Saturday 26 August 2017

Idea Proposal | Major Project

The idea for my third year major project stems from the 2017 film Dunkirk, directed by Christopher Nolan. After initially struggling to find inspiration to work with my shape animations, that I began to explore in my last project, I found a theme in Dunkirk that caught my attention, the idea of privilege or ease of life.

Fig 1: Movie Poster, Dunkirk

After seeing the events these people, some of which at a similar age to me, had to go through, I couldn't help but feel extremely privileged to have lived such an easy life in comparison. 

Fig 2: Screenshot, Dunkirk

Moving forward with this theme, I would like to adapt it to suggest motives rather than to force any kind of military or millennial aesthetic into my work. Potentially similar to the subtle way in which William Eggleston suggests areas of American culture in his photography.

Fig 3: Biloxi

In terms of aesthetics and methods that I want to use to create my work, I think that the intro animation to the Netflix series Daredevil best illustrates the ways in which I want to form my animations.

           
                        Fig 4:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFYFh8w4758

I'm really interested in creating a film that suggests, in a not too overpowering manner, the difference in quality of life between me and someone who lived out their youth during a time of hardship.



When thinking about the physical appearance of my film, I plan on taking forward the technique used in the most successful part of my last project. The above images were seen as the moments of my film that most effectively manipulated the two mediums of photography and CG, something that I want to have as a foundation for this project, whether that be via projection mapping of deformation.


Illustration List

Fig 1: Movie Poster, Dunkirk, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4Yo2KOBlcM, Accessed on: 26.08.17

Fig 2: Screenshot, Dunkirk, http://www.mtv.co.uk/harry-styles/news/harry-styles-speaks-actual-words-in-these-two-new-dunkirk-trailers, Accessed on: 26.08.17

Fig 3: Biloxi, http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/genius-in-colour-why-william-eggleston-is-the-world-s-greatest-photographer-8577202.html, Accessed on: 26.06.17

Fig 4: YouTube Video, Daredevil, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFYFh8w4758, Accessed on: 26.08.17



2 comments:

  1. Hey Lewis :) Firstly, thanks so much for sharing your Butch Auntie adventures and it was lovely to read how it created further opportunities and opened things up for you. I knew it would be a good fit you - so that's great!!!

    I'm very interested by this idea, Lewis - not least because it chimes with some of my own forty-something grumblings about 'snowflake millennials' and the impression I get sometimes of how detached some young people are from 'actual' hardship or from 'actual' horror or 'actual' pain, likewise the speed by which some become 'offended' or express outrage, when there's 'actual' offence out there and 'actual' outrages against humanity - see, old git talking there!

    In essence, you're talking about making work that has some kind of message or social conscience and I think that's great. I would gently suggest that, at this early stage, I'd park any commitments to your previous workflow, simply because the most authentic year 3 projects develop their workflows out of the concept, as opposed to the other way around. It may very well be that your previous experience is a perfect fit, but I'd like to see you 'not know' how you're going to represent your ideas - and that 'not knowing' becoming an exciting strand of your project's development.

    I'm interested by your caveat - 'not too over-powering manner' - i.e. finding a non-preachy way to talk about the difference between types of experience. As I read your post, I began to think about the possibilities offered to you by the idea of data visualisation - which often create abstractions that are nonetheless absolutely 'accurate' depictions of somekind of phenomena or statistic:

    For example: comparative life-expectancy: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/3f/50/cb/3f50cb21594d29224cfe90c7870a47ae--data-visualization-infographics.jpg

    http://adamcsanders.com/media/upload_files/holybookviz.jpg

    http://fixstream.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/jer-thorp-ted.jpg

    etc...

    If, for example, you could get data sets relating to your theme of 'contrasts' between young people at different times, in different places etc. I suspect you could begin to create some fascinating 3D visualisations that can communicate the inequalities of experience without getting into mawkish imagery or trite signifiers for the 'youth of the today'. I think too it might allow you to explore the kind of imagery and 3D spaces/assets that satisfy your growing interest in abstraction and work that operates within a fine art orbit. Let me know what you think :)


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  2. Hi Phil :) I'm really interested in the possibility of making work from data sets, I'm thinking that could be a good way of me managing to get my point across without being completely blatant :)

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