Research - Film, Video, Animation

Over the Christmas holidays I have been thinking about what specialism I would like to work with in the New Year, this also means we get our own studio space to work independently in a place with all the right facilities I need.

I have chosen to work with mixed media/video as I wish to do more animation and video work.

The best thing to start off with is research: 

William WegmanWegman is a photographer and video artist whose work mainly involves dogs, usually his own Weimaraners. He will dress them up, put them in staged situations, puts them in unusual positions in natural environments but mainly the dogs are there to replace a human subject, i.e. a human body with a dogs head or a dog doing a human activity.
The two dogs that feature in the majority of his work are his own family pets, so I thought I would try out some of his techniques with my pets. I feel that dogs will be much easier to work with as they are more obedient.
Dressed Up

 

Human Activities

Natural Environments  

I have two cats and I wanted to challenge myself (and the cats) to see if we can make a video like Wegman's.

The video I have chosen to base my ideas around is ‘Dog Duet’. The two dogs sit in front of a blank background with the camera facing them. Wegman then moves a ball around behind the camera so the audience can't see it. The dogs then follow the ball with their heads but don’t move. It had a comical element to the piece and I wish to involve this in my videos. 

William Wegman – Dog Duet (1974)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxsypEOXpik

To do this I will firstly use my cat, Maisie, she is all black. I will place her in front of a black background so hopefully you will only see her eyes moving as she watches a toy move behind the camera.
I will then involve my other cat, Bello, and see if he will be as obedient as Wegman’s dogs. (I doubt he will)

Maisie

Bello

Maisie - Suitcase

Bello and Maisie

Eyes

It took me a few hours to get the videos 'right'. They kept walking away or facing their back to the camera. (I think they where camera shy) In the end I got what I needed. I feel the videos work well, I have used similar techniques to Wegman but I have also put my own touches on them.
I used spot lights so the camera was more focused on the cats. I feel the comedy value comes from Maisie, the black cat, all you can see are a little pair of yellow eyes floating around a black screen. I am very happy with the videos.