Gisele Kerozene by Jan Kounen 1989

Gisele Kerozene by Jan Kounen is a stop-motion animation film made in the late eighties. It is set in a modern city with a small statue as the main prop - the most important. Three main characters are chasing the statue after the fourth steals it. One by one the three characters are defeated by the fourth. It happens around the city weaving in and out of buildings.

Being a stop-motion animation film it allows the actors to fly on their motorised flying brooms, this means the story line is easy to follow because the concept is simple. This concept could be one of the main characters is meant to steal the bird statue, therefore the others are meant to follow the thief. The whole video has an element of humor to keep the audience interested.

Muto by BLU

Muto by BLU in 2006 is another stop-motion animation, instead of people its graffitti drawn on walls which have then been animated to create the motion of the characters moving along the walls.

The concept of the film in my opinion is about birth, death and recreation. This is a clue from the film becuase the 'men' on the walls keep changing and evolving as well as becoming something new. Its a good way to represent the recreation that happens during life. There is also a sence of humor being presented in the film, for example, a man sneezes and 'breaks' his head.

The Girl Chewing Gum By John Smith - 1976

'The Girl Chewing Gum' by John Smith was created in 1976, in a town centre.

'The Girl Chewing Gum' uses a camera to shoot in a continuous motion which allows us to see what is happening as it happens. This is so no jumpiness between scenes or pictures is created unless they are meant to be placed there, by using the cut effect in editing.

'The Girl Chewing Gum' requires the audience to constantly watch the artwork from beginning to end to understand everything. The narrator in the beginning of the film is telling the audience what happens, and its worded to make it sound like he is a director telling the set and cast members what to do. Eventually, the narrator then reveals that he is miles away in a park.

This spin on the film allowed the audience to be put into a false sense of believing something, once the viewer had watched the film, the reaction made by the audience at the very end of the film allows the concept of the video to be expressed. I would say that this was the concept of the film.

Deadline Post-it - Bang-Yao Lui 2008

Bang-Yao Lui created the stop-motion animation film for his final project at Savannah College of Art and Design.

The animation took 3 months to film, 3000 post-it notes and 1 week to edit. The use of the editing program makes the viewers feel like they are watching something which took a week to film, and shorter to edit. Its not until the end where you realise how much effort the crew and creator went to for the final project.

The use of colour on the wall makes it seem more realistic and giving the post-it notes a personality - of course they cannot move, but the animation makes it feel like they are moving across the wall into different shapes and objects. The size of the animation makes the personification of the post-it notes even more real. I feel it also makes everything easier to understand while watching the animation.

The use of colour, editing and size makes the video seem like it has been created by professionals, it surprised me to find out it was done by students.

The concept of the video isnt clear if you watch it a couple of times. Its clear to see that the video has a sturcture, with a beginning, middle and an end. From my point of view, the concept could be exploring the idea of a fully craft driven piece, using stop-motion animation.

Posting it on YouTube allowed the world to see his creation, now its been recognised as a wonderful video by E4's series 'RudeTube' making an appearance in the 'Weird and Wonderful' episode.

Chapter 3 - Narrative and non-narrative structures

Artists have to take into consideration whether their piece needs a narrative structure or not. This could mean if the audience can admire the work and then move on, or if the audience has to admire the work from beginning to end to understand the artist's point of view.

'The Girl Chewing Gum' by John Smith requires the audience to admire the work from beginning to end to understand everything. This is because at the beginning the narrator tells us what he was to happen, as if he is a director, and the audience pick up on this straight away. However, something during the middle of the film doesn't add up. As the information is fed to the audience by the film, the behaviours of people around and the narrator talking doesn't fit the way it used to fit in the very beginning. This then gives the middle part of the film and at the very end, the narrator explains who he is, its not who the audience assumed he is. Therefore this gives the film the structured, beginning, middle and end.

Tina Gonsalves' Chameleon doesn't have a structured story like 'The Girl Chewing Gum'. Tina Gonsalves had created pieces of artwork that the audience didn't need to constantly look at to understand the whole idea. This meant the audience could look at one piece (in this case an interactive photo) and then move onto another. Without having to constantly look at the artwork unfold its story by beginning, middle and end it made it easier for the audience to understand what the artist was meant to achieve.

Chapter 2 - Technology, Techniques and Styles

'DEADLINE - Post-it' (YouTube) Bang-Yao Liu 2008

'The Girl Chewing Gum' by John Smith 1976

In the space of 33 years, technology has meant that more and more of people's ideas can be expressed better, with it becoming more realistic as technology advances.

The 'DEADLINE post-it' Video was created by a student from Savannah College of Art and Design for their final project (available on YouTube). By only using stop-motion animation it has shown the advancement in technology, which means that more and more of the creators ideas can be expressed better. Another way of showing the advancement in technology is the images are able to be stitched together to make the video have a smoother transition between pictures.

'The Girl Chewing Gum' uses a camera to shoot in a continuous motion which allows us to see what is happening as it happens which is easier on both the crew and the audience. This is because there is no jumpiness between scenes or pictures unless they are meant to be placed there, by using the cut effect in editing.

