INDEPENDENTPRACTICE

William Speed

ITS ALL ABOUT ME

What The Hell do I Want To Do ?

in the beginning of the course when we came back it was about finding are interests. the one First brief back to the course was to make a presentation on my self, my interests and skills. To be honest I felt very stressed about this brief and feel that it didn’t show any skills I have in my basic pdf. I talked about my interests in television, photography, travelling, movie posters, taking picture in abandoned buildings and experimenting to create things. The next brief was to make a venn wheel of were are strength lies and this was to help as were are fmp will end up. This was to help us pin down what we like, we are good at and what we want to progress towards.

One Day Zine Brief.The one day zine brief to make a zine in a afternoon.

We were set a one-day Zine brief to make a fan zine on anything we like. I decided to make mine on traveling and photography. Using pictures by Majiu Saari a friend of mine. I laid out the photographs in what I thought to be an interesting design and then placed some traced illustrations between to break up the images and make it look a bit more interesting.

link: http://williamspeed.gdnm.org/2010/10/13/one-day-zine-brief/

WEEKLY BRIEFS

3 Minuet Film

Making a three minuet film recreating dexter credits.

One of the weekly briefs we were set was to make a video that would last three minuets as I have had no experience with film and editing I decided to teach my self by recreating one of my favourite TV show openings I originally wanted to try to recreate a couple of my favourite shows but I didn’t realizes how long it would take to do. I filmed it frame for frame the same as Dexter this was don’t my watching the video and framing it all my self bar one shot of the camera pan. I then edited it over the original video in final cut pro so that the shots were nearly the same.

link: http://williamspeed.gdnm.org/2010/10/13/3-minute-cough-minute-1-min-59-seconds-hero-i-wanna-be/

WEEKLY BRIEFS

is a design website it describ

es its self

as “focused on classic design work

from th

e 1950s-1970s and contemporary

designers that d

raw inspiration fro

m that ti

me period” th

e Site is

updated regularly with

design related posts tags include designers,

poster, typography and interviews. The site is ra

n from wordpress

which is the core softw

are is built by hundreds of community

volunteers, this is a fre

e web software used to create websites and

blogs. Grain edit o

ffices are run fro

m Oakland, California, U

SA

As a sellable product (use value) th

e site makes money through

advertising th

ere is a section where advertisers can email th

e site if

they are interested about advertising. G

rain edit also has vette

d adverts

through an external ad website called http://decknetwork.net/. The

website also makes money through th

e job section linked to th

e top of the

page where job hunters can pay to post jobs th

ey want advertised.

Exchange value is clear by th

e passion the people who post on th

e site as

shown by this quote “I’m

so excited, I just g

ot my hands on a copy of B

orn

Modern: The Life and Design of Alvin Lustig

.” The websites appeal is for

people who are as passionate about classic design as the hosts are. Also

appealing to users looking for work in th

e job section, there is work fro

m all

levels this is an added incentive for p

eople to visit the site re

gularly.

To put the site together th

e team would need a group of design

professionals to design the logo, la

yout to create th

e website. The website

is put together b

y a external web design company called Qelix In

teractive

this company would have been hired to create th

e web space make it clean,

visually engaging and usable interfaces for th

e Web.

The site would also need a regular te

am to continue to update th

e site. The

website could use journalist as it regularly post in

terview. Photographers

would also be need for such things as visitin

g design studios.

The website works well because of it

s easy to use design. It is designed to

be simple and usable, rather th

en overly designed to look fancy.

Grain edit meets a lot of th

e codes and conventions of most w

ebsites.

There are links at th

e top of the page to help th

e user navigate th

eir way

around the website easily. There is a search bar in

the top rig

ht hand

corner that is

also useful. The main posts are centre

d to the left a

nd

appear in news feed style. To th

e right of th

is heading help to organise

the website post in to headings th

is is in a two column form

at.

Grain edit works well w

ith a th

ree colour palate white stands out on

the grey background and the orange stands out stro

ngly in the logo

type. Grain edit is

reminiscent of a blog such as blogspot and even

the gdnm.org blog we use for our course.

Written analysis

Something I haven’t done before My idea for something I haven’t done before brief was to market my self I started by designing an business card but I realized that the one thing I was missing was to have a web address on it and I feel that if I were to put my blog then future employers can look at my work but also everybody else’s. so I decided to try and create a website but this is as far as I have gotten as I seemed to fail at the first hurdle in trying to my the name I entered the wrong email and didn’t get the recipe through in time for the presentation.

the written analyses is for a website called grain edit as I know I am not the strongest writer I knew that I had to design it in an interesting fashion for it to stand out. I used the same fonts that the website used to ad a visual relation between the two. I put it on an angel because I thought I broke the codes and conventions but it could make it slightly harder to read.

PINHOLECAMERAthe photography experiments began with pinhole at the time I didn’t know how much I could get from it.

I started to experiment using pinhole photography I didn’t realizes that this would be the main area I would go in to but I was trying to start and I thought this was photography in its basic form. i was really pleased with the first out come form this film.

