Study Task 3 : Triangulation

L. Mulvey, feminist film theorist, introduces the constructs of visual pleasure in cinema, formed unconsciously through patriarchal society. Mulvey argues that the separation of an audience from the characters onscreen through the cinematic experience plays to ‘voyeuristic’ (Mulvey, 1975) fantasies, and enables the passive objectification of the female form to the active ‘male gaze’ (Mulvey, 1975). R. Dyer and J. Storey in their writing are both referential to L. Mulvey’s argument. Storey summarises the key points within Mulvey’s text, emphasising her use of ‘psychoanalytical theory’ (Storey, 2001) as a ‘radical weapon’ to deconstruct and destroy constructs of visual pleasure in cinema. In contrast, Dyer criticises Mulvey’s argument as a means to develop and support his own.  He contradicts the foundations of Mulvey’s argument in depicting the audience as passive spectators, and therefore cinema purely as a visual pleasure, by arguing that ‘moviegoers also respond actively as individuals’ (Dyer, 1979) to the meanings represented onscreen (Dyer, 1979). Mulvey’s statement of, ‘the male figure can not bear the burden of sexual objectification’ (Mulvey, 1975), is contradicted through Dyers examples of objectification of the male body in cinema. He also provides an alternative view of Mulvey’s idea of cinema providing sadistic and voyeuristic pleasure, in arguing that there is also the opportunity of a ‘masochistic relationship’ (Dyer, 1979) in which the woman star is not so passively objectified. It is important to consider the years separating these two texts in terms of when they were written, and that we would have seen some changes in the way cinema is constructed as well as analysed. Certainly, Mulvey’s arguments may be true to some contemporary cinema today but also be considerably false when analysing strong females roles in films such as Frozen, and the objectification of the male form in others such as Magic Mike. 

Study task 2 : Establishing a research question

Cop Seminar 3 : Triangulation

In this seminar we evaluated and drew links between three texts - Storey, J : "Cultural theory and popular culture", Dyer, R : "Stars and audiences", Mulvey, L : "Visual pleasure and narrative cinema"

KEY POINTS

• L, Mulvey is the primary text. Her is a 'feminist' psychoanalysis' : psychoanalysis is a theory created by Freud, it intends to provides insight, by making making our unconcious thoughts conscious.   
• Main points: 
• Cinema is a mechanism by which to reinforce male hierachy
• Men are active and woman are passive.
• Women are objectified by the 'male gaze' 
• Cinema reinforces male ego - man is representative of all men, so they can project themselves onto the male role. 
• Female also represents the threat of castration - film solves this by either devaluaing women or uber objectifying them so that they cease to be a person. 
• The castration complex is the fear of emasculation. 
• Mulvey is a british, feminist film theorist. 
• R, Dyer - an academic specialising in cinema (particularly italian cinema), queer theory and the relationship between entertainment and represenations of race, sexuality and gender
• Massachistic view - role reversal, examples of women being unaffected by the male gaze. 
• J, Storey - wrote 'cultural theory and popular culture'. He is a professor and author. His article highlights key points of Mulvey's text, and by doing this makes it more accessible. 
• "The pleasure of popular cinema must be destroyed in order to liberate women from the exploitation and oppression of being the 'passive raw material from the male gaze"
• Relationship between writers - Dyers and storey are referential to Mulvey's texts. Her psychoanalysis of cinema forms the basis for their arguments, and they use this to develop their own. 
• Examples of male gaze within cinema e.g. Bond girls. 

Lecture : Research and Epistemology 1

KEY POINTS

• Experiential learning - learning by doing
• YOU and your research are at the centre
• Process is more important than the outcome
• 'its cyclical not linear'
• the aim is to achieve synthesis between practical and theoretical - each component is working/contributing to the other. 
• qualitative research - beleifs, opinions, subjective
• quantitive research - numbers, quantifiable, fact 

Study Task 1: Illustration and Authorship

An evaluation of authorship in relation to the illustrator and designer Jean Jullien. 

