After last week’s tutorial, I intend to continue to develop my third experiment in depth, using the book form as a translation technique to interpret the life process of fireworks. The previous experiment was to extract elements of different shapes of fireworks and collate them in a book, with no primary or secondary relationship. This time I shifted the format and took a few clips from the video for closer analysis and processing. I made a total of six firework books, three in half-page format and three in full-page format.
What’s working well?
- The translation of my project is primarily about *form* and *format*, and yet it hints at more interesting questions about photography and video, sequence, time, etc. These remind the viewer of the cosmos (galaxies, stars, etc.). And the strength of this project lies in its simplicity.
- I translated moving images into statics images in the first week and then translated them again to this stop-motion-style moving images this week, which was interesting and engaging. My project makes the viewer think about the correspondence between the moment and eternity. Whenever the image is paused it highlights the beauty of the temporary through the fireworks, which is nice.
- I translated the shapes of the fireworks and turned them into an interactive book (or a static medium) to bring them to life again, which is an interesting way to capture the nature of wild and always-moving elements.
- I erased the colours of the fireworks and did it in black and white to make the forms stand out, allowing the viewer to focus on the shapes and get a different range of feelings.
- I use the flip book as a medium, which is also a beautiful transformation because it has an element of time (the speed at which we flip can affect the image).
What’s not working?
- I need to print these books and bind them to really know if they *work*. I need to experiment with specific decisions about size, paper type, binding, etc – the size of this book will dictate what sort of relationship it has to the *flip book* as a format.
- My presentation on the screen as a gif and the finger book are two different ways of presenting the final work. Through the gif, the meaning of the final medium of the book becomes clear. However, the gif expresses this transformation more strongly (so far) than the book.
- The moving images in my slideshow give a different feel than the book format.
To develop this further…
- This would be a good time to explore how other practitioners have used flip books as a medium. I should experiment with different printing techniques to see what kind of nuances they would bring. And finally print them in a form that would make it easier for the viewer to navigate the images and actually spot the smoother movement. Perhaps adding more pages and creating a kind of flip book would make the movement clearer and more distinct.
- I should play around with the book. I can try to make the book feel like a firework – the touch, the smell, the binding, the texture, the paper (think matchbox).
- I can develop more the correspondence between the moment and eternity. It is interesting to explore such a poetic theme.
- I can hold those images on printed papers in hand is actually an enjoyable experience to observe the fireworks.