hear the call of your ancestors of blood and bone, of womb and tomb and standing stone” It’s a very haunting song and one that I like and I have written in my workbook was all shot on the film that didn’t develop with a pregnant friend of mine even offering her belly as the’ womb’ and I do have the particular shot that I wished to represent the standing stones although the enlarger didn’t seem to work for me and it kept going blurry as I enlarged. It was gutting when the film didn’t develop because all of my best ideas were on it. Also I had the idea of doing a photo series all about my ‘pet skull’ Marv.  I took a lot of shots with him in funny and odd places around Plymouth. Sadly of all my ideas fell through however I am overall pleased with the shots I have. I have never used a wet dark room before and due to the printer in dry dark room breaking I have had to use the wet dark room for nearly all of my prints. Also no one actually showed us how to use the wet dark room so I’m really pleased I actually got any prints at all. I would like to have a better grasp of all the technical equipment and I do still feel like a novice but I feel I have done very well considering I have no prior experience in anything like this before.  I should really in hindsight have shot much more film. I’m pleased mostly with the compositions of my shots but there is always room for improvement. I have enjoyed using the SLR cameras and feel that I have picked them up fairly quickly. Overall I have enjoyed this project but think that with a better grasp of the equipment involved I could have done better. Most of the pictures had an average exposure time ranging form about twelve to fifteen minuets and also the black and white filtration of the pictures ranged from three to around four. I feel this project went well but I need more technical awareness of the apparatus I also need to ensure I have enough film to shoot my ideas again if the film doesn’t develop, as stated in my workbook I believe the issues to have been camera side but there is no way of knowing.

MEDI 114 (Subverting Image: Critical Evaluation)

Critical Evaluation:

We chose to focus in specific on the weight issue within the modelling and celebrity world. We did extensive research on our subject and collated it into a presentation. I started off the project with researching ‘Twiggy’ because her appearance in the fashion industry not only changed the way fashion lovers imagine a perfect model, but it also changed the general understanding of how  a woman, should look like; replacing the curvy pin up girl with a thinner look. This spiralled vastly out of control and as a result the media and especially the modelling industry is rife with eating disordered and has sparked a very startling trend of anorexia with many young girls making ‘Thinsperation’ videos and aspiring to be like models and celebs. The question of how thin is too thin has been prevalent since Kate Moss made her modelling debut 20 years ago, ushering in an era of "heroin chic." In 2006, at least two models died from complications linked to eating disorders, which prompted some in Europe to try to ban skinny models from the runway. Kate Moss herself is cited to encourage the skinny trend coining and using a new ‘buzzword’ of ‘rexy’ a combination of anorexic and sexy as a positive affirmation of how thin her and her friends look. Other models and celebs yet still follow this trend with increasing fervour, with many teen models confessing that they starve themselves, purge or use diet pills. We had a huge amount of ideas including having models peeling off their skin to symbolise that she is losing herself in the quest to be thin. Also we had ideas such as an Image of a model with bones exposed –to emphasize upon the thin look being unhealthy. There were also some ideas we had that we dismissed fairly quickly like having a mass production line of models and photoshoping their heads on Barbies but we wanted to focus on anorexia. We did produce our idea of photo shopping Victoria Beckam into the picture of Venus and although the image looks really good we feared that it may be pitched over the heads of the general public, the image can really be viewed and interpreted in one of two ways. The way we did not want it interpreted was in a positive light that we feared was all too easy to do. I think that it would require a vast amount of editing to make our point and even then I fear it may not. In the end we decided to go with an idea inspired mainly by the quotes "There is no torture that a woman would not endure to enhance her beauty” -Montagne. Our final idea is based on the quote “The resulting hallucination materializes for women as something all too real. No longer just an idea, it becomes three-dimensional, incorporating within itself how women live and how they do not live: it becomes the iron Maiden.” So we did a huge amount of research on said iron maiden and decided to combine it with an anorexic model for a very shocking image.  We could have possibly been more adventurous with Photoshop but I wouldn’t really change the image since it’s very shocking and proves its point. Our group all worked really well together and it was a pleasure to work with them, I really enjoyed this project.

MEDI 114 (Subverting Image: Final Image)

MEDI 111 (Black and White Photography)

Ok so the photo project isn’t going to badly, it could be going better but due to technical issues such as an entire film not developing and the dry dark room not working it’s not been as smooth as I would have liked.  So we shall start with the film that didn’t develop, it could have been for any reason that it didn’t however  I do think it may have been a small error camera side as opposed to actually developing the film. For that film I had a lot of good ideas and would have gotten a lot of good shots.

