Evaluation of my experimental video

I feel as though my video has gone to plan, because I managed to complete it within allowed time and exhibition it in the right surrondings. I showed my video to my media class in the radio suite, because it is small and dark and has a big screen to show it on. I chose to show my video to my media class because I knew I would get honest feedback. I gave everyone a copy of my questionnaire to find out what they really thought about my film, and whether they really understood the concept I was trying to get across. The questionnaires revealed that everyone understood the concept of how the media puts pressure on us and influences us so much. However some people also thought it was to do with not only medias influences, but the idea of people striving for perfection.

The only negative feedback I recieved was that my filming during the first clip was a bit shaky, which I was already aware of because I couldnt get the camera to the right angle when using the tripod. And someone said that the music along with sound of the tv clips was a bit much and a bit overwhelming, but that is the feeling I was trying to achieve. I wanted the audience to feel isolated by being in the dark and bombarded my the images, and by having the music overlaping the sound of the tv clips I managed to achieve that feeling.

I think if I had to do this video again, I would try and find an alternative way to film the first clip to make it less shaky. And I would also posistion the camera better when filming the Tv clips, because in some clips you can see the tv not just the screen. And I had problems with lighting as the only time I had to film the make up scene was in the evening, and as it was dark I had to switch on lamps because otherwise you couldnt see a thing! But apart from this I wouldnt change anything because I feel that the concept of the video was good and everyone understood the concept from the way I did the video. So overall I think my video went well.

Exhibition of my experimental video

I am going to exhibit my experimental video at college to a group of about 5 people. I am showing my video in the radio room because it is small, soundproof and easy to make dark. It is important for the place I show my video to be small and somewhat claustrophobic, because this will help to achieve the feeling of bombardment. It is also important that the room is very very dark as the concept of the film is dark, showing a dark side of the media. It is also important that every one viewing the film is sat on the floor instead of on chairs, as this will help show how the media is in power and will make the viewers feel small and powerless.

My Questionnaire Questions

1. Did you enjoy the video?

2.What did you think the concept of the video was?

3.Did you understand the video?

4.If you didnt understand the video, what was it you didnt understand?

5.Is the anything in the video you think I could have improved?

6. If yes, why do you think it should have been improved?

Experimental Video Diary

I have finished most of my filming for my experimental film and most of it went well. But I did have some problems with the tripod. I found it hard to get it in the right posistion for the shot. Another problem I had was lighting, as most of my filming was done in the evening when it was very dark. I ended up having to put loads of lamps on pointing in the direction of the camera just to be able to see more clearly!

I found editing my video quite easy to do once I knew how the software worked. I had too firstly go through my video and shorten it down, because I had about 8 minutes of footage, when I only needed 3 minutes. I ended up watching it through and cutting out a few sections like end scene because I didnt feel that it worked well and it just changed the concept I was trying to get across. The problem with the last scene was that it was of the girl crying and that shows the outcome of the medias pressure in a very narrative way. I didnt want the film to be to story based so I cut the scene out so that the audience could just imagine the outcome themselves, and with the whole video the outcome was implied.

I also had to cut out some of my television footage of random television clips. I had to cut out one clip in particular because it was of a BNP protest, and although it is media pressure it didnt fit into the concept I was trying to show. I wanted to mainly stick to televison clips which pressurise people into changing there appearance and making people want to strive for perfection.

After cutting my video down, I then had to remove the audio sounds and add music. I made my music using garage band, however I didnt make the music myself it was pre recorded tracks and I just put a few together to create the sounds I wanted. After putting the music to it, I then focused on making the transitions from one clip to another look smooth. I mainly used fade in and then on the scene after I would use fade out. I think the transistions did work and looked good.

I wanted to make the last clips of the girl doing her makeup alot darker than the other clips, so I did this by using Sepia to change the colours. I wanted this last clip to be darker to show the contrast between the lightness and happiness of being young, and then the darkness and pressure of growing up. I think this effect did create that feeling along with the repetative music.

My experimental video

My experimental video will be based on the concept of doll face by andy huang. The concept for my video will be how the media can heavily influence our lives and how it can actually have such a negative effect on our lives.

My video will start with photographs of a little girl showing childhood memories. Then will be clips of television flashing on a screen. The shots will be from lots of different programmes such as americas next top model, the news, mtv music videos and others. And within those clips of programmes will be clips from the little girls childhood to show the contrast of the innocence of the child compared with the sexual images the media bombard us with.

The next shot will show how the media has impacted on that childs life. The shot will be of the girls room showing her makeup and images of models and beauty. The next shot will be of the girl applying makeup and going through her daily rituals.

The end shot will show how much of a negative effect the media can have on us. The shot will be of the girl reading through a celeb magazine comparing herself too all the airbrushed, stick thin, beautifull models she sees. The shot ends with her lowering the magazine to reveal tear stained cheeks.

