Possible essay question:

• What constitutes a ‘real’ image?
• How do Robert Capa and Paul M Smith use ‘fake’ / controversial imagery to emphasize the effects of war and masculinity?

Artists:

• Robert Capa
• Paul M Smith

Plan:

• Essay question: What constitutes a ‘real’ image?
• Opening quote:
• Introduction (250-500 words):

There are multiple criteria required to consider a photograph as ‘real’, does the subject within the image exist or is it imagined, is the photo artificially created or genuine? However, there is an ongoing debate surrounding the way in which we prove and define a subject, moment, or whole image as ‘existing’. Realism, in the arts, is considered the accurate, detailed, and unembellished depiction of nature or contemporary life. This is where Robert Capa’s picture of ‘The Falling Soldier’ or ‘Death of a Loyalist Militiaman’ comes under deep controversy. This image is known to depict the very instant a loyalist militia man, from the Spanish Civil War, 1936, was fatally shot and began to collapse into death. The debate over the authenticity of Capa’s image comes under four main themes: Realism, Representation, Ethics and Truth. As said by Richard Whelan in This is War! “The Falling Soldier is neither black nor white. It is neither a photograph of a man pretending to have been shot, nor an image made during what we would normally consider the heat of battle” A brief synopsis of ‘The Falling Soldier’ would show that there are many different theories in relation to the legitimacy of the image and it’s creation, however, in truth there will never be a clear answer to its legitimacy as only Capa and the men involved in the creation of the image know its full authenticity. Due to the amount of information collected to either prove or disprove this photos originality and the lack of a clear answer, the attention has been taken away from the photographs true meaning. This raises another dispute of whether it matters at all if the image is ‘real’ as stated by Susan Bright in Is It Real? “… reality is perhaps not the most important issue when making a statement about the role of representation in warfare.”

• What is your area study? Realism
• Which artists will you be analysing and why? Robert Capa and the controversy surrounding his image of the death of a loyalist militia man. Paul M Smith and his Pastiche of Capa’s work.
• How will you be responding to their work and essay question? I will explore the realism, representation, ethics and truth of the artists and their work.
• Pg 1 (500 words): 
• Historical/ theoretical context within art, photography and visual culture relevant to your area of study. Make links to art movements/ isms and some of the methods employed by critics and historian. 
• Pg 2 (500 words): Analyse first artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
• Pg 3 (500 words): Analyse second artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
• Conclusion (250-500 words): Draw parallels, explore differences/ similarities between artists/photographers and that of your own work that you have produced
• Bibliography: List all relevant sources used

STORY: What is your story?
Describe in:

• 3 words – Male Identity Story
• A sentence – a story of someone trying to fit in / belong to a group
• A paragraph – I am going to take multiple staged shots of a ‘lads night out’ using only one protagonist repeated throughout all the shots. Some of the photos will be simple and represent a nigh out whereas others will have a deeper meaning emphasizing the powerful moments among friends on a night out.

NARRATIVE: How will you tell your story?

• Images > photo-shoots, heavily edited
• Archives > old photos from family albums
• Texts > Paul m smiths blog / book, websites and books with relevance to Robert Cappa, ‘Photography and truth’ post

Art Movements & Isms

PICTORIALISM

time period : 1880 – 1920

Key characteristics/ conventions : hand made to look artistic, dream like aesthetic, romantic, scratched negatives,

Artists associated: Alfred Stieglitz, Robert Demachy, George Henry Seeley

Key works:

Methods/ techniques/ processes: Vaseline on camera lens, distortion,

REALISM / STRAIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY

Time period: 1910 – 1940

Key characteristics/ conventions : face reality, sharp focus, emphasis on framing and structure, abstract,

Artists associated: Edward Western, Walker Evans, Paul Strand, Dorothea Lange, Lewis W Hine, 

Key works:

Methods/ techniques/ processes: Abstract, documentary, street scenes.

Smith made his photography debut with ‘Artist Rifles’ a series of photos of fake war scenarios created by his own experience in the army.

‘Artist Rifles was to become the first chapter in Paul’s interrogation of the many-headed beast that is masculinity, of what it means to be a man. The most immediate subject of this enquiry was naturally to confront his own reasoning for joining the army.’

