My Final Image

Here is my final image. Here is a breakdown of what each element I feel represents.
The portrait: The obvious idea of listening to music!
The soundwaves: To represent the power of the music
The blue glow: To represent a 'force' of a different world/a 'bubble'
Noise: Authentic effect
Gig photos on the head: To show he is thinking about live music that he played; inflicted by the music coming through the headphones.

Editing Examples

1. First I opened up my downloaded image in photoshop.

2. Zooming in on the image.

3. Using the clone tool, I pressed ALT and clicked around the grey area, then painted over the fly away hairs.

4. On the layers panel, I dragged down the current layer to the new layer icon to duplicate the current one.

5. Filter> Other>High Pass, this makes the details more punchy, but also gives a glowing effect, you can change the amount of the glow, whether it's fully grey, or has a glowy effect through the original colour.

6. I put the blending mode on color and it gave the photo a cold effect with the eyes more blue!

7. I opened up the image of the robot eyes, then I used the clone tool to source what I would copy over.

8. I painted over the eye when I clicked back onto the portrait, it showed smaller, so as soon as I felt enough was copied, I expanded the layer (which was also separate) so that it fit the size of the eye.

9. I tidied up the layer, with the erasing tool.

10. I changed the blending mode to subtract, it gave a very robotronic colouring and effect to the layer.

11. I copied the layer, flipped it round and then placed it on top of the other eye.

12. I made another layer then painted it grey over the face!

13. I chose luminocity and lowered the opacity so that it gave the skin a silvery look.

And there it is! An example of how I usually work out my editing!

More ideas

I decided to ask people what type of memories music brings to them.
Many people mentioned live music/gigs.
I then decided to ask the person in the photographs I took what music brought to him.
He mentioned relationships, but in the end I thought a more suited option was live music.
I decided the contrast between live music and music coming through earphones/headphones showed the way you imagine the music and environment being different and possibly better which also flows through even more memories since when you attend gigs, you usually create memories at the event.

I remembered the person talking about a specific gig he enjoyed playing drums at with his band, so I've saved the photos from his profile ready to edit onto his head.

'Sounding Out The City'

Page 32 mentions how you go on a 'journey' when you listen through your playlists. I agree with this as each different song reminds you of something different. You go through to different places, different times or maybe each just following on from each other in terms of the scenes in your head.
A lot of the time, you hear about albums being written as if they were life stories, experiences and general things the musicians were going through. So lyrics can be personal to some of the listeners which may bring back their own memories too.
More often or not though, the band create music through their experiences, whilst for the listener, it brings back their own experiences and memories. Songs can also create memories when they're played at certain events so when heard again, they remind people of that specific event.

Photoshoot

These are the original photos from a photoshoot I did recently that I will use for this project.

Music Videos and Lyrics

After reading: 'Culture, Technology & Creativity'
I decided to look into visual relationships between lyrics and their music videos.

http://www.slideshare.net/Jaredtw95/the-relationship-between-the-lyrics-music-and-video
I looked on this website after a simple google search.

My information collected is as follows:
There were scenes picked out and represented quite in literal terms, 'there you were and the floor was empty..' Usually visuals of a dance floor comes to mind. So what was used was a dance floor and spotlight for the setting of this part of the scene.
Another line was represented less literally with the past tense being used, the guy watches back video clips and tears up photos to represent seeing the old trust which juxtapositions the new hate shown through the photo tearing.
The music/genre is linked through themes and clothing worn. The lyrics are viewed as 'emo' but the music is more 'indie'. So casual clothes and general footage portray the 'indie' side of this. But the skinny jeans and shown story lines portray the 'emo' side of it.


My next step is to ask people what type of memories music brings them, so that I can think of ways to link/represent through a visual context.

Another Edit

It's been a while! But last week I managed to create another edit.

From my feedback in class, I was told that the soundwaves of the last music edit was standing out pretty well and that it showed the music itself. I decided to use this even further and put in actual soundwaves. 

I also did a small poll over facebook asking what people think about when they listen to music. The most common answer were memories, so I have decided to take that into more consideration regards the theme.

However, I am struggling to decide how to represent memories in image form. I chose an image from the internet of polaroids as that is a common way of representing memories, but this did not work for me.

I am going to take my own photograph of a person wearing big headphones tomorrow as the sources I find on the internet aren't quite what I'm looking for.

My original idea was that I take photos in the studio with him wearing headphones, but to represent the mind being somewhere else, I decided placing the person in another environment/setting would be more contrasting as opposed to being in an empty space.

My next step now is to go through more of my text books that I have taken out to read to gather more ideas and inspiration.

Cybercultures

Notes from: An Introduction To Cybercultures by David Bell

Our body is thought of as 'meat', technology makes us unconscious of our bodies through getting 'lost' into the technology at hand. Cyberspace can make our bodies disappear because we forget that if we watch tv, we're less aware that it's actually only technology, but we feel more adapted to it, like we're there and a part of it all.

The only things that bring us back down to reality are the likes of tiredness, hunger, stiffness/pain etc. We seem to become aware that we're back in the room consciously and do something else.

This connects to my music theme, we get 'lost' in our own minds when earphones/headphones are attatched to our heads as music plays through our eardrums..it not only passes through our eardrums, but it passes through our minds.

Cyberpop

Notes from 'Cyberpop - Digital Lifestyles and Commodity Culture' By Sidney Eve Matrix.

