Time Machine Film Review

The Idiots (Danish: Idioterne) is a 1998 Danish film directed by Lars von Trier. It is his first film made in compliance with the Dogme '95 Manifesto, and is also known as Dogme #2. A seemingly anti-bourgeois group of adults spend their time seeking their "inner idiot" to release their inhibitions. They do so by spassing, this is a Danish term, which refers to those who act like idiots even though they are not? These episodes of spassing give this film an odd look that is guaranteed to turn off a lot people and anger many, especially those who expect more conventional ways of looking at and responding to the problems young people face in society.

Improvised acting and hand-held camera work are some of the many dogmas the film must adhere to. A series of guidelines were also created by von Trier and Thomas Vinterburg. The rules include; that the film must be shot entirely hand-held, in natural light, the sound must be recorded on location (i.e., no dubbing or sound effects will be added in post-production.) Also, no 'genre' films are allowed, such as horror or science fiction. Improvised acting and hand-held camera work are some of the many dogmas the film must adhere to.

As we first encounter them in action in an elegant restaurant and watch them spasse. They retardedly eat their food under the direction of one of them (Susanne), who pretends to be their keeper; while one of them, Stoffer, grabs onto a lady (Karen), sitting alone, and refuses to let go of her. Karen seems to be responding kindly to the idiot, just like she didn't react with any ill emotion after being treated rather abruptly by the waiter when she told him she doesn't have much money and will be just ordering the salad. The group leaves together with Karen and tells her it is just a game they enjoy playing, inviting her to join them, even though, she does not appear to be one of them. But she does look desperate and lonely and unhappy.

Another scene that is crucial is midway through the film when one of the 'idiots' brings a group of people who have Down's syndrome to the house for lunch, and the pretenders are forced to look at the very people who they behave like, only without the disguise of 'acting' or some political ideal of being an 'idiot'. By doing this it really challenges what they themselves have been doing, acting like idiots, mocking what these people are like for real, bringing a certain reality to the film, which is why it makes you question is it right for a group of middle class people to act like this in the first place?

The point that Von Trier was trying to make, is that you really have to be an idiot to change the system, or think that you can change it. That you can only be effective when you really confront who you are, reaching past the point of where authority rules who you are; or else, you are stuck with the same cultural values you have always had and can't really change who you have been brought up as. Being an idiot is the last act of despair. And, it only matters when you can do it for real and not be using it to play a game. There's a rather large question mark as to whether his film is merely an elaborate prank on the viewer or a genuine attempt to question the modes of society when it comes to behaviour and the attempts to homogenize creativity and spontaneity.

Von Trier mocks what is conventionally thought of as right, by doing what is unconscionable and politically incorrect; it becomes only too real and too sad to comprehend. It is presented so as not to give the idiots a way out of how to deal with the alienation they feel. They seem to be left with only their naive hopes and disillusions; and possibly, their emotional experiences that they can value. Their situation is not resolved. The film does not end with all loose ends tied up in a nice bow. But this group of people tried something different... and whether they reached their ‘inner idiot self’ or not, something penetrated them, whether they are the better because of the experience, it is difficult to tell, just as we the audience, whether we liked the film or not, something inside us was moved by what we saw taking place, causing us to react in a way we might not normally act when watching a film.

Thematic Characterisation/Casting Task

Our project is based around the theme of nursery rhymes, looking into taking a nursery rhyme and putting a modern and slightly dark twist on the former children's version. The nursery rhyme we've chosen is Little Bo Peep, so for our characterisation and casting we decided we wanted our model to be a woman who has defined cheek bones in the style of paintings of Japanese woman, with their bright pink cheek bones. We researched into defined cheekbone makeup... creating an almost doll like effect on the models face.

We also wanted the face to have defined features such as the eyes; we want them to stand out in the photograph so we looked at the famous photograph of the afghan girl where her green eyes stand out completely from everything else in the image.

We havent tooken many photographs of people we think would be appropriate for our shoot, this will definitely be the next stage in our devolpment process of the project. But we have a good idea of the type and character that we are looking for

Seminar 1 ‒ “The Commission ‒ The Portrait Issue”

Finlay MacKay, ‘Changing Pace, David Weir’ for ‘The Road to 2012’

MacKay’s portfolio includes sport and portraiture as well as complex advertising productions that draw on graphic novels and the work of contemporary artists, such as the Scottish painter Peter Howson. For the National Portrait Gallery/BT Road to 2012 Project MacKay has moved away from a traditional sports approach.  By observing and responding to the narratives that the athletes and their training locations present, he has created a series of contemplative scenarios to tell a story of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games from a singular perspective.

MacKay uses a singular perspective to create a bigger picture of the Olympics. Instead of  just simply having the athlete in a training ground he has used a different approach and decided to surround him with a natural landscape. The camera position he has used means that he doesn’t just focus on the athlete, but also the surroundings as well, as they become a vital part of the photograph.

