Moving Image – Ideas and Research

For the moving image assignment I have a few ideas. When the assignment was first presented I had a vague idea of what I would like to do but not sure whether it would be easy to execute or not.

My first idea is a documentary piece about homelessness. The general proposal is to follow a homeless man or woman in Cardiff for one day and document their daily life and see how it is for them. It would include an interview; the audio would be overlaid on the video.

I have had a look at similar projects online, there are a few documentary short videos about homelessness. I did a google search and came across a video on Vimeo ‘Shelter: a look at Manchester’s homeless’, its a 12 minute short film following how a few people live on the streets of Manchester and how they are treated by the public. Made by a man called Mike Staniford to raise awareness of homelessness, it is his debut documentary and was published 4 years ago.

Studio Pastiche – Entry 2

Today I finally managed to get into the studio to recreate my ‘Audrey Kitching’ photograph. I borrowed mannequins from fashion and had obtained polystyrene mannequin heads on eBay to write ‘PLASTIC’, ‘BASIC’, and ‘NORMAL’ on them like in the pictures. I attached the heads to the mannequin bodies with tape as only the heads would be on show.

Street Portraits – Entry 4

Before Uni, my fellow student Amanda and I went out to take a few more street portraits as I still needed to get a couple more to complete the set. A lot of people refused and it was quite disheartening; some people were polite about it, others were downright rude. Akin to in when I went to London, it was a really sunny day and this made it difficult to get a good picture without overexposure, though when in the shade the pictures came out lovely as there was the right amount of light for a nice shot.

Street Portraits – Entry 3

A few days after my trip to London I ventured out to get a few more photos, I struggled and only ended up taking photos of one person down Cardiff Bay.

The lighting was perfect for these photos, it was the afternoon and the sun was setting so there was just the right amount of light. The shadows on the face are soft and flattering. I really like these photos, hopefully I can get the rest of the photos to look like these. I have found that the photos look best when the person is stood slightly to the side, it looks more relaxed and natural.

F7.1 – ISO 200 – 1/125 sec

Street Portraits – Entry 2

I went to London for a movie premiere and so I took my camera, I thought it would be a good opportunity to take some more street portraits.  With a few friends with me I felt I could easily talk to people in London in comparison to in Cardiff as I’ve found Londoners to be friendlier and more approachable. I managed to take quite a lot of photos, though it was really sunny and so it was quite difficult to get the settings right. Sometimes the photos turned out a little overexposed. Overall I’m quite pleased with how the majority of the photos turned out though I will probably have to go out and take some more photos.

Studio Pastiche – Entry 1

I was scrolling through Facebook and came across a photograph that immediately caught my eye. It’s visually beautiful and I saved it in my phone as I like it so much. I instantly thought about the studio pastiche assignment and how great and challenging it could be to recreate that particular photograph.