Studio experiments

Studio experiments

Animation setups

I tend to find it useful to have several different projects or pieces of work going on at any given time. This means that if I am not in the correct state of mind to work on one piece, I can work on something else. However, it can be problematic to have too many things on the go at the same time as it becomes difficult to be able to concentrate on any of them properly. As ever, getting a balance is the key, but that seems to be my life mission! 

At the moment I am working on some writing, and given the textual emphasis and that it requires a particular mentality, I am finding that I need to have something more colourful and visual to work on simultaneously. Hence my recent drawings and collages that I have been animating.

Video documentation of 'Everything Will Be Alright' video installation is now online on Vimeo and YouTube

Video documentation of 'Everything will be alright' video installation is now online. 

The documentation does not feature the audio installation that also featured in the exhibition.



Documentation of Everything Will Be Alright from Helen Shaddock

on Vimeo:
https://vimeo.com/182109286

on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/-jPGH_x0heQ

Everything Will Be Alright (Scouring pads) animation is now on vimeo

The Scouring pad stop motion animation that forms part of my current exhibition, Everything Will Be Alright can now be seen online on vimeo. 

Check it out!

Everything Will Be Alright (Scouring pads)

Everything Will Be Alright (Scouring pads) from Helen Shaddock on Vimeo.

Reshooting spinning animation

Over the past few days I have been learning how to use the green screen and chroma keying in order remove a specific colour from a video scene and replace it (keyed) with a different element. This is what broadcasters use when they replace the original background with an alternative background.

I want to create an animation of a figure spinning, and for it to be projected into a space so that it appears that the figure is in the space where the work is being played.

I used the green screen to record me spinning, but when editing the footage it was not possible to remove all the green as there was a green halo around me.

My next trial was recording me spinning in front of a black background and floor. The colour black cannot be projected, and so in theory, when I project the footage of the figure spinning against a black background, it should seem like the figure is spinning against a transparent background (and hence it would look like the figure was in the space where it is being viewed).

It is surprising how much black fabric is needed in order for the whole of the figure to remain in front of the black for the duration of the spinning. I used 2 different types of black fabric and found that one was too reflective but the other worked well as it was matt black.

I then tried setting up in a room with black walls, and covered the floor with the matt black material. This was successful, but the black walls were not quite black enough to produce the effect that I need.

I also tried wearing a different outfit. Rather than wearing black clothing which could appear rather dull and serious, I wore my orange dungarees and a teal blue jumper as well as the orange funnel I made for a previous performance. I wanted to try to avoid the video being read as a comment on body image and the female figure, and changing my outfit helped with this. The bright colours and sculptural cone also added to the aesthetic of the work. Wearing the funnel on my head is extremely disorientating because my sight is restricted. This makes it even harder to maintain my balance when I am spinning, and I think this is apparent in the footage. I like that the footage references a certain type of struggle, but does so with a sense of lightheartedness.

I am now going to source some more matt black material and cover the wall and floor in this. I will then record me spinning and will wear the orange cone and outfit.

Round and round she goes

New Wave - A Collaborative Installation by Janie Nicoll at The Old Hairdressers

In her current exhibition at The Old Hairdressers, Janie Nicoll is inviting visitors to add to the installation by sharing a word or sentence that relates to 'Angst'.

Over the past few days, Janie and Rachel have been sticking newspaper cuttings and extracts from magazines onto the wall of The Old Hairdressers, creating a wave design.

This process was captured in a stop motion animation.

Now it is up to visitors to the exhibition to continue developing the work.

'New Wave - What's On your Mind?'
A Collaborative Installation 
by Janie Nicoll at The Old Hairdressers, Stereo, Renfield Lane, Glasgow G2 6PH.  

Drop in daily 2-4pm 4th-11th July 2013.
 
Opening Event 7-9pm, Saturday 6th July, 

Performance with Harry Wilson, 8pm, Closing event 7-9pm , 11th July, ALL WELCOME.

Visual Artist Janie Nicoll will be creating a large scale evolving collaborative installation from 3rd - 11th July at the Old Hairdressers, Stereo, Glasgow.

Using Hokusai's "Wave" as a starting point, combining paint and assemblage, she will be inviting artists and the public to contribute text, image or objects on the theme of 'Angst', to a wall sized installation. Contributions will be added into the installation over the course of the week in a large scale public outpouring, and will contribute to a closing event in collaboration with sound artist Harry Wilson, on Thursday 11th July.

Nicoll uses spontaneity, interaction, and collaboration as a working method while building on recent collaborative residencies in the form of a Rough Mix Residency at Tramway, for Magnetic North Theatre Company and a CCA Creative Lab for Counterflows Music Festival, with experimental Sound Artist Annette Krebs.

Paper and stop-motion animation

Paper and stop-motion animation are two of my favourite things.

This combination in no way fails to disappoint.