Genius Of Moving Image 3

How did Bjork and Chris collaborate on the 'All is Full of Love' video?

Bjork and Chris had mutual friends in London, and people had suggested that the two should collaborate. Bjork created the music for the video, and decided to create it after her album, so there was no marketing schedule. Bjork wanted a mini- film, and imagined it to be very white, as a kind of heaven. She visualised statues making love, and they would physically melt in the moment.

What techniques were used on the portishead video to create the unusual slow motion effects?

The boy was filmed inside a water tank. The bubbles had been removed digitally, and everything was then digitally inserted into a dark alley in post production.

What other music video directors have gone on to direct feature films? Name two and the feature films they have made.

David Fincher, known for The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button  and The Social Network

Michael Bay, known for hit films such as Transformers and Armageddon.

Which famous sci - fi film did Chris Cunningham's work on before he became a director?

Cunningham was working at ”Artificial Intelligence” also known as ”A.I.”.

What makes his work different or original compared to other similar directors?

The most major quality that Chris Cunningham has is that he creates his visual imagery from listening to the music, and generates ideas through sound. He also edits most of his works, and works on the set and visual effects, contributing a lot to the production and post production to get a final film that's close as possible to what he imagined.

Genius Of Moving Image 2

What is the role of the cinematographer in film making?


The role of a cinematographer is to control how the shot looks. The cinematographer is responsible to make the Director's wish happen. This involves choosing equipment such as camera lenses, lighting and creating a visual style for the scene/film being worked on. This also involves directing the angles shot, and the point of view. The cinematographer does not have direct control of the camera, but  they are able to if need be. Cinematography is a communal art and more than one person is involved in the final result.


Why did director Roman Polanski insist on using hand held camera in the film Chinatown?


There is more intimacy with a hand held camera. The viewer can feel part of the scene, from a moving persons perspective, not a still 'god-like' shot. The hand held camera also forces the actors to act spontaneously, and achieve a more realistic environment.


Name two films which use colour in a very symbolic way, and describe what they suggest?


Sin City - Gathered particular recognition for its unique color processing, which rendered most of the film in black and white but retained or added colouring for select objects.  The use of red over black & white emphasised the blood in a shot, and suggests horror and danger.


Godfather - movie had a yelllow/brassy light to it intentionally. This was because the cinematographer thought it looked right but then it was used in the shooting of period movies afterwards for a long time.


In the film Raging Bull why was the fight scene filmed at different speeds?


To make the time that he was away from the action seem unreal and make the fight time more important. Doubling the frame rate also helped speed up the times which weren’t important and concentrate on the important bits.


Who is the cinematographer for the film Apocalypse Now, and what is his philosophy?


Vittorio Storaro was the cinematographer. Storaro believes that photography is a single persons art, while cinematography is communal. 

Genius Of Moving Image 1

List two specific key relationships between Sam Taylor Wood's photography and film work?


Both portray a personal message, and use people to narrate a story.

How does the use of multi-screen instalation in her work reflect narrative?


It shows it is constructed, and allows the audience to piece together their own narrative. Each screen belongs to one character, reflecting their personal space and emotion. As an audience we are able to take sides by focusing on one screen, and relating to the one person. When one crosses into another's screen, we get the impression of invasion on personal space, and a closer connection between two people.

What other photographers use film as an integral part of their work. List two with examples?

Gregory Crewdson, well known for his elaborately staged scenes, which are setup like a film scene, but designed for a single photograph. It is clear to see Crewdson has been inspired by film work in his photographs. An example of his work below.

Another photographer who uses film as an integral part of their work is Tim Walker, creator of 'The Lost Explorer'.

Research three other video artists and explain their working philosophy?


Andy Warhol was an artist who balanced between photography and film. Between 1963 and 1968, he made more than 60 films and 500 short black-and-white "screen test". One of his most famous films is "Sleep" consists of long take footage of his close friend sleeping for 5 hours and 20 minutes. The film was one of Warhol's first experiments with film making, and was created as an "anti-film". His most popular and critically successful film was Chelsea Girls (1966). The film was highly innovative in that it consisted of two 16mm films being projected simultaneously, with two different stories being shown in tandem.



Bill Viola is a contemporary video artist. His works focus on the ideas behind fundamental human experiences such as birth, death and aspects of consciousness. Using the inner language of subjective thoughts and collective memories, his videos communicate to a wide audience, allowing viewers to experience the work directly, and in their own personal way.


Eleanor Antin is an American photographer, author, and artist working with video, film, performance, and drawing. In 1971, Antin created a film called 'Representational Painting' where she recorded herself applying her makeup until she was satisfied with what she looked like to 'face the world'. Here she addresses the pressure society puts on women to look good. A year later in 1972, she produced 'Carving' which consists of a large grid containing 144 Black & White photographs of herself losing weight over a 36 day period of dieting.


Show an example of a specific gallery space or a site specific location where a video artist or film maker has created work specifically for that space and been influenced by it?


