Exposed poster lighting, Soho.

design a dictionary 13

Went to the South London Gallery a couple weeks back and was really inspired by one piece in particular by Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard called 'Silent Sound.'

 'the tables are turned to heighten gallery visitors’ awareness of their own position as part of an audience, as a potential target for manipulation: subliminal messaging, we are told, is being employed within this immersive and powerfully moving sound experience.'

www.southlondongallery.org

Entering the little 'cubby' hidden away at the top of a dark stair case was a little scary, within a dark circular room/space were curved seating areas and a 'control' panel that lit up to correspond with the music. 

Although the experience inside this little space was really beautiful and almost bewitching it was also unnerving due to the prospect of some subliminal message.

But aside from that, to me, it felt like I was in the womb or something, like encased or protected, ready to forget about school and make myself comfortable.

The sounds were strangely comforting and enchanting, I almost felt like I was under a spell or something.

The artist's use of sound in this piece has definitely shown me the possibilities of sound and the very real affect it can have on people and how they feel.

Taking inspiration from this piece I really want to focus on how the audio in my piece evokes feelings/emotions and works with the visual communication to create something almost sensory, so that your left feeling as though you have a better understanding of the word 'soft.'

The white lines on the image above indicate where the zips will be.

I made miniature versions of each letter out of card, using tape as the stuffing and then covering them with the fabric. The idea is to film each miniature letter individually, zoom in and then cut to a close up of each larger letter (sleeping bag/pillow) and zoom out. I will then have whom ever is inside 'animate' the letter using soft, slumpy, mumpy, frumpy, billowy movements.

quick story board:

constructing the letters

testing shapes, experimenting with positioning of body inside letters:

The 'O' is particulary cosy and comfortable!

Today I was supposed to be filming with a 'proper' camera but couldn't cos my friend wasn't able to make it, so I made do with a 10 mega pixel camera! Needless to say the quality is not great but I'll consider it a draft!

I'll be editing tomorrow, but due to technical difficulties (enough of the excuses right?) with the zoom it may not turn out to be as I intended. We shall see .. I hope all goes well!

design a dictionary 12

So today was exhausting! But i got a lot done .. as it stands all I have to do is attach the zzzzip to the 's' and they're good to go.

I made some miniature versions of them that I will be zooming into; so that just the colour is apparent, then cutting to a close up of the larger scale ones and then zooming and adding movement with someone inside etc to create various illusions and visual effects.

Some friends and I will be 'animating' the letters, creating little 'puffs, pulls, punches' and movements that create a sense of softness and comfort, soft nature, sweetness ... 

The overall all feel of the film will be that of a child's educational television programme such as 'the clangers' , 'the flumps' , and 'sesame street' etc.

I had a little trouble constructing the  's' because of its awkward shape and the fabric's tendency to stretch and warp but overall, considering the amount of time I had, i'm pleased .. now I just need to get filming.

In the meantime here are a couple of inspirational clips off of youtube, a few childhood favourites that animate the letters of the alphabet using sound and movement, creating various characters and allowing us to learn through colour, play, song, repetition and interaction:

design a dictionary 11

design a dictionary 10

Today was spent making the pattern pieces for these giant letters ... and to be honest I'm wondering whether I'll be able to get them done in time, as I also want to make a video. 

I've decided to attempt to make them reversible so that you can climb inside and be enveloped in fleece but also that they can look fluffy for the onlooker ... and be an interesting subtle creamy beige furry mass of a letter.

I'm also thinking of having the centre of the 'o' be a 'hatch' to climb in and out of, so you basically unzip the centre, climb inside and then zip your self in .. so you'll end up being able to really stretch out in this giant circular envelope of juicy soft stuff. 

I don't know why I only have pictures of the 'f ' ... I've finished making the pattern pieces for all the letter except the 's' which is taking longer than intended because of it's annoying shape. I also need to buy more fleece, poor bank balance! jeeeez ... 

Ideally I'd like the final piece to be a video installation ... I was inspired by this late 70's kid's show called 'The Flumps' which I'm a fan of :

I just love the sensibility and the clever simplicity of it, not to mention it's visual appeal. I feel like kid's programmes are so into force feeding some sort of educational or moral message, and in a very 'smiley middle aged man wears red jumper, brings out the finger puppets and then sings' kind of way ..  or in a 'saturday morning, poorly produced CGI cartoon' kind of way.

The music in the opening of  'The Flumps' is so simple, honest and charming and really makes me think of round furry characters .. 

I'm visualising a video in which people in the 'sleeping bags/body bags' limp, jump, hop into shot. I love the idea of people inside them animating the word in a 'flumpy, frumpy, uncoordinated' way, bumping into one another, possibly tripping etc ... I'm also thinking of the idea of being 'softly spoken' and having a motherly voice and then a child's voice read aloud the definition of the word 'soft' whilst the visuals happen, and then maybe having a live demo of how to wear one.
We'll see.. anyways .. knackered!

design a dictionary 9

clown - outside fancy dress shop in soho

sculpture/public art - shepherd's bush