Age of the Image- Documentary Ep4 Notes

Continuing on from the last post, these notes are from the fourth episode of 'Age of the Image'. This episode explored the power of imagery and how image manipulation alters the way we see things, from social media to film production. These notes are more for me to look back when deciding on my chosen essay topic. 

Episode 4: Fake News (23rd March 2020)

 

• Increase in advertising (billboards, New York City) playing with size and scale ultra-realistic, a reflection of human life, see our own family and self in them. Each tells a story, relatability 
• Change in viewing traditional painting and sculpture altered by the DIGITAL REVOLUTION, change art making it more accessible and reduces to binary code. Especially important at the minute with public exhibitions and galleries not being open for in-person viewing- everything has moved online. How important is it to see something in real life? Is this the beginning of a digital shift? Altered the way we view art.  

Billboards in New York City

• PHOTOSHOP. 'Jenifer in Paradise', a recognisable image relating to retouching used to show the possibility of photo manipulation (similar to WW1 photographer who combined negatives to create a more dramatic scene, made so much easier now). So easy today, becomes second nature for most to retouch photos, altering reality.
• Good or bad depends on ethics ‘SEARCH FOR PERFECTION’ manipulated becomes reality, the line is crossed(?) not as clear to define what is real and what is fake.
• ‘Who framed Rodger Rabbit', one of the first pictures merging live-action with animation. Portray realistic interaction
• 'Star Wars', special effects experimental, model making, blue screen technology. George Lukas, Matt painting used in 1983 Star Wars on glass, blur the distinction between reality using black gaps in the artwork. The live character footage was combined and added in these gaps.
• Painted on shower screen, very abstract loose, hard to see how we are deceived by it. Simulate the way we look at the world, the abstract actually appeared more realistic.

Star Wars: A New Hope, 1977

• 'Jurassic Park', insane visual effects for the time, looks so real, it would have been mesmerising/extraordinary at the time, impossible to comprehend. SHOWED THE POSSIBILITIES OF VISUAL EFFECTS.
• Visual effects developed massively after that, increase in space films and Disney live-action. 
• Digitally Distort faces with videos of other people, very DANGEROUS MANIPULATION, seamless videos, alter political views and create drama/impact.

The making of Jurassic Park, 1993

• Introduction of INFOGRAPHICS, hours of visuals on channels like CNN, constancy immortalised, non-stop (too much IMMEDIACY) actual events lost reality, became more like films.
• Viewers feel less emotion, no matter how shocking the news was, it just became the ordinary as there was too much to absorb, feeling every death would be too depressing like watching the twin towers, broadcast immediately around the world, constant coverage, the second hit was witnessed. Too difficult to comprehend. Hard to grasp the reality, the event was made to look good on screen as horrific as that is, terrorists designed it to be witnessed.
• GERHARD RICHTER 911 inspired painting. He wanted to paint something representative, the first one showed a cityscape but it lacked emotion and failed to show the atmosphere. He took a knife to it and scraped away the buildings to unveil a city of loss, much more emotion and symbolism. It was made tv size, portraying how most of the world viewed it. A tragic event in history that lives on through paintings and memory.

Gerhard Richter painting, 2005

• Soni Ericsson (Only in 2003!) first company to make a phone with a camera attachment, they didn’t think it would last but it took off, giving a platform to everyday life/events.

• Raising questions of importance. Easy access to photography can show authenticity, a sort of look behind the scenes, grounding celebrity culture and showing lifes imperfections. Unstaged or edited.
• Photographing food culture, sharing and commenting on photos, born from Instagram. Less personal 'SOCIAL CURRENCY', can be used to self promote. A waste of the artform and reduces the importance. 
• A positive, it's made us more observant, capturing moments that can live on forever- can OBSCURE REALITY. The idea of photographing something like the Mona Lisa, documented through a screen rather than for personal use. Can be used to show you've been there.
• GEOLOGICAL MAPPING, Google Maps use trillions of pixels to bring places to life, 3D maps, visit from your home, 360-degree street view. An experience with the ability to grasp a place from your home has changed the way we interact with the world.
• Messed with our sense of wonder, lessen the thrill of wonder. Able to see the change in geography, freeze-frame a time or landscape, same with paintings in huge galleries now documented online.
• The idea of computer games and virtual reality, OVERWHELMING and volatile, remind us of what we are loosing, don’t want to forget. Scared of letting go of a time place or person, species, extinction, environments.
• CAVE PAINTINGS, depicting human hands and animals extinct. A species froze in time, all the development and we still share the same way of image-making, cave mapping to recreate a model.
• Charcoal and okra on a stone to virtual reality, desire to make images hasn't changed, an interesting starting point. 

Ancient cave paintings

There was so much to think about in this episode. It puts into perspective how negative the increase in digital technology can be. The idea that some people care more about status and are more interested in photos they can get from a place rather than the place itself. People have lost interest because things are more accessible, the increase in social media shows places edited with filters to add to their beauty. It's sad that some people think there's almost no need to visit them because you can see them from home or through someones else's perspective. 

Although I enjoy being on social media and seeing the world from different perspectives, I think it has negatively impacted society in terms of reducing the excitement of seeing a place for the first time. Hard to get past the idea that everything has been discovered already. That being said, technology and visual effects have come such a long way and it's so interesting to see how it has developed over time and how endless the possibilities are now, only limited by your own imagination.