14. Test Shoot part 2. 5/12/14

We got off to a great start and the images that were coming out were brilliant, it ran very smoothly. It took me and Rachel a few shots to get used to how each other works. I had to work out when she was jumping and when to press the capture button. Because we had the camera on mirror lock, that meant I could be more accurate with my timing and it would take the picture immediately. I got used to looking at her jumping and seeing the position i wanted for that split second in mid air and capturing the image. See image 1.00 below as an example. 

Image 1.00

This was one of the best images we got over the shoot. The way i directed each jump had to be very specific so i could get what i wanted and Rachel was so cooperative. The lighting had to be very specific so i could get the look i wanted - i wanted shadows and depth on my dancer. Each pose was very strong which was also the look i was after. 

13. Test Shoot 5/12/14

Today was the first test shoot day. I was really nervous in case i had forgotten to ask Rachel to bring anything with her or in case i wasn't prepared enough. 

The breakdown of the day: 

11:50 - i arrive at the studio.

12:00 - I filled out the risk assessment and health + safety forms. We put carpet down underneath the white screen in order for Rachel to have a softer landing as well as prevent her from slipping.

12:10 - Set up projector and tested what it would look like if we projected my images of the pocket watch onto Andy. See image 1.00 below. We found the problem with this was that it created a large shadow in the background and wiped out the majority of the background image. The projector also wasn't strong enough so the image looked rather faded. Image 1.01 shows the other problem we had - motion capture/blur. The shutter speed is too slow to be able to capture the motion and we couldn't use flash as that would wipe out the projector. 

12:30 - Deciding which background we should test and try out to ensure i have plenty options to work with in post production. We decided to shoot the grey/shadowed background, then the white, then the green screen. The grey background settings on medium format camera = Manual. 1/125 ; F7.1 ; ISO 100. Flash beauty dish. See image 1.02. 

12:40 - Then we added in a reflector as it was too dark. See image 1.03. 

The grey backgound = mirror lock, beauty dish at 1/4, shutter - 1/125, Aperture F5.6, ISO 100.

The white background = studio flash with soft box. Full belt. Key light 1/4, back light 1/2.  

13:15 - Rachel arrives in Leeds. We are in the studio waiting for her to get there and talking about the use of the displacement map in photoshop. Blurring background and tying her into the image. Image laid over the top of her to look like she is wrapped in it. We looked at some youtube video clips and i decided that would be a better option for me. This meant we didn't have to do the green screen as we weren't keying anything into the background behind her - i would be cutting her out of the white/grey background anyway. 

13:35 - Rachel arrives and is getting changed. She brought a selection of outfits that i had told her to and i chose the more basic outfit that wasn't as distracting and showed off her limbs more for the image. Her makeup was black which really looked good on the camera. She was in bare feet. I made sure she warmed up before the shoot and was limbered and ready to perform. 

13:55 - Rachel is warmed up and ready to go, she signed her model release form.

Image 1.00

Image 1.01

Image 1.02

Image 1.03

12. Extra ideas

The day before the test shoot i popped into see my tutor and spoke again about the editing stage. He suggested projecting the images onto the dancer of the clock and that would make the editing stage and process more easy. So i went to see the technician and asked whether Andy could bring along the projector to the shoot the following day so we could try it out before the dancer got there. 

This meant that I could safe myself time in post production but also whilst the dancer was there, if i tested it before she got there and it didn't look right then i knew what my other options were and i wouldn't have wasted time with Rachel.

I only had about 2 hours with Rachel which wasn't a lot of time to get the images i wanted. I had the type of positions i wanted her to be in printed out on paper so i could show her. We were in regular contact before the test shoot so she knew what i was after and she knew the type of things i would be asking her to do.  

11. Dance leap ideas

Some images for inspiration and what poses/leaps i would like my dancer to do. Depending on her flexibility we may have to alter some images, but i'm happy that she can pull most of these off. 

10. Update

I spoke with Simon Popple about my project and one area we identified as an issue was the editing stage after the shoot, where i edit in the images of the clock and tie them to my dancer with the chain. 