The styles vary differently, but they both have the same outcome, they both are trying to show the audience something. In one film this is exploring the idea of a fully craft driven piece by the use of stop-motion animation and clever shots as well as a mix of good music and clever animation skills, whereas the other video is trying to convince people the order in the way it happens, when actually it is prerecorded and watching from a certain distance by continuous shots, and have clever sentences over the shots, repeated to create the first impression which leads to the audience's assumption.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpWM0FNPZSs

Chapter 1 - Past And Current Artist Work

For this I am going to discuss Andy Huang's 'Doll Face' (1996) and 'The Girl Chewing Gum' by John Smith (1976). Andy Huang's 'Doll Face' follows a robot's journey's to try to find perfection which leads ultimately to the robot self destructing because of not being able to find perfection. Where as 'The Girl Chewing Gum' by John Smith is a town center scene where there is a narrator, telling the audience what the narrator wants to happen. Although it is later revealed that the narrator is telling the audience what has already happened at the particular location.

A main similarity of the two experimental videos is the video tells the audience a lie. In Andy Huang's video this is the TV telling the robot that the image on screen is the perfection that the robot should aim for. However when this image changes again, the robot is again being told what perfection should be, and as before, the robot copies. A similarity occurs in John Smith's video. The narrator is telling the audience what happens, and its worded to make it sound like he is a director telling the set and cast members what to do. After minutes of this happening, the narrator then reveals that he is miles away in a park. The beginning of the film makes it look like we are watching something in creation, in fact we are watching it and assuming somethings happening. The reveal of the narrators true identity comes as a shock for the audience because of the first assumption that he was a director.

A difference between the two films is the way the similarity is played to the audience. In 'Doll Face' the object or person is the TV, this is shown as the most important character because the TV is telling the doll/robot what to do. This is understood almost instantly by the audience. However in John Smith's film it is not instantly understood who takes control of the scene. We (as an audience) have hints and idea's that it be the man talking and narrating the piece, but is later revealed that the man talking isn't who the audience assume he is. The difference is the understanding made by the audience of who each character could be, in one film the understanding is made instantly, in the other film the understanding takes a little longer to be known to the audience.

Chapter 6 - Different Interpretations

Many people have different interpretations of things that they may see, whether on a daily basis or on a one off trip, for example in the Tate Modern.

The interpretations made by the audience of the artwork in the Tate Modern may be different as everyone will have different opinions and these opinions effect their conclusions of the art-work they might see.

Some examples of this could include Robert Therrien's 'No Title (A Table And Four Chairs)'. Many people, including myself, didn't think that this was art. After reading the descriptive plaque on a wall to describe the artists views to try to explain his reasons for creating the art, it later changed the way I viewed the piece, therefore the plaque on the wall could have changed the way others saw the table and four chairs.

Another piece experienced at the Tate Modern was Anish Kapoor's structure. As before, you needed to read the plaque on the wall to understand what the artist was thinking. To start off with, it looked like art although it was still unclear what it meant without reading the plaque. It could be the reflection of anything, being distorted and changed to be something else or something new. However, when I read the plaque, my interpretation was completely different to the artist's view - making it feel like my personal interpretation wrong. Taking this into consideration, as well as including my personal opinion, i think artists make artwork with multiple meanings because everyone might read it differently to the original idea, therefore it would make it easier to create different meanings.

If everybody had the same interpretation on art or on every day objects, nothing would be any different because everyone will think the same about those objects. There would be no contrast between something being art or not, there would be no difference in opinion between the art objects, it would make art boring because no one can explore what the meaning of the object or what they think of the object when they see it.

Chapter 5 - My Experimental Video Idea

My experimental video is inspired by many works of art published first on YouTube, now being published on TV channels such as E4 (RudeTube) and channel 4. The concept of the stop-motion animation video is exploring the idea of a fully craft-driven piece of work.

The whole video will use stop-motion animation until the very last scene, this will be using a normal video recorder.
The first few scene's will involve the main character (a wooden art figure) doing everyday tasks, like moving things around and clearing things up. The scene's in the middle will consist of the main character preparing for a party or gathering.
Unfortunately, only one person turns up. Another character (another wooden art figure - and the only one turning up) will join the main character for a party, each will do something different at the party. The last scene will consist of 2 people re-creating a scene from the stop-motion clips or creating a new scene to add onto the end.

Koyaanisqatsi (Life Out Of Balance)

Created by Godfrey Reggio, Koyaanisqatsi, the 1hour 23minute long film to me represents life in different stages. Going from very colourful images to dark and gloomy images, paired with the music makes the viewer feel many different emotions towards the pictures being shown. For example, an image of a street which is over crowded as well as the music, in turn it makes the viewer feel uncomfortable as well by seeing the images. However, the images may be a contradiction compared to the music. Some may feel that the music has a relaxing or calming effect, instead if being sad or tense.

