Muto by Blu

I recently watched Muto by Blu, which is made using stop frame animation. It is made using street walls which have been spray painted white and then had the image painted onto it. This involves a lot of craft and would have taken a long time to make. I think the concept of this video could be re-birth as the character in the video goes through life, dies and is then born again.

Girl Chewing Gum - John Smith

After viewing this video by John Smith straight away i got the impression it was old as the colour was black and white. The craft of this video is quite clever as the director uses a technique which is trying to trick the audience. He does this by making you believe he is there at the scene and as soon as he gives out an instruction, it happens straight away. It's not till quite a while through the video that you actually start to think he's not actually directing it. What he's done is watched the original clip, and then written a script for it and recorded a voice over to go with it. This video is very conceptual as it makes the audience believe what the director is saying until of course they realise he's not controlling it.

Gisele Kerozene - Jan Kounen

I recently wathed this film by Jan Kounen. First of all i made me laugh as it was quite random how these weird looking witches were just casually flying round Paris. There is a lot of craft in this video though as it involves a lot of stop frame animation which would have taken quite a long time to produce. Even though there is a lot of craft involved, it's hard to work out if their is any concept in the video.

Chapter 3 - Narrative and Non-Narrative Structures

After watching Dollface by Andy Huang, it's clear to see that this video has a narrative structure. This is because it has a beginning, a middle and an end. I would only understand this video if i watch it from beginning to end. However, an example of a non-narrative structured video could be Paul McCarthy's Material Gestures which i saw at the Tate Modern. This is because it has been made so that you can start watching it from any point as it has no story. This is an ideal structure for a gallery as people can walk in and out at any point from the video and it doesn't matter if they haven't watched it from beginning to end.

Chapter 2 - The use of Technology and Techniques and Styles

Technology and filming techniques have been changing all the time over the years. In the 50's or 60's they were making films, with what back then were regarded as the latest technology but nowadays, we wouldn't use the equipment they used back then because technology evolves so now we have even better equipment to be using. We now use computer animation and stop frame animation for example. It's interesting to see how well the people coped in the older days without having the technology we have today. However, i don't think that the meaning of these video's change in any way as people understand when the video's are made and the amount of money that has gone into it. If a video with low budget turns out to be really good, obviously people's opinions of it would be regarded higher to one of the same quality but has been well budgeted.

Chapter 1 - Discuss both Past and Current Artists and Works

I have recently viewed three pieces of work by different artists. Dollface by Andy Huang, Girl Chewing Gum by John Smith and Godfrey Reggio's Koyaanisqatsi. These had some interesting points about them.

"Dollface" is computer animated and has a lot of concept ideas behind the animation. One concept is that television is giving us the audience the idea that by changing the way we look, it will make us feel more comfortable and happier as a person. This is an example of how media can brainwash us into changing who we are.

"Koyaanisqatsi" by Godfrey Reggio was made in 1983. In this film there is a variety of shots that are being used, from flying around the grand canyon to then gliding through the streets of New York. The concept of this video is slightly weird but also very effective. There are images of destruction and bad things with calm and peaceful music. There's also a contrast of old buildings and new buildings and shots being played very slow and then others really fast. The film is showing a glimpse of how our world has changed over years. I think Godfrey Reggio is trying to get us to look at these shots at a different perspective. Comparing this film to "Girl Chewing Gum" they are very different in terms of visual images. They are both quite old films but Koyaanisqatsi uses high colour which is clear whereas Girl Chewing Gum is black and white and not that clear. Dollface is different to both these videos as it is using computer animation and was produced much more recently.

Even though all three of these films have their differences, they can compare to each other in terms of perception. Koyaanisqatsi is about the perception of time, Dollface is the perception of beauty and Girl Chewing Gum uses the perception of truth.

6. Audience, and Audience Interpretation of the Work

It's very interesting to look into audiences and how they interpret different pieces of work. It's interesting to see all the different reactions that the works receive. Are they positive or negative reactions? I think it's good that people have their own opinions and reactions towards the pieces of work because it shows that they’re not afraid to express their feelings about it and that they don’t have to copy other people’s reactions. If the artist created his piece of work with just one intentional meaning behind it, he then,without realising might have created lots of other different meanings which the audience read into. At the Tate Modern, Robert Therrien’s Table and four chairs was a giant dinner table with big chairs in a big room, and some people were looking at it in silence with slightly confused faces but others were turning this piece into a joke by saying, “Imagine eating your dinner of that!”. It was good to see this because I think it doesn’t matter that we all have different perspectives on the work as we’re all individuals and shouldn't be looking at work with the same feelings and opinions.