Thesis Progress

My thesis is very near completion, which I think makes me a few weeks ahead of schedule. I do intend on creating a wrap around book cover for From Dust, and I think that will be the next part of the project. But to me this is a good thing. The end of the semester is going to be SO hectic, and I knew this, so I did as much as I could whenever I could (Friday nights, that sort of thing) to get this Thesis project done.

Here is the finalized Horace! one-sheet. The film is still in the early stages of post, so it will probably be a while before any prints are made. Horace! is an MSU Filmmakers Club Production. It's a humorous murder-mystery that takes place in the middle of the woods in the dead of winter. Grimy and frosty, but stupid and silly.

Horace motion poster from Kim Berens on Vimeo.

The MSU Filmmakers Club logo would be shown with every MSU Filmmakers Club production made.


MSU Filmmakers Club from Kim Berens on Vimeo.

And finally, From Dust is a novel written by my brother, Nathaniel Berens. I chose to create a motion book cover illustrating the subtle mystery that many of the characters in the book chose to ignore, the mystery of their history. From Dust is a timeless story about what drives humans into certain actions in desperate and strange situations.


From Dust motion book cover from Kim Berens on Vimeo.

Blog Prompt #24

1. Which of the presenters’ work did you most relate to or were most inspired by?
I can't remember her name, but the painter had beautiful paintings. The colors were so random, but worked so well together nonetheless. It seems like it shouldn't work, and yet it does.

2. Which of the presenters’ ideas did you most relate to or were you most inspired by?
I personally liked the graphic designers work. Again, I can't remember her name, but I found it incredibly interesting that she had about Tiananmen Square and how in China, she had never been taught what had happened. Coming to America and learning about what the Chinese government had done was a huge shock to her.

3. Describe how one of the presenters revealed new layers of meaning in her/his work through their talk. How did your understanding of the work change or what did you learn that you were not aware of when viewing/experiencing the work prior to hearing the talks?
I learned that many artists simply do things because they enjoy it, and a concept can often form later. Because I feel that my concepts change over time, this was comforting.

4. What would you have wished to hear more about through their talks?
I would have wished to hear more about the process and how long it took them to come up with this final piece.

5. Did you find that the ideas discussed were clearly represented in the formal/visual/sensory aspects of work? Did you find that the work revealed other ideas beyond what the artist discussed? Did you find that there were disconnects or that the words and visual elements of the works connected?
Yes, I did feel what they were saying was well-represented in their respective artwork.

Blog Prompt #23

The video among is a behind the scenes look at a very complicated photoshoot that combines computer animation with photography. I know a few people who might feel sad that photography is going in this direction. I happen to not feel that way. I think this is an exciting new art medium that might include photography, but I don't think it necessarily IS photography. It's a new type of medium, and I love what they're doing with it.

Computer graphics are fake things, but in my opinion, to make a computer graphic any good, it must look as real as possible. Maybe other people will disagree, but I would rather do as much as I can outside of CGI and then when I want something totally fantastical and surreal that can't exist or would be very difficult to create, that's when I go into photoshop and that's when I would use CGI, not a minute before.

Anton Corbijn

Biography

Anton Corbijn is a Dutch photographer born in 1955. He specializes in photographing the entertainment industry for magazine covers and album covers. He has also designed album covers for bands like U2, The Rolling Stones, and R.E.M. He is also interested in film-making and has directed several music videos and films, including The American and Control.

Significance
He seems to have a passion for still photography and film. He has a very grungy dark style, somewhat angry. I haven't seen any of his films, but from the look of the key art, they seem to emulate a similar dark style. His photography just doesn't seem clean, like it is a defiant teenager or a rusty car.

Composition
I do not think Corbijn has any rules in terms of composition. He seems to do whatever strikes him at the moment. Some images are centered while others are drastically cut off on the sides.

Concept
His work is not traditionally concept based. In his photography, he is representing others more than he is representing himself. He must find what makes the model tick and he photographs that. His photography is heavily rooted within the entertainment industry, and he does not do fashion photography extensively, he has
photographed Liv Tyler for the G-Star Raw 2010 line.

