Our Final Film!

This is our final film. Our original intention was to create a film that would cause people to think about the  cotton industry in manchester. How manchester has spread out and grown as a result of the industrial revolution bringing over population and disease. This is shown through printed maps and projected digital imagery of finger prints. The prints hang from bonnets, inspired by the headwear worn in the cotton mills,  reminding the viewer of the people who worked in the mills, and their suffering. To help us make this film we collaborated with interactive arts student Tom Valentine who is also taking part in unit X. 

alterations made to bonnets

After making the bonnets we decided to give the installation continuity that some of the print samples done by Sonia  should be integrated onto them . I simply cut strips and pleated them in the same way I  had with the calico base and attached them over the top. 

installation

 Lois and Sonia's prints were attached inside of the bonnets I had designed. It took a lot of patience to get them to all hang the way we wanted but we were happy with the final outcome. I liked how all the bonnets hung at different levels and how the panels of printed fabric was gathered in places.     

Hear is a photograph of the installation with the digital images made by Harriet projected onto them. This gives the installation a mood and atmosphere like id hoped.   

Stop-Motion Film

We filmed this stop-motion video using Lois's hand-drawn, large-scale map, and blue acrylic painted fingers.
We wanted to highlight our ultimate idea which we have been working towards and around for the duration of our project, thinking about the crowded housing around Hulme and within the City Centre where there were lots of warehouses all clustered together. From this, we began thinking of the spread of germs and disease which existed at this time, due to the overpopulated areas.
We used the colours red and blue because they are the colours we have all used throughout our work, highlighting germs.
We used stop-motion filming because it helps to show the speed and direction of growth of a hypothetical disease spreading.

Pictures taken during filming

I really like how we were able to create such a detailed shadow on the back board i think it looks really interesting and was something we have shown in our video

Preperation for the film

Testing out if the prints look good inside the bonnets

Hanging our bonnets and prints up in ouro filming room

Pictures for final film

My photoshopped designs were used in the fliming to be projected onto the back board creating a multitude of effects to produce a mysterious and exciting film. The colours of the prints emphaise the lighting and allowed a range off colours to be projected through the film.

Here are a few off the photos projected.

This print worked really well due to the brigh colours

Bonnets with prints

Instead off them just being made out of plain calaco some of mine and sonias print designs were sewn into the bonnents to give them some more detail and to show the effect off germs and disease

song suggestion for film

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpWO_byqSr8

I found this song landfill by the artist Daughter, I fist considered it to go with the final film of our installation as it spoke of fragility, lyric 'throw me in the landfill' demonstrates this well. How disposable commodity's have become since they could be easily produced as a result   of the industrial revolution  was the part of our original starting point so a song that talks of landfill and how people don't always think about the impact of their actions seemed appropriate. 'don't think about the consequences.... don't think about the choices that you make' these lyrics from her song explains my point well. Also I feel that this song has a calm mood yet the beating of the drum  arouses  a sense of urgency and demands attention. 

Film-prep

Bonnet-making

During our final days before the deadlines we made bonnets to attach our prints to, for the final film. Alice, Harriet and Lois spent the afternoon creating these 7 bonnets:

We will add some of Sonia's and Harriet's prints to them to integrate into the theme of germs and maps

Song Suggestion for Film

I thought this song was really creepy and maybe good for our film with the ghosts!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMvgw1LYg3U

bonnet construction

I finally managed to construct a bonnet that had a shape  I was happy with, the shape holds well and I like the way it hangs when suspended, demonstrated In the second picture. 

Screen Printing

I designed a screen to make it look like bacteria, but i dont really feel like my screen worked well and i wasnt best pleased with the result, if anyone feels they wont to work on top of my prints if they think something could work out from it then feel free.

UV Prints

When we came with with the idea of germs i painted a couple off objects with ultra violet paint and photgraphed them with a UV light to create the desired effect of germs.

Finger Prints

I started off by looking at my finger prints in ink and photographed them with a magnifing glass over the top here are a few. (it wont let me upload any pictures on here at the moment so will try again later)

Stop-motion preparation

After our talk the other day, Sonia and I are hoping to create a stop motion film of footsteps walking along a map. I have created a few large-scale maps but I think this would be the best one to use for the film:

http://www.laratorres.com/projects/impossible_wardrobe/videos.html

This was a video that Julie showed to  us way back when we were briefed. As a group we can take a lot away from the work of Lara Torres. The way her garments melt away to leave just seams  has a correlation with one of the illustrations I posted, the idea of making just the hints of a garment. Also this video depends heavily on performance to demonstrate the garments, again as a group I feel that we should be taking inspiration from sources such as this  when discussing the performance film we will be making. The short film has a peaceful slow pace. The overall look of the video is very stylish I like the  rustic feel of the place in which its filmed. if we were to emulate this, Hotspur house would be the perfect setting. 

illustrations of ideas for final piece

Hear are a couple of ideas me and Lois discussed and visualised on Wednesday after our  tutorial. Idea one was to make the subtle hints of a garment such as the cap of a bonnet and just the hem of a skirt, with the groups samples hung between. This is a nice idea as it would hint at a person and days gone past, it could look quite ghostly. However when sketching the second idea the decision was made that bonnets with samples hung from them would work better. Things such as lighting and effects were discussed. When  I visualise the final outcome I imagine something with atmosphere and mood. 

To do list!

Alice and Lois created a to do list, not long now till the end, we have look over everyones work in the meeting an decided as a group how to use our time wisely:

Decision time!

We have decided on our final piece for this project.
It will be a series of bonnets with prints made from draping fabric, with prints inspired by maps and germs (sketch by Alice to follow).
I'm just showing you my favourite sample that i've done so far, as I think it really relates to the idea of maps and germs, and a journey.

I have experimented with it on a mannequin to see how it looks in different ways, but I think the most relevant was how it looks draping, perhaps over the shoulder or behind on the back:

For the final piece, I'm thinking more colour, more prints from other people in the group to layer to create the draping fabric. 

I'm also working on creating more hand-drawn maps like these on to fabric, and then, as discussed by Sonia and I, filming footsteps with pressure-sensitive paint walking along through the map.