Assignment 1

Assignment 1: The assignment consisted of three parts each building off the one before. The first part was to take 50 pictures of any subject matter. They had to show great consideration of composition. In the second part these 50 pictures were imported into iMovie where three separate 30-second movies were created. Each 30-second movie had to be significantly different although the same photos could be used in the different sequences. In the third part one of the three sequences was chosen and its idea was enlarged on to create a 1.5-2 minute movie.

Beginning the project I felt extremely nervous for several reasons. I am predominantly a drawer/painter, at least that’s the main media I have worked in before. Besides snapping photos at Christmas and prom I had no photography experience. We were using digital cameras, which I had used before, but only since I bought mine the week before college started. I was not comfortable doing anything manual on the camera. I also was unfamiliar with iPhoto. It is my prediction that this will be the norm throughout this course for me since I have no experience in recording, using video cameras or anything. Laying aside my anxiety will help me to learn and be productive.

Starting out on the first part I brainstormed what I thought I could take pictures of. Originally my idea was to emphasize the beauty of industrial items. I went to the mall and tried to create interesting compositions with the perfume, architecture, clothing, shoes and watches in the mall. I tried to create interest within the photos by taking the pictures from different angles/viewpoints in the multilevel mall. For example I have a shot up a staircase to a palm tree on the upper level. I also took some shots of oriental material dresses from below and extremely close, this angle makes an abstract picture you don’t know exactly what you are looking at. This shot was extremely difficult since I did not know how to manually operate the camera. The shots were consistently coming out blurry, this is a problem I had throughout the project.
I went to the mall with my roommate Pia. She was wearing all black attire and had a cotton candy pink umbrella with hearts. The two seemed to clash. Against the gray sky she was a very mysterious subject, so I took some shots of her hoping to include them into the project somehow.

Eventually the photos theme switched to the idea of Spirituality vs. Actuality/Tangibility. I was watching my roommate pray the rosary when I came upon this idea. This lead to the many pictures of spiritual items: a rosary, a prayer book, pictures of Jesus, etc. I liked how an emphasis of spirituality being universal (not just American) came about within the photos since my roommate’s books were written in Korean and she is obviously Asian. These photos I especially like for their vibrant color and unity. Since I had time to set up these photos they are also very strong compositionally, unlike some that had to be taken in an instant.

The second part of the project was by far the hardest. Learning how to use iMovie and figuring out problems was a struggle. The greatest mistake I made was for an hour trying to make the photo clips over 30 frames. I thought the 30 stood for a fraction of a second, not frames and I could not for the life of me understand why it switched to one whole second after 29 “fractions of a second”.

Besides the technological struggles, it was really fun. Putting the pictures together and watching a story arise from them was great. I felt I could finally clearly and powerfully convey a message such as Spirituality vs. Actuality. A painting would be far less interesting since within the movie I could show a story chronologically through the passing of time. The instantaneousness of death within my piece could not be captured in a painting. If death were portrayed in a painting the idea mixes with the other things in the painting and the viewer expects them all to be happening at the same time relating to one another. Death can be sudden within a movie. I really liked this idea in how it could surprise a viewer, be unexpected, and evolve the idea of Spirituality and materialism. By adding death and the text “what is real… when the eyes go dark…when the hands no longer touch” my aim is to have a the viewer think “what is reality when you cant touch? How can reality just be what is tangible? And if one can accept reality is what you cannot touch, things such as love, then how farfetched is religion? Perhaps religion only seems unreal in a world based on touch.

I think that I was effectively able to convey such a message because of the responses I received from my peers who viewed it. For example, “religion contrasted with materials, something abstract vs. something physical”. “Excellent story told-spirituality (faith) vs. reality (material)”. “I like the concept and how you contrasted it with materialism and society”.
The third part of the assignment was very hard for me. I spent 13 hours on the first part of the assignment and had been able to make the images and ideas flow. By choosing just one sequence I would have lost the entire message since it revolved around conflicting subject matter.

In the end I tried to keep these two elements and cut out other things to make the message solid. Looking at the project I feel I was able to retain the meaning but that the unity within my pieces that was part of the third assignment was lacking. Perhaps I should have scrapped the spirituality vs. reality idea altogether and instead of having a story, created a medley of religious photos or just materialistic photos. I opted not to do this simply because the required text to go along with the photos would not have been deep or thought provoking like the text used in part 2.

I became extremely frustrated with part 3. Overall I feel that my movie did not portray the aim of part 3 since the pictures are not united under subject matter but under an idea instead. However, the idea was presented more strongly in part 3 since I worked on taking out irrelevant pictures (I could have still taken out the tunnels and the calendar was the feedback I received) and improving on the pacing. For example the part where the materialistic mall photos flash by quickly before everything begins to go black (death) strengthens the idea that materialistic items go by fast they are not long lasting just as life goes by fast and is not long lasting. It contrasts to the prayer items that follow each picture about 4 seconds long to show how faith is timeless.

In regards to the title; there is none. I did not want to label my piece Spirituality vs. Reality for instance because that completely gives away the message of the piece at the beginning. The movie is lined up the way it is with the pictures and text so that the viewer gradually understands the idea. This keeps the attention of the viewer since they are at first trying to figure out what the movie is about. The pictures of clothing leads them into the idea of clashing subject matter and then the text “what is real…when the hands no longer touch” by the end makes the message clear. I brainstormed other titles such as “the journey”, but I didn’t want the viewer going into the piece with a set idea already installed in their mind prohibiting them from realizing the true message. The beginning with photos of religious items and someone praying are easy to follow, so for all these reasons combined I feel the title is not only unnecessary but destructive.