Issues:

1. Editing the chain to make it look bulky and thick so its wrapped around a part of her body was risky without trailing it and making it look effective - risk it looking cheap and cliche.

2. I took my pocket watch images separately and in order to match the lighting would be difficult in photoshop with the images of my dance in the studio and then the images i took in my flat.

3. I can risk over doing it in photoshop like last year and making my images look grainy - it is a long winded process editing that much of an image and could make the image look cheap.

Solution:

1. Photograph my dancer in front of a green screen and key in the images of my pocket watch.

2. My pocket watch images will still be of a different lighting so i will retake those at the start of the slot in the TV studio before my dancer arrives. This way i can match my lighting with the technician.

3. I can play around more subtly in photoshop to drag out colours and flatten the colour of the skin tones. 

9. Dance Quotes

Time as a strand of the dance medium. Emma Alvarez, Lecturer, England.

p.2. 'does time shape dance or does dance shape its time? Is time in dance comparable to time in the other arts or does it display unique characteristics? What variations of time are introduced by each choreographer? What are the temporal openings specific to choreographed movement?'

p.2. 'Audiences as well as dancers cannot avoid spatial awareness, while temporalities are more easily neglected through inadvertence. Of course, there are means by which time has the capacity to become visible and audible such as rhythmic patterns in the choreography or explicit narratives like the ones in the tradition of the classical ballet, but as we will see, these are limited displays of the more profound involvement of time in dance.' 

p.2. 'A dance piece evolves in a set length of time, and then disappears.' 

p.3. '[...] filmed or videoed dance events not only have made possible a more careful attention to time, but they have also offered dance the possibility to utilise it in new ways. [...] the human body in motion is essentially recognised as the medium.'

p.3, 'In dance performances every movement is followed and preceded by another one, and sequences can only progress into further movements in the future.'

p.3. 'Time, however, is both intrinsic to other dance elements and part of the dance medium. Dance captures time but also creates it.' 

8. More Quotes

Photography, Cinema, Memory: The Crystal Image of Time. David Sutton:

p.36. 'So we have three elements that make up the time of our own identity: duration as the ongoing change, memory as our awareness of duration (the image of duration) and time, and the sense of past, present, and future from which our awareness is created.'

p.39. 'The photograph is often considered timeless, negating time or simply poor in comparison to cinema. Andre Bazin, for example, might have talked of cinema as "change mummified", but photography, for him, "embalms time" itself. Such an approach only considers time as chronology and does not consider the possibility of an image of time that is not based on a sensory-motor schema.'

p.39. 'This is developed by photography, to the extent that "timeless" does not necessarily mean "durationless." This forgotten time of the photograph is given shape once again by Deluze's philosophy of that time, ironically, relegated the photograph to playing a small part in a cinema's technology.'

p.49. 'Time seems to speed up or slow down, with different sensations of time ("other rhythms") competing with each other. The experience is familiar to us all, for instance, as we wait for a kettle to come to the boil, but perhaps more interesting in comparison to the similar experiences of space.' 

p.50. 'The photograph has a distinct contiguity with the time and the place at which it was taken, but its relationship with time is characterised by a powerful, transfixing immobility.'

7. Aesthetic

The pocket watch I have is rather jagged looking and extremely detailed. I don't want to draw away from that detail and I'm wanting to match the jagged look of the pocket watch to my dancer. Her makeup may be jagged looking with harsh lines and eye makeup. I'm thinking I want her in black high waisted hot pants and a black tight crop top .... her costume won't take away from the pocket watch - she'll wear what a dancer wears pretty much. 

I'm not wanting the image in entirely black and white, i'll want it a little closer to colour, a musty grey look almost but with the black lines of the dancers make up and the pocket watch outlined and emphasised. 

I'm really pushing for nothing to let my work down this year. Last year I had done too much editing so this year i'm going to make sure it's really clean and minimal (to the eye). 

I've been thinking about how I want the dancer to look. She is quite petite and has big hair, so i'm wanting to match that but juxtapose that at the same time with bold makeup. I've emailed a few local makeup artists to see what they can do and whether they are available. The pocket watch is jagged and bold and i'm wanting those dark, bold, jagged lines to match on the face of my dancer.

e.g:
I really like this look because the lines match the look of the pocket watch and the sharp, jagged decor on the pocket watch itself. 

