Dance Film - Baby Driver

Jack and I have found that one of the most influential pieces of work for our dance video is the 2017 feature film 'Baby Driver' directed by Edgar Wright, the same director of the Mint Royale music video that we previously mentioned in our research. Baby Driver has been commented on its use of sound and music to compliment the action in the film so much so that it was nominated for best editing, best sound mixing and best sound editing at the 2018 Oscars. There are a number of scenes that we could choose to reference from this film but the two that stick out in particular are the opening scene and the sandwich making scene. In the opening scene we are met with Baby himself as he sits in a car, waiting for the rest of his team to rob a bank. Whilst he waits we hear the overlay of the song 'Bellbottoms' by The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion as Baby listens to it on his iPod. Baby then proceeds to move and bop to the beats of the tune. The whole sequence is a minimalistic dance piece that is captured in the small space of the front two seats of the car. Baby uses the devices around him to compliment the dance; He uses indicators, windscreen wipers and the horn to all help make his dance work and this is something that myself and Jack are trying to replicate in a sense. Baby does this again in the sandwich making scene. He uses the music playing through the stereo system as the baseline of making food for his disabled housemate. This scene is huge influence for what Jack and I actually want to create as the setting for this scene is in a kitchen which is the exact same location as us. It's given us lots of ideas about how we are able to move our dancer around a kitchen instead of just walking. 

360 Film - The Process

The 360 Film project has been a very eventful project to say the least. I started by partnering up with Jodie and we began to brainstorm ideas for the project. I thought about possibly trying something similar to KickthePJ's 'Tiny Planet Explorer' as I liked the idea of possibly making it into a retro video game style of video. I spoke to John and some of my peers about the idea but it didn't seem practical enough with the time we had and John also said that he'd prefer if we had a 360 video where the viewer had to actually move themselves around to watch instead of bending the footage into a sphere. A week or so went by and Jodie came to me with the idea of taking the 360 camera to a local gig. We liked the idea the the practicality was achievable as the venue was close and we knew the band. Unfortunately once we got around to deciding a date to film on, it turned out that I had a doctors appointment back in my home town and wouldn't be able to make it to the gig so due to this impracticality myself and Jodie thought it would be best to break off and do our own individual projects. At this point I became quite worried and stressed as we had 2 weeks until the deadline and I'd had to start fresh. I spoke to my peers and John and Savina suggested that I do something which I enjoy and mentioned trying to do something with cooking which is a small hobby of mine. With a little bit of help we managed to sort an idea out for me which would be for me to 'host' my own 360 cooking show so I booked my equipment to pick up in two days time. Due to having other projects going on at the same time, all of which due on the same day, I couldn't find the time the following day to find Rosie and have her sign off my idea. This all meant that I had to find Rosie, get her to approve my idea, get her to sign me off, pick up the equipment and film all in the same day so I could return the kit the next day. As you can imagine, stress levels were through the roof but nevertheless I managed to pull it off (somehow). When filming I was supposed to have Jack and Jacob lend a helping hand but unfortunately they were caught up and couldn't make it meaning I had to sort the camera myself. The camera was easy enough to film but as it was something I've never used before I was worried that something would go wrong that I wouldn't know how to fix. Filming went fine and I thought the audio was okay too until I got to the edit.

When I got all of the footage onto the editing software the footage looked okay but had a few stitch lines. I tried my best to fix them but couldn't find anything in my notes and couldn't find any tutorial online which is a slip up on my part but in the end all I could do was align the vertical lines to give myself a perfectly straight video. It's a very poor excuse but I think due to having three and sometimes four projects to do all at once just mentally and physically drained me so in the edit I just didn't have enough time to make the changes I wanted to because the whole editing software was completely alien to me. The audio which I recorded separately on a radio mic ended up sounding blown out and because there was a washing machine on whilst I was filming that is all you could hear so the external audio was unusable. I went out of my way to have graphics made for the video but for the life of me I just couldn't remember how to make them stick in their place when turned into 360 mode. I'd even forgotten how to mask out the stand of the camera. My main worry is that it looks like my work looks lazy and I couldn't be bothered to try what we learnt in class which definitely isn't the case. I believe I just had too much to take on in such a short amount of time. To put it in simpler terms, I cracked under the pressure and forgot everything we'd learnt in class. In terms of the final product, yes technically it is a 360 cooking video but it's just a bit annoying when you plan to do it so differently to the final outcome. I am very disappointed in the outcome and in myself for not being able to achieve what I wanted but the only silver lining in this is that I need to make sure that I can manage my time better for future projects and to definitely not to take on so many projects that all have such short deadlines.

