Update..

Im struggling to complete the rest of my hours with Paul's Graphic Design company as he's not yet got back to me with set dates, so i'll need to improvise quickly and as Panda Press have also been unable to accomadate me this time i need to find alternative experience in this area.

Creative copy n colour is a local graphic design company that i could spend a couple of days with and so aim to sort that out asap if i have no luck with Purple eight.

Also, to gain some experience in a more varied field ill try and spend some time working in a local gallery- Gallery at 12 in Eccleshall is a local place i could approach.

Juneau tutorial

My tutorial with Ben was really helpful and we managed to discuss and work through a few problems.


Came up with a few different options-
static? a scene which is made up of puppets but doesnt necessarily function
images of moving pigeon already on wall then lit up instead of reflection
lighting is the problem- nede to speak with Graham for options
pick a few elements from city and make those the piece
dont have to try and make them link into a performance

cube installation? clock, pigeon, cathedral- a walk in environment and flashing timer lights to light up the images..

Puppet Research

From 1700 to 1800

Puppet theatre in 18th-century London became fashionable adult entertainment. After 1710, when Martin Powell's puppets from Dublin opened at a theatre in St Martin's Lane, other marionette theatres were soon established.

Powell's theatre had footlights, backcloths and scenery. He performed in a tavern in Covent Garden and in towns outside London including Bath, Bristol and Oxford. His marionettes lampooned famous people and satirised current theatrical fashions, such as Italian opera. Other 18th-century London puppet theatres included Punch’s Theatre in James Street and the Patagonian Theatre in Exeter Change.

In 1770 a company of fantoccini, or Italian marionettes, introduced a new wave of continental puppet theatre to London. Italian companies performed comic opera, plays in the style of the commedia dell’arte featuring Harlequin and Columbine, and 'magical' transformations of scenery.

By 1777 there were four puppet companies in the West End as well as an oriental-style shadow theatre show called 'Ombres Chinoises' (or 'Chinese Shadows'). The famous impresario Philip Astley managed one of these for a while and included shadow theatre in an entertainment he put on in Piccadilly.

By the end of the century puppet shows at large fairs (many of which featured the marionette version of Mr Punch) almost died out because they were too expensive to operate. Instead, the glove puppet version of Punch and Judy began to be a familiar sight in portable booths on the streets of London.

Punch's head, Richard Codman Snr, early 19th century. Museum no. S.420-2001

This carved wooden head of Mr. Punch was made in the early 19th century for a member of the Codman family, Punch and Judy men for four generations. In 1946 it was presented by Richard Codman Senior to another well-respected Punch Professor, Percy Press I.

Mr Punch has had his cone-shaped hat for a long time. A 17th-century ballad referred to Mr Punch's conical hat, his amorous character, and to a character who: 'kissed like Punchinello or a sucking pig.'

Punch has also had his characteristically squeaky voice for hundreds of years, directions for a 17th-century play note that a character should 'speak in Punchinello's voice'. An account of a performance by Punch and the Devil in 1699 noted that their dialogue was: 'conveyed to the ears of the listening rabble through a tin squeaker, which was thought by some of 'em as a great piece of conjuration as was ever performed by Dr. Faustus'. This is a reference to the Italian 'pivetta' which Punchmen today call a 'swazzle'.

Mother Shipton's head, Clowes Excelsior Troupe, 19th century, Museum No. S.421-2001

This is the carved wooden head of a marionette of Mother Shipton, owned in the 20th century by the puppeteer Clunn Lewis and in the 19th century by the Clowes Excelsior troupe.

Mother Shipton featured as a character in 18th-century plays, and in 1712 the puppeteer Martin Powell advertised the play 'Mother Shipton and the Downfall of Cardinal Wolsey'. The same play was mentioned by an American journalist in 1728, writing about the English puppet theatre.

From early Tudor times, Mother Shipton was considered a prophetess, both in her local Yorkshire and around the country. Her many prophesies are said to have included the death of Wolsey, the Civil Wars and the Great Fire of London. She appears in illustrations as an ugly old lady with a hooked nose and an upturned chin. Pepys referred to Mother Shipton, and she appeared as a character in 17th-century plays and pantomime as well as in the puppet theatre where she was usually a trick puppet who smoked a pipe.


Source- http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/h/history-of-puppetry-in-britain/

Possible practitoner interviews..

I'm thinking of interviewing a group of self established artists who all share a unit space in Stoke, in order to gather some more varied opinions and experiences in the art world. These interviews would also be beneficial to my colaborative project and could be included in the blog.