Harry Potter was filmed on location at Oxford. The Great hall was replicated in the studios to create Hogwarts Hall. The village itself is ancient and made the perfect setting.

Genius Of Photography Part 6

How many photographs are taken in a year?

around 80 billion photographs.

What is Gregory Crewdsons' modus operandi?

Crewdson uses cinematic lighting to create one single perfect moment, and he is his own camera operator and director of photography. Over an eleven day shoot in a variety of locations, Crewdson team will make a series of multiple exposures which will be digitally combined to make 6 final images; he’ll produce an addition of 6 final prints of each image priced at approximately 60 thousand dollars.

Which prints command the highest price & what are they called?

Prints that command the highest price tags are usually the ones made the photographer themselves; closest to the times the actual picture was taken. These are known as vintage prints.

What is a Fake photograph? Give an example and explain how & why it is fake.

The image of John Kerry and Jane Fonda at a anti-war rally is an example of a fake photograph, the photograph shows John Kerry and Jane Fonda standing together at a podium during a 1970’s anti- war rally was a hoax. As the original unaltered photo of Kerry taken In June 13 1970 documents the Vietnam war, veteran was sitting alone prior to giving a speech at an outdoor rally, and Fonda was photoshopped in at a later date tells about the troublesome combination of Photoshop and the internet than it does about the prospective democratic candidate for president.

Who is Li Zhensheng and what is he famous for?

Li Zhensheng was red army news soldier, he was a photojournalist who in the 1960’s and early 70’s found himself covering the Cultural Revolution.

What is the photographers “holy of holies”?

In 1994 British photographer Martin Parr applied to join photojournalism agency Magnum, a prestigious agency, but Parr had to battle long and hard to bring his distinctive brand of photography into photojournalism’s holy of holies. Parr’s work was very different to Magnum, his photo’s have been said to be meaningless but Magnum has developed a reputation which has become known as the holy of holies of famous photographers such as Ansel Adams and Henri Cartier Bresson.

How does Ben Lewis see Jeff Walls photography?

Ben Lewis thinks that Jeff Wall didn’t invent photography but he took photography back to the 19^th century to painting where everything is creative everything is constructed for a meaning, He fed in a lot of contemporary theoretical concerns , concerns about gender, about how men and women look at each other concerns about racial stereotyping.

Which famous photograph was taken by “Frank Mustard”?

French photographer Camille Silvy created the seemingly realistic photograph called ‘The River France’; it offers master class in 19^th century photographic manipulation. Silvy arranged where the people should stand so the working class people were in the common land on the right of the picture with an artificial sky that he added. But the actual photograph was not taken by Silvy it was taken by Frank Mustard

Genius Of Photography Part 5

Who said “ The camera gave me the license to strip away what you want people to know about you, to reveal what you can’t help people knowing about you”, and when was it said?

Dianne Arbus quoted this statement in the early 1960's.

Do photographers tend to prey on vulnerable people?

Photographers have always sought out some kind of marginalised subjects; it has been a controversy in recent years of the scholarship of photography whether or not photographers tend to prey on vulnerable people, people who are exposed socially, economically, culturally in some way because photographers could get access to these people if they were out on the streets. Their faces reveal the emotions that we feel when someone wants to take our picture. However the person behind the camera can either feel compassion for the subject or are simply driven by their hungry eye.

Who is Colin Wood?

Colin Wood is a 7 year old boy featured in a photograph taken by Dianne Arbus in Central Park. She took many pictures of him that day but chose just one to show. He was a curiosity for her, and captured an aspect of his life when his parents had divorced, but for Arbus she was merely seeking a reflection of herself in the pictures which was her genius.

Why do you think Diane Arbus committed suicide?

Arbus photographed those who showed a genuine awe of those she often referred to as freaks but sometimes called them aristocrats people who in her estimation had already passed their test in life. She was not threatening, she was curious. Her work tied into her mood which came along later, and she desperately wanted to be anybody but herself by trying on everybody else’s skin emphasising the degree of empathy which was rare in any art and described that there was seriously something wrong with our culture. But I think Arbus had gotten too involved with the subject and who she was photographing that her work had portrayed her anxieties and vulnerabilities in her life. Arbus was herself connected to the many of the cities important tastemakers at the time but not everyone was behind her or agreed with her which could have had an effect on her death as well.

Why and how did Larry Clark shoot “Tulsa”?

Larry Clark first published his book ‘Tulsa’ in 1971; he took pictures of his own personal life which involved drugs, sex and violence in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He was an insider, a photojournalist on himself. in his hands photography became personal, as confessional as a written diary. He had opened up a whole new impolite genre.

Try to explain the concept of “confessional photography”, and what is the “impolite genre”?

Confessional photography is about the truth of real life and the misunderstandings of the world. Intimate scenes and confessions that people ignore, and/or don’t want to know about. Confessional photography is 'to say it how it is'. Impolite genre relates to photographs that are rude, descriptive and exposing something that not everyone feels comfortable looking at. A photograph which may shock, and disturb the viewer.

