Tuesday 11 November 2014

Queensgate Market - Suffocating software

Nearing the end of the project now and looking back I haven't been able to do anything outside of learning to use and creating the market within C4D. Although it has been fun learning to use the software and looking at the market in a different way to what I normally would, I would have also liked to have gone off on a bit of a tangent and explored different ideas around the market. However, I think the work has paid off and I will have a finished piece that I can be really proud of. 
Also I have found that because my work has had to be quite basic so that I could get to grips with C4D, it's lacking my normal weird and bizarre style. Ideally, I would have liked to have created an animation that would have warped the Market from what we know it today to transport it into a truly different virtual dimension. However, I simply haven't got the knowledge of the software to be able to do that yet. 

Queensgate Market - Gathering images

To efficiently build the market I want to recreate the shop fronts. To do this I need to gather enough images so tat I can recreate the shop fronts in my own time. This involves taking photographs of the shop fronts and arranging them in an organised way so I know which one comes where - I think a sketchbook is in order!
I really feel like I'm approaching this project almost as an architect, this is interesting for me as I would have thought before that creating blocks in a realistic way was dull before.

Tuesday 4 November 2014

Queensgate Market - Cinema 4D

I decided to get started immediately on learning how to use C4D. I downloaded the software and opened it up and surprise surprise, it's like a different language. The most logical thing for me to do is to build Queensgate virtually, but I think I would like to focus on the movement through the market like I have already been doing using film.
I have been working on Lynda and making notes as I go along but I can tell this is going to take a very long time - it's very complicated! But I'm sure it will be worth it in the end.
By creating Queensgate virtually it is almost like creating a whole new market - just like Queensgate was created as a whole new market to the Gothic market. Whilst in the 70's, "new" was all about garish structures and experimentation, modern day is all about the virtual and software, so it's like creating a modern day new market. I therefore do want the virtual market to look distinctly virtual - much like Crevier's work.
With this I want to comment on how "new" isn't always better!

Queensgate Market - Artist research

LOUIS CREVIER

This artist is amazing! I've been getting more and more into video art but only really ever considered using film and editing that to create scenes; Crevier creates whole virtual worlds within a software called Cinema 4D. His film subjects are exactly what I like, making a weird, bizarre and obviously virtual worlds. I really want to have a go at using this software as I've never heard of it before and after researching it, it sounds like the possibilities are endless. 


After finding Louis Crevier's work I wanted to look for other artists that use C4D to see what its capabilities are within the art world. It didn't take long to find Zolloc's project called Oswra.
Zolloc works using GIF's, something I have been previously interested in. The repetitive nature of the animations adds to the creepiness and it shows that C4D can be used to create some very realistic human graphics. The movement is also really very smooth. I am definitely looking forward to using this. 

Queensgate Market - Research

I've found out that I've been looking at the wrong market all along. I just assumed that Queensgate would be the open market as it is more interesting looking! At first I was very disappointed to find out that not only had all my work so far been on the Open Market but also that the project is actually based around what I find the highly uninspiring Queensgate Market.
However, as all my work so far was just trying to capture the movement and sounds in a market I'm sure I can still use it.
I went to the town library and did some research on Queensgate and found out a few interesting facts that made me change my mind about being disappointed.
I had no idea that there was originally another Market in Huddersfield, an old gothic building with a four faced clock tower. After looking up images and articles about the old market, I was amazed that they had torn down such a beautiful building to build this one. The old market had been constantly buzzing and a central place in town - students barely even know Queensgate exists. On top of that, Queensgate is listed due to the architectural ceiling using 21 concrete hyperbolic paraboloid shell structures - unlike any other building in the world. This is a posh name for the square mushroom like structures that make the ceiling all different heights.
Everything about the new structure pushed architectural boundaries in the 1970's and it was described in a listing review as "daring, passionate, reflecting self assurance and spirit of its age". Despite all this it is still an ugly building that is dingy and dark inside.
My opinion was also backed up by a local historian, Leslie Kipling "dark and dingy cavern" and "In summer it is unbearably hot and airless, in winter it is cold and cheerless. Low ceilings combine with a lack of natural light make it the kind of place you don't want to linger".
This information is the first inspiration I've had yet, I would like to use the notion of destroying the old and beautiful just in the name of making something new within my project.