Concepts and Narratives Lecture

During this CPiC lecture we looked at different ways of showing movement and notion.

I mostly show movement through lense blur, brush strokes, shadows, light manipulation and the boomerang app.

We looked at different examples including
- Citizen Kane, Dir. Orson Welles, 1941
- Cinema, rolls of film, a series of static images which run together
- Captain America, Jack Kirby
- Gone with the wind, 1939, Richard Flemming
- Storyboards for Psycho, Alfred Hitchcock

I thought Psycho was the best example and the most interesting one, as we know the knife never actually touches the skin - its an illustration.

I then compared the differences between 'sequence' and 'narrative'

Sequence :
- One image leads to the next
- There is a flowing logic to the build up of information
- The reader doesn't have to do 'extra work' to 'join the dots'
- This can only happen when there is a clarity that demands little of the reader.. the reader isn't a 'meaning maker'

Narrative :
- Similar to sequence but I think it is a better way of explaining what is required in my essay
- The story is built up of a process - the story of testing out an idea

Works in a series :
I may have a series of key examples, part of a collection that I tie with the ideas that I work with. These can be considered as a series. This could be a problem because the work may be interesting, but not give all the information. Instead, only by drawing these numerous works together can an idea be fully demonstrated and explored.

Juxtaposition :
Took a series of photographs and brought individual images together. (Bernd and Hilla Becher Gas holders 2004)
Idris Khan. I like how the images look like their in motion as they were put on top of one another, giving a whirling affect.

Moments outside the frame :
Johannes Vermer, Young women with a water pitcher, 1962.
I found that the most interesting part isn't on the painting, looking beyond the picture frame, something else has caught her attention.
Edgar Degas, Ballet rehersal, Gouache and Pastel, 1875.
Some of the people were initially cut off and silhouettes were often included within his work. This would never have happened before photography was invented. Its more realistic, showing half a person.

Tvzetan Todorov suggests that the following key points are useful to remember :

EQUILIBRIUM - introduce characters, the setting and the general thrust of the storyline
DISTRUPTION - the balance established initially should be upset in some way
RESOLUTION - the problem is solved, addressed or equilibrium is restored.