What will Araki not photograph, and why?

Araki is a promiscuous photographer snapping everything around him, exploiting intimate detailed pictures of his daily life. Araki shoots photography to remember things as it helps you remember, he has come to use photography only to photograph things he wants to remember.

What is the premise of Postmodernism?

The premise of postmodernism is that we now live in a culture so saturated with media imagery and media models of how people live that our initial idea of how one lives one’s life and who one is, is made up of that kind of media myth. In a sense it contradicts the idea of portraiture because the idea that you can dress up and go to a studio and somehow reveal your strength of character or your inherent humanity when that’s not the case. As we don’t have an inherent humanity in the post- modernist analysis of things as we are all these composites of a lot of myths or in other words narratives that are written by other people.

Genius Of Photography Part 4

Why did Garry Winogrand take photographs?

To see what the world looked liked photographed...

Why did 'citizens evolve from blurs to solid flesh'?

Technology advanced, enabling a quicker shutter speed in order to capture moving citizens. Where as in the past, life of the street moved too fast for the long exposure times. The first street scenes showed artfully staged setups, and surreal ghost towns.

What was/is the 'much misunderstood theory'?

Henri Cartier Bresson’s much misunderstood theory was the decisive moment it was explored in photography that once you get the drift of it, the feel the energy of it you want to go back again and again because it’s where life seems to be going. Out on the street being in this river of humanity and seeing unexpected incidents occur makes you grab the moment and put meaning behind it.

Who was the godfather of street photography in the USA?

Gary Winogrand became a pack leader of young street photographers. He was said to be a nervous energy, and things responded to this energy, things were always happening when he was around.

Who was Paul Martin and what did he do?

Paul Martin was a British photographer, in 1896 he went to Great Yarmouth seaside using a camera that he disguised as a brown paper parcel the pictures he took show the magic of the beach at work. 

Who said “When I was growing up photographers were either nerds or pornographers”?

Edward Ruseha had stated that photographers were nerds or pornographers as there was no redeeming social value to somebody who has a camera who takes pictures. They were about things rather than people, surface rather than soul and not the human drama of the street but the taken for granted backdrop against which the drama plays out.

Why does William Eggleston photograph in colour?

Eggleston took colour at face down, because pictures need to be structured but structuring a coloured picture is different because colour is more dominant. Colour can twist the whole content of the picture. 

What is William Eggleston about?

William Eggleston’s pictures contain all the acute observation of a master street photographer like Winogrand, but the brightly coloured surfaces made them unreadable. He called his pictures democratic, that he was at war with the obvious. Wherever he goes the world travels with him.

Genius Of Photography Part 3

What is described as “One of the most familiar concepts in photography”?

In 1933 Henri Cartier Bresson shot a moment that took only a fraction of a second to shoot but came to be known as a ‘decisive moment’ that is the most familiar concept in all of photography. It has become a strategy that has illuminated photography’s potential for everyone. His decisive moments transformed the faces of photography.

Should you trust a photograph?

Trusting a photograph was probably a huge mistake from the beginning, however people still believe photographs.

What was revolutionary about the Leica in 1925?

The Leica was a revolutionary development in camera technology launched in Germany in 1925,  it was a compact, quiet with the latest lens and technology it gave birth to a whole new style of instant photography and allowed you to be present in the moment.

What did George Bernard Shaw say about all the paintings of Christ?

George Bernard Shaw said that he would exchange every painting of Christ for one snapshot, which is what the power of photography is; the reality.

Why were Tony Vaccaros’ negatives destroyed by the army censors?

The ten roles that Vaccaro developed were destroyed by the army censor as they had contained images of dead GI’s that were decisive moments that the world wasn’t yet ready to accept during that time. 

Who was Henryk Ross and what was his job?

Henryk Ross was a photographer who documented the happenings in a nazi ghetto in Woodge, Poland. Ross kept a unique record of what happened there. Among his many duties as the ghetto’s official propaganda photographers Ross had to document the production of goods by the inhabitants of Woodge sold to make money for their captors.

Which show was a “sticking plaster for the wounds of the war”, how many people saw it and what “cliché” did it end on?

The ‘Family of Man’ was an exhibition held in New York in 1955; it was a public statement on behalf of humanity and was photography’s big response to a world rapidly moving from hot to cold war. The show was comprised of over 500 images that were selected from millions of images, from 273 photographers both amateur and professional. The show had over 9 million visitors by 1964; it was a sticking plaster for the wounds of war and represented everything photojournalism’s deity Henri Cartier Bresson stood for. It had concluded with an optimistic cliché that it was the beginning of the sentimental journey through life.

Why did Joel Meyerowitz photograph ground zero in colour?

Because photographing it in black of white would have kept it as a tragedy, because it had a tragic element in photographing not war but the collapse of it, the destruction. He photographed in colour because we see in colour, our memories are in colour, therefore Meyerowitz wanted to match that.