Film & Digital Art (from Sept 2019) studying the experimental and creative possibilities of moving image, photography and hybrid digital practices at UCA Farnham
In June we were proud to fill three gallery spaces on the Farnham Campus with work from our graduates. Digital Film & Screen Arts (DFSA) places an emphasis on exploring the creative and conceptual possibilities of moving image and hybrid digital practices.
The diversity of projects by our graduates testify to the richness of the moving image and its dynamic role within contemporary art and the creative digital industries. These highly distinctive productions included single-screen and multiscreen works as well as physical installations, animation and sound-design.
Students worked both individually and collaboratively to synthesise critical, conceptual, creative and technical skills across the breadth of these
productions.
Here are some photos and screen shots from the show:
Billie Williams
Umor Hussain
Tarald Tvedt
Sugini Nageswaran
Arturs Reinholds
Colin Cha
Ivan Uzunov
Ivan Uzunov & Arturs Reinholds
Katherine Whetton
Logan Gourley
Preston Hartley
Nicole Harman-Smith
Natalie Hodgins
Mary Novoselova
Jay Hayes
Rufaro Maumbe
Here is graduate, TJ's (Tarald Tvedt) review:
May and June marks the calendar every year as the University for the
Creative Arts Graduation Show, and this year was no different but what a year for artwork it was! So when the middle of May rolled
around it was time to start building the walls and hallways that would
eventually turn into the show, and even though the University has countless art
installations on display throughout the year, there was still a lot to do. Any
build transformation starts with countless piles of timber, nails, screws, and
a whole lot of paint – well that, and technicians and students working hand in
hand. And work we did! For three straight weeks we were sawing, hammering, and
painting like frantic art students, even though we almost do all our work on
computers, for now we had to exchange Adobe Illustrator for a real life
paintbrush.
Slowly, but surely, both G12 and R19 were starting to look more and
more like galleries. All the monitors, projectors, art pieces, and film
reels had to be finished, and time was starting to run out. The grand opening
of the private view was approaching, and there was still tape on the floor in
certain places! Not to mention that there were still no artist statements on
any of the walls! But with multiple students and technicians working overtime
during the last couple of days, we were as ready as we could be when the first
guests started arriving. It was time to blow everyone away.
So the doors opened and families started pouring in, everyone eager to
see what their son, daughter, or sibling had created. And they were not
disappointed! The moment you enter you see the most incredible work by the
glass and metal work (not sure what this course is called?), and you right away
know that this is going to be a good exhibition! After that most people had a
quick pit stop at one of the booths for refreshments to cool down on this hot
summer day, before venturing into the rest of the Graduation work. You would
not have to walk far to get to the DFSA rooms, with the first, R19 only being a
little bit down the spinal corridor and to the left. Upon entering you were met
with a great projecting on the far wall of an experimental dance narrative
called Gunpowder Mill. Upon looking around the room the guests could either
watch two experimental pieces, one about the experience of growing up black in
a white culture, and the other about the mythological Greek muses, or they
could sit down comfortably in one of two sofas to watch two of the longest
pieces the Grad Show had to offer, two documentaries - As a Man and A Journey with Vairavar. There were also six screens in
the back showing some experimental work about how to beautifully restore cracks
in your metaphorical skin using a traditional Japanese technique.
After finishing in R19, you could head straight to G12 for your next DFSA experience! In term time this space is a film studio, but our hard work turned it into a fabulous dark gallery to show our work to best advantage. Great projections about childhood
memories, music videos about love, loss, loneliness, and independence, but also
experimental work like Dog Favour, or Fine Art work such as Chloe Debonnaire’s critique of traditional fairy tales as projections on painted canvases. You
could honestly spend an hour in this room, and you would still not be done!
Everyone has worked incredibly hard to make thie curation of this work
come together in such a wonderful fashion, but we’re not quite done yet! There
is still the cinema room to discover! After walking for a little bit, or by
following the map, if you didn’t want to risk getting lost considering how massive the university is, eventually you will find W612 – the cinema room. This is where you could enjoy
a large amount of the work already on display in other rooms, plus some
exclusive work, in a dark cinema setting, to set the mood properly, particularly for our two cinematic dramas. Here you
could experience the almost the entire body of DFSA screen work, and watch it
in peace and silence.
