Critique write-up for reference!

As some of you know, I have a terrible habit of over-complicating my ideas and images, and this semester was not an exception. I went from story telling, to narratives to old-Hollywood movie stills to this. My starting concept was Escapism, and it still is. My concept has not progressed or changed, despite all of the radical ideas I considered doing.

Through the narratives of film, I have found myself completely captivated in the unrealistic ideals that they present. The elements, or Mise-en-scene of these specific films are strong and nearly exaggerated. The artifice in the perfectionist production quality draws viewers to escape the reality of everyday and they are left reflecting on the narrative they were captivated by. Escapism through heavily planned narratives leads me to have false expectations in my everyday life. The false appeal; the fake perfection of films is desirable and the films that portray the most exaggerated perfection are ones written or made in the early stages of film – 1900-1960. In looking into artifice and the glamorized production quality of that era and style, I have created images that represent my life and the means of how I use Escapism.

Rebecca Arnold, Research Blog: Critique Today!

Well, my critique is today so there isn't a whole lot to say other than some thing about my recent shoots and the next steps that I personally think I should take.

I shot last weekend and I really think I'm moving in the right direction. But, again this is a working critique ad I know there is much room for improvement. I'm thinking about starting to shoot with my medium format from now on - another question I can ask today to my peers. I just think a good film quality is necessary for a quality production-like shot (which is what I'm attempting to work up to).

As I wrote about Stanley Kubrick in my last post, I was reminded of his endless perfectionism of each and every detail. I am sort of like that myself, in my obsessive complication of my projects, but there's a certain focus that I'm hoping to acquire as I continue with my fleeting ideas. Writing on Kubrick also made me think that I should pull back and get some wider, large scale shots. The photos I have right now are very close in and intimate, but that's not a big importance to me at all. I could afford to back up just a bit. Perhaps another question to bring up today.

This is where I think I need to head for the rest of the semester, but I'm eager to hear how my classmates feel when they look at my images. I am unbelievably nervous - but also excited.

Pictures later, after the critique.

Rebecca Arnold, Artist Blog: Stanley Kubrick

To add another great filmmaker, my blog this week is on Stanley Kubrick.

Kubrick, noted for his lengthy methods of working and his perfectionism qualities, maintained a strong artist control over his films. His films are characterized by a formal visual style and extensive attention to detail - he often combined elements of surrealism and expressionism with cynicism.

Stanley Kubrick was born in New York, and despite his bad grades at school, he was considered intelligent. On his 13th birthday, Kubrick received a camera from his father. This sparked his interest and he became an avid photographer - he sold his photographs to Look Magazine and got a job with them at the young age of 17. After saving his money, he created his first film - a documentary called Day of the Fight (1951) and continued on from there.

Some of Kubrick's most famous films include 2001: A Space Odyssey, Spartacus, Lolita, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, Dr. Strangelove and Barry Lyndon. He also collaborated with Steven Speilberg on A.I. (before he died). I named 8 out of 16 movies he directed...he was obviously very successful.

One risky, well received film he make was Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Kubrick started it as a drama, but soon realized how funny his ideas were and that they wouldn't be taken seriously. This film was made in 1964, a time where nuclear wasn't means for comedy. It was critically successful and the money he made off of it allowed him to continue with his other projects. So thank goodness.

All but three of Kubrick's films were adapted from existing novels - something I also take an interest in (from story to film and the enormous changes that go underway). He also uses a lot of voiceover narration - sometimes directly from the novel. Written dialogue is one element that must be balanced with mise-en-scene and editing, and Kubrick made sure to do just that.

“Everything else [in film] comes from something else. Writing, of course, is writing; acting comes from the theatre; and cinematography comes from photography. Editing is unique to film. You can see something from different points of view almost simultaneously, and it creates a new experience” – Stanley Kubrick

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000040/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Kubrick

Rebecca Arnold, Research Blog: Midterms/Escapism

Midterms are looming, and I'm down to one last-minute shoot left. As I look at what I have so far, I realize that my photographs are not as complicated and confusing as I first thought they would be. My concept has not progressed or changed, despite all of the radical ideas I considered doing. I was where I needed to be the whole time, even if my thoughts were too busy worrying about other options.