   

VFX - The Process

When starting this project there were a lot of ideas that I thought I could approach. I started by looking at very complex title sequences like 'Seven' and 'American Horror Story' but quickly found that it'd be too difficult. In lessons, Phil showed us some examples of work that we could achieve at our beginner level of visual effects. One that stood out to me in particular was the 'Catch Me If You Can' title sequence which had lots of straight shapes and animated characters moving across the screen. I liked the idea of trying to recreate this but after looking into the animation side of things it became clear that it was too difficult of a task for me so I had to think of something new. I was browsing different title sequences on the internet and came across one for '500 Days of Summer' which stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel. The title sequence stood out to me and gave me an idea to have a chalkboard and have the chalked text write itself on the board. 

I started by converting the text into a smart object, giving me the ability to move it about independently. After this I made a trim path (which essentially was the effect of the self-writing text) on the new text. I then had to set a marker at the beginning and end of the clip and change the amount accordingly. After all of this was done I was left with chalked text that wrote itself onto the chalkboard. For the actors credit I simply found an image that I liked and thought resembled their characters the film and painted the image completely white in Photoshop before importing it back into the After Effects project. When in After Effects I simply added a fade in for the images using the markers with the opacity tool and that was about it. 

Obviously I know that given more time I could've looked into more challenging tools and techniques but with my limited knowledge of After Effects already as well as my tight schedule to finish other projects on time, I feel this is the best I could produce. Given the opportunity again I would love to try something more challenging as After Effects is such an amazing software and gives users the ability to do almost anything.

Dance Film - Character Development

With this project, there are a lot of things that need to be thought about that isn't including the dance itself; One of which is costume. Myself and Jack spoke and between us agreed that for the video to be believable we need to have the character be believable too. For the choreography we have planned we know that having for example a builder do the dance just would not work as it doesn't fit the mood or the aesthetic of the film. Jack and I began by giving the character a name, we threw a few names about but decided on calling him and the production itself 'Earl'. We stuck with this name because of two reasons; One, it's known that Earl has stereotypically been used in the past as a name for a 'dorky' or 'nerdy' kind of individual. The second reason is because there is a type of tea called Earl & Grey which is just a subtle pun which we hope that some people may notice. After deciding on a name we started to handpick the costume one clothing piece at a time. We agreed that we wanted bright colours so that the viewers eyes would never sway away from the dancer. Jack was certain that he wanted an 80's style ringer top, much like a similar fashion sense to Napoleon Dynamite who was a heavy influence of character development for Earl. We also chose to have Earl wear 'Mom jeans' and colourful vibrant socks purely because we want him to have boring mannerisms when not dancing but once moving have his outfit suit him and his surroundings. After we sorted out the costume that we wanted, we got a mock up done of how Earl would actually look. We were both very happy with the outcome and are looking forward to begin filming.

Dance Film - Continued Research

Another video that Rachael showed to me in my tutorial was that of a clip from a film called Hot Rod starring Andy Samberg. In this scene, Sambergs character is in a forrest after being told he can't do what he has always loved and breaks out into a powerful, limb-flailing mob-like dance in the middle of the woods. The reason why this scene in the film is so funny and entertaining is because of its impulsiveness and unpredictability. The last thing we expect to see in a film about an amateur stunt performer is a footloose style dance in the middle of the woods. Another part of this scene that is very humorous is halfway through the dance, Rod (Andy Amberg) just trips and falls down a mound of mud but the falling/rolling is elongated so much that it just becomes very funny because of how steep the mound actually is. Watching this clip has made myself and Jack think that it would be a good idea to implement something like this in our own video. We think that because our dancer is going to be dancing to what's playing on their headphones, we could have a housemate try to ask them something, meaning that when George takes off his headphones the music will stop temporarily and as he puts them back on he is straight back into his routine in full force.

