Bristol Trip

On Thursday 25th February our course went to Bristol to visit the Arnolfini to see the John Akomfrah - Vertigo Sea exhibition. Inside the exhibition there was 3 parts. A large room playing a short film, another room with three scenes playing 3 different short films that all linked together and the last room was an video of an interview with John Akomfrah.

Tropikos. 
This was the first short film played in the first room. Situated in Plymouth and the Tamar Valley - locations with significant, tough largely forgotten connections with the expansion of European power and influence - Tropikos is an experimental drama set in the 16th century. Akomfrah's starting point for the film was the connection between the waterways of the South West and the slave trade. In this film, the river landscape is transformed into an historic English port to re-imagine some of the first British encounters with people from Africa. Though a fictional narrative, the film is placed in a period when Britain's postion as a global. seafaring power coincided with the enforced displacement of millions of African people across the Atlantic. It reflects on the emergence of the New World and the bleack history of the British Empire. The first English expeditions to the West African Guinea coast, in the mid-sixteenth century, departed from Plymouth initially in search of gold but quickly became involved in the trade and transport of enslaved people to america. A group of enslaved Africans were also brought to Plymouth by Captain William Towerson at around the same time, as exhibits rather than captives. The film draws on the writings of a number of historical seafarers, whilst also referencing classic literature, specifically Milton's Paradise Lost and Shakespeare's The Tempest. Akomfrah uses these texts to create a layered setting for the piece. The film uses an approach based loosely on playwright Bertolt Brecht's notion of 'Epic theatre'. Epic theatre uses a range of theatrical devices to remind the audience that they are not watching real life but a dramatised version of it, allowing viewers to make considered judgements about issues raised by the work. Adopting the costumes and mannerisms of the sixteenth century, the actors in the film appear in a series of tableaux vivantes, or living pictures, which feel both archaic and imaginary. African and European locations, characters and goods overlap with each other, as a representation of the faded traces of stories that we are asked to re-imagine. In Bristol's own history as a trading port, the transatlantic slave trade lasted around 100 years, reliant on the trafficking of human beings to trade in goods and raw commodities, bringing wealth to few and sorrow and death to millions.

Gallery 2, 3 and 4 
"I wanted to make a work that spoke to these concerns of memory, of historicity, migrations and possible futures"

The sea is a reoccurring motif in John Akomfrah's work, providing a rich source material through which his interest in movement and displacement ca be explored. Vertigo Sea is presented as an expanded visual essay, an approach that uses images and the relationship between them to explore themes or create narratives. "The inspiration for the work came from a radio interview with a group of young Nigerian migrants who had survived an illegal crossing of the Mediterranean. They expressed the feeling of being faced by something vaster and more awesome than hey had thought possible. While the sea is mesmerising, universally compelling and beautiful, it is difficult for us, as humans used to having control over our surroundings, to grasp the enormity of this constantly changing element, and the world 'vertigo' prehaps refers to this unfathomable reach."

To create the film, Akomfrah edited together footage from a wide range os sources and periods, an approach that he has developed over the course of his career, which dates back to early work that he made in the 1980s as part of the Black Audio Film Collective. He has described the act of 'image taking' - capturing an image of the present for the future - as having an 'almost sacred' aspect, in that it assures an afterlife. In handling this material there is great responsibility, since the role of the artist or editor becomes that of a custodian of our future. The dreamlike quality of Vertigo Sea mirrors the subject of the piece. Shot on the Isle of Skye, in the Faroe Islands and Northern regions of Norway, the film depicts the exceptional beauty of the aquatic world. The BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol supported the development of the work with unique access to its archive, presenting the ocean as a primordial life source. However, the underpinning themes are of bereavement, suffering and dislocation: a cultural history of mankind at sea as both victims and perpetrators.
In a early section of the film, audio recordings of migrants are played over footage related to the plight of the Vietnamese boat people. Thousands of these migrants drowned in their desperate attempt to escape persecution after the Vietnam War, an echo of our current crisis that is largely ignored in the media. Akomfrah is interested in that amnesia and how traumatic collective acts and memories are often forgotten or disregarded by society, meaning we are forever repeating history. The heritage of the millions of enslaved Africans shipped away from their homelands across the Atlantic ocean is also exposed in this film, with particular reference to the Zong massacre of 1781, an act of mass murder of slaves abroad a stranded ship for the purpose of claiming insurance money against their loss.


Dioramas
On this trip we also continued with work from our workshops. This included dioramas, type safari and light painting. Our group decided to experiment with miniature figures and taking pictures with them in situations around Bristol. This is some of the pictures we took.

Typography

His influences were : Hans Rudolph lutz, grunge culture and music, surf culture, the ocean, environment, skateboard art , MTV. 

