Task 1 : Critical evaluation

The final group project piece that we have created relates to the subject of ‘the uncanny’ in a number of ways. Firstly, the content in itself has an eerie appearance to it and allows the audience to feel disconcerted.  Within our first session on the module, we looked into the theory of the uncanny as well as some artist work on the subject which mainly concerned itself with the human body as a theme. As a group, we liked this as a whole concept and knew from the offset that we intended to create a piece which focused on a human body with an uncanny element, which is where the idea behind our piece initially originated from.

Early in the module, I researched into artists currently exploring both the uncanny as a subject and the use of a human body in their work. In doing so, I came across the sculpture based work of artists Ron Mueck and Liu Xue and found the concept of combining the features of an animal and human being together an interesting route to consider following.  With this idea still in mind, the main focus for us as a group at such an early stage was to question how to best approach the set build and design, and within this what kind of atmosphere we wished to create in doing so. Reflecting on our individual project proposals seemed to work as a successful basis for this, as we discovered along the way that a few themes were consistent throughout all of our ideas. Sarah and I both had ideas focusing on childhood and the imagination, whereas the others had creepy, horror like imagery present throughout their varying ideas.This contrast allowed us to really think creatively and develop an idea that combined the two themes together, which provided us with a creative challenge as from the beginning we wanted to create a piece that couldn’t be read literally in terms of the uncanny being directly understood as horror like.

We began the process of forming a new combined idea by researching into common themes of both horror and childhood, and I began researching dreamlike sequences and a darker side to fairytale stories during this stage.I enjoyed researching this area, as I discovered a lot of interesting articles about sinister interpretations to common fairytales and how these can be perceived in a quite uncanny way if looked at from a different angle. After individually collating our findings, we developed the idea for the set being based in a woodland location as this is present in both childhood fantasy story worlds as well as many visual horror narratives. The process of idea development from here relied on us working together with the studio space made accessible to us to come up with the practical logistics of a set build that would be an achievable target to reach given the tight time schedule we had been assigned.  After looking at a set of images including projections onto tents and outdoor spaces, we liked the idea of using shadows to create an uncanny effect, and initially we thought about the idea of creating an installation piece of work. However, after some further research, a group discussion and a tutorial, we found out that actually this might not be the best route to take in terms of gaining access to the materials and props needed given the limited three walls structure and space available to us. This led us to have a rethink as a group in terms of how to best approach combining our creative ideas with the spacing issue we were faced with. This led us to reconsider our initial idea of combining a fairytale with a horror like element, and from here we developed the concept of building a structure within a woodland setting.

 

After researching sets of images and current film set structures, we decided it would be an enjoyable challenge to take on to build the set as a wooden shack. Taking influence from a recent trend in horror films being set in wooden cabin like buildings, we decided to push this idea and continue to develop it. We were aware that this would present us with a challenge for a number of a reasons, mainly due to the amount of detail we wanted to put into the piece and the limited amount of time we had as outlined on the brief. After organising further meetings to view visual references and discuss imagery, we decided the best way for us all to contribute and be effective with our time was to split into smaller groups to work on smaller assigned tasks. We set up a project group online to share influences and discuss our schedule further which was an effective way of communicating throughout the course of the module. I think that this was a key strength; our organisation and communication with one another throughout the module allowed us to keep up to date with the project and all feel we had an equal contribution to the final completed piece.

This also allowed us early on to utilize the skills and interests of each member of the group working collaboratively; whilst Billy, Terry and Ryan prefer the post production side to things, myself, Sarah and Carrie had a stronger interest and knowledge of the logistics of the set build and art direction side to the project. Whilst we collected materials needed to design and decorate the set, the others helped with this but also collaborated to discuss the post production side and how what we were working on would transfer itself in the edit.I am also interested in Producing and so I took charge of some of the other  formal tasks required to meet the brief, such as setting up a collaborative moodboard page on Pinterest, working out the best way to budget our resources needed for the practical set build workshop and initially setting up the group conversation to allow us to share documents relating to the project with one another

Once we began on the practical set build, the wallpapering and painting was a joint effort which allowed us to discover further where our individual strengths and weaknesses lie. Although the wallpapering appeared a bit bumpy at first, we got around this creatively as a group by ensuring that when we put the sticks over the top, the texture built up enough to create an untidy look, which essentially is what we were aiming to achieve through creating a wooden shack structure.

Sarah and I also had difficulties getting the sticks to stay on the wall and realized we really should have carried out further research into this as all we had was PVA glue and this occurred at a time when the prop cupboard was locked. We got around this by doing the best job that we could and by emailing Susannah for advice, but in hindsight a better approach would have been for us to fully look into the possibilities of this before we arranged to book out the studio and devote the day to doing this task. Luckily, on this occasion we had allowed ourselves enough time so that the full group could come in the following week and help us out by getting a glue gun which made the process a lot less time consuming whilst still allowing us to achieve the desired unkempt texture to the walls that we set out to achieve. The rest of the set decoration task was enjoyable and we felt really able to experiment creatively with our options, which was partly due to the theme being the uncanny. We decided to add a few extra elements to the walls such as red paint handprints and a few painted photos as well as taxidermy animals splattered with paint, to further give the impression of a lived in yet abandoned space, as this is what we wanted the audience to question consistently throughout the piece.  

After the set was in place and decorated, the next focus was on the appearance and positioning of the character performance piece. Referring back to our original ideas and research on a fairytale and horror combination, Billy suggested bringing a pig mask in to the studio and we began to discuss how to combine this with a human performance, using the theme of movement to create an uncanny effect and appearance. Ryan agreed to perform, whilst Terry directed and the rest of us filmed. After some practice and experimenting with different ways of moving out of the cut out window space on the back wall of the set, we were ready to film this scene. Although at the time both on camera and in person the green screen looked well positioned, we realized later on in the edit stage that we could have done a better job of lighting the green screen. Another requirement of the brief was to incorporate a visual effect in some way, and we decided to do this via creating a fire in After Effects. However, another problem that we encountered with this which became apparent in the edit again, was that placing a visual marker on the position of the fire within the set would have been a good idea to ensure editing was a less time consuming process. This is definitely something I would take from this experience and approach differently in future projects.
  

I feel that this module went smoothly and that we have achieved what we set out to without it feeling rushed at all, which was due to the organisation of ourselves in part but mainly due to the strong organisation of the entire module. I think the final piece reflects what we set out to achieve and follows the subject well, as well as including all of the elements as outlined in the brief. If I was to approach a similar task again, I would consider spending further time in the studio sessions to fully ensure that the content was planned out at the time enough so that the edit was also considered which would save us time later down the process. The final piece reminds me in parts of the dreamlike sequences in Twin Peaks (Dir. David Lynch, 1990.) which I took influence from during the project development stage, and I think our overall film is a strong piece which although isn’t perfect reflects upon our creative problem solving and experimentation.