Video Triptych Examples

One of the e-mails that I received today was the NUCA Alumni 'Events for May'. One of the exhibitions included a video triptych by Nicola Naismith, who is a NUCA graduate.

Video Triptych

2003
Featured in the 14 Person Minutes installation

Video Triptych is a series of ambiguous moving images. Is the movement generated by human (traditional) or mechanical (technological) means? A traditional tool performs to camera creating a new position for the needle and thread. Replacing its traditional function, the object has become through technological processes a platform on which to discuss modes of production. The alliance of differing prosthetics creates a position within contemporary art that bridges field of skill and knowledge. This video work is a response to the question: What might be hand made and what might be machine processed?

Video Triptych 2003 video (2 minutes 30 seconds)

Source [Accessed on 30/04/10]

Although I have been unable to find any video of this work online I did find some other examples of video triptychs and found it helpful to watch how they function. It gives me a good idea of how the action should occupy the space.

Example 1
Unknown student artist





As the synopsis states this video triptych deals with the personality differences between rebel/negotiator/soldier and their relationship with authority. In a sense this triptych is fairly relevant to my own work as it endeavours to show differing emotive qualities. I intend to give each part of my triptych it's own personality but still show how each portion interacts with its neighbour, not unlike the previous example.

Just watching examples has given me a much clearer idea of how some of the action will need to be isolated so as to ensure that the viewer doesn't become confused (unless that is my intention). As previously stated in my proposal the ego is the centre of consciousness and as such will be placed in the centre of the triptych.

Ego

o Handles the communication between the Persona and Shadow

o Centre of consciousness

o Personal identity and purpose

o Perception

o Memory

o Feelings

As the Ego deals with perception and memory I feel that I should relate this part to my 'black book', using the entries and memories contained within to inspire the imagery on the centre 'panel'. The Shadow and Persona panels can offer their response to the 'memories' depicted in the Ego portion of the triptych. The previous example used 3 faces/heads, one in each panel, which is quite a literal interpretation and focuses on the human interactions. As my work is concerned with the interrelationship of the human psyche rather than human to human interactions I must carefully consider what methods will best convey this.

Example 2
No More Sheepless Nights by Dario Vacirca



Information on Dario Vacirca's residency


Residency blog

Although Dario Vacirca is the most acclaimed artist of the three I cannot relate to his triptych in the same way that I could relate to the first one. I have no doubt that this has a lot to do with the human element involved in the 1st triptych. However, if I didn't have any information about what the 1st triptych was about I'm not sure that I would have related to it in the same way. As I read the 'blurb' before I watched the video it gave me a context in which to view the work. It begs the question 'should art have to be explained in order to be understood?' Dario Vacirca gives very little explanation as to what is behind his triptych aside from saying that it addresses 'solitude and time'. This adds to the ambiguity but also goes some way in distancing the viewer from what is happening on screen.

Example 3
Flow by Jeff Winch



Information on Jeff Winch

Art at Toronto Zoo

Each of the 3 example triptychs contain elements that encourage me to think about my own work. 'Flow' uses figures in the foreground to add a new dimension to the work. It then feels like work within work. This has rekindled my initial desire to use projections that are then filmed to produce the final piece. I like this kind of layered approach as it gives the viewer more to think about and can often offer a compelling enigma to those who watch.

I think that I will stick with a running time of 3 minutes for my triptych. The 2nd and 3rd examples seem too long. It must be hard to limit the time on video work as it is filmed in real-time rather than having to be animated frame-by-frame. Animators have a tendency to keep things as short as possible due to the labour intensive methods that are often involved in producing animation. I estimate that 3 minutes of animation (for one panel) will take me roughly 5 or 6 hours, and this may well have to be performed over and over until I get it right. I had been considering if I should animate the triptych as if it were one animation, then slice it up in post-production or if I should animate each panel separately and coordinate the movement so that he panels appear to interact. I am inclined to veer towards producing the panels separately and possibly having the camera get closer to the subject on each panel (left to right, persona to shadow) in order to reflect the depth of conscious removal.