The studio spaces are located in the Creative Village, based on Stoke University campus
..i hope to pay them a visit over next week.

Juneau Projects group tutorial

Todays tutorial proved very helpful and has given me some more solutions and things to think about with regard to the technical aspects of my work.

There were 6 of us in the group and we each had 5 minutes to present our puppet work in progress, we all then discussed the work for 15 minutes or so, throwing around ideas, developments and solutions/suggestions to any issues relating.

One of my technical problems was finding a way to spin the zoetrope in order to activate the moving picture- bycicle wheel, pole, motor, record player, suspended above..were all solutions we came up with and ones which ill experiment with. Cutting the pigeon stills into the lightshade, then shining light to reflect the shapes onto wall space was also an idea that came up- an alternative to the zoetrope method but could work out better ..linking more smoothly with the static scenes relected onto fabric backdrops. As this is something i'd originally been trying to accomplish...wanting to dominate the space and create movement.


Another is lighting and timings, whether to light up individual scenes in turn...maybe on a loop so have either several disco lights timed...or one light on wheels which moves to each scene.

Installation location- i want it to feel atmospheric and so needs to be in a dim lit area so as to benefit the shadows most and enhance the lighting i create.

Zoetrope- Making stages

 

After watching a few tutorial videos on youtube, i began making my Zoetrope. I first drew out the pigeon flight stages onto traacing paper- then backed it with black card and cut them out. Next i measured the circumference of the light shade and equally divided the strip into sections allocated for each image.

 

 

I arranged the silhouettes into position on the bottom half of the shade and drew out 1cm slits for the top half of the shade, at intervals where each section joined.

 

Once the slits were cut out the tracing paper strip was removed and images painted into place..then dowling attatched to the lamp fitting, enabling the zoetrope to spin revealing the moving image once viewed through the slits made.

Once i cut out the drawings of pigeon flight stages i used the templates to paint the inside of the zoetrope-

 

Touching up any rough edges..

 

The pole created to allow the zoetrope to spin freely and detatched from any stands to ensure that the eyelevel and viewing of the moving image is adjustable.

 



Finished zoetrope...

 

 

Panda Press- refusal

Yesterday I recieved an email from Nigel Passmore- Panda Press in Stone, and unfortunately they won't be able to accomadate me afterall due to replacing of staff members, as they will take time to settle in- and in the meantime will be very busy.
I'm disappointented as I was particularly looking forward to spending a few days with them and gaining some experience from Panda Press. But I hope to spend some time with them in the future, I feel it'd be really beneficial to build up my experience with knowledge gained from such experienced and well acclaimed designers.

Tutorial with Ellie

My tutorial with Ellie was mostly focusing on the collaborative project as ive nothing much to discuss about my progress with work experience.

I was concerned about missing a few of the practioner talks, although it was unavoidable i would have liked to have gained some knowledge from the artists who presented their work. I suggested maybe contacting the ones ive missed to learn a little more about their practise but Ellie assured me that the talks would soon be available to view on moodle as they were recorded so i can take notes and view the talk without missing out.

As all members of our group havent yet completed all of our placements, including me we thought it would be wise to alter the content of our publication, so as to ensure we weren't left with little or no time to produce something. As we've already begun interviewing artists we decided to build up a collection of various practittioner interviews to gather different perspectives and information about various fields of study within artist careers.
Something which we can all participate in and add to as a collective piece to aid art and design graduates in the career decision making process.

The progress so far with my work placements is awaiting further events for me to join the photographers, Alison and Cliff Grainger- but im aware most will be after hand in although, as i said to Ellie im still keen to join them for the experience. I also need to confirm dates for me to spend time with the Graphic Designer Paul Warburton- ive emailed him recently and will follow up by the end of the week.

Another topic i wanted to discuss was the Professional Practise end of module presentation, as im worried about what content i need to include and what to discuss. But having objects/ images/ handouts and film to run alongside the presentation would make it more interesting..so am aiming to borrow some display pieces from Alison etc


I'll need to focus on discussing what ive learnt and gained from the experiences rather than what i actually did- which is documented in my blog. Also future opportunities, asperations...

Zoetrope

Zoetrope- A 19th-century optical toy consisting of a cylinder with a series of pictures on the inner surface that, when viewed through slits with the cylinder rotating, give an impression of continuous motion

Now the ideas are flowing!

