I started off with a mind map because, intend to be a person that has too many ideas and too many things i am interested in or feel passionate about. boiling it down to one important concept that makes for a compelling piece, is my mission!
A lot of it is gobbledygook, but it is basically me trying to sort my brain out. I landed on the idea that I care very much about climate change, overwhelmingly so. I also think a lot of climate change art can look very similar. But also I am aware my own pessimism/trauma associated with studying ecology, leaves me with a very specific outlook. That might not be helpful or interesting.
I also wanted to focus on a specific facet of climate change, as most people are quite well-informed with overall information about climate change. I also wanted something that I had experienced, so I wasn’t reaching too far away.
I landed on specific phenomena my friends and I experienced. Before the pandemic, it felt like there was so much discussion about climate change, in ordinary conversations and with politicians. During the pandemic, climate change policy and talk of climate change completely fell by the wayside. This is understandable, we can only comprehend one world-ending situation at a time. After the pandemic, I felt that there was next to no discussion about climate change, and school strikes for climate have completely stopped in Australia. That makes me feel quite distressed, as prioritised action is necessary.
I then wanted to create a filmed piece, as I enjoy all the techniques involved with that.
- visual texture
- fun colours
- interesting/dynamic lighting
- editing (I didn’t end up doing that for this piece)
- less of a focus on music, I feel to get a good enough song (because I am so new at it) it takes quite a while. often more time than I have in a semester.
So I started doing some drawings and more mind-mapping/self-questioning. I also wanted to think about a triptych again, I really like the idea of feeling encompassed by the work. Which is something I also tried last semester.
For this piece, I wanted to attempt to subvert the cutesy nature of my previous work. I did some introspection and think I can’t cut out being cute; it’s just natural. So I intend to transform it to help further my vision. I wanted to insinuate that this topic is insidious. There is an underlying wrongness to the situation. so I was trying to find ways of making it sinister. (also yes I did spill ink all over the paper, and no it is not a Rorschach test. But it is interesting that you thought that…).
Some more storyboards.
I decided on a colour theme very early, so that I could implement it fully. I went for primary colours. The blue of the wizard’s outfit, the yellow of the raincoat, and the red of the workers’ outfit.
I also wanted to try different sizes of textures. Like the coloured blocks of photos in the yellow channel. And then contrasting black and white in the red channel, as well as the natural textures of the forest in the blue channel.
I wanted to keep this piece to be visually interesting. I also really liked the captivating quality of ‘Lady Gaga X Robert Wilson: Mademoiselle Caroline Rivière’
I imagine it feels quite gentle in a gallery space. That is something I am interested in exploring.
Wizard channel (representing escape/regression into media and books)
I had already made the wizard hat and had the beard from the first semester. So, I wanted to make a cloak because the back of the wizard would be prominent in the shot. Another reason for making the outfit is I really like making absolutely everything in the shot. Similar to what I did with the last triptych. I find myself an incredibly hands-on person.
This was the start of the pattern I made, I didn’t want to just make a cloak because some of the front of the outfit would be in the shot. I also made the front piece because the weight of the cape could pull on my neck. In historical cloaks, they often had a tie that crossed over the front and tied at the back. So that the cloak wouldn’t keep riding up on the wearer’s neck. I instead made a yoke underneath the cloak at the back that connected to the front piece. Which joined in the middle with some gold trim.
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.
This is the first frame
And this is the final frame.
Group tutorial
This is the video I showed for the group tutorial; the wizard was just a placeholder as filming was delayed.
I felt the Group tutorial was quite helpful, as it showed my artistic intent wasn’t obvious. Which was something I was worried might be the case. I didn’t want to spell everything out for the audience so that they could have a good think and come up with their own ideas. Maybe I should’ve spelt something out for them.
I decided to include some explicit imagery that signalled climate change and not just nature. as that seemed to be part of the confusion. so I found some extremely terrifying footage of Australian fires from 2020 on news channels.