Experiments Begin The photography experiments began with pinhole at the time I didn’t know how much I could get from it.

As I was working on the pinhole I thought it worth trying to get a grip of different cameras as I hole I used the medium format mamyia form the media store I was taking photos of people as I feel that’s were my interest lies. My first set of film was stead and I didn’t really know what to do so I thought best to do something instead of nothing the second film was more documentary photography that I took when people weren’t looking or interacting with the camera I felt they were a lot more honest.

MEDIUM FORMATE

SCREEN PRINTING

Where to go Next. I really enjoy screen-printing so I thought the natural progression was to print them.

SCREEN PRINTING

Screen-printing my images was really help to understand the break down of the image and the printing process as a hole. Doing the image CMYK and printing over the top was a leaning experience and as I did it my self it the kitchen I was sure for the first couple of colours that I had made a mistake and that it would not work. I’m really glad that I did this as part, I think I realized that when I want to print my text for my final book layout I would like to do it in a print format weather this is linocut or screen.

FRAMING AN IMAGE

frames, frames, frames...I was experimenting with digital camera in the kitchen used a cardboard frame and realized how much It changed the picture. So I decided to see how it would affect the pinhole and effect the film. I realized how much I prefer fill to digital and how film react better to light. Is so interesting to me from these images there’s so much individual parts to the photos that can be played with.

The comparison between pinhole and digital photography.

These images are from a disposable camera that I took the lens out I covered then exposed film with tape this was to see what the difference is if a lot of light is let in a apposed to just a pinhole. I honestly thought the entire film would be over exposed so I was please that something came out. What I like about them Is that its almost a masked image of the original photo. But I also feel that they are so obscure in not sure what I can do with them.

MEDIUM FORMATE

ALPHABET CUT FRAMES

As I had already experimented with frames and was trying to find a was to make my final picture in to a layout I thought what if the writing was its self-made form pinhole. So I cut each letter in to matchbox frames and got a really interesting result form the frames. some by just take in photos other buy shining fairy lights in to the lens

MEDIUM FORMATE

120mm FILM PINHOLE

the prototype. I wondered if I could make a pinhole from medium format.

I made a medium former pinhole camera as experiment as I didn’t even know if it would work. I research online to see if I could find any a few people had made them before so I new it could work. I made it up as I went and was lucky enough to get some really good results as you can see. I like the overlapping of the images.

BOOK EXPERIMENTS

How Will it WorkTrying to see if my idea of a book with the equipment in would work.I started to think what if you could buy a book with all the equipment in to make a pinhole camera already in side I decided to experiment I worked out all the main elements to make a camera and put it inside a book i brought form the poundshop I spent along time cutting round each piece (2 film canisters , matchbook, role of tape, needle and a piece of can) in order to get them in a book it turned out well not as polished as I would have hoped but I think manly because I wasn’t as patient as I should have been.

Making My Own Book. After I cut the book from poundland I thought I would see how well it would work on a book I made my self.I made the book from scrap paper a test to see how well I would be able to make it to hold the equipment needed to make a pinhole. This was to help me develop my ideas as I knew I wanted to make a book but I wasn’t sure how to consolidate all the experiments I had done in to a final piece I knew that what ever I do I want to make it easy for other people to experiment with photography. I made the book as a way of practicing for my final outcome I found it really difficult to cut the intricate details of the shapes in to a book I have made my self as it was not a sturdy as a machine made book. This meant I had to seriously think about how I would do it if this is the direction I go in.

BOOK LAYOUTS

An A-Z of Pinhole Photography

Deciding on my a outcome.When I really thought about it Deciding on my a outcome wasn’t that hard. I have had so much fun with experimenting and I wanted a book that would get others to experiment to. I laid all my photographs on the floor to see a pattern and with my A-Z in picture that I had taken and a large range of different photos I thought the perfect thing to consolidate them all would be an A-Z of pinhole photography. It took me a long time and a lot of brain racking but I managed to find a word for every letter that links to pinhole photography. It was then a matter of going thought he hundards of images to find pictures that would illustrate the points to the best of my ability. Then from there I placed my spreads. I think they all tied in really well together and I was really pleased with the out come as it doesn’t look like something I would usual have made. all 26 of the final spreads are in the final outcome folder. the words i chose on were: Aperture, Blur, Can, Double exposure, Film, Ghosts, Highlights, ISO, Just do it, Key light, Lighting, Matchbox, Needle, Over exposure, Pinhole, Quality, Role film, Size, Tape, Unique, Viewfinder, Wide angle, Xperimenting ,Zoom.

THE BOOK

The Finished Outcome The finished book

I print out all of my spreads in order to bind them I and then measured the amount of paper that I would need extra to hold the equipment. As I had already made the test book I new how much paper I would need for this, I also had realised from the test that I would not be able to cut around each item individually so instead I decided experiment by cutting out thick cardboard squares and slotting them in to a square cut out of the pages, this was because it was a lot easier to cut a large square then smaller piece and it meant that there was a higher quality outcome. I wanted to us my screen prints again and I liked that they were so abstract when enlarged so I used this for the cover jacket. It took me a lot of attempts to get the folds of the jacket right.