I aim to produce a series of three of these to display shadow puppet movement, using a cylindrical lampshade like structure and covering them in birmingham city maps, travel tickets etc as a kind of collage of travel, visitors and views of the city. These will accompany the static shadows reflected onto the hung drapes.

Simple Zoetrope tutorial...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHmSG1j7hXM

Little Red Riding Hood- shadow puppet

I found this on youtube which shows a puppet show activated using prints onto transparent film..a possibility if i choose to create an actual performance without the need for sticks...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quJVOggy4ao

Work Placement Developments...

I've chased up both Panda Press and Purpleeight, the two Graphic Design companies i hope to complete a few days work experience with...I spoke to Paul from Purpleeight over the phone after not hearing back from the email i sent last week. He's recieved my email and said that he'd be in touch once he's able to sort a few convienient dates.

Hi Paul,
We met at the Business Fayre last Thursday, i accompanied Cliff and Alison Grainger as part of my work placement module- as I'm currently studying a BA Hons Degree in Art and Design.

I was just wondering if you'd still be interested in helping me with a few hours work experience, shadowing someone in the Graphic Design area.

It would be great if you could let me know of a time thats convienient for you,

Thankyou, it would be much appreciated
Kelly Robinson

I also called Panda Press to speak with Nigel Passmore and hopefully confirm the dates we discussed in April, however i've left a message with his collegue as hes out of the office untill tomorrow. But he'll hopefully get back to me tomorrow, so I should have some Graphic Design placement hours in place by the end of the week.

Placement update- Photography

Ive been communicating with Alison regularly via text to enquire about any upcoming events she has that i'm able to join her with, there are no more events for a while but she has a few weddings starting soon that she's happy for me to join- this will be nice to gain a different experience in photography. Alison will also keep me up to speed with any upcoming corporate shoots that they may have, and im keen to join Cliff to a googlke tour shoot, as im intrigued by the technology and method behind it.

These events may occur after the hand in date for the Professional Practise module but this experience will still be beneficial to me for the future.

Tutorial with Jo

I spoke to Jo about my project and she thought the ideas i've come up with have great potential- however i do need to kickstart the making process and leave the planning behind.

We both like the idea of showing imperfections in the activation of the puppet, as done with almostb every shadow puppet performance ive seen- the sticks, hands and props are all visable, which i think adds to the experience. Ive been trying hard to think of ways around this and making the visual outcome flawless, but it doesnt need to be.
For example the show Rhubarb and custard, a stop frame animation which has glitches and imperfections but it works.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4aVXeDg3U4

Jo suggested a video as the final outcome and to film the performance from behind the screen aswell, perhaps with puppeteers dressed in black and filmed activating the shadows.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dermZ47bI64

-live puppet show but i filmed outcome, perhaps not first intended to be shown as a film but in a live atmosphere, however it works just as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJeJwCJg6B0

- Similar idea with the Silhouettes from Americas got Talent, but in this case the puppeteers are the puppets.

I popped to the photography studio to experiemnt with lighting and see how the silhouettes would look against a fabric screen- it worked really well and was more effective than i first thought, even having the still snap shots of the pigeons flight stages proved quite successfull without the need for only revealing one at a time.

I've also finally settled on the idea of usinf fabric drapes to reflect the shadows onto, as i like the way the fabric is manipulative enough to billow and sway to create the effect of movement for each of the shadows. We also discussed creating several cut outs of the bull with just slight changes to each, as done with the pigeon, to form movement-  experimenting with the tail could be a possibility. I'm really drawn to this idea.

I also want to encorporate the monoscope idea to activating the puppet, Jo mentioned a previous student creating one and using an old inyl player to make the piece spin..but with using the light and focusing on shadows of the city i thought of utilising a circular lamp shade and painting on the inside to create the various images. This method would be similar to the old victorian style way of creating moving images.

These are just what sprang to mind after talking to my sister..these devices are called Zoetropes.

For the presentation on Monday i need to bring a clear concept and direction in which my work is headed in order for the group and Juneau to quickly grasp my responce to the project and help throw around some ideas and suggestions as to the best way of activating my puppet.

On Friday i hope to set up the drapes of fabric and shadows behind with positioning of the light techniques ive learnt from Graham. Then take stop frame animation shots of the pigeon in flight so i can begin work on my monoscope/ zoetrope piece.

Puppets...more ideas!

More ideas for puppets.

I've researched into ways of creating the stills of pigeon flight into a moving image and came up with this...

Juneau used different coloured paint to show 3 stages of the deer running and lights to show up each one in turn..but needs to be shown quickly in order for the image to run smoothly and look as desired.

