Developing ideas further

Developing the idea of taking an image that is depicted as aesthetically pleasing to the eye however it holds another story:

• I thought about having an aesthetic image of a street, with a crowd of people bustling through the street, the movement being slow to signify the crowd of people being endless in the busy town, as the camera moves into the window, showing a misdeed such as gambling. 
• I then developed this further and thought about iconic work that takes place with in a town/cityscape and immediately thought of Edward Hopper with his nighthawks painting. I could use or recreate his work digitally and add a crowd walking by, and slowly zooming into one of the background windows, revealing something happening, such as gambling or escorting. 

Edward Hopper - Nighthawks

I really liked the second idea and thought that I could develop this further by creating my own image as it would be difficult to create the painted style that Hopper is known for. Using this as inspiration, I could have that empty feel to the image with a few people with in a cafe/parlour and as it zooms into the image, we find out that the person behind the till is selling them weapons or drugs. Another idea would be to zoom into one of the background images and we eventually see that the place is filled with gang members, gambling etc. 

COP Animation idea generation

Animation ideas for the Avant Garde

Experimental - inspiration from Brakhage and Norstein

• Draw into paint or ink on a glass panel and animate which
• Draw directly onto a film strip, using ink, bleach, etching needle, collage
• Cut out animation - could print onto acetate for each main frame and have a stationary watercolour background with sketchy like approach to the design of the movement
• Merge traditional pose to pose, with media much like Ryan Larkins work with his walk cycle - make my own version

Narrative - talking about an avant garde artist in slight detail with movement

• Animate the process of direct animation - could be animated digitally or traditional, but with detail of how some direct animations are made - example being Brakhage drawing onto film, and ideas of monoprint - drawing onto glass and recording the process of the line movement - drawing the frame and then rubbing it away and drawing over the top for the next frame for example the lion boy
• Animating how an avant garde animator  for example Brakhage, looking into detail of how he is an avant gardist - what makes his work avant garde etc. 

I feel that the Experimental ideas fit the criteria of the brief more than the Narrative ideas, however I do like the "Animate the process of direct animation" idea as it would play like a how to guide, and it would be interesting with the layout and movement of text, would it be presented in a scrapbook form with the script forming on the page - the target audience would be aimed at a teenage audience through the step by step guide functionality of the animation.
In the Experimental ideas I liked the "merge traditional pose to pose, with media much like Ryan Larkins work with his walk cycle - make my own version" - this would allow me to take influence from my essay and create a walk cycle that merges and forms into another movement cycle, such as turning a head which could form into someone walking down a path.

If I were to take the walk cycle further, I could experiment with media with in the walk cycle, so that every 9 frames it would change into another media, ink into marker pen etc. I could change this further by changing the walk cycle into a different moment, such as a character twirling or jumping through a skipping rope. This would need to be made traditionally through the different media I would be working with, however I could end the walk cycle using digital media as it would class as another media.

I could develop this further taking more inspiration from Ryan Larkins work, through the use of negative space:

- the walk cycle could involve the character moving through a crowd, the people depicted differently to make the negative space character stand out more.
- Could adapt a twirl sequence into moving through a space but not being seen, manipulating the space around the character to portray that their is an identity there, using leaves or a disjointed perspective as the twirl would take place over the image.

Another idea I could also develop from the other perspective with in avant garde in other art disciplines - for example in the 19th century, an impressionist painting would be depicted as a beautiful landscape and would be brought by a middle class consumer, to be mainly used as an object rather than for the aesthetics and for pure social status, when in reality the painting would actually portray a dodgy (red light) landscape.

Taking this idea I could show a peaceful landscape, for example streets with in a city or town, with people walking by to show how busy and filled with life it is, and as the sunlight slowly fades, we zoom into one of the windows, which shows gambling or violence to taint the picture.

I feel that the last idea would be interesting and different in portraying a part of the avant garde, as I felt it would be difficult to try and create something that is labelled avant garde with in such a short amount of time. With the last idea however, I would be able to portray a part of the rebellious streak that is shown in work with the purposefulness of misleading the middle class art buyer into buying something that is nothing more than an item to give them a higher status with in the environment.