Dreaming and My Dream Journal

I have been having a little more success with my dream journal recently as I have been able to recall my dreams more frequently of late. My dream journal is handwritten and I write every dream in it that I can remember. I have been able to notice themes emerging as the time has gone on and the process of recollecting and recording my dreams has in itself helped me with my interpretations.

The recollection process seemed simple to me when I initially thought about keeping a dream diary or journal. I quite often think about the dreams I have had upon waking and I neglected to realise that the process of documentation might be quite different to simply recalling a dream. The mechanisms involved in writing down something as abstract as a dream are rather strange.

Upon waking from a dream the most imposing memory is of the emotion that the dream evoked, it's imprint staying for some time after other parts of it are forgotten. After this I start to recall the events and piece together the events. I sometimes have a strong impression of the last part of my dream and when recalling this I start to remember what came before. It's a lot like as if you were asleep at the start of a film and stated to slowly wake as you reach the end.

What I end up with inside my head does not always lend itself well to writing. I find that dreams can skip from one thing to another and sometimes I am not even sure that I am recalling events in order, just that it seems like the most logical order I can come up with. This again relates to Gestalt theory as dreams are often so surreal that our waking brain will have to work hard to make sense of what has occurred. I find myself writing things like:

"My dream kept flitting between..."

"In the next bit of the dream..."

"...was very jumbled..."

"The dream changes and then..."

"...a little dream interlude..."

Sometimes I am unsure when writing down my dreams if I am inventing the bits in between the parts I can remember. I find sometimes that I recall having small dreams almost like commercial breaks in a larger dream. I wonder if I invent notions like walking through a door, or up stairs, or travelling somewhere in order to make sense of one dream ending and another beginning? This is especially important when writing dreams down. To 'play' them in your head is not the same as explaining them on paper.

[needs link to Dream Theory post, quote from pg 41]

I had been concentrating on the content of my dreams, analysing it for meaning and looking for patterns. I often go through phases of dreaming about a particular place, person or event. Sometimes parts of the dream are merely imprints of things that I remember from that day. These things have often passed by in my waking world without drawing much attention from my conscious mind, but they seem to have got the attention of my unconscious enough that they are recalled.

There are quite a few areas to look at:

• Who is in my dream?
• Where does the dream take place?
• What emotions do I feel during the dream?
• Is there anything 'mundane' that has been selected from my conscious mind?
• Putting the dream in the context of your waking life.
• Symbol analysis, looking for archetypes.

I keep feeling that it might be helpful to have someone other than myself to make an analysis of my dreams so that I don't miss something that is glaringly obvious from the outside. Analysing oneself can never be done in an unbiased way as we will naturally see things only in our own context. If I could find someone well versed in psychology maybe they could give a differing insight into the dreams and their potential meanings.

Although I am investigating my dreams and unconscious mind for this project I also realise that the knowledge that I may gain from this could help me to understand myself better. Its my opinion that knowing yourself is the pathway to understanding others.

As I now have quite a few entries in my dream journal its probably time to start looking for themes that are repeated. I will start by isolating the people, places and scenarios that occur and taking note of how many times each of these things occur. It might help to simplify things by distilling 'river' 'sea' and 'swimming pool' into the umbrella title of 'Water'. This way I will be able to deal with a large number of dreams and be able to get a general picture before I look into it in more depth.

Software, hardware and all things technical

Today has been mostly spent trying to set up the equipment required to capture animation. As I will need to begin animating ASAP, and will need to animate regularly (once or twice each week) my options are somewhat limited.

The animation resource at NUCA is overstretched at this time of year as the BA students are working towards their deadline. This means that we have to make other arrangements if we want to regularly use the resource in between now and when the BA's hand their work in. I have spoken to the workshop manager (Sam) and he has agreed to let me use a room that is currently used as a storage area. I have my own DSLR and laptop so my only real equipment needs are a rostrum and lightbox, both of which are available through the animation resource.