Known to inject humour and originality into everything he puts his hand to Jean Jullien is now at the demand of many famous and important clients within the creative industries and beyond. In 'the death of the author', Barthes, R. argues that 'writing is the destruction of every voice' and that 'it is language which speaks, not the author' (Barthes, R. 1968). When relating this to the practice of well-known illustrators such as Jean Jullien, with his visual 'language' (Barthes, R. 1968) now so easily recognisable, it seems valid to question whether his images are no longer being viewed on face-value but in relation to the gravity of his name within the industry.  

If this is the case, surely it provides him advantage over other practitioners within particular settings, as well as changes and influences how an audience value and appreciate his work. Barthes' theory proposed in relation to writing, provides a similar view in that 'to give a text an author is to impose a limit of that text' (Barthes, R 1968). It may be interesting to pose the question as to whether the recognisability of his images makes an audience or client more susceptible to highly rating his work and imposing less critical analysis over the aesthetic or concept. If so, then surely 'the birth of the reader must at the cost of the death of the author' (Barthes, R. 1968), as in order to see an illustration with clear mind who created must therefore be put out of the audience's knowledge. 

This argument may be made redundant when questioning the validity of authorship within illustration, similarly as Barthes, R. poses in 'The Death of the author' with relevance to the written word. The earliest definition of the author is stated as 'the person who originates or gives existence to anything' (Rock, M 1996). With this in mind, one must consider whether illustrators may claim authorship over their own practice as surely their work is a product of their own influences and the world we see around us. Jean Jullien's work is highly relevant to evaluate in relation to this theory, as his images often act as a commentary on current social and worldly issues. Therefore, his work acting as 'a visual collection of commentaries', with the aim of telling 'stories that people could relate to' (Butler, A 2014), surely it is valid to argue that he is not giving 'existence to anything' (Rock, M 1996) but simply reproducing what has already been seen. 

In contrast one may argue that we each view the world, whether with the motivation to be creative or not, through an individual lens. I value Jean Jullien's work because of it's originality, as although it highlights what may be seen to be obvious, it also pushes these issues into new light. 

Butler, A. (2014). interview with the creator of the peace for paris symbol, designer Jean Jullien. Available: http://www.designboom.com/art/interview-with-illustrator-and-designer-jean-jullien-11-27-2014/. Last accessed 25th Oct 2016.
Barthes, R. (1977). Death of the Author. In: Heath, S Image, Music, Text. London: Fontana Press. pg142-148.
Rock, M. (1996). The designer as author. Available: http://www.eyemagazine.com/feature/article/the-designer-as-author. Last accessed 25th Oct 2016.

Seminar : R, Barthes. "The Death of the Author"

What message is Barthes trying to convey? 
In order to gain full understanding of a text, we must not use the author as an explanation, but the let the language speak for itself - in this we achieve the birth of the reader. 

5 main points

• "Writing is the destruction of every voice"
• "The image of literature to be found in ordinary culture is tyrannically centred on the author, his person, his life, his tastes, his passions"
• "it is language which speaks, not the author"
• "To give a text an Author is to impose a limit on that text" 
• "The birth of the reader must be at the cost of the death of Author" 

Impact on illustration 

• As illustrators, we are the author of our own images and so take responsibility over the messages we convey within this work. However, almost all art forms are judged subjectively meaning the reader may form their own opinion and interpretation. 
• As young art practitioners we use social media channels - such as instagram and facebook - to promote our own work. Through this we become authors of our own online identity. 

How could this relate to your chosen theme? 
Aesthetics - How does being aware or unaware of the author of an image, influence the way we perceive this work? 