One girl I am particularly interested in for doing the makeup is Anna Stephenson. I have had a look at her Creative Faces page and she shows her versatility so i'm hoping she can achieve the look i'm after, for a reasonable price. 

Other images i'm looking at for inspiration are :

The boldness and darkness would stand out.

The shadowing could look really effective.

The pattern and jagged lines would compliment the pocket watch.

The darkness is intriguing with the little bit of highlight underneath, above and coming out the side. (not the chanel symbol).

6. My idea

I have come up with and chosen my final idea. 

Dance is intrinsically linked to time. I want to portray dance and time together in my set of 5 images. The way i'm thinking of doing it is by taking one picture of my pocket watch and using that in each image, generally the pocket watch will be in the bottom left hand corner of my image but blown up to look much bigger. 

It will look like a heavy weight. 

I will only take one picture of it to ensure that my final image won't look too complicated. 

I will have the time ticking throughout each picture to show progression in time and therefore dance. 

The chain of the pocket watch will be edited more in post production to make it look bulkier and more thick as it grabs and ties around my dancer - either her leg, waist, arm etc. 

The dancer will be dancing in each image, again to work with the concept of time moving. By dancing and moving in each image - motion blur - it will again show the progression in time. The dancer will be held down by the pocket watch showing you can't break free from time when you're dancing. 

My final thought, was to make a comment about reversing time and the potentiality of it if we were to reach the speed of light - then we could travel back in time. By reversing my images i could show this and what it would look like to reverse movement and time in space. 

5. Solidifying my ideas

3 main ideas have sprung to mind. 

Having spoken with Andy Thorpe after the practical on 29/10/14, it prompted me to think more creatively and it ultimately led me to three main ideas that i would like to decide between.

I can use some of the after/post production work on either idea. 

1. Initial idea of using the 'Timer Remote' to capture the image and the movement in between the start and end of one movement - showing the movement continuously but in one image, evenly spaced out. Showing each stage of the movement - passing of time. In post production, I can then layer on representations of time e.g. stopwatch, pocket watch, hour glass, sundial. Using light to give shadows that tell the time. E.g. half the body would be in darkness/shadow = 12:30pm or something. 3/4 of the body would be in view = 11:45. 

e.g. www.perfectlandscape.com/frozen_motion/Portfolio_1.html#22
e.g. www.perfectlandscape.com/frozen_motion/Portfolio_1.html#20


2. Using powder to show the passing of time. Jump in the air and powder falls around the dancer - giving the concept of movement in the picture and showing the passing of seconds as she jumps with the powder, but then parallel to that and juxtaposing the stillness of the dancer in midair. Perfectly still. 

e.g. www.loisgreenfield.com/galleries/airborne/index.html
This gives ideas for lighting too.

Simpler movement and maybe less complicated visually - more to prepare.  


3. !!!!! Dance is tied so intrinsically to time - portraying that in my images. - works well with the essay route too. Time being the core to dance. Could use an old pocket watch to hold the dancer up in the air - create the watch and the 'holding up' part in photoshop/illustrator. The pocket watch can be always supporting her - the chain of the pocket watch can tangle and entwine around her - showing the tie to the concept of time. 

e.g. www.loisgreenfield.com/galleries/airborne/index.html?pg=3 

The chain can support her - make it thick and tree/root like surrounding her. The idea of support ^ 

Richard Calmes Photography
James Rowbotham Dance Photography 

I have started to create the clock already - for practice more than anything, a first attempt. Followed these instructions ..... 

psd.fanextra.com/tutorials/drawing/how-to-create-a-stopwatch-illustration-in-photoshop/

4. Exploring time in photography

PHOTOGRAPHY, CINEMA, MEMORY; THE CRYSTAL IMAGE OF TIME. Damian Sutton.

p.39. 'The photograph is often considered timeless, negating time or simply poor in comparison to cinema. Andre Bazin, for example, might have talked of cinema as "changed mummified", but photography, for him, "embalms time" itself.'