During my BA I opted to just use the Canon remote capture facility that came with my Canon Eos DSLR instead of using any animation software. This process involved using the remote facility to lock the camera settings and capturing straight onto my hard drive. As I didn't use any animation software, I had to use Quicktime Pro to make the stills into a movie each time I wanted to see a shot. This was not too much of a problem as I prefer not to look until I have produced something more substantial than a few seconds.

The issues that I have with my current camera are mostly to do with software. I currently own a Nikon D5000 which comes with it's own software that enables the user to download the images onto the computer from the camera/memory card. Unlike the Canon software, Nikon does not offer a remote capture or 'tethering' facility. Initially I couldn't even get the Nikon software to work on my operating system (Mac OS 10.6.2) but after a bit of fiddling around with updates I managed to get it to work.

I looked at several pieces of tethered shooting software but found that a lot of the free software available was either incompatible with the Mac OS or with my camera. I found one piece of software that I tried called Sofortbild at first glance it seemed that this piece of software might be sufficient but after a few tests it became apparent that it didn't have the capabilities that I had hoped for. When shooting I will need to use a time-lapse function in order to keep my hands free and maintain consistency when using fluids to animate. I found that when using the time-lapse facility on the sofortbild software that it would change the camera settings between shots, altering the light and leading to flickering. Sam and I had a look to see if we could do anything to remedy this but it seemed that the software wasn't capable of locking the settings during time-lapse photography.

I decided to look at the stop-motion software that is available with my set-up and the two main contenders are Dragon Stop-motion and iStopMotion both of these pieces of software are quite expensive. At first I thought that the iStopMotion software might be quite cheap as it said that there were versions available from $49. However, the version available at the lower price didn't support HD formats so wouldn't have been suitable for this project. As shown on the table below, only the Pro version (costing $499 for a single license) had HD capabilities.



There seemed to be no educational discount for the iStopMotion software and paying $499 (£325) is not an option for me at the moment.

Dragon Stop Motion does offer an educational discount, but it is only available when purchased by an educational institution.



Suzie said that there may be some money in the budget to buy a (Dragon) license or two for students to use. I decided to download the trial version of Dragon to check it's compatibility with my camera and OS.

The initial tests were encouraging but I found that using Dragon in conjunction with my DSLR was a bit slow and clunky. When using Dragons time-lapse facility the shutter release seemed to be inconsistent. Even though the time-lapse was programmed to release the shutter every few seconds sometimes it would seem to stall and take longer for some frames. This wasn't too much of a problem as the lighting was looking suitably consistent but I found that the battery on my camera wasn't lasting long enough so I looked at the possibility of buying an AC adaptor. The adaptor would have cost a little over £100, which again is not something that I can afford at the moment.

All of this left me feeling a little disappointed, as I feel that my financial situation is of my own doing. I made a decision that I would only take on a minimum of paid work this year to give me some time and space to work on my MA as I didn't want to repeat any mistakes that I made during my BA when I was working over 30 hours a week on top of my course. Getting the work/MA balance right has been difficult. In the 1st year of the MA I was also finishing of my teaching diploma as well as working, which was too much in terms of workload but it meant that I was better off financially as I was in receipt of a loan and bursary. This year I made sure that the bulk of my workload occurred between September and February, leaving time free during the Masters project. This has been great when it comes to the theory and 'thinking' behind my work as it has given me some much needed space in which to develop my ideas. This is what I have too tell myself when I hit an obstacle that is related to money, if I had the money I wouldn't have the time. As nice as it was to be able to spend money on my BA project it would have been nicer not to have to get up at 5am every weekday morning!

So I will wait.

After spending weeks trying to find a technical solution that works I must admit defeat, wait until the BA students have finished and use the resources available at NUCA instead of using my own equipment.

Development of Technique

Recently I have been looking at the techniques that I have experimented with and how the technique itself may relate to unconscious thought. What does the technique or medium say about the artist?