Blood and Feathers by Anna Mendieta

Blood and Feathers is an experimental video which is being displayed at the Tate Modern. The film doesnt have a clear storyline or any speech. It starts with a woman standing naked infront of a lake, she pours blood all over her body and then rolls on the ground in feathers. The feathers stick to her and then it ends with her standing there covered in feathers.

The piece didnt envolve much craft and I think it was concept driven. To me the concept was of wanting to be free, because feathers obviously represent birds and flying, and flying to me represents freedom.

Chameleon by Tina Gonsalves

Chameleon is an interactive video which is being displayed in Brighton within and art gallery. It is very different from any of the experimental videos I have seen before as in this one you have some degree of control and you are involved with the piece. You can interact with the people by standing directly infront of a face recognition sensor so that you can make the person copy the emotion you are portraying.

The piece is highly craft driven as there is so much technology and effort gone into making it. The context of this piece surronds human emotion and the concept is how people dont have to talk to express feeling we are connecting all the time through our body language.

Chapter 3

Doll Face has a narrative or storyline as there is a clear beginning, middle and end even though the story is quite complex. At the start of Doll Face you see the doll emerging from the box, then you see her being bombarded by images from the media and copying them, and then you see her self destruct. The storyline is simple she is born, shes exposed to too much to soon and she dies. This video is narrative as there are clear charecters and you have to wait until the end of the video to get the full concept and understanding and to see the ending.

However in the interactive video Chameleon by Tina Gonsalves you can walk in and out as there is no narrative at all. And although there are people featured in the video they arnt specific charecters as you dont follow there storys individually. In this video there isnt a beginning middle or end.

MUTO wall painted animation by Blu

MUTO is a wall painted animation made in 2008. It is made using stop frame animation, which involves the artist painting an image over and over again and taking photographs after each slight movement. Alot of craft has gone into this video as it would have taken alot of time and effort to make.

This film can have many different concepts, but I think the concept is evolution. I think this because at the start of the film you see a persons body beginning to form, it starts with legs then it gets eyes and eventually gets a face. Throughout the video the man is changing.

Another concept I got from this film was the cycle of life. As throughout the film the man dies and is reborn and in some parts actually emerges from another persons body which can represent being born. And the man also disappears into blackness in parts of the film which can represent death.

Task One-Chapter 2 - Use of technology and techniques

For this I am going to compare two very different experimental videos, Doll Face by Andy Haung made in (1998) and Girl chewing gum by John Smith made in (1976). These two videos are very different because of the techniques they have used, also because of the time they were made.

Girl chewing gum was made in black and white, the film itself is very simple to make but the thought behind it was quite clever. However Doll Face was made at a later date and is computer animation so alot of technogy was used in the making of this film.

The techniques used in Doll face were equally as effective but more complex as there is music playing in the background which changes as the mood changes and the TV with the flashing imagery. However the techniques used in Girl chewing gum was just tricking you to believe that the man speaking is directing the film, when actually it was pre recorded and he had just recorded the voice over.

Task One - Chapter 1 Past and Current artists

Some of the experimental videos I have seen have similarities, although they were made at different times. Girl chewing gum by John Smith was made in 1976 and is in black and white, however there are still some similarities to this film and Doll Face by Andy Huang made in 1998.

Doll Face is a futuristic short experimental film, it is about the media's effect on people and part of it is the media lying to people to make them believe people can be "perfect," and look like the airbrushed, stick thin girls we see on TV.

Girl chewing gum is similar to Doll Face because throughout the film we hear a voice over of what who we are led to believe is the director who is giving the actors direction. However at the end we find out it has been pre recorded and he has just done a voice over to trick us into thinking he was directing it.

Both of these films are similar because we are being lied to but in different ways. Throughout Doll Face it is the media who is lying to us and throughout Girl chewing gum we are being led to believe something that is not true.

The differences between these two films are that Doll Face is computer animation and has taken alot of craft to make, but Girl chewing gum is made in black and white and is quite a simple film to make.

Task One -Chapter 6 Different interpretations

Everyone has different interperetations of things they see. For example when we went to the tate modern and watched 'Blood and Feathers" an experimental film, everyone seemed to have a different opinion on what it meant. Some people thought it was just strange and didnt see any meaning behind it, others thought it was to do with her wanting freedom because birds are free and she rolled in birds feathers. I personally thought it was to do with her wanting to change her ethnicity because the feathers were white and she was dark skinned.

We also watched another experimental film that was a cartoon animation. The film was set over 3 rooms and each room had a very different atmosphere. The first room was bright and futuristic, but the film was quite scary and dark. Some people thought it was really scary and didnt like it, and others didnt find it scary but just found it weird. Some people couldnt see any concept behind the film but others did. However the was I interpreted it was different to how the artist interpreted it, because he had described it completley differently. I thought the concept behind it was being lonely but the artist wanted to show emptiness.

Task One- Chapter 5 Idea 1 for experimental video

My basic idea is to have a love story which ends in tradgedy, to show the concept of all good things have to come to an end.

