Disappointed

Well my hand-in was an absolute shambles. First of all I'm not an electrician, so my LED lights wouldn't work, I spent all my time trying to make them even flicker. That then meant I had no time to draw detailed final designs or finish my sketchbook properly. Needless to say I was rather stressed out at this point. But, fate dealt it's next hand.

You know the moment when you just feel like hi-fiving someone...in the face...with a chair - I reached that moment. When I was told my exhibition space was in a spot that I couldn't put my model box as there was limited access for wheelchairs (which I totally understand but it was not the thing you want to hear under that pressure). But, what I feel I should also explain was that I had originally had another spot that I had booked out for about four weeks prior to the hand in as it had access to sockets - which had been moved for another display and couldn't fit my work on the same wall. I was at this point left with no spot and very little time to finish my work or even make a half decent display. If it wasn't for the help of my class and friends in the college I don't think I would have gotten through it.

In the end I managed to present something with the help of an extension cable and designs that were speedily drawn/coloured with pastel. It in many ways is only fit for the fire. I am so disappointed.

Sketchbook

 Some of my favourite sketchbook pages, finding this one easy to doodle with.

Bright Lights and a Bigger City

I was doing some explorative work into moods and colours of certain Non-place. The more that I thought about it I thought it would be really dynamic if I created a set that could define the mood of the scene. The best way I thought was LED lights, but the textures I was going to use on my set wouldn't bring it out well enough. It was back to the drawing board.

Then it occurred to me, the lights would show up nicely on white. So my sets all white now which I think makes it look fresher and helps add to the story.

Neo-Realist film

Over the past two years I've developed a more academic respect for film whereas before I just watched films for entertainment. Last year I looked at Akira Kurosawa and John Cassavetes' work, and I started to really appreciate the craft of film-making - the amount of thought that goes into each scene, the story, even what it is being filmed on. Film is considered to be the absolute art as it involves everything creatively both through the digital mediums and physical works. This year I have in a way carried on from my previous year's studies by looking at Neo-realism.

Neo-realism first came to light in post-war Italy with directors such as de Sica, Rossellini, and Fellini being the founders of the movement. Its aim was to show the world the reality of life in Italy rather than the illusion that film had created to hide the socio-economic issues of the country. They used real locations with unprofessional actors to play out some of the rawest story that cinema has ever encounter. It is a movement that I find profoundly interesting and I rather look forward to writing about it.

The Evolution of Eddie

So following on from last week this Non-place story is growing arms and legs. I am fascinated with different patterns I have found on the street, pavement, buildings, etc. What I seem to be noticing most of all is the amount of Non-places there are, an empty spot no longer has no meaning! It's driving me a little bit insane.

Anyway I digress - Eddie's character has gained a characteristic that I sort of stumbled upon. I just so happen to be a massive fan of poetry both reading and writing. Whilst trying to fill in my sketchbook I started having a bit of fun with little rhymes some of them my own others from songs, and I couldn't help but think my lecturers are going to think I am demented. Then I thought what if Eddie was the same, what if people thought he was demented but in reality just struggled to communicate like everyone else. His character would speak entirely in rhyme, whereas everyone would speak in the normal format, the only one who would understand this rambling old man would be a child who has not learnt the conventional way of converse.

I want to make them quite normal looking as well so as not to take away from the setting or the real aspect of the story. There are still so many ideas I'm looking at