"In drawing and painting, images are not taken simply from what is observed in nature but originate on the flat surface of paper, canvas or walls. The surface imposes constraints that derive from its own perceptual properties: it favors certain procedures and discourages others. When the idiosyncrasies of the medium are ignored and their effect is attributed to what can be observed in nature, misinterpretations result. A few examples, selected at random, will lead to the principle exhibit of the present paper."

New essays on the psychology of art, Rudolf Arnheim

I have pondered why I may have chosen a format so conducive to 2 dimensional animation when I have previously had the most success with stop-motion. I have produced a number of short animations that are similar in technique to that which I intend to use here, so I suppose that it's not entirely new to me.

The beginnings of my relationship with the light-box

One of the first animations that I produced during my HND at City College was produced using paint on a light-box. Unfortunately I lost this animation somewhere in the transition from PC to Mac. I worked with a fellow student and we took it in turns to use a paintbrush to move the paint. The animation was inspired by a section of John Milton's Paradise Lost and contained mostly red and black images. I enjoyed the technique but wanted to try it on my own so I incorporated it into the next animation module that we did. Although it was a digital animation module I still managed to find a way to use this traditional technique by embedding it in a digital animation:




It's a bit of an odd animation, which might have more to do with my struggle with Macromedia Director, which was the software we were required to use for the assignment, than any trouble with the traditional technique. This was my first solo effort to animate in this way and I found it quite a natural way to work. I used the film Nosferatu (F.W. Murnau, 1922, Germany) as reference when animating and basically copied what I saw on screen. This is much easier than trying to translate 3 dimensional images into a 2 dimensional medium, when working from 'real life' there can be difficulties especially when something requires rotation or foreshortening.

When I eventually went back to the Art School I opted to use paint for one of the first assignments that we were set, which was to animate a change of expression. I tried using paint on a light-box at first, just to see if it was the right medium:



I didn't feel that it was very effective but I still wanted to work in a similar way so I started to look for other materials that I could use on a light-box. I happened upon some pine needles and wanted to see how they would act when animated. This was the end result:



I noticed when animating that as the pine-needles were long and thin they had their own way of moving. There was a certain lack of control that you wouldn't get when using sand or paint as the parts that you are moving are smooth/regular. As the pine needles are a somewhat awkward shape they have a tendency to move in a less predictable way. For me, there was something attractive about this. Not only to animate directly in front of the camera but also to use a medium that refuses to conform. I just felt that for me this worked.

Inspiration

Caroline leaf was one of the first animators that I researched when looking at using sand to animate with. I believe that I initially came across her work when studying at City College but revisited her work when at the Art School. She says of her own technique:

"I tell stories with my animation, and I have always worked directly under the camera, drawing, shooting it, changing the drawing, etc. To me it seems to be more alive than conventional cel animation, both to make it and to see it, for it is all made in one stage and the finished film shows my hesitations and miscalculations and flickers with fingerprints and quick strokes."
- Caroline Leaf

Russett, Robert, and Cecile Starr. "A Rising Generation of Independent Animators." In Experimental Animation: An Illustrated Anthology

Each frame that I create using this type of method is photographed then changed/destroyed, there is nothing remaining other than a sequence of photographs. Sometimes the individual frames don't even resemble the object that is in motion. For example, in order to animate the cat leaping in the 'Cat & Rat' animation (below) some frames were just a blur of movement:



The following are 2 of the frames that occur during the cats leap:





As you can see these individual frames barely resemble a cat but the frames, when shown in sequence as a movie suggest the movement of a cat, therefore the viewer recognises this series of shapes as a cat in motion.

