TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT

Perhaps the most challenging part of this project is actually compiling all the materials and creating the website. I am not highly skilled in website design which made the process very frustrating. Having been more concerned over the content of the exhibition, I found myself procrastinating designing and putting the website together. Putting the website together is taking longer than I imagined and i regret not starting this process earlier.

Initially I planned to have a very simple website in the layout of a gallery. Here is a snippet from my project proposal:

I used website builder Wix to create the mock website for the proposal. Since then, I had experimented with alternatives Adobe Muse and Squarespace. I found Muse very difficult to use as it was a software that I had never used before, I decided that I couldn't waste anymore time trying to figure out the software.

Afterwards I spent a long time experimenting with Squarespace. Although Squarespace provided very aesthetically pleasing templates, I failed to find one that enabled me to fully customise the pages - the gallery templates were the most frustrating as they kept cropping into my images and the sizing was a problem. I tried to create the website on a few of the templates before I gave up and went back to using Wix. Wix was able to give me a blank website that was fully customizable and I found it a lot easier to use.

I had fallen out of love for my initial mock design and felt that it looked very amateur. The main issue regarding my initial design was that all the characters are revealed in the home page, I decided that I wanted to reveal the characters as the viewer navigates through the exhibition which would evoke an element of fear and excitement as they cannot predict what comes next.

For design inspiration; I proceeded to find examples of good web design by looking at other online exhibition, galleries and photography portfolios including that of Tim Walker. My main concern was how I was going to arrange the images. I found the Postmatter exhibition which was a one page website, I thought the layout was very sleek and decided to arrange my website in that format to see if it would work but half way through decided that a one page exhibition would make the exhibition experience very short. 

Although I was very concerned about the time remaining for me to complete my website, I had to take a break and freshen my mind. I had a think about what experiences an online exhibition should give to the viewers and imagined what my exhibition would be like if it was physical:

• Visitors are greeted by a black room with an introduction projected on the wall accompanied by loud static noise, they are unnerved. 
• The next room is bright crimson, a projection of a girl dances on one wall to ambient sound - introduction to first series of images.
• The images in the gallery are mounted on black walls, one/two images on each wall

I went on to transfer these room/wall designs into pages for the website. My aim is to create an atmospheric experience for the viewer, as though it was a physical exhibition equipped with sound and movement. 

Website Design Sketch

PHANTASIA TEASER TRAILER

I decided that a good way to promote my exhibition was to create a teaser trailer. I collected and reviewed clips of film that had taken from the shoots and spent a day putting them together to create a thirty second video which I thought was enough to capture an audience's attention without revealing too much, I only showcased three characters out of five to keep the project mysterious.

I spent hours alone trying to find music to go with the video, I decided to use free music from Soundcloud - I liked the effect of the gentle piano, distorted sounds and static which I find unnerving and haunting. I used Final Cut Pro to edit the video, I spent a long time cutting clips to capture the perfect moments and slowed down many of the clips and added different effects to accentuate movement. I found colour correction difficult because all the clips were captured on different shoots which meant that the lighting was always different, I adjusted levels of exposure, contrast and tones, going back and forth making adjustments until I found all the clips to appear coherent. Overall I am happy with the outcome, and I have posted the video on my professional Youtube channel and shared the video on Facebook and Instagram. 

SOCIAL MEDIA

Ever since I started creating Phantasia, I knew it was important to utilise social media to give my project recognition. I posted inspiration, snippets of behind the scenes cropped previews and also short videos and gifs. I valued comments and likes as a form of encouragement as sometimes I would find myself questioning my work and my abilities, it was good to know that people gave my project a positive response. Facebook and Instagram are the two main social media platforms that I use, although I found that I have a larger audience on Instagram. The use of hashtags makes it easier for to come across my work.

One Instagram that I find a lot of inspiration on is beautifulbizarremagazine. I have used the #beautifulbizarre and they have liked a few of my Instagram posts which made me a lot of motivation and encouragement. I feel that my work very much relates to the aesthetic of the magazine and  I hope to get in touch with the magazine in the future and submit some of my work as being featured would be a very exciting accomplishment and will hopefully open up more opportunities for me as an artist. 

SHOOT 6: SNAKE

This shoot was the easiest of them all because it was a series of self portraits. Since I was the model, I was able to adapt my poses quickly to portray the emotion I needed. I was wearing a long green cheongsam which I found restricted my movement as I tried to pose, however I think that the dress works to give a subtle snake element as because the dress was wrinkling with the contours of the body just like how the skin of a snake folds as it moves. 