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The cloning of the protagonist creates a appropriate metaphor for the army’s effect on an individuals identity and creating group identities (Brothers in Arms) This duplication of himself is a very effective method to emphasize the struggles of male identity, fitting in and belonging to a group / community.

Smith has used this technique multiple times after his Artist Rifles project with himself and others. for example his advertising campaign with Robin Williams or his second self protrait project ‘Make My Night’

‘Make My Night’ follows a group of lads on a night out consisting of good laughs, pranks, fights, drinking and, inevitably, the rough morning after. ‘ As before, he becomes the anonymous everyman but this time is more overtly the narrator as well as the protagonist of a frequently observed ritual.’

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My attempt at the repeated protagonist effect:

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Editing the footage

In the Effects column, I selected the black & white filter within Image control to quickly apply a monochrome effect to all the footage within the film. This allowed me to keep the main focus on the subject within the film rather than the surroundings. To amplify this, I chose bright lighting and darker clothing during the shooting to increase the contrast.

Using the crop tool to transform the film, I readjusted the size ratio of the film into a square. The square format is renowned for being an effective ratio when creating artistic images.

For a few clips within the film, we placed them into reverse. This allowed us to show the inner turmoil of our subject. Scenes where the subject is taking off make up and jewelry were reversed to make it appear as though they are reapplying.

This enhances the idea of conformity that runs throughout our film. Despite wanting to diverge from social norms, the subject unwillingly reverts back to the standards of society.

Within Effect controls, I wanted to create a slow zoom into and out of chosen scenes, so as to increase the tension. These slow zooms paired well with the sound of our film to help create a narrative for our audience. The zooming in on stagnant clips allowed for focus on the audio and the sound effects within it, which created a sinister and disquieting mood.

To ensure the aesthetic of our film was maintained, I increased the temperature of certain shots and decreased the exposure as some scenes were filmed in more harsh lighting and didn’t blend well with the other clips. Additionally, some scenes of the film were left with these cooler, harsher tones so as to show the importance as we reached the peak intensity of the film. These scenes showed the conformity of our subject and juxtaposed the discovery of the subject’s identity.

Editing the sound

I wanted the first scene to catch the viewers’ attention. To do this, I placed the sound so as to start before the first shot can be seen. The first part of the poem starts with two words ‘Twas brillig’, then a pause occurs. I placed it so that the shot appears on the end of the second word, which is pronounced with a plosive G. This breaks the tension that was built up during the exposition of the film.

I didn’t start the film at 0 seconds in order to build up tension before the first scene. The sound starts with a silence, and some static from our sound to catch the viewers attention. Additionally, the end of the film ends similarly to the exposition. The film cuts off before the sound does and the viewer is left with a black screen and a short couple of seconds of audio to build the tension, show the inner turmoil of the subject and leave the audience asking questions.

Naming the Film: The Pursuit of Social acceptance

In deciding the name of this film, we thought thought about conformity and confinement that people experience regardless of whether they present themselves to be accepted or rejected by society.

In accepting and following social norms and beauty standards, many feel confined to one appearance and one identity that conforms to societal ideals. This ‘pursuit’ results in acceptance but can also make individuals feel confined to one singular appearance that doesn’t fully represent who they are and what their identity is.

On the other hand, in rejecting and abolishing social norms, individuals are secluding themselves and removing themselves from the gender binaries of society. Though it sounds liberating that they can freely express their identity, it results in a different sense of confinement: that they are confined to their own identity, rejected by society and looked down upon for expressing themselves. This results in a need to gain validation and can often lead to people re-conforming to the standards they attempted to escape in the first place.

THE PURSUIT OF SOCIAL ACCEPTANCE

STORY+NARRATIVE: What is the narrative of your film? And how will you tell it?

In three words: Breaking social norms.

In a sentence: Rebelling against the societal beauty ideals and expectations of women by breaking stereotypes and ‘finding oneself’- essentially becoming comfortable with one’s identity.