Another option is to flick through stills as they did with the owl image...

Then i thought of how moving images first came about..'What the butler saw' type objects like the mutoscope, an early motion picture device- basically a mechanical flip book. But how to make this work with shadows is a challenge...i need to find a way of taking that methodology and relating it to my project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shadows of the city

Professional Practise Update

So far i have interviewed Photographer Paul Pickard about his work, am currently commiting work placement hours to Alison and Cliff Grainger- photographers specialising in Wedding and Portrait photography, and also work for the Google company, producing inside walkthrough tours.

I've been in contact with two graphic design companies: Purpleeight, based in Stoke-on-Trent (with whom im yet to finalise dates with) and Panda Press in Stone for work placement in April. I may decide to approach a 6th form art college for a few days teaching experience and am well on the way with orgnisations with my group for the collaborative project.

Things are going to plan and im thoughrally enjoying my placements so far! Just awaiting confirmation on dates for the design companies but im gaining a good breadth of experience from the areas which interest me most.

Technical Difficulties

I want to test out possible technical difficulties with lighting to create the right shadow effects.. i spoke to Graham Bradbury about this last Tuesday. The various filters available and what i'd be able to create, the focusing in particular to create different sized shadows..i also want to explore with timing the lights on/ off to change scenes, create rapid movement impressions.

I also need to explore possible options with using the vinyl cutter, so i can create more complex and intricate stencils, especially when thinking of creating a background using the Cathedral in the City Centre. So also need to speak to Pete Whitehouse- technition if this is an option i want to consider.

Finalised direction

I've still got so many ideas filling my head and as i progress with this project im still thinking of other ways of creating what i want. There are so many directions i've thought i could take this but i've now finally decided i need to focus on finishing!

Create a scene using a map
manipulated paper
birds
background changes

I've solved the problem of my indecision and have now decided to have the flight stages of the pigeon pianted out onto a wall with spotlights lighting each one in turn with the scenes being projected onto the background...

Picking out the shadows reflected in the city with aspects of Birmingham being the focus rather than scenes with sticks popping up so have taken the influence of shadow puppetry and transforming it into my ideas.

Trade Fair 28/02

I joined Cliff and Alison at a Trade Fayre and business networking event on the 28/02 in Stoke on Trent, held at the M Club Hanley. It was an opportunity to meet other businesses that i couldnt miss so had to juggle my day around to accomadate both placement and university commitments- so i spent the morning at the Trade Fayre in Hanley, which meant me unavoidably missing the practioner talk of Giles Round. I then made it back to Birmingham in the afternoon for the London Trip presentations.

It proved to be an extremeley beneficial experiance as i had the opportunity to approach various businesses- mainly being graphic designers that i could talk to face to face about arranging placement work with them. Panda Press, a local printing company whom ive been eager to spend some hours shadowing were exhibitors at the event. I had already contacted them via email but was yet to recieve a reply, i spoke to Nigel Passmore (Sales Manager) at the fair and managed to organise some work experience with their Graphic Designer in April.

I was really happy with how the morning went and felt i gained a lot of knowledge and learnt various techniques about promoting and advertising yourself. I met a lot of contacts who have already proved useful to me. Cliff introduced me to Paul Warburton, as he owns Purpleeight- a Graphic Design company specialising in Web, Print, Design and Promotion. I enquired about some work experience with them and he was keen to accomadate me with a few days work placement, he gave me his business card so i shall email him soon to finalise details.

Cliff also explained some possible opportunities for me in the future, with aiding them in their business- depending on how my work placement goes. But this is very promising and is something im very excited about!

Alison also suggested accompanying her to the next Wedding shoot in April/May time, which i'm looking forward to as its a chance to see Alison in action. Cliff has also offered me a chance to join him the next time he has a Google tour shoot- this is something im particularly facinated in and i'd love to witness the process in action.

David Curtis-Ring

David Curtis-Ring

http://davidcurtis-ring.blogspot.co.uk/

I found his talk facinating and really related to his videos and want to link his techniques when working on my puppet project. I have been struggling to find a way of presenting the shadow puppets withpout it looking messy..so a film may be the answer, although i'm not confident with video making but i'll consider it as a possibility if the outcome doesn't turn out as i intend.

Headpieces- a collaboration with Craig Green, this is a collection of his work that i recognised as its  been in the public eye quite recently.

I loved the way he worked with such tiny detailed models and scenes and in film looked life size- its a really good way of creating a film and will consider this technique as an option.