Overall, I think the shoot went really well and that we were able to capture a snake like essence. The only think I may change if I was to reshoot this look was the hair. I chose to wear a wig because it would drastically change my appearance. I chose that peculiar style of hair to make me look younger and more innocent however I don't think that the hair works as well with the sleek movement and slender long shapes I was creating. 

I used red mesh to symbolise the shedding of a snakes skin, although subtle, I think it creates very interesting images.

The image above is one of my favourites from the shoot because the angle has really elongated my body with the hip sticking out resembles the curves of a snake. This photo is eery because the viewer is not sure whether the eyes are open or not; there is simply a line of red. My arms look awkward but I think it works for the context of the picture, I look as if paralysed. 

MY DREAMS & SELF PORTRAITURE

Since I was a child, I have always had very vivid dreams. I have many memories of dreams, some dreams from many many years ago still haunt me. Growing up, I have always been very intrigued by the supernatural, horror has always been a love of mine and I often fill my mind with stories of ghosts and demons. Nightmares are my favourite kind of dream, the feeling of terror brings excitement and upon waking I feel very much inspired. I guess my own dream world is the main motivation and inspiration behind this project. 

My most vivid dream memory is being chased by a gigantic emerald green snake. Snakes are my biggest fear. They always slither into my dreams and terrify me. I have not questioned the meaning of these dreams until I began this project, dream dictionary gives a plethora of explanations such as running away from emotions or dealing with intimidating situations. However, the explanation that I am most drawn to is the symbolism of transformation - snakes shed their skin. I feel that especially during the last couple years and throughout this project I have transformed not only as a make-up artist but also as an artist. 

For the last character of my Phantasia series, I want to create a series of self portraits reflecting on my personal dreams - the idea of incorporating the self into my work is inspired by the art of Cristina Francov which I have talk about one of my previous posts. I think that concluding the exhibition with a personal message will create a personal connection between the viewer and the artist. 

In a subtle way, I plan to use the theme of snakes - I will become the snake who sheds skin and transforms. 

Mood board of lighting, colour and beauty inspiration.

For styling, I am thinking of wearing a emerald green cheongsam - a tight traditional Chinese dress. The sheen and pattern of the dress can resemble the skin of a snake from a distance.

BACK TO SEXSOMNIA

Sexsomnia was the shoot that I was least happy with so far in the creation of Phantasia, I found myself pushing this series away because I felt that it didn't reach my full expectation or potential, however at this stage I do not think that I will have the time to reshoot. I think perhaps, I couldn't capture the essence I was truly looking for because this is the only series of images that are not photographed by me. Although the style of aesthetic is there, I felt less connected. The main issue regarding this series of images was that it appeared too innocent and lacked the darkness that manifests within each of the other characters. Therefore, I have returned to these images to reselect and rework them in post-production to bring back the darkness. I needed this character, like all my characters, to appear tainted - therefore I have not selected any images from the first look I did from this shoot. In post production I flushed the images in a bright crimson red and increased the contrast and darkened shadows to give the images sharper edges creating a more erotic feel - I wanted to replicate the colour used in hammer horror: 

Hammer Horror: The Masque of Red Death (1964)

I wanted this character to 'exist within the red', as though she has been confined within this dream space, I wanted to capture an aspect of insanity and finally a cold awakening. After completing the edits, this series of images very much reminded me of dark and sensual text "The Bloody Chamber" by Angela Carter and I am very pleased with the result. I feel that although, the makeup and styling is the same throughout the images, the angles and subtle change of lighting and pose are able to tell a story. 

SHOOT 5: MADNESS

This shoot is another that I shot myself. I found that during the shoot I was very comfortable, I think that having to depend on myself for the majority of the project has really expanded my skill set - I really like having ultimate control. 

I had a very engaged model who I thought portrayed the character really well and I was pleased that I was able to capture it vividly on camera. One problem that arose was that the paint on the arms kept transferring on the dress as she moved, but this is a small problem as the paint stains can be easily removed on photoshop. Another issue that I thought would ruin the images was the shadows in the background, initially I was very frustrated by them and tried to remove them by changing the lighting setup, however, on reflection I found myself gravitating towards the images that consisted of a strong shadow. I felt that the shadows gave the images more depth and gave a unnerving aspect as it can appear as though there is an entity following the character. In this context - the shadow works. 

