Oh Jeff

The first time I saw a Lichtenstein, I was underwhelmed.  A blown up comic book?!  What’s so great about that?  But this Retrospective at the Tate Modern doesn’t just draw attention to his skill; by putting his art in context and showing it’s evolution, it explores the philosophical element of his work, combining high and low art.

Lichtenstein’s approach was driven by his desire to explore questions of authorship and originality, and to understand what causes aesthetic value in post-industrial art.   Lichtenstein was interested in how “two things that are very much alike differ in value… there must be some very subtle thing that has to do with painting.”  He explored the interface between industrial-scale printing and painting, by hand-replicating printing techniques.  The brushstroke itself became a central feature of his work – and he painted stylised abstractions of brushstrokes, in order to draw attention to what he saw as the primary contributor of value to art.

Brushstrokes

Lichtenstein was fascinated by commercial and corporate imagery, and began replicating it with various changes.  He never worked from “life” – instead, he re-interpreted existing images, experimenting with styles and techniques of representation, and discovered Ben-Day dots – which printing presses used to mass-produce colour.  Lichenstein pain-stakingly painted each dot individually, through screen stencils (originally he used a dog-grooming brush).  In this way he explored that “subtle thing” by bringing the aesthetic value of the brushstroke to an industrial technique.

The first work in which we first see the subject matter that made Lichtenstein’s name is Look Mickey; an image of Donald Duck & Mickey Mouse fishing.  A re-drawing of an illustration from one of his son’s books, it is an odd subject for an artist: cheap trashy illustrations, with poor registration.

Tyre

Around this time he was drawing stylised versions of adverts – such as Tyre - exploring symbols and representation, and how women were depicted in commercial imagery as extensions to household objects.  Later, in his Mirrors series, he would return to themes of representation; whilst there are no reflections drawn, the shaped canvases and stylised lines inform us that we are looking at “mirrors.”

Masterpiece

There’s a strong sense of humour in much of Lichtenstein’s work, with wry observations of the fickle nature of the art world; in Masterpiece (above), the young artist’s rise is being predicted.  Perhaps this was a tongue-in-cheek self-reference; the piece was displayed when Lichtenstein’s own star was rising, at a solo exhibition at the Leo Castelli gallery in New York.

Whaam!

This is when he creates his classic Pop-Art works, based on war and romance comics, exposing clichés and stereotypes.  The works are focused around the “Pregnant Moment” – the crux of a tale from which you can imagine the rest of a story, but at this exhibition we can see the original comics from which Lichtenstein drew his images.  By knowing what he leaves out, as much as what he puts in, we understand what Lichtenstein wants us to focus on.  I find the images surprisingly moving, evoking questions of loss, righteousness, anger, nobility and despair: Why were the soldiers fighting so long in the jungle?  Who was the U Boat targeting?  What did Brad do to upset her?

Galatea

There was mixed success with his sculptures: I enjoyed his Explosion series, where he used steel mesh in place of Ben-Day dots, and Galatea, his take on the much-covered Greek myth of the statue that comes to life; but I found his exploration of Art-Deco’s “domesticated Cubism” less engaging.

Throughout his career, Lichtenstein tried to engage with the Old Masters and explore theories of art.  So it seems right that there is an entire section dedicated to his “Art On Art,” such as Frolic; a surreal version of a Picasso piece, which references an illicit affair that Picasso was conducting with a young lover.  Lichtenstein’s series based on Monet’s Rouen Cathedral were done because “no-one would expect it,” but he was responding to the wide reproduction of Monet’s work and raises surprising questions about form and delineation.

Perfect

The Perfect/Imperfect series explores judgements of quality in art – Lichtenstein creates arbitrary rules about lines ending or beginning and, based on whether the work meets those criteria, the work is labelled either Perfect or Imperfect.  I liked the cheeky triangles extending from edge of the Imperfect canvases, and the sculpture equivalent is appealing.

In later years, Lichtenstein returns to Pop-Art imagery with a series of enormous nudes.  In these, much of the rawness of the work is lost, as the lines appear cleaner and more stylised – the colours brighter and more modern.  But they evoked a strange sense of Dystopianism for me, different to the vulnerable emotional females of his earlier work.  The women here seemed vacant and artificial – reduced to form and objectified.

