Music: Music has inspired filmmakers and photographers investigating the connections between sound and image. In the video Dancing in Peckham by Gillian Wearing, the artist dances to music that is inaudible to the public around her. The direction and speed of movement in a musical performance is recorded in The Cellist by Anton Giulio Bragaglia. The black and white photography of Francis Wolff features many important jazz musicians with their instruments during recording sessions and rehearsals. Investigate appropriate sources and produce your own response to music.
Dancing in Peckham - Gillian Wearing
In her work she questions the nature and construct of personal identity
She has a personal understanding of the language of documentation which explores the difference between public and private experience
Her work demonstrates how the connection you can have to photography and the way you choose to express yourself through photography can differentiate between people
Not being able to hear the song she's listening to echoes how photography and music is a very different experience for different people, we are watching her art as an outsiders perspective and we wouldn't understand the song the way that she does
It's interesting that she isn't wearing headphones and is imagining the song in her head, it demonstrates how close of a connection people can have to music and how it can make you feel comfortable because its something that's familiar
Her work is performative because the video is an unnatural setting for such a personal project
Gillian is dancing in the light and the other people in the video are walking in the shadows which to me demonstrates how music can separate people, she's very unaware of people around her but they're aware and confused about what she's doing because they don't understand that she's making art. Imagining the music in her head makes her feel comfortable to dance in front of strangers in a public setting.
Response:
I went to London Bridge and a few places near where I live to film things that to me looked like the song I had in mind which was Delicious Things by Alice Wolff. I was inspired by the bright colours in contrast with darker tones. A lot of her music videos are taken at night but they use bright LED lights and dry ice to enhance the contrast between the two. These cinematography choices fit her music perfectly. I have added no sound to the video because I was also inspired by Gillian Wearing and her video Dancing in Peckham, I made a video imaging how a song would look to me. Her video interested me because it demonstrates how she experiences music so differently to everyone else.
Gillian Wearing includes no sound in her video which is what I did as well because I think it was an interesting creative decision because it encourages the viewers to actively participate in the video by imaging the song and what it would sound like with the video. It can make you rethink how you watch the video because a song can heavily influence how you view and think about something which is an idea I plan to further explore
I wanted to make two outcomes in response to this artist to experiment with both photography and film. The difference between these two outcomes is that during the first one I listened to music by the artist and the song that the film was based off meaning I was being influenced of what to take photos of, during this photoshoot, I wasn't listening to music but decided to take photos based on what I think a specific genre looks like. It was very interesting taking photos based on a genre of music without listening to any because I was allowing myself to think about the genre without being influenced by lyrics or melodies. The photos were based off of what I think Indie music looks like, a genre I have listened to before but because it has such a wide variety of songs and artists linked to it that I haven't listened to I feel the outcome was very successful.
Outcome
I made a flip through book with the photos I took and to differentiate it, I alternated between having single photos on a page and then having doubles. I chose to not leave a gap between some of the photos because I took them in the same place so when putting them next to each other it gives the illusion that one photo is finishing off the other, the photos that weren't taken in the same place, I didn't leave a gap because stylistically it looked better on the page.
Anton's work is an appreciation of having technology like cameras that mean we can commemorate and document a moment in time and keep it
His work is very poetic and has a well thought out intention
His work explores the idea that music was a common medium to express futurism
His work is heavily influenced by the idea of futurism which is later echoed in his work when he expanded his creative skills from photography to film
This camera was made around 150 years before Bragaglia made this photo
It was an appreciation of the present, time, speed and energy
The other hands in the photo and how they appear to be phantom like reminds me of how music fades in and out and consistently changes when you change as a person
His art was a representation of futurism but the other hands in the photo could represent the past, suggesting that there will always be a collision of temporal periods because music is always changing but there are reminders of how it used to be
Futurism was established by the Italian poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti in 1909
Futurist painting used elements of neo- impressionism and cubism to create compositions that expressed the idea of dynamism, the energy and movement of modern life
Response:
I got photos of my favourite artists and I put the photos into photo shop, reducing the opacity on each layer so that the photos would blend together. I picked images that had similar tones so that they would blend well and I experimented with the amount of photos that I used each time, by doing that I found that I preferred when there were three photos on top of each other because they combined the best and each photo is still easy to make out.
