1. essay
Introduction to the topic
I researched a documentary called everybody street which is a short
documentary/film set in New York that talks all about the development of street
photography throughout the years from the 60s all the way to modern day. It
features famous photographers such as Bruce Davidson and Bruce Gildan. And
shows how they became famous and shows their processes with photography. It
is a great documentary for people interested in street photography and
documentary photography as it really shows an interesting side of New York in
that time and has some really interesting stories to tell about the people that live
and work there.
Introduction to theory
the Hypodermic Needle Theory which was one of the earliest ways of thinking
about how the media influences audiences. It was developed in the 1920s and
1930s after researchers observed the effect of propaganda during World War I
and events like OrsonWelles’ War of the Worlds broadcast. The Hypodermic
Needle Theory is theory which suggests that media messages are injected
directly into the brains of an audience. It suggests that we’re all the same and
we all respond to media messages in the same way.
OrsonWelles and the Mercury Theatre broadcastHG Wells’ war of the worlds.
The program, which was presented in the format of a news bulletin, caused
some listeners to believe that Earth was being invaded by Martians. The New
York Times claimed directly into the brains of an audience. It suggests that
we’re all the same and we all respond to media messages in the same way.
that thousands of people were gripped by mass hysteria. they were only a small
proportion of the six million people who enjoyed a quiet night around the radio.
2. essay
Macro analysis of person
Robin Friend is a British-Australian photographer. His book Bastard Countryside brought
together "15 years’ worth of exploration" the British Landscape with a large format view
camera.
Robin Friend was born in London in 1983 but spent most of his childhood growing up in
Melbourne, Australia. He now lives in the town of Lewes with his family, Seren, Dusty and
Rocco. He has a BA from the University of Plymouth and an MA from the Royal College of
Art. Friend’s project Bastard Countryside was published by Loose Joints in 2018 The
project deals with the idea of the collision of the human and non-human. Through the
meticulous use of his 5x4 camera the photographs “are given heightened effect through
exaggerations of colour and composition, embodying a friction between British pastoral
ideals and present reality.” Within scenes that feel like traditional landscapes, our ideas of it
are intruded, often by pollution, decay and WW2 debris in this “mixed-up meeting-zone of
rural and urban; were city frays into country."
Friend say’s “I see it almost as an anxious nature. We’re all anxious about what the future
holds, and I feel like that is inherent in a lot of the pictures. I think that you couldn’t be a
human without being worried about the kind of planet we’re leaving
to our children.” Friend’s work has been exhibited in galleries and fairs globally ranging
from Aperture Gallery in New York to the Pingyao Photography Festival in China, Christies
in Paris and at the National Gallery, Somerset House and the Royal Academy of Arts in
London. His work has been collected by the Martin Parr Foundation as well as private
collections around the world.
3. essay
Micro analysis
Robin friends work is all about documenting the British landscape and for me and I think a
lot of his followers his images really invoke a weird nostalgia of the British countryside
where is like the images almost feel familiar and homely compared to other photographs
some almost seem like dreams set in the landscape of the UK. This really makes his work
unique to the audience as you really don’t see people making images like these and especially
how he makes them is even more impressive as they are all taken on large format 4x5
cameras which require a huge amount of light for the negatives and they’re also a big weight
to carry around and set up a shot with so once you know all this the photographs are even
more impressive.
He uses big lighting setups for a lot of his photos especially the ones underground in the dark
like this one where it would be practically impossible to get the photo anywhere near as good
without a good flash kit. He chooses to photograph using large format cameras the same
reason most photographers do because the extreme amount of detail you get in the images
even more than you can get in modern digital cameras which works well with photos like
these because you can print them up to gigantic sizes for exhibitions.
Robin is well known in the British photographer’s industry as he’s so original in the way he
shoots even down to the way he edits a colour his photos as they all have this lovely look to
them where all the colours seem so nice and you can tell straight away that they were shot in
the UK.
4. essay
Application of theory
I’m going to apply my theory to the documentary I chose as I think it
fits somehow in a loose sense as the documentary is set in new York
and almost all the photographs shown are throughout the 60s to the
90s and mainly in some of the rougher parts of new York at that time
which is great for a photographer as there’s lots going on and things
to take pictures of but it a lot of these areas were very run down and
violent and I think people will get a negative perspective on new
York while watching it as most of the film is showing these areas for
dramatic effect and some of the photos are quite brutal and don’t
paint the place in a good light.
The whole documentary is about New York, but it isn’t made to show
it off to you in a nice way and that’s apparent from the start with the
showing of gun crime and police violence especially with the jill
freedman section as there’s a lot of gory images where people have
been detained by police and hurt and these image aren’t only in the
rougher areas and we are told its happened all over new York so it
really doesn’t sell the city to you.
5. essay
My own work
My FMP is going to be a documentary so these pieces of
media I have researched will be every useful to me as I want
to follow certain techniques, they have used like how the
documentary flows and how I set up images and facts within.
My video just like everybody street.
The techniques used for slicing in images into scenes of video
is really interesting to me as it’s something I struggled with in
my last project, so I think I’ve learnt a lot from watching and
researching the documentary everybody street.
In terms of collecting the images for my documentary FMP
looking at robin friend has been another big inspiration I’ve
always been inspired by his images and going back though
them has made me see lots of little things that I could use and
include in my own images especially when it comes to colour
grading and editing which is one of the things, I enjoy
working on the most with my projects a college and at home.
Conclusion
To conclude my essay, I’m going to try take as much as I can
from these things I’ve researched there’s lots I can learn about
making documentary work whether its photo based or video
as I’ve not done much of either before as most of my photo
work has all been single images instead of a collective set of
images for a project and for video I’ve only done one project
with college which I learnt a lot from.
The hypodermic needle theory applies to my researched
products by people watching the film and they are
6. essay
subconsciously forming an opinion based on what they’re
being told especially when it comes to the documentary in
new York as its hard to come out from watching that
documentary without thinking that new York can be scary and
have really bad crime which is what the theory implies. The
images from robin friends book named bastard countryside
make you form an opinion on the British landscape when you
view the images which in a way ties in with the theory as
instead of forming your own opinion your being influenced by
the images you see of the land.
I’ve discovered there’s a lot that goes into making
documentary work and that there’s a lot people will take away
from your work once its made and its good to make it so your
giving off the right feelings and make sure people don’t walk
away with a wrong opinion of what your promoting in your
documentary.
