The Installation part 2

The Installation went extremely well and looked great after the setup.  Initially looking at how much art we had in the small room, we felt we were short on art.  At that point there was nothing we could really do.  It was tough getting the cubes to hang with the correct measurements on such a high ceiling but one of the kids in my group did a really good job of getting that setup.  I put up a bunch of the pictures on the wall because hammering is always cool as hell so I hogged the hammer (but it was my hammer).  We had to take some of the pictures down and re-measure or re-position them.  The spots we hung the pictures were completely different then what we wrote on paper the week before.  The reason for that is because once you are in the space with the art, you can see how they play off each other and how the art works in space. The big issue we ran into was the concrete behind the wall.   We could not get the big nails in far enough and the small nails where too small to hold the weight of the painting.  Eventually we found some medium nails which worked fine.  After everything was up it looked amazing.  Having the less amount of work looked really good.  Compared to the other rooms which seemed cluttered with work.  I was proud of the back room we setup and we got some good compliments that made me feel really good.

The Installation

My group got assigned the back room that is significantly small and has windows in it.  I am not sure how all the art we picked will fit in the space.  The picking process was interesting because we were connecting completely different pieces of art together with the single idea of linear.  My group seems to agree on all the art we picked, with not much opposition which made the process go a lot smoother then some of the other groups. We also planned out how the pieces will be put in the space.  I feel a lot of that will change once we are actually in the room.

Studio work

I started to develop a script and story board my work in order to give it more structure.  The video I have been working on, called "fox", was a random snip-it with not much grounds other then to show the class my idea for the final thesis project.  I have decided I am going to focus on the de-modernization or the breaking apart of film.  I have figured out the methods I will use in post production but I need to start shooting more meaningful footage.  In order to figure out what this footage would be comprised of I have to story board and write out my ideas creating a significant composition.  I want to make my video shoot go as smoothly as possible so I need a shot by shot description ready before hand.  So this studio work day I worked on story boarding ideas and creating a script.  It was successful in organizing the direction I want to go with my final piece.

Critique

The critique I had was very useful in the development of my project.  Also, it is very nice to be able to get other eyes on my project.  I am going to have to have smoother transitions between tripod shots and moving shots.  I had a question as to keep the entire piece desaturated or to have certain scenes with red only for dramatic effect.  It seems the consensus was on keeping it in all black and white as the red is over used and does not help the main ideas behind my project.  Finally, the most important piece of information I gathered was seeing my piece go from the computer screen to the projector.  The darkness of the video was completely different on a giant projection.  This has got me to think how I want to display my artwork, on what medium? I feel I will stay away from projections because it requires a dark room and tends to lose quality.  I do not feel like giving myself those restrictions when I can use a TV.  A fun aspect of the critique was I got to see the work from other concentrations.  It was nice to see what my peers were working on and hearing their reasons behind it.  I am looking forward to the next critique.

Progressing

I shot some video the past weekend.  The shots looked great but I ran into some issues with the sound in post production.  I did not use an external mic while shooting the video which I know is always a mistake but I did not anticipate the intense effect it would have.  The further away shots have a much quieter sound and the close-up shots are significantly louder.  I tried a fix in soundtrack pro, however the cricket ambience is consistent through every shot so changing the dB's will not work.  I am probably going to have to do a voice over.   Re-shooting would be tough because I do not want to keep bothering my friends for a video shoot.  This shoot had some arguments involved and was a bit more stressful to complete.  Maybe I will take my friend out to dinner then ask him for his help if the dubbing does not sync correctly. Otherwise, compositionally, the shots looked great.

The next Assignment

I was absent for my assigned date to show my work.  I was going to come the next week even though I was not assigned to but I was told not to come.  I do not have much to write about for now but I have heard from other video students experiences.  When I do present my work I will be well prepared with information and resources to back-up my work.  During my studio time, I developed a couple of ideas for some projects as well as story boarded them.  I also talked about my ideas with my department's head, Ardele Lister.  I would like to incorporate my study abroad experience in Japan in some way.  Preferably some comment on culture and the subtle differences we all seem to miss until you fully experience that culture.  I have bulk footage of my trip in Japan I started to go through and edit.  I made a statement on current Japanese culture with past Japanese culture.  I have also been watching Japanese films to give me some ideas such as Mizoguchi, Kenji's Ugetsu.  I plan to film this weekend some concepts I have.

Art Thesis: Katie Kelly

Katie is a graphic design concentration.  When looking at her work we discussed how the field of graphic design has a very commercialized area to it.  It is very easy for an artist to get lost in the commercalization and money to soon forget the passion they once had for a more aesthetic piece of work.  The artist is walking a fine line between what the client wants and what the artist wants.  Asking about that commercialized work she went on to discuss the role MGSA had in that work.  Sometimes following the structure and guidlines MGSA sets out for the student can be good at times but when the student steps out of those boundries MGSA may not like it too much.  In that sense she can feel restricted.  She believes there is a lot of business oriented assignments that are given to her. 

The main theme in her work is symmetry.  She finds a good balance very pleasing to look at.  It is an expression of Katie's personality or how she would like to lead her life, beautiful, peaceful, and harmonious.  There is a clear connection and display of symmetry and balance throughout her work.

Katie finds inspiration in minimalism.  The artist Mehmit Gozetlik is an artist that takes commercialized items and takes out alot of unnecessary graphics.  Bringing the image to a more basic state.  Katie feels that this more basic form can be more pleasing to the viewer than the item that has twenty different images on it.  This artist also does his own typography.  Katie is very inspired by this.  When asked if she had any ideas about what to do for her thesis, she responded by saying she would like to minimalize books and publishing.  Katie wanted to minimalize the cover as well as create her own typography.  Possibly with her own stories. 

Katie's work is very professionally done and I look foward to seeing the art she will produce in the future.