Favourite Outcome
The different photos blended well together because the tones in them were similar
The positions of the artists also worked well because none of them overlap so you can't see the other
The colour scheme of the photo is also very similar to the music video I was inspired by which I'm pleased with because the colour grading in the video is one of the things I think makes it work so well
The genre of music I'm inspired by is alternative rock so I want to try and make my photos look abstract and unique because that's something thats echoed in the genre
I also like that the photo appears multi dimensional, you don't notice everything about the photo straight away
Refined Response
I decided to refine my idea and retake photographs because the photos above aren't mine so by taking them myself I have a more personal connection to them. I allowed myself to take them freely with no expectations of what they should look like, the only thing that was pre planned was the location of my photos. The idea of his photos being an appreciation of present, time, speed and energy did influence how I wanted the photos to look, I experimented with exposure as well as moving the camera when taking the photos to achieve a blurred effect on them, by doing that I thought of comparing the photos I took with Anton's photo showing the development of music, the way photos can be taken and the way someone interprets the idea of music
Editing
I wanted to compare the look of the photos in colour and in black and white, despite them being taken in the same place, I felt that putting them into black and white gave them a more cohesive feel. It also drew more attention to shadows casted on the instruments which is something I felt connected the photographs as well.
Outcome
I chose these two photos to make diptychs out of because they were two that were successful when I moved the camera to create a blurred image. The blurred effect in Anton's photo was done by controlling the exposure and therefore the amount of light movement in the photo however I wanted to try doing it through editing and how I took the photo.
Second refined response
Outcome
I decided to create a triptych out of some of the photos I took, I like the fact that the two photos on the side are tonally similar and then the one in the middle stands out due to the reflections from the light casted on the symbol. I also decided to put the two photos on the side because they have a similar composition and one of the main aspects of the photo is the linear aspect as well as being taken in the same place in the shop just from slightly different angles.
Francis Wolff - Jazz Photography
All the photos are candid
The subjects seem completely unaware that a photo is being taken of them which means the raw emotions and events of the moment were captured without interrupting the moment
Shows how photography positions you as an observer in a situation rather than a participant
different perspectives of the moment are seen through everyone being in different poses and having different facial expressions
They're all well composed
She was a commercial photographer so her job was to be an observer rather than a participant
The photos feel personal, he was friends with some of the band members meaning that the way he photographs them would be different to someone who doesn't know them aswell
The photos suggest that both the photographer and the subjects were comfortable having photographs taken of them, adds a level of authenticity to the photos
The photos are a bit chaotic
Response:
These photos were taken at a Baby Queen concert, I decided to use her for this response because she is one of my favourite artists so despite not knowing her personally, I felt I would be able to convey the naturalness of taking photos of the artist because I feel comfortable when I listen to her music, her songs also have comforting connotations which I also think is conveyed to the photos.
Display
I projected my favourite image in the studio and took the photo as a closeup and lowered the exposure, I did this because the scale the photo was projected as makes you feel as though you're in the photo when looking at it observing the moment as well as taking it.
No Hard Feelings - Wolf Alice
Analysis:
Bold colours that are layered onto each other, colour schemes at different points of the music video
Different camera angles to create variation and keep the music video interesting
The combination of the baseline and experimental lighting makes the video immersive which intensifies the meaning
The meaning behind the song is that one of the band members was experiencing a breakup and instead of being sad about it, she decided to write the song after deciding she didn't want to be upset about it and wanted to move on instead.
