Pre Christmas Book Proposal

Due to my drastic changes in my book concept I do not have nearly enough work or research to prove for this, but what I would like to do is produce a book that is a collection of collections and I want it to concentrate on lo-fi objects, that can be found and not bought that people can accumulate, or become attached to and keep for their various reasons. I have already started looking at possibilities for what these could be, such as one of my flatmates collects carton lids that they have used and keeps them in a clear plastic cup. When I asked him about it, he explained that he liked their small shape, and how they can all be gathered together to create something that looks quite interesting out of little pieces of easy to come by normality. 

Group Feedback

 Self Evaluation

I have a lot of work to do to make this book a success. My plan for over the Christmas break is to gather ideas, talk to people do lots of research on what people like to collect, and do they apply to what I want to achieve with this book? 

Study Task Two - Whats the Story? + Crits 9th December.

Research into communications and relations via the phone, or not meeting face to face:

To start with I looked a bit into the idea of long distance correspondences and relationships, so I spoke to my flatmate who has a boyfriend at uni several hundred miles away. The most interesting thing that she said about it all was that as you are speaking with them through the phone, via text and such, more often that you get to speak to them face to face, they begin to sometimes just become words on a screen and you can find yourself thinking of them more in terms of the words on the screen than the actual tangible person themselves. "sometimes he just feels like the format of my text message".

With this I liked the idea of the boyfriend becoming the phone.

above are some drawings of a Skype conversation, and the limited format in which you are allowed to perceive them in:

Phone communications from a business point of view:

I spoke to an individual who used to work as a P.A. for relatively big and important businessmen. (for convenience purposes I had to take notes on what they had to say on a napkin)



Some of the key things that I took away from this are:

- That there would be key people that you only ever know/communicate via the phone, so you begin to build up expectations as to what they might be like. But of course it usually then turns out to be not what you expect at all. They described it as that you almost didn't want to ever actually meet them as you would probably be disappointed compared to your expectations.

- You miss out on body language when it comes to interviews and meetings etc down the phone, which was why in many cases these important business meetings, the participants would fly out especially to attend them.

Furthering on: This then lead me onto some other areas or routes that I could take that would potentially lead onto a story idea. 

Body Language. 

The second point got me very interested in body language, so I started observing for it more in as many situations, this also ties back in with some of my initial observations particularly at the Library, and how we act around others and what we do with ourselves. 

It would be interesting to look at things such as: 

-eye contact

-legs

-how you sit

-arms (awkward arms)

[Show sketch book drawings of body language]

I wonder if I might be able to make a book on body language, and all the different things and ways that we act and do according to situations. This then of course leads to questions of would I be looking at it from a serious or humorous point of view, is there somewhere specific that I want to look at this...?

Not what you expect.

The person that you perceive virtually is entirely different to your expectations in reality.

‘They’re not what it seems.’ 

This idea of only meeting people down the phone and having false expectations of what they might be like reminded me of the film Catfish. In which the individual develops a correspondence with a person, and many people that surround and are associated with this person that they believe to be true, however it turns out that it is not at all what they thought.

'Virtual Other Half'

- In Japan, they have virtual girlfriend as preferable to reality. It becoming quite a serious issue. Below is a more playful approach to this however, it quite fits in with the idea I was playing with earlier, of the boyfriend becoming the phone.

Crits

I proposed all of this information and my ideas to my group, and I got some interesting feedback, with helpful stories of their own that could potentially give me new links to research, however as I was giving my presentation, as I was saying these idea's out loud I began to lose faith in them, and seeing them as being rather tricky. It became apparent to the group too that my ideas didn't feel like they would work. Someone pointed out that for them they would have lots of inspiration and knowledge with regards to these topics, however this did seem a lot less suited to me, to the extent where it must have been inhibiting my work. We then went on to look at other areas, from my five questions that I could also have explored. The looking into the collections had always struck me as the most interesting, if indeed not quite practical, or solid enough to make a successful story with. They liked this idea much more, particularly with regards to how I work, and the quality of my drawing, and they way I go about producing and creating things. This route would be far better suited to me, and with all things in life it is important to do what really interests you whenever you can, as this will help to make it far more successful than an idea that might have looked like it would produce a better or more realistic outcome, but if you aren't really keen about your subject it can often just lead to dead ends. So I think I will now begin again to look into collections, or why we collect. 

