The reason I have chosen to examine this piece of work is because I feel it did not convey what I wanted it to convey. I wanted it look as if I had pasted the photos on the wall but instead it just looked like I had stuck a load of photos on a photo. It is a good piece to analyse as it is supposed to represent a alternative take on graffiti, using photos instead of spray cans. This representation within the image should allow me to produce a comprehensive semiotic analysis.

KEY SIGNIFIERS

Man in suit
Brick Wall
Writing on a wall
Photos
Tie
Shirt
Long hair
Low lighting
Composite image

DENOTATIONS & CONNOTATION

Young white man in a grey suit
Suggests class and wealth takes good care of himself

Brick wall with black and white on
Suggests urban, possibly dilapidated area

Writing on the wall
Suggests disrespect for property or maybe in this case respect for property (No Parking)

Photos
Suggests photography, photographer, memories, art.

Tie
Suggests uniform and authority

Shirt
Suggests uniform and authority

Long hair
Suggests student, stylish or maybe unstylish, breaking trends

Low lighting
Suggests night time, moody, drama

Composite image
Suggest different sides of humans, art, David Hockney

CONNOTATIONS AND MYTHS OF WHOLE TEXT

Pride of work, wanting to show it off, disrespect for the law, graffiti, concern for fashion in run down area, Photography as graffiti is challenging the notions of common graffiti, not being able to see the face suggests a certain amount shyness and insecurity within the subject.


KEY PARADIGMS

Gender
Relationship between photo and photos
Graffiti
Composite image
Artists

POTENTIALLY INTERESTING OR SIGNIFICANT PARADIGM SUBSTITUTIONS

Gender
Could be girls or could be one girl and a boy

Relationship between photo and photos
Could actualy paste the photos on the wall and photo that

Graffiti
Could not have a graffiti artist in the composite, could just be a model

Composite image
Could just have one big photo, or could project onto the wall

Artists
Could substitute me the artist with a builder (interesting juxtaposition)

KEY TEXTS WITHIN MY INTERTEXTS

Graffiti (as a whole)
Banksy (obvious, popular, mainstream)
David Hockney (composite image maker)
Street art books

INTERTEXTUAL REFERENCES

Urban fashion shoots, particularly Dazed & Confused and ID and so on. Clothing websites, Graffiti websites and urban artists own websites. Album covers, specifically hip-hop album covers.

AUDIENCE ASSUMPTIONS

I am assuming that my audience is familiar with what a graffiti artist generally looks like. I am also assuming that the audience knows that i the person against the wall (me) has put the photos up. But one should never assume as it makes an ASS out of U and ME!

WHAT I WAS TRYING TO DO WITH THE WORK

I was trying to get people to see that i was challenging the notions of graffiti by using photos instead of spray cans. I was also trying to get people to think that not all street artist look the same, some of them can look quite sharp, i tried to achieve this through juxtapositions of the suit and the urban environment.

OUTSIDERS VIEW

The feedback that i got from this piece of work in the final crit from my class mates and tutors was that they did not get the impression that i had put the photos on the wall and that i was the graffiti artist.

HOW COULD IMPROVE THIS WORK

The way i could improve on this and get my intentions across better is by actually pasting the photos up on the wall and then photographing myself next to it with the bucket and brush in the shot. This should get the point across. I would also like to shoot this in my basement as it is derelict and would still suggest an urban meaning to the shoot but it means i can control the lighting easier and there is no risk of getting caught.

OTHER WORKS WHICH NOW SUGGEST THEMSELVES

I know exactly what i want to do now which is what i just wrote in the previous section.

Evaluation

I'm glad i got to redo this piece of work, as i really liked the idea but did not like the final image. I'm really happy with how i have changed it, i feel i have got what i wanted to get across in an image that is 5 times smaller than the original one which just didn't work. The introduction of the bucket and brush was a simple idea but the connotations of having just pasted it really helped get across that i am the graffiti artist.  Also being able to see the drops of the wall paper paste on the floor helps to convey that i have just finished it and also adds to the disrespect for the law aspect.  This together with position of the brush on the bucket suggesting i have just put it down allows the viewer to really believe that i am the artist.  The fact that it is in a basement and not outdoors does not hamper the meaning of the image in anyway, if anything it adds to it.  Being in the basement it gives it a more underground subcultural meaning, it's as if your not supposed to know where it is and I'm letting the viewer in on part of my life.  By keeping the suit i think i have achieved the juxtaposition i wanted between the stereotypical image of a graffiti artist and a smart artist to show that you don't have to look a certain way in order to create "urban artwork".  The addition of the glasses was to start with just for the sake of it but i soon realised this worked really well to help convey the inteligent artist persona.  In terms of the overall look of the image, it was helpful to be able to manipulate the entire shot at once and not have to worry about different lighting conditions because it was all in one shot.  In the reworked image I'm wearing a better suit so i look sharper and as a result the final image looks better. Using the basement worked out really well, as it inspired my housemate and I to cover the entire thing with magazine pages and is now an amazing place for portraits and fashion shoots, which we have done.  If you would like to see the images that this project inspired my housemate and I to create please go to this link below.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/14057390@N02/

FD PHOTOGRAPHY Year 2 - Leeds College of Art & Design

Final Major Project Proposal 2008-09

Name Jonathan Finch Signed

Date

Project Title (or working title)

3 Sour Moments

Subject / Concept

The concept behind this series of images will be the end of relationships portrayed through fictional characters.

Aims

What I want to do is communicate my subject with a slight dark undertone. I intend to achieve this through juxtapositions with well known characters (MickyMouse & MinnieMouse) in unexpected situations. Eg, Micky & Minnie leaving a murder scene representing something that was once sweet (Micky&Minnie) turned sour (them becoming true romance style serial killers) much like a relationship can do. The way I want to convey that dark undertone in terms of style is through low key, moody lighting.

