Final Film

 

 

Dependant

Here is an idea how my display of thirty wooden phones will look….I like the temporary nature of them yet they can be kept uniform, also they can be subject to change.

Further exploration…

I was happy with my experimental films using pixelation and the device shape spaces, but I felt that there was more to be explored.

I want to show how the world we view through the device has become more important an environment than the physical one, how we can be distracted beyond our control (while we are switched on to it) by trivial matters or by pressure from contacts and “Friends” who demand our attention. I wasn’t keen on my experiments I made with filming while walking along, as I felt that this was putting the focus on my distraction. However, as I continued trying out adding the monoprints to the moving image, (an earlier idea I had dismissed due to it being similar to my photographs) I found that it demonstrated distractions we either suffer or welcome as we go about our day.

Also, I found I could show how personal moments are also played out in public by our own doing or by others, leaving us vulnerable.

 

 

 

Film

Originally I used the pixelation to obscure the reality we were being distracted from but I felt there was more to be discovered and it became clear to me that I could make my point more lucidly, I just had to find how….

• I have tried various different things with film to find the best way of demonstrating what I mean
• Filming through phone
• Filming while moving
• Showing multiple films at once
• Blending films together
• Filming Lumiere style

I want to show how the world we view through the device has become more important an environment than the physical one, so I pixelated the whole area except for a device shaped hole through which we can see what is happening.

• I decided on the Lumiere style of filming as it establishes the film as observational rather than a film that I am participating in.
• I will join together these observations and make a film of between 5-10 minutes as it doesn’t matter if the viewers don’t watch the whole film.

Wooden iphones decisions…

So, my phones will be attached with Velcro to a piece of wood which will be attached to the wall. If I want to then I can change the order of the display of the phones and/or swap them for others. I chose to exhibit them this way as I want them to be a temporary installation, yet remain in the space and in an arranged manner of my choosing. The fact that they can be removed and held like a phone is important to me, yet it is not important to me that this happens.

The information printed onto the wooden blocks are items of news lifted directly from the physical sources of information and entertainment still available today, yet are no longer the source we rely on and indeed, doesn’t constantly update in front of our eyes.

I will need to use heavier Velcro and the adhering will need to be arranged differently.

 

Film Progress

I feel that my films are developing into more than originally intended, while I have been spending hours watching footage I have recorded in Braintree, Chelmsford and London, I have become more aware of important physical moments that we don’t notice in real life. It wouldn’t be reasonable of us to expect to notice as everyone is getting on with what concerns them and we tend to not notice other people on a day to day basis. Physical happenings such as chatting face to face, a hug goodbye, a hug hello- generally the things that we take for granted.

Of course we still chat, now though, this interaction with a friend is all too often carried out by text or publicly by social media-usually whilst carrying out other tasks so as it doesn’t hold us up or take up too much time ,  losing the intimacy of personal contact.

Just a thought.

Devices-Update….

I have been printing wooden phones for a while now and I’m starting to make some clear decisions about them.

* I was originally unable to decide which was most effective, wooden phones with the lino printed iPhone or without. It is now clear to me that they are effective as a series with both versions. The phones without the frame of the iphones allow for more information to be viewed, the framed versions allow for just a snippet. This makes the set as a whole more effective.

* I have decided that I don’t want the phones attached to the wall, I want them to be able to be picked up, yet it is not important to me that they are so I will have them placed in lines of four or five on unobtrusive shelves.

* I will have the wooden ipads on a plinth, there won’t be so many of these as the phones.

I have experimented with the idea of spacing the phones for display and have not yet made a decision.

Film developments (my mutterings & thoughts)

The idea behind my film is to use pixelation to show how disengaged with reality we have become at times due to our device dependency. We turn away from our physical environment without a second thought the moment our device calls for our attention.

This can be momentary as we receive a text or call, but it can be a more consequential event such as demands for attention via an online presence which can become more important to us than our own reality. From this stems the question “what is our reality? is it that version that we view through the world our device portrays and is this one the one that matters?”

The idea came from my Photoshop experiments as I was figuring out how I could demonstrate this disengagement, I decided on the mosaic tool as this represented perfectly to me what was causing the distraction. Pixelation is most commonly used to disguise the faces of those who can’t or don’t want to be identified. I want to establish the link of hidden identity to the concept of an online presence that has many undertones of both keeping elements of a persons identity hidden and an essence of  revealing too much about oneself.

 These are short experiments I created in Photoshop. The purpose of the pixelated areas are to show what we are distracted away from.

I then continued with the trials as I felt there was more to be discovered and that I could demonstrate more clearly, I just had to find how. I want to show how the world we view through the device has become more important an environment than the physical one, so I pixelated the whole area except for a device shaped hole through which we can see what is happening.

I feel that these are far more effective and I will make a series of small films and stitch together.

I have yet to decide on the length of the film but I do know that it isn’t important that the viewer watches from beginning to end.

 

Fake Devices, Real News.

 

We have become dependent on our devices as a source for everything, I wonder how long it would take if we stopped receiving our news in this way? Would we panic? Would we soon get used to it again?

I am creating a series of wooden mobile devices, each contains a clip of real news but the information is restricted to the boundaries of the device, there will be no further searching for more.

 

Happy

Sometimes I think we post about our lives, maybe to show off-but more than likely it’s to confirm to others that we are happy. Maybe we feel it is important to make sure others know this-in case they doubted our happiness.

But maybe we are doubting it ourselves and it’s ourselves we are reassuring!