It was truly a magnificent graduation show with all kinds of work on
display wherever you looked. It is sadly over for now, but do not worry, the
grad show will be back in June 2019 with a whole new batch of work for everyone
to enjoy! And if you want to watch some of work again, or for the first time if
you missed the show, most of the films, animations, music videos, and
experimental projects are available of the DFSA YouTube page. See you there!
Here is our Open Day Presentation for anyone who may wish to see it or revisit after coming to UCA Farnham. We encourage you to come see our amazing facilities and experience the campus so you get the vibe and meet the team.
This month saw sometime DFSA tutor and alumni Owen Davey (O.D. Davey) release his 2nd album on Berlin's Tomlab Records.
Some Waking Woman LP is a follow-up to 2015's Catgut Tape LP, which included tracks recorded as part of Owen's DFSA graduate show whilst a student at Farnham.
Some Waking Woman is also a collaborative film-series between Owen and the artists Graw Bockler (Ursula Bockler and Georg Graw), which uses unedited Super8 celluloid reels, all of which are 2min 22sec long, to give a visual form to the album that reverses the traditional dynamic of the music video, whereby the video format and content submit to that of the music. In the case of this project, the songs are edited to fit the form of the Super8 reels. The reels' contents, although carefully curated by Owen and Graw Bockler to fit intuitively with each song, have a life and story of their own which is intended to trigger curiosity when contrasted with Owen's writing.
The use of celluloid also fits with the use of vinyl and the record's analogue recording techniques, creating a contemporary collection of ballads that nod in form and content to the post-modern 'crooner' records of the late 1960s that in part inspire it. Stills from the Super8 reels are used for the LP sleeve, combining with a traditional magazine design by Joe Shakespeare and forward by poet and critic Joey Connolly.
Some Waking Woman is now available in the shops and you can watch and listen to the album/film-series in full YOUTUBE.
The film series premiered at Kino Teatr this month and will screen in full for the first time at the MK Gallery on January 27th 2018. You can follow Owen's work on INSTAGRAM and FACEBOOK for updates on the album's touring programme and future releases.
Last Friday our second years had a workshop in the film studio to prepare them for their studio shoot in a couple of weeks time. Led by Anne Parisio and assisted by graduate Tom Paynter and studio manager Chris Pinnock, they were introduced to a range of new equipment to use in their films - both in the studio and on location.
Here is the dolly used by Stanley Kurbrick in The Shining:
And our slider equipment that can also be used for stop motion:
The steadycam harness that we use with the GH4s will be particularly good for dance film next term and there is also a gimbal that students can use in the third year.
This workshop most certainly will get things moving!
DFSA have just had some excellent feedback from the local community here in Farnham regarding a film project. We are very proud of the third year students that have worked on this film independently for more than a year:
"As chairman of the local sports council [the umbrella organisation for sports clubs and associations on Farnham] we wanted to provide a sports promotional film on Farnham’s sports clubs for community interest. It meant providing a balance of creative discretion yet understanding the purpose of the project and visiting and filming at many of the town’s community sports clubs.
To cut a long story short, one of your students - Jayson Hayes - last year [and his first year at UCA] agreed to come to a couple of informal preliminary meetings followed by a attendance at a full meeting of the Farnham Sports Council. He agreed, quite willingly and voluntarily, to undertake the project and his work was completed this summer after a year’s commitment to the project and the film was showcased at the end of the Farnham Sports Awards evening last Monday when he, with his two colleagues, Ethen Salley and Maisie Mok, were recognised for their achievement. The film received a round of applause from the audience of 200+ people, which included the Mayor of Waverley and the Mayor of Farnham.
I thought I’d write to you, as the recommended UCA ‘VIP’, to let you know of the efforts of Jayson and some of his colleagues. Well done!"
David Gill
Chairman, Farnham Sports Council
Our Deputy Vice-Chancellor Alan Cooke commented: "Everyone involved should be proud of the achievement.It is very pleasing that our students are engaging with the local Farnham community and with such a tremendous outcome. I have been working with the Mayors and Town Clerk (Iain Lynch) over the past few years to exchange information and opportunities for collaborations and partnerships between the Town and UCA and it is heartening that some of this work is starting to pay off. The opportunities for our young students not only helps them to gain valuable experience on live projects alongside their studies, but also enables them to support the local community. This is all great news for their experience and future employment opportunities as well as helping out the organisations they work with".
