Editing The Clips

Whilst editing the colour of the footage I decided to make the majority of the film in black and white. Due to the clips being in mostly different lighting every time a shot I had to turn down the saturation, tint and temperatures to the lowest possible setting in order for most of the clips to look similar when it came to shadows and highlights. I also made sure to change the curve to make sure the clips looked exactly how I wanted them to look. I also had to individually edit each and every clip so it took a lot longer than I anticipated due to there being over 200 snippets. After editing so many of the individual clips I had to render the film many times to make sure it ran smoothly and didn’t glitch. By going to transitions I found that I could dip to black which I used in some parts if my film; mostly at the ending and the beginning and when I was showing the progression to the next day.

When I was cutting up the footage I made sure to use the razor clip mostly everything and then the shortening tool for big amounts of footage. Between the glitching parts of my film I put in graphics from a tv with static to show damage and change. I also matched the audio of Alan Watts speaking to the glitching to have the full effect of disruption. I would cut up the same scene with different camera angles to intrigue the viewers and make the film more complexed. Matching the two different camera angles was difficult because I would have to match up the movements I made exactly for the transitions to look smooth. I would cut up and copy and paste the same clip to make the glitching more dramatic especially towards the ending to really freak out the observer.

My film was being based off of mental health and how it rebells against your love for others. The main focus would be anxiety and how this mental illness can cause people to dissociate themselves from life itself. Dissociation being a big part of the narrative, I am looking to create a film/zine where a lifestyle in reality can turn into something quite dream-like and somehow showing a glimpse of what it may be like for someone who has anxiety or a disorder where it causes them to dissociate or even become nihilistic. The way I’m going to shoot this project will be in first person and having self portraiture intertwined within my film/zine. I am planning on representing these dream-like scenarios by cutting out parts of the world and scenery are myself and possibly cutting out the people around me as well to act as the dissociation. I’ve done a lot of research as to why dissociation happens and what mental illnesses can cause this; illnesses such as; anxiety, depression, PTSD, bipolar, schizophrenia and borderline personality disorder. I chose to base my project off of anxiety as I have experienced a lot of anxiety throughout my life as many people have and I feel like I can portray the feelings towards life from someone who has experienced anxiety better than any of the other illnesses listed. I moved it more towards dreams and surrealism because I thought it fitted better with the films IO was linking it to. The way I linked this to the film was by editing the film and the way I wanted it to be perceived was heavily inspired by David Lynch’s film “Lost Highway” and Chris Nolan’s film “Inception”. Both have dream-like concepts and are made to leave the viewer on the edge of their seat, wanting to know more as well as disturbed by the ending. The idea of being inside a different reality is a key point of my film and the other two films and mu ending of showing me sitting in my lounge again is meant to make the viewer feel somewhat dissociated by making them forget that they were watching a film within a film just like Christopher Nolan’s film Inception having dreams within dreams and not knowing what reality is and David Lynch’s film Lost Highway making you unsure what the real story is, sure to the protagonist being show in so many different story lines.

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STEP BY STEP:

The Reality: 

• Filming me sitting on the sofa
• Filming the tv and putting on creepy 50’s tv shows on the tv 
• Flipping back and forth from the shots
• Show glitching on the tv and start to add UP music to the scene to transition into the first day.

First Day: 

• My Room – Filming waking up from two different angles and flip between them making sure to get good lighting – around Golden hour. 
  • Film daily routine of getting dressed, doing make up and brushing teeth.
  • Leaving the house – filmed from different angles, and then walking into school with a friend.
  • School- looking in the mirror and washing hands and sitting with friends also filmed from different angles. 
  • Going home- walking out of school with a friend and then walking back to my house.

Second Day:

• My Room – Filming waking up from two different angles and flip between them making sure to get good lighting – around Golden hour. 
• Film daily routine of getting dressed, doing make up but taking out brushing teeth to make the day slightly shorter but overall showing the same thing but a different day.
• Leaving the house – filmed from different angles, and then walking into school with a friend BUT starting to show a sense of there being something wrong by adding glitching graphics and filming me walking by myself then editing the two scene together to make it look as if my friend is disappearing.
• School- looking in the mirror and washing hands and sitting with friends also filmed from different angles but do the same glitching as last time as well as myself disappearing to make a pattern of something going wrong. As well as making thew audio glitch to have the full effect.
• Going home- walking out of school with a friend with the glitching again and cutting out walking home to shorten the day. 

