Sappenin'. It's update #12, we'll get stuck in straight to the point as there's a lot to mention, and a few things for you to peruse on what I've been up to.
Personal
So, I'm now back into work, with the new less intense restrictions we can also return to work and drink outside in pubs, this means that it can be an issue in terms of keeping as creative whilst juggling work, lessons and traveling to and from. Driving lessons are also back and in force, which hopefully in time I will able to pass my booked theory and get myself into a practical. One step closer to nailing all the prerequisites to properly starting my career. I've spent a lot of time looking at my physical health, as gyms are now reopen, it will be a part of my routine alongside running, which I find has a therapeutic nature in decompressing from the day and living at home. I have also been considering taking my camera a lot more often when it comes to going on walks. I can't remember who said it, or where I read it, but I recall a quote went along the lines of 'when you take a camera, everything has a potential for beauty as it's what you look for' implying the idea of a new perspective when you take a camera with you as your brain is in a new wave of thinking trying to process the physical in a aesthetical and critical way. Either way, bullshit or not, got some photos of a what 40 mins in a snowstorm looks.
Plant wise, A lot has died. However, some have thrived with sweet potato vines sprouting, mint and bell peppers in the seedling phase.
In terms of music, I find it difficult to be able to find the time between living arrangements such as children's bedtimes and work, to find time to effectively record. Through this I realized that I have to have a new idea of thinking or working. Reflecting on the projects I have been working on, a lot have been started and not many at all have been completed. Which is something I will be focusing on creating and ensuring that the abandoned projects get the love they deserve, in time, maybe, I think.
it very much feels this week that the world (or for me personally), is defrosting back into normality. Of course, with rumors' of another wave of infections coming, and a long way to go before normality, I shouldn't get too excited. I have also been realizing the potential to be able to start on the Process of the long waited 'Big Brother is Watching' performance art/ exhibition piece which as the days are brighter for longer and the weather is nicer to do so, whilst also it being less of a health risk to do so. For now, it should be important for me to focus on the now and take each day as it comes rather than looking too far into the future.
Collaboration Work
I have also been contacted by a friend from university, looking at starting up a small little collection of artists from different areas of creation, weather that being screen acting, live art, poetry, music, editing, the list goes on. This is something I am very much excited to be taking a part of, with zoom calls, discord servers and future visions, it's something to vent creative energy into. This will hopefully become a very useful place for networking, feedback and being able to help each other exchange knowledge on subjects we are focusing on, whilst also being able to share resources, and ideas in a clear and interesting way. In turn it will help all of us wanting to achieve a career in the creative industry another leg up in which give us more likelihood of achievement in a currently very difficult time for the industry.
We have gone with an idea of a monthly inspiration for people in the discord to participate in and share what they have worked on over the month as a 'show and tell' style vibe. This months prompt is 'rain', through my first thought, I am going to work on creating audio/ an instrumental song (with maybe some spoken word, depending on time constraints) using the inspiration of 'rain'.
All in all, it is still very much in the teething phase of the collaboration, we currently have a poll in the making to figure out peoples wants to see what people want from it and how we can cater and help those who might need it more than others, and focus on ways we can help with the limitations some people might have.
Animation
Looking into a what looks to be abandoned house near me, we discovered that the house was in a deteriorated vandalized state, with the usual hate symbols sprayed by edgy children and the carpets of shattered glass and mold swept walls. The house had one room different to the rest, one in which was completely burnt, with heavy evidence of a large fire being in this room. What was obscure was the scorched walls and drooping wallpaper was only found in this room, the rest seem untouched by the fire that consumed the one room. This unsettled me as the sofa within that room was absent of scorched material that the rest of the room accompanied, bad juju on that. I used this as inspiration for further training in photoshop in onion skinning animation. I thought I would physicalize the idea of a entity that lived in the shadows of the burnt room.
There are obviously flaws in the animation such as the eye shifting a lot in terms of the space in which it incorporates, and the spindly tendril bot being shaded and at some points changing shape dramatically but it helped me gain further experience in animating, and learning the timescales in which animation can take. It also helped me visualize the feeling I had when in the burnt room. Which I felt that there was something watching me, and if there was an entity in there that it was disturbed in it's home. I see animation personally more of a hobby than a skill, as I have a long way to go before I can consider any of it of quality, but in time and with a lot more time and care who knows.
SOTW- Let it Go - Erick the Architect, Loyle Carner, Farr
Real smooth laid back one for all of your Sunday. Special focus on the slick beat track on this one.
AOTW - Neighbors - Norman McLaren
This is a anti-war stop animation from 1952, following two neighbors who fight over a flower growing directly between their two houses at equal distances. I picked this as I found the stop animation for the time, and with human models integrated in the work a interesting take, as most famous stop animation uses items or drawings or non-human actors such as Claymation (Like Aardmans Morph). The way the moral of 'love thy neighbor' was presented through this piece was done in a surreal and physical way, relying on performance, visual and the atonal score to tell the story and to provide to the piece. This piece in itself had its fair share of controversy, as being cut to remove some of the more brutal scenes, and the historical context from the time in which the film was made, as quoted by Mario Alvaro Limos in his article 'This Stop-Motion Short From 1952 Was One of History's Most Hated Films'
"Although Neighbours won an Academy Award in 1953 ("Best Documentary, Short Subjects," even though it wasn’t a documentary), it was not before film critics insisted on diluting its message. The version that won the Oscars in 1953 is the one you see in the video above. But McLaren’s original was much more brutal. Some people saw it as anti-patriotic because of the Korean War happening at the time. "All in all, it's a interesting short film with a large cultural impact and from 69 years ago, still rings true in modern times.
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels- 7/10
Another Guy Ritchie crime film comedy. The plot, very similar to other Guy Ritchie plotlines and pacing. Tried and tested and realistic character arcs whilst breaching the absurd and comical nature of thieves and criminals being fools. Overall a fun crime film with interesting characters, interweaving plots and cockney slang.
3:10 to Yuko- 6/10
Directed and starring Clint Eastwood, accompanied with a excellent acting by Russel Crowe, focuses on a ex-ruthless killer turned pig farmer, having to leave his family to claim a bounty to support his homestead. For me personally I felt that there wasn't much I felt was special about this film. However one of the themes I quite enjoyed was the more human aspect in terms of murder. In a lot of cowboy films you see that most cowboys kill without thinking twice. This captures the merciful and the toll it takes on people for murder and ending another mans life. For this, the perspective and points they went for I give it a 6/10.
That will be all for this update, I am very excited to be showing you all more and more to peruse and check out. Goes without saying the warmest of thank you's to all of you who read my updates, it's pretty heartwarming . If there's anything in particular you want to see in the future let me know.
Mushy shit aside, Thank you and see you next update rkid.
-S (18/04/2021)