Creative Project- Influence of Barbara Kruger

The images I have produced are based on Barbara Kruger's style of photography. I have given my own flare to them by creating my own images and text. The text helps to communicate the current issues facing people in society. My images are influenced by Kruger by the use of similar black and white photography and similar accompanying text.

This image communicates the message that your mind is a battlefield. This means to say that everyone's mind is at constant battles with life. The dark picture on the right represents the sadness and turmoil in our lives. Whereas, the lighter image on the left signifies when our life is full of happiness and love. The image shows the girls head on either side of the image. This shows how our mind is in a constant battle with itself, as times can be happy or hard. I chose the red background around the text as battlefields are usually full of blood shed and it's the colour Barbara Kruger mostly uses in her images.

This photograph indicates how gays are excluded from this world as they cannot marry or live together. The gun to the head means gays feel as if they don't exist in our world, by the way they are treated. I chose this concept because Kruger tended to use social and political statements of the time in her work. The text "YOU" is presented in capitals to make the image more confrontational. This reflects Kruger's work as most of her images were confronting. At this point in time gay equality is an issue in society. I decided to use black and white text because Kruger used this colour text in some of her own work. It shows that if you are gay you are excluded and if you are not gay you are acccepted. It's a black and white situation.

In our current society there have been many job losses and this can tear love apart. Job losses and value rising can mean struggling to afford to keep a house, buying food, or going out for a normal household. This can result in a breakdown of love in a relationship, as money is crucial in surviving.

This picture is about a young vulnerable teenager who is susceptible to the opinions, words and gossip of others. Her reflection of herself changes due to the discourse happening around her. This is an issue for many girls at the moment as young teenagers want approval and care about others opinions.

Credit Sequences

ED WOOD film by Tim Burton

The credit sequence blends into the beginning of the movie. The credit sequence attempts to scare but also humour the audience and make them feel vulnerable in the sequence. From the beginning when an elderly man, arises from the coffin and makes the audience feel involved in the movie.Firstly the audience may suspect that the man who sits up in the coffin is a vampire, due to several other movies we have watched before.


unces it is a "mystery" and the "evidence" will be shown. The use of black and white suggests the movie is set in the past possibly in the 60's. Also the black and white film also suggests that things are not what they seem, when something is black and white it means its quite shady and possibly not reality. It shows that the exterior appears fine when really deep down on the inside something is not normal.

As we move closer into the action in the film we realise that there isn't a storm suggesting why lightning is going off in the sky. The audience find out it is UFO's striking each other in the sky that is causing lightning strikes. 

The credit sequence also shows us the famous HOLLYWOOD sign indicating to the audience the film is set in Hollywood. On the contrary font of the people's names who come up are in Hollywood block letterstWhereas the indication text such as director is a 60's styled font. When the camera shows us underwater and the audience see an octopus, the typography moves as if it is underwater in wave like motions. When we are introduced to the graveyard we move past actors names, the fact their names are on a gravestone, provides a hint that these actors are not living in the film.

When the title appears the background flashes from light to dark, this could mean that Ed Wood will be the person with all the answers in the film. The music then changes to a mystery sound as if the audience have become detectives.

The camera maps the setting of the film. It shows that we may possibly revisit this area of land the camera takes us through.
The camera then takes us over Hollywood where the movie then begins.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The key motifs for this credit sequence was the image of a tree, flower, computer cables all of these motifs make sense during the movie. The darkness of the credit sequence suggests that someone is stuck in this space and trapped. Each time they try and escape something just seems to be pushing and holding them down. The text gets smaller as if it is zooming out and all text is in capitals, therefore allowing the audience to read it clearly. As the words are presented on the sides of the screen in small font, it draws the audience to watch what is happening in the credit sequence rather than focusing on the names. The text also works by indicating where the director wishes for you too look on the screen and by doing so controls what you watch and how you watch it. When the title appears it expands across the entire screen and then disappears. As it is in capitals it is impossible to miss.The sequence also suggests the person wants to escape their body but they cant, they keep being constrained. This is further shown by the cloth being held over the humans mouth and some kind of creature breaking through the eye. The Immigrant Song works well alongside the visuals, as it goes with the intense fast paced beat.

Seven

In this credit sequence all the first numbers of the apartment blocks behind Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman start with the number 7. Motifs in this sequence would be the pen, watch and jacket. The words which dissolve on the screen represent what the killer is writing about his victims. The audience know this because he puts hair in a plastic bag and pictures of the victims in their blood. The typography for the first writing such as the director is distorted and blurry. The actual names of actors and people who helped make the film is written in jagged handwriting close to one of a children's handwriting. I suppose this writing is meant to be the killers handwriting, as it represents how he writes down his victims names. Also the distorted text could represent the mastermind of the serial killer and represents that his mind has problems. The music in the sequence cuts and then returns again, giving a distorted view on the situation and that the person is not normal. The jumping of one thing to the next could also represent is killing methods, as after he has killed someone he moves on to the next victim.