Third Day:

• My Room – Filming waking up from two different angles and flip between them making sure to get good lighting – around Golden hour.
• Film daily routine of getting dressed, doing make up but taking out brushing teeth to make the day slightly shorter but overall showing the same thing but a different day. As well as starting add glitches within my house and cutting out scenes to make the day shorter.
• Leaving the house – filmed from different angles, and then walking into school with a friend and adding glitching graphics and filming me walking by myself then editing the two scene together to make it look as if my friend is disappearing again but again making the day shorter.
• School- looking in the mirror and washing hands and sitting with friends also filmed from different angles but do the same glitching as last time as well as myself disappearing to make a pattern of something going wrong. As well as making thew audio glitch to have the full effect.
• Going home- walking out of school with a friend and then walking back to my house but filming from different angles and standing in different places to edit me glitching into different places.

Final Part:

• My Room – Filming waking up from two different angles and flip between them making sure to get good lighting – around Golden hour but adding glitches right from the start to show that nothings right.
• Starting my daily routine but adding glitching and other shots of me wearing white contacts and looking possessed and staring to add colour to the black and white movie to show reality come back into place. As well as adding demonic sounds to make the viewer feel more disturbed.
• Adding the shot of me having white eyes with a lighter and then glitching back into reality.

Back to The Reality:

• Transitioning out of the glitching screen
• Filming me sitting on the sofa and then fading into the title screen – WAKE UP

Editing The Audio

I used many different audios in my film to make the viewer feel as comfortable as possible. By making the audio glitch at the same time as the footage I thought it would make the glitching more dramatic. I had to cut up snippets of the audio and copy and paste them lots of times to make it sound like it was glitching. I also faded in and out audios and music to either cha the scenes or make room for other audios as I ran out of audio slots. When it came to editing the “plot twist” of the film I overlapped many different audios and made them gradually get louder to build suspense. I made sure to make the heart beat a main sound that the viewer could hear so that the scene would become more intense and hopefully make their heart race in the process. I made it one of the last sounds you could hear to make the film be suspenseful even until the end when the title screen comes on. I also had to cut ups a lot of repeated audio to use for the glitching parts if the film and had to make sure they were all at the same volume and I did this by making sure they were all on the same track and turning the whole track up instead of putting upon the individual bars on the audio.

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In the polishing up of the film I realised that I needed a suitable title and design that would work for the film. I worked with the following websites:

Free Logo Maker – Get Custom Logo Designs in Minutes | Looka

https://www.wix.com/logo/maker/

Possible Logos:

Final Decision:

I really liked this design however I could not get it to the correct resolution; therefore I found a similar font and made a logo on word. I thought that a deeper black would work better because in some frames of the film where I don’t add visuals (in order for the audience to focus on the audio) the frame is a deep black so I needed something to compliment that. I also noticed my typo so I fixed that with the final cover.

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Photo-shoots & Editing

My photobook project was largely based on archival imagery accumulated over the past year both on my phone and camera, with many also being taken specifically for the project. All the images with the objects on a plain white background were also taken as part of a couple photo-shoots specifically for the project in order to compliment the portrait photos you will see. These have a significant meaning behind them and are up for interpretation by anyone who reads my book.

The photo above was taken on a night out camping. The photo was taken on a DSLR camera for memory in the future when we look back at the photos. This exact photo is one of only a handful or archival imagery but suited the job perfectly. The exposure from the onset was very low, especially considering that it was taken during sunset. For my photo book, I wanted black and white as a strong and reoccurring theme, so I used Photoshop CC, adjusting the integrated ‘levels’ and ‘black and white’ feature, with a bit of contrast and grain increased to give it that vintage, Mapplethorpe and Weinberger style. The exposure and highlights were tweaked more heavily in order to alter the darkness of the original photo, and allow it to “pop” more in the final prints.