I found clips that were longer than 4 seconds and showed complete and utter destruction. I wanted it visually to look nothing like the other footage so the audience could extrapolate the footage and possibly apply it to the other footage. or notice that the three characters are ignoring it (not blissfully).
I used the camera sound of the birds and the wind in the calm portions of the video and re-used the ‘1-hour ambient forest fire – DnD’ for the fire clips. Hoping that, sonically it would wake up and energise the audience.
I interspersed five clips about 1 minute apart. as the audience becomes calm and understands the pace of the piece, with the three characters moving gently. They are shocked and surprised by what was just unleashed onto the screen. It then snaps back to the calm footage; it no longer feels peaceful. It feels sinister. The once seemingly harmless movements become malicious. The audience questions why the characters ignore this calamity, ‘what on earth could possibly be more important than this??!?!’.
Or at least that is the reaction I hope I can create. Even if the audience doesn’t understand or know of the theme of escapism, they can understand that something is amiss. And hopefully, the turnedbacks will solidify this message.
Set up and final adjustments
I used three projectors and 3 bright signs and set them up in the mezzanine.
I initially set up with the wizard to the left, as I had shown it in the tutorial. as I wanted it to show an increasing distance from nature. Wizard, in nature. Raincoat separated from nature. Red, complete abstraction/disconnect from nature.
However once I set up the projection, the action looked lop-sided as the wizard only gently turned the page of the book every now and again. so I moved the wizard to the middle. It was symmetrical and very satisfying.
these are the three separate final videos:
What was successful?
- The red person channel felt beautiful to me. Having nothing to frame it and having the white blend into the walls made it seem like it was almost painted onto the walls. It could be an interesting effect for a different project. Working maybe with coloured walls, or at least try this black-on-white effect again.
- Also the effect of even lighting on a space. It became flattened and distorted. Very cool, I would like to try and work with different spaces maybe. And having the individual in different sizes relative to the space and screen.
- I am very proud of the wizard outfit; making a pattern from scratch from a drawing was so fun. I wanted a specific look, and I was able to get exactly what I wanted! So fun.
What could be improved upon?
- Something I consistently notice with my art is that I am visuals first. I want to create an exciting and dynamic visual piece. I then get overwhelmed with the intellectual part of the piece, either because I feel a great sense of urgency and passion about many things, or it is a muscle I am just not very good at flexing yet. I would say this piece is the epitome of that. I have very few qualms about the visuals, as most of them came out exactly how I wanted (one I will say something about). I feel the piece’s intent is cloudy; it’s a niche topic, and it was addressed like a mainstream topic where the audience was very educated and had a lot of skill to read between the lines.
- In future, I am not sure how I will fix this, I think I will try to have a longer time to focus on lots of different concepts. I think it would be better for me to make lots of ideas, and then scrap the bad ones. instead of trying to put too much into one idea and being too precious with it.
- The yellow raincoat channel, I think, was the most conceptually well-done but technically lacking. The reflection of the glossy photos obscured what was in the pictures. I also think it could have looked more dynamic. I think if I could’ve hung the photos at different levels with something like fishing wire. or I could’ve found a window that was much flatter. as mine had very pronounced window sills, which meant a lot of the pictures hung at an odd angle.
- also, I think the juxtaposition between the high-res still image and the very low-res fire image is quite annoying. I think it would’ve been very powerful if the fire was crystal clear. (but I will not be filming any bushfires like that any time soon) so I just have to make do. or I could’ve tried some video upscaling AI, but I haven’t seen any that are particularly successful.
- there is a lot of personal distress with the lack of resolutions within this piece, as you can see through my criticism . I think one of the reasons that I cant be excited or proud of this work, is that I still feel very emotional towards this subject, and am still quite stressed about it. I have not made any personal resolutions on the matter, my lack of reconciliation on this topic reflects the complexity and dire nature of the dilemma I am exploring . there is an ongoing dissonace between my distress at the urgency of the situation, and the ‘fix’ that is my art piece. which i would deem in the scale of things, not enough.
- although i still think i did a good job, and i tried immensely hard. Working everyday.
