31/03/11 - Tutorial with Bunny and Frances Tempest

This tutorial was extremely useful and I have taken a lot from it; we discussed my ideas and how I was planning on interpreting the painting.  The tutors liked my ideas of using punk and they said that it would probably work really well.  This has given me confidence in my ideas and they helped me develop them further.  I asked Bunny about hiring boots from the costume store and she said this would be fine.  They approved of the location I had found and said it should work quite well against the black covered figure.  It was suggested that I have some of the model's chest exposed slightly to enhance the vulnerability of the figure.  It was also mentioned that the painting has some considerable foreshortening so this will have to be taken into account when positioning the figure.  I learnt that simplicity in ideas is what will probably make this shoot successful; Frances said that I need to do the shoot soon so that my ideas don't become too over-thought as this would detract from the idea.  This was really useful advice and I shall take it with me and try to begin developing the costume from here and get it wrapped up as soon as it is ready.

Idea development - Punk and Vietnam

My ideas have developed and I have decided on a 'concept' and period for my interpretation.  My initial research led me to look at various wars and photographs and art inspired from them.  One of the pieces of work that I found was this:

   "Vietnam Scene" Duane Hanson 1969

"American Photorealist Sculptor, Duane Hanson (1925 - 1996), created realistic human figures in polyvinyl that would then be painted and dressed in accessories for the ultimate in realistic statuary. His Vietnam Scene was a tableau of dead and dying US soldiers positioned on a gallery floor as if a grenade had detonated in their midst.  Hanson's hyper-realistic figures often couched a biting social critique of the excesses of American consumerism, racism, and other social ills." 1

This installation showed me that you can create the stillness of death, but the positioning and realism of the figure is important, so I shall try to apply this in my interpretation. The Ideas behind the work are not disimilar to the meanings and symbolim in the original painting and I think this work is very relevant to my project. 

From looking at the Vietnam war I went on to look at the rise of punk in the 70s and the militant protests against war and other causes for social unrest.  I think using leather instead of armour will work really effectively because it will maintain the shiny element of the armour and the studs on the armour of the soldier can be recreating using the studs and spikes that define punk.

The ideas behind the rise of punk and the reasons people dressed this way was to make a stand and comment on society, to go against everything else and be outrageous where everything else was controlled.  The state was killing freedom of dress and music was becoming mundane to many, punk was a way to rebel and take a stand. 

Images such as these will be my main influence in creating the costume, they have a militant feel and I think it's a good way of updating the painting to a more contemporary and relevant way.  I hope to find most of the components of the costume in charity shops and then I can accessorise and style them up individually.  I am pleased with the developments in my ideas and I feel that, when combined with the location, my interpretation could be quite successful.

1: http://www.art-for-a-change.com/vietnam/vietnam.htm

Location Hunting

I have been out and about trying to find locations that are similar to the original painting.  Although I intend to update the look of the figure and change the period I feel that the setting in which the soldier is placed in the painting is what makes it so striking and I didn't to lose that in my interpretation.  You wonder why he is on a cliff? Where is he? How did he get there? And I wanted all these questions to remain and have my model looking a bit alien in the landscape and also enhanced by it.  As such I have been trying to find a way to get a similar look in my photo, luckily my location in Bournemouth is ideal as the beach is close by so I can use the sea without having to Photoshop too much.  I think I have managed to find a location that suits the painting and will give the look I want.

This location isn't perfect and I will have to use Photoshop to mirror the photo and get the cliff the right way round, which means I will have to shoot it the opposite way to the painting, so it would probably be useful if I Photoshop the original so that I have a direct reference when I'm on the shoot.  But I feel this location will be effective, especially because the sand is quite pale which will provide an interesting contrast that will hopefully be as eye-catching as the original.  Also if I can catch the evening light and perhaps the end of a sunset the backdrop will reflect the original; it will never be the same but I can choose a day when the weather is good and hopefully get the effects that I want.  I am pleased that I have managed to find this location and I feel positive that it will work well with the rest of my ideas.

As a side note to this I decided to hire a camera in order to practice with it the other day, and although it was raining so I couldn't get to my location I took it out and practiced taking landscape photos and generally got a feel for how it works.  I was happy with the photo quality and I can now hire it out again when I do the shoot, or a test shoot, and really see how the location works with a model and a good quality camera.