Behind the Curtain

This short documentry has spent years in a dusty archive in Bavaria guarded by wolves. Thanks to the Charlotte Victoria estate we have been granted permission to bring the decadence and laughter of the renowned doll house cabaret to life once more for your pleasure.

Oh Hattie

Smile

 

continuing the theme of forced smiles

Amanda Palmer Video games

 

I just love this film so much. Not only do I love the song but also the concept of Amanda's hands being tied, I feel representing the restrictions she speaks on in the song in a physical and beautiful aesthetic

The day trip

 

I was asked to document my journey one day, so this is how it all started , true story !

 

keep your peepers peeled for more snap shots of the day

The doll house hall of fame gallery

        I decided to play around a little more with my existing image. In my film work I have decided to manipulate space and experient with close ups, this is an extention of that concept

The puppet master

 

The concept for the latest images is one of control, in that I feel you should be in charge of yourself and your own actions and feeling, no one else should control you!

since I am all the characters within the cabaret and the person  who controls them all I am a self made puppeteer of my own mind.

does this make sense? it does to me.

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.

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

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?

 

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
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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!

www.onahillsidedesolate.blogspot.com

(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.