Koyaanisquatsi - 'Life out of balance'

Today I watched a film that was called Koyaanisquatsi meaning life out balance. It runs for 1h 23mins, and was funded by Francis Forcopular and directed by Godfrey Reggic.

The types of visual images are varied; beginning with images of a natural cave painting then developing from this into different complex and more disturbing images. All of the images are in colour and the different frames of landscapes and building's are fantastic pieces of craftsmanship behind the camera lens. There are no actors as such there are simply different insignificant characters that are in the frames. the film is almost a bibliography of our earth so far.

The types of audio that were used in the film match the imagery of the film fantastically. There are parts of the film where the images are moving so fast and its almost a blur, the audio makes this fast paced and you cant actually Tell which one is leading the other. The audio is non diegetic throughout the film, however the music makes the images so well that at times you think that the sound may actually be coming from the frame. There is no diagetic sounds that come from the film.

There are many different concepts of the film. This may be because the film is a long film for that subject matter. Or maybe it is down to making a film that is so relevant to this side of the century. Or perhaps it so full of different concepts and ideas, that the audiences head would be buzzing!

One of the many concepts that I got from the film was that it was portraying a cycle of life from birth to life then death. In the beginning of the film where was a diagram of a very old cave drawing. Then through a series of images we are taken through time until the 1980's where the times have completely one of the last things that the audience sees is a explosion of a rocket which would symbolise death. Another concept (linking closely with the idea of life and death) is the way we have changed the world as it is and we a re responsible of our own annihilation. There is a lot of destructive images of buildings being demolished which would suggest destruction.

chapter 4 - The use of exibition space to create meaning

The use of exhibition space to create meaning was a factor that was considered when I was viewing art work around the Tate gallery. Modern art can seem boring an insignificant and a bit pointless if it is displayed in a traditional way, (hung on a canvas with other art not too dissimilar from each other) because there is so much more meaning, different concepts and opinions in modern art, it is important to package the art correctly.

There was a lot of space to the Art, which suggests that the ideas and the art needs space around it to make room for the viewers ideas, also i found that Cornelia Parker's work on the hanging cutlery was reliant on the space that it was in. Without the cool halogen lighting and the bright white walls the effect of the shiny silverware would have been lost.

Cornelia Parker's work '30 pieces of silver' could be seen as a paradox; these are pieces of delicate and fragile of cutlery suspended precariously on thin wires but the actual cutlery has been brutally flattened by a steam roller, this may suggest violence.

The title '30 pieces of silver' is interesting that it may be related to biblical meaning. the 30 pieces of silver is what Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus with, it seems interesting that a work of art that has no correlation with this concept, yet it would be worded exactly the same.

The use of exhibition space really helped this piece of art because you would expect to find pieces of crushed silver in a junk yard, however because it has been put into a gallery with the appropriate lighting, the status of the inanimate objects has changed. It is now more important and people will take notice of it because it is the only thing in the room.

I do think that I did not get a lot out of the Tate however I do think that with hindsight I respect the art and the artists more for their ideas instead of their artwork.

Experemental video; 'Doll face' Andy Huang

I really liked this experimental video, I found that not only was it a very thought provoking video on an emotional level but the composition was very well put together.

The craft of the video seemingly simple was actually very complex, to fusion a robot and a human head together and make it believable shows great skill.

The concept of 'Doll face' can be seen in many different ways, looking from and audience perspective i felt that this was linked very closely to how the media effects humans, with reference to the flashing images of the TV bombarding the robots head, and no matter how hard the robot tried it was never quite good enough. it shows how people cover up their faces like a mask and what people do to try and achieve perfection. The parallels between this video and our modern day society shows that no matter how much people try to achieve something that is aesthetically pretty it will never be enough, and the conclusion to that is a tragic death of the robot-the ultimate price of beauty.

There are many different types of contexts in doll face, it is a point that I think that Andy Huang wanted to achieve. By taking something completely out of context and putting the scenario into many different ideas, and letting the audience make their mind up about it.

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