Continued Research for Dance Video

When having my tutorial, Rachael and I began discussing more examples of work that linked to mine and Jack's work. Rachael mentioned looking at at television advert by Florette called 'Bags of Feelgood' which focuses on the element of synchronisation in movement. The advert looks at a young couple preparing dinner for themselves and shows them doing movements like picking up & putting down, throwing & catching and getting out & putting away objects. This video helped out quite a lot as it's given myself and Jack an idea of how to approach the dance in a different way to what we originally planned if we decided to bring in more people to the dance. Obviously we know that the majority of the stunts performed in this advert were heavily relied on by After Effects as the odds of everything happening as we intended would be ridiculous odds. I think that possibly using after effects to help show a throw of an object would be manageable especially whilst we are still having the VFX lessons with Phil, I'm sure he would know how to help us with that if needed. 

Research - Comedy Portrayed Through Narrative

After discussing with Jack and furthering our research, Jack started showing me a different option for how we could approach the dance film. It began very clear that there are multiple ways to portray comedy and humour through film, one of which is through narrative. Jack found two videos in particular which really stood out for me, one being the music video for the Sundara Karma song 'A Young Understanding' and the other being the music video for Catfish and the Bottlemen's 'Hourglass'. In A Young Understanding there is a fine balance between the video being a spoof or a legitimate music video. It shows the band setting up in their location and the crew getting ready to shoot but there's a man in a purple shirt who keeps entering the background, not really knowing what's going on. This is the gag that makes people laugh whilst watching the music video but also uses the kind of elements that we want to implement into our own video. The use of popping colours, the use of subtle comedy and the ability to maintain focus on the main spectacle of the video whilst using comedy around them to make the video more entertaining. Admittedly this video takes a wild turn after the man gets ahold of the camera which is something we are not aiming to do but would definitely be open to trying something of a similar nature if we had a budget and and were briefed to do that. 

The other video that I mentioned was the 'Hourglass' video by Catfish and the Bottlemen which stars Ewan McGregor. This video really stood out to me as it's not so much a generic music video that people are used to but it also isn't exactly a dance piece either. It stands out because of the story it tells; It's almost as if we're watching a short film unfold. The thing that prevents it from just being a short film is that the actual song is played in parts of the video but its chopped up and is only played when it suits the narrative of the video. Again, there are things with this video that we would not take into consideration such as the whole things being in black and white. This is because as I've said before we want the colours to stand out in our video. The sort of humour that is in the resolution of this video is much more toned down compared to the Sundara Karma video, it's almost like a warm feeling that is give, forcing a chuckle out of you. Overall the majority of elements in this video aren't going to be included in our own but we like the video as a whole and its ability to tell a light hearted story. 

Research Task - Napoleon Dynamite

In the film 'Napoleon Dynamite', there is a particular scene which stands out for me that and made me think about how I could implement it into our own dance video. The scene is in the final act of the film and shows Napoleon himself dancing to Canned Heat by Jamiroquai on a stage in front of his school and classmates. What we liked about this video in particular is how it invokes comedic aspects whilst still showcasing an impressive dance piece. This is something that we will be looking to do in our own video. We want people to come away from our video not having just watched a dance routine but to feel entertained by it as well as this is how you feel after watching Napoleon dance. Another aspect that we take away from this video is the costume design. Our plan is to have our dancer wear 80's clothes as back then clothing was typically more 'in your face' with its use of vibrant colours and styles. Napoleon rocks a plain t shirt with red trim on the neck and arm holes and red text in the middle of the shirt making the colours contrast, causing us to pay more attention to him. For the time being our costume is undecided so we are going to make a few mock-up designs as to what our dancer will be wearing. The third and final point that we take from this video is that of how we don't expect someone who typically looks and dresses how Napoleon does to be able to dance in the way that he does. When we think of someone who is dancing to disco music we tend to think of tight spandex clothing, wristbands and headbands and maybe a big crazy hairdo so when we are given the complete polar opposite of what we expect to see, it actually makes us remember it more as we are given something that we are not anticipating. We think that by having our dancer dressed as a 'geek' from the 80's dancing to disco music in a modern kitchen then we will hopefully catch the viewers attention more than having him dressed in typical disco-wear. 