Ulrich Gebert ‘Freischneider’ 2004

In Ulrich Gebert‘s photography work, nature – explicitly the botanical – as raw material for the human being who, incidentally, likes to maintain order comprises but just the outer layer of the analysis of the relationship between human being, shrubbery and patterns of order. In addition to pictures of vegetation, tamed and cut into form, „Freischneider“ also portraits the men who carry the blades? Garden and gardener are set face to face; the confrontation resembles a culprit/victim relationship; this is characterized by gestures of suppression and a hierarchical conception of order, correct and incorrect design.

The separation of garden and gardener demonstrates that a physical confrontation between man and nature is hardly necessary anymore to validate the claim to power: an upright position shows empowerment, upon the plant world. Dressed in uniform, the helmet shows the gardener is armed and ready to protect himself, immunizing him against doubt and wounds from his branches and foliage. The human being presents himself here as an oversized armed Giant; the campaign against the vegetation in its absurd disproportionality turns out as a caricature of modernist dominance-over-nature fantasies.

 Gebert uses a close up camera angle to capture the expression of the gardener, also the way his body and head is placed shows that this was maybe posed. Gebert has also used bright lighting, to highlight the saturation of the colours of the gardener’s uniform.

 

Toby Glanville ‘Actual Life’ 2002 (Teacher)

Actual Life presents work made in Kent by the British photographer Toby Glanville over a period of three years, from 1997 to 2000. The setting for Glanville’s work is largely rural and yet he generates a response to people and places that is entirely contemporary and compelling. Like the best photographs, Glanville’s restrained and delicate colour images are both simple and densely weighted with the complexities of time and space.

The remarkable thing about Glanville’s work is that he has allowed his subject their uncertainty; we seem to see the conflict on their faces. When a pose is a solution to a problem, the interest of the problem disappears. He has not forced his subjects to make a decision about themselves. He likes to experiment with the subject and how they would react to the camera. Glanville’s portraits of people reveal but never expose the person completely. There is enigmatic straight forwardness about the ways in which Glanville’s subjects look at the camera; and it is usually the camera that he wants them to look at.

What I think Glanville’s tries to show us in this particular series is the absurd poignancy of our wish to be prepared. Glanville has used natural light to create this image, you can see the direction of the light from the window on the right hand side of the photo. This series of of images is all about having a simple approach to photographing a person and capturing colurs in a delicate way. By using soft natural lighting this allows Glanville to capture the delicate colours. Although this image is very simple it still looks posed, like the subject was meant to stand in this specific spot for a particular reason.

After looking at all three hotographers the one similarity they all seem to have is they all appear staged or posed, whether it’s a facial expression or a particular way they are standing nothing is natural. Individually they use lighting and certain camera positions to highlight the subject and make them react to the camera in a way the photographer wants. Each photographer wants to capture the subjects relation to their surroundings in that particular moment in time, highliting on their body position and facial expression.

Environment Task 1 - 'What Lies Beyond Nature...'

For my initial idea for this project was actually my final idea, at first I decided that my film wasn't what i wanted, but after re-visiting it I found images that I could develop into a final idea. My original idea was humans affects on nature, but after looking at the images I felt they were about more than that.

I then came up with the idea of 'whats beyond nature...' I chose 3 images from my contact sheet which were taken of a park near a train station, they show trees and bushes almost making a frame around the picture and within the frames is a car park and train tracks, at first they meant nothing to me, but after looking at them carefully I started to think what is be beyond nature? We dont often think much of the nature surrounding us, we dont really think about what can be beyond it. Because of the way the pictures are taken with the bushes and trees framing the picture they create a door way to another world, almost like the film The Secret Gardens, they invite you in and make you question the photo.


The way the photos are framed by trees and bushes makes me think of the archway in this film cover of The Secret Gardens. By having an arch way frame it creates an alternative world to the photograph, the image inside of the frame becomes speperate to the photo which then makes you question the photo as a whole.

This is another image which has an archway framing the image made of bushes and trees, making you wonder and question what is beyond there. My images are not as fairytale like but i used these as inspiration to photograph my final images. 

I wanted my final images to capture what isn't real, there isnt an alternative world beyond nature, but these images make you want to think that there is. Life would be boring if everything was based around reality with photography you can create things that aren't real. To really capture the sense that its not realistic they are slightly blurred in parts, as if they were a dream or a misty haze.

The Body - Obsession & Vanity

For the body I initially wanted to carry on the same idea from my object project which was looking at body image, but considering we had find a model which we didn’t know I found it hard to approach someone in a way which wouldn’t offend someone who had problems with their body image as it’s quite a deep and personal thing. I still wanted to look into body image, but decided that my initial idea was too personal so I decided to look at vanity and obsession as a concept. I was interested in how a person can become so obsessed with their personal appearance and wanted to try and capture this with a camera.