Rough sketch for the walk cycle idea, inspired by Larkin's Walking 

Thinking of ideas for the zoom in concept

Developing the zoom in idea, thinking about zooming into a window and
the image being blurry until we zoom in fully

Research for animation

For more inspiration I looked into other animations, I mainly looked into animations that involved a zoom in or out effect, to gain inspiration for my ideas for the final animation.

In this animation, I was inspired through the constant zoom in, that transitioned smoothly into the next scene, the figures were stationary but worked well with the camera panning. I used this as influence through the use of creating a bigger sized file compared to the frame size of the animation, so that there would not be a loss of information, making the image look pixelated as it zooms into the background.

Hook Up Animation / Zoom / Tv promo / Cartoon Network UK from Hook Up Animation on Vimeo.

This animation uses the same style as the previous zoom in however the camera spins to different directions and continues to zoom out as it reveals the title of the tv channel. There is more movement within this animation as the characters move as it zooms out compared to the previous animation which had stationary characters. I like this animation as it contains simple lineart and few colours which make it more engaging, if there were more colours I believe that the main point of the animation would have been lost and the aesthetics would have not been as pleasing. 

Spoon TV Ident 1 - Hemi Ormsby from Hemi Ormsby on Vimeo.

I stumbled across this animation in which another student has made for their project, on the history of Graphic Design. I liked how simple the animation was with the use of matte colours and shapes which moved with the animation, however I think that the animation needs to be slowed down as it runs too fast to be able to read the text. 

History of Graphic Design Avant Garde from Minji Aye Hong on Vimeo.

Post Modernism and Post Mondernity notes

• Modernism roughly from 1860 -1960
  With Post Modernism being from 1960 to today, though it is interpreted that Post Modernism is actually over already. 
• Post Modernism is coined with architecture first, which hold minimalistic properties and a function.
  - It starts off as a reaction from Modernism, the only rule being there aren't any rules and it celebrates what might be considered Kitsch. ( Kitsch is another word for tacky or cheap looking)
• Robert Venturi - his book 'Learning from Las Vegas' 1972 - His ideas developed with the aid of Charles Jencks, in which they both ended up creating a piece of architectural landscapes with Prince Charles.

• Modernism - simplified aesthetic utopia ideals - truth to materials and form allows function
• Post Modernism - Complexity - lies with its materials, tries to look like something else - Laced with humour and irony - Questions comments especially those set out by modernism - can be seen as tasteless.
• Post Modernism aesthetic has a multiplicity of style as it approaches themes of 'double coding' 'borrowing' and quoting from a number of historical styles.
  
  
  "I like elements which are hybrid rather than "pure", compromising rather than "clean", distorted rather than "straight-forward", ambiguous rather than "articulated", perverse as well as impersonal...'
  - Robert Venturi

•  Philp Johnson - Sony Plaza - the top of the building looks as if it has taken the top of a wardrobe and the bottom being from an art deco themed structure.
  
• Archigram, group of students from the 1960s - 'Walking in New York' - the work never was realised. 
• Pompidou Centre in Paris 1972, everything is colour coded, anything you would normally find inside, for example the escalator. It reminds me of an entanglement of wires through the different array of colours and shapes. 
• James Stirling - Stuttgart, Germany 1977 - 1983. Its structure plays on the heritage, as it tries to trick the viewer that the museum is aged when it is actually new and made from cheap materials and disguised to look old. 
• Product design - Kettle for Alessi 1985 by Michael Graves - takes the functionality of a normal camping kettle and refines, selling it for an expensive price, becomes a luxury item.
  