It seems as though in advertising, Sony tend to use black people using technology for fun purposes to try and sell the product. I have never noticed this myself in terms of advertising, I feel it's very stereotypical in the market to do that, but stereotypes are used around the media all the time. The reason being is the 'Over representation of the white men in the world of finance' because white men appear to be more serious and wealthy without us really thinking about it.

A Handmade Design

So this idea was to be a physical form of a design made from cut outs. I printed off the photo of the girl and the camera blade sections, then cut them out and found an image from a magazine that looked a bit like a flash effect. I then used silver pen for the lips to make her look more metallic like a cyborg. Yet my idea for this fell through as it was more of an experiment, there is no direction or message that shines through this.

My next step is to read some Cyborg text books to give me some information on them to hopefully influence me on the workings of the subject. I am swaying to the theme of music and how it transforms your mind to a different time/place/mood.

The Terminator Films

So, I've managed to watch both films 'The Terminator' and 'The Terminator 2: Judgement Day'. I decided to look for influences on the more visual side. I made a list of the things I saw:

+ Codes
+ Red Eyes
+ Computerized Selection
+ Computer Coded Screens
+ Black and Blue
+ Lightening
+ Lights
+ Metal/Steel
+ Wires/Open Wires
+ Lasers
+ Guns
+ Robotics
+ Machinery
+ Fire
+ Ripped Skin
+ Military Themes
+ Smoke
+ Liquid Metal

I feel that my influences will be based upon the materials that appeared and the overall atmosphere applied to these films as they enhance the separation between man and machine. However, also the relationships made within the story aswell as the connection between the characters and the audience are quite intense as the Terminator himself becomes the hero.

Being artistic, I will approach my newly found ideas from this creatively so that I capture no fear for these machines, but respect and passion. I will make what you see seem beautiful to the audience, whoever that may end up being.

My Sketch

A couple days ago I came up with an idea of a Cyborg but the only way I could remember it was if I drew it. So I roughly sketched out my idea and today I finally scanned it in to put on here!

So as you can see, my idea is that the eyes have the shutter blades to a camera instead of the eyeballs. Then a button and finger to show the size is different, making it almost questionable..but after thinking about it, I may get rid of the button idea, I like the shutter blades more. I don't feel like the button makes much of a statement, it just accessorizes and clutters the whole look of it.

Editing Experimentation

I created 2 edits during class today; both quite quickly done.

They are just rough pieces of work reflecting upon my ideas. I decided to try a generically simple robot head first over top of a models face just to try out the whole look. Then I moved onto my budding idea through music and headphones and the power it can create in your mind.

I saved images from the internet and opened them up in Photoshop side by side so that I could clearly see what I was working with and were more accessible to drag over to each other.

 The first one was more about using the clone tool. I made sure the robotic head was rotated enough to fit the head, started selecting the robot's face with the clone tool, then I rubbed over the models picture with this image - a light opacity to make it quite neat, then using the eraser to rub out any mistakes. For the background I place the image over top, changed the blending mode, burned out the original background and rubbed out the background over the model/robot. 

The second image was done in the exact same way except there was no burning of the original background as it was purely black already. The heart cog was cloned over and resized as it copied over as a huge image compared to the other, then I cloned over the other cogs and ordered the layers around so that the other cogs were underneath the heart.

Layers allow much more flexibility to your editing as it can be a backup to any mistakes you make. If you have a clear layer and you draw on the photo/clone anything onto it through this layer, it can easily be removed/resized/recoloured..anything.It can divide your individual steps and you could go back to each layer for any more adjustments without undoing everything else.

All demonstrations of my Photoshop skills will be done in due course, these images were quick mock ups, which I will be doing a lot more of very soon!

Dolphin Tale & A Starting Point

Last year, I went to see a film in the cinema called 'Dolphin Tale' a true story, it was about a Dolphin who injured their tail, had to have it surgically removed and then eventually had a prosthetic tail made especially so that they were able to live.

As soon as a few ideas were mentioned in the presentation today, one being prosthetic limbs, this film came to mind.

Source : Google Images

'Winter' the dolphin was found in a crab trap washed up on the coast of Florida in 2006. Clearwater Marine Aquarium came to her rescue and saved her life. She was watched 24/7, but her tail failed to co-operate and had it removed. She couldn't swim, but a dolphin that couldn't swim couldn't survive. Her 'stump' could help her swim, but not properly, she wiggled from side to side instead of up and down, but the vertebrae of a dolphin is bred to be mobile for up and down movement only, the way she tried to swim was going to snap her spine and kill her instantly. 

They then found Kevin Carroll, one of the world's leading prosthetists who helped build Winter's bionic tail. It took a year and a half to make, eventually what was created was a silicone sock fitted with a fake tail. Winter is still alive and happily swimming in the Clearwater Marine Aquarium Center. 

(Research found at : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/1927254/Winter-the-dolphin-gets-bionic-tail.html)

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This idea on modifying animals even through Photoshop is quite intriguing. I remember sketching out my ideas for a montage project in college once and then testing it out from images from the internet and piecing them together. This is the image I produced..

I will take this into consideration. I will do some sketching and physical cutting/pasting.

My ideas have also swayed to music, with the idea of getting 'lost' into music and becoming adapted into a different world in your mind, body and soul..I shall look into this idea also.

Welcome!

The new brief is about Cyborgs, my aim is to produce something that gives out a message to an audience through a Cyborg theme.
Within the next 6 weeks I will be researching, experimenting and developing my working skills.
I will plan out the research I will undertake and learn new skills on Photoshop/Lightroom.