The Ideas: Basically I was sitting drinking tea (as I often do) when I noticed my ‘pet skull’ Marvin sitting on my desk. He was a Halloween decoration that I brought a few years back now and is just so full of character that he has never really been put away, he is also a firm favourite with my friends and frankly you need a skull on your desk in case the urge to quote Shakespeare takes you!  So anyway I had the idea to take Marv out and have a photo shoot with him, placing him in trees and on pavements as sort of an account of his wild adventures in Plymouth. Sadly only one of these photos was on the reel that developed. The print came out really well in my opinion too. 
Idea two came to me in a very odd way. I already have the print of the ‘tomb’ that I simply adore because of its ambiguity and a song went through my head all day during the shoot. It’s called ‘Caldron Born’ by Damh the Bard and the main line that was going through my head all day was “Hear the call of our ancestors of blood and bone, of womb and tomb and standing stone” I already had the shots of the ‘tomb’ and there were plenty of nice ‘standing stones’ in Plymouth that I would have had really nice shots of if they had of developed. The main thing I wondered about was what I could use for the ‘womb’ of the piece. It was at that exact time that my pregnant friend just happened to bump into me! What better way to showcase a womb than a pregnant belly? She agreed to let me take pictures and it’s a huge shame that the film didn’t develop because she would have loved some prints for herself. I’m not to heartbroken I couldn’t go with this idea though since it’s always a reserve and I’m not entirely sure it fits the brief.

Main Idea now: I have some nice and fairly nature based pictures of Plymouth. I have decided to follow the original take on the brief and just make it about the personal way that I view and experience Plymouth. This obviously includes some of my prior ideas of mysticism, spirituality and ambiguity because that is the way I perceive things and part of what makes me who I am, also included is contrast between manmade and the natural world because that’s something I consider important.

Technical side of things: It’s really soul destroying when films don’t develop so that has been a massive down point for me. However seeing my prints turn out fine has been a huge thrill. Especially so in the wet dark room because no one has shown us how to use it really, I’m proud that I have been able to print in there and using it has been immensely fun! Seeing the prints show up after you have exposed them is just so incredibly satisfying and although it’s a very lengthy process it’s well worth it to see your prints appear like magic on the paper. 

MEDI 114 (Subverting Images: The Presentation)

Subverting Images

Representation of women in the media

Origins:

• A lot of our group for the prior project did work based on Twiggy.
• She was the first model to start off the skinny craze
• She is naturally this thin however nowadays most models go to great lengths to emulate this 

 The thin model debate:

•  As a new model at 15, Coco Rocha said she went to Singapore and lost 10 pounds in six weeks. When she returned to the U.S. she was so obsessed with food, she beat herself up over eating an apple.
• "I'll never forget the piece of advice I got from people in the industry when they saw my new body," she wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "They said, 'You need to lose more weight. The look this year is anorexia. We don't want you to be anorexic but that's what we want you to look like."
  
• Rocha is one of the few models to speak out about the issue, even as ultra-thin models find their way into pro-anorexia "Thinspiration" videos. The question isn't just about model health; it's about who will win the hearts and minds of the teenagers and young girls who look up to them.
• "Thin is going to be the ruling look until someone says, 'I want voluptuous,'" said Fish. "I don't know if that ever is going to come back."

 Ideas we had…

We had a lot of initial ideas about what to do. None of us liked the way women are portrayed in the media and found some shocking things when researching into the subject. Our Ideas are as follows:

•  Image of a model with bones exposed –to emphasize upon the thin look being unhealthy.
•  Image of a model in an out of context house wife situation –to show the unrealistic idea of beauty and irrelevance in day to day life.
• Image of a model peeling  layers of her skin away –to show that she is loosing herself in the quest for perfection.
•  Birth of Venus idea –To show the changing attitudes towards beauty.
•  The Iron maiden idea –which is the one we finally picked.   

Venus in detail:

•  For a long time we toyed with the idea of using the Birth of Venus as a basis for subversion.
• The Birth of Venus depicts a fairly curvy healthy looking woman that was obviously the idea of ideal beauty in that time.
•  We chose to pick a famous thin person that was iconized as perfect by the media and settled on Victoria Beckham
•  Although the image itself is good we were worried that it might not reflect the statement we wanted to make and may be pitched over the heads of some of the general public.
•  Although its good its just not shocking enough.  