The final room is quite unexpected: Lichtenstein has re-interpreted classic Chinese landscape paintings with Ben-Day dots.  Again, he is engaging with reproduction and Old Masters – this time the Chinese ones, whose work has been copied, non-industrially, by their protegés.  The graduation and flow of the dots suggests cliffs, clouds, lakes and seas; the paintings only make sense the further you are from them, and in each is a lone figure picked out in a bright colour.  I liked them.  It made me reflect on where humans sit in existence.  Maybe this was Lichtenstein’s exploration of that topic as he neared the end of his own life.

This exhibition does what a Retrospective should: if covers the whole body and evolution of an artist and puts them in context artistically and historically.  Not only did I learn that there is more to Lichtenstein than WHAAM! and Masterpiece but I enjoyed the exploration of the Philosophy Of Art.  It’s only on for another week so get there if you can.

Until May 27, sponsored by Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Tickets 020 7887 8888, www.tate.org.uk

When shooting, it’s all too easy to get caught up in beautiful cinematography, forgetting to capture the transitions, establishing shots and other essential bits that make up the grammar of film. Remember that we are making something to be watched, so we must get all the necessary shots to create a watchable narrative with sequences.

As an editor, there are two major issues when editing footage that you didn’t shoot: 1). Lots of useless footage, that isn’t long enough, stable enough or varied enough to be cut to together.  2). A lack of “non-sync” shots that are used to stitch together the narrative of a piece.

Sequences are the series of shots that, when cut together, make an understandable story. Fortunately, the BBC COP Podcast has once again come to the rescue of confused videographers everywhere, with it’s Shooting For The Edit episode, featuring expert advice from such luminaries as Ian Hider, a BBC Academy trainer. I strongly suggest that you follow this link to hear the podcast in full, but I’ve included the top tips from my notes below.

Rules Of Shooting

1. Hold each shot for at least 10 seconds of quality footage, to give the editor room for manoeuvre. Count “1, Mississippi, 2, Mississippi, 3, Mississipi….” all the way up to 10.  Be disciplined; if the camera wobbles, start again from 1.
2. Change the angle and shot composition as much as possible between each shot – the bigger the change, the better they cut together. For example, if you are shooting a person from a wide angle at head height, then shoot the same person with a close up, from a low angle – this will look better when edited together then two shots from the same position cutting from wide to close up.
3. For movement shots, don’t start with the contributor or subject in shot. Start with an empty frame, then have them enter shot and exit it. This gives the editor more options.
4. For actions, have the contributor repeat it several times, and film it from different angles. The editor may want to change the shot mid-action, so you will need to have it from several angles.

Sequence Example: Someone Reading A Book

You could just have a fixed camera from one angle, showing a person reading a book. But this will be boring, and the viewer will quickly lose interest. Ian Hider suggests a minimum of three shots that will edit together into an understandable sequence:

• Only the face of the person looking at the book
• Only the hands and the book
  
• The person and the book in the same shot

These shots, alone, will edit together into a nice sequence. Remember to change shot size and angle as much as possible, to maximise the effectiveness of cuts, and keep the viewer interested. A few more shots will make the piece even more interesting and give our editor more options:

• The book over the shoulder of the contributor, with their shoulder or head “dirty framed” (out of focus and dominating the foreground of the shot)
• The face from behind the book, with the book “dirty framed”
• A wide shot from the other side of the room, showing the reader in context
• An “arty shot”, which Hider describes as “from somewhere that the eye wouldn’t normally be” such as near foot level, or zoomed in extremely close

Other Tips

• Shoot every sequence in it’s entirety 4 times – from 4 different angles and compositions. This means you can cut to any angle at any point.
• Film establishing shots to “tell” the viewer where we are, such as street signs and exterior shots (for example, the building that they are reading the book in).
• Shoot non-sync cut-aways. These are shots that aren’t fixed to a particular action. For example, if there is a light in the room, a close-up of the light can be used as a filler at any point.
• Direct your contributors – if you need something re-done to get the best shot, explain to them why you need it, and then ask them to re-do the action.

Yes, following these rules does mean you need to be more organised, with better planning and more time on location. But that is simply professionalism. You will have everything covered to ensure you have the necessary material to make a fantastic film – your editor will love you, and so will your producer. Practice editing your own films – it’s the fastest way to learn what’s necessary and unnecessary, and will make you a better cameraman.

