Tuesday, June 1, 2021

Communicating Intention

 

Using your research work as well as your own work you need to...

Demonstrate an in-depth and imaginative exploration into photographic materials, techniques and processes, evaluating how they are used to communicate creative intentions. 

One of the main aspects of this unit is to clearly demonstrate you understand what it means by Creative Intention. 

If you read through the assignment brief you'll see that the creative intention is to produce 4 images that evoke 'Sinister/creepy/scary/disturbing' images. You should therefore start your work (On the first page of the practical work) with a short introduction that uses the learning aim and the pass criteria A.P1 as an explanation of what you need to do. Additionally, mention the Book cover aspect of the work explaining that your use of materials, techniques and processes will make this possible.

Therefore...

  1. You've got to produce 'Sinister/creepy' images.
  2. The materials you use will enhance the feel and narrative of your images.
  3. The technique you use will enhance the feel and narrative of your images.
  4. The processes you use will enhance the feel and narrative of your images.
*Narrative - The story or message behind the images e.g. what you're trying to convey through the images, in this set of images the meaning//message is Sinister/Creepy

_______________________________________________________________

The research that you've done over the summer on Lauren E Simonutti and Deborah Turberville needs to include your analysis of the images in terms what they convey e.g. how they look, the mood and how they've been shot and the materials used has helped the images look that way.

Neither of the photographers work with colour, so this sets a  tone and mood that you need to describe and comment on. The technique and process - which includes how the images were designed needs to be analysed. How are the models arranged in the images, how are they posed, do they look happy, are they in an environment that fits the way they look, what might the story be behind  the images? Consider all of these things and make sense of them - are the images generally happy and upbeat or is there something sinister and dark about them? You need to described  this 'Feel' and 'Mood' that the artist/photographer has created.

Images in professional scenarios are created with intention, they're designed and/or selected for use as they convey meaning or messages. This is known as Visual Language and it's one of the tools you need to increasingly use in your work. Here below is a series of questions that you can use when trying to analyse the Creative Intention in images you might be researching.

  • What is the purpose of the images - what kind of images are they and where might you expect to see them?
  • How can you tell that the images have an intended purpose - what indicates their purpose and use - in terms of the techniques, materials and processes used?
  • Are the images produced in colour or B&W and how does this evoke meaning and message? (Process and technique).
  • What is the narrative, are the images designed so that there's a story within the images? (Process)
  • Does the angle of the camera/viewpoint add to the feel and mood of the images, what makes them strange or odd (Sinister)?
Check Deborah Turbervilles page here as it mentions her technique https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deborah_Turbeville#Technique

More Turberville links...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPAO2qATEk8 video where she explains her techniques.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2aaAHgp90U   video where you see the lighting, camera and techniques used.

This following video was shot probably just before she died. In this one she's using a digital camera, so she probably moved to using digital cameras later in her career. You'll see she's still using 'Ambient' light, but also using reflectors to reduce the shadowy affect seen in much of her work. Note too the large object on the tripod, this is a monitor (Computer screen) that allows her and or the client to see each image being captured and to check and view each image as they're being shot. @ 15 second into the video you'll see an assistant holding a small light above the model (LED panel light), so the approach here isn't typical of her earlier work and probably doesn't have that same eerie sinister feel to it. You may even notice that the assistant seems to have the camera in her hand and is shooting some of the images. This is perfectly okay as the ideas and the lighting are all Turbervilles and she's just instructed the assistant to take the shots. 

Luaren E Simonutti links

Photographic notes from a madhouse - Photographs by Lauren E. Simonutti | LensCulture towards the bottom of this article are details about techniques and materials. 

Update - The following video links have guidance and comments which will be helpful in your analysis and evaluations of the videos.


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