Theory

This concept is something that has come naturally to me, to see that each individual image does not necessarily have to resemble the moving object, it just has to function as a frame in a sequence of frames. This relates to some interesting theory which looks at the perception of movement (Gestalt Theory). I know from my own experience of teaching animation that this can be a hard concept for students to grasp. Each image does not have to look perfect, as it's appearance is so fleeting that the brain barely registers it. This reflects the Gestalt theory that the whole differs from the sum of its parts (Sensation and Perception, By E. Bruce Goldstein) (See Below), this seems to relate to my own tendency towards the 'big picture' rather than the smaller elements that contribute towards it. It's a philosophy that I tend to apply to life in general, not just animation. We string images and events together in a way that forms some kind of conclusion or 'whole', this can sometimes lead to misinterpretation and is an excellent way to 'trick' the viewer into seeing something that is not there. In a sense the animator is deceiving the viewer by persuading him that the image is moving when it is not.

Gestalt Laws of Perceptual Organization











Source

What does the technique or medium say about the artist?

Going back to the question "What does the technique or medium say about the artist?", it could be assumed that I have chosen a 2 dimensional technique due to the origins of the triptych format. I may have been unduly influenced by my research, especially by looking at Bacon's Triptychs. (See 'Masters proposal' http://juliegarrod.blogspot.com/2010/03/v-behaviorurldefaultvml-o.html)

It may also be that as I am looking towards the unconscious for inspiration I needed a medium that would allow for improvisation. Stop-motion requires a certain amount of pre-planning as sets and models are sometimes required, things like lighting can be difficult and it can take a while to set up. In order for stop-motion to work well it seems to need some kind of concept and although it does allow for spontaneity I'm not sure that it can be as effective as the technique that I have chosen. In a sense I sometimes perform spontaneous movements with Elizabeth, as I make her perform movements that feel right at the time rather than storyboarding every part of the animation. However, this is still a far cry from the level of improvisation that I would like to occur in my Masters project.

I have found myself being drawn towards certain textures, photographing things that attract me like residue in a bathtub, grime on the side of a fridge or other similar looking areas that I come across.







The images of dirt are similar in a way to one of the first animated experiments that I produced in relation to the Masters project:

Fluidity

The following four images have a more fluid feel to them. I had used some gold paint which had been watered down to spray a pair of home-made angel wings for my nephews school nativity, and didn't get time to clean the bath after. The paint had dripped and pooled in the bath and it left some interesting textures.



These images influenced the paint and linseed oil animation.


Find more videos like this on NUCAma

Unconscious influence

I didn't take the photographs with animation in mind. I simply saw something I liked the look of and took a photo. The fact that I am very messy gives me a lot of material to work with. The most recent animation to emerge from my trials is very fluid. I used a thinner oil (vegetable oil) so it is a compromise between the water that I used in the 'Rabbit Food' animation and the thicker linseed oil that I used with the paint.

The fluidity of the animation is very important to me. When I discovered that I enjoyed using pine needles as a medium and that it was because of their unpredictable behaviour, I realised that I would probably like to use other materials that had this kind of quality. Using fluids during an animation can be quite challenging but the results look very organic. Mixed with the flaked salt (which has irregular shapes and sizes) and pigment, the oil moves the other mediums in a subtle way. The salt has to soak up the oil before it can be moved fluidly and once it is saturated the oil clings to its sides and pools around it.


Find more videos like this on NUCAma


What I have to ask myself is why am I attracted to these materials and are there other materials that might be even more apt? At the moment I like the oil and pigment, they work well together. When detergent is applied it repels the oil and this is also a very unusual effect. The flooding and repelling action can give quite a tidal look. Making indentations in the salt and filling them with oil and pigment until they burst is quite an emotional effect. It's not unlike an outburst of emotion. My thoughts are that this reflects my personality quite well. I tend to mostly be bursting with happiness/anger/frustration/excitement/indignation at any given time, there is rarely an in between especially when I am working. I believe I wrote in one of the core module essays that I felt that my creativity is like a tap which you can't turn off once its began.

When I am feeling low I tend to shower a lot. Generally being in or near water makes me feel better. Swimming cures my anger and frustration. When I shower I sit in the bottom of the shower and stay in there for at least 30 minutes. I like that the noise from the shower drowns out other noise, it adds a background hum that helps to block everything else out. Maybe I should consider this when thinking about the sound design? I had been thinking about trying to express the differing emotional qualities for each of the parts of the psyche (Persona, Ego and Shadow) visually but it could be interesting to see if sound would emphasise the feeling more effectively.