The photo below is one of the many left hand-side pages where I took photos of objects with significant relevance to the portrait photo adjacent on the right hand-side page. It was taken well so I didn’t need to crop it, rotate or re-scale it at all. Again, as previously mentioned, all this photo needed was to be edited on Photoshop CC to be made black and white using the ‘levels’ and ‘black and white’ feature, with a bit of contrast increased, as well as grain and exposure increased but only minimally to give it that vintage, Mapplethorpe and Weinberger style.

As one can observe in the photo taken below, some photos needed cropping as the items/objects were too large to fit in the normal aspect ratio, so needed to be cropped into a square later on in Photoshop CC.

Book Layout

For the photobook project, I decided it would be best to use Adobe Lightroom Classic CC and its integrated “book” feature that collects all your edited images at once and presents them in the form of a book, where it enabled me to edit and move photos further in order to have the book to my liking, in chronological order and laid out in a way that makes sense.

As you can see, the book follows a similar theme throughout. Every first page on a double page spread has a unique white background with an item positioned in the centre of the photograph. Normally, but not always, the photo has either some relevance to the photo adjacent, however not always, which keeps the reader/observer guessing the meaning behind each photo and the book/story as a whole, which makes for a more interesting book.

Sometimes, such as the screenshot above with the cigarette, the photos of the object on the left-hand page include an item that was included in the photo first-hand. Other times however, the object is someone’s dear possession, an item they cherish or wear, be it in the photo or not.

Occasionally, for example with the screwdrivers and tools, the items have no relevance to the photo, (although this may be up for interpretation), except for the fact that the items have been positioned to resemble the people or subject in the photo. As you can see, I you look closely, the tools are made to resemble each one of my mates. Some may also suggest that I’m referring to my mates as ‘tools’… you wouldn’t be wrong.

These photos were taken simply on white A2 paper, with camera flash enabled as well as including lights from all angles except from above, in order to highlight all the minute details but also no light beaming down from above to avoid ugly shadows. The light from the sides had to cover every angle/perimeter of the photo in order to enable complete light coverage and the minimization of shadows. This allows for a great contrast and makes for striking photos, that contrast well with the following photos that are normally darker toned environmental portraits, not staged objects in studio lighting, which allows for a great disparity between the two. This makes the book less repetitive and thus ore interesting for the reader/observer.

Furthermore, you may observe the occasional grey page as shown in the screenshot above, initially where photos had ran out but also a “happy accident” I guess, as they allow pages act as a sort of division in the book, signifying a new chapter per se, but also a breaking up the book and preventing repetition, as these pages occur around every 12-16 pages.

Lastly, the front and back of the book also had much thought considered during their creation. The photo included on the front cover was easily chosen as it just made the perfect cover. I love how the photo not only is archival, but taken by accident, with both me and my mate sharing a strong happiness that many people unfortunately struggle to find nowadays. This happy and colourful vibe contrasted with the dark tones of the summer night, makes for an interesting photo, where the happiness beams back at the observer as it stands out from the darkness of the background, suggesting it’s a cheerful, jokey, typically teenage book of stupid and cocky adolescents.

To me, it made sense to repeat the photo on the backside of the book too, as this means there is no border between the photos as the dark colours mean the book’s front and back page blend seamlessly with its dark colours and therefore allow for a smoother looking, well put together book. The back page also has a small, goofy quote written in order to segregate the two pages but also add a bit more interest. The quirky quote is often heard from both my mates simultaneously and is a mention to the fact that both my best mates share the exact same forename, hence every time I say their name to one of them, neither of them knows which I’m speaking to. The quote can be regarded as funny, and a little bit odd, and without context, seems to fit in perfectly with the books theme as a whole. As a result, I’ve finally resorted to referring to them by their surnames to avoid confusion.

Evaluation

Overall, the book went exactly the way I envisioned. My ideas and thought processes all came to reality, and the book turned out exactly how I wanted it. My only criticism would be that the picture quality in most of the pictures could do with being a higher resolution which mainly boils down to the original camera’s resolution being sub par. This was mostly fixed in Photoshop CC where I increased the size and resolution of the images and exported them at the highest quality possible. Despite this however, I’m happy with the way the majority of the photos turned out, especially the ones with the white background which I was surprised to how well they turned out in the book especially.

