Progress: The Cave

I am so jazzed up about this project! I have already chosen my lead for this piece, and I am collecting models for the rest of the video. As far as my story boarding goes, I have it all in my head and my hands just can't move fast enough to get it all on paper!

 

 

 For this video I will be looking to rent some battery powered smoke/fog machines where I will use in the beginning. My light source will almost entirely be that of natural light, and I have several locations chosen for each scene. I need to get permission to shoot in my first location, as of now, I'm looking to shoot in the back of my old high school up in Worthington. From there, back into my neighborhood where we have a big creek in the woods which works perfectly. From there, I will most likely move it to the woods in Highbanks National Park. The woods scenes will all work sequentially appearing as one forest, but there is something that I need from every location to meet my vision. I'm still very much in the research phase but its all mentally coming together. I will have to wait to shoot until the ice and much of the snow melts because I need the creek to be thawed. 

Let me know thoughts and opinions! :)

Artist Statement Redo

For my semester long project, I will be creating a musical narrative in the way of a music video to the song, The Cave, by Mumford and Sons. The reason I chose this song was because it of the lyrics powerful message and its uplifting, heart pounding rhythm. The moral of my piece will be, "Don't be afraid to break out of conformity; be yourself and do what makes you happiest." This piece will show power and individualism while getting away from our industrial society and getting in touch with nature.

Artist Statement

I tried so hard at finding local bands, but I couldn't find one that truly inspired me. However, I did find a song that did just that; The Cave by Mumford and Sons. As soon as I came across this song I just knew it was the one. I'm currently story boarding ideas and time sequences. This song's lyrics really resonated with me, from my past to my present, this is the song for me. Ironically enough, my vision pairs perfectly with the lyrics, and that was more or less accidental! Below are the lyrics to the song.

The Cave :

It's empty in the valley of your heart
The sun, it rises slowly as you walk
Away from all the fears
And all the faults you've left behind

The harvest left no food for you to eat
You cannibal, you meat-eater, you see
But I have seen the same
I know the shame in your defeat

But I will hold on hope
And I won't let you choke
On the noose around your neck

And I'll find strength in pain
And I will change my ways
I'll know my name as it's called again

Cause I have other things to fill my time
You take what is yours and I'll take mine
Now let me at the truth
Which will refresh my broken mind

So tie me to a post and block my ears
I can see widows and orphans through my tears
I know my call despite my faults
And despite my growing fears

But I will hold on hope
And I won't let you choke
On the noose around your neck

And I'll find strength in pain
And I will change my ways
I'll know my name as it's called again

So come out of your cave walking on your hands
And see the world hanging upside down
You can understand dependence
When you know the maker's hand

So make your siren's call
And sing all you want
I will not hear what you have to say

Cause I need freedom now
And I need to know how
To live my life as it's meant to be

And I will hold on hope
And I won't let you choke
On the noose around your neck

And I'll find strength in pain
And I will change my ways
I'll know my name as it's called again

It's empty in the valley of your heart
The sun, it rises slowly as you walk
Away from all the fears
And all the faults you've left behind

The harvest left no food for you to eat
You cannibal, you meat-eater, you see
But I have seen the same
I know the shame in your defeat

But I will hold on hope
And I won't let you choke
On the noose around your neck

And I'll find strength in pain
And I will change my ways
I'll know my name as it's called again

Cause I have other things to fill my time
You take what is yours and I'll take mine
Now let me at the truth
Which will refresh my broken mind

So tie me to a post and block my ears
I can see widows and orphans through my tears
I know my call despite my faults
And despite my growing fears

But I will hold on hope
And I won't let you choke
On the noose around your neck

And I'll find strength in pain
And I will change my ways
I'll know my name as it's called again

So come out of your cave walking on your hands
And see the world hanging upside down
You can understand dependence
When you know the maker's hand

So make your siren's call
And sing all you want
I will not hear what you have to say

Cause I need freedom now
And I need to know how
To live my life as it's meant to be

And I will hold on hope
And I won't let you choke
On the noose around your neck

And I'll find strength in pain
And I will change my ways
I'll know my name as it's called again

 

 

I want this video to be an expression of breaking out of conformity, and to strive for what actually makes you happiest; not what makes everyone else happy. 

I will have thumbnails uploaded later! 

 

My Prediction(s)!

