text - kitsch style photography

Continuing from my previous preference to capturing images of derelict buildings, I decided to do the shooting of my videos and photographs around abandoned houses. I think this contrasts well with the bright, overly colourful editing of the images. 

I really like the style of these images, they remind me of characters within video games. This was easier to achieve with photographs but is also what I would like my videos to look like. As I am trying to illustrate the definition of kitsch, these images are relevant as they look ultimately computer edited - computers being the most popular thing in modern culture.
I would like to create more images like this but to convert them into GIF's so that they move - much like GIFriends work. 

Text - Video editing experimentation

JUMP 2

JUMP 3

These videos were collected in order for me to experiment with premier pro and after effects software using video instead of pictures. I learnt how to edit the colours, add the mirrors to where I want them within the frame and also clipping/repeating/editing the speed of sections of the film. 

I wanted to put all of these clips together in a film but felt I was spending too long on experimentation rather than illustrating the definition of kitsch. Whilst these work in the style of kitsch (although they are not as gaudy as I would like), they do not express how kitsch is simply there for decoration and people's enjoyment. 

I liked JUMP Episode 3 the most, I could see it being part of a music video which I would like to create in the future. 

Summer Project Proposal

For my summer project I wish to continue to experiment using photoshop, after effects and premier pro to produce kitsch/abstract films. Also I have applied to work with Age UK to create films using a green screen of their choice that they can then send to family and friends.
I would like to take quite serious human life events and portray them in this style. This idea is taken from how kitsch is subtly used by politicians to make light of situations, however by going overboard with the gaudiness of my videos I will be highlighting how this is a tactic used against the public.

Text - Inspirational videos

Cuckle vision remake - the cheap editing of the original episode is pretty tacky and this is funny. For me to apply this kind of editing to something more popular and "beautiful" I think this would be very kitsch. 

 

Deee-lite - Groove is in the Heart

This is the perfect example of a kitsch video, all the bright clashing colours and people looking like they are pretending to have the upmost fun. I want to achieve something like this. 

 To achieve the kind of effects in the Deee-lite video I will need to do a lot of green screening, something I have never attempted before but look forward to trying. I have learnt how to edit the green screen in premiere pro and have an idea of what I want to shoot.

Text - Yoshi Sodeoka

Whilst looking for more inspiration I also came across the artist Yoshi Sodeoka who works in a very similiar way to how my work was originally going and how I like to work. The bright colours and abstract images in his videos are what I want to get back to producing. He also creates his work on music which is something I need to start thinking about with my videos. I need to get more creative with my videos and less clear cut.
vimeo site

Text - GIFRIENDS

I have been making videos and editing them to create layers of images but I feel like I am becoming a little bit lost as to where my work is heading. I realised that I hadn't done any artist research recently and this may be why I'm losing inspiration.
As always I began on tumblr scrolling through the artist pages that I follow which eventually brought me round to discover GIFRIENDS.
It was bizarre as they seemed to be looking at the same thing as me in my previous project - images of people partying or just doing their own thing, and made these into tacky kitsch GIF's.

By looking at these I realise that I have lost excitement for my work and this is showing. My images are becoming dull and bland and I need to start working on putting brighter colours and patterns into the images, I also need to capture more moments.

Text - Kitsch and How I Work

We were given this brief to work from text a week ago - normally I am immediately inspired by briefs and have lots of ideas to choose from, but for this project I've been completely stuck. Going round and round in circles thinking about which books, which song lyrics, which poems would I like to illustrate? I reverted back to looking for inspiration in the style of an artist instead of striving to create my own work.
However, after a tutorial I was told that instead of trying to start a whole new project from scratch to look back at my previous project which I felt very comfortable with and try and pin down the main points from it. From doing this we came up with the term "kitsch".
Just googling the word and seeing quotes I was immediately inspired, particularly by the quotes:

• In short, camp mocks bad taste; kitsch exploits it.
• When applied to politics and taken to its extreme, kitsch is the mask of death. Fascism was all aesthetics. There was no core principle to it. There was no truth to it.
• No matter how much we scorn it, kitsch is an integral part of the human condition.

I can now begin my project with these quotes and then work freely from them, letting my work spiral off wherever it wants to which is how I work best.
Whilst being frustrating I feel I have learnt a lot from this experience - I have realised once and for all that illustration is not for me; the idea of having to produce an obvious piece of work that clearly shows its meaning is not what I like to do - I like to explore and experiment with my ideas. Also I now know how I work best and this is by using briefs as a springboard rather than a prison for my ideas.