Audience / Context

This work would be shown in galleries, so the people who will be interested in it will be people involved in the art world, as I don't see this as just a photography piece, it's just I happen to be using a camera as my medium.

Outcome of project.

I intend to produce 3 very big prints, so the logical format would be large format so I can scan at a very high DPI and print massive! Also I think they will be presented letterbox style, to suggest film stills.

Time Management

The problem I can see is with keeping to the deadline is getting to grips with large format on location and lighting and then processing time. Mainly the setting up of the shoot though and getting costumes.

The first thing I need to do is some test shots with the large format and lighting techniques so when it comes to the final shoot I know my settings and everything else. (First 2-3 Weeks)

Whilst doing this I will obviously be researching

Then I will find the costumes I need so I can book them plenty in advance

Then shoot with 2-3 weeks left so I have plenty of time for post production and time to shoot again if I need to.

Research Methods – Reference points

My initial reference point was 'The Assassination of Jesse James...' from then on the ideas came from the 4am part of my brain. I will continue to look at films, especially looking at film noir because of it's dramatic lighting. I will also look at peers on flickr and and other current practitioners including Gregory Crewdson for his lighting techniques and filmic style.

THIS YEARS INFLUENCES

http://firstjonnyfinch.blogspot.com/

This is the link to to artist and such who have been big influences on me this year. They are mainly musicians, whether it be their music or their imagery they have played a huge part in the direction of my own photography. The rest of the influences are blogs and websites that have a strong link between music and photography which is a field that i am very interested in getting more involved professionally next year.
At the moment most of my ideas come from listening to music, when i listen to a piece of music my mind starts to work in a different way than it does normally and i start to see a whole load of images and stories. It's seems like a strange way of working but i think it works for me and i will carry on working this way next year along with looking for new ways to get ideas for producing interesting imagery.

CINEMATOGRAPHY

One aspect of photography that i would like to look into next year Cinematography (Director of Photography). Here is a bit of information into what this title entales.

"A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera (the art and science of which is known as cinematography). The title is generally equivalent to director of photography (DP or DoP), used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image. The term cinematographer has been a point of contention for some time now; some professionals insist that it only applies when the director of photography and camera operator are the same person, although this is far from being uniformly the case. To most, cinematographer and director of photography are interchangeable terms."

"The English system of camera department hierarchy sometimes firmly separates the duties of the director of photography from that of the camera operator to the point that the DP often has no say whatsoever over more purely operating-based visual elements such as framing. In this case, the DP is often credited as a lighting cameraman. This system means that the director consults the lighting cameraman for lighting and filtration and the operator for framing and lens choices.

In the American system, which is more widely adopted, the rest of the camera department is subordinate to the DP, who, along with the director, has the final word on all decisions related to both lighting and framing.

The cinematographer typically selects the film stock, lens, filters, etc. to realize the scene in accordance with the intentions of the director. Relations between the cinematographer and director vary; in some instances the director will allow the cinematographer complete independence; in others, the director allows little to none, even going so far as to specify aperture and shutter angle. Such a level of involvement is not common once the director and cinematographer have become comfortable with each other. The director will typically convey to the cinematographer what he wants from a scene visually, and allow the cinematographer latitude in achieving that effect."

Everytime i watch a film i always notice the director of photography in the credits and wonder what it is they do exactly. Now i understand a little better.

The film that got me thinking about Cinematography recently was the film 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford' an incredibly well shot and well lit film.
Here is the trailer;



The Director of photography on this film was Roger Deakins who is a member of the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) and the British Society of Cinematographers (BSC). He is also known for working on such classics as 'A Beautiful Mind'/'O Brother, Where Art Thou'/'The Big Lebowski'/'The Shawshank Redemption' and so many more

MOMENT OF INSPIRATION

Whilst browsing through some blogs in the early hours of the morning i came across a song that was so fine it gave me an idea for a set of images.
Have a listen and then i'll tell you what my idea is. (You might recognise it as Missy Elliot sampled it and made it famous.)

ANN PEEBLES, 'I CAN'T STAND THE RAIN'



My idea is to compile a set of images to this song. People looking out their windows at the rain, people caught in the rain and rain. I quite like the idea of slowly zooming out from the jubjects face focusing on their dislike for the rain.
Not sure when i'm gonna do this got other projects to do first, 5 actually! Just thought i'd blog it.

120 IN A BROWNIE

These images were taken on my brownie that i bought from a local charity shop back home. The camera takes 620 film which is near enough impossible to get hold of these days so i forced a 120 film in their. It got pretty tough to wind on at times but i just about managed. I also had no idea how far to wind it on each time as it is not the correct film for the camera. Despite all this i was actually pretty happy with how it came out. They have a very vintage look them and i think my choice of location and subject are in keeping with this. As you can see i tried a double exposure shot which i actually think is quite good, very haunting. I especially like the sky in these images, it was a pretty overcast day which normally would not be good for taking photos but because of the camera it has come out alright. I think i will use the brownie over the summer when i go back home possibly to shoot my friends band, they are a sort of country/folk/60's band so i think i could get some interesting shots of them.

THE LOST FILM

The film that these shots are from is a film that i forgot about and could not remember for the life of me what was on it. To my surprise these three shots were on it all next to each other, and in my opinion make a lovely trio of images. There is quite a nice story behind these two guys as well, where i am from there are two schools who have been rivals for as long as anyone can remember, they were even rivals when my brothers were at school. The two guys in the photo were sort of the two toughest guys in each school, but since leaving their respective schools have become good friends. I quite like the progression of playfulness in this series of images, very heart warming, haha!