I thought it would be interesting to play with the idea of the apparent permanence of the alphabet and language by interpreting them though a temporary and fleeting material.
The alphabet along, with numbers, colours and the sounds that animals make are among the first things we learn as children. This “first” knowledge is very powerful and gives the alphabet the sense that it is unquestionable, definitive and of all time. It feels like a key piece of understanding which is an essential building block of our human experience.
This permanence however is not true, as language is always changing and the alphabet as we know it today has gone through many forms and letter sets. Until the 15thC for example there were three letters which we now no longer use (thorn, edh and yogh) and as late as the 1850’s the Ampersand (&) was considered the 27th and last letter of the Alphabet.
I thought it would be interesting to take advantage of the bitterly cold weather we’ve having recently to try and show that even something which looks honest, solid and unmovable like the alphabet is only subject to time before it too changes. With the Globalisation of language and the advancement of the digital world with the abbreviations of tweets, sms’ and urls, it is not unbelievable that new letters may be born to help speed our global communication.
Here is a sneak peak at how I've been spending my last week. Standing on the roof in the cold trying to freeze the entire alphabet befrore the thaw kicked in. The images are for Stereohype call for entries for their new book. Few more letter to complete tonight and then the photographying can begin.
I had meant to make something for St Andrews Day yesterday, but Scott and I spent the day at our old uni giving a quick talk to the students. It was weird being back there but it was a lot of fun and hopefully we didn't bore them all to death to much. We also gave them a quick workshop project to carry out in the streets of Glasgow, in which they had to define various "spaces" by means of a set of tag cards. The results were really good, with some very interesting images, which the students then had to present and explain under a strict time limit of 10secs. We'll post the results to our site in the next week or so.
Had a lot of fun at last weeks Central Station Launch. Two days of art and creativeness in Glasgow, with a tour bus on the Saturday and a load of talks and tasty biscuits on the Sunday.
As promised many months ago, here is the footage of the pigeon hunter in action.
Be warned that while this may be an edited down version, it is still just a video of a man standing for a long, long time in a park, in the rain, trying to catch a pigeon. Its strangely hypnotic though.
[For those wondering what this is all about click here for the earlier story]
The Seed from Johnny Kelly on Vimeo.
Saw this earlier and really liked its simplicity and colour. My opinion might also have been swung by a recent foray into oragami and paper folding during our decorating the close for Halloween.
Here's a very rough test for the GFF2010 trailer showing the way I'm planning on making the images work. Still a lot of work to do between now and Friday when the Client chooses who will progress. Then there are ten days to complete and tie it all together.
I'm very pleased to say that I was shortlisted as one of the four finalists to possibly create the GFF2010 trailer. Here's a link to the project site and to my Central Station Profile.
Hmmm funny how fast made me think of a tortoise. That story about them versus the hare has really done wonders for their PR. The second thing I thought of, which could also do with a bit of PR, was the postal service, currently on strike. I think if I had a choice I'd use tortoise mail. Not quite as fast but far more reliable.
Central Station just recently ran a ideas call for the Glasgow Film Festival 2010 trailer. Here are a few images from my proposal.
Glasgow has always had a strong connection to the cinema, from their very dawn back in the 1890's through to their hey day in the 1930's when we had more cinemas per person than any other city outside of America. A cinema within five mins walk from your house and people on average going once a week. Even today in the UGC we've still got Britain's busiest cinema - I guess Glaswegians really like popcorn.
My proposal played with this history and relationship. I found it interesting that despite our love for the cinema and despite lots of films being made here, few are actually ever set here. I started to wonder, what would the classics of cinema's past have been like if their setting had actually been Glasgow and not London, New York or Tokyo.
In many ways cities are in part defined by the films and literature that are set within them. These stories sit overlaid onto the streets and buildings shaping our perceptions and imaginations of what can happen there - be it the smog filled streets of Sherlock Holmes' London or the zippy fast talking of Woody Allen's Manhattan.
My idea is therefore an animated sequence of 3D paper cut outs with blend different famous movie shots and scenes into Glasgow settings. These will take you on a fast paced and quick cutting tour of the city and its relationship to film history.
[Movies and settings above - King Kong - Science Centre, Singing in the Rain - Art School, Manhattan - Squinty Bridge, Brief Encounter - Central Station, Godzilla - Glasgow Skyline from The Lighthouse.]
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