On the 1st July 2016 as a school we travelled to London, and I went to the Victoria & Albert Museum. There I went into the Paul Strand Exhibition and took inspiration from some of his photos for my own music video and also how to stage the ancillaries - like how to create the cover for the digipak and the style of the website homepage for the band.
Here are some of the photos that I liked and have taken inspiration from:
Abstraction, Porch Shadows, Twin Lakes, Connecticut
Strand's abstract compositions feature identifiable objects, but they are photographed at close range and their scale is distorted or parts are cropped out of view. He sometimes titled a composition to achieve a powerful formal arrangement.
I like this photo and feel that me and Imogen should include shots like this in our music video, where we have close up of shots of shadows through slats - we could film the shadows in a timelapse as the day goes on so the shadows move.
Untitled (Pear and Bowls), Twin Lakes, Connecticut
This image shows how Strand was influenced by Cubism as he explored different artistic styles. Stopping short of pure abstraction, Cubists, such as Picasso and Georges Braque, featured recognisable objects in their paintings and collages, but cut them up and rearranged them, questioning what it was that made a picture.
Although I don't think we will include mismatched photos and shots in pour video I like the close up on mundane things like these pears and bowls, we could have a character walk past something and then the camera can focus on it or have a character walk into shot across the frame with mundane objects in the background.
Pine Forest, Maine
1928 - Platinum Print
I like the sinister effect of having a darker colour shot, however this would not fit into the codes and conventions of an indie pop video as they're usually quite light and happy.
Rebecca, New York
About 1921
Strand's tender portraits of his wife reveal an attempt at intimacy that is unusual in his work. The images are made in tight close-up shots. In contrast, Rebecca often appears distant and illusive.
I do like the intimatcy of the close-up with the vacant stares to combat the image, however I feel that in our music video we could get shoot an extreme close-up to the model's face which only shows the eyes or lips. Since the song we are covering is upbeat and lively having a distant looking model would not fit in with the typical codes and conventions of the whole video.
Wild Iris, Georgetown, Maine
1927 or 1928 - Platinum Print
I like the close-up and abstract nature of this photograph, I feel that it is much like Paul Strand's other piece 'Abstraction' since it is an average scene that we may see however the way Strand has managed to capture each detail of a leaf is extraordinary. I think we could have a face popping out of the foliage or possibly the shot with a close-up on a plant and then have the protagonists running past, to break the stillness.
Drift Wood, Dark Roots, Maine
1928 printed in 1940s
I really like this photograph, I'm not sure how we could incorporate a shot like this into our video however we could influence our piece by having a similar over exposed and very highlighted filter on our footage. We could possibly find some driftwood on the beach and use that to create a lookalike shot however I do not think that would fit in with our piece.
Elizabethtown, New Mexico
1930 - Platinum Print
I really like the run down effect of the of the house and the dark vibe that accompanies it, however it would not fit in with our music video because it has too dark a vibe to flow well with the piece.
Gateway, Hidalgo, Mexico
From Photographs of Mexico
1932 - 1933; printed in 1940
I enjoy viewing this photo because of the contrasts of shadows to light, it reminds me of old western films which used a similar contrast within their footage and editing. I don't think we could use a shot like this within our piece but however during the editing process I could contrast the footage so that it has more impact on the viewer.
Toward the Sugar House, Vermont
1944 - Gelatin Silver Print
My eyes are captivated in this photo, I really enjoy looking at it because of the different elements to it. The wooden paneling framing the white snow which contrasts to the deep colour of the wood, with trees breaking up the solid white and giving the eye lines to follow - this photograph has to be one of my favourites. I doubt we would be able to film a scene like this because of our time constraints and also with our piece being set in the summer having snow in the video wouldn't fit. However we could film the beach, which is the theme of our video, through a window or door that resembles this.
Town Hall, New Hampshire
1946 - Gelatin Silver Print
The tone of this piece is very settling with the viewer being able to see the sky and with the building being very white it puts them at ease. I feel we could recreate this by filming a local church where you can still see the bells because it could be very atmospheric.
Sea Rocks and Sea, The Atlantic, South Uist, Hebrides
1954 - Gelatin Silver Print
I feel that this shot is easy to achieve with us living locally to a coast, however I would tilt the camera further up towards the sky so that more light is in the frame - unless there were to be some sort of action happening on the rocks. Other than that I feel that this will influence our shots by having front on footage of the sea in our piece.
Rock, Loch Eynort, South Uist, Hebrides
1954 - Gelatin Silver Print
Even though the photo only shows a rock as it's subject I feel that oddly that it is very intimate because of the close-up, the grains in the rock make the viewer feel calm and collected. We include shots like this in the slower part of the song because most of the song is very upbeat and a shot of a rock would not fit in then.
Tir a'Mhurain
1954 - Gelatin Silver Print
Again alike the photo above the shot shown is very calm and collected so I do not feel that it would fit in with the rest of the video or the soundtrack if we showed a tranquil scene. However I do like it as a whole in picture wise, mainly because of the amount of sky that Strand incorporated into the shot.
Anna Attinga Frafra, Accra, Ghana
1954 - Gelatin Silver Print
This photo confuses me, the girl posing looks sad or discontent however the lighting of the shot as well as the framing show it to be a happy scene. I feel that we could use books, like shown here, and balance them on top of the models head to create a quirky look which is what our video will be mainly: quirky footage pieced together kind of like memories that are flashing back quickly.
Driveway, Orvegal, France
1957 - Gelatin Silver Print
The Orgeval pictures extend Strand's meditative exploration of nature. Instead of seeking the natural world through travelling, Strand observed the domestic pleasures of a garden in these photographs. Creating a personal counterpoint to his book projects, they are testimony to his happiness in France.
I like this shot since it has clear lines to follow, and that the overhanging leaves give it a sinister look - we wouldn't be able to use sinister tones in our work but we could film the models walking down a walk similar to this as long as in editing I turned the brightness up to show that it is a happy situation.
I feel that by going to the V & A Museum it has given me ideas and stimulus for creating our music video, this has benefited us because now we have a wider range of ideas.