MADNESS: CHARACTER DESIGN

People who have nightmares are more open to their feelings and the world around them. In fact, nightmare sufferers are more likely to be creative people and artists. Hartmann calls this trait “vulnerability” because these people have a greater ability to be touched by the world, to experience life and all of its pain. So this vulnerability is a double-edged sword, pointing towards both creativity as well as increased suffering. And also madness. It is true that nightmare sufferers tend to be more creative, but they also have a greater chance, statistically speaking, of being prone to mental illness (schizophrenia). This is the opposite of neurosis – which is having too many psychological defenses in play. (Hartmann, 2001) 

For this series of images, I wanted to create a character that represents madness, referring to the text above, I want to create very painterly portraits to symbolise the creativity of the character and capture her descent into insanity.

I wanted to create the texture of broken wood on the skin which could make the character appear like a broken doll, heavy paint strokes on the skin would create the effect of cracks when the paint dries, creating texture that could also give the illusion that her skin is deteriorating.

To give the character a more doll like effect, I will be blocking out the eyebrows and lips and then painting on the features messily. The way the eyebrows will be painted on will give the model the expressions of anger and sadness.  Relating back to the links in creativity and madness - I want the character to appear as if she is a watercolour or acrylic painting, forever trapped in this 'canvas of dream'.

To keep an oriental theme running throughout my project, I took inspiration from geisha and Chinese theatrical makeup for this look especially with the placement and choice of colour. For styling, I have purchased a black floor length kimono with floral patterns, again to complement the oriental theme. 

DREAM AND MADNESS

Interesting read, the comparison between dream and madness:

The dream-like character of madness is one of the constant themes of the classical age. Melancholy and dreams have the same origin, and have equal value in relation to truth. There are ‘natural dreams’ that represent, in the waking state, things that have passed through the senses or through the understanding, but which are altered by the subject’s temperament. A different form of melancholy has its origins in supernatural intervention, the same force that brings dreams that foretell the future to the mind of the dreams, announcing events and causing him to see strange things.

Dreams and madness reveal themselves to be made of the same substance.

In the first moments of sleep, the vapors that rise up from the body to the head are multiple, turbulent and dense. They are so dark that they provoke no images in the mind, but their turbulence brings disorder to the nerves and muscles. The vapors rising up to the brain begins to clear and at this point fantastical dreams begin, containing miracles and countless impossible things.  Finally the agitation of the vapors is calmed entirely and the sleeper begins to see things more clearly. Through the transparent, now limpid vapors, memories of the previous day appear, representing the world as is really was, with perhaps a small number of metamorphoses. There is a constant analogy to be found between the progressive developments of sleep, and what each stage brings to the quality of the imagination, and different forms of madness, because the mechanisms are shared. Both involve the same movement of vapors and the animal spirits, the dame liberation of images, the same correspondence between the physical qualities of phenomena and the psychological or moral value of sentiments. What is important in Zacchias’* analysis is that madness is not compared to dreams in their positive phenomena, but rather to the totality formed by sleep and dreams, i.e. to an ensemble that includes images, fantasies, memories and predictions, as well as the great void of sleep, the night of the senses, and the whole negativity that separates man from his waking state and the concomitant truth of the senses. While tradition was content to compare the delirium of the man and the vividness of dream images, the classical age assimilates delirium to the indissoluble nexus of the image and the night of the spirit against which it gains its freedom. That whole, transported in its entirely to the waking state, is what constituted madness. That is the manner in which the definitions of madness that obstinately return in the classical age should be understood. The dream, as a complex figure of the image and of sleep, is almost invariable present. Either in a negative manner, as when the notion of waking is all that distinguishes a madman from a man asleep, or in a positive manner, as when delirium is defined as a modality of dream, with waking being the specific difference: ‘Delirium' is the dream of waking persons. The ancient idea that dreams are a transitory form of madness is reversed. It is no longer dreams that borrow their worrying power from madness, thereby showing how much reason is fragile or limited, but madness that takes is fundamental nature from dream, demonstrating by that similarity that is a liberation of the image in the night of the real.  

Michel Foucault, 1961 (pg. 238 – 240)

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* Zacchias - an Italian physician, teacher of medical science, medio-legal jurist, philosopher, and poet.


Foucault M, History of Madness 1961, Routledge

MADNESS KEEPS US SANE

I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity 

- Edgar Allen Poe

Dreams are mad. Our dream world is out of our control, the emotions that we experience in waking life dictates the dreams that we have. Rage, pain, grief, jealousy, all negative emotions that are suppressed in waking life are released in dream. Dangerous, even murderous dreams relieve these emotions that taunt us in reality. 

Damage - Edyta Jermacz