Resolution Project.

Beneath the Roses by Gregory Crewdson.

I am using this as a sort of massive Case study if you will of a Narrative. I found this in a huge book by him and i was enthralled by it. It is just so amazing. I looked at the pictures like it was a movie for at least an hour while i was analysing all the images. To me it reads as a complex Narrative with a wide story arc like a beautiful film. Like Joel Sternfield it kind of captures an American View of life in the Suburbs, but unlike Sternfelds work, this is all meticulously set up and staged with HUGE sets like in a movie. In this case study i write my thoughts as they occur about the work, remembering what i though the first time i viewed it and writing it as if i am viewing it for the first time.

This is frame one. In it you see a car parked at a red light. the door to the drivers side is open and there is no-one there and no one in shot who it could be. the passenger is in the passenger seat and the red light is changing to amber, this indicates as well as the missing driver that the scene has been like this for a while. It looks like a dusk time of day also a sign of change. I wonder why has the driver left the scene and why is the passenger still in the seat. It seems they might have argued or something with major emotional consequences has happened.

Here we see a different red light, the light is also at amber, again there is a car waiting this could be a flash back from the previous picture, however the car is different . the streets are fully wet in this picture, however in the previous picture they were a bit wet but they were mostly drying up.

The scene shifts to a more suburban area with just places of residence rather than peoples houses and shops. the scenery is completely different from before . there is the visual of the car with the door open, this time it is the passenger door, it is a different car again, there are some people sitting and standing on the porch of the house to the right looking towards the car. it looks like baloons and water have fallen out of the car. what has happened for baloons and water to fall out of the car? is it a celebration or birthday?

Here we have a woman in night time holding her jumper, she is stood in the road with cracks in it, again it is a residential area but it is different to the one in the previous plate. again there is a car with the door open, this imagery is repeated it must be building to something.

Here a different story arc with a different set of characters are involved with some sort of journey or adventure. They are in a different area where there are train tracks away from a town or residential area. Perhaps it is a flashback to when the people in the other pictures where younger. the people look as if they are moving very slowly and are looking for something. they are not all walking together, they seem like they must know each other but have spent enough in each others company that they dont need to stand right next to each other. Perhaps they are trying to jump on a freight train as it crosses the country.

Here it would seem that the characters are looking in the woods for something, It looks like they have come to the spot they were looking for. the torches indicate it is dark and they are searching, they still all look quite dejected. but in this plate they are together rather than so spread out.

This seems like it could be the spot the people were looking for . you can see that it is a different location thuogh. Perhaps the people did not find all these suitcases and where looking in the wrong place. or maybe this is a flashback to the person who buried it. i think the former rather than the latter as it seems this man has driven here and taken all these suitcases out and flung them away, it seems like he is looking for one specific one. as the other are strewn and all still shut, he has this suitcase and is about to open it, what is in them? why are they so important and how to they connect to the first story arc that we saw?

This seems to be anew story arc. The woman is looking away from the bed with the man on the bed what i assume is her husband or partner. The woman is looking at a tiny bird on the dresser that is barely noticeable against the paraphernalia on the dresser and in the room, it looks quite lifelike with its pose, i suppose it is a model but i am not sure if it is meant to be alive in the story. the woman looks like the bird is giving her some sort of meaning or thought process and she is coming to realise something. the man looks also like he is contemplating something. perhaps there has been a death in the family and times are hard or perhaps they are contemplating divorce. are these people related to the people in the last story arc?

The woman is sitting on a bed in what looks like a childs room, there is blood on the sheets. it reads to me that her daughter has had her first period. it also could read that the woman is in her childs room that might have died in the past and she is sat on the daughters bed remembering her and wondering what life might have been like had the daughter lived.

