This is a video of the first half of my choreographed dance. I intend on using the music which is playing in the back but I will be wearing a different outfit and the location will be different.
This is the finished audio file that I am choreographing my dance to. I will place this over the video to ensure the quality is clear and you can’t hear any movement from the dance, which will make it seem smoother.
For this part of my art installation, I want to film different and random objects that seemingly have no link or connection, but if you think about it, everything links together.
Item
Cherry – (link, it’s a fruit but also a hairbo)
Hairbos – (link, it’s a type of sweet)
Skittles – (link, as well as being sweets, they’re also used in bowling)
Bowling – (link, I do bowling with friends)
Friend – (etc…)
The reason why I want to do this is because it reflects how my mind works and I find it really interesting how everything is connected somehow. I also want to try and connect this to dreams and see if I can capture those thoughts we all have before we drift off to sleep.
I have 3 different ideas and layouts I want to experiment with for my project. Below I have my first two plans for what I want my presentation/exhibition to look like:
Ideally, I’d like to hold my presentation in the drama studio as it’s a nice open space with a screen and a black curtain for projection. As of now, I have three ideas:
In today’s lesson, I recorded some music for my dance segment with Theo. He played a compilation of violin and piano. I created an audio file that lasted just under a minute and with this audio file, I aim to create a short experimental dance piece and film it.
Today I found a film by Nora Bateson, who is the daughter of Gregory Bateson. He was interested in how things link and connect to one another. I find this interesting because it links to one aspect of my video ideas. I want to create a stream of consciousness type of video, where there are lots of random objects that link together, and Gregory Bateson was also interested in how things were connected.
In today’s lesson, Theo and I recorded the final version of the music for my dance video. We also filmed a rough cut of my dance (which is currently 20 seconds short) without costume and in a different location, however I aim to finish choreographing the dance soon and find a costume. As for location, I need to talk to the performing arts department to see if I can use one of either the drama or dance studio to film.
I tried some experimental filming today for my stream of consciousness video around my house. I tried different things whilst filming such as using flash, filming out of focus and different angles to create an effect of contrast between the clips.
When it came to editing, I also tried out different techniques such as using a variety of transitions, colour effects and sound effects. I did this to make each clip look different from each other and to make it more fun to watch. I also experimented with different music, I wanted the sound to be creepy and mysterious to fit with the theme of these thoughts running through a mind. I am still experimenting with the sound so I will post updates when I am happy with the result.
Today, I went into town and bought some black cloth to help with the presentation of my ‘stream of consciousness’ video. I intend to experiment with that and any sort of box or shelf I can find before Friday’s lesson.
I went to the drama department to try and look for a box with a shelf but unfortunately, there wasn’t anything suitable there for me to use. For tomorrow’s lesson, I will either temporarily use a table or see if I can find anything at home over the rest of the day.
Today, I tried to film some more clips for my stream of consciousness video, however, due to the weather conditions, the shoot was unsuccessful. However, I added more posts onto my blog and tried to plan more ideas for my stream of consciousness video.
I booked out a camera from college and during this week, I intend to finish my stream of consciousness video filming, so I can have the weekend to edit. I intend on filming on Tuesday and Thursday because I have no lessons on those days.
In terms of my dance video, I have finished the choreography and I plan on filming it on Friday in the lesson. I plan on using the drama or dance studio and I plan on using a tripod so I can film it myself and so it can be static. Then I can edit over the weekend and on Monday’s lesson.
Today I filmed my dance video and I am happy with the results. I think that considering I had a limited time frame to film it in, I was able to create the vision I was intending to create.
In today’s lesson, I finished editing my stream of consciousness video and my dance video and uploaded them to YouTube. I changed the format for my stream of consciousness video and experimented with no sound and one visual effect overlaid to create a dream like effect. As for my dance video, I had two versions to play around with and I ended up combining them both together. For Monday’s lesson, I need to work out how I want to present my project and if my videos are at a high enough quality.
In today’s lesson, I filmed the mock run through of people’s videos. However, some weren’t able to film in the room they originally intended to, so we improvised in other rooms.
Today is the day of the presentation! In preparation for this, I scouted my location, then realised that someone else was using that room, which was a surprise because I had to find another room to hold my presentation in. However, once I found a room to hold it in (the photography room), I began setting up my box in the middle of a room on a tall table and connecting my dance video to the big screen.
There was one small issue in terms of technology, my video was on a loop as I wanted it to be, but the big screen kept switching itself off whenever the laptop did. The solution was to go to settings and change the screen settings to ensure that neither screen turned off during the show, because otherwise I would have had to constantly be monitoring the screens.
This is a contemporary art that combines video technology and and art installation. It makes use of the world around us and uses this to affect their audiences.
The concept of art installation was first introduced during the late 1960s. It became more popular as ‘regular’ artists felt cheated by art galleries. There were two ways that artists fought back against the system, one way was ‘Natural Art’, which was when artists created art using nature, this was so the art didn’t last and over time it would decay and become nothing. The second way was through ‘Performance Art’, the artist would perform their art and when the performance was over, it would be unlikely anyone would see the art again. However, over time this stopped working because the audiences started documenting the artists work.