Dance Video Introduction

This past week we've been introduced to a woman called Rachael Palmer who is a professional dance choreographer and she's been going over some of the basics with us to help us develop our ideas for our dance videos. She's told us about what the 5 basic elements of movement are when choreographing a piece of work. These elements are Jump, Turn, Travel, Gesture and Stillness. There are also more advanced actions that are used in dance and these are Canon, Levels, Mirroring, Reverse and Slow Motion. We've spent the past couple of days looking at how we can use our bodies physically to portray different emotions through using the actions. For this project I have partnered up with Jack Gunn as we've both got a similar idea of what we'd like to do for our videos and thought that it'd make sense to put our minds together. Jack and I have been looking at a particular video that we have been referring back to as our 'go to' source. The video is the music video for Mint Royale called Blue Moon and consists of Noel Fielding playing a getaway driver waiting for his criminal friends to come back with the money. Whilst he waits, Noel plays a CD that blasts Blue Moon and he begins to dance using the things he has around him in his surroundings as an advantage. We like referring to this video so much because we're both big fans of Edgar Wright who directed the music video and are fans of the concept of the video itself. This video inspired us to think of our idea which is to take a mundane task and vamp it up using a fast-paced, quickly edited video and make it more enjoyable to watch. There are also elements of comedy in the Blue Moon video that we have thought about implementing into our video. At the moment we've both just been brainstorming household tasks that we can use in the video that our protagonist can dance to. We had George go through a small routine that we'd made up and I followed him with a camera just to get an idea of framing and it actually looked okay, it became clear that we need to focus mainly on the close ups of body parts when they move (e.g. if someone is tapping their feet then I would need to do a close up of their feet). 

Evaluation

Throughout this entire creative process, there have been many ups and downs and lots of jumping around ideas. Since starting this project on my own, I've definitely seen a significant difference in manageability in my workload since partnering up with Jacob. I feel as though I do my usual problem of trying to overcomplicate my ideas so after having a few meetings with Jacob to discuss how we could approach the idea differently dropped the idea about the senses as we felt it was far to broad and that focusing on the left and right side of the brain is a topic that is a lot more centred and would make more sense to focus on. Myself and Jacob worked well throughout the process by constantly communicating to one another whenever a piece of work was done so we knew we were on the same page. Although our final outcome might not look a lot like how we planned it in our treatment, we are pleased regardless as the process has been the real learning curve. We feel as though we've produced a piece that is engaging, risky and adventurous to make.

The time management has been a bit of a problem for this project, especially as about 2 months of our term have been put solidly into the set building project. To make matters worse, we didn't actually have a solid idea sorted until a week after the set build so we both now know that we will definitely have to manage out time better in future projects. Another con of the project was that we didn't really get to do as much actual filming as we would have liked. Again, this is down to our poor judgement of time management and like before we know that if we want to film more in the future then we will have to be more organised for projects yet to come.

This is our final outcome:

Inspiration for our shoot

Before shooting, myself and Jacob were looking into artwork and even films that have used baths in them to get an understanding of what sort of framing we'd like to get for our scene with the bath and hoped to get some inspiration. We firstly looked into a photographer called Cindy Johnson who experimented in a shoot using self portraiture in milky bath water. Cindy goes on to discuss her shoot in further detail and goes on to tell about how she was originally supposed to be photographing someone else but at the last minute her model had to pull out. Cindy stated that it didn't phase her as she knew that she was going to do the shoot with or without the model and thus turned the piece into a self portrait series. The thing that drew us most towards Cindy's work is that of her framing. She seems to have created this overwhelming aura about her photographs through the use of where she positions the camera. She favours the use of high angled shots which gives off a lot of vulnerability especially when being sat in a bath tub which is usually a place where people tend to feel a lot of security. We couldn't quite find anything on why she was wearing the clothes that she was but we really like how they are transparent as it really adds to the aesthetic of the shoot.

Cindy Johnson

Cindy Johnson

Cindy Johnson

So Jacob and I didn't look at just one kind of medium, we also looked into different films that have bath scenes and looked at what sort of certain framing created certain moods and feelings. The first film that we looked at was Moonlight and noticed that using a full frame wide shot actually does a really good job of creating the sense of loneliness in a scene as it shows the protagonist in a very isolated and vulnerable light. Of course a lot of this scene is down to the lighting being very minimal which is something we had to think about when filming our own shoot so framing wise this is definitely something we wanted to achieve. Another film that we looked into was Inception. The bath scene(s) in this film are actually a lot more complex and we were completely aware that we wouldn't be able to film on the same sort of scale as they did with this film but we definitely took the scenes as inspiration. The main thing we wanted to take from the Inception was the feeling of submersion which I feel we achieved quite well. 