Hotdog Book & Screen Printing

The jar to the left was the image that I collaboratively created with Lauren. I'm actually quite pleased with it. Its an interesting thing, although for future it would be good to think more about how the lines will look once they have been printed. These ones are a bit patchy and too narrow to make the most of the effects that screen printing can have.

Another important lesson learnt along this project was the best ways to create negative. Our group just used sharpie pens on the specialist clear sheets, but sharpie doesn't expose that strongly so it meant that our whole book was a little too faint. In the future I will have to remember to use a different media such as gouache apparently works quite well. Or simply to print out the negatives in black and white. 

Study Task Two - What's the story? Five Questions.

Five Questions

Five research questions. 

1. What kind of people do we call your worships/who do we worship?
2. Does anyone ever really need to meet face to face anymore?
3. Why do we have such an obsession with collecting things?
4. What outfits should you not wear to court?
5. How do you create tension?

I began looking into some of these questions:

5. My idea behind asking question five, 'how do you create tension' comes from the feelings of intense quiet that I noticed in places such as Leeds library and perhaps also the atmosphere of the courts, where it was possible to sense the varied and sometimes very strong emotions that people were experiencing. It got me thinking about how there can be a number of ways to create and experience tension, or an environment in which it exists. It also then got me thinking of more playful variations of this, and other more humorous, or perhaps less obvious or even just more literal ways of doing this, such as creating tension with a rope.

3. Came from my observations at the library and how for so long we like to collect and store information. 

4. This question was sparked, when at the courts I noticed that a surprising amount of people had not appeared to have made a special effort to make their appearance any smarter, and in some instances they almost appeared to have dressed down. 

RESEARCH TUTORIALS:

Q.2.

1. What kind of people do we call your worships/who do we worship?

The formal protocol of the courts and the green political documentations made me aware of protocol, and formalities and even tradition. I was especially interested in the way that in court this protocol was second nature, and almost casual with the way they use it so easily. 

During crits this idea was broadened, when it brought about the conversations of 'what do we worship' Can it be things , heirlooms, obsessions, religions...? 

(Although at this time the feedback I had had about my question 3, had been noted as not my best option to pursue, and that I should leave it, this notion of people worshiping things, and objects and of for example collecting heirlooms did get me more interested and curios about this idea of people being attached to, and collecting things, perhaps in an obsessive manner.)

Also with regards to formality and protocol, it was brought to my attention by the research tutorial that looking other training disciplines, such as military, and sport. The idea of looking at order or where it could come from. This still feels quite vague however as an area to pursue. 

Q.2:

The Favourite idea/question that I had was the second one, does anybody ever need to meet face to face anymore? This question I found myself asking in the courts, as I realised that most lawyers there had not actually met their client in person before, and all the correspondence prior to that had most likely been over the phone and perhaps email. I personally found it quite surprising that for something that seemed as important or as big as potentially a court trial could be that no face to face contact had been had.

This one sparked interest in looking at things like long distance relationships, and how increasingly as a society we communicate, organise and arrange things over the phone, and through the internet. We're so dependant on technology. I think from here, as this was the favoured idea to pursue that I would like to go on and look into this idea of relationships and correspondence down the phone, and to look at this idea of do we need to meet face to face anymore.

Initial Research analysis

Visual Narratives - Studio Brief One. Seat One

The Visual Journalist

Find A Seat

First of my chosen places was Leeds Library, on the very top floor in the quiet study area.

Here are some of my pictures taken, I took way over the 30 photographs allowed, so I've edited them down on my blog here.

My view when looking straight ahead. 

The whole room was lined with these green books. 

The books on the table opposite me. The top one was about beating mental health illnesses. 

There were eight bits of chewing gum stuck to the underside of the table I was sat at. 

The ceiling reminded me of an aeroplane hanger. 