Back to phase one:

•  We then had to pick a new idea and direction.
•  We did some more research and came up with the idea that it is torture for most women to achieve a skinny body.
• We found that anorexia and problems related to it were very common in the modeling world and also in the world at large with extreme cases of diets leaving women brain damaged
•  Women world wide are literally DYING to be thin.
•  "There is no torture that a woman would not endure to enhance her beauty” –Montagne   

Our final Idea:

• Our final idea is based on the quote “The resulting hallucination* materializes for women as something all to real. No longer just an idea, it becomes three-dimensional, incorporating within itself how women live and how they do not live: it becomes the iron Maiden”
•  * the beauty stereotype promoted by media = a hallucination
•  So we decided to use the iron maiden as we liked its imagery and symbolism. 

The Iron maiden:

• An iron maiden is a torture device, usually an iron cabinet, with a hinged front. It has a small closable opening so that the torturer can interrogate the victim and torture or kill a person by piercing the body with sharp objects (such as knives, spikes or nails), while he or she is forced to remain standing.
•  The condemned would bleed profusely and weaken slowly, eventually dying because of blood loss, or perhaps asphyxiation. It would be a very slow horrible death!
•  They were often used for religious conversion torture and we liked the metaphor of this since being thin is fast become religion like in and of itself with a very fanatical following. 

The final Image:

• The way it is styled looks slightly like a motivational poster and we liked this idea.
• We added the words “Dying to be thin?” as an extra statement
• We think it would work without the words but wanted to make it have that much more of  an impact.
• The model we used is an anorexic girl that is not a celebrity. We chose a normal person for the shock factor that this could be anyone however we feel its clear she is a model
• We also decided to crop the picture and open the iron maiden to draw the focus primarily towards the spikes.   

That is all the content of my groups presentation.

MEDI 114 (Subverting Images)

I started of the project with researching ‘Twiggy’ because her appearance in the fashion industry not only changed the way fashion lovers imagine a perfect model, but it also changed the general understanding of how a girl, or a woman, should look like; replacing the curvy pin up girl with a thinner look. This spiralled vastly out of control and as a result the media and especially the modelling industry is rife with eating disordered and has sparked a very startling trend of anorexia with many young girls making ‘Thinsperation’ videos and aspiring to be like models and celebs.
The question of how thin is too thin has been prevalent since Kate Moss made her modeling debut 20 years ago, ushering in an era of "heroin chic." In 2006, at least two models died from complications linked to eating disorders, which prompted some in Europe to try to ban skinny models from the runway. Kate Moss herself is cited to encourage the skinny trend coining and using a new ‘buzzword’ of ‘rexy’ a combination of anorexic and sexy as a positive affirmation of how thin her and her friends look. Other models and celebs yet still follow this trend with increasing fervor, with many teen models confessing that they starve themselves, purge or use diet pills.

Some examples of thinsperation videos:
Thinsperation pretty in pain
Thinsperation -Perfect

MEDI 118 (Personal Story)

 The Reason:

I have chosen to write the personal story based on one of my hobbies. This hobby is called Live Action Role Play or LARP for short. It’s a mixture of Role Play and fighting that instead of being a computer game or paper based RP such as D+D happens in the flesh, in real time, often in costume! It uses foam and latex weaponry and spell cards as the basis of a combat system and although it may be viewed as dorky its great fun. It’s also a very good work out as it’s so immersive you often don’t realise all you have been doing is running around a field all weekend. The reason it appeals to me as a hobby and that I have chosen to write about it is because I am by nature an escapist and I love fantasy with a passion. Also LARP is very personal as some of my closest friends have been made at events, fighting side by side and having to depend on one anouther forms very close friendships being often more like a family. In short, I just think its awsome and very much a part of me!

The Story:

There were fierce screams filling the air as she ran through the lines. Part of her hated running and it was a rare sight to see but here things were different, here lives depended on her running.  She saw a flash of a tartan that she recognised and dipped in to grab the body.
“I’m going to drag you now, it’s going to be fine” She helped the man to his feet. He was a friend of hers and she placed her hand upon his chest and began to sooth his wounds, his chest was badly damaged but at least now he was out of enemy lines. She knew once he was on his feet he would return to ensuing maw but this was always the way it was. It was as he wandered off and she scanned the field for more of the fallen that one of her closest friends swaggered up looking war torn.
“I think you better look at this Fionn, it feels broken” The kilted man flopped his left arm in her general direction. She checked him for wounds and sure enough the arm was in a bad way but it wasn’t fatal and although it hurt to turn her friend down the battle orders were clear.
“Sorry Eric... All healers low on power have been given the order to save it for fatal wounds... I only really have about two shots left.”   She thumbed through an odd looking necklace and he nodded. He couldn’t wield his two handed axe so she instructed him to take the stick she had at her side and grabbed his pair of short swords unsheathing them very quickly.
“Can you actually use them lass?” He was a bit taken aback at the sudden weapon swap.  She chuckled at him and explained that of course she could use them. She was a dual wielder and used to use two short swords before they were stolen by raiding Drow, he nodded; she had told him before when they swapped their life stories. Sticking one finger in the air she leaned in a little closer to him.
“Plus I’m really bored and I want to hit go hit things, Fionn has had enough she can be angry now she’s not much use as a healer anymore. “ After she had finished speaking their fingers were lowered. They exchanged nods, darting their separate ways into the fray. Later she would drink and sing around the fire with all her friends but right now both parts of her brain just wanted to join the scrap.

