Video Proposal / Support Document.

Proposal for Videos

In my two videos, I am looking at the theme of observation and identity through a camera mounted like a static CCTV camera and a video that has been cut up and put together to create a narrative.  To arrive at this idea of observation, I looked at how we all like to observe each other and because we know we are being observed, we act in a certain way.

The first video is set up in a similar way to a CCTV camera and is a recording of the high street in Chester from above. In this video, the viewer is encouraged to look at what is happening in the high street, and start to form a narrative in their own mind as to what is happening, this may differ greatly from viewer to viewer, or could possibly be similar. The video will be played in a loop giving the viewer a chance to watch several times to really get to grips with the large amount of things simultaneously happening in this video.

In the second video, the viewer watches what is a constructed video and although they have the ability to construct a narrative in their own mine the video is more forced and constructed in a way that the viewer observes what I want them to with the focus being on the Salesperson in the background, and in the foreground more obviously the Preacher/ Evangelist and their interactions with each other and the people around them.


The videos will be displayed on two screens next to each other, they will be played at the same time as they have the same soundtrack, they are played side by side so the viewer really gets to see the contrast between the narrative they have constructed, and the narrative which has been constructed for them.
The videos are both 2mins and 47 seconds long, with the same soundtrack, they will be played together at the same time, and will loop continuously, this has the advantage of giving the viewer chance to construct their narrative on the first one and look at the second installment of the video without taking too much time, but at the same time providing an adequate amount of time to enjoy the videos.

Video proposal

Proposal for Videos

In my two videos, I am looking at the theme of observation and identity through a camera mounted like a static CCTV camera and a video that has been cut up and put together to create a narrative.  To arrive at this idea of observation, I looked at how we all like to observe each other and create our own stories as to what people are doing. We often don’t know these people but we are curious by nature and like to jump to conclusions about people’s actions. 

The first video is set up in a similar way to a CCTV camera and is a recording of the high street in Chester from above. In this video, the viewer is encouraged to look at what is happening in the high street, and start to form a narrative in their own mind as to what is happening, this may differ greatly from viewer to viewer, or could possibly be similar. The video will be played in a loop giving the viewer a chance to watch several times to really get to grips with the large amount of things simultaneously happening in this video.

In the second video, the viewer watches what is a constructed video and although they have the ability to construct a narrative in their own mind the video is more forced and constructed in a way that the viewer observes what I want them to with the focus being on the Salesperson in the background, and in the foreground more obviously the Preacher/ Evangelist and their interactions with each other and the people around them.

The videos will be displayed on two screens next to each other, they will be played at the same time as they have the same soundtrack, they are played side by side so the viewer really gets to see the contrast between the narrative they have constructed, and the narrative which has been constructed for them.

The videos are both 2mins and 47 seconds long, with the same soundtrack, they will be played together at the same time, and will loop continuously, this has the advantage of giving the viewer chance to construct their narrative on the first one and look at the second installment of the video without taking too much time, but at the same time providing an adequate amount of time to enjoy the videos.

Clip one                                                            Clip 2

creating my video

i have put my video together using premier pro, and i have some screenshots to illustrate the video compilation

 i had to clean up my audio to get rid of pops and clicks, i did that usind adobe soundBooth

Rory Carnegie

http://www.rorycarnegie.com

RORY CARNEGIE: BIOGRAPHY

Rory Carnegie is an award winning photographer working both in the UK and Internationally. His published books include: Sons of the Moon, a study of the people of the Altiplano, Bolivia; Art Crazy Nation, portraits from the art world in the UK and, How the World came to Oxford, documenting the experiences of refugees in the UK.

He was shortlisted for Sony World Photographic Awards 2013 in the Fashion category and won Gold at the AOP Awards 2013.

He has exhibited in the UK at the National Portrait Gallery, The Lowry in Salford, South East Art Centre and MAO in Oxford, as well as contributing to exhibitions in America, Holland and Russia.