The bright colours allude to her defiance of societal expectations that you're supposed to be upset after a breakup and instead deciding to turn the experience into something positive
The music video shows how music and photography have changed a lot since artists like Francis Wolff
Light experiment / Response to music video
After watching some of Alice Wolff's music videos, I wanted to create some responses using brightly coloured lights or editing the photos to be saturated with colour after. The bold colours work really well in their music videos because it matches the genre of her music, after thinking this, I then started thinking about synesthesia which made me further consider how I can creatively combine music and photography in my outcomes.
I decided to take photos outside for this photoshoot because all of Alice Wolff's music videos are taken outside and I think thats why the bold colours work so well. The idea of taking photos outside means that the result isn't as contained because it's been taken in one place. To take these photos, I walked the Thames path and just around North Greenwich, photography buildings and structural objects that I found interesting and would work well with my later photoshop experiments.
Photoshop Experiment
I tried to take photos holding coloured gels in front of the camera but it didn't work because the camera was focusing on the gels rather then the subject that I wanted. I put the photos I took into photoshop, reduced the opacity of them and then put the photos from the studio over the top of them, reducing the opacity on those too to make the photos combine. I achieved the use of bold colours that I wanted and the composition and clarity of the photos turned out well too.
I picked the photos from my last photoshoot that I thought would adapt well to colour saturation. I am pleased with some of the photos however I don't like that in some of them the photos are slightly blurred and undermined by the colours. It looks too much like there are separate layers to the photo which is something that I want to changed in my next outcome.
Refined Experiment
I am much happier with the outcome of this experiment then the last. The colours blend better into the photos and it doesn't look like separate layers. I feel that these photos are more synonymous to the music videos I was inspired by because the colours in each photo fit with the photo which is the same with the LED lights used in the music videos. I used the settings in photoshop which allows you to blend photos together with pre made presets giving it a more cohesive look.
Photoshoot
These photos were taken on a bridge where the glass was tinted with different colours. One aspect of photography that I'm interested in is keeping the authenticity of a photo rather than creating a manufactured reality. Cameras create photos by light bouncing back and replicating the image you see in front of you but because I changed the photo some of its authenticity was lost. However the photos below were taken in the bridge so no alterations were made to the photograph which reintroduces the idea of a photograph maintaining its authenticity. With these images I wanted experiment with colour and how it can appear differently in a photo when you've edited it yourself in comparison to when its already in the subject of the photo
San Junipero Ending
Establishing shot which has the song ‘Heaven is a Place on Earth’ which is played at the end of the episode and alludes to Kelly and Yorkie’s relationship materialising in the simulated world they live in San Junipero
The song Heaven is a place on earth also alludes to the perfection of San Junipero and how being able to live there makes people feel whole again
The lyrics correlate to the storyline of the episode ‘When the night falls down I wait for you and you come around’
The colour palette of the scene and the episode are all connected and work well together
The song 'Heaven is a Place on Earth' plays at the beginning of the episode and Yorkie is very shy and struggles with the idea of being herself, when she meets Kelly she becomes comfortable with who she really is and her personality completely changes, the song is played at the end of the episode which demonstrates the juxtaposition between how Yorkie was and how she is now
I was influenced by this scene because it proves how a song can become synonymous to
Correlation between my research
Music is a very personal subject to represent through photography
It can be a subject that allows the photographer to be themselves authentically without being influenced by another artists work
It can be expressed through very different mediums
The song that you choose for the project can heavily influence how the meaning is received by audiences
Lighting can also heavily influence how a photograph is a perceived by people
A prevalent focus of my project is going to be experimenting with lighting to recreate album covers, to make it more personal I intend on using my favourite colours as well as recreating the style of one of my favourite singers which is Wolf Alice. Her music videos and album covers usually have really bright colours from LED lights, I asked friends which songs I reminded them of and quite a few said Bros by Wolf Alice so its the song that my project is going to be centred around.
Synesthesia
'When your brain routes sensory information through multiple unrelated senses, causing you to experience more than one sense simultaneously.'