I can now understand why tickets to this show are hard to get hold of – it’s the most fun and unusual exhibition that I’ve been to this year.  25 sculptures and installations incorporate artificial light as an integral element of the artwork, sometimes exhibiting light itself, sometimes exploring it’s perceptual effects.  Light is uniquely able to influence our perceptions and mood, so a showcase of light as the medium was irresistible.  Between the different works, light is explored as a spatial and environmental experience, a factor of psychological influence, and an intangible sculptural medium.  Quite the visual smorgasbord.

Kids absolutely love it.  Rather than having to stand and look at works of art, they can play and engage with it, and that spirit of fun infects the attending adults, too.  The very nature of most of the installations mean that moving around them, engaging with them, and seeing them from different angles, results in different experiences and discoveries – so it is a wonderfully interactive exhibition.

Each of the installations use light in a different way – Anthony McCall’s You And I, Horizontal, projects a cone of white light across a lightly fogged, darkened room.  Walking around and through the projection, the viewer breaks the light-beam, which appears convincingly solid – to the extent that I was certain that I could feel a tingling sensation as my arm passed through it.

Olafur Eliasson has combined light and water to create what appears to be an ice garden – 27 different water fountains are frozen for split seconds in time by strobe lights, giving a unique insight into how water falls, and giving us the impression that what we see is frozen ice rather than water.  It is only due to the “sculpture” before us changing with each flash that we know that what we see is fluid.  There is a sense of magic and wonder here – to reach out and touch it would be to destroy the illusion – so, as in film, we suspend our disbelief and enjoy it for the spectacle that it is.

The first piece that greets you is Leo Villareal’s Cylinder II - columns of LEDs that create patterns reminiscent of meteor showers or monsoon rain.  A similar effect is seen in Jim Campbell’s Exploded View (Commuters) - lights suspended on wires appear to twinkle at random, but as you walk around it, the patterns and movements line up to create a low resolution moving image.  I actually gasped with delight when I saw it.

Others have a more subtle reason to be appreciated – Katie Paterson has painstakingly recreated the exact colour of Moonlight in a bulb – whereas most bulbs are designed to emulate the light of the Sun.  The irony here is that artificial light is making it increasingly difficult to see the light of the Moon from cities.

In Conrad Shawcross’ Slow Arc Inside A Cube IV, the shadows of a cube rush towards and away from you, as the light rotates inside a cage.  It creates a disconcerting feeling, making the viewer feel as if he is also trapped inside the cage, but a nightmarish one that is constantly expanding and contracting.

You might come out of this exhibition feeling like you’ve been on an adventure, that your perceptions have been played with, and that light is more than just a tool to illuminate objects.  However you might just come out thinking that you’ve had a lot of fun.  Or both.  Either way, do what you can to see it before it’s gone

Light Show is at the Hayward Gallery until May 6th.  For visitor information and tickets, visit the South Bank Centre website.

Inspired by groups such as Camp 4 Collective, who make great creative content about their adventures, I have been trying to add videography to my travel writing. So when I was offered the chance to drive Ford’s new Kuga to Courmayeur for City AM, I asked if I could bring along videographer Jack Slater.

Given that this was the first time that Jack and I had worked together, we decided to keep it simple. Fortunately, a road-trip is a story in itself, so we didn’t have to work too much on that front; the key would be to go beyond: “I went here, then I went there.” The City AM article was going to be about the benefits of driving over flying to ski resorts: a simple story-telling devices of “compare and contrast.” So we took an objective approach to our trip, always asking questions as we went along, ensuring we captured video of me, as guide, stating the obvious and explaining my thoughts.

Beyond the essential components and Pieces To Camera, which I had already identified for the written article, I left Jack to his own devices and creative skill to capture the footage to illustrate them. I’ll let you make up your own mind about the result, but I’m delighted with it. Jack’s done a great job of capturing and editing a fun trip, with good pacing, interesting cinematography, and variety of content.

As a learning experience, it taught me that the job of a P/D is to keep focused on the result and tell the cameraman what I needed; beyond that I left composition and content to Jack.  Central to this was briefing him well and remembering what the story is about – like most travel, the journey is a story-telling vehicle for a personal journey, however light that journey is.  In this case, it was simply the realisation that driving is better than flying to ski resorts, so I just had to check that Jack had got each of the components that would be in my article.  I deferred to his experience and asked for his input – Jack has more experience as a cameraman and editor than me, so I would ask him for his opinion on narrative flow and sequencing. Luckily, he’s also a true professional and a work-horse, so he shot several options for each sequence, giving him flexibility in the edit.