Here is another picture with the imagery of a car with the door open. it is a cityscape. It looks to bea mother returning to her car, again the door is open, this time the back passenger door is open, it looks to be the passenger has run away, perhaps it is the persons child, and the person is used to them running away. the body language of them woman is resigned and it just looks like she is thinking "oh not again". Perhaps the rebellious child is related to the Story Arc of the people next to the train tracks.

and again there is the imagery of the car with the door open. it is a different car everytime. i wonder if it is the same car as that was in the woods earlier in the narrative also there is a suitcase next to the car like the suitcases in the woods, perhaps this is THE suitcase that the people were looking for! i wonder is this one of the same crossroads from earlier where cars were half abandoned. I wonder what the man is looking at and why he has stepped out into the rain. it looks as if he is looking at a phone screen, though it might get ruined in the rain. perhaps it is a map or a piece of paper with a note of map co-ordinates.

I think here we are back to the story Arc of the people walking along the train lines. I wonder if they are making another venture to find the suitcases or whether this is a flashback to their previous attempt. the burning building is very interesting as the people do not seem concerned or much interested in the building on fire, perhaps they lit the fire, though it looks like they are walking towards and past the building. perhaps they have seen it from a long way off and are so engaged and tired by their task that they just are not bothered by the fire.

Here perhaps we are introduced to some new characters. They are laying on the mattress its is in the middle of the scene in the middle of mud and mess. this makes it seem like an abandoned area. they are laying naked as if in a post coital state. the are not embracing but the woman lays facing away from the man and he lays on his back. the area seems abandoned but the lights are on in the building, if they were the ones who left the lights on it would seem strange that they would go outside to do that.

This so far to me is a key plate in the narrative, it is strange as there is so much action and drama in this photograph and yet it is so still at the same time.

I saw this photograph in the V&A last summer, I had previously been aware of Gregory Crewdsons work and I thought it was good but it didnt majorly catch my eye like this piece does. Here we see a snowy scene with houses and a figure standing in the doorway of a house with children's swings to the left.

Why is the woman standing in the middle of the snowy drive and not walking to the warmth of her house?

What are the people in the car talking about?

This is the Cover photo. it shows a boy under a bridge looking up. perhaps the walkers are walking over the bridge and he can hear them and is wondering who they are and why they are walking on an abandoned train tracks

This is one of my favourite images in the series. I like it for the large scale photograph of the bridge and all the water and scenery and of the direction on the actors for what they have to do from far away from them.

This is another image that if i had to pick a handful of images to describe the series this would be one of the stand out images. who is the mother? is she related to to woman under the bridge or on the mattress outside and this is a jump in time?

thi looks similar to other pictures of houses like this, like one of the first images of the balloons falling out of the car

Another image of what looks like post coital moment and the people are not embracing but rather are contemplating and melancholy.

I like that the series seem to start in late summer and it is such a big piece that it transitions through the season to mid winter with all the snow.

This ending picture is beautiful. it reminds the viewer of the very first image of the series where the car was parked on the traffic light in a transitional state. this picture is in the snow with again the lights changing. it is also at the dusk time. this time the car is driving away from the scene and actually appears to be driving this time.

Evaluation of Project

Over this project I have learnt so much. I learnt about book binding and how to do it. I found the thinkness of the needle really helps bind the book and having the holes punched to the size of the needle rather than to the size of the string makes it so much easier to thread. I learnt to tighten the string by pulling upwards and downwards, never across the book as it might pull it apart. and i learnt that i really enjoy making books even though i dont like stitching. The printing was so hard to get right and i made many mistakes but i know know what settings to use when printing. I am proud of the books i made.

I learnt so much about using Adobe Premiere Pro, just how to use the basic functions was hard for me and i finally started to get it and i feel i have made a decent video in it.

I have learnt about some artists who use text and different narrative structures from books and films and photography series. I t was really interesting seeing how the different mediums compare to each other and how they can have similar approaches and different approaches to show a story.

If i could go back and change things i would definitely do more research into snpachat and artists who use texts as i feel i could find much more, so i would change how i managed my time as i spent most of my time in this project progressing my ideas and learning new skills as opposed to analysing artists i had not previously heard about. and i think i would do more research into films as they seem like a great example of how narrative structures can be used.