Lecture: Flipped classroom

KEY POINTS

• Traditional classroom is hierarchal - puts the teacher above the students
• Flipped classroom - peer assessment, allows the student to actively engage and learn at a deeper level 
• Started in the 60s - student revolution, 'Egalité, Liberté, Sexualité!' - Jacque Ranciere
• Education is a method of controlling, regulating, disciplining, specialisation and indoctrinating a fear of failure. 
• BUT surely there needs to be a balance - we can not learn only from each other if we do not know anything in the first place. Textbooks, critical essays are written by teachers, professors, people who supposedly know more - surely this is the same, its learning from the written word instead of someone standing up and saying it...

Cop initial ideas / continued thoughts from last year

Themes explored last year: 

• The relationship between technology and mindfulness
• The emergence of print media into a 'golden age' 
• The value of the handmade over digital

Prominent theorists/research: 

• Leslie, J (2013) 'The modern magazine, visual journalism in the digital era' London: King Publishing
• Jamieson, R (2015) 'Print is dead. Long live Print' London, Munich & New York: Prestal Verlag
• Burrell, I (2014) 'Looks good on paper: Forget tablet editions - a new wave of young independent publishers is producing wonderful hard-copy titles' [internet] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/press/looks-good-on-paper-forget-tablet-editions-a-new-wave-of-young-independent-publishers-is-producing-9139520.html [19/11/15]

prominent illustrators/practitioners within my visual investigation:

• Jake Hollings
• Jean Jullien
• Yukai Du

I found what I wrote about in my essay and explored visually within context of practice last year interesting, however I think within this years module I would like to move onto another subject. Although, most obviously, what I learnt last year through researching and gaining better understanding of these themes still and will influence my work e.g. my preference for the handmade over digital processes. 

Cop Seminar 1 - Module Briefing

KEY POINTS

Themes : politics, society, culture, history, technology, aesthetics 

What interests you practically and theoretically within the practice of illustration? and in the world? 

Submission date : 03/05/17

Deliverables : 

Context of practice blog - documenting critical response to lectures, seminars and study tasks, and independent research carried out for module. 

3 x 1000 essays/critical writing 

Visual investigation on chosen topic, collated in a 70 pg. A5 concertina sketchbook (provided)

For the 70 pg. concertina book, you can NOT rip out any pages but can practice work/make work outside of it before - so it can only include your successful outcomes/experiments. 

OUIL401 End of module evaluation

Cop final essay

Theory into Practice - A Visual Response

Lino prints

I did these lino prints as an extension upon the collages I made exploring ways in which to express disconnecting from technology through images of nature and meditation. I created these because I wanted to experiment with how different media could similarly bring a sense of texture to my work. I think this is achieved through the mistakes and lack of perfection within these images - when bits of printing have gone wrong or certain shapes are a bit faded. I think lino printing as a medium has also brought a sense of naivety and a childlike nature to these images - I am not sure as to whether I see this quality appropriate to the subject; however one could argue children do live wholly in the moment. 

Technology pieces

These are the final designs I created in response to the negative impacts of technology upon mindfulness. I am quite pleased with these, as I feel that I have fulfilled my intent for the work, of creating illustrations that evoke a feeling of being absorbed within technology, and it seeming busy, noisy, jarring and overwhelming... I think that the sombre black figures encircled within this world of patterns and shapes creates this idea of being isolated and disconnected from the outside world. I think that repetitive nature and shapes within the patterns effectively echo a sense of technology, and the high contrast, garish colour schemes aid the images in being appropriately overwhelming, and perhaps slightly uncomfortable to look at...? I think that generally creating these on illustrator, instead of them being handmade also further reinforces what I am trying to communicate through these images. 

Developing prints on illustrator

I have been making some patterns on illustrating using the transform and pattern 'maker' tools. I thought that the repetitive nature of patterns could reflect digital technology - as we scroll through endless information and content, repeatedly press and click buttons. It would also do well to represent the tedium and constancy of societies relationship with technology perhaps?

