I have been working hard on the content of my narration. I have decided either to do a riddle or a constant stream of consciousness/thought. The idea of using a riddle means that I can speak about my topic (time) without actually telling the audience what it is and they would have to work it out through the use of my images which by themselves would be incoherent. The problem of using a riddle is that my piece is 3minutes+ long and that could be quite a long time to listen to a riddle. So a similar idea that I could use is this link on vimeo ! It is really interesting to hear her talk so abstractly about something but it really works with the images that is used. So this is another route i could go down but is similar to what i mean by the use of a riddle.
The other idea of using a constant stream of consciousness means that it could seem more interesting and engage the audience more. The narrator can speak at the same/similar pace to the music that i choose to use.
I am still to decide which one to use.
I recently got in touch with the English Department to find out how i could get in touch with someone who would be interested in helping me write my riddle/stream of conscious thought. I eventually spoke with someone in admin from the English Society Group at Leeds University Union. They were really eager to take on the project and I hopefully have a couple of poets wanting to help - the more the merrier!
Not only that, but a co-student on the same dissertation course as me got me in touch with his housemate who composes music. I messaged him via Facebook and again (luckily) received a really positive response. He seemed really keen to compose my music for the piece. I gave him the necessary details such as how long the piece is, the timescale of the project, and what kind of music I was after - I gave him this example . He said he his housemate had shown it to him before and he really liked it. However, he is finding out whether he can use the studio he works at throughout the week, at the weekend - if they'll let him use it alone. If he is not allowed to use it alone, he won't be able to compose the music unfortunately as he has no other way of doing it. Fingers crossed !!
Dates to remember for development:
Wednesday 25th February: Meeting with John (module leader) about this new development at 10:00.
Wednesday 25th February: Hearing back from Peter about the music composition.
Thursday 26th February: Meeting with the poets at 11:00 in one of the student breakout rooms potentially.
Tuesday, 24 February 2015
Thursday, 19 February 2015
Blog 11. Sound
Now that i've started to enjoy working on my dissertation and I know where i'm going with it i'm starting to think about sound and the music I want to run throughout.
Having spoken with another member of my dissertation group he said he would speak to his house mate who does music composition to see whether he would be up for composing my music for me.
I've started looking around for inspiration - the only issue is i don't know what my poetry/riddle is going to say yet, I have an idea of the content but I don't know exactly how it's going to work. However, i'm looking for inspiration and I started here .
Another idea is a much stronger piece of music - well known - but i feel this only works because of the images shown with it, the images are large scale and the filming is of large landscapes. I would love to use something like this but I fear that it wouldn't work if i'm using more delicate imagery and iconography.
Having spoken with another member of my dissertation group he said he would speak to his house mate who does music composition to see whether he would be up for composing my music for me.
I've started looking around for inspiration - the only issue is i don't know what my poetry/riddle is going to say yet, I have an idea of the content but I don't know exactly how it's going to work. However, i'm looking for inspiration and I started here .
Another idea is a much stronger piece of music - well known - but i feel this only works because of the images shown with it, the images are large scale and the filming is of large landscapes. I would love to use something like this but I fear that it wouldn't work if i'm using more delicate imagery and iconography.
Wednesday, 18 February 2015
Blog 10. The start of a new beginning
My newest idea and the one I shall be sticking with is all centred around the metaphors and proverbs of time. My aim is to create a riddle almost using these metaphors and proverbs without revealing that my concept is time but the images/film I use and the different scenes and shots would be in relation to what is being said without being overly obvious. The images in the film themselves would be incoherent on their own but when strung together in an order that is told by the riddle/poem, it will make sense.
Current planning to explain my concept:
I know the writing is rather small but on the left hand side I have made a list of Time Proverbs and on the right, a list of Time Metaphors. The lines that cross between the two columns are lines that join each concept. For example:
On the left I have the word Waste as you can 'waste' time. On the right, it links with the time metaphors Money and Heartbeat. Time can be considered money and a heartbeat, so when you put the two together it becomes wasting money or wasting a heartbeat.
