Behind the Scenes

During the first class of the Winter Art Show this term, I entered by stating that I want to paint. Then by the end of class, I realized that was stupid and made absolutely no sense. I stayed in the zoom room after class and corrected myself by telling Jennifer Starkweather that I would actually rather continue working on mixing drawing and photography which I had started doing earlier this school year. I decided that I would take my mixing of drawing and photography one step further by making them into a moving picture. I would do this by creating a stop motion with my photography and drawings to make them appear as though these two levels of reality were interacting with each other.  Once I knew that I wanted to create a stop motion video, I sketched out little characters that would represent personified versions of my emotions and moods. 

After creating the characters that would be featured in my short video, I needed to come up with a story to explain the reasoning behind the personified moods. I came up with a short storyboard about a girl who was being haunted by mysterious figures. These figures clouded her perspective on everything and made her feel hopeless. Then enters my little characters, my personified moods, one sad, one content, one grumpy. They are visible to her and reconnect her with her self, her perspective, they are her heroes bringing her back. 

To create the stop motion, I took short videos of me from different shots and angles. I then took screenshots of moments within the videos and edited in my drawings in a sequenced order

I did not finish the black and white video because after working on it for hours, I realized that it didn't speak to the idea that I really wanted to pursue. In my recent artwork, I have used the bright color of my room as an inspiration to create really bright pieces. I realized that I wanted to continue using this strategy, while also going deeper into my concept. 

This was one of the most interesting parts of my artistic process because I got to use the projector! I created the video by photoshopping cut-out images or drawings of mine onto a series of stills from a video of me standing in front of a projection. 

Creating this bizarre, colorful short video made me realize what I really want my project to be about. I started to really think about control and its role in my life and in my mind. The outcome of making the short stop motion video came out to be a representation of my mind when it is in control. And then I had the realization that my imagination is only available to me when I am in control of the little character, the moods, emotions, voices in my head. That is how this project came out to be as it is. In the very early stages of this whole process, I was in a place where I felt out of control, which is why I felt so uninspired, and why my imagination was stagnant. During that time the voices and emotions in my head and body had full control over me, I was trapped in a mindset. This realization prompted the second part of my project which circled back all the way to the first day of class. I was going to paint. 

This part of the project was the most challenging. I did most of the planning, sketching, and painting all in one weekend near the end of the term. I enjoyed painting morning till night for three days straight as I contorted my body to fit in the space between the canvas, my desk, my door, and my bed. I finished the painting the following weekend as my ideas and concept came together.