With these patterns I intended to created something quite garish, bright and slightly uncomfortable to look at.... Therefore I choose simple, repetitive patterns - all the shapes taken from aspects of technology - as well as really high contrast colours. Overall I am quite happy with these and think that they communicate the business and discomfort that I think is really appropriate to this theme of technology. To move forward I want to feature these in some kind of illustration - abstract or figurative...I need to go back to roughing and brainstorming ideas.

Yukai Du

Yukai Du's gifs look at our reliance on digital technology - exploring this through both conventional domestic environments and surrealistic concepts. I really like the use of texture and pattern in her work - I think this conveys an atmosphere of chaos and business to the work really appropriate to her theme of technology. I would really like to adopt a similar aesthetic in my own work, as I think that especially using pattern, will work really well to convey the disadvantages of living in a technological world. On other hand I think I would like to adopt a more digital, rather than handmade approach, because I think using photoshop or illustrator as a medium would be more appropriate in communicating the theme of technology and would contrast nicely to my more textured/painterly collages. 

Michael Craig-Martin: "Transcience"

I went to see Michael Craig-Martin's exhibition "Transcience" at the Serpentine Gallery.

The subject that Craig-Martin is trying to communicate through these drawings is very relevant to my theme of technology. Through drawing old and present everyday pieces of technology and design Craig-Martin intends to highlight the constant technological advancement of our world. I think this is very effective, and communicates the restlessness and constancy of technological development. I like  the simple and bold aesthetic of his images, as well as the vibrancy of his colour palettes and the clear definition of the objects through the continuous black line and blocks of colour.  I think that overwhelming and chaotic compositions...

Crit

Key Points -:

• The visual work looks at two different sides of technology - what its like to be consumed by it and what can be achieved if we move away from using it so often. 
• Own opinions are coming out through work - negative view of technology.
• The visual work moves away from your original essay subject, and you can see the transition into this. 
• The message is clear and not condescending. The use of the symbol and test - makes the message and link to technology clear. 
• The simplicity of the composition, use of negative space and textures really gets across this relaxed atmosphere. 
• The contrast of the nature collages to the hectic patterns of the technology stuff really puts across the intended message 

Ways to move forward -:

• Look at using printing as a technique to make similar work to that of the mindfulness collages - mono-print, potatoe printing, screen printing, lino...?

Jake Hollings

This illustration I think communicates a real sense of serenity and immersing oneself in nature. Hollings sense of the handmade in his work - painterly, textured and hand-cut shapes - I think is really appropriate and effective with this imagery. 

I think that again, even though it is more abstract, this image still communicates a sense of nature - through the use recognisable shapes, colour palette and texture within each cut shape.

Adopting a similar aesthetic to my own work could do really well in communicating my concept of disconnecting from technology, returning to the present moment and reconnecting with nature. 

New ideas/plan

Create a series of collages:

• Play around with the idea of handmade and digital 
• digitally printed -  created on illustrator/photoshop
• one with cut paper - gouache, pastel, ink to make texture, sense of the handmade ect.
• Collages looking at achieving greater mindfulness through switching off and disconnecting from technology - negative space, simplistic, soothing colours, focus on nature and physical relationships/contact, meditation, idea of harmony and balance
• In contrast make collages looking at the negatives of technology - cluttered, too much information, garish, overwhelming, clashing colours, unbalanced composition, shapes associated with technology - screens, computers, likes, followers, friends, - but try not include logos ect. - large white spaces to demonstrate screens? 

Progress Crit

Key points:

• Need to do more drawings 
• Explore other medium - collage 
• Like the square eyes concept - explore other cliché fears of technology? (millenium bug)
• More abstract images? 
• Stop spoon-feeding your audience!

Moving Forward:

• Focus upon the concept of the negative affects surrounding technology - maybe revisit the idea of mindfulness I talked about earlier
• Do more work! Look at trying to communicate these ideas through means of process and more abstract imagery. 
• Make work thats better crafted and visual quality - how does your media affect what you are communicating?