For this upcoming project, I would really love to dabble in video for, more or less, the first time ever. Naturally I love photography, but video offers a whole other level to the word "image". I'm taking Video I this semester as well, so the idea of class crossover really appealed to me. Besides just filmed motion, stop motion really interests me too. Fall semester last year I took Time Based Media Design and made a stop motion video. This has really inspired me to take a second go around with this method as well, because while it was incredibly time consuming, I absolutely loved doing it. Below is the link to the stop motion that I made, its to the song "Sleepyhead" by Passion Pit.

http://www.vimeo.com/8112386


Its funny, looking back at it now, I see MILLIONS of things I would love to change/do over/etc. If I do go with motion picture, I will most definitely be doing something a song, a music video perhaps, or even a story like sequence with music elements. I'm not certain if I want to take the stop motion route again, or try and stick with genuine filmed video.

If video fails, another idea that I have is that I would really enjoy doing a very large photo series. Whether they are portraits, or landscape, (I think definitely portraits) I would want TONS of images. Perhaps a fashion series of images incorporating the outdoors and secluded scenes, or something much simpler than that in regards to portraits of the human body, of all different body types. I got a really nice Macro lens in November that I think could work out very well in my favor if I were to take this route. For example, I could take 50+ images of different peoples eyes, stomachs, legs, lips, smiles, hands, skin, hair, etc. So basically, breaking down the simple aspects of the human body in a beautiful light.


Thoughts and opinions? I could sure use them!

Final, for real ;D

After last week's feedback I was in a little bit of a funk, but once I sat down and really stared at my last attempt, I couldn't have agreed more with your comments. It just felt like I was trying to say too much with too much. I took a slightly more simplistic approach this time around, and honestly, the message is just as strong, if not stronger in my opinion. I hope you like this one better, because I certainly do! :)

 

 American Sins/Stereotypes

A little explanation for the design choices made.

Even though I have already explained my reasoning and purpose for my execution of this assignment, since we won't be meeting in class until we present, I thought I would explain some of my design choices in advanced. I chose the font specifically because it reminded me of old type writers that were commonly used through out the 19th and 20th centuries. Faith, morals, and the overall outlooks on life back then were so different than they are now. While all of the above subjects/topics existed back then, they weren't nearly as common, important, or accepted as they are by our society today. However, even though faith and morals seem to be slowly fading out of our society (represented by small font size), our country is still a united country, people are still fighting for their rights, and as a country we are always changing and growing. So while we are certainly not perfect, and while it definitely wouldn't hurt to change these particular aspects about our country, we are still all united (represented by the circle).

Nearing Completion!

Hello! Alrighty, so I have made my layout with the images I took over Thanksgiving break, however I have three different variations which I need help deciding from. Below are my three different variations. What do you think? The text going around the images is the quote from the movie Se7en that I've included in the last few posts. I wasn't sure if I should include what each picture represents, but I figured with the additional elements of the piece that the topics would be fairly obvious.

I would love all thoughts and comments!

Thanks!

Update! :D

Hello! So I did my photo shoot over Thanksgiving break, and I just want to keep shooting this theme forever!! Haha, I had SO much fun and am loving how this is going so far! 

Here are my finalized images for each of my "American Stereotypes/Sins"

Frivolous Spending

 Promiscuity

 Ignorance

 Vices

 Gluttony

 Vanity

Like I said, I had a blast shooting these.

From this point, I will be playing around with the quote from the movie, Se7en that I referred to in my last post;

"A woman... so ugly on the inside she couldn't bear to go on living if she couldn't be beautiful on the outside. A drug dealer, a drug dealing pederast, actually! And let's not forget the disease-spreading whore! Only in a world this shitty could you even try to say these were innocent people and keep a straight face. But that's the point. We see a deadly sin on every street corner, in every home, and we tolerate it. We tolerate it because it's common, it's trivial. We tolerate it morning, noon, and night. Well, not anymore. I'm setting the example. What I've done is going to be puzzled over and studied and followed... forever."

 

I was also thinking about using an overlay of the American flag over these images, just to keep playing with my concept. 

Interesting story:

I was talking to my friend Marjuan, who is an immigrant from the Middle East, and I was discussing my project with him. I didn't realize at the time how great it was to discuss this with someone who had originally lived in another country that saw and heard these stereotypes about Americans all the time. He shared with me that those were ALL things that were joked about Americans. He told me that when people in the Middle East imitate what Americans look like, they pull on their ear lobes and puff our their cheeks, AKA playing on the idea that we're all fat and over indulge. I have to say, after speaking to him, it made me even more motivated and love this project even more! Hopefully by viewing these images, people who are desensitized to all of the above can take a step back and look at themselves, any perhaps change some of their habits? Who knows, but I love thinking it could happen. :)

 

 

Thanks! I hope you enjoy!