PERFORMANCE.
In the previous steps of the project I have explained how Ian Norths painting made me feel. Now comes the part where I get to use these ideas I have taken, transform them and add myself to create a new work. In thinking about how I was going to do this I had to thoroughly look at the elements of Norths painting and how it made me feel and then I could reinterpret that from my own perspective. So in a way I have taken the principles of his work and applied it into the personal.
The wave can be a symbol that represents the futility of man in the face of nature, but the ship is facing the wave, it is accepting what is going to happen, it is facing its fear. Then there is a ray of light that shines down onto the ship that gives an inkling of courage to the viewer. Who knows maybe humanity has a chance?
I felt strongly about the connection between the ship and the wave, the fact that the ship was facing the wave created this huge dialogue of possibilities. In my performance based work I wanted to emulate this confronting aspect. So I devised the idea of a mirror to show that I am both the ship and the wave. I am facing the fears I construct. My biggest barrier is myself, this is what this is about,
I used the landscape formatting to emulate the scope of the painting. Then I positioned myself in front of the camera so that I was visible from two different angles, showing that I was facing myself - I am the ship and I am the wave. I tried to use the colour palette of the 'The Wave' as another reference to the idea that I am being engulfed by the wave but I am still the ship, I am enduring my fears and it becomes a part of me.
I did record myself washing off the paint, in the same positioning as the rest of the videoing shown but to be honest it was just too much. I realised that one aspect of the painting that makes it so powerful is its stillness. So I finish the video in a very reflective space - which I like.
This speedy video shows the process of me getting all messy in body paint. This was a really important part of the work on a personal level, but I chose to exclude the whole process of it from the final video work as it was a lengthy procedure that was difficult to edit in well. I did experiment with including this body painting element but it didn't really do too much and I also left that jug of water in the way - annoying! So I thought that I would show myself adding more paint to my already covered body to show that I did it myself.
After sequencing the video I played with the sound aspect. I really wanted to include my voice, it just felt important to add. I toyed with the idea of writing some poetry about facing fears, so I came up with some phrases to add in at different points but I found that the words really took away from the imagery. I think that the addition of words created too much work to read at one time, it didn't leave enough space to think for yourself whilst viewing it.
Then I experimented with ocean sounds, I was trying to use varying ocean sounds to emulate the experience of being taken under and then surfacing again. But I think it was just a bit tacky! I used some different ocean soundtracks from youtube and the video began with gentle ocean lapping sounds and then when I am covered in paint I am pulled below the surface and the sound is underwater bubbling, then towards the end the lapping sound reappears and the underwater bubbling fades out. It was just lame though, I don't even know how to explain why it didn't work but it was just bad!
So I included a couple of small phrases at the start of the video to introduce it in a way.
This is the time I painted myself blue for an assignment
It didn't come out too easily
The final video only has a small voice over element and I'm really happy with it. It's kind of unusual, the performance really took a path of its own - it was an exciting thing to try. I do feel slightly vulnerable showing this video to people, but that's just the nature of the performance I chose to do.
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