I find this idea really interesting as it gives me a lot of visual clues and ideas for the film side of things and the special effects side too.
Underneath that grid of words I made a list of the colour references that came out of each match, to give me ideas on what the colours of time are. The main colours that came out of it were Red, Blue, Black and White. For example, number 2 refers to the word Take which links to the metaphors 'a moment' and 'a gift'. The colours that i associated with this link was Red, as taking a gift can be seen as a kid hearted thing to someone. Taking a moment can be seen as passion and something that shouldn't be taken from you - you should enjoy every moment you have. I.e. red colour.
Can i talk about how we look at this circular discs etc to read the time whereas in fact we don't look at the sky, passing of light, day to night, the tides etc. Again not mentioning time, just speaking about it in a riddle form.
Current planning to explain my concept:
I know the writing is rather small but on the left hand side I have made a list of Time Proverbs and on the right, a list of Time Metaphors. The lines that cross between the two columns are lines that join each concept. For example:
On the left I have the word Waste as you can 'waste' time. On the right, it links with the time metaphors Money and Heartbeat. Time can be considered money and a heartbeat, so when you put the two together it becomes wasting money or wasting a heartbeat.
I find this idea really interesting as it gives me a lot of visual clues and ideas for the film side of things and the special effects side too.
Underneath that grid of words I made a list of the colour references that came out of each match, to give me ideas on what the colours of time are. The main colours that came out of it were Red, Blue, Black and White. For example, number 2 refers to the word Take which links to the metaphors 'a moment' and 'a gift'. The colours that i associated with this link was Red, as taking a gift can be seen as a kid hearted thing to someone. Taking a moment can be seen as passion and something that shouldn't be taken from you - you should enjoy every moment you have. I.e. red colour.
Can i talk about how we look at this circular discs etc to read the time whereas in fact we don't look at the sky, passing of light, day to night, the tides etc. Again not mentioning time, just speaking about it in a riddle form.
Blog 9. Back to Square One !
I had a meeting with my personal tutor and when I came to explain my dissertation idea, I found I didn't have a coherent idea that made sense and was realistic. My idea was very ambitious and it didn't have a clear line of focus. So we reconsidered.
...
My tutor gave me the idea of taking my project through the history of time and the development from the still image to the moving. The list being:
...
My tutor gave me the idea of taking my project through the history of time and the development from the still image to the moving. The list being:
Shadowgraphy,
Shadow Puppets,
Optical Toys,
Magic Lantern,
Chronophotography,
Eddison,
Lumier.
Look at: Marta Braun 'picturing time' and Muybridge - 'editing still images'.
This was still using my idea of time which i liked but i've never been good with history and didn't get particularly excited about the idea. So i went away and had a think by myself, with simplicity, time and having a theme in the back of my mind.
Sunday, 8 February 2015
Blog 8. Music
I was scouting YouTube for music ideas to run throughout my piece and came across this song by Henry Krinkle which gave the right feel I wanted for my piece and also had the regular ticking throughout which would represent the ticking of the clock which is something I want to keep running in the background.
On January 28th 2015 I contacted Henry Krinkle via his fan page on Facebook and wrote him an email requesting permission to use his song. His reply was:
Hello, Thanks for getting in touch! Although I personally wouldn't mind you using my song in your project, you would technically need to contact Ultra music (my label) for permission. They would know the proper procedure.
So i then went onto Ultra Music's website and wrote an email to them requesting to use the song, the email kept bouncing back and would not send. So i wrote to Henry Krinkle again explaining that I couldn't seem to get through to them, and he gave me this web address which I could go onto and request to use the song I wanted officially. I am still waiting for a response from them, but I hope I gain permission to use the song as I don't want to particularly compose my own music and it would take more time. I really like the sound of this song and the way it develops and seems quite abstract.
On January 28th 2015 I contacted Henry Krinkle via his fan page on Facebook and wrote him an email requesting permission to use his song. His reply was:
Hello, Thanks for getting in touch! Although I personally wouldn't mind you using my song in your project, you would technically need to contact Ultra music (my label) for permission. They would know the proper procedure.
