Beautification Project

The intention of this project was to utilize the materials available to their fullest extent and demonstrate my capacity for stop-motion film making while conveying a meaningful narrative. The materials included basic plastic for the 3D printed lamp as well as a small blue-white LED light and salvaged electronic wiring. Coloring of the components once they were all fixed in place was done by a black and then silver Sharpie. Conceptual beginnings for the project focused on making the lamp the focal point of the film. The narrative I had decided would also be centered around this main object. Initially I wished to give the materials meaning within the film but could not find a pathway discussing the elements used, perhaps even discussing the role of new technology, in my film. This however gave rise to another idea of making the lamp more of a symbol. I began asking the question, what is the natural context this object would be in and should I include that context in my project. Eventually I realized that such and ornate lamp, although capable of conveying a vast array of meanings, naturally gravitates to the context of a beautiful night scene. Other attributes of such a scene would include wealth, beautification, and even 'peaceful'. However, I wanted to draw attention to places that weren't the previsualized scenes naturally accompanying the context of this lamp. This, more often than not, would err toward darker scenes, locations without the money and beautification efforts to install these romantic means of illumination. My stop-motion film initially films this lamp flickering on in its natural setting, a rather affluent and 24 hour spot in Reno, Nevada. The context accompanying the symbol that is this lamp is shown through a slow panning swivel around the object ensuring its role as the central focus of the film but then glimpsing at the beautiful walkways and lights of midtown in the distance. The next sequence moves further away where a polluting yellow, and more impure light, radiates down from a sufficiently less-elegant lamp than the previous area. The lamp is seen moving in to the frame connected by a wire (powering the LED) but also a reference to the objects removal from another location. This shows that the elegant lamp providing that same bit of elegant charm to the first location, has to arrive on its own almost, to aid the second location. The panning zoom at the end of this sequence distances the frame from the object drawing attention to the distant poorly lit areas just across the street. From there, the final sequence shows the lamp moving from a very poor area in a parking lot of a much less affluent area under still harsher light. The lamp moves an equal distance as the camera, having the viewer meet it halfway and flickers even more as if struggling to stay on and light up the area. The music accompanying this scene transforms throughout the film from an elegant melody to a very eerie and discomforting trail off. The final pan from the object almost entirely eliminates the object as the focal point for the end of the video and instead shows an even darker pathway leading from the more industrial parking lot and then finally fades black. The music, as discussed in class, adds in some areas, but also detracts in others from the film. It is seen as too upbeat in the beginning and perhaps too eerie in the end. Another criticism of the score was it not matching the movements of the lamp in the sequences. I do agree that utilizing a different score with different emotive qualities would have its benefits, however I feel that any score accompanying the movements of the object would give it a much more characterized quality indicative of a cartoon character. The lamp functions as a symbol of, in a very oversimplified and cautious vernacular; beautification, and not, as such, a character creating the narrative itself. Additionally, in an attempt to merge materials with narrative, knowing the power of every minute detail, the base of the lamp is made from a quarter to indicate the monetary connection such flourished and elegant objects have to their natural contexts. 

Beautification Video