Neville Brody

Brody is one of the best known and widely respected typographers to have emerged from Britain. He became closely connected to the music industry in the 1980s and was a major force in the graphic identity of a number of magazines, most memorably 'The Face'. He represented a mix of fashion , graphics, music, style and culture.

David Carson

David carson is an American typographer and graphic designer who is best known for his innovative magazine design and typefaces. He was art director for the magazine 'ray gun'. Carson was the most influential graphic designer of the nineties and was described in 'Graphics' magazine as a ' master of typography' 

Si Scott

Si Scott s a full-time artist, designer and creative consultant based in the UK. He's renowned for his unique style, blending hand-crafted artwork that has gained him numerous awards and a prestigious client list. So far in his career he has completed projects for Matthew Williamson, Vogue, Nike, Tiffany & Co  and sony to name a few. As well as contributing to advertising campaigns for Guinness, Absolut and American Express. His influences are: Alphonse Mucha, Helvetica, Art Nouveau, Arts and Crafts, Nature/Pattern. 

Max Miedinger
Max Miedinger created helvetica. Major companies and products that have used helvetica - Gap, Orange, Currys, Hoover, Luft Hansa, Panasonic, Royal Bank of Scotland, Tupperware, Zanussi, Greybound lines, itv, Marks and Spencer, Microsoft, Thames Television.

5 Good Typefaces 
Helvetica: I think that helvetica is a good typeface because it is simple and straight to the point. Helvetica is a widely used sans-serif typeface developed in 1957 by swiss typeface designer Mac Miedinger with in put from Eduard Hoffmann. Helvetica is so no fuss, it doesn't really lean in one direction or another. It feels professional, lighthearted and honest.
Frutiger: Again this typeface was created by another influential typeface designer, Adrian Frutiger. This font is mostly seen in airports and other areas of public transport. It is clear cut and understandable. Like helvetica, it is a no fuss typeface. Airports will have other languages on their signage, and this typeface is easily understandable and clear for any person of any nationality to understand.
Debby: Unlike helvetica and Frutiger this font isn't 'formal' and you would not see this type on a business or signage. This typeface look as if its been handwritten. I think this typeface is good because it is different and would be good for album covers, books for young adults, etc. I think this because it would appeal to a younger adult or teenager because it doesn't have the 'formal' look to it, instead it looks fun and creative.
Manifesto:  I like this font because it is simple, yet it is a bit more fun and not boring to look at like a font for a news paper for example. I think this type would look good on a magazine for young adults.
Walkon: Walkon is a serif design by Hanson Chan. Walkon was originally created as a corporate typeface for the fashion brand Wang & Lynch. It draws inspiration from the eras of Art Deco and Art Nouveau, but with radically contemporary approach.


As part of task for the typography workshop we had to find a typeface that would be suitable for a wildlife charity, a organic food chain and a sustainable energy firm. Here are the typefaces I decided would be good to use and my reasons why.
Organic Food Chain - I decided I would use something like the dancing script font. I decided this because I had looked into other organic food chain logos and their typeface looked similar. I also think having a less bold and formal looking type will make people interested to try Organic food. I think with a more bold and simple design people would be put off trying organic food because it looks boring and uninviting.
Wildlife charity- I chose Familiar Pro. I chose this because it is bold and straight to the point. A wildlife charity is serious, and if it had a font like dancing script it wouldn't be taken seriously.
Sustainable Energy firm- for this i chose Ubuntu Tilting. I chose thing because of how rounded off it looks. It still has this professional look but is interesting to look at. Many people overlook sustainable energy but will a typeface that is professional looking but also different will catch peoples eyes.

Pre - film animation

Pre film animation is how they made 'films' before they were invented. 

Examples of pre-film animation:

Thaumatrope (1824)

A thaumatrope is a disk with a picture on each side with strings on either end, when the strings are twirled quickly between the fingers the pictures on either side of the disk become one. This is due persistence of vision. 

Phenakistoscope (1831)

The Phenakistoscope used a spinning disc attached vertically to a handle. Arrayed around the disc's centre was a series of drawings showing phases of the animation, and cut through it was a series of equally spaced radial slits. The user would spin the disk and look through the moving slits at the disc's reflection in a mirror. The scanning of the slits across the reflected images kept thme from simply blurring together so that the user would see a rapid succession of images that appeared to be a single moving picture. 

Zoetrope (1834)

This device produced the illusion of motion by displaying a sequence of drawings or photographs showing phases of that motion. The name zoetrope as composed from the greek root words life and turning. The zoetrope consists of a cylinder with slits cut vertically in the sides. On the inner surface of the cylinder is a band with images from a set sequenced pictures. As the cylinder spins, the user looks through the slits at the pictures across. The scanning of the slits keeps the pictures from simply blurring together, and the user sees a rapid succession of images creating the illusion of motion.