Chiyoko Myose grew up in Japan but has lived in the USA for 20 years. Her work is mainly art installations and paintings. She described the feeling of moving from different locations and seeing different landscapes and leaving things behind makes her feel like a traveller and a sojourner (a person who resides temporarily in a place.)
Some of her work includes:
The message I get from this video is collecting and revisiting memories. The text throughout the video is fragmented and scattered through the video and together spells ‘Memories bind us and yet we fly with wings to a new home’ which I have interpreted as meaning that we are connected by the memories we make but we also go out and find new opportunities and make new memories. I think that the way the text is fragmented into separate sections enhances the meaning more as it stretches across the video like memories stretch across our lives.
When the girl starts dancing with the film tape wrapped around her, I thought the idea was very original and it links well with the context of the video and the backdrop of draped tape. The originality of the content really expresses the purpose of art installation and I think really tells the story.
In terms of the spacing, the space consists of a room with hanging pieces of film tape draped around the walls and the centre and the girl is dancing in front of the centrepiece for most of it, then around it. This makes good use out of the space as she’s utilising the floor and the entire room.
Also, when she dances around the central piece of film tape, she spends a few seconds looking around at the different collections of tape and to me, that symbolises her looking at her different memories and her dancing around them creates a sense of her being intertwined with her past. Her emotion was also very interesting because she was smiling the whole way through which to me, either means she has really happy memories, or just has a very care free personality.
Chiyoko Myose used the concept of film tape to create different moods. At the start of the video, I thought it was going to be quite eerie as it started out as just a room covered in tape with a girl, who first appears to be almost stroking the tape. However, as it progressed, I read the message and thought the video was very uplifting and created a calm and personal atmosphere.
There were lots of different shots used to help aid the narrative of the piece, it starts off as using a lot of extreme close-ups and focusing in on objects/areas of tape which is very aesthetically pleasing as well as creative. However, as the video progresses to the girl dancing, the camera stands stationary and films a front on shot of the dance, and then proceeds to capture the action closer up.
This piece links well with what I want my video art installation project to be about because I want to incorporate dance into mine and this video has inspired me to use props like the film tape. I am thinking of using a ribbon or a cloth to tell a story, yet keep the theme open for interpretation.
Chiyoko Myose’s ‘Rewinding’ was made by combining video art and dance, another artist who did this was Billy Cowie.
‘Billy Cowie is a poet of dance’ – Miguel Iglesias (director of Danza Contemporanea de Cuba)
Billy Cowie is a Scottish writer, choreographer, artist and filmmaker who works mainly in the industry with dance and film.
Some examples of his work include:
During his 2013 Kyoto Experiment, Billy Cowie made two short art installation films, one of which was ‘Art of Movement’. This is a short 30 second piece where he has people sitting and standing in specific positions. The way he captures this in the first half is by using a technique similar to stop motion animation. I find this a really interesting way to edit because it gives the term ‘movement’ a completely different meaning and adds a more creative and edgy side to the video.
There is also a lot of usage of screens in this piece, where the performers stand in front of and create more movement. This adds a certain level of intensity that is unique to the style of film. The lights and colours are able to be manipulated to create a sense of diversity and the shadows are really effective to show different positions and angles of the performers.
The music in this first section is very upbeat and has a definite beat to it. This complements the stop motion very well but it contrasts with the fluid movements with the screens.
Interestingly, ‘Art of Movement’ fades to black and flows into ‘Dark Rain’ very nicely. ‘Dark Rain’ starts off with two people standing face to face in front of screens again but the music is a lot softer and more mellow, yet with more rigid movements, which contrasts with the music. The colours of the light and the projection is a nice warm yellow and the people have rainbow blurred outlines around them and when they move.
This piece also links with what I want to do well because I am considering using a screen to project my dance onto and I might use a screen or a page of paper to do some drawings on. However, I want me dancing to complement the music more, I am considering dancing with really fluid movements to fluid and slow music.
Both artists use performers in their pieces, Myose in more of a dance form and Cowie in a more model sort of way. Myose uses different angles and movement to portray her ideas and stories, whereas Cowie uses more visual effects to convey his ideas. They have both given me great inspiration for my own piece but in very different ways:
Joseph Kosuth is an originator of Conceptual Art in the mid 1960s. He is a huge believer of having no limitations on your ideas and you should be able to do whatever you want however you want. This relates to me a lot because I am aiming to have three different videos playing at once so people can walk round and view it as they like it. I also have a of ideas for my project and I am really looking forward to not having any restrictions on them.
Postmodernism is a style of art that was created in the in the late 20th century. This is linked to the arts and architecture, and it is a departure from modernism and is characterised by the self-conscious use of earlier styles and conventions, mixing art and media. I think this links to my concepts a lot because I want to take something like dance and drawing that has been around for many years and turn it into something more modern and recent and personal to me, and I want to do it in a way that is new and different.
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