Escapism, in the most literal sense is how I started and now I realize it's where I still am. I still want to incorporate the Old Hollywood qualities to my images, as the films of that era are often the ones that I use to escape. I hope to achieve that with a production of perfect makeup, perfect hair; too-perfect elements of that unattainable old era image.

I don't critique until next Thursday so I have some time to be anxious. I'm looking forward to getting it over with and getting some good advice. I'm happy with where I am but curious to find out how other people view this concept and what I have to show. Feedback is almost always appreciated.

On that note (or not), I'll leave you with a Natalie Dee comic. NatalieDee.com. Love her!

Rebecca Arnold, Artist Blog: Robert Yeoman

My artist blog this week is on Robert Yeoman, but will also contain information about Wes Anderson, as Robert Yeoman and Wes Anderson are collaborators.

Hotel Chevalier

Yeoman, born in 1951, started out his cinematography career not knowing what he wanted to do in life, but after joining a film club in college, he became interested in foreign films and documentaries. He then went to USC to get involved in documentaries and film school. Yeoman has been a member of the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) since 2001 and has a MFA from the University of Sourthern California School of Cinematic Arts.

A Life Aquatic

Robert Yeoman began shooting for independent films - including the film Drugstore Cowboy, for which he won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography. He's recently worked on the movies Whip It and Yes Man. Yeoman has worked on every Wes Anderson film as the cinematographer or director of photography.

While Wes Anderson's films are well known for his witty dialogue and cynical petty grievances on a path to understanding life/meaning, it is the camera eye and shots that so often captures the audience. Each element for each scene is carefully considered - using camera angles and long or wide shots to represent something more meaningful and conceptual. The selection of lenses and camera movements are as critical to conveying Anderson's humanist worldview as his casting, dialogue, music and production design. For example, sometimes instead of using a pan shot, Anderson and Yeoman use dolly (on a track) shots because there is a certain weight that offsets the strange childish comedic atmosphere in his narratives.

The Darjeeling Limited

Yeoman is a very careful and amazing cinematographer. Hotel Chevalier, while short, is one of my favorite films just for the sheer aesthetic beauty of it. I don’t even have to feel guilty because there is always a deeper concept looming behind the lens. This is already obvious through the stills taken from Anderson’s movies. I look forward to seeing more work that Yeoman creates!

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005934/

http://www.cinematographers.nl/PaginasDoPh/yeoman.htm

my own experience

Rebecca Arnold, Research Blog: Here goes nothing

After posting my meeting blog, I got a great comment from Nissa. I was worried about the new approach that Jeff wanted me to try, and I think she put things into perspective for me. Just as Tom said, Nissa reminded me I need to make this about ME. How I feel when I make my work is almost more important than how others feel. I need to think about what makes up my story, what I would like to choose to represent a day in my life - my story in one frame. Everyone wants to have a movie about their life, so I think that's what I'll do.

I'm having my ah-ha moment. My story in one frame. So that being said, all I can really do now is shoot a ton.

Here is a list of potential things I do/feel/want/have/am influenced by every day:

commute

photography

playtime

frolic

school

internship

job

always moving

drawing/making things

ballet

acting/performance

writing

reading

weather/outside

films

clean spaces

atmosphere

making food

weight conscious

fashion

my best friend Kate

my boyfriend Michael

family

perfectionism

travel

escapism

discover

explore

restart

excitement

music

Sinatra

mood

disappointment

tea

I think I'll pick a few of these and take a picture of the feeling or essence felt from those particular things. I'll see where it takes me. I'm going to do a few shoots this weekend - starting tomorrow. Updates coming..

Rebecca Arnold, Artist Lecture: Brian Urlich

Brian Ulrich, a photographer from Chicago, Illinois spoke at our Artist Lecture today. He has many accomplishments - he’s a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship Award of 2009, and he’s had his work shown in many museum collections, including the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago.

