Blog Checklist for Digital Arts

 Welcome to the new term - here is the blog checklist which exemplifies all the post that should be completed for Digital Arts

Here is my Blog Checklist which I will be using to monitor my own progress

Welcome to Summer Term 2022!

 Welcome to the new term and what an exciting term ahead!  I am hoping to post new projects, new ideas, and great research.  

Normally in my welcome posts, I discuss an artist, writer, or photographer whose work I have been inspired by or has piqued my interest because of matters that I am preoccupied with at the time.  So today in a departure from this slightly I would like to discuss old photography books.  These are books that now may seem antiquated but the principles all still hold true.  The great thing about photography, technology may have transformed the ways to take an image and democratized its use of it but the rules of photography itself; composition; light; use of colour, and depth of field remain the same.

Photograph by John Garrett

From Practical Composition (1984)

The images I will post here are from the Dixons World of Photography book series.  The one above is from Practical Composition (1984).  The text for this image reads; 'Garrett was working on a calendar when, during a break, he snapped this picture of his model playing with the child.  It was exactly the right moment when the sun-tan line on the mans' back aligned with the top of the grass.  It was taken at a shutter speed of 1/250 at f8, with a 35 mm lens which was fitted for a previous shot.  The lens gives slight distortion which helps the picture by exaggerating the difference in size of the two figures.' (Practical Composition: 1984:123)

This text describes the circumstances, gives the technical detail, and gives context to the shot.  The reason I love these books is that they are filled with these great images, some of these images would be considered unacceptable now which means I can only draw upon this great archive!

Photograph by John Garrett

From Practical Composition (1984)

In this image, the text reads; 'The model here stood in an inflatable paddling pool and an assistant was on top of a ladder with a watering can.  Backlighting picks out the water and a Softar lens attachment give the soft-focus.' (Practical Composition: 1984:121) Again the description here is great showing the simplicity of the set up and the fantastic effect of capturing the light and the water drops through that light on the flesh.

In the book. Creative Photographic Lighting, there are chapters on the light source and positioning.  Here is an example:

Positioning the Light Source from Creative Photographic Lighting (1984)

On this page, you can see simple examples with clear explanations of how the image works.  The top image explains the use of backlighting and secondary lighting on the faces of the women.  In the lower image a top-down shot explains that just by changing the angle of the woman's face the lighting flatters rather than flattens the features. 

Photograph by John Kelly from The Way to Professional Photography (1984)

In the above shot, the text reads; 'If you miss the peak of an expression, don't release the shutter.  As in this portrait, there should be no strain.' (The Way to Professional Photography, 1984:91)  The act of taking the photograph is a patient and gentle practice, capturing that moment is an art and here the photographer has done this perfectly.  The model's expression, the eyes looking directly into the lens the small hint of a smile with lighting perfectly coming in from the right-hand side shows the skill of a photographer at work.

As can be seen from all these shots there is a naturalness, yet technical brilliance to them all.  Now, often everyone thinks there a photographer with their phone but real photography always shines through

References

Dixons World of Photography (1984) Practical Composition, Eaglemoss Ltd, London

Dixons World of Photography (1984) Creative Photographic Lighting, Eaglemoss Ltd, London

Dixons World of Photography (1984) The Way to Professional Photography, Eaglemoss Ltd, London

Creating a Website: Home Page/Template/Contact Page

 I will be creating a website that will represent my progression route (Photography) and me! I will be using this website to add my portfolio work throughout the year at DMUIC.

To create my website I have used Wix and so I began by choosing a template.

The first thing I did was to go to the left-hand side and go into the menu icon. I then went to the three dots to get into each section and I deleted all unwanted sections.

I clicked on the text on the Home page and then clicked on Edit text.  I then went through the dialog box which popped up and changed the font to Playfair Display and Playfair Display Bold and I also changed the size of the font.  I edited my Name and the Title of the website.  I now have a consistent font for all titles and name. 

I then change the copyright to my own retaining the copyright symbol but editing the year and name. 

I then changed the background image for the home page.  I click on the background and I changed the column background to an image that I got from Unsplash (I will change this to my own image later).  I downloaded the image to my desktop and uploaded the image to Wix and added it to the column.  I then deleted the background image that was on Wix so that my background was just black behind the image to give the homepage impact.

I checked and edited my mobile view of my home page. I needed to rearrange the page to make it work and reupload the image.  I had to change where the text sat on the page as it did not work the same as the desktop display.

I then changed my contact page so that anyone looking at my website could contact me through the contact form.  I removed any items I did not want from the page and then I edited the message to my own to suit my website.  As the page is not that interesting I added an image.  I also checked the setting to ensure that all messages went to my email.

I also checked my mobile view for my contact page - which looked good and I did not need to edit. 

I was happy with the results of my home page and contact page on the website - I will of course return to this and add my own image on the home page.  I do however like the design and the font/typography and colour scheme and think it will work well with my work. 

Milanote Board: Initial Ideas Film of Lost Things

 This is my milanote note board which explores my ideas and my intended research for my ideas for my major project this term.  I am hoping to make a short film that will explore the idea of lost things.  The film will use still and moving images and will either be silent or with music/voice-over in the manner of Sans Soleil by Chris Maker (1972) and maybe the look of Wim Wender 'Wings of Desire' (1987)

Zoe's Milanote Board: Lost Things Film

Inspiration: The Hunger

 The Hunger is a 1983 film directed by Tony Scott. It stars Susan Sarandon, Catherine Deneuve and David Bowie.  This a film about vampires in a contemporary world.  The soundtrack is by Bauhaus and this stylish and beautiful film has some excellent shots and cinematography. 

