PROJECTED WINGS (& HANDS)

PROJECTED WINGS

PROJECTING WINGS

JOHN LEWIS' 'THE BEAR & THE HARE': THE MAKING OF

I came across this video today, on the making of John Lewis' 2013 christmas advert, and I've rewatched it many times. I think it's fascinating. Being shown on television, I had only ever seen it as the 2-dimensional drawn animation I had assumed it to be. But it's so much more. There's something about seeing the directors and set makers holding these series of laser-cut animals, standing next to them, and placing them in a 3-dimensional set, that was really surreal, but amazing. 

The comparison between the production and the finished, edited piece is what drives my recent work: the illusion of it all.

This has also got me thinking a lot about the format my work takes. I've always assumed that most of my experiments would result in installations. But this has definitely opened me up to the use of video. To be in that studio, in person, would have been so very different from watching the video. There couldn't be abrupt cutaway shots or editing, no stop-motion animation, and the only narrative would be that of real time.

My favourite parts of the video are the stop motions of the animators moving the characters, as they appear to move in natural time. It's something that can't exist in real time. It exists digitally, yet still shows the difference between digital and the 'real'.

ANIMATION: SPEED EXPERIMENTS

HOW DOES A WING MOVE?

I've been watching a number of videos to help me (hopefully) make my animation realistic. The first one, in particular, was a lot of help, and I repeatedly played it through for reference whilst I worked on creating my stop-motion.

PAPER FEATHERS & WIRE BONES

As my works beginning to venture more and more into movement I want to experiment with animation, something which I have never done before, and I'd like to try (on quite a simple level first).

I'm in the process of making a bird wing. I've concentrated more on anatomic correctness than I usually would with something stationary, as the shape of the skeleton and feathers is really what allows the motion to happen. I started with a wire base, or skeleton, and added a basic paper structure around parts, playing the part of the skin, and continued to cover this in paper feathers. Creating the wing took a pretty long time (much longer than I had anticipated) so I left the making at just one single wing, although I originally had the idea to make a few pairs. I wanted to spend my time learning about movement, and not repetitively paper cutting. I'm pleased with the final structure, the attention to detail, although time consuming, was worth it. The wire skeleton allows the wing to bend in the way it naturally would. Now to make it move ...

EADWEARD MUYBRIDGE: BIRD MOTION STUDIES

PIERRE HUYGHE: L'EXPEDITION SCINTILLANTE

KARA WALKER'S SHADOW PUPPETS

SECOND YEAR: START OF YEAR EXHIBITION

FEATHERS ON ACETATE

LICHTENSTEIN @ TATE MODERN

I hadn't really planned on going to see Lichtenstein's retrospective at the Tate. Perhaps because I wasn't sure that seeing his work in person would be all too different from seeing documentation, or perhaps it didn't seem worth the somewhat steep £13.50 (concessions). However when my flatmate picked up two free tickets I couldn't turn it down, and it turned out to be greatly worthwhile. Although I love Lichtenstein's work, I hadn't expected it to be all too relevant to my personal practice. However in many pieces, it turns out, I was proved wrong. In Room 5: Landscapes and Seascapes was a piece I have never seen before Sea Shore (1964).

The added dimension of the layered plexiglass meant that as you moved around the image, it would change and appear to move (something that's hard to get from the photograph).

Sea Shore (1964)

Another part of his work I was, of course, aware of, but always underestimated was his use of Benday dots to create optical illusions, and of how much these visual tricks really play into his work. One of my favourites were his series of mirrors. I had, again, never seen these works before, but it turns out he worked with them rather extensively. As mirrors are something I'd like to work with, I saw it as a very interesting take on the objects. They were so skilfully done it was obvious what they were meant to be. However lacking in a mirror's vital characteristic (being reflective) I found them to be totally surreal.

BIRDS, BIRDS, BIRDS

I am very aware that, in this moment, the focus of my work is on materials and techniques as opposed to subject matter. I have been using birds a lot, and, to be honest, with not much thought. As suspension has been a big part of my experimentation, I suppose a bird just made sense, and it's something that I've been naturally drawn to. The intricate textures of their feathers are also something I enjoy working with, and find it to be effective mixed with the ephemerality of light. I suppose I've always assumed, once I've mastered my materials, a subject matter would just seem relevant. However during a presentation of my work with my studio group, it was suggested that I look further into the meaning that birds bring. This seems like a great point, and something so obvious, I don't know why it never occurred to me before. If birds are something I enjoy working with, perhaps, I should explore more into why this is so.

Alfred Hitchcock's Birds

Rebecca Horn often uses wings and feathers in her work

Birds also have many religious connotations

BIRD SKULL LAYERS

Here is the image split into three separate tones. If these were to be displayed as opaque materials, this is where I could stop. However using transparencies is going to mean some extra work.

Whereas Murphy can create quite solid back layers of lighter tones, I can't do that, as too many layers will result in darker colours. Therefore I need to look at it like so: The lightest tone needs to be made of one layer, the mid tone two layers and the darkest tone be made of three. Therefore I need to add to the two back layers. Which results in this.

When layered up these shapes should result in my desired image. I now need to concentrate on getting these made and projected, to see how this theory works in practice.