Final project – Semester 2

I then drew out many stars onto gold glitter foam. I cut them out and stuck them onto the back of the cape with hot glue.

I had planned to have all three shots filmed before our group tutorial. The only day I had free to shoot the wizard was one, which I had planned to do at a local sequoia plantation. It was storming. So I filmed a week later, after the tutorial.

I included the wizard reading a book because I wanted it to appear like a fantasy. But specifically one where the wizard was going into. The wizard was escaping into fiction. i.e. the person started as normal and then felt more like a wizard after spending all their time engrossed in fiction. I chose this cartoon/storybook version of a wizard because it is inoffensive, it doesn’t single out any type of media/ it also emphasises the silliness of it all, or maybe the levity that is being looked for.

This was one of the first camera tests for this shot. I got my dad to help me focus because clambering through the forest between every shot to check focus was not an option, or at least a feasible option.

I wanted slightly wider framing, even though this is the size of the people in the two other corresponding shots. But because this shot has less movement, I don’t mind that it is slightly different to the other shots.

I also intentionally had my back to the light, even though I knew this would’ve been an incredibly beautiful shot. I didn’t want it to be thought of as a positive situation. i.e. looking into the light. This is another cue to a sad/insidious situation. where the character is turning away from the light.

Shot 2 – red shot.

The concept for this channel is inspired by the journal I read as inspiration. The journal I read highlighted a few specific types of escapism, some of them rather scary. But one in particular that I had never heard about or thought of indirectly that light was ‘right-wing escapism’. It talked about people who had a hard life(lots of people do) and feel the need to create a fantasy where they feel empowered or important. This is not that crazy; I personally imagine how my life would be different if I sporadically grew wings or found 1 billion dollars. The difference is that the ‘right-wing’ tries to enact its ideals on other people. This is highly problematic and contentious, as we are all aware. An important part is that there is a very vocal community. This makes these people feel as if everyone agrees with them. Making their ideas more righteous.

I chose to use this type of art style in this piece (these are all drawings I did a couple of years ago; I took an art subject as my breadth). I make these drawings by initially looking at a picture and painting what I can see very quickly with black calligraphy ink. I would then use a light box, and paint on a new piece of paper, either the outlines of the original piece or the white parts. I would then get this cool abstraction that kind of looked like the original, but all the more varying texture. I would use many different techniques to create variation

• folding over the page and then outlining the folded over drawing
• Multiple designs onto one piece of paper, so the flow of the lines would change.
• using different types of paintbrushes and pens that would create different marks

I made more of these for this piece(actually, every one in the final shot I painted for this piece.

the original intent of the work was ‘echos’ of each other. I combined photos from two locations and altered them with my drawing till they were indistinguishable. It was about looking for connection. The piece was called ‘Echo’.

It was perfect for this work because now it creates an echo chamber. Where it represents discussions that are transformed between online media and conversations till they barely look like the original image/message. This is referring to misinformation and the weird inside jokes/online culture, where people fall further and further away from reality. I chose to keep with the natural theme of the original work, as I wanted to create an abstraction away from nature.

I wanted to give the red character something to do, but I also wanted to highlight the conspiracy-like, out-of-touch nature of these people I was trying to emulate. So the character threaded string around push pins throughout the art. I was also trying to do it subtly without writing or saying things like ‘they are putting chlorine in water to make the frogs gay’. As that is not something I want to address explicitly in my work. I hope that the red cap is a visual cue to American MAGA hats.

I wrapped the red thread around the push pins 5-10 times. As we saw in Sophia’s piece, small red thread can be quite hard to see on camera. So I tried to make it as thick as possible so it could be seen fully on camera.

This is a still of frame, once all the extra thread had been put up.

The Yellow raincoat person.

This character symbolises denial. They are covering up the outside window with more idyllic pictures of nature. The large fabric North American animals are larger; this is so it can be seen in the frame. As some of the smaller printouts aren’t, particularly visible. The reason the character is wearing a rain jacket, this represents a further layer of separation from the outdoors.

I trialled a few windows in my house, but ultimately I chose this window because I could move the camera far back enough to create a wide shot

I used a broken curtain rod to make the middle fabric panel float in front of the other. I wanted to bring some more dimensionality into it.

I pre-taped all of the images so it was seamless in the video and I could cover everything within my 6-minute time limit.

This is me gathering the hem and placing it around the neckline so it would sit right. I also wrapped it closer to the front of the garment so that the cape would sit nicely around the shoulders.

I made a gradient with the stars so they look like they are falling from the sky.

I also like this art aesthetic

This is the final shot. I filmed this at 7 am, as I knew the more horizontal light would cast really beautiful and dramatic shadows.

I am glad that the light lit up all the mossy rocks and branches. It feels very magical.

In this shot, there was a really beautiful dawn chorus of birds and no cars driving around, as we were deep enough not to hear them. The sound was picked up really well on the camera mic, so I was able to use that in the final audio.

I made the drawings/paintings above in 2021.

I used a white bed sheet to block out the window so I could create a room with 3 walls.

I chose to use the studio at the front because it has this little hallway area, where I could better position my camera. so that all of the paintings were in frame.

These ledgo lights were perfect for a bright, indirect light. They helped with making the walls seem really flat.

I cut out photos from these four beautiful nature photography books, carefully picking photos with no human intervention. They were very nostalgic photos and felt very old school. I think they were mostly shot on film. Or at least early digital, where it all looks a bit flat and overly texturised.

I had a very interesting dilemma because the shot is so backlit by the window. I had to use four lights to try and match the outside light so the photos don’t appear completely in shadow. also interestingly, as I covered up more of the window, the darker the shot got, and it eventually became under-exposed. It was only slightly, and it was in line with the message, so I didn’t mind. I had to bring in a second fluro light to light up my body as I had to use so many lights on the wall/window.

Tape was integral to this piece, as hot glue was to the wizard outfit.