Content
Coming up for the idea for this project started from one of my recent artefacts I had created few months ago. The artefact simply involved a gradual growing black circle on screen on top of a white background. The reason behind this was to associate the growing black circle to the fear of loneliness and how loneliness can grow upon an individual. The sound I had used was also infrasound, sound that can make someone feel uncomfortable and uneasy. The reaction I got from this artefact was a range of moods and feeling, some felt really uneasy and discomforted whilst others felt calm and focused. By creating something so simple with shapes, colours, movement and sound had evoked a range of moods and emotion, something which had grasped my attention.
I then had the idea to develop this further into the subject of colour. I started looking into the works of Thomas Blanchard, a French artist who heavily experiments with colour and motion. His work is visually striking and simply artistic. It makes me feel hypnotic and dreamy and was interesting to see how art can evoke an individual’s mood and emotion. The works of Thomas Blanchard really has inspired me create something similar which is visually striking but also subliminally affective.
Dxrsh 2016
I began to use online sources to undertake some research to understand colour and how important it is within our everyday lives. Online science channels such as DNews and SciShow helped me to understand how our subconscious can associate certain colours to certain feelings and moods; Red can enforce our feelings towards love and warmth as well as being alert. Blue can help us to be calm, relaxed and gives us a feeling of freedom. It was compelling to gain an insight to how colours can evoke certain feelings and moods within our society today as well as giving me a strong foundation of understanding colour psychologically within this project.
Thomas Blanchard
Files 2015
As I believe this project will be an experiment, I decided to read upon writer Gemma File’s book on experimental film. What I had gained from this book was key points and advice in making an effective experimental exercise. I gathered that my project doesn’t necessarily have to make sense. Gemma argues that we can allow the audience to give it meaning for themselves as that is what our minds are functioned to do. Everyone is different and everyone will think and react in a different way. She also talks about Derek Jarman’s film ‘Blue’ and that even though the screen is blue throughout, Jarman can still conduct things inside the audience’s brain. This inspired me and made me understand that even if the visuals is completely abstract and out of the ordinary, I am still able to let my audience focus and allow them to create meaning for themselves.
Whilst doing my research, I also found a theorist/ writer named Johann Wolfgang von Goethe who famously explored the science of colour and light and wrote ‘the colour theory’ in the early 19th century. I believe that Goethe was a key influential theorist, as I studied ways of characterising physiological colours but also allowing me to gain an understanding of the topic of colour from Goethe’s perspective. I also learnt how our eyes enables our minds to react differently depending on light and darkness which was really interesting, as it supports the idea of having my film screened as an event in a dark empty space individually as opposed to room full of people in broad daylight.
It was all well and good learning the theory of colour through books, however I wanted to gain an insight to what people around me think today and what words, moods and emotions they associate with certain colours. For this, I decided to create a questionnaire which helped me answer that question. The answers I received was really interesting as I had learnt everyone has different views and opinions when it comes to different colours. I truly believe this experiment will outcome in a range of different feelings, moods and emotions.
Goethe 1810
DNews 2015
Bibliography
DNews (2015) How Colors Affect Your Mood. in YouTube [online]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RItNMWHYZVI [23 December 2016]
Dxrsh (2016) But I Can't. in Vimeo [online]
https://vimeo.com/192992873 [23 November 2016]
Files, G. (2015) Experimental Film. Canada: Toronto.
Goethe, JW. (1810) Theory of Colours. UK: London.
Thomas Blanchard (n.d) Accueil
https://www.thomas-blanchard.com/Accueil.html [16 December 2016]
As Johan Wolfgang Goethe explains in his theory of colour, our eyes leads our minds to react differently depending on the lightness, darkness and space around us. Rather than having my audience just observe a piece of production on a small screen, I am keen on holding a screening event as part of my project, to allow my audience to feel an experience that they can partake in. I have researched a few venues and contacted event managers and administrators to help me find out which venue would be the most feasible. These include the Tank (TV Studio), Square 1 and the Herbert Gallery Studio. I also believe that managing and organising an event will help me to gain valuable experience and project skills for the future as event management is a profession I would like to embark on after university.
Square 1
The Tank (TV studio)