007- Gold finger 

In this credit sequence we view the projection of a man's face on a woman painted in gold's hand. The different clips shown on her body represent what the film will involve. However the real beginning of the film is when the man's face is on her hand then it becomes reality. The text appears on the side of the frame and then changes side by side. The use of capitals in the credit sequence allows the audience to clearly read it off the blackened background.

Lecture 10- 1960's Influences

1960's Influences included Pop Art, psychedelic art, art nouveau, graphic art and comics.

Barbarella (Roger Vadim 1968, French/Italian co-production)

In this credit sequence the words float around due to gravity. The words jumble and reorganise themselves just as if they were floating around in a space shuttle. Vadim sends the audience into a world where we are totally consumed in space. The words cover parts of her body to make the sequence more conservative. The individual letters separate and then return. In doing so our eyes follow the bright white letters which attract our attention.





                            
The Witches (Le Streghe, 1967; episodic film, Italy) Title design by Pino Zac

The beginning of this credit sequence is presented on a crossword and the entire sequence uses the cut up technique. There are animated fictional characters of witches illustrated by Pino, which are some what randomly scattered around the frame. We are also introduced to photos of actors and then thin cuttings which look like are from a newspaper.





What's New Pussycat? (Clive Donner, 1965, Great Britain/US) Title design by Richard Williams

This credit sequence shows the lettering of alphabet is stretched. This sets the mood for how the film is to be seen. It needs to satisfy audience expectations so they continue watching the film. This was an extreme credit sequence that many had never seen before. The sequence is similar to that of Pink Panther. I believe this sequence was effective in portraying its comedy genre to the audience, and allowed the film to be seen as playful.



The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Sergio Leone, 1966, Italy) Title design by Lardaru  

The genre of this film is European (Italian). The sequence represents the conventional ideas of Western films. However, this credit sequence was presented differently and was influenced by pop art. It reflects pop art in the way it was like screen prints. The pattern of the typography is typically western, and the colour red which indicates that some aggression or war may occur. This sequence was very effective in allowing the audience to decide whether they wish to continue watching as they can decide if they want to watch a western film or not.

Tutorial 9- Credit Sequences

This tutorial was interesting as we watched credit sequences we were told to analyse them. It is fascinating to realise how often we just brush off the credit sequences like they are unimportant. However, from analysing the credit sequences I realised how important they really are. They give you slight hints and clues about the movie before the real drama has even started. It was also intriguing to find out new and different things you missed by watched the sequences over 3 times.

Lecture 9- Credit Sequences

Saul Bass (1920-1996) : challenged typical conventions of Hollywood by proving the studio systems did not control everything. Before Bass hit Hollywood he was a graphic designer.

 He would be given the screenplay and asked to take note how they were presented on the screen. Bass was attentive to the title of the film for his ideas as he created metaphors out of these. He was able to use his own style and was expected to not compromise with the common regulations of Hollywood at the time. His best known collaborations included famous producers and directors, Alfred Hitchcock, Otto Preminger and Martin Scorsese.

Walk on the Wildside (Otto Preminger, 1962)
Bass used metaphors from the title to introduce the attitudes of the characters. The opening credits provide clues to the audience that the film is going to be a cat fight over a man.

Bonjour Tristesse-(Good morning sadness)
The Picasso face crying in the credit sequence indicates the movie will be about a sad woman in France. The face is crucial to the film as it works as a motif. As the film begins in black and white, it reflects the main characters mood of sadness. Whereas, the movie contrasts into colour, at a time when everything in her life was fine. The tears, pentals falling apart, hearts in the eyes are all the colour blue. This reflects the main character as she it represents feeling like she has the blues.

Tutorial 8- Photography and Words

In this tutorial we discussed various artists and their pieces. We talked about how certain angles of particular works present soviet constructivism. Low angle views where the body is central almost forceably draws your eyes to look straight at the picture. Also, mentioned was how image interpretations change when there is text present.

Lecture 8- Photography and Words

John Heartfield (1891-1968)- Photographer and Graphic Designer
Heartfield was also a dadaist and political artist.

World War 2 changed him and this was the major driver in his art as shown below.

The writing says "Capitalism is robbing them of their last piece of bread. Fight for yourself and your children. Vote Communist! Vote Thalmann!" 
The sympathetic picture and assisted text evoke an emotional appeal to those viewing the poster.

Heartfield used photomontage/collage this means the images were edited together much like how cinema is created.



Barbara Kruger (1945-, USA) studied art and design, conceptual artist, image and text. Themes she covers in her work include feminist issues, critique of consumer society, fractured subjectivity of individuals.

The words used in her pictures help support and communicate the message she is trying to portray to her audience. There are falsities in her work however these narratives she calls are "fiction." She used a phrase from enlightenment thinker Rene' Descartes " I think therefore I am." However, she twists this in her images and adapts it to I shop therefore I am. This supports consumer culture and could explain that women are more likely to impulse buy without thinking about products.