Testing stop frame and binding and filters

 Stop frame and capturing it on stop frame - NEW SKILL

I have not used stop frame to capture anything in past, although I have helped my kids do it. Like everything this semester it is a pattern change in order to get the testing reporting in place as the Uni needs to see it. 
So this isn't in the chronological order that they wish but it does discuss the reasons fro experimenting, and can act as a spring board for getting the reasoning in place at the time - it is likely to include a mind map so it is easy to capture. The process. Or a method sheet maybe that are used for science experiments. Don't read too much into this - its a process not a practice thing!!

Step one - Collect test materials and capture 

Rock - used previously in ribbon binding 
Paper wrapped wire from floristry supplies

Tools 
Iphone app - Stop motion ( set with new project )
box to raise camera -
​Camera tested at low level and did not give a good frame of reference as was not high enough
Iphone tripod
Box to frame test materials 
Laptop to transfer images and project
Access to iphone that allows nothing to be moved so frame is consistent.
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Step Two : the test materials
Below shows the rock, made from flint and collected from a UK beach over the past 10 years. This one has not been catalogued like some of the other heart shaped stones I have. But the intention when collecting is that the rocks will always made themselves available to me when they are ready to be seen.
This is giving agency to the rock formation as being sentient, but in the case of collections, I feel it is more around what nature wants you to see at that given moment. maybe I should document this process as I have never questioned it, and that may be useful to demonstrate further my intrinsic to way of my relationship with the world. and is an aside to this piece.  (link to future blog piece will be placed here)

The stone, appears to be flint, it is smooth to touch but has been worn by the water and tide. it is easy to hold, and you can grip it well. it feels cold to the touch. and carries weight. It weighs 323g.

The wired paper covered twine is easily malleable, cannot be ripped and needs to be cut with scissors, the wire is a thin gauge - it is a commercial brand, used in floristry to tie off hand tied bouquets in the making process. Shown below are the dimensions of the wire. 
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Placement in the frame of reference:
The wire bale and the stone were placed into  a box lid in order to frame the piece, A green sticker was placed underneath the stone to ensure when the frame was set on the i - phone viewer that the stone could be rotated or moved around this point. In design for spacial this is called marking out or spiking. So people will spike the place a prop or piece of set goes, to ensure that it is always returned every time to this place in line with the direction. 
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This was decided so that it abided by the rule of thirds as this is a frame of reference that I always work to to create a sense of balance to the eye.
So in the final placements, wire one side then void then stone, the connection through the void being the thread of wire

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Step four  - focusing the frame 

As touched upon above the frame of reference needed to show the items from a higher view point that the subjects, the tripod ( seen here without the Iphone as this was needed to take the picture has the tripod as much as possible with an overhead view, this will allow the piece to be seen from a more coherent angle. and show how the movement  and development of the piece is captured.
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First time embedding the video onto the blog via embedding!! 
This footage is the raw film with no filters, the test 2, 3 and 4 have filters over using the dame footage. 

Critique:
​Piece is 11 secs long, it was rough as a first test, there was no routine to the capture process. It was a test fro process rather than fine tune to see whether this method is workable. 
​The timing 

To gain emphasis, each action could be captured, this would give the image of being less glitchy. I have used this before but this was working with another artist who captured Camino with timed breaks rather than actioned breaks, this of course is also possible on the software but has not been tried by myself as yet. It is worth exploring, it would be quite good to see a peice captured over its life cycle. And could be something I experiment with on my DSLR and static tripod if I develop a timed piece further, this has been part of my larger practice in capturing the making as well as the disintegration as they have been ephemeral in nature.

Test 2 - same footage - Black and white filter - 

I like the tonal values of this - the use of the cardboard box as the frame and the natural light from the floor to ceiling windows gave an constrast to the stones and the twine, the movement is somewhat deadened by it though  and therefore it maybe that this will need a greater differential of the tonal values if using black and white imagery, B/W silent films spring to mind in this case, the use of makeup to create differentiation to ensure the intention was clear. 

test SFA b.w filter .mov from Jo Hartle on Vimeo.

To gain emphasis this filter would need to use different tonal grayscale objects to ensure that definiton is presented in a more dynamic and effective manner. 

Test 3 : colour image negative filter

This I liked - it radiated had a larger depth of tone and to my eyes felt more dynamic, its playing with the opposite complimentary colours, the shadows create the radiated look and feel, as if energy was emitted and captured on the footage.

It is intersting to see how the shadow creates the barrels of light in this footage. I like the way the box radiates a little to the closest corner to the window where the camera in raw footage picked up shadow, even if this did not show to the human eye at the point of capture. 

negative filter SFArock.wire.mov from Jo Hartle on Vimeo.

In future when creating the idea for a mono chrome work I will use more tonally different colours and then experiment with these in the colour negative format. 

Test 4 - mirroring the image filter 

This to me is the most exciting image because through the filter it plays with the idea of a new formation of patterns, playing in the brain to come up with sense to it. 
I noted that the final frame in this filtered footage my brain interpreted like a butterfly or moth, in the same space as Donna Haraways Staying with the trouble book cover, also intersting what is evoked through playing with the sections. 

test2 stop frame mirror capture .mov from Jo Hartle on Vimeo.

In future testing I would like to look at mirrored and colour negative imagery of juxtapositions. 
I am also interested in capturing a piece start to finish and I am in the process of making a loom to explore the craft of weaving with fabric and found objects so this could be a good way to capture this. More to follow on that.