  
  
  
  
• Philippe Starck, Juciy Salif - 1990, Form is arguably functional but more regarded for its aesthetics. 
• Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein - both use models or public icons and create art with the use of dots. Can be linked to Pop Art.
• Jake and Dinos Chapman, Works from the Chapman family collection 2002. Meant to appear like traditional tribal statues, makes a parody out of culture.
• Chris Ofili, first black artist to be recognised as one of the first young artists in Britain. He uses elephant dung to set up his work and incorporates it into his work. 'No women, No cry' was a piece that incorporated a murder victim Stephen Lawrence who was murdered with the police called racist for mishandling the case, his photo is seen in the tears of the woman portrayed on the canvas. 
• Jean Michel Basquiat - untitled - one of the first black artists to be recognised 1981 - He looks at what it means to be a black american, trying to establish in Art society with a simplistic style that resembles one of a childs. It reminds me of Cy Twomlys work through how it uses colour, the space, the jaggedness of the line and how it looks as if it has been drawn on plaster.
  
  
  
  
  
  

Print notes

If it is to print... then it is seen to be true
It is correct. It is factual

• Print can be seen in the prehistoric age, Sumerian era in 3000BC where man would carve out a bone and blow animal blood over the top of their hand leaving a print of their hand on the walls.
• Processes developed with in China through the creation of paper in 105AD by Ts'ai Lun. The paper was made by using the plant 'hemp', beating it into a pulp which would be mixed with water, drained through a cloth screen.
• Japanese wood cuts emerged in the middle of the 18th century, known as Ukiyo-e.
  The process of woodcut used in the early stage of its development was argued to have used a process called 'Chiaroscuro' wood cut. This process involves the design to be separated into several blocks that each would print a different colour.
  Ukiyo-e translates to 'pictures of the floating world' or can be interpreted to mean 'common people' and 'picture'. It was thought that the prints portrayed the everyday life of a city called Kyoto.
  Ukiyo-e prints were first black and white, as the process adopted colour into the work, they became more popular and were made into pieces of work that were similar to postcards.
  As trades with the western world reopened in 1853, the movement 'Japonisme' was born, as famous artists such as Edgar Degas, Vincent Van Gogh, Mary Cassatt and Pierre Bonnard became inspired and absorbed elements into their work. Wood cuts can be linked to relief printing, other forms of print which link to this are Lino prints and Colliograph. Another process that can be linked also is Chine Colle. Chine Colle process begins with wetting the surface of india paper with water soluble paste and is cut to the exact size of the printing plate. This process is mainly used with in elements of collage and other printing techniques such as etching or lino cuts.
  
  

  

  Mary Cassatt

  

  Yuji Hiratsuka - Chine Colle

•  The Gutenberg press, (Printing press, Letterpress) was created in 1452 by a German goldsmith, Gutenberg. This revolutionised the era through the publication of printed type. Typecasts were made through the use of hand carved woodcuts which developed into sturdier metal casts. Gutenberg also created an oil based ink to stick top the metal/wood moulds of type. The letterpress needed at least 20 people to help work the machine, change the woodcuts, change the paper etc. The letterpress was an expensive process and the first book it printed was a bible for the monks, in which they would slave most of their life making copies of the bible in such delicate detail whereas the letterpress was a far more efficient process to replicate the bible
•  The amount of printed books rose to over 1,000,000,000 over the span of 3 years (to the 18th century). 
• Mass Communication in Print, war propaganda, Russian Constructivism, Dada and even Pop art.
  Printed in digital means with in newspapers, magazines, billboards, flyers

Modernity and Modernism notes

"Modernism is the term used to describe the cultural expressions of modernity in relation to the experience of modernity. "

• In design, it was agreed that design should not be illusionary or create false impressions.
• Modernists embraced the advancement of technology. 
• The main idea/purpose of the art was that it was functional, "Form Follows Function". 
• With the aftermath of World War I, modernism took an optimistic approach to society, through the thought that this tragedy would not happen again.
• For a modernist it was appealing to make the art form one which would be instantly recognised, an iconic composition to an international audience. This international point of view was formed through how World War I brought countries together. It is also suggested that modernists held a belief that their art could change the way people think.
• It can be seen that modernism was adopted as if it was a religion, as it constituted a set of beliefs, making people believe they were living in a 'new age'.