Ulrich, not quite the most conceptual artist I’ve listened to before, started off with his current work including his “Dark Stores, Ghostboxes, and Dead Malls” collection. Not to be scathing, but that title explains my preceding statement. Urlich shot this collection with an 8x10 camera at abandoned retail stores/sites – keeping the shutter open for long exposures. He played an audio clip to draw the audience’s attention to the type of setting that he shoots and the people he meets when he shoots at these locations.

He then went on to show some of his earlier work from 2001. Urlich’s first collection “Copia” was a reaction to 9/11. He admitted that after the attack that his first instinct/desire was to connect with people and try to recapture the moment when the planes hit the twin towers. Because of his concern for the financial system of the United States, Urlich states that he captures the dead retail stores to get across his visual language for citizens to keep shopping and boosting the economy…

While this concept may seem obvious, or a cop-out, I did like some of his images – especially his newer things. There was a clear lack of reasoning behind some of his work, and I say that simply because he spent his time explaining the images instead of getting into the why or how.

Overall he held my interest – but I was also itching to get out after I realized he didn’t have a whole lot more to say about his work. I wish he did! I liked what I saw.

Rebecca Arnold, Artist Blog: Todd Haynes

Director Todd Haynes has produced such movies as Poison, and I'm Not There. But his biggest film hit was Far From Heaven, using his lead actress Julianne Moore to explore the theme of suburban alienation. The issues are set back in a time when taboo concerns were never discussed.

Far From Heaven is an homage to Douglas Sirk’s Hollywood melodrama, All That Heaven Allows, but the storyline Haynes created is very different than that of Sirk's - introducing a homosexual husband who drives his wife Cathy into a taboo relationship with the family’s African-American gardener.

I chose this weeks Artist because of his unbelievably beautiful imagery. Not only is the storyline of the movie captivating, but the set and cinematography are breathtaking. You can really see his Douglas Sirk-esque techniques as a classically beautiful melodrama.

In an interview about Far From Heaven, Haynes talks about the artifice of film, a subject I'm obviously interested in. "Everything about film is always artificial," Haynes remarks. "You can come to something far more surprisingly real by acknowledging how much of a construct it is first. It always feels so much more false to me when you set out to be real."

Not only does he address the concept of artifice, but he also discusses the contemporary twist of a 50's movie set filmed today. "When most people see films set in the '50s today," he says, "there's an immediate sense of superiority. It's all about the myth that as time moves on, we become more progressive. Oh wow, they didn't know what sex was until we started to give it to them from our contemporary perspective. So the '50s become a sort of earmark point of oppressive politics and climate, which is very flattering to us as we look back."

Todd Haynes directed this film beautifully and focuses on the elements of film, how it would be viewed today and how his concepts can be translated, rather than just simple filming for storyline. I really respect that about him, and his obvious study of a classic melodramatic director Douglas Sirk. I'll be looking into Sirk's work this week.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far_from_Heaven

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001331/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0297884/

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0268/is_3_41/ai_94122695/

Rebecca Arnold, Research Blog: Make It Work

A brilliant Tim Gunn likes to say, "Make it work" to aspiring fashion designers. I think that I can borrow that phrase for my aspiring photographic success.

Well I watched Dial M for Murder, an amazing film by Hitchcock, and took 10 stills that I "liked" the most. While Tom suggested I think about the stills in a way that they are abstracted from the story, I couldn't help but pick them because they DID represent a clear story line. It's habit, I guess.

These past few days, I've gotten a pretty clear understanding of the next steps I will be taking. I'll be shooting this weekend with clear, planned out directions (so I'm not distracted or defeated). I want to create a movie setting - ascetically sound with a too-perfect mise-en-scene. In this setting will be a model doing a very ordinary every day tedious activity (ex. clipping toenails) in the most glorious beautiful fashion. We don't see these moments in films - especially the films I'm interested from the 1930's to 1960. They're proper and beautiful, and the characters never have to use the restroom or have an awkward conversation with the crazy lady at the supermarket.

I have some pretty good ideas for these images, but I'll be talking it over with Jeff tomorrow. Hopefully this twist of my concept is approved.