The door on the left led to the apparent bathroom that made very loud whirring noises periodically. 

This is the crest that was on the front cover of all the green book in this room, they were all practically identical. 

Round table leg, square chair leg. 

looking up from just below the table.

Haphazard surreptitious photography. 

The skylight in the hall just outside. 

in the corridor part outside of the study room on the top floor too, I discovered books that were the exact same thing as the green books from inside the study room, only these dated back to even earlier. They were all political recordings of some description, including debates and changes to the law. 

The corridor. I was quite amazingly decorated. 

view of the stairwell. 

20 Pieces of Ephemera:

It was really hard to come by ephemera in the room that I was sitting in, as it was simply furniture and books. But I did find some scrap lined paper in one of the green books, which appeared to have been at one point used as a bookmark. I also found a little strip of velcro lying on the ground.

20 written Questions:

1. Why is there mostly only men in here?
2. Why are all the books in here green?
3. What are they for?
4. Why are they so big?
5. Why are a third of the bookshelves empty?
6. Why really is it not sociably acceptable to sit at the same table as someone else when there are other free spaces more equally apart?
7. Why do so many of the people in here have/are wearing leather jackets?
8. What is the hissing room?
9. Why do I not seem to really notice when people enter the room?
10. What are these people doing here?
11. Are they related to or using the green books?
12. Why is the roof the way that it is?
13. (Discover book purpose at this point) Are there other places like this in the country that record and store all these political details. 
14. Will anyone ever really need to refer to every single little debate that is reccorded here?
15. Why do humans feel so strongly/have an attitude of great importance towards collecting and recording information about ourselves/what we have done?
16. What really is important?
17. Where do you draw the line?
18. What does, 'Dieu et mon drout' mean?
19. Why does this book smell very faintly of smoked salmon?
20. Could I actually get away with walking into the staff only section?

20 written observations:

1. This should be renamed 'very quiet study area'.
2. It feels like an exam hall.
3. My watch really is as noisy as everyone says.
4. The room to my left makes a very loud hissing sound. 
5. Everyone has occupied the room really very equally. 
6. You have to sit leaving a very reasonable amount of space between you and the people around you. 
7. The heater is old and rather noisy.
8. The walls and plaster looks dirty and unclean.
9. The bookshelves are wonky and some overlap windows.
10. Nearly all of the book covers in this room are green.
11. Lot of people in here have leather jackets.
12. The ceiling reminds me of an aeroplane hanger.
13. The hissing room must be a toilet a man just went in.
14. It is not signed as a toilet yet the man didn't falter when he went through so he must have been here before. 
15. Another man.
16. And another one.
17. A third one, sat opposite me. All the other tables have one person on them.
18. He's  typing on his phone quickly and smiling, not paying much attention to his books.
19. I'm not sure if he has always been there, but at one point a further man appeared at the back table. I think he was asleep on the desk and simply mistook him for a bag.
20. Most people are hunched or slumped at their desks.

20 facts:

1. I am in Leeds library.
2. There are 10 tables in here (It's difficult to count them from my seated angle however)
3. This room is on the very top floor.
4. Its not very big.
5. There is warning tape on the floor by the doors.
6. There (at the start) were only four other people in there with me.
7. A sixth man just entered. 
8. The Large Green books measure one hand and a half (up to my knuckles) length.
9. Sound is very apparent in here.
10. All of the green books have very similar information on their spines, with the exception of their dates. 
11. They all say, 'COMMONS' 'Parliamentary dates' 
12. and they also say e.g, 'Vol 514 part 1'
13. The date periods are not all at the same intervals.
14. All of the books appear to be documentations/recordings of parliamentary debates. 
15. There are eight bits of chewing gum stuck under this desk.
16. Each table has six legs.
17. One of the parliamentary debates mentions robin hood.
18. Its quite amusing to read them.
19. All of their language is so formal.
20. Humans seem to have to collect, store, record and preserve information (often things that we ourselves have created) It seems key that we shouldn't lose it. 

I have highlighted some of the key things that I have noticed and that I found the most interesting.