"The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves."

Jung

ThinkExist.com Quotations Online

Of course I only have my own interpretations to go on and although I can put my actions in context I cannot view myself objectively in the same way that others could. I believe that I know what kind of objects (or materials) I love to play with but a big part of this project is to investigate why these materials are so attractive to me. Which aspect of my 'Self' is prominent when I work?

Bibliography (needs work):

Reflections in Psychology - Part I - by Saberi Roy (2009) Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Saberi_Roy (Accessed on 11/04/10)

Sensation and Perception, By E. Bruce Goldstein, pg 104, Cengage Learning 2009 Canada (Eighth edition)

Russett, Robert, and Cecile Starr. "A Rising Generation of Independent Animators." In Experimental Animation: An Illustrated Anthology, edited by Robert Russett and Cecile Starr. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1976. (p. 14)

Nosferatu (F.W. Murnau, 1922, Germany)

Paradise Lost, John Milton

New essays on the psychology of art, Rudolf Arnheim (pg 162) 1986, University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles, California.

Gestalt Psychology, George Boeree, 2000 http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/gestalt.html (Accessed on 12/04/10)

http://thinkexist.com/quotes/carl_gustav_jung/ (Accessed on 11/02/10)

http://psychology.about.com/od/sensationandperception/ss/gestaltlaws.htm (Accessed on 12/04/10)

Update 2

Much of my work this Easter was slowed due to ill health. This always happens the moment I slow down and normally I would just ignore it carry on and end up in a much worse state. This time I tried something that I have never done before and that was to stop, relax and give myself some time to get better. I need to be fit and well until August so that I can dedicate myself to my work.

For the 1st week I couldn't really even think much so I just concentrated on the NucaMA network. This week I have been more inclined to do my work so I have eased myself into it by starting my 'Black Book' and catching up on my dream journal. My dreams had 'dried up' for about a month. I would wake up most mornings unable to recall my dreams from the night before. This was frustrating as I feared I might never be able to write down another dream. I think I might have just been a little drained because when I gave myself a little time to relax I found that my dreaming was more productive.

I have been thinking about how to organise my workload. Of course my main aim is to produce an animated installation but alongside that I will need to;

• Document my processes
• Apply theory
• Evaluate my progress

The process is already being documented via this blog, I also use paper based resources like notebooks and sketchbooks. The blog is probably the most important form of documentation as I can use it to share multimedia resources. I like to have a notebook too so that I can just jot things down quickly away from my computer. I am also using notebooks for my 'Black book' and my dream journal as they contain personal information that I don't wish to share with people online.

The application of theory is much more difficult for me to document. Previously I have had problems with referencing theory in my work. I find it difficult to keep track of what I am researching as I have a tendency to absorb the theory but lose track of what I have looked at and where I have got my ideas from. Writing the Masters proposal gave me an idea of how theory should be referenced and although I produced the proposal as a Word document I feel that I work better when using Powerpoint. This is something that became apparent when I used Powerpoint during the presentation for the self negotiated unit. I found it easier to use slides to present information as the format requires the user to use short concise chunks of text. It's not that dissimilar to breaking up a body of text using paragraphs, headings and subheadings but it works better for me as there is a more distinct visual separation.

I have had the opportunity over the last 4 years to work on my written work as I have had to apply it in my job at City College, while undertaking a teaching diploma and during my MA work. While completing my BA I neglected the written element of the course, this was partly because didn't investigate my own learning issues despite previously being given advice to do so. Now I have had time to work on my written work I feel more confident and better able to tackle this aspect of my work.

It is my intention that this blog should consist of casual posts (much like this one) and those that are more like essays like this one:

Development of Technique

This will allow me to update my progress as well as addressing the theory in a formal manner.