This could mean that when listening to music people can see colours that correlate to the song that they are listening to. A lot of artists who have bright flashing colours in their music videos have synesthesia and they see sound as colour which is what inspired the photoshoot with gels over studio lights to create the bright colours merged together
When I thought about synesthesia, I considered how the two senses merge together so when I was taking the photos, I took them so that the main focus was on how the colours merged into the middle of the wall creating their own patterns each time depending on the placement of the gels in front of the light.
Wassily Kandinsky
Kandinsky was one of many very famous artists who had synesthesia, he said that he could see music through colours, so when he was painting, he said that he was composing a piece of music because he correlated each colour to musical note.
His work explores the power of abstraction in art
He believed that music and its meaning could be pushed from the standard lyricism and could be expressed just as well through art work
“Colour is the keyboard, the eyes are the hammers, the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand which plays, touching one key or another, to cause vibrations in the soul.” ~ Wassily Kandinsky
Photo Analysis
His work is abstract
There's not one main thing that's the subject of the painting which is interesting
The painting is split into four separate colours, the colours don't mix but some of the shapes overlap onto the next next colour
It's very unique and doesn't look like a painting that could have been planned or replicated by someone else
It's a very personal piece of work, Kandinsky said that when he was painting he was making music because as he was painting he was envisaging musical notes so his work is both a painting and a piece of music
The placement of the shapes is chaotic and random which could represent how chaotic synesthesia is for people
His work was also never similar to his last piece of work which correlates to how people with music to colour synesthesia never see the same thing and relate each song to a different or pattern that they see
His paintings demonstrate how the connection between music and a person is very person and can't really be understood by someone else
His work suggests the idea that you don't have to understand a photo or piece of artwork or be able to immediately identify what its supposed to be to appreciate it
There's a combination of linear shapes and rounded ones
Cildo Miereles - Tower of Incomprehension
This was an exhibition at the Tate and my favourite one I've ever seen there. The piece is compiled of different types of analogue radios that were all being played at the same time. It represents how the media miscommunicates information to society, no two experiences are the same when looking at this piece because the voices and songs on the radios are constantly changing which was supposed to represent the fusion of generations and information all at the same time showing how both technology has evolved but the way our society functions potentially hasn't. It's interesting that no two listening experiences are the same, the way I think it links to music and my project is because listening to music is never the same experience for anyone for various different reasons.
Music Research
La Jetee
La Jetée is a short film by Chris Marker and it tells the story of a post nuclear war experiment in time travel.
- I was first drawn to the film because it's made entirely of stills and the way they're edited together is seamless, when he talks about the beginning of the war and the effect it had on Paris, the photos change quite quickly, the wipe cuts of the photos help to emphasise the rapid change in Paris and the score on the film accompanies the sombre mood well -The abrupt change between the voiceover and then the fade in of the score again, intensifies the images and they work perfectly together -The music sounds operatic which is very dramatic The score changes throughout the film meaning that the piece of music correlates well to the footage its playing with. The change of music suggests that each photo has its own meaning and tells its own narrative -When the photos of the man meeting the scientist play, there is no score it's just the voiceover and a heart beating sound, amplifying the tension and immersing the spectators in the moment, sound in film is essential to conveying the meaning you want sometimes, sound and music is tailored to specific moments to achieve your intended outcome -The film is a form of documentary photography, allowing people from different generations and times to experience a moment from the past -The editing between the sound is seamless and works perfectly in each moment of the film -The film intensifies the extremities of WW2 and the effects it had on the soldiers psychologically and physically through non diegetic sounds such as a heartbeat -The VO and music is very well balanced
Solaris 2002
- Science fiction film -The score accompanies that idea well because the score sounds dreamlike and similar -The idea of the film is that reality and the protagonists perception of it is changed when he sees a version of his deceased wife, the score sounding the same could be a reflection of how the character is struggling to decipher the perception of two realities that he's experienced -Often starts quiet and soft then crescendos to be very intense -A lot of sharp sounds - very immersive -The titles of the songs are interesting because they reflect the way that the music sounds. During research, I have found the idea of synesthesia very interesting and despite not having it myself I can understand how words can be so strongly associated to pieces of music or artwork - I like that the film has a score rather then a soundtrack because each score is very powerful and works much better in the scenes then a song would. Another thing I have learnt while researching is that words in songs provide too much connotations to how spectators view a scene of a film or interpret a photograph so I have found that watching a scene or looking at a photograph is more freeing when its a score because the meaning is not being dictated to me and I can interpret it in my own way.