THE BOOK COVER

The Book Jacket The finished book jacket

The finished book jacket came as an idea before the actual book was made I wanted to use the screen prints that I had made as the out come was really interesting I think that book jackets really ad some thing to the book. But I also wanted it to not just be there for protection I thought it should have a use. I took me a few attempts to get the folds right on the a3 piece of paper to make the jacket and then to get the correct positioning of the lettings. The jacket when it folds out makes two posters this is the first. It is my screen print but an abstracted one it is a pinhole photo.

1

2

5

89

10

67

34

HOW TO

You Will Need

A matchbox!A new roll of 35mm filmAn empty roll of 35mm filmSome thin cardboardElectrical tapeDrinks canNeedleScissorsBlack marker

Remove the matchbox draw and cut you’re the shape you want you frame to be then colour it in with a black marker.

On the front of the matchbox cut a small square.

Place the cutting of aluminum over the matchbox so the holes match and tape.

Cut two pieces of thin card this will be your shutter. Cut a square as you did on the front of the matchbox.

Tape the piece of paper to the front of the matchbox over the aluminum tape leaving a hole at the top big enough to slot the other bit of paper to act as a shutter.

With the new film cut the end to make a straight edge and pull it through the matchbox.

Match the new film to the empty canister and sellotape.

Tighten the film both ends so that no light can get in.

Tape the films to the matchbooks so that no light can get in and start taking pictures. Wined on the empty canister when it won’t wined on any more then you have reached the end of your film and you can develop.

Pierce a cutting of aluminum with the needle.

1

2

5

89

10

67

34

HOW TO

You Will Need

A matchbox!A new roll of 35mm filmAn empty roll of 35mm filmSome thin cardboardElectrical tapeDrinks canNeedleScissorsBlack marker

Remove the matchbox draw and cut you’re the shape you want you frame to be then colour it in with a black marker.

On the front of the matchbox cut a small square.

Place the cutting of aluminum over the matchbox so the holes match and tape.

Cut two pieces of thin card this will be your shutter. Cut a square as you did on the front of the matchbox.

Tape the piece of paper to the front of the matchbox over the aluminum tape leaving a hole at the top big enough to slot the other bit of paper to act as a shutter.

With the new film cut the end to make a straight edge and pull it through the matchbox.

Match the new film to the empty canister and sellotape.

Tighten the film both ends so that no light can get in.

Tape the films to the matchbooks so that no light can get in and start taking pictures. Wined on the empty canister when it won’t wined on any more then you have reached the end of your film and you can develop.

Pierce a cutting of aluminum with the needle.

THE POSTER

The Book Jacket when the jacket opens up on the other side of the poster is a poster that explains how to make a pinhole camera Inside the book jacket is a poster and when it is completely unfolded it makes this poster that explains how to make a pinhole camera using the equipment from inside the book. I did this to try and make it as easy and simple as possible I did it in a ten-step plan of how to make the camera I think that people who buy the book would like to experiment themselves. This is why I have attached the equipment inside the book and have made a poster. I think this is what makes my book intersting and stands out it has two interesting features the equipment inside and the jacket poster.

INDEPENDAENT PRACTICEI am pleased with the work I have I have some really interesting out comes from the camera work. The reason I changed from what I was looking at of people and conversation was because I didn’t feel passionate about it. I spent a good chunk of my time recording and typing up conversation to make layouts that I didn’t eventually follow. I loved the experimenting but when it came to getting to the layouts I spent a lot of time deciding what I wanted to say that I think I left it to late and gave my self a lot of work to do towards my final outcome. Though I am very pleased with the book and spreads maybe if hadn’t decided to do an A-Z then I would have more time to work on fewer more polished spreads.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Evaluation

NAME: William SpeedPROPOSED TITLE: the creative Type PROPOSED MEDIA/ OUTCOME: made book and posters Description: I want o carry this project further and in a slightly different direction. I intend to make a series of books and poster from created type. The type will be made from various out comes and in three dimension then photographed. The idea is to create words and phrases from made type in three dimension. This will be a very tactile form and then photographed and collated in to an alphabet stylebook and series of posters. Works I have been looking at are for example works “tactile-high tack visuals” is a book I have been using as reference material as well as inspiration form Andy Altman ‘s “why not associates” creating of an advert for Smirnoff Link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/3sixtyinternet/4034409900/ . The experience I will need is will be book binding, layout design, photography and of course typography. I am more of a hands on worker before I go the computer I like to explore first. I will make the letters from a Varity of techniques to get the best outcome that I will start experimenting with in February when we go back to university for the 6th semester I will spend from February to march experimenting with outcome mach to April creating final pieces of type and photographing the rest of the time collating and laying out the books and posters.

FINAL THOUGHTS

FMP Propsel