In what way have Jim Goldberg and Ryan McGinley represented youth in their work?

‘Youth’ is described as the period of life in which one is young. It often describes the time between childhood and adulthood where individuals are maturing, filled with vigour, spirit and a sense of freshness. More specifically, ‘youth culture’ refers to how children, adolescents and young adults conduct their lives. It calls attention to the way they express their own identities and demonstrate their sense of belonging to a particular group. The concept behind youth culture states that teenagers are part of a subculture in which the values, rituals, behaviours and norms they share differ from the widely accepted culture of older generations within society. Jim Goldberg and Ryan McGinley explore youth culture towards the end of the 20th century and investigate how modern youth are stereotypically viewed. Goldberg focuses on the lives of derelict children and, specifically, how their behaviour is a result of neglect from their own families and of a failing institutional society. In contrast, McGinley focuses on the reckless experimentation adolescents carry out, not as a result of external influences but rather as a decision to rebel against the governing law. Both photographers, however, explore ways to gain insight into the practices of these individuals in order to dissolve society’s judgement of the youth subculture. In response to McGinley and Goldberg, I have produced a photo-book incorporating the themes of youth and rebellion. The project is a social commentary, showing a rejection of the governing law and of societal standards as a whole. The product explores the freedom of youth and, more specifically, the culture that surrounds myself and one particular social circle.

Raised by Wolves reveals itself to be a political piece of post-modernistic work. It discloses itself as photographic documentation, social intervention and piece of artwork, additionally incorporating the multitude of approaches made by postmodernist artists such as eclecticism and collaboration. In her book, On Photography, Susan Sontag states that the photographer who photographs a subject cannot intervene in the event occurring, while the photographer who intervenes cannot take the photographs. This pattern within traditional documentary photography states plainly that the photographer should be entirely separated from their subjects’ lives. Goldberg breaks this paradigm in Raised by Wolves by placing himself directly within the narrative. Some argue that the lack of pictures of Goldberg is merely a case of the photographer avoiding interfering with the occurring event, though a stronger argument is that Goldberg’s intervention in the lives of his subject creates a more intimate and sincere reflection of his subjects compared to a photographer who explicitly photographs from outer bounds.

Goldberg presents his subjects, a subculture of neglected and out-casted adolescents, with great delicacy. The narrative focuses on dysfunctional family life in America, about the way teenagers have been led astray, how each one of their rituals is driven by drugs, violence and lack of affection. However, it also highlights love and friendship as a key theme. The compassion Goldberg approached his subjects with revealed and reflected the kindness they showed each other, which is often overlooked and blocked out in the average person’s encounter with the destitute. The narrative is gripping, encouraging the reader to question, rather than to judge the lives of these homeless teens. His in-depth focus on this group of youth has a huge emotional impact on the reader and the political aspect behind Goldberg’s images is present throughout the book. He challenges the generalisations often made about homeless groups in America, in turn posing the reader with questions about the survival of these teenagers, and what their motivation is for survival, considering the bleak reality of their lives. His project aims to question the faults within America’s institutional society that resulted in the troubled lifestyles of these adolescents. As a result, his work presents itself as a highly successful social campaign, attempting to alter the views on vagrant communities and encouraging the current society to approach these groups with sensitivity and to address the failures apparent in society they live in.

Goldberg and Mcginley both take a post-modernist approach to their work. Postmodernism emerged as a response to modernism and a reaction to the age of enlightenment in the late 19th century. Modernism had been based on idealism and an idyllic vision of human life and society. It made the assumption that specific universal truths such as those formed by religion or science could and should be used to understand the nature of our reality. Postmodernism, however, has been built on scepticism and suspicion. It aimed to challenge the idea that there are universal certainties or truths; embracing the complicated and contradictory meanings of images. Postmodernism is focused on the context of its art by making references to things outside of the art work itself such as political, psychological or cultural issues. It focuses on the reception of the artist’s work by their audience.