I would start off with a view of the beach and with a long shot of them standing on the beach holding hands, and have the girl say "I love you".

The following scene would be of them walking through a park with them laughing together. Id have the shot of them walking towards the camera and move it up the boys face as a closeup.

The next scene would be of the crash, id film it from the boys view as the car headlights come towards him. And then introduce the music just before the crash and scream.

The next scene would be a closeup of his girlfriends face after being told. And have a very quick flashback of them at the beach and at the park. And then the screen goes black. And it ends with her screaming.

This idea has been influenced by koyannisquatsi slightly because I want to include lots of scenery just like in that film.

I would want to show this film in the same way as "Blood and feathers" was screened at the Tate modern. I want to show it in a pitch black room, with seats directly in front of the screen to make them feel quite uneasy before they had even seen the film. And set them into a quite dark state of mind.

Chapter 4 - The use of exhibition space to create a meaning

The Tate modern had alot of different pieces of art displayed in a different way. There was one piece which was a film displayed over 3 rooms. The peice was a cartoon called Annlee you proposes by Liam Gillick which was made in 2001. The rooms they were displayed over influences the way you see it and feel about it. The first room was a white room with a futuristic feel about it. There was a small sized projection screen in the middle with multicoloured cubes to sit on. The room was quite cold and air conditioned. Because the room was set out in this way it made me feel quite eery and strange. The film being projected was quite scary because the images were mainly in the dark, however because the room was bright and airy it didnt feel scary it just felt very odd.

The second room had the same cartoon being projected, but the room was pitch black and alot smaller with no where to sit. Because it was dark and in a small room I felt claustrophobic and quite scared! It shows how the space in which something is shown, can really change how you feel and interperet it.

The third room didnt have any projection but you could hear the noise of the film in the dark room. The room was white and had pictures on the walls of the girl from the cartoon. It said things like " Not a ghost but an empty shell" so it was kind of explaining what you had already seen. And changing your perception of what you understood. The girl came across quite scary but after that you feel differently.

Koyaanisqatsi

Koyaanisquatsi is an experimental video by Francis Ford Coppola. The film is different from others I have seen because it doesnt have a clear storyline, specific charecters or any speech. The film is made up of imagery and music. The imagery is of different places and time periods in the world. There are images of nature, old buidlings being destroyed, new buildings and hectic scenes of every day life

The meaning of the word Koyannisquatsi is Life without balance. I think the concept of this film is too show the cycle of life and death. I think this because there are alot of scenes of nature which to me represents life and there are scenes towards the end of explosions and destruction which can represent death.

I think the context of this film is influenced by the time period, as it was made in the 1980's when New York was modernising. There was alot of thought behind making this film and it took 6 years too make.

Doll Face - By Andy Huang

I have recently viewed an experimental film "Doll Face" by Andy Huang. The craft used in this film is of a very high standard as a lot of thought has gone into the production of this film. To me the context behind the film was of how people strive for perfection. The film starts with the doll emerging from a metal box and the doll is attached to a machine.

The doll's face is very plain and dull but after being bombarded by images from a television, she copies what she is shown. She applies makeup to herself to achieve the barbie like image , but when the television moves away she tries to catch up and self destructs.

I think that Andy Huang is trying to show us how the media influences us in many ways and mainly in the way of image, and how being shown these perfect people on TV we then strive for the perfection ourselves, which usually ends in destruction. For example when someone is striving to be thinner they can take it too far and end up with an eating disorder, some people become addicted to having plastic surgery as a way to reach there goal of being perfect. But sometimes they end up looking fake and having complications making them worse off than when they started.

I think the way the television moves away at the end and she self destructs is very symbolic. I think it shows how we all rely on TV to show us how to dress, what makeup to wear, how thin we should be and how to act. And when what we aspire to be is taken away from us we are just people. And some people find it hard to accept that they will never be perfect, so they strive for perfection to the point where perfection turns into self destruction.

Girl Chewing Gum By John Smith

Girl Chewing Gum was made by John Smith in (1976). The film doesnt have a storyline it is simply a video of people going about their everyday life. You are watching as people cross the road and kids make there way to school, whilst you hear a voice over of what you think is a director. The voice over will say things like man enters from right walks across road and looks to the left, making you believe that he is the one directing the actors. However at the end you discover that the man doing the voice over is not the director, the film was pre recorded and he is actually miles away in a field.


The film is made in black and white and doesnt use alot of craft at all. It is a very simple video, but the concept has taken alot of thought. I think that the concept behind this film is that most people believe what they are told whether its from hearsay, television, newspapers,magazines or radio. And we will take up a certain opinion and perspective on something from what we are being told in life in general. And that maybe we shouldnt all be narrow minded about things becuase like in the film when the truth was revealled it completley changes the perspective. And it can be the same in life, when the tabloids put a certain spin on a story we believe what we have been told, but what we have been told may not be the truth.

Helloooo

Hello everyone ! x x