Melonhead Amy; Art Blogging.: Projection Work!

This is the last project, and after this week I`ll have only one week left until the three day long exam that I have to do. I`m looking forward to it now, I`ve kind of got a good idea as to what I`m doing right now and what I should be doing during the exam days and I`ve got a brilliant idea as to how I should be displaying my work during the next exhibition aswell... No idea as to if it`s going to work, I hope it is, if it doesn`t then I`m probably going to get rather frustrated. It`s got something to do with using an easel and then

using a heat gun to burn everything I`m going to be putting around it... I think I`ll need two of them, and I`ve also thought of a way to somehow connect them, not sure if that will work either, but I`ll have to see later on.

The teachers have been suggesting projection work for ages, but I`ve never really taken to it after an artist came into out sixth form...

and to be honest, I wasn`t to impressed with it, so I never ended up trying out anything to do with projecting my work or projecting my photography. But seeing as this is the final project, and I`m pretty much not going to have access to some of the equipment I have right now, I decided to give the projector a try for once.

Now if your English, then you`ll remember those big box projectors that the music teacher had to repeatedly change the film on so they can show the lyrics again... if that makes sense. Anyways, if your British then you`ll know what I`m on about, because I guarantee you that you had to sing terribly religious songs when you aren`t even religious. Yeah, primary school is rather weird over here.

Now, if you don`t know what I`m on about, the projector is a large metal box with a light inside, from the box there`s a metal pole that has a two way glass thing that then projects any image that you have on film that is then above the light.
Anything done with just normal paper will block out the light and nothing shines through, which means It`s also expensive because of the film we use at sixth form. It`s simple really, you just have to photocopy the image onto the film and it comes out perfect.

Because the film is quite expensive, and I don`t want to be using up the film that everyone else might need... So, I`ve tried placing solid objects over the top of the projector instead. They come out a lot crisper and cleaner than the photographic projections, most probably because they just came out as a greyish/black colour unlike the photographs.

The main idea for the projection work at the moment is to just use them to go over my final piece once it`s on display in the gallery at the end of the project. The problem that I have at the moment would be focusing everything correctly, on all of these images I`ve placed the projector about 6ft away from the wall, and then the focus is about 3/4 up... There`s just a little turny knob to focus, there`s no settings you can just change, you have to turn it until it looks alright. It`s also quite handy for drawing, you can project an image and then draw round it on a canvas or sheet of paper that`s up against the wall.

I`ve also used one of my friends, who looks slightly drunk on the image (but she isn`t don`t worry, the projector was too bright). It`s interesting, it gives such an old retro look to whatever you decide to project, I prefer using old fashioned things like this, rather than a brand new projector and MacBook... Just grab an old one and some film and see what you can do!
Quite enjoying this at the moment, it`s something different that I haven`t tried out properly before, and I do love the vintage themed look it gives out, and I don`t usually do vintage styled work really. I`m looking forward to what it`ll look like when my final pieces are finished and put on display with a projection over the top, I just need to decide on what to actually project..