Statement of Intent

Project

For my Final Major Project I intend to look at the art and structure of film - specifically similarities in classic Hollywood cinema through the ages, like the work of Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick. I find the idea of using pre-existing films appealing because of their familiarity. For example, when viewing Christian Marclay’s ‘The Clock’, I noticed myself and other people around me talking amongst themselves about the films each clip originated from and trying to guess other films that may be used in the piece. This proved to me that if an audience recognises the material being used, they are more likely to respond and react to it.

Whilst I plan to explore film as the basis for this project, I also wish to explore the idea of projecting and layering moving images, an idea which stemmed from my previous brief. In the previous brief I have already looked at photo-collages, multiple-exposures and cutting away images to reveal more underneath. For the FMP, I intend to first explore slide projections, whether that be projecting images onto objects or places, or layering projections to create a multiple-exposure effect. After this I will progress into the projections of moving images, and begin to explore the aforementioned trends in classic films (for example similar shot types, lighting styles or camera movements) and look for ways to relate this back into the final outcome.

The inspiration for exploring projections initially came from the Polish artist Krzysztof Wodiczko who is renowned for his large-scale slide and video projections on architectural facades and monuments. In his work, Wodiczko juxtaposes the physical space of architecture with the psycho-social space of the public realm, citing social interaction with buildings and architecture as being just as important as our first interaction with other human beings.  Another artist that explores social interaction through projections is the filmmaker Michel Gondry. Gondry’s projections give the illusion of more than one story happening at once, and the hazy images promote an almost dream like state for the viewer. This more whimsical, romantic way of layering images greatly contrasts with Wodiczko’s more hard-hitting, political work.

Whereas in the previous brief, I used the layering of images purely for an aesthetical outcome, in this final project I would like to take inspiration from other artists like those mentioned to create more of a concept, and a recurring theme which the images will follow. Christian Marclay frequently uses his collages of film clips to explore sound; however I am more interested in the movement in each scene.

Therefore, my current idea for the final outcome is to project a collage of similar classic film scenes onto a canvas of some description and paint in coordination with the movements of the characters/cameras over the top as a performance piece.  

Seeing as this project is a way of exploring social interaction with film and images, I will assess my success by showing these projections to an audience regularly, and studying how they are received. I will also take part in group critiques where I can share my development and take on opinions to assist in my development. Reviewing my work weekly will ensure I remain focused and frequent tutorials will assist with any guidance needed. 
 

Previous Brief Summarised

 Multiples

These are some of my photographs from the previous 'Multiples' brief. For the brief I looked at ways of layering images, i.e. double exposures and collages.

Photomontage

Hannah Höch - Cut with the Cake-Knife

Raoul Hausmann - ABCD

Continuing on from the 'Multiples' brief, I briefly studied the Dada's photomontages as a means of layering images and manipulating photographs. 

Below are some of my own examples, using images cut out from magazines and photocopied from children's books. 

Projections

Using one of the photomontages, I began experimenting with projecting images. Projection is something I was keen to try in the 'Multiples' brief but never had time to start. There was no real reason for the selection of this image, and the main purpose of this exercise for me was getting used to using an overhead projector, and exploring how I could distort the image with whatever I chose as a background for the projection. 

Examples of Artists who use Projections

mummy by Alexander Ossia

ex(pose) 01 - Doron Hanoch

Jenny Holzer

Paul Citroen - Metropolis (1923)

Metropolis., 1923. Collage, 29-7/8 x 23-1/4 in. (76 x 59 cm). Prentenkabinet der Rijksunversiteit, Leiden, the Netherlands. c 1997 Paul Citroen/Licensed by VAGA, New York.

Citroen compiled images of buildings from magazines/postcards etc to make this collage and was quoted as saying "Afterwards I tried to explain why Metropolis became such a success. Maybe because most collages are somewhat arbitrary. But I planned that, if you would paste pictures of buildings on a large sheet, it should give an impression of the way many cities looked like. It was a view into the future. It was certainly not just a silly idea."

This piece is rumoured as being the inspiration for the film of the same name by Fritz Lang. It gave me the idea to make a collage of similar objects within actual films, for example all the birds in Hitchcock's 'Psycho', or buildings in 'Vertigo', etc. 

Moloko

Inspired by Paul Citroen's photomontage, I made my own using scenes from the film A Clockwork Orange including all the scenes involving Milk. 

"Everyone at the Korova Milkbar drinks milk. Alex drinks milk with almost every meal. Yet, none of the adults seem to be drinking it. Hmm… Could this mean that the milk-drinking teenagers are bunch of babies? You bet. Here associated with the naïve and immature, milk is the substance for infants – unsophisticated and helpless. For the "modern youth" that nurse on the stuff laced with hallucinogens, the explanation is that they are young people who have chosen to add poison to their otherwise innocent slates, making them the evil youth that they are."


Photomontages are a form of appropriation art, because it involves using other people's work. Although the images involved are unoriginal, the new organisation of the images changes the piece entirely.

Appropriation Art - Definition

Creating a new situation, and therefore a new meaning or set of meanings, for a familiar image. Appropriation art raises questions of originality, authenticity and authorship, and belongs to the long modernist tradition of art that questions the nature or definition of art itself. Appropriation has been used extensively by artists since the 1980s. 

Christian Marclay

Christian Marclay - The Clock

Mini Documentary

Christian Marclay was my main inspiration for appropriating films. Being someone that has always been more influenced by filmmakers than more traditional artists, I was completely taken by Marclay's work. It includes familiar images and work by numerous people I am really inspired by, but at the same time gives these works a unique twist and new meaning or purpose. For example, in The Clock, a series of well known film clips become a fully functional clock. 


As well as collaging moving images, Marclay also appropriates well known album covers by rearranging them into often humorous combinations. For example: 

Instead of using record covers, I stuck with the film theme and used images from famous film posters, this is just a quick attempt at a similar collage. 

Appropriation Art - Film

Martin Arnold

Arnold's films are intensely cut sequences in which several seconds of found footage are taken and stretched out into much longer works. The figures on the screen flip back and forth between frames, as the motion is repeated, reversed, and numerous single frame cuts are made. His intent is to create, or possibly unearth, narratives concealed within the mundane films from which he samples. Above, Passage à l'acte(1993) uses several seconds of the film To Kill a Mockingbird to create a bizarre story of aggression and tension within a traditional American family.

This is my take on Martin Arnold's work using a scene from Stanley Kubrick's film Lolita. In the scene, an argument breaks out over the main star, Lolita, and the male lead Humbert threatens to shoot another main character Quilty. I used Arnold's method of repeating shots over and over in order to make scenes of tension longer and more powerful, this works particularly well in shots where Quilty is playing the piano, and repeatedly looking over his shoulder. Where these shots are repeated and extended it emphasises them more to the audience. This is also the case in the shots where Quilty runs from the gun-firing Humbert and knocks furniture over, breaking things, but in the edited version does so again and again. Unlike Martin Arnold I left some parts of the scene in tact, so no narrative was lost in the final version. I believe this is more effective.