McGinley’s approach to his work is similar to Goldberg in the sense that it is mixed with assorted objects and ephemera, such as a set of cameras that he repeatedly threw up upon. In an interview with Autra, McGinley states ‘I would do this project where I would drink Ipecac syrup, the stuff that you give babies if they eat poison berries or something, and it makes them throw up’. This is a clear example of the reckless and absurd behaviour typically associated with youth subcultures. A number of people McGinley drew himself to were considered compulsive and obsessive, many of which died young from AIDS, suicide and drug overdoses. Additionally, McGinley also approached his subjects with a great deal of respect. Having surrounded himself with graffiti writers, McGinley learnt about and presented the paranoia that these artists had. Creating graffiti and vandalising properties was a risky pass-time due to the ‘Grafitti Squad’: a commission established to stop graffiti in New York City. McGinley gained the trust of and photographed the entirety of the IRAK graffiti crew, which had been prioritised by the Graffiti Squad as a group to dismember. He respected these individuals by avoiding their faces and tags whilst they were producing their art. McGinley describes their paranoia as ‘healthy’ and states that he was fascinated by the similarly obsessive and compulsive nature of graffiti, two themes which are present throughout his work.

The work of Ryan McGinley is not in the same political sphere as Jim Goldberg. Whilst Goldberg focuses on how society fails to protect and support children in America and, furthermore, represents the teens that use drugs and carry out illicit activities as a way to escape their past, McGinley presents the thrill-seeking and hedonistic approach him and his friends had during their youth, shooting heroin and carrying out all manners of debauchery in the pursuit of pleasurable experiences. These differences are clear in the nature of their photographs, McGinley’s images are expressive and unrestrained showing the self-indulgence and deviance present in their lives, whereas Goldberg presents the desperation and troubled nature of his subjects. Both, however, are strong examples of post-modernism- giving insight into the varying youth subcultures in America.

In response to Jim Goldberg and Ryan McGinley, the photo-book Passing Youth deals with similar themes of adolescence, hedonism and rebellion. Taking an insider’s approach to the project, the images are an internal reflection upon myself and the people I have surrounded myself with as of late. Incorporating different types of medium, the book is a multifaceted piece of self-documentary. Ephemera within the book include parking notices, polaroids and debit cards, some of which represent the irresponsible and absent-minded nature of modern youth. Passing Youth is similar to that of McGinley’s work as it focuses on my personal life, rather than a whole generation. The images of people within the book have a great deal of significance to me, as well as the locations and personal items throughout the book. My project has a clear personal input, involving myself directly into the narrative through my presence in the images and, additionally, through the use of personally handwritten captions to add context to the images. This aspect allows my project to directly correspond with the work of Jim Goldberg as his collaboration with his subjects produces a similar outcome to my own work.

https://autre.love/interviewsmain/2017/5/20/the-kids-were-alright-an-interview-of-ryan-mcginley

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/06/t-magazine/art/ryan-mcginley-kids-were-alright-museum-contemporary-art-denver.html

https://www.e-flux.com/announcements/90076/ryan-mcginleythe-kids-were-alrightbasquiat-before-basquiatwall-writers/

Here is a link to access my photo-book, Passing Youth

Front cover

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I broke up the format of the image by superimposing my subject’s eyes on the top layer. I selectively chose to keep the red pupils and keep the remainder of the image black and white so the red colour in the background can be present throughout the design without looking random.

I felt as though the cover wasn’t as contrasted as I had initally hoped. To improve the cover, I inverted the colours of the second layer and placed the original image on to the back cover (left-hand side). I chose one of my images from my shoot which had a lot of objects within the composition to place behind the second and third layer. The composition of this particular image allowed me to incorporate a lot of noise into the cover. By layering the images and choosing ones with a busy composition I could successfully show the fast-paced, confusing and messy nature of youth.

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To create my title, I wrote ‘Passing Youth’ in my own hand-writing. Using a marker pen allowed me to get the width that I desired. I photographed this using a copy stand and imported the image into photoshop. I then selected the text and placed it onto a new layer, deleting the original background. This allowed me to place the text directly on to the front cover without any white background. I created another copy from this and inverted the colours to make the text appear white.

