PHVP 3412 Creative professional practice

unless stated otherwise, work posted here will NOT be of my own, but that of inspiration.

The Untutored Eye:

“Imagine an eye unruled by man-made laws of perspective, an eye unprejudiced by compositional logic, an eye which does not respond to the name of everything but which must know each object encountered in life through an adventure of perception.”

Stan Brakhage, Metaphors on vision.

Chapter 3 in the book Light Moving in Time talks about the concept of ‘The untutored eye’. It was a way in which to rebel against conventional filmmaking techniques, and adopt a new way in which to show the world. Avant-garde filmmakers took an instant liking to the words of Brakhage.

Further on in chapter 3, it continues with a quote from J.R.R Tolkien’s lecture “On Fairy-Stories”:

“We should look at green again, and be startled anew (but not blinded) by blue and yellow and red.” 

and continues by saying:

“We need, in any case, to clean our windows; so that the things seen clearly may be freed from the drab blur of triteness or familiarity - from possessiveness.” 

‘to clean our windows’ could relate to what William Blake describes as ‘cleansing the doors of perception’. To clean ones windows to me sounds like to open ones eyes, to bring in a wider thinking and viewing of a situation or object. To defy what we think is ‘green’ and see it as something completely different as if we were children once more.

It’s a different way of seeing that links closely with Avant-garde/surrealist filmmakers, something i’m utilising in my film.

Surrealist Film:

This, I know is a massive task. Surrealist film is a wide goal post to try and hit, but I’d like to narrow my field just slightly to attempt a break in it.

My film itself is, for lack of a better word, Surreal. I’ve been reading such books as ‘The shadow and Its shadow: Surrealist writing on the cinema’ (Paul Hammond)

They delve deeply into this wonderfully strange world, in which metaphors and representations are our primary pieces of information. The one thing that is evident to make a large impact on surrealist film is the ‘Dream like state’ you seem to be in once you’ve engaged yourself to watch. 

They take you away from your known reality, and force a new path into another. Art is also linked heavily with Surrealist film; surrealist artist having found a new medium (film) in which to convey a story.

I found a quote that says:

“The artists principal target is henceforth to search for a reality in the dream superior to that which the logical, therefore arbitrary, exercise of thought suggests to us.” Jean Goudal, The shadow and its shadow.

Manipulating ones reality, and suggesting another reality that once would have been rejected for its logic. It makes sense, as most dreams one has dont seem to share a logic that we can understand? Why should people be subjected to the same ways of viewing a world?

SoundScape: Currently working on folly sound; Ill list up a few of my inspirations including some of the actual sounds themselves later on in the day. 

SoundScape:

Currently working on folly sound;

Ill list up a few of my inspirations including some of the actual sounds themselves later on in the day. 

A very quick look at the film I made yesterday; Completed the final edition of the Duct Tape suit on my female model. It came together perfectly, and with a few additions to the design, it came off a lot easier as well. It definitely gave off the right feel and mood, producing a very eery element to the potentially boring environment of the studio environment. Ive chosen this environment for that specific reason though, allowing all the attention to be placed onto the subject (model).

A very quick look at the film I made yesterday;

Completed the final edition of the Duct Tape suit on my female model. It came together perfectly, and with a few additions to the design, it came off a lot easier as well.

It definitely gave off the right feel and mood, producing a very eery element to the potentially boring environment of the studio environment. Ive chosen this environment for that specific reason though, allowing all the attention to be placed onto the subject (model).

The Representation got all too much:

A friend gave me these cut outs from The Sunday Times. An artical that depicts shop owners in Tehran defacing manikins of their sexuality.

Removing the sexuality from these manikins; It’s a bold statement on the very cultural differences that separate us. It’s a representation of how their women should look, no distinct feminine features, nothing to depict sexuality. It removes sex from the equation, from society and from individualism. 

I find it bizarre, to remove someones sexuality to is to defy them existence amongst themselves. It creates an imbalance between sexual power, something that is evidently wanted in such countries. The male figure is seen as power, and to deface the female figure to represent that of a male is to say this is as you should be, but you aren’t. 

It’s very political. A very dominantly male society. Gives you loads to think about. Inspiration is flowing.

Got the major bits completed on the Duct tape suit now. Will be filling in the gaps once we get on set. Later on today, I’m trying a small animation, representing sexuality in the female form, to a small elegant glass vase. The curvature of the vase will represent the form of the female character, allowing me to play with concepts such as dominance and genre specific roles.

Got the major bits completed on the Duct tape suit now. Will be filling in the gaps once we get on set.

Later on today, I’m trying a small animation, representing sexuality in the female form, to a small elegant glass vase.
The curvature of the vase will represent the form of the female character, allowing me to play with concepts such as dominance and genre specific roles.

“How sex is problematic for men is reflected in cultural images of female sexuality. Ideas about the nature of female sexuality depend upon premisses about the power that men can have over individual women, and over women as a whole.”  This book, or be it chapter, (chapter 8; Sexuality: The Real Battleground)is facinating. It’s delving into the cultural aspects of male and female sexuality, how it interacts within relationships and cultural relationships and the psychoanalysis of male desires (stated as a primary relationship between man and his penis). It goes on to talk about order, dominance and structure to do with perceptions of sexuality towards the female role: “Compartmentalising women - the triggers of conflict, threateners of balance and stability - into rolse reduces their power. Wife, mother, whore, daughter, sister are all ways of defining women solely in terms of their relationships with men, and in each relationship, social conventions contain - or remove - sexual potential.”

“How sex is problematic for men is reflected in cultural images of female sexuality. Ideas about the nature of female sexuality depend upon premisses about the power that men can have over individual women, and over women as a whole.” 

This book, or be it chapter, (chapter 8; Sexuality: The Real Battleground)is facinating. It’s delving into the cultural aspects of male and female sexuality, how it interacts within relationships and cultural relationships and the psychoanalysis of male desires (stated as a primary relationship between man and his penis).

It goes on to talk about order, dominance and structure to do with perceptions of sexuality towards the female role:

“Compartmentalising women - the triggers of conflict, threateners of balance and stability - into rolse reduces their power. Wife, mother, whore, daughter, sister are all ways of defining women solely in terms of their relationships with men, and in each relationship, social conventions contain - or remove - sexual potential.”

Update

“I’m trying to show, using Representation, the process/workings of OCD and mental disorders. They purely interest me, especially on an Artistic level. My main ethos for this project is to try and create a sense of unease, Anxiety and Compulsive nature. “

This was my main ethos at the beginning of the year, and to an effect, it still is. The only main concepts that have been reworked are:

Surrealism

Representation

Sexuality 

Shape & Form

Submissive & Dominate 

All of these things thrown head on together with Obsessions and Compulsions to create a truly experimental film piece.

AUSTRA | Beat and the Pulse (Uncut)

A friend showed me this a few days ago and it just stuck. It relates in how i’d like to film, content (sexuality and of a sexual nature). 

The lighting is very good, strongly lite from off camera. The shadows play a vital part in the film, showing shape and form to the models/dancers. 

They seem to be in a Non-place, allowing your mind to dictate the situation they’re in. It’s a concept I’ve chosen to use recently, allowing me to place my female character into an environment that has no bias, nothing to distract you from what is being played out.

Opening to film: This is how I’ve imagined the opening to the film to look like.  Quick Insite into film/summary: ‘A female character feels the pressure mount as her obsessive desires build into living fear and anxiety.’

Opening to film:

This is how I’ve imagined the opening to the film to look like. 

Quick Insite into film/summary:

‘A female character feels the pressure mount as her obsessive desires build into living fear and anxiety.’