Friday 30 November 2012

If I only had a heart (re cut)

 
Since I 'm  a very poorly bunny and couldn't manage to paint my face and act, I decided that I would polish some of my older work. I must say I feel this works a lot better now it has been sped up and had some of the longer less relevant parts cut completely

And then It all became clear !



                                  And then it all became clear, Film was the way forward!

Another world full of lovely creatures


 
I've been using photo shop a lot more lately, at first I was wary and didn't want to rely completely upon it, and I still don't  but the more I use it the more I realise it is a form of collage , just like the collage puppets I was creating out of coloured papers. I must admit I found this all out my accident as I decided to work this out whilst I was ill and basically wasn't up to finding all my papers and cutting it all precisely. I must admit , I love some of the results I have been coming out with. I feel the images still look other worldly , but have now become a little more 'fun' and quite bonkers, in fact this is defiantly a world I would love to inhabit!
 
I've drawn a lot of influence from the work of Graham Rawle and Analle Carlstrom. My aim is to make everything in this new world ,( located on the edge of the dark forest) bizarre, fun and other worldly.

The light at the end of the forest


 
Moving away from the melancholy I saw a light at the edge of the Forrest, lighting my way toward the Cabaret

Back to The Dark forest







Based on my love of the characters I created in the dark forest and the experimental work I am embarking upon now, I realised that I didn't have to leave the dark forest behind entirely, instead I could re vamp it. combining the new skills I have learnt regarding photo shop and also my love of collage  the dark forest , I feel has evolved, using various composition I feel that the dark forest can be something entirely different , still macabre , but maybe not as sorrowful due to a few small adjustments.

Saturday 24 November 2012

The tiny dancers


(Nina Conti)

 
I was recently tolled about this lovely lady and now that I have seen her I am extremely pleased I was told.
 
I love the concept of turning people into puppets, I understand people do this metaphorically all the time , but to actually make a mask which makes someone into an actual  puppet, I think is genius and only wish I'd have thought of something so clever and funny , If you haven't heard of this fantastic lady , I'd recommend you look her up!

The dancing dolls triplet sensatiuon

 The dancing doll triplet sensation
 
The dancing doll sisters are as small as your thumb and reside inside a tea cup inside the Doll house cabaret, performances are rare due to their size and the fear of been trod upon.

A few Battie Hattie stills






The Perils of Pauline (Pearl White)



Pearl White was the first stunt woman (that I know of) she thrived in the silent movie era as her dramatic gestures were shunned from the stage but embraced by the silent film makers.
    Aside from her being a female pioneer of her day, I love the way her films looked, I like the fact that they never had much of a script , and so relied solely on the dramatic gesture and what the theatre called 'over acting'
The way in which the films were approached I feel adds to the charm, the way in which the fast pace of the story fits with the speed of the imagery.

I want to try and make my own films look as charming as this, both technically and aesthetically. I would like people to look at my films and wonder if they are actually from the 1920's.

As much as I love the work I have been producing lately, I still think I could do better as far as the aesthetics are concerned, so this is something I am working on at the moment. I strive to be the best I can at whatever I do

Thursday 22 November 2012

We like to Hula (Feline and Furness, Tales from the doll house cabaret)

 
Feline and Furness embark upon their new act , drawing upon metaphors (IE rosy cheeks) and challenging the notion of our painted on smiles, should we wear them or just wipe them clean to reveal the ugly mood beneath them?
 

Tuesday 20 November 2012

Art with impact

http://www.artwithimpact.org/submitted-films

I have entered my short film on the presumptions on mental health into this competition , If you like it please do vote
x

Saturday 17 November 2012

A day in the life of Battie Hattie (The presumptions of a narrow mind)

 
This is a film I made for a competition (art with impact)
A short tongue in cheek film about the presumptions people make regarding mental health.
I feel a lot of people are very narrow minded and ignorant when it comes to mental health, being depressed or anxious does not mean you are a 'loony' it does not mean you can not be trusted to chop an onion, and it does not mean you are unworthy of any ones time and compassion, yet a lot of people treat it as such.
I've used my character 'Battie Hattie' from the Doll house cabaret to further demonstrate my point.
This is in no way meant to be offensive to anyone who suffers with any form of mental illness, I am dressed like a bat to place further emphasis on peoples narrow minded view,, if anyone is seen as 'different' surely they must be battie! so why not dress like a bat?
narrow minded presumptions always lead to the wrong conclusion!

Saturday 10 November 2012

(Kiki of Montparnasse )

I realise I have not put up any of my influences for a while now, and so decided I would add at least one this evening. When I first saw this film I was enchanted with the way in which only parts of the body are used. I think this creates an other worldly element and exaggerates expression even further. This is something I really do aspire to in the future.

Experimental posters



 
These aren't perfected yet, but I am playing around with concepts, I'm finding myself more and more influenced by German expressionism and surrealist art. I think this move is working very well along side the Cabaret concept.

Rosie cheeks



 
I think I may prefer the black and white. For a colourful character, I'm very dark.

Feline and Furness devise a new act














Just a few pictures of Furness
I've tried to use lighting in these images, and I think they have worked out quite well.
I can't decide if I like these in black and white of with a dash of colour.

Tuesday 6 November 2012

Tales from the doll house cabaret. (Priscilla's shame)

 
 
I feel that my video making skills are becoming a little better, not quite perfect yet but I'm getting there.
One of the main influences for this film was John Waters 'Mondo Trasho' in which Waters uses existing music to further illustrate what is going on within the film, there is no spoken dialogue, just the music. Here, instead of using existing music, I decided to create a sound or particular songs that would be associated with certain characters, whenever you see them on screen, you will hear their song.
 
I've used piano mainly as I associate it with the cabaret.
There are many more tales to tell so lots of songs are being developed for each character.

ideas for publication


 
I've just been  experimenting with some ideas on how to present my publication. I have a lot of  quirky images and am trying to play around with some surrealist/ expressionist ideas. So far the cabaret's characters have been represented through film and song, but for the publication I want to have something you can actually hold in your hand as well as just watch and hear on a screen. These ideas are very basic at the moment, but I do feel they are becoming an extension of the existing body of work, I feel that the pictures are already justifying the surrealist element of the characters within my films.

welcome to the doll house

This isn't finished yet , but it's an idea I'm working on for my cabaret publication. I'm planning on perhaps making a program for the cabaret, full of quotes and character profiles, and perhaps a CD soundtrack to accompany it.

Sunday 4 November 2012

Lady Priscilla's stylised reveal








Lady Priscilla of the doll house cabaret

"Stripping? of course I don't strip, what I do it high end art, It is stylised expressionism, ,,stripping, how dare you!"

Friday 2 November 2012

Blind Vincent and Battie Hattie, (The doll House Cabaret)

''We just like throwing knives.
Vincent is blind and I'm insane,
so we can't really be held responsible for where the knives land!"
-Battie Hattie