He is currently working on a project with the writer, Tim Pears, documenting the lives of a divided community called, I Am From.

Rory carnegie has looked at people on buses, looking at their identity, the work focuses on looking through the wondow at the occupier, and gives us a split second bit of information about what is going on in their lives, or what we think is going on in their lives more to the point. 

Erin Quinn

http://www.erinquinnphotography.com/projects/surveillance

boris mikhailov

boris mikhailov is a photographer who i am looking at because of the way he portrays people, he essentially pays people to do what he wants them to do, and then photographs them, i personally don't feel this is ethical. i however am looking at people identity, so i thought it would be worth a look


http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/1138


Ukrainian-born Boris Mikhailov is one of the leading photographers from the former Soviet Union. For over 30 years, he has explored the position of the individual within the historical mechanisms of public ideology, touching on such subjects as Ukraine under Soviet rule, the living conditions in post-communist Eastern Europe, and the fallen ideals of the Soviet Union. Although deeply rooted in a historical context, Mikhailov’s work also incorporates profoundly engaging and personal narratives of humor, lust, vulnerability, aging, and death. 


This exhibition is the first in-depth presentation of Mikhailov’s seminal Case History series (1997–98) in an American museum. This body of work explores the deeply troubling circumstances of people who have been left homeless by the collapse of the Soviet Union. Set against the bleak backdrop of the industrial city of Kharkov, Mikhailov’s life-size color photographs document the oppression, devastating poverty, and everyday reality of a disenfranchised community living on the margins of Russia’s new economic regime. Mikhailov recalls of his experience returning to Kharkov some years after the collapse of communism, “Devastation had stopped. The city had acquired an almost modern European centre. Much had been restored. Life became more beautiful and active, outwardly (with a lot of foreign advertisements)—simply a shiny wrapper. But I was shocked by the big number of homeless (before they had not been there). The rich and the homeless—the new classes of a new society—this was, as we had been taught, one of the features of capitalism.” One of the most haunting documents of post-Soviet urban conditions, Mikhailov’s pictures capture this new reality with poetry, clarity, and grit.

Erin Quinn - Surveillance

Artist's Statement on her work


A culmination of 18 months of research and work, this project examines and explores the rapid rise of surveillance in modern society. The photographs were taken at an international airport where the scenes unfolded naturally. The people in the photographs were unaware that they were being photographed. The camera was set up from a CCTV perspective, high above the subjects. The shutter was only released when a person entered the frame. My intention was to open an essential dialogue and to highlight the fact that CCTV can sometimes create and even breed suspicion within society, making ordinary moments appear somehow sinister. We tend to attach guilt and suspicion to surveillance imagery or images taken from this perspective. I’m interested to see how the viewer interprets these images and how they may even question their own judgement when doing so.

Photographic exhibition supported by audio notes of observations at the airport as well as video of actual CCTV footage collected from clips from various sources.

I Feel that this body of work produced by Erin Quinn fits in well with the video work that i am doing, she is looking at people from the perspective of CCTV and how CCTV can start to create a picture of whats happening, and give people a suspicious image even if they may not even be doing anything. i think it fits in well with my aim to expose people in the society and photograph them as they cross my 400MM camera lens that i am using to Survey Chester

Notes and list of photographers / books

Research Surveillance we are aware we are being watched 

we act in a certain way as we are always observed, we observe each other we   

we compose and perform for the camera or other people even if we don’t know they are there 

Thinking aloud podcast 

ollie lambert - documentary on kids with divorced parents 

source magazine 

liz wells : a critical introduction to photography 

david bate 

stephen bull 

charlotte cotton - the photographers contemporary art 

walter benjamin 

john berger - camera lucida 

Susan sontag

abigail solomon-godeau inside out

photographers 

Mark Nevils

brian griffin 

thomas struff

andreas gursky 

richard avedon

boris mikhilov