I'll post the Dial M for Murder stills later!

Rebecca Arnold, Artist Lecture: Penelope Umbrico

Penelope Umbrico, a photographer from Ontario College of Art (BFA) and the Visual Art School in NY (MFA) is known for her systematic re-contextualization of an object or image.

Umbrico started doing this type of work by focusing on media. She found it troublesome that home catalogs were invading her space at home, and she photographed pages of ordinary objects out of focus - making these standard household items into strange and abstract.

From Catalogs

Another piece she showed was one she created from photographing mirrors in home catalogs and blowing them up to actual size to print and mounted them to plexiglass. Umbrico explained that the idea behind this came when her bathroom mirror broke, and she felt a sense of disappearance.

Mirrors

Penelope Umbrico takes images found in consumer media and re-contextualizes and constructs them from desirable items to strange, yet thoughtful art pieces.

Another work I enjoyed was her horizons work. She admitted that a horizon is a place you can never reach, not matter how well it sells vacations (ex. honeymoon brochures) - vibrant colors invite us. But because the sunsets are inaccessible, she created postcards and kept them shrink wrapped. They were then inaccessible in a way that you can't even touch or hold them.

With a quirky sense of humor, and self, Penelope Umbrico knows how to speak to an audience about her work. Unlike her postcards, her work is accessible because it's contemporary media - everyday things that everyone experiences. I liked her very much.

Rebecca Arnold, Artist Blog: Tim Burton

This week, my artist blog will be on Tim Burton - director of such great films like: Sleepy Hollow, Big Fish, Nightmare Before Christmas, etc.

Described as "a director of fables, fairy tales, and fantasies, with an aesthetic that incorporates the Gothic...", Tim Burton has created a body of fourteen feature films over two and a half decades, and continues to do so with his upcoming interpretation of Alice in Wonderland.

Alice in Wonderland (pre-release)

When researching Burton, I stumbled across the word auteurist - which I had never heard before. The dictionary reads that it is "a filmmaker whose movies are characterized by a filmmaker's creative influence," which I couldn't pin on a better director. His vision is uncompromised with his German Expressionism influence and striking visuals. Even Burton's insisting, nearly haunting characters make even his feature blockbuster films intimate and distinctive.

Sleepy Hollow

Not only are Tim Burton's films unique, but they also cover a wide range of methods. He's done stop-motion animation, musicals, and adaptations - of which they all contain his invented characters, personalities and childhood icons. Burton is also known for his collaboration with actors Helena Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp, along with Danny Elfman (composer), a production designer Rick Heinrich and costume designer Colleen Atwood. They are always by his side working on his next film. Its this consistency that enhances Burton's vision in his films.

Big Fish

The photos that I chose for this post were deliberate. These stills spoke the most to me in terms of Tim Burton's vision and my own vision. I have done many fantastical photographs so far in my studies, and Burton is a huge influence. While my visual ideas are different for my portfolio this year, the conceptual ideas of Burton still inspire me. I can't wait for Alice in Wonderland to come out!

http://www.timburtoncollective.com/

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000318/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Burton

Rebecca Arnold, Research Blog: Moving On

Nothing terribly new here. I have not yet rented Dial M for Murder, so that's an issue, but I have another week until I show Jeff the stills, so I'll be watching it this weekend.

Niki gave me some good ideas through her 20th Century Pop Culture class blog from last semester, but I can't read any of the posts because it's for invited guests only...so I'll ask her today if I can access that information another way. She mentioned the class was pretty much dedicated to older films and novels in the early to mid 1900s, so that's perfect. I can't wait to get some insight there. I also want to look into the movies The Maltese Falcon and/or The Big Sleep.

I'm really hoping I'll get some good information here. I just feel like my process to get a good photograph is so unbelievably long and exhausting. My biggest issue is definitely the set up - the wardrobe, the setting, etc. But when I get there, I know what I want to do. My aesthetics are there, but my ideas are still wavering. I'll have a lot more to update on Sunday, that's for sure.

Boring blog, today! Sorry. I'm allowed one, right?