Another thing i would change is my attendance of tutorials, I feel i could have gone to more and seen as many tutors as possible to get lots of feedback but i didnt. Unfortunately some things in my personal life to do with this project got in the way and i was unable to make it to a couple of tutorials and this had a negative effect on my work and it took a bit of time to get back into the swing of things

I have immensely enjoyed this project for the most part, especially how busy it is and how many new skills i have had to learn and re-getting to know my friend was also amazing. on the downside as of course with any project there were downsides when things went wrong and it got stressful to do certain things.

I would like to continue this project and see where it takes me, so i could make lots of books showing a full progression of getting to know someone over a period of years, it would be so interesting to photograph our social interactions over a period of years. Perhaps also i can make different books of different people that i interact with.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3_CrfjMFRI
This is a beautiful piano cover and it is nearly as perfect for my video as the original song, I admire the piano players skill so much as they have added the bits that are missing without having the other instruments in the piece, all using the keys of the piano. I feel just having piano might turn my piece slightly cheesy but this is such a good cover. I just personally feel the original fits my video and I chose to use that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gRbHs0mbkg
Despite the name of this video it isnt an instrumental. Its a nice mix but i just dont like it so much and i dont feel the drum track fits for my video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKsLGIeHeCA
This is an interesting mix of the song. I really like it so much! However i feel it is quite energetic and my piece is very still and very slow and lonely. Although this mix does keep some of the chill vibes of the original, its just too much for me to use.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSH7fblcGWM
this video was recommended to me to try. I dont like it at all, i guess it could feel but it just does not have the same power as Twice by Little Dragon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6bbM5HZz5c
I considered a lot of Bonobo songs especially this song as i love the singer and it is such a chilled out track. I think Twice fits much better than this song however

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edfm9wfE9l8
This is the final version of my video. It is the same pictures as the last video but i just tidied up the text and the type faces.
The song is Twice by Little Dragon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yedD4JsZyT0
This is the original song. It is such a beautiful piece and with these images and text it perfectly gets across the feeling of loneliness. I considered finding a cover of the song or using a sampled mix or instrumental version as some feedback on my video was that having the text and the lyrics to listen to, it was too much. I couldnt find a version that was as perfect as this original version. I considered also finding a different song, but for me this song is just perfect and people will have to pay attention to fully get the video if it is too much, or hopefully watch it Twice (pun intended) if it is too much for them the first time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5i2yAQA8Dk
This video is another test piece where i was learning to use Adobe Premiere Pro. I was just playing with sample music, the silly music i chose was from a free sample sound website. As the stills are shot in a bedroom it gives the whole thing a horrible porno feel as this is a funny test it is fine

I got the idea to tell the story backwards from watching the film Momento where some of the film is told forwards to give context as to what is happening, and most of it is told backwards leaving the viewer to work out what is going on. I want the viewer to think while watching this piece and to think why it is backwards and why I made up a fabricated story as if it was happening at the time, why am I talking to people via electronic devices rather than talking in person and what the feeling of the song was and what these little things mean overall.

As of this version of the video it is an unfinished video. I made this video while I was still learning to use Adobe Premiere Pro and I need to update how the text looks, for example it changes size halfway through and the fonts are horrible. I want to use just one easy to read font and have it as all white. I consider using italics for one person’s text and standard for the other. 

However I feel this wouldn’t read well, like having two different fonts. I consider changing the opacity of the font for one of the speakers so one would be clear white and one would be greyer, but I feel it might work with both texts the same, leading the viewer to think more about the narrative. A problem I am also having is the music. It is perfect in one sense that it really gets across the emotion of loneliness, but having lyrics in the song some people feel that there is too much to watch read and listen to. I try to find an instrumental version. I also look for different songs but this track works so well it is hard to find one as perfect. It also makes me wonder does having all the text the same mean it would be too much for the viewer to think about. Also having re-listened to the song over and over the lyrics fit well with the previous situation between the person involved in this project and me.