Maps and Journeys 1- Briefing and Screening

During this lesson with Rosie, we were briefed about the project and tasks we must do. 

Summary of the brief:

The unit, Maps and Journeys requires us to explore the metaphor of ‘journeys’ and to investigate narrative and non-linear ideas. We should look at the concept of ‘journey’, and how it can be interpreted, for example thoughts, memory and psychogeography. We are allowed to work as a group or on our own, which is something I will need to think about, as others may have similar ideas to what I have and we may be able to merge our ideas. 

Key dates and Assessment:

. Possibility of a field trip to London on the 16th or 17th of October. 

. Project approval will be on the 23rd of October. 

. Final Assessment will be on the 11th/12th of December. 

We were then screened a variation of films, which may give inspiration for our project. 

London Orbital (2002, Iain Sinclair) 

When watching this film, I enjoyed the hallucinogenic, dream like feel to it, through the use of 

blurred visuals and music. For me, the film really emphasised the boredom and dullness of M25

through the slow camera work and radio broadcast that somewhat haunted the piece throughout. This

made the film almost uncomfortable to watch at points. Through the use of CCTV and handheld 

camera work, the viewer is made to get a feeling that we are always being watched, which relates to 

the modern day because of the over use of CCTV and how we cant go anywhere without being 

watched. 

Measures of Distance (1988, Mona Hatoum) 

This film for me felt like a reflection of a woman's loneliness, being stuck in a country away from her

parents, because of war. The letter being placed over the film for me made the film feel more

personal and made the piece a very interestingly visual piece. The use of images of her mother adds 

to the personal feel to the piece. The piece talks very strongly about the war, and how it has effected 

her mother. I felt that the film gives an audience emotional response because of the nature of the film 

and the visuals that support it. 

The Frame (2005, Chris Welsby) 

Seven Days (1974) 

At Sea (2003) 

I was fascinated by Chris Welsby's work because of the camerawork and early use of stop-frame 

animation. I liked the fact that he built his own rigs to effectively get the shot he wanted. Chris 

Welsby worked with nature on most of his short films. For example, in his piece 'Windmill II', he 

took the camera, placed it on a tripod and filmed a windmill blowing naturally in the breeze. I 

Found the results quite interesting and the flashing lights from the windmill made the film somewhat 

hypnotic and artistic. 

Installation Art

Rosie showed us some Installation art and these are some of the pieces I found really interesting.

The Creators Project (Chris Milk, 2012)

Chris Milk, teaming up with the team from 'The Creators Project' and Creative Director Ben 
Tricklebank, have produced an interactive installation piece that allows anyone to become different 
things. For example one screen allowed the person to grow wings, whilst another screen involves 
lots of small birds flying around the screen, depending on your movement. Some of the technology 
was quite simplistic, for example the use of Microsoft's 'Kinect' camera's. The piece itself is 
somewhat spiritual, through the progression of life (Birth, death and regeneration). 

Blind Light (Anthony Gormley, 2007) 

I found this art installation piece quite interesting because of the visual work put into the piece. The piece is somewhat Ghost-like, through the use of 'fluorescent light, toughened low-iron glass, ultrasonic humidifiers, aluminium, water'. When researching into the piece, I found out that it was an expression of "vertigo and disorientation - and also a bit of euphoria". I feel that this piece certainly achieves this.