Medium: Photography

Perhaps one of the greatest and most unique aspect of the photography medium is the ability to "pause time". When we think about it, a photo is nothing more than a fraction of a second taken from a much longer story. The purpose of my work was to first demonstrate such particularity, that photography has the ability to go beyond what our plain eyes usually experience. A still photo allows us to ponder and think more deeply. It gives us as much time as we want to contemplate and interpret. It is very particular because there is no right or wrong way to do it. In my work, we see a man performing a skateboard trick, frozen in the air. We are then left to speculate if the trick was successfully completed or not. We may wonder if the lady in the back has been watching him for a short or perhaps a long period of time. We may ask also if she is related to him or she just happened to be there. Photography has this power to make our minds curious because it gives us plenty of time to do it.
          Seth Casthel use this powerful medium by taking underwater pictures of dogs diving in a pool while attempting to catch a ball. Each picture shows the very details of the dogs' facial expressions. Without a camera, it would be hardly possible to catch those moments and remember them as detailed. Since we live in a world of motion, we tend to remember things in motion. Photography on the other hand creates still detailed memories.
          Another particularly of the photography medium is framing. All elements on a photo are carefully positioned to create an appealing result. In real life, this process happens all the time with our own eyes. It is quick and unconscious. Photography uses framing to simulate such process. Additionally, photography uses focus (deep of field) to make certain elements more evident than others. In my work, the framing and focus is primary on the skateboarder. It is not centered but slightly on the top left. Since we are used to read from left to right, positioning the main subject on the top left makes it easier to focus on it.
          Photography allows also to present multiple elements simultaneously. While the subject is usually the main focus, a photo can incorporate many additional elements to create all together a unique piece of work. In the picture above, we can notice a bank in the background, additional buildings in the distance, a beautiful blue sky with small clouds, a distorted shadow, an unordinary fence, a flag on the top of the building, and many other subtle elements. Those secondary elements are particular to photography because they tell more about the picture's story. In my work, they clarify the simplicity of two young folks enjoying life on a beautiful day.
          Lastly, lightning is very specific to the photography medium. Without lightning, there cannot be photography. My work uses the sun not only to lit the entire shot but more specifically to create a hard shadow under the skateboarder, revealing how high he jumped.

UCHI

          

Download UCHI - Script

We began playing around with the thought of a Japanese man in America knowing about the attack on Pearl Harbor and trying to warn everyone. We had too many problems trying to figure out how to start it, then we thought of the bombing of Hiroshima.  As this idea began brewing between our discussion, we saw a potential script.  We thought it would be interesting playing around with the idea of a Japanese man living in America, working for the military, knowing about the bombing of Hiroshima and have this conflict of which country he would be loyal to.  Would he be loyal to America, his new home, or Japan, his homeland?

We saw correlation with our script to the "After the Deluge" reading through both showing life as normal at the beginning.   People in both times are going about their business, but word comes to them that something big might be happening.  Some are more skeptical than others, but soon it becomes evident that this normal life they have been living is going to be drastically changed.

We found an article that would help propel his choice, “After Internment: Seattle’s Debate Over Japanese Americans' Right to Return Home” by Jennifer Speidel.  In this she mentioned some of the hatred for the Japanese in America after the internment camps in which is when our story would take place.  There were so many people who despised these people, would treat them very poorly.  Adding this aspect to our script with the one soldier attacking Tadashi, only heightened his reason to help his home country of Japan, but by so doing betraying his new home.

Differing from most films about this time which show the perspective of the Americans’ side of the war, our story is from the perspective of the Japanese.  It is similar to Letters from Iwo Jima which is the standpoint of the Japanese during the war.  Showing both of these sides is crucial to humanize these horrid acts these countries inflicted upon each other.  It gives this sense that there was heartache for all, but especially for those citizens who didn’t want to take part in their country’s fight.  Our script shows the struggle for those Japanese citizens living in America who felt the impact of both the Pearl Harbor attack and the Japan bombings. 

When delivering such horrific news as the Hiroshima bombing, there isn’t need for any flourished or prophetic language to deliver it.  We just needed the facts.  “This Day in History” on the History Channel website provided the needed information for August 6, 1945.  It gave us the name of the bomb, which was crucial for our dialogue in providing at first skeptic remarks and then to a clear statement of destruction.  The statistics of the dead and likely dead gave a factual feel to the ending of the script, but the simple delivery of them meant for a greater impact on our main character.  

Audio Process

When the project to create an audio documentary was announced our minds grew wild at the fascinating possibilities.  We fancied that we could record a process that sounded like something else and then surprise the listener at the end by revealing what they were actually hearing.  For example, the listener would hear someone being murdered, but in the end realize that it was a very ordinary task such as tying a shoe.   However, we soon found that this would be a lot harder to do than we thought.  The end product turned out much different than what we had originally intended.  Yet we still created something that is interesting and gained much through the process.  

Going with the whole murder idea, we thought that ice hockey would be a good source to generate the sounds of death: blades could sound like knives; laces being snapped together could sound as if someone was tying up a victim.  However, once we actually retrieved the sounds, we found that they were not very analogous to homicide.  We had to come up with a new approach and decided that we would just focus on hockey.

As a result we have an observational style audio process of a man preparing for a Hockey match.  We say observational because like observational cinema, there are no interviews.  We only hear sounds.  Yet it can also be classified as performative as the sounds were created to represent a process that did not actually transpire as we recorded it.  With this style, it is as though the listener is the athlete himself.  At first he has a nervous focus.  The only thing he can hear is the sound of lacing up his skates or walking out of the locker room.  It is similar to the movie Rocky the night before the fight.  Rocky walks through the arena and the only thing that the viewer can hear is his footsteps.   In both pieces, the sound reflects the athlete’s state of mind.  As our hockey player makes it to the rink, he begins to hear the crowd and the adrenaline kicks in.  Finally, the music stops and the athlete is immersed in an intense focus.

Of course, this is what we hope to convey to the listener but we are aware that he may interpret it differently.  Using roommates as a test audience we asked what they thought of when listening to the piece.  The hockey game was pretty obvious but the sound of lacing up ice skates at the beginning did not click with them.  They thought it was someone dragging something through snow.  One person even thought of a crime scene.  With this ambiguity of the piece, we can say that we touched upon our original intent.  However, we were far from communicating either vision.  As we learned from Ira Glass, we had good taste but our end product was not as good as our ambitions.  It’s a work in process.