Whilst developing my idea I had to think about what type of lighting I would use to create the right mood and set for my idea. I decided Bright lighting as if they were the centre of attention, making them the focal point in the photo; I didn’t think it was appropriate to use many props or have anything in the background as I wanted to the model to be the main focus, showing her vanity and obsession with herself. Shooting in black was hard, it made me think about the picture more, and how the outcome would affect my overall idea. I didn’t want my image to have the wrong feel, so taking this into account I decided certain poses and bright lighting were best to represent the idea of vanity and obsession.

I started off my research with simply looking for photographers that had done any work related to vanity and obsession. I came across a fashion photographer Gavin Bond who took the fashion industry’s obsession with being skinny and size zero in this playful yet eye-opening photography set. Gavin put together a couple, a hunky male model with a female skeleton. The couple act out typical fashion editorial and ad campaign scenes, which includes beach and swimming pool lounging and dining. His approach to this concept is definitely eye opening and makes you aware of the absurdness of this skinny fascination that leaves female models as living skeletons.

Other images i found on the internet relating to vanity and obsession...

I like this image because it almost looks surreal and terrifying. I also like the way they have used a mirror in this image, really highlights the vain side of the person being photographed. After looking at this picture I decided I want to experiment with mirrors in my final shoot, which got me thinking about other ideas.

These are a few pictures i took on a digital camera which I though linked to the idea of obsession and vanity with ones appearance. They are images of close ups of a persons' lips, they were for another project realting to vanity and I they helped me with insperation as in my final shoot the model woar red lipstick. There a stereotype that when people wear vast amounts of make-up and take pictures upon pictures of themselves it means they vain, I wanted my project to proove this statement but not just become a typical stereotype photograph . It's also been said that boredom can lead to vanity and then vanity becomes obsession.

Final Shoot

I really enjoyed shooting this project, at first I wasnt sure if it was going to turn out right, but as soon as the shoot got going everything seemed to work its self out. I shot two roles of film, medium format black and white, as I wanted to have a wide variety of photos to work from. After developing my film it took me a while to decide which photos were best, as we were allowed only one image for this project I wanted it to be a strong image. In the end I narrowed it down to four images and from them I chose my final image.

Contact Sheet 1

Contact Sheet 2

My Final two imges, which i then picked a final one.

This was my original final image, but when I was printing this, I discovered that the lights in the background are so bright that there is no background line, so the image looks like its fake or computerised. Which fits with my idea of vanity and obsession, but I decided I wanted to have an image with more detail.

I finally decided on this image as my final print as there is more detail and more of an alternative meaning behind the image, it makes you really think what is this picture about. Having a mirror in this image, allows the viewer to  create a perspective when they look at the photograph they start to think that maybe when a person looks in a mirror they dont only see themsleves they see an ulternate world, which revolves all around them.

Environment Task 2 (Continued) - 'Structure'

For the second part of the environment I looked into the idea of structure within an urban space, here are a few images which were my first inspiration for this project. I then developed an idea and decided to photograph a housing estate near me, which has lots of buildings which are very similar and often repeated. New housing developments are often rows of houses which look all the same, and they have no characteristics about them which got me to thinking about structure. Lots of the houses have certain structures in the way they were built which I found interesting. They are modernly structured like most buildings are today to create this new world where everything looks excatly the same.

I like the idea that there is no such thing as naturally structured, as to structure something means to purposefully make something in a particular way. This got me to thinking about the environment and how there are certain places that have structures which are not natural. 

Research and Inspiration

These are a few images I found on the internet, they have a repeatitive structure to them which is what I wanted to try and create in my final images. My final images dont follow the exact same concept as these, but they were good for initial inspirations.

These are my 3 final images...

Whilst photographing this project I noticed that structure has become a big part of modern society today, everything has a certain structure. I wanted to capture the idealistic and perfect perspective that these new housing developments have, there structured purpose is to be perfect and look faultless. I like that in each image the houses always go down in rows, either to the left or right, this also becomes a structured effect to the house.

Pastiche 2 - Lee Friedlander, 'Albuquerque, New Mexico', 1972

Out of the two pastiches I found this was the hardest, trying to find a place which was deserted at the right time of day including all the elements of the original.  I eventually found a place which had most of the elements of Friedlander’s photo like the lamp post, traffic light, zebra crossing and a street which was deserted with a few buildings in the background. I took this photograph at 7.30am on a Sunday as I thought this was the best time to capture this without cars and people getting in the way. When I develpoed this film I found that because it was so early the pictures came out alot darker than i wanted. In the end I chose to print picture number 13 on the contact sheet as it was the brightest and most in focus out of all of them.

Contact Sheet

My final print didn't turn out as great as I hoped but taking into consderation the problems with my camera, I think it turned out ok. I found it hard printing this picture because of how blurred it was, but it has the main elements of the original so I'm pleased with that. Next time I will definetely experiment several times with shooting before I print, so i get a clear and percise image when I come to print.