Mindfulness and Technology

In my last tutorial Matt suggested that I look at the relationship between technology and mindfulness. I think this follows on well with the idea of 'digital natives', a theory I have already been looking at within my visual journal, as it again wrestles with the idea of people absorbing themselves in technology, and becoming too reliant upon it within both their social and professional lives. This is something I personally resonant with as often when I go home I turn off my phone. Being 'online' I think removes us from the present, we place too much importance on our interaction with others through social media - 'friends', 'followers' ect - and search for immediate entertainment - loud and brash - instead of appreciating silence, stillness ect. (the little things)

Collages looking at mindfulness

 Recently I have been exploring a concept of achieving mindfulness through 'switching off' or 'disconnecting' from technology. Personally I associate peace and serenity with nature, therefore I wanted to merge the two together with these collages. Alike to Jack Holling's work I wanted to have a real sense of the handmade in this work, as through emphasising this I think it communicates, through media, a retreat from what we may associate with digital technology - flat colour, 2 dimensionality ect.

I think that the painterly quality of gouache and texture of other media, like pastel and coloured pencil, within the cut shapes creates what I wanted with a real sense of the handmade and analogue media. I think that the use of negative space and the balance of each of the components, as well as the simplicity - does create this feeling of calm, serenity and unwinding. 

When making these collages I realised that I preferred the ones looking more at nature, rather than the figures meditating or relaxing. I think my preference to this is because they are perhaps a less conventional image to communicate this concept - as well as I feel like in the figurative collages, the sense of nature and wilderness is lost. I do, however, prefer the ones in which I have added the short phrases and symbols, as I think without this there does not seem to be direct link to disconnecting from technology - therefore I feel I should add text to these final three...

'Square eyes'

This is a character I have started to draw, playing off the concept of 'square eyes' - an old fear associated with technology. I think as a concept this works really well with what I am trying to explore - as it communicates this idea of all of us spending too much time absorbed in technology. On the other hand I think the images are a bit obvious, and definitely poorly crafted! Character work is also something that Im not really too sure about, I would like to try and find a way to express the same concept but perhaps in a different way that works with the kind of process I enjoy...

Project Proposal

A term of particular interest to me within my research was 'Digital Natives', used to describe younger generations it suggests a familiarity with technology, developed through not knowing a world without iPhones, iPads, laptops ect. I would like to investigate how this developing  reliance on technology, especially from a young age, affects social interaction both privately and in public spaces, as well as attitudes towards old technology like vinyl, print and film. In order to do this I will be carrying out both secondary and primary research - reading relevant articles and books, carrying out surveys or interviews and exploring these ideas through visual investigation. Looking at the work of Jean Jullien in his series Allo! - exploring the affects and realities of digital technology on our daily lives - brings to life a similar social commentary that I would like to achieve through my own work and research. In creating this work I think it is also very important to consider the influence of using digital or analogue processes, as the images themselves  may debate this issue. I think making a clear identification between the two, or using both in combination, could be really appropriate and aid the communication of my ideas.

Cop Session

In this cop session we tried to draw links between images we had found and collected within our research so far, and passages or quotes within our essay. From this I identified two ways in which I can go forward with my visual journal - 

• Technology
• Either looking at this idea of 'digital natives', people being accustomed and reliant upon technology, how this is affected people growing up...the younger generation - making a visually representation of a 'digital native', how would this look? 
• The negative impacts of digital technology - how it affects our social interaction both in private and in public spaces. As well as not being able to escape from technology - its constant presence in our lives (I think this has been really well illustrated in Jean Jullien's 'Allo!' series already though, and I feel like this will distract and prevent me from creating original work on this subject)
• Looking at the growth of independent publishing 
• the value of print media, how could I capture this/communicate the value of the handmade?
• The revolutionary ways to distribute, create/design magazines
• maybe I could make my own magazine that pushes these boundaries/reinvents a genre.