Moonlight (2016)

Inception (2010)

Studio Shoot - Evaluation

When this project started I was luckily appointed my chosen role as director of the film which is arguably one of if not the most important role in the production. During the planning process I unfortunately had a family crisis which spun my head to say the least. I was also trying to arrange my own production outside of uni at this time which looking at now was probably not the best idea. It became clear very quickly that I was juggling too much and couldn't properly focus on being the director of the group as it would be selfish to ruin the production for everyone else just because I wasn't all there mentally. Thankfully Nina took a very brave step up and said she'd be happy to direct the film, meaning I would slip into her previous role of 1st AD.

Becoming 1st AD for this project was probably one of the better things I've done creatively in my career as a film maker so far. Not only was it a chance to stop stressing over the director role but it gave me a chance to understand a role that I would have never taken on in the past. I found it very interesting reading up on my role and what my responsibilities would be on and off of set. In the planning stage of the film I would have to put my hands up and say that I didn't do the best job with paperwork, mainly as I'd never had to handle this responsibility. Having said this, after going to other members in my group for help I now understand how I am meant to sort the pre production when taking on the 1st AD role in the future.

When it came to the shoot dates I felt like I really wanted to step up and show everyone how much the shoot meant to me after not doing so well in the pre production stage. I knew that during the shoot I'd have to spend a lot of time with Nina, keeping her up to date on how we were doing with the schedule if we were ahead or behind for time. It was also my responsibility to check on the actors to make sure they were satisfied and refreshed at all times. Generally it was my job to make sure everyone on set was happy and calm so the production could run as smoothly as possible. 

Whilst the production was underway I spent a lot of my time bouncing between Jodie, our producer and Nina, our director. Myself and Jodie each had a copy of the call sheet with us at all times and would both write down the time when we started to shoot a different shot so we could compare the times with the call sheet to determine how ahead or behind schedule we were.

I feel as though I did a good job at my role as 1st AD. Taking into consideration I'd never done this role before or didn't know anything about it in general, I feel as though I did it justice. Personally I feel like the key to doing this role properly was to be thorough with my communication, I had to make sure that everyone was on the same page at all times meaning I had to go up to people individually and tell them about changes made. Sometimes I had to be the centre of attention when making an announcement regarding breaks or for matters that concerned the whole team meaning that I had to stand in the centre of the room and use a loud voice to gain everyone's attention. This was a very useful skill to obtain from this project as usually I wouldn't have the courage to project my voice to the whole crew but after doing it in this studio shoot I feel like I wouldn't have a problem doing it again in the future. This whole experience has been really eye opening as its shown me the closest thing to what it's like to be on a professional set and how much pressure comes with it. I feel like this set build has definitely helped me grow as a film maker and has made me respect everyone's individual roles so much more than before. I'd like to thank everyone involved in the project for making it such an enjoyable experience for the few weeks we were building and filming. I'd also like to show my appreciation to Chris who helped us all massively in the actual building of the set and whom without we wouldn't have a set that looked as good as it did.

How we plan to set up our instillation piece

Studio Shoot - Day 2

With the first day wrapped it seemed as though there was a mood amongst the whole group of real determination and pride to do just as well in the second day. We picked up where we left off and began shooting the scenes that were needed. Every seemed very enthusiastic which was brilliant and just made it a nice feeling to be on set. The day was going very well until the point that our actress, Yasmin told us that she had an important hand in that was due which she needed to finish. Thankfully she told us this in advance the day before so we were able to amend the timesheet and make it so we filmed all of her scenes first. When it came to the time that Yasmin did have to leave us it was absolutely fine as we'd successfully filmed everything we needed with her, thus calling a wrap for Yasmin on the shoot. After she left we began to shoot all of TJ's solo scenes and even had time to film some B-Roll footage. Thankfully nothing went wrong when filming on the second day and we were well ahead of time.