Flip book or a kineograph (1868)

A book with a series of pictures that vary gradually from one page to the next, so that when the pages are turned rapidly, the pictures appear to animate by the simulating motion or some other change. 

Light Painting

Light painting, or light drawing, is a photographic technique in which exposures are made by moving a hand-held light source while taking a long exposure photographic technique in which exposures are made by moving a hand-held light source while taking a long exposure photograph, either to illuminate a subject or to shine a point of light directly at the camera. Long exposure allows you to shut the camera's shutter speed for a long-duration to sharply capture the image whilst lighting, blurring, smearing, or moving elements. 

Artists who use light painting 

Vicki DaSilva

Vicki Dasilva is a light graffiti and light painting artist. She has been making single frame time exposure photographs at night since 1980. She is credited with the term 'light graffiti' as well as being the first artist to make deliberate text light graffiti photos beginning in 1980.

Pablo Picasso

When Gjon Mili (a technical prodigy and lighting innovator) visited Pablo Picasso in the South of France in 1949, it was clear that the meeting of the two artists and craftsmen was bound to result in something extraordinary. Mili showed Picasso some of his photographs of ice skaters with tiny lights affixed to their skates, jumping in the dark.  Picasso gave Mili 15 minutes to try one experiment. He was so fascinated by the result that he posed for five sessions, projecting 30 drawings of centaurs, bulls, greek profiles and his signature. Mili took his photographs in a darkened room, using two cameras, one for side view, another for front view. By leaving the shutters open, he caught the light streaks swirling through space. This series of photographs, known ever since as Picasso's 'light drawings' were made with a small electric light in a dark room. 

Hannu Huhtamo

Huhtamo has been light painting since 2008 but it was back in the 90's when he shot his first light painting image. Huhtamo was shooting a death metal band and wanted to draw out a pentagram with a lighter so he opened the shutter of his camera and created his first light painting image. After that he moved away from shooting any other light painting images until LPP feature artist Janne Parviainen showed him some of his images, form that moment Hannu Huhtamo was hooked on light painting. Huhtamo's work focuses on organic forms, more specifically he draws beautiful flowers. 

As a workshop our class experimented with light painting. We used a small torch to experiment with light painting. We also used an app to project words to use for light painting. Here are some photos from the workshop: 

Diorama

A diorama is a three dimensional model that is usually miniature encased in glass.

Artists
Minimiam

Minimiam (meaning 'mini yum') is a creative union of husband and wife who create tiny worlds of foods with their little people doing their little chores here.  Akiko Ida is Japanese and Pierre Javelle is French and they met studying photography at the Partis "Arts Decoratifs" art school. Since childhood, Akiko has always been attracted to the world gastronomy. As a child she elaborated and backed different sorts of bread which she subsequently photographed and classified in a notebook. A the same time, she invented tiny characters that filled entire pages of her journal. Akiko became a renowned Food phot-grapher, and has already taken part in more than 30 cookbooks. Pierre grew up attracted by drawing, illustrations and photography, art school was his refuge. The couple recreate scenes with miniature characters and food landscapes. For example: They have miniature people mowing their 'garden' which is represented with a the fuzz on a kiwi. 

                                                      Isaac Cordal

Isaac Cordal is a Spanish artist whose work involves sculpture and photography in the urban environment. Cordal's sculptures of people are quite big, around 20cm and are made out of clay. A bit like Minimiam Cordal places his little people around the urban environment, and highlighting key issues like climate change.  "With the simple act of miniaturization and thoughtful placement, Isaac Cordal magically expands the imagination of pedestrians finding his sculptures on the street. The artwork intends to catch the attention on our devalued relation with the nature through a critical look to the collateral effects of our evolution. With the master touch of a stage director, the figures are placed in locations that quickly open doors to other worlds. The scenes zoom in the routine tasks of the contemporary human being. Men and women are suspended and isolated in a motion or pose that can take on multiple meanings. The sympathetic figures are easy to relate to and to laugh with. They present fragments in which the nature, still present, maintains encouraging symptoms of survival. The precairousness of these anonymous statuettes, at the the height of the sole of the passers, represents the nomadic remainders of an imperfect construction of our society. These small sculptures contemplate the demolition and reconstruction of everything around us. They catch the attention of the absurdity of our existence. Isaac Cordal is sympathetic toward his little people and you can empathise with their situations, their leisure time, their waiting for buses and even their more tragic moments such as accidental death, suicide or family funerals. The sculptures can found in the gutters, on top of buildings, on top of bus shelters; in many unusual and unlikely places.