MEDI 111 (Black and White Photography)

For my black and white photo project I have decided to base my prints around the idea of the balance or struggle between city and nature in Plymouth and also to a certain extent the balance of old and new.  I’d also like to incorporate some elements of mysticism and my own personal spirituality. The print I have developed already I feel captures this. I’d like to focus on landscapes more than anything as I would like to have a nice selection of nature shots and intermingled trees and cityscape to choose from. As much as I can I want the places I photograph to be fairly ambiguous and magical looking so that they will hold interest and spark the imagination of the people viewing them.

MEDI 114 (Photo Shoping)

In our photoshop workshop we have been learning some nifty tricks in photoshop so I thought I would apply this in making myself a new profile picture for facebook. Now since my net nickname is often 'Nights-flame' I thought I'd make it flame based so I took some stock images from google of fire and merged them together till I was happy with the results. So here is the resulting pic. I'm pretty happy with it you can still see me behind all the fire. I have chosen to have the colours contrast fairly sharply.

MEDI 127 (Black and White Photography)

Ok so we have been producing black and white photos. We all had to use an SLR camera and a 400 film. Taking the photos proved harder than I had thought by far since you have things aperture, shutter spead and exposure to consider. The actual photoshoot was very fun. Developing the film in the soloutions and putting the film on a spool in the pitch black is something I have never done before and despite a few hicups I still very much enjoyed it and it was a thrill to see my negatives developed (even though some of the film didn't) But the enlarging of the negatives in the dark room has been very enjoyable. They were printed in a dry dark room with a 14 secound exposure. Also the red filter used for the pictures of the tree was a 3 which is why its not as sharp as the 'tomb' because the red filter was a 4. Its rewarding to have a tangable print in my hand especially after so much painstaking work to get to this stage. I very much enjoy black and white photograpy. I'm going to post up my pictures. They are poor quality as I have taken them with a web cam but I still like them. (They are black and white the colour effect is the result of the webcam)

MEDI 114 (Iconic Image)

So we were asked to find an iconic image that represented something we hated and me being very anti the Medias current portrayal of women decided to pick a photo of twiggy since she was one of the original ‘pioneers’ of the skinny look. I also did a little research into my topic and found some links. The Medias portrayal of women over all is very demeaning and the idea of a ‘perfect’ woman seems to be thin with huge breasts, which are both dangerous and unrealistic. During my readings I also found some shocking things about eating disorders and the Media influences on them.

Here are the links:
E-zine: Battles Against Media's Idea of "The Perfect Woman"

"Sexy house wife"

Lies the Media tells us

WHERE ARE ALL THE FAT PEOPLE?- Lynne Murray

MEDI 118 (Personal Picture)

For my personal image I have chosen one of my favourite photos that I have taken. It is personal because it’s my work and one that I am very fond of. The picture itself is obviously of mushrooms in an autumnal forest area but there is a wealth of connotations to be drawn from it. My own personal attachments however may vary from someone else’s in the fact that everyone infers different things from pictures. For instance all the autumn leaves to some people could mean coldness as some may find autumn a very bleak time of year. I however am very fond of the season and thus have a great sentimentality attached to it that perhaps maybe furthers in some way the fondness of this picture. Also the mushrooms themselves are sometimes considered horrible and pests by people but I think they are very remarkable in the fact that they grow and survive and are very persistent. I think however the browns and the rotting conkers evoke a feeling of decay that is a sharp contrast to new green shoots, this I think represents nature very well in its cycle of death and rebirth but maybe someone else would not infer that. The pattern of the mushrooms also adds depth to the shot.
I do think that most people would see in their minds a scene of bleakness from the colours and apparent chaos of the dead leaves and broken twigs.  But then others still could infer a sense of hope as the mushrooms are thriving in the apparently bleak autumn. 
Of course it’s hard to think of pictures connotations when it is personal to you and because everyone will infer something different based on their experiences.