There are two distinct concepts, Modernity and Modernism.

• Modernity - Uses the latest processes and techniques ensuring to be contemporary and up to date, and has the quality of being modern.
• Modernism - an early to mid twentieth century movement in all aspects of the arts. 

"Arguably, the process of modernisation allowed Modernism to develop and flourish"

• Pre-modernity - world governed by the church, Monarchy and Patriarchy.
• This form of influence lead to structures such as the Piazza San Pietro, Rome, which was created by Gian Loreno Benini in 1655-57.
• In the late 18th century it was regarded that the Industrial Revolution was seen to have begun with Thomas Telford's Ironbridge in 1789. The Industrial Revolution is suggested to have fully taken place during the 1830s in which the development of factories, transport, canals and railways were absorbed into the culture. Here we see the emergence of the working class.

The age of Enlightenment was the dawn of modern research, philosophy and science which took place during the late 18th century. The most part of this movement was the writers and thinkers, for example Denis Diderot who created the first Encyclopedia. This movement was seen through some of the pieces of these artists:

• Rembrant Van Rijn -  A pioneer in art as we know it, he is famous for his experimentation in print making techniques etching and engraving. He was considered to be the Baroque graphic master.
  In his piece, The Anatomy lecture of Dr Nicolas Tulp, we see the recordings of a scientific event, research into the anatomy of the human body.
  
  
  
  
  
  
•  Joseph Wright - Experiment with an air pump (1768)

• Important key dates: (1751 – 72) publication of Diderot’s Encyclopedia, (1776) American Declaration of Independence, (1789) French Revolution, (1804) Napoleon crowned Emperor, (1814) Bourbon Restoration, (1830) July Revolution (France).

• Modernism was the process of rationalisation, secularisation and democratisation. This can be seen through the works of Eugene Delacroix Liberty leading the people 28th of July, which shows the spirit of the revolution.

• This piece was the earliest and permanent surviving photograph taken, that used the process of lithography and took several hours to dry. A few years after which, Louis Daguerre created his famous piece Boulevard du Temple in 1839, his photograph took ten minutes to produce and is the earliest known photograph to contain imagery of people. This daguerreotype revolutionised the world, with this new form of capturing an image.
  
  

  

  'The first photograph' - Joseph Nicephore Niepce, View from the Window at Le Gras 1826

  
  

  

  Louis Daguerre - Boulevard du Temple 1839

• Edvard Munch's piece, Evening on Karl Johann, shows the alienation and relationship between the figure and the crowd, him against the world.

 'In or about December 1910, human character changed'  - Virgina Woolf 1924

With the introduction of cubism and futurism, the form of objects and human beings drastically changed, it became more abstract and focus on different ways to portray something but still being able to recognise what the object is.

• Pablo Picasso was a pioneer with in Cubism which can be recognised through the angular lines and shapes used with in the compositions. 
• Umberto Boccioni was a pioneer with in Futurism through the documentation of kinetic energy.

• Marcel Duchamp changed the way we perceive art with his piece, "Fountain" 1917. He questioned what value art had, was it the urinal he had used or the signature on it that made it valuable? It was of course his signature, his signature can be argued to be the art itself however I like to see this piece as something that changed the view of the public, something that inspired so many artists to create work, an iconic piece.
  
  
  
  
  

• In design and architecture, modernism has various ‘rules’, form follows function and truth to materials. It leads to a minimalistic aesthetic and is best represented by Bauhaus which often has a moral seriousness, priding itself with high quality aesthetics.

• With new technology, pieces could be created in mass production, meaning that expenses were cheaper with each product being demanded by the consumer.

We see that modernism started with a Utopian defiance towards War, an optimistic approach to anti war and aims to absorb and use new technology to benefit rather than discard it.

Photograph as a document notes

Documentary Photography

• William Edward Kilburn - 1848 - 'The Great Chartist Meeting at the Common' - A gorgeous Daguerreotype photograph that depicts a sea of heads as they support the Chartist Movement and stand together.
  