Thomas Doyle
A statement about Thomas Doyle from his website: "My work mines the debris of memory through the creation of intricate worlds sculpted in 1:43 scale and smaller. Often sealed under glass, the works depict the remnants of things past whether major, transformational experiences, or the quieter moments that resonate loudly throughout a life. In much the way the mind recalls events through the fog of time, the works distort reality through a warped and dreamlike lens. The pieces radically reduced scales evoke feelings of omnipotence - as well as the visceral sensation of unbidden memory recall. hovering above the glass, the viewer approaches these worlds as an all-seeing eye, looking  down upon landscapes that dwarf and threaten the figures within. Conversely, the private intensity of moments rendered in such a small scale draws the viewer in, allowing for the intimacy one might feel peering into a museum display case or a dollhouse. Though surrounded by chaos, hazard and longing, the figures faces betray little emotion, inviting viewer to lose themselves in these crucibles- ad in the jumble of feelings and memories they elicit.  The glass itself contains and compresses the world within it, seeming to suspend time itself - with all its accompanying anguish, fear, and bliss. By sealing the works in this fashion, I hope to distill the debris of human experience down to single, fragile moments. Like blackboxes bobbing in the flotsam, these works wait for discovery, each an indelible record of human memory."

Akiko Ikeda

 Utilising various media and styles, Akiko Ikeda, an emerging Japanese artist has created her works to explore visual perception. "Their site/your sight" introduces her works of 'pop-up' which she made with snapshots and magazines, cutting out the edges of people and things in the pictures and placing them outside the picture they were cut from. 

Slinkachu                 

Slinkachu started the 'Little People Project' in 2006. It involves the remodelling and painting of miniature model train set characters, which he then places, photographs and leaves on the street. It is both a street art installation project and a photography project. The street based side of his work plays with the notion of surprise and he aims to encourage city dwellers to be more aware of their surroundings. The scene he sets up, more evident through the photography and the titles he gives the scenes, aim to reflect the loneliness and melancholy of living in a big city, almost being lost and overwhelmed. But underneath this, there is always some humour. He wants people to be able to empathise with the tiny people in his work. 

Tilt Shift              

Tilt shift photography is the use of camera movements on small and medium format cameras, and sometimes specifically refers to use of tilt for selective focus, often for simulating a miniature scene. 

Stop Motion Animation

What is stop motion animation?
Stop motion is animation technique that physically manipulates an object that appears to move on its own. The objects is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of the movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence.
How do you create a stop motion animation?
The first thing you will need is an idea. Come up with something simple for your first try. For example you may want to make an inanimate object appear as if it were alive; for example, a sock inching its way across the floor. Keep in mind that you can expect to shoot around 10 photos for every second of the film.
You will need a digital camera. As you will not be printing these photos, you can set your camera to the lowest size image setting. This will let you fit more images on your memory card at a time. Depending on how long you want your animation to be, you may need to copy you photos to a computer and erase them from you memory card if you run out of memory.
Finally, you will need video editing software like Apple's iMovie or QuickTime Pro, in order to turn your images into an animated movie.

1. Using a tripod and only moving your objects will make it appear as though your object is moving through your frame. Keeping the object in the same general area in each frame by moving the camera along with it will make it appear as though you are traveling with the object. After you've taken your first photo, move the an object (the sock for example) slightly in the direction you want it to travel and take another photo. Move it again by the same distance, and take one more. Continue this until the sock reaches where you want it to stop. You can manipulate your object in creative ways to add visual interest to your film.
2. Download your photos. Once you have captured your images you will need to get them onto your computer. Import your images files and give them their own album. 
3. Find you photos in your video editing software.
4. In order for your animated movie to play properly, you must tell your video software (iMovie for example) how long you want each photo to appear before showing the next one. It's kind of like creating a slideshow, except instead of giving each image a few seconds, you give it only a fraction of a second. The timing you choose will affect the overall tempo and length of your film. 

What materials could you use to create a stop motion 

animation?

Anything! You can make models, use a sock, a piece of paper. Any inanimate object you want to make come to life can be used to create a stop motion animation.

Artists, designers and animators that use stop motion in their 

works.

Henry Selick.

Selick directed movies such as The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach and Coraline. The Nightmare Before Christmas had 24 frames to a second, meaning they had to pose characters 24 times for each second of the completed film. That consisted of roughly 110,000 frames. One minute of the movie required a entire week of filming and therefore the movie took more than three years to complete. There are as many as 60 individual characters, with three of four duplicates each. Each puppet had an armature inside it, enabling flexible movement. More than 400 distinctly different Jack Skellington heads were used and Sally had a mask for every expression change. They couldn't give her different heads because of her long red hair, which is why they created the masks. They had to set up trap doors so that animators could pop up and do the animation from beneath. 

Nick Park

Nick Park created the British clay animation comedy series, Wallace and Gromit. Park made his first stop motion film at the age of 13. 

Tim Burton

Tim Burton is an American film director, producer, artist, writer and animator. He is known for his dark, gothic and quirky fantasy films such as Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands and Corpse Bride, which was created using stop motion animation.