All of the images included in the film are interesting in their own way. Some may be colourful and grab the attention of the viewer in a good way, like watching the city at night, the dark colours contrast with the lights of the streets or cars. However, some may be colourful yet be shocking for the viewer to watch, for example, the rocket blowing up, the colours of the flames contrasting against the blue sky. The majority of the pictures around the cities and towns are sped up, this may be because it fits with the music that had been placed with it.

An example of this is the second to last shot, the rocket blowing up. The music that is paired with it builds up the tension between viewer and the picture, as people are watching the rocket take off the music builds up the tension as well as making people feel more relaxed with the rocket as if nothing is going to happen. At the time of the rocket blowing up, the music makes the people feel shocked as well as feeling upset about the destruction because the false sense of the rocket being okay, it also makes the viewers question if what they had just seen involved anyone or question why they are being shown the picture of the rocket blowing up.


From having watched the Koyaanisqatsi film, it seems that there is no obvious concept or controlling idea. To me it just seems like a couple of cleverly shot pictures have been cunningly mixed or placed together with some influential music to make the viewers judge and evaluate the images and the music to come to their own conclusion.

Chapter 4 - The Use of Exhibition Space To Create Meaning

The two artworks I will be talking about are Anish Kapoor's 'Ishi's Light' from 2003 and Robert Therrien's 'No Title (a table and four chairs)' also from 2003.

Anish Kapoor's 'Ishi's Light' is a structure with two plain colours. Being a matt brown on the outside, the attention is drawn to the inside of the shape, a gloss on the inside reveals a dark red colour. The artist said that it is to 'represent the creation of the universe'.
Being in a plain room painted white, the colours of the artwork draw the viewers attention to it. As well as the contrast of the colours on the inside of the artwork compared to the colour of the walls. As a viewer of the art the meaning was unclear, and still is. By knowing what the artist tried to reflect in the art work, it makes it slightly easier to understand the meaning of the artwork.








Robert Therrien's 'No title (a table and four chairs)' is simply a table and four chairs placed around that table. The concept behind the artwork is to try to explain that art comes in many forms, even if they are objects that are used on a daily basis.
As the same as before, being in a plain painted room the artwork stand out, as there is nothing else to look at. The viewers attention is no longer diverted onto other things in the room. The lighting, showed in the picture, make it seem as though its right as well and being wrong. For example, being the right size whilst being the wrong size. Being such a bold colour it makes it even easier for people to notice the artwork. Being able to walk under the table and chairs made them seem even bigger, or me, smaller.

Either of these artwork items fit within the surroundings of an exhibition. Either of them would look different if they where in a town center or field.
Anish Kapoor's 'Ishi's Light' I feel is more flexible and can adjust dependant of the surroundings it is placed within. If it was placed into the town center, it still looks like art, but maybe creating the feeling that its a sculpture to show what's going on instead of trying to reflect the whole universe.
Robert Therrien's 'No Title ( A Table And Four Chairs)' isn't as flexible when it is placed in different surroundings, as it looks its best in the current surroundings of the exhibition. If it was placed in the town center, it may look like an advert for furniture instead of trying to put across the idea that ordinary objects could be seen as art if they were seen in a different way or from a different point of view.

Andy Huang - Doll Face

First impressions after watching the experimental video were mixed, however the more I seemed to watch it, the more things became clear and easier to explain. This is my interpretation of the initial concept by the video creator.

The plain/clean face at the start of the video could imply that the rest of the video is going to create something on the face, as if it was a blank canvas. The random images on the TV could give a suggestion of being unimportant or irrelevant to the ‘robot’.

Firstly the TV focuses on a face, unclear to the viewer; who’s or why etc, however the ‘robot’ takes an interest and seems to copy the make-up on the displayed face. To the viewer this could suggest they are not content with the way they look or they believe that the face on the TV is the only way to look - every other way is wrong.

The smile at the end of the ‘improvements’ could suggest that the ‘robot’ is looking for an answer within the TV and appears to be startled when the picture suddenly changes to another series of random pictures and onto yet another face. Yet again the ‘robot’ feels like its wrong, therefore more adjustments are made. With each face appearing the TV moves away and the ‘robot’ follows it. However after this appearing face, the TV moves too far away from the robot and it’s not possible for the ‘robot’ to be able to see the face.

The ‘robot’ and the TV break at the same time which gives an impression that there is a connection between the two objects.

The broken ‘robot’ on the floor suggest the final adjustment the ‘robot’ was prepared to take would have been too much and potentially ruining something that was good enough in the first place. The music is trying to promote emotion towards the pain of the ‘robot’ breaking however the music is more obvious towards the end, although it does play all the way through.

When the TV shows everything it could suggest what could happen if other ‘robots’ went through the same thing (changing too many times, then breaking) or showing what happens in normal society. People change and not all the time they are accepted and because of that, they feel they have to change even more to fit in.

As the larger TV shows the viewer everything that is going on, the TV that the viewers were originally focusing on starts to get closer to the broken ‘robot’, maybe to suggest to people who cant always have what you dream for, sometimes you have to settle for what you have, until change comes to you or to question what has just happened.

The last shot of random images, to me, suggest that it is better to focus on difference rather then on one particular image of someone you may look up to or way of looking/feeling to be similar to the image.