Throughout our first Digital Arts class, we looked at
different sequential images and were assigned to create our own as a class
task. We were supposed to create 6 images into a collage to show a series of
events.
The first thing I decided to do was research some sequential images to see what I like.
This is a sequential image that fascinated me a lot. It is
referring to the story of Adam and Eve from the Bible. What I really like about
this piece is that it is static. There is no movement shown by the people, the
surroundings just change. I find this a very interesting factor as the people
stay in the same place in time while their surroundings evolve. In the first 2
photographs we notice that they are in the present, wearing heavy dark clothes.
This might be his own way of symbolising the present as a dark time. There is a
lot of contrast in the first image as the figures significantly stand out from
their surroundings. In the second picture, they start taking off layers of
clothes. In the 3rd and 4th picture, the surroundings
start turning into plants one by one as the lady in the back is now fully undressed.
This shows that they are slowly going back in time and one thing changes at a
time. The people start becoming one with nature. In the last pictures, they
wear no clothes which shows how much freedom they had in comparison to the
present. Comparing the last and the first image, there is a great contrast.
Even his body language changed and became more relaxed. It shows how pure humans
are in comparison to the first image that makes you feel bad for them.
In contrast to the first image I looked at, these sequential images have a lot of motion. We clearly depict two people fighting each other. They are both undressed in front of a dark wall which creates good contrast with their skin colours. The fact that there is such drastic change between the dark of the background and the light on their skin colour, makes me think of peace and war which suits the theme of the images. I think that these images were taken seconds apart as you can clearly see the process of the fight and how it progressed. I really like these images as they convey a sense of mystery to the viewer. Why are they fighting? We don't clearly have a context which makes it open for interpretation
This was a piece that really fascinated me. It was my favourite sequential image I looked at. In comparison to the first picture I looked at, this has motion as you can see two people entering and exiting the screen. They are both walking in a dark alley. In the first two images, we can see them walking next to each other. However, in the third image we notice that one of them looks at the other curiously. Once they pass by each other, they both turn to look at each other at different times. I really like this as it is open for interpretation. No one knows the exact reason as to why they felt the urge to turn back and look at each other. No one knows the story behind this image which is what I found beauty in. The mystery in these sequential images is very effective as it makes you want to find out more about this. Conveying a meaning through a few images is very hard which is why I love this. The body language in the third and fourth pictures shows that something attracted him and made him felt the urge to turn back.
Additionally, we looked at a few sequential images as
examples to get inspired before we created our own. An example that really
stood out to me was by Eadweard Muybridge. He was born in 1830 and was an
English photographer.
The piece that really inspired me was the ‘Dancing Woman’ as
it shows a series of photographs of a woman dancing. I like the fact that you
can see both her but also the dress she is wearing in motion. The overall image
created makes me feel happy and creates a tranquil atmosphere as you can see
the woman is enjoying herself while dancing. Additionally, I really like that
the background of the images is really dark and the woman is wearing a white
dress as it creates a really nice contrast and makes her stand out.
After looking at this piece, I decided that I also wanted to
incorporate the dance element into my own sequential image as it can indicate
something joyful. One of my friends is studying dance so I decided to ask her
if she could do one of her dance moves while I take pictures of her. After
discussing with her, I decided to sketch out how I wanted the final result to
look like so we can have a clear picture of what to do and see if it works out.
We decided to take 8 different photographs.
These are my sketches:
After sketching out everything it was time to execute our
project. One of the difficulties that we encountered was the background of our
project. We couldn’t find a plain background to shoot this so we decided to go
to the nearest park and do it there. The park was a perfect solution for us
because just like dance, the park symbolises joy, and we wanted to include that
into our finished product. Additionally, another issue we had was how to take
the pictures, landscape or portrait. After multiple shots, we decided to take
the pictures as portrait so it can be more focus on her and the move she is
doing. We wanted the shots to be closer up, which was something that couldn’t
be done when using landscape.
These are the pictures:
One of the last steps I had to do was crop the pictures into
Be Funky so I can create my collage and my title. I added the 8 photographs into
a grid (4 photos, 2 rows). Since we talked about joy so much in this
project, we decided to name it ‘Dancing Joy’ which is exactly what we tried to
portray in these pictures. I increased the contrast to 14% and the brightness
to -17% as an attempt to try and
make her stand out more. For the font I decided to use ‘ChuckFive’, size 110px
in Be Funky. This font is really elegant and matched with the theme of dancing.
I did have a lot of difficulty making the title visible as it was hard to find a
space to place it. The title was overshadowed by the surroundings so I decided
to add it in the middle of the images so it can stand out a bit more.
This is the final result:
Conclusion: The final outcome didn’t turn out as good as I expected it to
as the colour of her clothes really blended into the surroundings so she wasn’t
as visible as I would have liked her to be. If she was wearing darker coloured
trousers or if the surrounding were plain, then the outcome would have been much
better. Having a plain background would draw more attention to the girl
dancing, however, I like the concept of dancing in a park and the story behind
it. For my next project, I will make sure that the background fits their tones
and that everything is taken into consideration.
References:
Michals, D. (1968) Christie's, Paradise Regained [online] Available from: https://www.christies.com/lotfinder/Lot/duane-michals-b-1932-paradise-regained-5165268-details.aspx (Accessed 07/12/20)
Muybridge, E. (1887) Meisterdrucke, Boxing; open hand [online] Available from: https://www.meisterdrucke.uk/fine-art-prints/Eadweard-Muybridge/115681/Plate-Number-340.-Boxing;-open-hand-(shoes),-1887-(collotype).html (Accessed 07/12/20)
Michals, D. (1970) Museo Reina Sofia, Chance meeting [online] Available from: https://www.museoreinasofia.es/en/collection/artwork/chance-meeting (Accessed 07/12/20)
Muybridge, E. (2013) Fine art America, Dancing woman [online] Available from: https://fineartamerica.com/featured/dancing-woman-eadweard-muybridge.html (Accessed 07/12/20)
Your sequence with technical detail and planning is good here but you need to add more research with some references you have started but you need a a little more on this but well done on the images - very good
ReplyDeleteI tried to add more in depth research now
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