  
  
• Jacob Riis - 1890 - 'How the other half live' is a representation of one social group to another and portrays the public in the New York Slums. Riss would use his photography and written work to inform the Upper class in his lectures.
  'Bandits Roost, Mulberry Street' -1888 - people looking at the technology that they have never seen before, - 'A Growler Gang in session' - 1887 - was a staged scene, Riis wanted to portray the kids as societies neglect, and paid them in cigarettes.
• Lewis Hine - 1908 - takes photography that has a human feel to it, and strongly believes that photography should not be used as propaganda, approaching it in a more psychological manner. For example he draws attention to the conditions of working in the factories, showing how hardworking they are and how they help the economy. He doesn't present them as the victim but in a sense of self, just about them.
• F.S.A - Farm Security Administration was formed by Franklin Roosevelt around the time of the Great Depression. Photographers with in this group each had a different approach to how they would capture and store the scene.
  Margeret Bourke-White 'Sharecroppers Home' in 1937, was a visual contrast made by the photographer, showing the living conditions, poverty, and the visual irony created by the use of the advertisements that they use for practical reasons rather using them to influence them to buy the products.
  Dorothea Lange 'Migrant Mother' in 1936, symbolises poverty is an iconic image with in the photography world. It is something we are familiar with through the Renaissance imagery, the mother in the centre with the children around her. An idea of patriotism that they will be fine even though they have a lower quality of life compared to other families. The idea of using straight photography was crucial as the idea of manipulating photography was frowned upon - it was a scandal when the public realised that she has in fact manipulated the image.
  When the F.S.A photographers would enter a home it was debated that they would move objects to stage the scene.
• Post Modernism - Robert Frank - 'Parade -Hoboken' 1958, his book 'The Americans', denying the audience the choice to see them. The American flag is one of the recurring symbols in his work. He doesn't show the viewer the parade, he shows the people looking at the parade.
  
  
  
  
  
• Magnum Group was founded in 1947 by Cartier-Bresson and Robert Capa, it was the ethos of documenting the world and its social problems. Its sole ambition being to bring Photography to the furthest reach of the world. It was regarded as surrealism.  

'The Decisive Moment - Photography achieved its highest distinction - reflecting the universality of the human condition in a never to be mentioned reaction of a second'

- Cartier Bresson

• Robert Capa - 'The Falling Soldier' - 1936, appears to show the photographer as another soldier though how hes in the water however he was actually in a boat.  
• George Rodger - 'Bergen Belsen Concentration Camp' 1945, goes for the shocking appeal, through the view of dead bodies on the side of the road, shows the horror of what happened but shows respect by keeping a distance from what lies inside. Shows the contrast between the young boy and the bodies. 

• Robert Haeberle - 'People about to be shot' 1969 - told soldiers to stop, so he can take a photograph. It makes the photographer not human, the stereotypical portrayal of greed, trying to get the best photograph, not caring about anything else. A lust for that capture of an image.

Creative Advertising notes

 Creative advertising is a tool used by capitalism to change established values within society.

• For the first time advertising showed women as not an object but having fun, giving more freedom to women. 
• Advertising is influential in changing our perception and what we may need and want.
• An advert has no short term effect specific to the product, for example if you were to see a 2 year old advert it could still make you want to buy the product, as it modifies us over a long period of time. 
• Barbara Kruger - Feminist Conceptual Artist - I shop therefore I am - In my opinion it accurately shows the control that advertising has among the public and how objects we buy can describe us, they become us.
  
  
  
  
  
• Advertising is often accused to treating people as cultural stereotype of their sex. For example perfume adverts in 1950's, the women were portrayed as objects, extremely sexist.
• Does sex sell? - It can be interpreted to sell an attitude to the viewer. Trying to keep the viewer engaged for example in Diesels 2010 campaign - Unfortunately we sell jean, and Tom Ford for men was highly revealing but was not banned as it related to the magazines it was presented in.

 Advertising - Negative or Positive?