Joe McNally

Biography
Joe McNally needs to update his website so that I can write a biography on him, but otherwise, he has a very active online presence. He has a twitter, which I only assume is him because he's currently looking for "Leading men and ladies" that are "Hollywood types".
However, I was able to find more about him on. He was the first staff photographer for LIFE in 23 years from 1994-1998.

Significance
He photographed portraits around Ground Zero in the weeks after 9/11 using large Polaroids. Millions of people saw these photos in exhibits around the country. The booklet for the exhibit sold 55,000 copies, which raised $2 million for the 9/11 relief effort. He is world renown and has traveled to at least 50 different countries on photography assignments.

Art Historical Movement
His "Faces of Ground Zero" portrait series is considered the most significant artistic exploration of the 9/11 tragedy. He also photographed the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Concept
He photographs dancers. These images are beautiful. Some of the images are in a studio, and some on location. Some seem editorial, but others appear more self-initiated and creative with a concept behind it. I would say most are simply beautiful photos of dancers. But occasionally he has a photo that feels like it represents what beauty is, and compares it to, say, the grungy setting. His current work is all over the place. I cannot seem to find a series, but he shoots on assignment.

Method
It is quite clear from his photography that he uses digital at least some of the time, but I could not find any other information (which makes it even more plausible that he shoots in digital).

Judith Joy Ross

Biography
Judith Joy Ross was born in 1964. She grew up in Hazleton, Pennsylvania.

Significance
She shoots mostly portraits using an 8X10 view camera. Her subjects range from children to members of Congress. Her most famous series is "Portraits of the Hazleton Public Schools", which hit really close to home, literally. She has shot many other types of photographs, including troops getting ready to ship off to war and visitors to the Vietnam Memorial in D.C.

Concept
She revisited the public schools she attended as a child and photographed students. This was her way of exploring her childhood and growing up. These schools mean a lot to her because her mother had attended them as well. To her it was childhood. She says of the series, "I feel like these pictures are my childhood. This isn't me, but it is me". Which, taken out of context, sounds really cliché and artsy deep. Just so you know where this is coming from, I say stuff like that all the time.

Method
She shoots with an 8X10 view camera. Her black and white images seem older because of her methods, yet the subjects are most definitely 80s and 90s, which makes me want to look longer, as if there are more mysteries in each photograph.

Opinion
I really enjoy her work because the view camera creates such an interesting look and great depth of field. I'm amazed that her focus is always so clear and intentional-looking. That is one thing I always have trouble with using a view camera.

Thesis Update

I am a tad delayed in posting my thesis contact sheet. It's spring break, but that is far from an excuse coming from me. I stayed at school and spent many hours a day catching up on work. Empty computers labs have their merits, I sang very loudly.

So I should be way caught up on work, right? Hahahhahahahaaaaaa. Yeah, sure.

But I did accomplish some things over spring break, among them, continuing to work on my thesis. I have a new design for the Horace poster! Which I am much happier with. I really disliked the first one. It looked great in my head, but not matter how much I played with it, it just wasn't right. But this one I really like. It's not near done at all, but I at least know what I'm going to do with it, which is a huge step forward from last week. I have two options, one option is a vectored hand, which was the original concept, and I do like it, but I used an image of a hand to reference the vector, and found out I really like it with the photo! The only problem is I didn't take this photo, so I'll have to take my own photo, but here is what it looks like regardless.

With the From Dust book cover, I added torn paper texture to take the place of the hills, which makes it look loads better (seasoned, as opposed to unseasoned, to use the term from last post). I do have a motion version, but I never rendered it, and I don't currently have access to After Effects, but I will post it on my next thesis update. I really like the motion version, because all the hills are at different depths and the camera zooms out until it stops at the image you see below. I'm starting to think I do not want text to take the place of one of the hills. With the motion, the hills get slightly covered and slightly uncovered and the text might be difficult to read while it's moving. But we'll see, I'll keep playing with it and see what works the best.

So my next step is taking photos of an arm and figuring out the typography of everything. Also, I've sketched concepts for my logo, but I still don't know which one I'm going to pick. I think because it's my assignment, but I'm going to give it to the MSU Filmmaker's Club to use as their production logo, so I feel like I have to make something they will like while also trying to make sure I want to do it for my thesis. But I don't see it being a problem.