I used the black title as a base for the white text and placed it just above the eyes. Placing the white text on top of this created a title that stood out amongst the background. The fact it was handwritten adds to the personal-scrapbook feel I had intended my book to have. I then reused the white text and placed it where the spine of the book would be so you can see the title when the book is stored upright.

Super-imposing images

Having designed the cover, I aimed to incorporate a similar layering style throughout my book. To carry this out, I planned to have hand-written elements acting as captions to provide context as well as adding personal mementos from my own life to give the reader context as well as a deeper insight into my life and adding depth to my character. I wrote on post-it notes, white paper and used the copy stand to re-photograph these as well as scanning in polaroid pictures and other ephemera.

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Using photoshop, I carried out a similar process to that of my title; selecting the desired object or text and removing the background so it can be seamlessly placed on top of another image.

Editing images:

In order for my images to fit accordingly with the eggshell paper and front cover of my book, I felt that adding a grain to my images made them feel more authentic and amplified the rough-edged nature of the book.

For the majority of my images, I wanted to amplify the authenticity of my book

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Architecture

For the layout of my book, I finally decided on the sequence pictured above. For each section of the book, most open with an image of a location juxtaposed against an abstract image of myself. It then transitions into an image of ephemera and a quiet image or portrait. This leads into another quiet image either establishing a location or decision/action which develops the reader’s insight into the characters. The sequence is broken by an establishing shot (mostly in bold colours) and then repeated.

Juxtaposition:

I juxtaposed an abstract image of a staircase alongside an image of my back. The images are both monochrome, allowing focus on the structure on form of the photos. The regularity and structured nature of the stairwell mirrors that of the bone structure and anatomy of the human body.

Additionally, without showing my face, it creates a sense of intimacy between the reader and the subject pictured as they attempt to create links between the two images.

In this set of images, the form of the window, particularly the borders, mirror the body language of the subject photographed. The fact the window is covered up creates an idea of secrecy and privacy, amplified by the lack of facial identification in the portrait.

The depiction of skin in the portrait paired with the secrecy portrayed by the window frame creates ambiguity, which can be interpreted subjectively by each reader- presenting a place of comfort, for example, or creating a narrative in which the character presented feels the need to be recluse and hide the nature of their life.

Once again, the structure of the location mirrors the body language of the portrait. The sloping of the shoulders mimics the sloping face in the location photographed. Additionally, the curvature of the path mimics the curvature of the spine and shoulder blades. In contrast, the softness in the texture of the foliage mirrors that of the subject’s hair.

The location pictured depicts a mixture of natural structures and man-made structures. The foliage and nature within the image paired with the large amount of skin shown creates themes of liberation and a sense of rebellion against socially accepted norms (usage of clothing to cover skin). This is contrasted against the man-made structures which present a theme of limitation, due to human intervention, which again reiterates the governing laws in which the subject’s in my book are working agaisnt.

Though it differs from the structure of the other juxtapositions, the location on the right shows a lack of self-care due to the mess, in turn presenting a disregard for expectations of cleanliness and in turn order as placed by society.

Juxtaposed against a slow-exposed image, the movement presents a fact-paced lifestyle in which order and “self-care” has no place in. It may also represent the turbulent mindset and head space of the individual

The texture of the hair mirrors the texture of the foliage, again reiterating the connotations mentioned earlier. Additionally the curvature of the muscles and where they overlap imitates that of the staircase.

Sequencing

First Pages:

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The first page has the title written out in formal writing, so as to reiterate the connotations associated with it. The same font is carried on to the next page, which begins the narrative which is, contrastingly, written in lowercase. The uppercase lettering of the title ‘Passing Youth’ shows the order established by society, amplifying the presumptions held by the reader about youth cultures.

The next page has the quote:

“hedonism is a rational response to a difficult life”

This immediately presents the idea that the characters inside each have a set of issues that they cope with by becoming reliant on different outlets- drugs, alcohol, body modification etc.

The lowercase letters present the quote with delicacy and fragility, encouraging the reader to approach the characters with sensitivity.

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