Having said this, just before wrapping the whole production it became aware that the footage we had been filming hadn't been recorded on the Ninja. The reason as to why we were using the Ninja was so that we could record in a 10bit Avid codec instead of an 8bit. Obviously this caused a slight upset for the group but it definitely wasn't the worst thing that could have happened; this just meant that for the people editing, they would have to transcribe all of the footage themselves instead of having the Ninja do it for them. After this issue was resolved we finished the last couple scenes and wrapped the whole production. It was a sad moment to wrap as everyone really came together to make this project the best it could be. I really hope to do something like this again in the future as being on set is something that I love doing.

Studio Shoot - Day 1

Day one of the studio shoot was a very special day for everyone in group A. There had been a lot of planning that had gone into this production so it seemed that everyone involved was keen to do the best they could. We had an early start for the day as there was a lot to do in our 48 hour time frame. The day started at 8.30am and filming was scheduled to start at 9.30am, this gave the lighting team time to set up the appropriate lights for the scene and also gave me a chance as 1st AD to go around and make sure that everyone was calm and happy with how everything was going. The first two hours of filming went really well and we were ahead of schedule. The studio we were in was quite small having 13 people all in one space as well as this there were powerful lights that were constantly on throughout the shoot which radiated lots of heat. Because of these reasons it was important that we took regular breaks throughout the day which gave the lighting and camera teams a chance to change over their equipment without being bombarded with other crew members around them. We continued on with the shooting after the break and everything seemed to be going very well, where we'd lose a bit of time in some scenes we'd make up for in others. There were points throughout the day where some crew members didn't see eye to eye but all was resolved and no shooting time was lost over it. After a long day of shooting in the studio for hours it was clear that everyone including the actors was very tired. We cut for the day and managed to get exactly what we planned to film as the director liked it. 

Set Building - Directing Role

In the studio set building project, I have taken on the role as director which is arguably the most important role, meaning there is a lot of responsibility on my part. My team and I have chosen a photograph called 'Basement' by Gregory Crewdson. We played on multiple ideas as to how we could approach this picture and after a while of throwing ideas back and fourth we managed to settle on the idea of going through the five stages of grief. After deciding this we asked our tutors for feedback on the idea and they came back saying that it had a lot of potential but needed improving in places. We took these comments on board and proceeded the brainstorm about the narrative of the film. Several group meeting took place and we have now settled on the idea of a brother and sister feud. The film is going to take place a few days after the siblings have just committed a crime. The sister is going to have a much more laid back type approach to the whole situation whereas the brother is going to be a lot more jittery and uptight. The film is going to revolve around the siblings playing a game of chess and with every move they make in the game, something alters slightly in their reality be it a change of clothes or a piece of furniture in the room. 

When thinking about the look of my film, I have taken into consideration a lot of things from the mood I want to portray to the message I want to send. I have looked at a lot of feature films and short films to get an idea of how I would like the set designers to dress the set. My main inspiration for the film is going to be of similar aesthetic to '10 Cloverfield Lane'. Visually this is an extremely close representation of what I want to convey in the look of this shoot. The film follows the style of a early 90's and the bunker in which the majority of the film is set in has a very dainty and intricate look about it so much so that it gives off a slightly unnerving vibe to the film as the set doesn't correspond with the genre of the film; I'd really like to deliver the same feeling of viewer uncertainty in our film. I have also given the set designers the 1975 Somebody Else music video to look at. I like the look of this set in particular because there isn't actually a lot in the frame but because of the low lighting, it makes the apartment look quite grungy and run down which is the look I'd like in the shoot. I also feel like showing this same clip to the sound department of the shoot as this short is very reliant on audio seeing as there is no camera movement throughout the whole thing. 

  

Creative and Technical Skills

In the past, I have had a reasonable amount of experience, especially in framing shots as I started my career in film as a cinematographer. This has helped me massively when moving over to my now preferred role as director as I have a great knowledge of another persons role which is an extremely important role. Our plan is to try and experiment with mediums that we haven't had the chance to use before (projectors).

Equipment wise we are going to be using a Nikon D7200 with a 18-200 3.4 and also an iPhone 7 camera. We also have a 50mm lens which we will bring with us to see if it can improve any shots with the increased depth of field.