• It drives global economies, helps to sell products, sales etc.
• It drives creativity, for example the first "wave of creatives" were revolutionaries who were creating utopia, for example Mayakousky and Rodchenko.
• Alphonse Mucha was regarded as a pioneer for the movement Art Nouveau, in which he used his work for advertising, mainly depicting women in elongated and pastel hue structures. There is an interpretation that Mucha was sexist through the way he portrayed the women as 'extremely beautiful' through the poses and anatomy of the figure.
• Russian Constructivism - angular, geometric, use of three main colours, typography, propaganda.
• Second "wave of creatives" initiated persuasive advertising
• Paul Rand
• William Bembach - started the freedom of advertising and was the first that brought and changed advertising as something revolutionary
• Advertising is a very powerful form of art - art feeds advertising and advertising fits with art
• Advertising shapes popular culture for example the ipod adverts with the silhouettes - giving an image attitude.
• It is endlessly entertaining - The Guardian Newspaper advert 'Three Little Pigs' is an example of story telling and emphasises that the newspaper will bring truth and facts to the public - an interesting way to portray through advertising. 
• Advertising can enlighten and inspire - can be striking and powerful for example the MDA Campaign in America, where parents of children formed together to put a stop with the supply and demand of guns with in the public domain. 
• Advertising can reflect the hopes and dreams of people, this can be seen in the Olympics advertising.
• It can challenge you to do something - Nike 'Just do it advert' - if you can do something show that you can do something differently. 
• It questions social attitudes - United colours of Benelton - and it raises social awareness for instance the 'Dumb ways to die' for the Metro trains, showing awareness of the dangers of trains and is specifically aimed at young audiences.

Essay and considering Animation for COP

Alongside with the Context of Practice Essay, I need to create an animation which would be 30 seconds long at 12 fps, referring either to the essay or one of the seminars/lectures that I have attended so far.

I decided to chose the essay question relating to the Avant Garde, "With reference to specific examples, to what extent can theories of the Avant Garde be applied to animation?" - this essay question would allow me to look into the origin of the Avant Garde, what an Avant Garde animation is regarded as, what effects does an Avant Garde animation have?
I could branch out to how the Avant Garde approaches Genre, Auteurship or cultural/political backgrounds of an animation. For example the animator Mikhail Tsekhanovsky was commissioned to create a GPO (General Post Office) advert, in which John Grierson only wanted an animation/film that was experimental, through media. Interestingly Grierson went on to establish the National Film Board of Canada, with amazing archive of animation and film, including the animator Norman McLaren. The animation itself, Pochta (1929) was not only regarded as an advert but as an interpretation of the contextual background of the environment, such as the beginning of the Dominance of Stalin, with relations to Russian Constructivism movement.

For the animation I made notes of ideas on what I could take from the essay or the Seminars/Lectures to animate;

• Genre in Animation - Could show examples of genre with in animation and the cross genres using characters design or action, eg Horror, character dressed as Dracula. - I would want to talk about how animation can get away with more content such as Tom and Jerry with the extreme violence but still be regarded as a childrens show.
• Commercial Animation - Audience, Consumer, Genre, Brief and Compromise -
  - Relate to how it must fulfil the clients brief - what audience the client are wanting to advertise to and what their company is to decide what genre the animation should absorb. Commercial Animation needs to appeal to the viewers, the major target audience being a family, young and middle aged audience. Can relate to auteurship - eg can tell that the Lloyds TSB advert is advertising Lloyds TSB through the animation style of the studio.
• Essay - Avant Garde
  - Use an animation as an example, referring to how it is avant garde, could be narration or just text. For example Brakhage Mothlight animation, how the direct animation is different, what it symbolises and other interpretations how is this portrayed in the media?

I decided to use the Essay bullet point, for the animation, as I believe it would encourage me to keep up to date with the Essay, and allow me to research more into one specific animation, and also have relevance to the essay.
As the animation would only be for 30 seconds, I need to consider what movement and what would be animated in the video, what information I need to get across, thinking about timing and informative content.