So i then went onto Ultra Music's website and wrote an email to them requesting to use the song, the email kept bouncing back and would not send. So i wrote to Henry Krinkle again explaining that I couldn't seem to get through to them, and he gave me this web address which I could go onto and request to use the song I wanted officially. I am still waiting for a response from them, but I hope I gain permission to use the song as I don't want to particularly compose my own music and it would take more time. I really like the sound of this song and the way it develops and seems quite abstract.
Blog 7. Back to planning
I found that I went straight into storyboarding too quickly, without fully planning what I wanted my themes to be and what visual story I wanted to tell. I want this to be a non-narrative piece but I don't just want a series of images strung together randomly without something that links them all and tells a small story - still remaining non-narrative.
I think i know what my opening sequence is going to be but I am still struggling with what will link all my small ideas together. I seem to have loads of small ideas and small clips of movement that I want to use but I haven't found anything that can link them all.
The other day, I was taking things back to basics and writing out key points:
1. What are the main elements for my piece:
TIME AND MOVEMENT.
2. What message do I want to get across:
WHAT EXEMPLIFIES MOVEMENT AND HOW TIME IS ALWAYS INTERTWINED WITH MOVEMENT. I.E. MOVEMENT THROUGH TIME.
3. What are the main ABSTRACT notions of movement I want to use:
WIND; DUST; PAINT; POWDER; DOTS; SWEAT; SHADOWS; WATER; FIRE; SAND
4. What are the main REALISABLE notions of movement I want to use:
DANCE; EYE MOVING; CLOCK TICKING; HELIX; STRETCHING DANCER.
5. What can I use to link them all:
BEGIN WITH THE BIG BANG - THE BEGINNING OF TIME; DANCE - DANCER THROUGHOUT USING THE DIFFERENT ABSTRACT/REAL NOTIONS TO EXEMPLIFY THEM.
POTENTIAL PROJECT TITLES:
Originally I was going to have A Dancers Day Off but it didn't really tell the story of movement through time very well and it could have been rather monotonous. Now that i have gone down the more non-narrative route but with time more involved I was thinking of something along the lines of Movement In Time. This title has a dubious meaning, the movement in time can relate to dance when you move in time to the music (there will be music throughout and the ticking of the clock) and also this title relates to how elements of movement go against time.
I think i know what my opening sequence is going to be but I am still struggling with what will link all my small ideas together. I seem to have loads of small ideas and small clips of movement that I want to use but I haven't found anything that can link them all.
The other day, I was taking things back to basics and writing out key points:
1. What are the main elements for my piece:
TIME AND MOVEMENT.
2. What message do I want to get across:
WHAT EXEMPLIFIES MOVEMENT AND HOW TIME IS ALWAYS INTERTWINED WITH MOVEMENT. I.E. MOVEMENT THROUGH TIME.
3. What are the main ABSTRACT notions of movement I want to use:
WIND; DUST; PAINT; POWDER; DOTS; SWEAT; SHADOWS; WATER; FIRE; SAND
4. What are the main REALISABLE notions of movement I want to use:
DANCE; EYE MOVING; CLOCK TICKING; HELIX; STRETCHING DANCER.
5. What can I use to link them all:
BEGIN WITH THE BIG BANG - THE BEGINNING OF TIME; DANCE - DANCER THROUGHOUT USING THE DIFFERENT ABSTRACT/REAL NOTIONS TO EXEMPLIFY THEM.
POTENTIAL PROJECT TITLES:
Originally I was going to have A Dancers Day Off but it didn't really tell the story of movement through time very well and it could have been rather monotonous. Now that i have gone down the more non-narrative route but with time more involved I was thinking of something along the lines of Movement In Time. This title has a dubious meaning, the movement in time can relate to dance when you move in time to the music (there will be music throughout and the ticking of the clock) and also this title relates to how elements of movement go against time.
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