Contemporary Art & Sound: December 2012

Document on the angle of visual imaging and sound design discussions of Chris Marker’s Film La Jette (1962):Instruction : Document the discussion during the session…

a) The way the still images are photographed
Black and white, leading line, golden mean, close up, long shots, high contrast, low angle

b) Their duration on the screen Editing (transition, panning inside the image, fades to black, cuts)
Slow(starting scene) - 1min fade out
Fast - 2-3 sec per cuts & transition
5 sec fading in & out for each image.

c) The way the sound artist edits sound.
Low volume to high volume as the background changes from far to near.
Higher pitch and different distorted sound creating some mysterious SFX
Heartbeats from soft to loud, slower to faster making the scene looks more engaging and thrilling.
Digital sounds, sounds more sci-fi.
Looping.

d) Their duration on the screen/timeline.
27minutes.

e) Signal Processing (reverb, delay, distortion, pitch, etc.).
Increase pitch, reverb & echo, distortion

f) The relation between the images and sound.
Images of a more thrilling scene was put with heartbeating SFX
Mysterious SFX
Narrator with deep bass makes the story sounds serious
Whispering makes the image looks scary and mysterious at time.
Beeping, sounds like in a hurry - running out of time
Slow music play as the image turns more romantic
Tragic music played as the main character falls.

a) Find more information about this film, eg. Interviews with Chris Marker.
- Chris Marker haven't try gouache medium to execute his art.
- La Jetee inspired a movie called 12 Monkeys directed by Terry Gilliam.
- This film uses photographs to tell & animate the story. (photo-roman technique)
- The pace of shifting each images creates the mood of the film.
- Besides that, the rhythm of the sound is also the key of creating the mood of the film.

b) Provide links and quotes.
"What interests me is history, and politics only interests me to the degree that it is the mark history makes on the present" - Chris Marker
http://www.afterall.org/books/one.work/chris.marker.la.jetee
http://www.filmcomment.com/article/marker-direct-an-interview-with-chris-marker

c) Find out if there are any other films constructed in a similar way?
Chafed Elbows (1966), Robert Downey Sr.

I'm a student from The One Academy of Communication Design, currently taking B.A.(hons) of Interactive Media Design and this is a blog for my module: Pixel, Imaging & Sound assignment - Explorations. In this assignment we are require to choose and do a research about a contemporary artist and a sound artist to inspire us to create a slideshow which consist of 6-15 piece of contemporary art.

Contemporary Artist

The contemporary artist that i found is Aya Kato, a Japanese artist.

Background of Aya Kato:

Born in 1982, January 14
Lives in Seto-shi Aichi, Japan
2004, Studied Visual Art Education & Graphic Design at Aichi University of Education

Aya Kato has projects involved with different companies such as:

Microsoft WindowsXP TV Commercial

Tori Amos "Sleeps with Butterflies" Music video

Beautiful/Decay Shirt

GelaSkins Case for ipod

Gestalten Illustration for Edgar Allan Poe's novel

Chubu Electric Power EXPO2005 Window Display

Saganoaya Chocolate for Valentine 2006・2007・2008

HITACHI X Series Advertising

Suilen CD cover

GIRLWOOD Book cover

shu uemura

Microsoft Zune Originals Aya Kato model

THE RED BULLETIN Cover design

Besides that, her works are also involved in Books and Magazines of different countries.

Beautiful/Decay (USA)

ROJO (Spain)

Mac Directory Magazine (USA)

The Great Escape (Germany)

Neo2 Magazine (Spain)

Etapes (France)

NYLON JAPAN (Japan)

MdN (Japan)

BANTDERGI (Turkey)

ROOT Magazine

Maguila (Brazil)

Computer Arts (USA)

IDEA DESIGN magazine (Taiwan)

Khooligan Magazine (Russia)

WAD Magazine (France)

TERRITORY (USA)

dpi magazine (Taiwan)

The Upset (Germany)

Lastly, Aya Kato also has her exhibition in different parts of the world such as:

Archive 2006.08 USA (Los Angeles) Scion Installation LA

ROJO out 2006.11 Spain (Barcelona)

ROJO inna 2006.11 Spain (Barcelona・Madrid)

ROJO inna 2007.02 USA (New York)

Power in Numbers2 2007.05 USA Gallery Nucleus

Aya Kato sleep traveler 2007.05 Spain (Barcelona) ROJO artspace

Aya Kato & Elisa Sasso 2007.10 Brazil (Sao Paulo) ROJO artspace

shu uemura 2008.04 UK (London)

Flower of Memory 2008.04-2008.06 Romania (Bucharest) 115 Digital Art Gallery

sleep traveler 2008.06-2009.01 Spain (Milano) WATT TREDICI HOTELHere are some examples of her AWESOME works:

- Samurai Girl -

- Red Star -

- Pink Planet -

Here's the link to her official website for more information and awesome works: http://www.ayakato.net/

I feel that in the early years of 2003 - 2004, Aya Kato's works are more towards a Gothic and Art Nouveau approach; the colours of her works during those years are desaturated. Her works are also being published as Gothic type of contemporary art in the book of The Upset which I have found it in my college's library. In the later years of 2005 - 2011, her works looked more colourful. Compare to her works on the early years, they looked more dreamy and fantasy. However, Aya Kato still preserve her Gothic & Art Nouveau style in her masterpieces.

Aside from that, Aya Kato's works are also combined with Japanese elements, which consists of strong cultures within them. I love the way she portrays the female figures with feminine strength in her works - very unique and yet elegant at the same time.

Aya Kato also stated in her website that she wants to wake up souls of peoples to discover themselves and their true wishes by using her imaginations. Her works are also reflecting the histories (especially Japanese culture), for peoples to understand the past and respecting it. She believes loving one another is what makes the world. Kato also wishes to tie the new era of Japanese with a new spirit - the spirit of love that embrace everything to Bushido.

What inspires Aya Kato's works are comis, animations and ukiyoe - a genre of Japanese woodblock prints/paintings. Those things were around her since she was at a very young age, those are her natural inspirations and her passions of drawing started with them. Besides that, she is also inspired by fairy tales such as Red Riding Hood, Peter Pan, Snow White and Cinderella.

She was also interviewed on how she executed her work. She stated that she draw a sketch first, then ink it with pen, then scan and colour it with Photoshop.

References:
http://beautifuldecay.com/2011/11/25/aya-kato-creates-world-for-fans-in-mr-chiizu-app/
http://www.ayakato.net/box/planet.html
http://wearecollision.co.uk/aya-kato/

Sound Artist

The sound artist that i found is Yonekawa Toshiko, another Japanese artist.

Background of Yonekawa Toshiko:

Born in 1913
Himezi City
She receive lessons of koto and sangen from her father, an excellent musician.
She had her first public concert performed at the age of 8.
At the age of 12 her performance was broadcast by nation wide studio.

Albums:

	Fascination of the Koto 1
	Fascination of the Koto 2
	Fascination of the Koto 3
	Fascination of the Koto 4
	Fascination of the Koto 5
	Flute and Koto of Japan
	Musical Cosmos of Yonekawa Toshiko 1
	Musical Cosmos of Yonekawa Toshiko 2
	So - Japanese Traditional Music
	Sokyoku Jiuta