In more detail: Firstly, I want to place emphasis on the audio we’re using. We aim to layer our video with a reading of Lewis Carroll’s: “The Jabberwocky”. The poem itself is filled with nonsense words and a fictional beast. For our film, the mythical beast is a representation of the fictitious and fabricated stereotypes for men and women that have been created by society. In the poem, the father figure warns his son against this beastly Jabberwocky, emphasising the danger of encountering and destroying it. With this knowledge, the son rebels and triumphs anyway by killing the beast. We want to use this to show how our subject has been being warned about rebelling against the beauty ideals and norms of society.

To show how our subject has been made ‘aware’, we are going to open their eyes to the ‘propaganda’ surrounding them. To achieve this, we’re planning to shoot a ‘scene’ where our subjects eye are being forced open, either by multiple hands or by specific props. I’m more confident that opening their eyes using hands is a more successful idea as the owner-less hands can represent people and powers within society forcing the subject to be ‘brain-washed’ and influenced by what they are watching.I want the focus of this scene to be on the eyes of the subject, possibly filmed in dim lighting. I aim to collage together different ‘propaganda’ (from TV, Instagram, Social media, Magazines etc) and film the reflection of this in the eye of the subject.

To show our subject’s rebellion against typical beauty ideals, we’re incorporating the use of costume and props to alter their physical appearance. Combining both male and female outfits or wearing predominantly ‘masculine’ clothing to show the absurdity of assigning items of clothing with a gender. Additionally, props we may include would be boxing gloves and wraps as it’s not a typically feminine sport.

AUDIENCE: Who is it for?

We’re aiming our film towards the younger generation. As this generation is growing up, they are also figuring out their own identity and how they define themselves. We’re hoping to reach out to this group and change the way they view other people or themselves. By showing how easily social norms can be deconstructed, we hope to make our audience more open to the possibility of expressing themselves in a way that isn’t considered ‘normal’ by society.

CONTEXT: Who is your inspiration?

A lot of inspiration for this film is derived from the Dada movement and from contemporary photographer, Shannon O’Donnell. O’Donnell’s view on gender is relevant to our piece. She argues that the strict gender binary is a social construct and she attempts to show this in her film ‘That’s not the way the river flows’.

https://www.shannonodonnell.co.uk/a-short-film-tntwtrf

STORYBOARD: draft

first set of shot ideas and the meaning behind them.

THEME: Rebelling against the societal expectations towards women.

SUBJECT: Focusing mainly on personal identity as well as incorporating politics in the sense of how the capitalistic government controls what we are influenced by. 

INTENTIONS: In groups, we carried out a dice roll task. We were given three die and asked to roll them all at once. Each dice was linked to a set of words which corresponded with the number on the die. After the dice were rolled, we were left with the following three words: RISK, CHANCE and ABSURD. These were to be incorporated into our manifesto.

VISUALS: Inspiration from O’Donnell on her process of ‘performing’ for the camera. Additionally, our group was inspired by how O’Donnell portrayed the conflict between her and her personal identity.

SOUND: A reading of the poem ‘The Jabberwocky’ by Lewis Carroll. Although not from the Dada era, it can be considered as a nonsense poem. The subject within the poem is shown to have rebelled against the advice and warnings about the creature from his father and is later praised for this rebellion. We felt as though it would successfully tie in with our theme as the subject of our film is planning to rebel against the norms of society. We were hoping that the Jabberwocky would be a metaphor for society and the lack of control people have over their identity due to this.

TITLE ideas: Opening the third eye, The art of unlearning, Reconditioning the mind,

‘An open third eye allows you to take in light and details that you would otherwise miss, and this can be intense or overwhelming at first. Feeling like you are changing on a fundamental level, even if you struggle to put it into words.’

What is a manifesto?

In art: a manifesto is a public declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of an artist or artistic movement.

Additionally, we were looking to incorporate the idea of ‘Breaking the rules of reality’. This is present in our manifesto below.

Narrative (Risk)

Events throughout the film depict the risks being taken and the final outcome of the film amplifies this risk / resolves it.

Mise-en-scene (Absurdity)

Costumes and props will emphasize the absurdity surrounding gender roles and stereotypes.

Editing (Chance)

We want to give the audience a chance to reconsider their beliefs surrounding gender and identity. Especially we want to look at the idea of unlearning negative gender roles and identity expectations through editing such as reversed scenes.