Self Assessment for Project 2
Allison Yancone
When we first began this project I was excited to make work that would be projected in a public space that would be encountered by passerby. I was instantly determined to consider the space and I wanted to deal with public versus private space. I wanted to potentially discomfort of the viewer and my original intention was to do this solely through image content. I began thinking about all of the private moments we have without others watching and wondering what if I was to display one of those moments in my work. My intention was to film myself for this project because I thought the work would be more interesting knowing that it was the artist that was both the subject and creator of the film. In this way, it felt more personal and private to put myself in front of the camera, despite my own reluctance. I knew that I would have to film in one cut, because the more editing that occurred, the more cinematic the piece would feel and would ultimately take away from the sense that you were watching something you shouldn’t be.
One of the first things I realized was that I was really embarrassed to be filming myself. It was difficult to act unaware of the camera and I filmed multiple times. I experimented with different actions from filming myself doing my hair, getting dressed, and applying makeup. I also experimented with different camera angles.It didn’t take long for me to find the doing the hair very boring and the getting dressed to scandalous (especially with me as the subject). I preferred applying makeup the most and continued filming while performing that action. My preference for putting on my makeup had several reasons behind it; one, makeup is put on in advance of being seen and the process isn’t usually watched by others. Secondly, the application of makeup is very self conscious. It is an action that I do every morning and it requires a lot of facial touching and prodding. I was interested in the expressions made while putting on makeup as well, they are often unintentional and unattractive (both counterintuitive to the application of makeup). It was also a way to show a process that took time, allowing for a look into the general amount of time that a woman, or perhaps just myself, puts into getting ready in the morning.
Filming took awhile, to get the one cut shot I wanted, finding the angle that worked best and how my hair and clothes chosen affected the work. I chose the latest filming I had done for the work because by then I was the most comfortable with the camera. I wasn’t sneaking glances at the lens or finding myself desiring to pose, but instead was just performing a comfortable routine. I had also decided that the outfit I was wearing worked the best with my intentions because it had a large scoop neckline in both the front and back. I felt that a viewer could watch my figure in the mirror, but that the shirt also worked to invite gazes at the back of my figure, which seemed more voyeuristic because there was no gaze at all.
Once I had chosen the cut I wanted to use, I played around with video filters in Final Cut Pro. I tested out many different filters, experimenting with their effects. Eventually, I ended up layering two, a contrast filter and a noise filter. This combination did several visual things that interested me. The first thing that happened is the quality of the film was lowered and static like, making the film seem as though it was surveillance footage instead of a quality filming of a makeup tutorial. This helped remove any sense of cinema that was in the basic footage. Another effect from the filters is that they removed the saturation of the colors in the film. I had specifically chosen a black dress to match the black mirror frame and contrast the white walls of my bedroom; minimizing the formal qualities. By minimizing other colors I was hoping to match this minimal approach but to also make the film less about makeup itself and more about the watching of me self-consciously touching my face.
Eventually, the work left the studio and entered into the public when I tested my projection. The space I had chosen for the work projected through a commonly used pathway and onto a wall. I had chosen this spot mostly because of the issue of people walking through the projection, interrupting a private moment and for a moment, putting themselves on display in public too. While testing, I realized that I wanted a smaller projection but if the projection was too small, the effect of the walking through would be minimized. I ended up making my projection larger as a result of my test, but still shrinking the frame from the original starting size in Final Cut.
I also decided to edit the end because the work just seemed to stop. I chose to use the letting down of my hair at the end as a moment to create evident artistic manipulation. It is a very brief moment, but by including the editing I was hoping to remind the viewer that they were watching something constructed. It was a way for me as the artist to look into the camera, without actually doing so. I chose to use the moment of my hair swinging down and pull it across the frame, almost as a curtain closing. I then faded that out and brought up the title of the piece, Ritual, which I felt both evoked the sensation of an action that is repeated regularly, both through the lopping of the video and a daily occurrence. Ritual also meant to me a moment of ceremony or privacy which was being invaded through the presence of the camera.
I felt as though I was very secretive with this project because I was nervous about using myself as a subject and it took awhile for me to calm down about watching the film of myself. I think I probably made myself more uncomfortable with this project than anyone else. Since I was nervous about working on the film, I didn’t spend as much time in class working on the project. However, since the work was based on being one cut, it also didn’t require as much time in the lab editing. I did spend a lot of time filming and experimenting until I had found what I wanted. I didn’t offer any of my other cuts for scrutiny by others and made the decision on what part to use by myself. I do feel that I worked regularly on this project so I would meet my deadlines and I feel that my time was well budgeted. I admit, however that I was concerned that other students were spending more time on their project than I was. Other students chose to use animation and were logging way more hours in the lab than I needed to. I think that this comes from the conceptual choices I made for the work, such as a one cut piece, but those weren’t choices I made for ease of production. I worked carefully to maintain a clear conceptual direction with my work and made sure not to undermine it. I felt that making this work was challenging for me by including myself as the subject and I struggled greatly with this project conceptually rather than technically like other students.
This struggle however, is what led me to the final project. I feel that the project was really successful and I was almost surprised by how well it worked out. I didn’t intend for this work to be viewed as a full piece and I knew that people would only see it in a passing moment. I think that it worked well as a longer continuous video for people to stumble across at any moment. The idea of placing the projection in an area where others would have to walk and become self-conscious of their selves in that moment was very successful. Someone that is in a class with me came up to me and questioned why they had to walk through it because it made them uncomfortable (to which I replied that was my very intention). I think the message of discomfort was fairly clear, but obviously others would be more or less uncomfortable than others. I think that the walking through the projection to make viewers uncomfortable was probably more successful than the video alone, though the content most likely added to the issue of walking through.
I also thought that projecting on the brick worked well because my skin just appeared to be brick and the application of the makeup seemed ironic in contrast to the brickwork surface. The location was also successful in the fact that it was slightly behind some plants that didn’t obscure the image. I thought this evoked the sense of voyeurism that I was initially interested in. I do think that this project would also have been interesting if it was very small, peephole size, and was something people had to look more closely at than be able to view from far away. I also think that this video could have been even more uncomfortable to watch if I was less concerned with the public space and projecting myself, but that isn’t a reality in either case. Ultimately though, I do feel that the work was successful in meeting the concept I started out with.
I think this project was successful and I would grade the outcome of this project in the A/B range. I feel that I worked hard on this project through filming and testing the work, even though it didn’t require a lot of editing and I would give myself an A for my effort because I did try my hardest in making this a successful artwork
Documentation of Projection
