Day Today #4

This is the video piece I came up with for day 4 of our project. I wanted to illustrate the increasing use of brutality within the police force in America. I wanted to do this using footage from various news channels and reports from the mainstream media. The involvement of mobile phones and cameras in these cases is important, especially when it comes to the inevitable investigation. Head cameras and chest cameras fitted onto police officers is also very telling statement. This way we don't have to rely so much on witness statements or unreliable memory.

I love working with video, from selecting material from research to the editing process. Looking at timing and the length of each clip is something I spend a lot of time on. I am always conscious of what is being said in each clip and whether or not the viewer will relate the words they hear to what they are seeing. I try not to get too bogged down with this though. Ultimately I am creating work for myself. I probably shouldn't be overly concerned about how much the viewer understands it.

Day Today #2

Today was the second day of our newspaper headlines project. I wanted to focus on a subject a little more serious than curry, so I managed to pick out one about a man who has been sentenced to death by lethal injection. So yeah, just a bit more serious than curry.

The man is to be excecuted on the 15th of September for murdering his boss. The very short article explains that the man has reached out to President Obama, hoping he will intervene and get his sentence changed.

The death penalty and it's existence in the modern world has been part of heated debates for a long time. It's something I find very interesting. I have in the past talked at length about it, and the part it plays in justice systems around the world. I figured because of my interest in it, that this article would be a good one to work on.

I made a mind map as soon as I had read the article and began jotting down thoughts and feelings that I personally felt about the death penalty.

At this stage all I wanted to do was get as many words down on paper as possible. I tend to scribble down words rather than sentences, this helps me when I refer back to notes later in the development process. I think this is because I attach certain connotations to words whether negative or positive, and the feeling I have in that moment in which I jot them down stays with me and I remember why I wanted to write it in the first place. These singular words usually make their way into sentences in the later stages of the process.

I began thinking about what materials I could use to project my feeling towards the subject.

I love working with typefaces and text on Photoshop, so I used this urge and photographed the image (mugshot) of the man sentenced to death and got it up on the iMac.

Working with text on top of images, I have came to realise how important composition is. I can spend hours on one poster adjusting one single line of text, the kerning, the spacing, point size etc. All the time spent is worth the outcome, usually...

I really enjoyed tackling this subject - albeit individually - and figuring out my own personal views on a subject.

Although, I do realise that these past 2 days and the pieces I have made haven't had much research behind them. This is something I will focus on more tomorrow, Thursday and Friday.

The image below is what I came up with!

Day Today #1

These images are from the first day of research and development into a news story from a local newspaper. The last image in the selection is the final piece of work - a photo collage.

The story I chose was a local one and was written about curry houses and restaurants customers dwindling because of a high interest in pre packed supermarket ready meals.

I chose to photograph a ready meal curry laid out on a paper plate to emphasise the disposable and cheap side of the purchase.

I was interested in what makes people choose supermarket take away style ready meals rather than the real thing from the restaurants.

I began writing down fictional accounts of customers, reviewing their experiences at the curry house 'Indian Aromas'.

Because of the relatively trivial nature of the article/story, I figured I could inject a little humour in there for good measure.

Many ideas were passing through my mind whilst researching this article. I wanted to go down the digital route at one point during the day and make a sound piece that would consist of myself voicing the fictional reviews I had earlier wrote up.

Time was a factor and because one of the aims of this task is to practice keeping to deadlines I realised I had to stick to what was achievable in my time frame.

With my final piece I also wanted to emphasise the awareness of quality when it came to experiencing an authentic indian curry compared to a supermarket imitation. Some people when faced with the meal on a plate might not be able to tell straight away. The image below where I have taped over the curry and written the word 'FRAGILE' was intended to express the idea of a 'package deal' or 'package meal'. As an artwork and whether or not this is idea clear to the viewer is a different story. The monetary value of each meal also comes into play with some of the images below. Placing actual money alongside the paper plates and text was an idea that came to me when I bought the ready meal from Morrissons.

The following images contain mind maps and general notes I took down throughout the day. Some parts are clearer than others. This process of taking down thoughts and ideas is one I am very much used to. I usually look back and I am quite able to make sense of some notes but I know for sure that others will struggle to make the connections to my final piece. This is something I need to work on!

I think, although rushed, my research notes and development tie in well with my final pieces.