Essay Feedback

Essay Feedback

•  Strong start, real understanding 
• Kylie example need changing
•   Good triangulation, sources used throughout
•   Citations need page numbers
• Another critic theorist – similar all the way through
• Interesting conclusion – start with in introduction. new golden age of print based on digital technologies
• Separating into more paragraphs
• Need to stop using words connective words
• Good sentence structure
•  Need to be more economical with language.

Studio Brief 2: Visual Response

Draft Essay

Leslie, J. (2013) ‘The Modern Magazine, Visual Journalism in the Digital Era’ London: Laurence King Publishing

Mag+ (Bonnier concept video)

•  scrolling is more appropriate
• vertical – articles sit next to eachother horizontally
• moving between images and text with tapping
• endless infinite expanding – you have finished content
• there is no forced orientation
• search, saved for later, bookmarking
• cut out, send to a friend
• luxurious impactful imagery
• richer deeper reading experiences 

Sports illustrated - tablet demo 1.5

• Offers a higher level of interaction - different ways of navigating, interaction with advertising, as well as looking at photos, text ect. 
• Ability to watch videos (play backs of sport) - works really well with this particular content
• Able to view more photos, infinite content. 
• Sending and sharing with friends
• You can have live interaction with games. 

Essay Plan revised

Recently I feel like my research has been heading in a different direction, so I have revised and re-focused my essay plan. I am now solely going to research and write about magazines as a form of print media. I think as a medium they have had a really interesting transformation as a result of digital technology, and focusing on them in particular will help me develop a more in-depth study of how digitalisation has affected print. 

‘How magazines can survive the digital age’

Dojc, J. (2009) ‘How magazines can survive the digital age’, [internet] http://www.slideshare.net/jdojc/how-magazines-can-survive-the-digital-age [20/12/15]

• ‘Traditional media is losing “news” market share to the internet’
• ‘As people spend more time online, the less they spend with traditional media’
• NO PRINT WILL NOT BE REPLACED – ‘new technology never completely replaces old technology. We generally find a new purpose for ‘old tech’.
• Use example of mass production of images – ‘photography did not replace painting. Impressionism, cubism, surrealism and several other important art movements emerged after the invention of the camera’
• (The same way print changed the way we looked at traditional art (historical portraits) and gave way to new emerging art forms ect. Will digital do the same to print?) put in theory of print gaining this almost religious experience, it becoming a luxury item…or even more so than currently.
• ‘Digital media, social or otherwise, won’t completely replace print media. Print media will evolve’
• ‘Magazines are best positioned amongst traditional media to weather the internet storm as the industry already is structure as a ‘mass of niches’ with a title catering to almost any interest’ (unlike newspapers – provide the news which people want immediately. Magazines provides OPINIONS)
• While 2008 ad revenues are down 11.7%, circulation revenue is up’ (readership is not the problem!!)
• ‘Magazine content is valued by readers. Using advertising as the primary source of funding that content is what is broken’
• ‘There are many newspapers and news shows reporting the same things. Magazines have a voice and in this era voice is values; magazines can create content with unique value and if they continue to find readers across media they will survive’ Jeff Jarvis (author of ‘what would google do’
• ‘Our readers want to know what we think – and they want to tell use what they think. And they want to know what other readers think’ Joan Walsh Editor of Salon.com (advantage of DIGITAL not print – because this idea of interaction and sharing created through digital publishing)
• Examples of magazines that can create revenue without relying heavily on advertising ‘Be a brand!’
• E.g. Maxim – throws parties and opens nightclubs – ‘having multiple revenue streams takes away the publishers dependence on advertising. It also allows for a deeper understanding of the audience allowing for richer marketing partnerships with other brands’
• Be an extension of a pre-existing brand e.g. “O-the Oprah magazine”
• ‘find a receptive captive audience’ – in flight magazines such as en route and commuter magazines like metro.
• Be uber-premium ‘super-premium luxury brands and high newsstand prices can still support certain “high-end” magazines’
• Be an aggregator e.g mine. Tailormade magazines using compiled information based on ‘survey’ or ‘your facebook profile’ ect