Overall, a great fun trip, with a nice piece of video content at the end of it.  Let me know what you think!

Captive Minds took on a very exciting project last year: raising awareness of Commando 999 – former Royal Marines now working in the emergency services, who raise money for the Royal Marines Association.  Their biggest annual event is the Speedmarch – marching and jogging through central London – and Captive Minds asked me to video the event for publicity and posterity.

The first task was to consider the story we were trying to tell – the grit and determination of former Royal Marines, many not in top condition, who will undertake an immense challenge as part of the camaraderie of the Royal Marine Corps.  The second element was tying this in with the physical story of the day – the journey from The Mall, via Downing St and the Olympic Park, to the finish line in Pall Mall and a remembrance service at The Glasper Memorial.

Simon Bright, of Captive Minds, identified the key spokespeople, and I used the prep time to chat to as many participants as possible, getting Vox-Pops and identifying strong characters.  Captive Minds Special Projects Director, Alex Rayner, drove in heroic, Ronin-esque fashion through the streets of London, in pursuit of 40 chaps in green and white whilst avoiding the Lord Mayor’s Parade.  We dashed East towards the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park (the first people allowed onto the Park since the London 2012 Games) and onto the finish line.

After the event, it was a matter of piecing the story together, and selecting the best Vox-Pops. The result is below.  I’d love to hear your thoughts and comments.

Commando 999 Speedmarch

YouTube’s viewing figures would make any broadcaster shudder – this year alone, YouTube has had more views than all of American cable television in history.  Read that again.  It’s an incredible statement.

So how should television relate to YouTube?  Should we ignore it and pretend it is going away?  Will it mean the end of television?  Or is there a middle ground where YouTube can complement TV?  First of all, it probably helps to understand how YouTube works, how it differs from other online channels and then some ways that broadcasters have used YouTube to help build their ratings, rather than viewing is as a competitor.  These notes come from a BBC COP Show Podcast discussion on the subject, as well as notes from a talk on the subject at the Media Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival.

• Vimeo is a very high quality video alternative – but 3x slower to load-up and watch than YouTube.  It works better as a host for your portfolio of beautiful cinematography.
• YouTube delivers more views and has a simpler, more reliable interface than other online video Channels.
• Simplicity and ease of use means that the ratio of effort to views is more appealing to the user, leading to more views.
• Minimal Effort is needed from the user for interactivity, such as liking and commenting on videos.
• Broadcasters can use it for marketing, archiving and broadcasting of complementary material.
• BBC originally set up their YouTube channel for people who might not be watching the broadcast channel and use it to drive them to BBC and website, but then changed strategy and put up edits of showcase programming (such as Jonathan Ross) before broadcast.
• Put up pre-broadcast items that people want to talk about and share with their friends – not a taster, but the best bits before the show, to build an online conversation and buzz pre-broadcast.
• Naming of YouTube clips drives views.  For Stephen Fry’s Last Chance to See, a clip named “Shagged By A Rare Parrot” caught eyeballs, led to a high number of views and drove people to watch the actual broadcast show.
• Related videos, search and embedded players drive more traffic to YouTube videos than the broadcast channel.
• When producing videos for online, don’t try to copy random moments, such as cats falling out of trees.  Produce what you are good at and what others expect from you.
• Web-only content is a great place to produce complimentary content and experiment.
• There are two measures of success with online video – interaction (such as the number of likes or comments), or number of views and hits.

So there are some ideas for how to use YouTube to create a genuine multi-platform strategy for your programme.  Use it as a way to offer complementary material and start conversations around your broadcast programming, to build loyalty and find a new audience.