Another contact in the local community is the manager of Postive Action who are
a charity that provides information, advice and education to
individuals and families affected by HIV across Surrey and Hampshire. Following
cuts in their public funding earlier this year, they are now developing a network
of peer support to empower people living with HIV to live healthy and fulfilled
lives, for example through social support groups, online forums and peer
mentoring. She sent me this message:
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"Tonight I saw the film some of your students made on Sport in Farnham at the sports awards and wondered whether they could do something for us????" We have a brief and now these same students have another film in development. Exciting!
Between 25th and 27th October we hosted a three day event for second and third year students to identify their goals after graduation and enhance their skills for employability.
Presentations were provided by both our Creative Enterprise and Careers & Employability team on Personal Branding, Seven Steps To Starting Your Own Business, Copyright Law, Career Planning, Team Working and Networking for Digital Artists. A big thanks to Stephen Davies, Alison Branagan and Fiona Brooking Thomas for their exciting workshops.
We also had a presentation from Allan Arthurs, Managing Director of Media Techniche Ltd, a local Farnham company specialising in aerial imaging. His interesting and informative talk was a great blend of personal journey, technical information and explanation of the regulatory and legal framework for working with aerial photography and video using the drone. He also underpinned what we inform all students regarding legal matters to be considered in film preproduction… particularly regarding risk assessment. He finished with a practical demonstration up on the cricket pitch in Farnham Park and this was a real treat for those that climbed the hill.
Apologies for a late blog about the fantastic Graduation Show that our third year students put together in June this year. To start the 2017 academic year we thought it would be a great idea to reflect back on the achievements of graduating students. First and second years that dash away at the end of term may not realise that the whole campus becomes a series of galleries to display the third year final work of every BA course in UCA Farnham.
Our final year DFSA students designed, built and prepared both the G12 film studio and our R19 base room to turn the rooms into galleries and we also had several works in the Linear Gallery corridor space as well as the W612 cinema space. And a big thanks to all the technicians that supported the install - Tom Gilley and the rest of Tipu's team.
In G12 there was experimental film work projected at large scale by
both Tom and Jonny, a 3 screen video installation by Phoebe, a zoetrope
and video by Nathan and Steven, photo mirror installation by Lauren,
experimental video by Rachel and a reel of music video
collaborations by groups of students across the year.
Nathan Clancy & Steven Munday
Jonny Williams
Jonny Williams
Tom Paynter (left) Lauren Issacs (right)
Phoebe Kimambo
Lauren Issacs
Tom Paynter
Lauren Issacs
In R19 they installed a photo grid by Emily, a concertina photo book by Lauren, skateboarding video installation by Tom, a 3 screen video installation by Allan, a book by Megan and a video documentary by Klara. Steven had large scale photoworks with small 3D printed animals in the Linear Gallery.
Tom Jenkins (back centre), Emily Rose, Lauren Issacs (left) Allen Gyimah (right)
Emily Rose
Lauren Issacs
Allen Gyimah
Megan Oxley
Klara Rychtarcikova
Steven Munday
In the W612 cinema there were single screen works that included documentary, narrative, music video and experimental film. Trailers for this work can be seen below.
The DFSA team were extremely proud to see our third years graduate at the Royal Festival Hall on Monday 26th June 2017 and we wish them all the best in their future careers which are sure to be successful.
As part of the Professional Toolkit unit all our second year students undertake a studio shoot. A number of workshops build up to this including set building, directing actors, moving camera, green screen and more. Each student works in a specific crew role to experience many facets of digital film making; the interaction and communication between crew members becomes apparent and high end technical skills in digital workflow are learned. Currently they are using the EX3 with Samuri Blade, gimbal, slider, dolly and so on.
This year the project was conceived around 'A Photograph and Five Words'. The year was split into two groups to make a response to one of four chosen photographs and could only use five words in the script. Once training and preproduction was complete the two shoots took place in one week: Mon/Tues for the first shoot, Wednesday for set restyle and prelight, Thurs/Fri for the second shoot.
Every student who has undertaken our Avid workshop this term will get the rushes to cut as their workshop exercise in January. Watch this space (or our YouTube) for links to finished films next year.
