Final piece

Pics of videos of the final piece all set up and ready!!
I'm so proud of my work it looked amazing set up- the experience, lighting, film quality everything was on point and I'm so happy!!! Pictures don't do it as much justice as I would of liked, but the video does a bit more :)


Shift from Jess Nicholas on Vimeo.

Final Cut

Final Edit:
We are also exporting a colour version in case the black and white doesn't show well on the projection.

Reflection

Overall I have thoroughly enjoyed this project! I'm most interested in art installation pieces and think thats where I am my most creative so it was perfect for me. I've enjoyed being able to build my installation rather than just filming, its been very hands on which is how I learn best.

My ideas have changed and grown throughout- although we hit a few dead ends, overall I am extremely proud of the work we have created. There was a period of time where our ideas all seemed to crumble, but after lots of gallery visits, individual research and group discussions we came to our final piece.

After seeing the installation up yesterday I am much more confident and excited to show it. We had some difficulties- heights, measurements, projectors etc, but we managed to resolve them after a few hours of experimenting.

My group have a great dynamic and most of us aren't afraid to disagree and criticize (constructively) each others ideas, which is always good. At times it was difficult because people werent expressing their ideas and opinions. I think Gabie, Sunny and Myself perhaps played strong roles throughout, but probably because we maybe have stronger opinions. We shared the responsibilities fairly, A few days have been stressful due to difficulties leading to lack of motivation, but overall the project has ran pretty smoothly.

At first I was set on creating my own idea (does the government control our identities), but I'm glad I joined Sunny and created her idea instead. Theres nothing saying I can't create my original idea in my own time. Working with mixed media has been great and I feel I've managed the workload well. Its been different to work I've created before which is great because I love trying new things and broadening my knowledge.

I would of liked to maybe meet face to face with someone with D.I.D to have the full experience and try to truly understand how they feel. I also really liked the original idea of using old TV monitors for our piece, so I plan on using them on other projects. 

Installation set up

Went into studio 2 today to give our installation a test run.


I think its the perfect space for our installation, its got nice high ceilings a black curtain that can be pulled all the way around, blacking out the space completely.

Had lots of issues today with:

• Projector- mine isn't strong enough. luckily we could borrow one from Sarah which had a very strong, clear picture- she said we can borrow it Thursday
• Positioning- we moved the layers up and down loads of times to get the perfect height- want the first image to look as if Gaya is stood on the floor, makes it much more life like
• Cloth falling off the railings - the light rigs had to be moved into the perfect position, we have decided to tie the material to the rigs so it won't slip off
• Material blowing in the breeze- the studio has AC that we cant turn off, so we're going to create little holes and attach see through bits of string to the bottom so we can tie them down an prevent movement

Overall I'm happy with the set up we came up with today, the clarity of the image looks great and after lots of rearrangement we found the perfect heights/distances etc.

Slight Changes:

• Pieces of material are now staggered upwards as the projection is diagonal 
• First layer is close to the floor to create a more life like image- Looks as if Gaya is actually stood there 
• Using LED's to light the floor as the studio is pitch black !!
• Black cloth is used at the front rather than the white holographic material
• Cloth needs to be tied to the floor because of AC

We also finally decided on the projects name:
Me & Them 

Group Meeting

• Watching editing- changed order to avoid it looking like she's growing up
• Grey top and jeans first, then Rebellious, child, then medicated
• Use medicated as the disruptions
• Effects- radial & simple

Gabie made another edit with more effects and a new order.

Notebook

Lots of my work/sketches/ notes are in a separate notebook which i will also be submitting.

Plan of action for next week

Monday: Busy all day

Tuesday: Meet @ 10:30 to work on footage - editing, rearranging

Wednesday: Meet @ 10:30 more editing, set up installation to check for any faults, last minute fixes and changes 

Thursday/Friday: Presentation day

pinterest

I made a pinterest board to help me for inspo.

https://uk.pinterest.com/jessyboo9/identity-project-did/

Edit Draft

DID Draft 1 from Jess Nicholas on Vimeo.

Personal thoughts

Through most of my research Ive found that in general D.I.D is a pretty difficult if not negative condition. Sufferers tend to have come from an abusive past :(
I think my art piece will be quite serious but not too dark and depressing, I don't want to add more negativity to the subject matter. (plus the child like personality will add a bit of positivity to it)

My personal thoughts and opinions on D.I.D:
Its extremely hard to understand mental health conditions when I don't have any myself or directly know anyone with them (not D.I.D anyway). Research has given me a bit of a better understanding but the best research was speaking to Lydia. Its weird to think I went to school with her and now she has D.I.D coz she didn't back then. She's always had health issues, mostly due to her dad dying whilst we were in school, but I didn't know how serious they were.

I've found this topic extremely interesting and all my research has definitely given me a better understanding.

EDITING

I continued editing today, adding sound effects and layering.
We originally weren't going to include sound effects but I played around and I think it works quite well- i've sent a draft to the group to see their opinions- if they like the sound we will need to book speakers.
Everything I downloaded was royalty free.

I downloaded free static noise and children crying and laughter from freeSFX.com and freesound.org
I used the static sound as a sort of transition between the negative and positive aspects of each personality - as if creating a distribution. The clip ive used with the audio is Gaya moving/shaking her head as if she's in pain. I thought it looked like something inside her brain was hurting her/speaking to her. The idea is for it to look like the personalities inside her brain are telling her to stop being good and start acting bad. (angel/devil kind of vibe).







In the edit I have taken all the best clips of Gaya as each personality and sorted them positive to negative, with a disruption in between. I've started with a neutral state - Gaya in a grey jumper and blue jeans looking tired and slightly distressed. The edit then goes to her in the childlike state - laughing, giggling, playing with a soft toy. Next comes the disruption and then the child drops her dummy, starts crying and her expressions change from soft to hard and intense.
The same repeats for each personality, with a disruption changing from 'good' to 'bad'.
At the end of the edit I want to play around with Gaya falling in her neutral clothes and in the hospital gown, maybe cutting the two clips together.

Edit Notes