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Potentially look at iconography/concepts that depict time in our day to day lives and merge them/forget about them in my images. Time lapse can help with this - opened, long exposure - allowing for movement to show the passing of time. Each photograph you see is generally still, excluding Bresson's decisive moment where they show movement within the image. They encompass a part of cinema - a moving image. 

3. Time Lapse Night

In relation to Stephen Wilkes Day and Night project, i've now done a quick night time lapse on my iPhone 5c to compare the two. 

I'm learning it takes a long time to generate 5 seconds of time lapse. Having watched Stephen Wilkes video on his website i learnt it took him 4 months to generate one image. He would stand on a crane and be lifted up to the birds eye view, before setting up his camera for a solid 15hours of photo taking. Over this time period, he would take 1400 images and then have to sift through each one to notice the smallest of differences and make a story in his image.

2. Quotes to fuel my imagination

A Short History of Photography, Benjamin, W. 1931.

• p.203 "the phenomenon of photography was still a great secret experience,".
• p.204 "all possibilities of this portrait art rested upon the fact that the connection between actuality and photo had not yet been entered upon."
• p.204 "The synthesis of expression which was achieved through the long immobility of the model, Orlik says of the early photographs, is the chief reason besides their simplicity why these photographs, like well drawn or painted likenesses, exercise a more penetrating, longer-lasting effect on the observer than photographs taken more recently. The procedure itself caused the models to live, not out of the instant, but into it; during the long exposure they grew, as it were, into the image."
• p.209 "What is aura? A strange web of time and space: the unique appearance of a distance, however close at hand. On a summer noon, resting, to follow the line of a mountain range on the horizon or a twig which throws its shadow on the observer, until the moment or hour begins to be a part of its appearance - that is the breathe the aura of those mountains, that twig. [...] Day by day the need becomes greater to take possession of the object [...]".
• p.210 "They are not lonely but voiceless; the city in these pictures is swept clean like a house which has not yet found its new tenant. These are the sort of effects with which Surrealist photography established a healthy alienation between environment and man [...]. On the other hand, the renunciation of the human image is the most difficult of all things for photography."

The Ontology of the Photographic Image, Bazin, A. 1960. 

• p.4 "Thus, by providing a defence against the passage of time it satisfied a basic psychological need in man, for death is but the victory of time. To preserve, artificially, his bodily appearance is to snatch it from the flow of time, to stow it away neatly, so to speak, in the hold of life." The photograph naturally fights time, the photography can physically age and deteriorate but still holds that one moment in time at your fingertips. The Egyptians tried to fight against time by preserving their bodies.
• p.7 "[...] photography has freed the plastic arts from their obsession with likeness. Painting was forced, as it turned out, to offer us illusion and this illusion was reckoned sufficient unto art. Photography and the cinema on the other hand are discoveries that satisfy, once and for all and in its very essence, our obsession with realism."
• p.7 "Again, the essential factor in the transition from the baroque to photography is not the perfecting of a physical process (photography will long remain the inferior of painting in the reproduction of colour); rather does it lie in a psychological fact, to wit, in completely satisfying out appetite for illusion by a mechanical reproduction in the making of which man plays no part. The solution is not to be found in the result achieved but in the way of achieving it."

1. Time Lapse

The idea of time lapse. Stephen Wilkes http://www.stephenwilkes.com/fine-art/day-to-night/52fa8aed-0fd8-4f59-9230-47f50af4b6c2  - gathering multiple copies of the same images but at different times of the day and merging together to give a panoramic, progressive effect over the picture. 
Most influential picture for me:

Day to Night, Pont de la Tournelle Paris

This image is my favourite as there isn't too much going on in the sense of people but it shows a great deal of movement and is mesmerising for the audience. There are many channels where the eye can be led down which encourages you to explore each individual moment of the picture. Even though the image is still, there is a lot of moment and time progression happening which is amazing to look at and study.

My version of basic time-lapse....getting used to the idea.! 
iPhone 5c generated.

 

From this small test I can see the sky moving over a very short space of time which is very interesting for me. I'll see what it looks like in different locations. This was shot overlooking Park Row. - birds eye view like Stephen Wilkes.