Week 4 workshop and tutorials
In Tim’s session we initially brought in an important object of ours from the past and talked about it. The idea was that each of the objects allowed us to time travel, which was the theme of the workshops. My object was a small, A6? Moleskin notebook. I collect a lot of notebooks and sketchbooks, but I am far from religious about keeping them updated, the diaries and notebooks anyway. I have carried this particular notebook around with me for three years since getting it as a Christmas present. I haven’t done much in it though I just carry it around for the comfort almost. The things that I have sketched and wrote in the book relate to time travel because the ink and graphite was applied at multiple times on the past so you can touch the past. In the second part we looked at the ancient mud project of Julian’s and considered how seeds can be representative of time.
The first tutorial this week with Miranda was about my experience In University as a whole this term, not just about IP and my personal project. We talked about how I was finding the current modules and Uni life and what are my objectives for this term. I am finding the painting and poetry modules much freer and more expressive than the mainly written work that I was doing last semester, they also complement each other well. I am finding that I am bit more on top of my workload than I was before Christmas. We looked at the AberGrad checklist to see what things I learned from the modules and societies, clubs etc. Things like leadership, employability and time-management.
In Friday’s individual tutorial I showed the work so far to Miranda and explained my thinking and ideas about development. I was encouraged to plan a bit less into the future and just experiment with what I have got at the moment and that I don’t need to know what the project will end up as. I also got out of the tutorial that my project is going in the right direction and what I need to do is figure out what I’m trying to say with the work.
We had a tour of the arts centre on Thursday evening where we got to look at all the possible exhibition spaces for the Takeover. There were Arts Centre staff there to tell us all the details about the locations and what would be appropriate in each one. Obviously, the cinema is an obvious choice as I going to make a film-based intervention, but I could project images anywhere. The eye might be a nice option as well as it makes for an intimate space and that might fit well as the film will be just about me and my passion for running – it might make the film feel more relatable and easier to find intense than if it was on an open wall.
My project
What I have done:
I have carried on with taking more videos of myself from my perspective of running. I particularly liked the two one-minute videos that I took of my face and my feet while in-motion. I decided to carry on with the same format by taking one-minute during my longer runs, from different angles. I did a repeat of the same perceptive from last time, but in a different place, different clothes, different time. The thing that connects all these clips is that I am doing the same movement in every one.
What I think:
I am still quite excited about this project at the moment. Again, I think that I find the video of my legs the strongest. I think the visual aspect and the sound of footstriking is quite powerful and a bit like a metronome or ticking clock. I am thinking about each angle and framing now and what story each view tells. The shot the is looking straight ahead from my chest allows the viewer to imagine that they are running as you can’t see me. Whereas the one of my legs or face shows my effort and it is more like the viewer is observing me. The angle of shot the is looking sidewise while I’m running is interesting as it is emphasising how I view the environment as I am running around.
What next:
I find that a little plan, even just for the next week helps me a lot to focus and work better. The next week is when I need to really start getting a good grasp of what my project is and am I happy with it. I don’t know what I want my piece to look like at the end, but I know I will keep to it being some kind of film. The next stage I want to focus on is use the footage that I have collected already and play around with it more, edit it and try to see what I can pull out of that. I have got editing and audio recording apps set up now and I have had a tutorial on how to use different programmes.
Research and context
Poetry:
I have been doing a poetry module this semester and I have been including some work about running in my writing. I think that learning to express myself and how I feel in a different artistic way is very helpful in broadening my horizon for this IP project. I don’t know if I will be including any text or spoken word in my final film but as I have been practicing I can come to it if I want to. People do often talk about how movement or different sports are ‘poetic’ and I think that is an interesting concept.
My poem is below…
-Running again-
Stepping gingerly off the track
Jelly legs
Nothing in my mind but
Maybe too much in my mind
Far away
Thinking of friends who got me here
But they are not with me now
Now is time to rest, wait
What was my time though?
Checking the watch again
The same routine, the same result
On the hamster wheel, chasing
The perfect race
Is there even such a thing.
I am going to put research about Martin Creed in next week’s notebook as this is quite full…