The Hunger (1983) Susan Sarandon & David Bowie

The Hunger was directed by Tony Scott who;'[graduated] from college with aspirations of being a painter, he was soon tempted into making adverts with his elder brother’s production company' (Leader, 2013). As can be seen in The Hunger Scott's understanding of painting and advertising has clearly influenced the look of the film, every shot looks like a slick and sexy advert; 'Billed with taglines like ‘Nothing Human Loves Forever’ and ‘So bizarre… So sensual… So shocking’, The Hunger was essentially an art-house update of the wave of unashamedly sexy vampire flicks of the 1960s and 1970s' (Leader, 2013) .  The film was mostly shot in London as essentially the budget wasn't big enough for it to be shot in his preferred location, New York.  The Hunger has also the look of 1980s videos of Duran Duran and Human League and uses Film that adds to this look.

The make up and prosthetics were actually cutting edge at the time: 'The Hunger is considered a benchmark film in the history of Prosthetic make up. On this movie Dick Smith pioneered the use of PAX make up to colour Foam latex appliances and it was also the first time a prosthetic appliance was covered with hand laid hair/stubble for David bowies multi stage old-age make up. Its technical achievements are highly regarded in the SFX make up field.' (The Hunger (1983), 2004)

Reference

Imdb.com. 2022. The Hunger. [online] Available at: <https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085701/> [Accessed 25 February 2022].

Crisolago, M., 2022. Susan Sarandon On Aging and The Virtues of Being a Character Actor. [online] Everythingzoomer.com. Available at: <https://www.everythingzoomer.com/arts-entertainment/2018/09/13/susan-sarandon-acting-aging-film/> [Accessed 25 February 2022].

Leader, M., 2013. Looking back at Tony Scott's The Hunger | Den of Geek. [online] Den of Geek. Available at: <https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/looking-back-at-tony-scotts-the-hunger/> [Accessed 25 February 2022].

Cinematography.com. 2004. The Hunger (1983). [online] Available at: <https://cinematography.com/index.php?/forums/topic/2869-the-hunger-1983/> [Accessed 25 February 2022].

Initial Ideas - Major Project

 My continuation route is Photography.  I have begun to think of some ideas of things that I might do for a small project in Digital Arts this term.  I have been thinking about something to do with ritual or habitual behaviour that I can capture as images. I am interested in ritual in everyday life and so I was thinking about capturing this photographically.

I might start by looking at Natalie Grono as she concentrated on the rituals of childhood and photographed her two daughers.  As can be seen from this image the images are in black and white and highly stylised and in this case staged.  So in fact this is a photographic construction of daily life.  The light and water coming down does have the feeling of a baptism and as with baptism the children are represented as pure and covered in light.

Natalie Grono: Baptism 

Natalie Grono: Offerings

This second image is clearly a take on Ophelia, as shown in Millais' work here: 

Sir John Everett Millais, Ophelia, 1851-52, oil on canvas, 762 x 111.8 cm (Tate Britain, London)

'Ophelia is a character in Hamlet, by William Shakespeare. She is driven mad when her father, Polonius, is murdered by her lover, Hamlet. She dies while still very young, suffering from grief and madness. The events shown in Millais’s Ophelia are not actually seen on stage. Instead they are referred to in a conversation between Queen Gertrude and Ophelia’s brother Laertes. Gertrude describes how Ophelia fell into the river while picking flowers and slowly drowned, singing all the while.' (The Story of Ophelia – Look Closer | Tate, 2022)

The second image again is highly stylized and the light is again in the centre of the image and coming through the child's legs - in both cases the light is sunlight/natural light.  The images themselves are technically well shot however in terms of content if I was completing a ritualised image I may do something less stylized and perhaps with a little more grit as I think rituals that are personal rate not necessarily full of beauty.  I would perhaps take a more snapshot approach more in the way of Jurgen Teller, who shoots fashion.

Kate Moss by Jurgen Teller

I prefer the look of this image, it has a grungy, over-exposed feel.  The yellow light, the man standing over her taking the picture (the photographer) give this photograph the snapshot aesthetic which is more interesting, and although this may have been highly staged it has the look of being spontaneous.  I would like to explore this idea within my own work for this project.

References

The Guardian. 2021. Invisible Threads: the rituals and symbolism of childhood – in pictures. [online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2021/nov/24/invisible-threads-the-rituals-and-symbolism-of-childhood-in-pictures [Accessed 23 February 2022].

Tate. 2022. The Story of Ophelia – Look Closer | Tate. [online] Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/millais-ophelia [Accessed 23 February 2022].

Software Testing: Photoshop

 I opened Photoshop and I will test Photoshop for the functions I need for my major project in Digital Arts.

I create a new canvas.  I did this clicking on 'create new' and then I clicked on Print in the top menu and then chose A3.  Then I checked it was portrait in orientation and the resolution was 300 ppx. 

I have added text using the Text tool on the left hand menu and then I changed the font to Modern No 20 Regular at 60 pts.  I then used the move tool to move the text to the left hand corner to make a rule of thirds layout.

I chose a picture from the internet to mock up my page and I downloaded this to my desktop and then went back to Photoshop and I went to File, open and then I checked the image size by clicking on image and then I selected the image and clicked on copy.  I went back to my canvas and clicked on past then used the move tool to line up the image.

I added further text using the text tool.  This was 36pts and the same font as I want consistency for my portfolio pages. 

I also created a logo on Tailor Brands and added this to my portfolio mock up page.  The logo itself I quite liked and could use this as my final design.