• Remember that Twitter is fully searchable and you are not just Tweeting your followers – Twitter is public by default.
• Don’t release too much information about a production you are working on via social media.
• Don’t discuss confidential stuff online – don’t have conversations with colleagues via Twitter – take it to email or the phone.
• Don’t be unpaid paparazzi – if you see a famous person at a production/company you are working with, respect that it is a place of work and do not Tweet/Post photos that you have taken without permission.
• Represent the place that you work – if you are Tweeting/Posting about something you are working on, your views should match those of your employer.
• Give yourself a few seconds before you send a Tweet or Post and think “Is this a good idea? Will everyone be happy if I share this with the world? Is there anyone who might not like it?”
• If you question, even for a moment, whether or not you should send it, don’t do it!
• Apply normal rules of human interaction and conversation to Twitter and Facebook and use good manners – if it’s tasteless in the real world, it’s tasteless online.
• Always hash tag or mention your company in any relevant tweets from a personal account.
• Your online personality should be your ideal real world personality – helpful, etc. Don’t have less integrity online.
• Think of Facebook as interacting with people you already know well – Twitter is to interact with people that you want to know better.
• FB and Twitter is for immediate commentary and events, often with a touch of humour.  A blog is for solid commentary and ideas, where you develop voice and opinion.
• Don’t get involved in arguments without end.
• Share ideas that make you interesting, that people may want to listen to – your knowledge and expertise.
• Monitor your account, especially on Facebook.
• Tweet quotes with a hashtag comment to add context.

And if things do go wrong with your social media interaction, here are some tips for damage limitation.
- Delete any mistakes immediately.
- Acknowledge and apologise for the mistake, people will have noticed the mistake, so don’t ignore it.
- Know the difference between publishing and sharing – check that you have the right to publish material.

A vox pop is when a “roving reporter” goes out on the street to capture the thoughts and opinions of the public on a topic or feature.  They are short soundbites of opinion, a “what do you think?”

• Start with a context shot, then cut or pan to the presenter, who should fill most of the screen.
• Have a short intro from the presenter that explains the topic you are seeking Vox Pops on.
• Film the Vox Pop at the contributor’s eyeline height.
• Have the contributor’s eyeline close to the line of the lens.
• Have the contributor aligned to the side of centre, looking into the space.
• The contributor should fill about 1/2 of the screen.
• The ideal composition is of the contributor’s head, shoulders and upper chest.
• Don’t bother with showing the presenter whilst the contributor is talking, unless it’s Louis Theroux, Davina McCall or someone of a similar “audience draw.”
• The only exception to the above is a shot over the interviewer’s shoulder.  The interviewer is out of focus and “dirty framed.”
• Anything prominent in shot should be relevant.
• Be sure to have both eyes of a contributor visible to the camera.
• At the end, the presenter should summarise the overall opinions demonstrated by the Vox Pops and draw some general conclusions.

Sequencing is the order you put shots together to tell a story, rather than having one continuous shot.  Sequencing makes a feature more interesting than a single shot from one angle, and allows you to break a shoot into short segments, making it more manageable to film (and edit).  To get the shots you need for good sequencing, it is essential to have plenty of cut-aways and GVs for editing the piece together.  The shots you use and the techniques used in the shots, such as “pull-to-reveals,” also help to tell the story of the feature.

• Always get general shots of the location that an interview or sequence is being filmed, to give context.
• Be sure to film anything that you mention in a voice-over or piece-to-camera.  If you mention a bus, you should get a shot of one.
• For internet video, there should be as little camera movement as possible – no pan, no zoom.  Cut to reveals instead of zooming out or tracking with the camera.
• To reveal something in context, you can start in close and zoom out, or cut to the reveal.
• You can gradually zoom in on interviews, to increase the connection to the subject, or cut to a close up.
• Always get cut-aways of the subject – if you are doing an interview, get cut-aways of their hands, their feet, of them working.

An annual fixture in the London calendar, the Freeze Festival involves putting up a gigantic ramp next to Battersea Power station, covering it with artificial snow, and then having the world’s most talented (and unhinged) skiers and snowboarders hoon down it before taking to the air and performing manoeuvres that would impress Louis Smith.  And this is no exhibition event either –  with cash prizes up for grabs, the talent won’t be holding back as they seek glory at the UK’s most prestigious Big Air event.

For me, the biggest draw will be freshly crowned World Slopestyle champion James “Woodsy” Woods showing us the skills that won him an X-Games medal and world championship.  But beyond the snow and ice, the Festival also draws some of the biggest names in music.  This year, the iconic Public Enemy headline Saturday, DJ Shadow headlines Friday and Stanton Warriors fill out an undercard worthy of top billing.

Relentless Energy Drink Freeze Festival returns to Battersea Power Station on October 26 and 27.

Tickets are now available to buy on the Freeze Festival homepage.