My work partner Jacob also has had a history in photography meaning that he too also has a good eye for what shots work well and what shots don't. Jacob also colour corrects his own photos from scratch meaning that he has a talent for post production colour grading too. 

Maps & Networking - Our Shoot

Jacob and I recently filmed how our shoot went by having a friend of our bathe in a bath of pink liquid. Originally the plan was to have our model submerge themselves in paint but after considering the risks and wellbeing of our model we realised that dunking our model in paint would be far too dangerous. We began to brainstorm what we could use in the bath to substitute instead of the paints so I came up with the idea of filling the bath with milk and food colouring. After doing some calculations we realised that it would cost quite a lot of money to fill an entire bath with milk so we decided to go 50/50 with milk and water. To our surprise the liquid in the bath turned out exactly how we wanted; it was safe enough for our model to bathe in but was also thick enough from the milk to look cloudy. Considering we had limited light resources (we only used natural lighting), I think our clips came out quite well. We made sure that our model was comfortable at all times by making sure a warm towel was close the entire time and making sure that the temperature of the water wasn't too cold. We also told him he can shower off and take his time properly bathing after the shoot finished. 

The idea of this shoot was to be very symbolic. By this I mean that the bath is meant to represent the right side of the brain itself and the pink water is supposed to represent the actual creativeness of the brain itself as though to say how when you think creatively we are literally submerged in our thoughts and ideas. This is why we had our model pose in different positions in the bathtub to represent thought processes; the shots where he is sat upright are supposed to show how he in the early stages of thinking creatively whereas there are also shots of him sunk into the pink liquid to show that his thoughts are quite literally swallowing him whole.

Seeing Music in Colours - Melissa McCracken

26 year old Melissa McCracken is a painter with a rare neurological phenomenon called Synesthesia which affects approximately 4% of her home state of Missouri. Melissa's form of her Synesthesia is called Chromesthesia meaning she spontaneously and involuntarily sees colours when she listens to music. Melissa found out about her condition when she was just 16 years old. She tells a story of how she was with her friend and wanted to change her ringtone and how she had a blue phone and she wanted an "orange" ringtone to match because they are complimentary colours. She said that after she'd said that her friend seemed very confused which caught her by surprise. McCracken stated that it was then when she realised that she was different from others.

When asked about how she came to start painting her favourite songs, Melissa stated "Colour seemed like the most natural thing for me to paint because I've always loved it, so I wanted to go down an abstract route. I started painting memories from notable times in my life and thinking of the specific songs that related to them. People seemed interested in my synesthesia so it became my core subject". There are certain music genres that Melissa actually finds prettier than others. For example she finds that funk music is a lot more colourful as it includes lots of different instruments and melodies and rhythms creating a highly saturated effect. 

As an experiment, McCracken met with another person who has synesthesia to listen to the same song and see how their paintings differed from each other. She said that they both painted "Little Wings" by Jimi Hendrix and that both their pieces looked really different, proving how subjective synesthesia is. 

I think that after researching into Melissa's work I now have a much richer understanding of a particular way in which the senses can work with art. Finding her work has really helped influence me to broaden my horizons when looking at the senses side of art. Although I have already done an experiment similar to what Melissa does, I think that possibly trying it again but maybe with an extra party added so we can compare how we perceived the feeling of the same song.

David Bowie, "Life on Mars."

Prince, "Joy in Reception."

Plan For Research

We've begun to think about what things we can research for our projection pieces and what came to mind first was abstract films that portray a particular thought provoking mood. By this we mean films that stimulate intense emotion, allowing us to perceive the film more passionately and be more open minded and free with our interpretations of them. Instantly work by the likes of Stanley Kubrick, David Lynch & even Martin Scorsese came to mind. These are filmmakers who've had a past of visually manipulating their audiences by and keep them on the edge of their seats. Aesthetically, we like the idea of making a piece that looks like 'Eraserhead' (1977) as we like the minute colour and lighting that is used in it but then like the idea of implementing something similar that was used in 'Sin City' (2005) where the film is predominantly black and white but every now and then have intense bursts of colour that we feel would represent the creativity spilling out of us from the dull-set tones of 'rest of the mind'. 

Eraser head (1977)

Shutter Island (2010)

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

Sin City (2005)

Sin City (2005)