Band: The Tindersticks, alternative rock
- Very long instrumental moments -The song Another Night In has connotations of longing, nostalgia -Common trait to have long instrumental moments -Unique genre of music -Another Night In used in the scene of a film depicts how we're supposed to feel during the scene, very emotive and compelling, the music overpowers the singing at some moments -Very dramatic moments -The natural lighting in the video compliments the raw and honest emotions of the song - I wanted to explore other genres of music for comparison because in film, sometimes a song can reflect a scene so perfectly that the intrinsically work together to create meaning rather then the meaning being forced on you and feeling like you haven't decided it yourself -More interested in using film scores rather than songs
Waves Crashing on Distant Shores of Time - Clint Mansell
- The score for this episode of Black Mirror works perfectly with the narrative - The music has been described as: beautiful, confusing and irritating - The music combined with the 1980s setting balance each other perfectly. The episode is about escaping the bounds of aging and being able to live your life again in a different time realm forever, San Junipero provides place and feeling for elderly people who want to escape and be reminded of what it's like to feel young again. They're given the chance for complete liberation from the limits of time and understanding, the episode is confusing to watch because at first it appears like they're dreaming until you find out that they're time travelling, the episode proves how powerful a score can be when its accompanied with the right scene -The idea of the narrative transcending the constraints of time did make me think about how photography and music from different times are still relevant today, people still look and talk about old photos and people still listen to older music. An explanation I have found when talking about this idea is that people crave to go back to a time which they wish they could relive so by listening to a specific kind of music, rewatching a film or looking at a photograph for a moment they are transported back to that moment. This idea links to the photos I have taken because I h
Controlled assement days plan
For the making day I plan to make a video linking how synesthesia and music work together to differentiate people's experiences of listening to music. The one thing I liked when taking photos in record shops is that the records were separated on yellow card with bold black writing. The typography often reflected the genre of music, this made me think of synesthesia because one factor of it can be that people associate words to different sounds or pieces of music. It also reminded me that music is a physical thing that was created and that we just associate the word with pieces of musical art but with a previously informed opinion of the genre. When searching the definition of music, sources said 'the art or science of composing or performing music' which is interesting because it's one way that people and the environment are connected to music, both are created in some way by science and everyone experiences both music and the world differently. When considering my final piece, I also came to the conclusion that the lyrics of songs connote too much meaning and almost force the spectator to see the film a certain way, their thoughts are dictated by the lyrics. I intend on using a score from a film which doesn't have any lyrics and it's one I hadn't heard of until I researched and found it. Meaning that my personal thoughts are not previously decided by what I associate with the piece of music. This will make my successful outcome because the spectator will also experience the film with no opinion being impinged upon them, its a more freeing experience because there is no right or wrong way to interpret the sounds or videos.
07/05/24: Print off photo of sign from the record shop and then print it again on the riso printer in blue, document the process of it and order the photos, take the photo and rephotograph it in different places around school (next to posters, bright colours, music studio), stick the photos on the wall in order of how the process was done and photograph that.
08/05/24: Edit video clips together (already done but change the sequence if needed), get sound file and separate from the video if its screen recorded and put it under the video) saving it each time I make changes
09/05/24: Take the photos and put them in the same order on the wall in the studio and rephotograph it with coloured lights, print the photos myself in green