2. Audience research
I've decided for this project that the intended audience is for the ages 10 and above, as the main idea behind
my project is to educate people on tattoos. Tattoos have a bad reputation within society still and so I think
educating people on this will hopefully stop the negative stigma that people can’t get jobs if you’ve got
tattoos, or that only criminals and drug users have them. This stigma for people having tattoos has always
annoyed me and it is such an old-fashioned and narrow way of thinking that has been passed down for
years. So, with this documentary, I’d like to show off the art that tattoo artists make and how they express
themselves doing so.
My audience will also be people who are interested in learning about tattoos, seeing how they are made,
what goes into making one and why there important. However, I also want it to be available for people who
maybe are changing their mind on tattoos and are starting to accept that they are simply nothing more then
an act of expression - its no different to buying a piece of artwork that you like, instead it’s one you get to
keep with you on your body.
I hope a portion of the audience this will speak to is mainly the older generation, or people who have really
negative thoughts about tattoos, as teaching those about tattoos might stop them looking down on people for
them.
I'm going to be using this research to find other people and products that will align with my project and
audience as I want people to be interested in the work. Those interested will pay attention and hopefully
learn something new, and maybe even show their friends who may also want to know more about the
practice of tattooing.
3. Audience part 2
I want the audience of this short film to be available to those of all ages, but
being able to impact those of a younger age is definitely important. The reason
for this is to break the cycle of negative perception on tattoos; allowing younger
ages to be both exposed to tattoos and understand they do not make a person
‘bad’ will let them be much more accepting of permanent body art. As a result,
the conservative view on tattoos would hopefully be phased out and people
would no longer need to worry about struggling to get more professional jobs,
being stereotyped, treated differently etc.
However, like mentioned earlier, the older generation is still very important as
educating them also will hopefully make them more aware and less dismissive of
the art of tattooing. Whilst being able to change all negative opinions would be
great, I understand that this wont be the case for every older person. However,
if I can help teach those on the time and creativity that goes behind each
individual tattoo, as well as the business pressures for tattoo artists, then maybe
they will be more open and find a respect for the art. Artists are simply trying to
make a living just like everyone else, and being a tattoo artist shouldn’t make
you any less of a hard worker than those five decades ago for example.
4. Audience profiles
Has an interest in tattoo
subcultures or just tattoos
in general
Wants to learn about tattoos
and what goes into making
them and the general
history and styles
Someone who Is
learning to understand
tattoos and wants to
educate themselves
Someone who wants to show to someone who
isn’t accepting of tattoos and wants to change
their views
Maybe someone who wants to
become a tattoo artist and wants
to see a bit of behind the scenes
of how they're done
Aged 10+ as anything
younger wont
understand much of
what the documentary
gets into
Someone who enjoys
documentaries or enjoys
shows specifically about
tattoos
5. research: exiting products
In conversation with jack Latham
This bit of research I did is a video I've seen before but came back to watch again as I knew it could be helpful for me
to look more into, it has a documentary and interview structure to the video but its kept fairly short with a 17 minute
run time and it goes in depth talking to jack Latham who's a photographer and dissects his workflow and why he
makes the work he does and what inspirations have helped him get to where he is today.
the video made by negative feedback is part of a series of conversations with photographers who have made it into
the industry and produce bodies of work mainly documentary and contemporary and talk about what inspired their
projects or style of work.
I chose to re watch this for research as id like to follow a similar structure for my
documentary with the mix of interviewing and showing the subject working in their
medium as it backs up everything you are talking about and its also nice to show off
them working at what their good at and show an insight into their workflow.
The main thing I would like to take away and use in my own product is how this video is
structured as it keeps you interested in what they're talking about and no conversation
drags on enough to make you bored.
This is also linked to my own ideas as the main photographer jack Latham uses large
format cameras in his work and in the video and that is something I'm going to be
incorporating into my documentary too.
The conversations made in the video are similar to how id like to speak with my
interviewees with a quite relaxed environment and have fun with it as I don’t want it to
be super serious. I think other work with similar styles can take itself to seriously and
that can put me off especially if the subject doesn’t warrant needing a serious tone.
The one thing it think id like to do differently from this piece of work is the visuals as
I've been working on my own personal style and id like to translate that into this format.
6. Research existing products
Yantra: The Sacred Ink
Yantra the sacred ink is a short film project made for a exhibition showing off a
ceremony performed by people in Thailand. The ceremony consists of many
people getting tattooed by their “masters” and invoke the spirits trapped in their
tattoos which causes people to go into fits of rage and animalistic tendencies all
caused by being possessed by the spirits in the ink. The devotees call this trance
“Khong Khuen”.
This short film made by Cedric Arnold is pretty out there in terms of idea for my
documentary but I'm more focused on the visual style he's chosen and it fits into
my theme with tattoos so I was interested in researching his work.
The black and white was what drew me in originally as I like seeing people use it
for videography as it definitely helps portray what your trying to get across
especially if the content your putting out is dramatic it especially works for this
short film as if it was in colour it would have not nearly as good of an effect as it
does with B&W.
I also was drawn into this short film as the style of tattooing is very abstract and
different to what most people think of when they hear of tattoos which is the kind
of style I'm into and want to show off these lesser know niche styles that people
have come up with that lean on the more experimental side of art.
I also really love the poster made for this short film its exactly the kind of style I
like as its kept simple but fits the dark theme and keeps the black and white
aesthetic I would love to make something similar to this with my documentary.
7. Research existing products
Yantra: The Sacred Ink pt2
This slide is more focused on the photography that went with the yantra project
instead of the video elements as the images made are more focused on the
tattoos and the peoples bodies which is really cool and shows of their artwork in
more detail.
They kept with the black and white theme in the images id say mainly to keep
consistently as it would be strange to have colour photos shown with a strictly
black and white themed video and posters witch is something ill be trying to do
with my work by keeping it consistent I'm not sure 100% if ill be doing all my
work in black and white yet but I'm sure this is something I will decide on after
more research and I have time to decide.
The photographer and videographer that made this work obviously knows the
best way of showing off this subject as he has made the images stand out well
by using simple white backgrounds to contrast with he harsh black of the tattoos
The photo side of this project is really helpful research to me as I
know ill be using a element of photography to go alongside my
video as id like to interview the people and then take their portrait
on my large format camera so that I can show off the peoples
tattoos in a more detailed way as the resolution I can get on 4x5
negatives is crazy and I can really show off their collections well.
8. research: exiting products
Tattoo artist: BadmoodMarty
“Badmoodmarty” or martin Rosenberg is a London based tattoo artist who works in a shop named studio
sanspatrie his main focus on style I would say is realism as he has this gorgeous grainy almost photographic
style to his work using crazy shading and textures to make theses scenes. Martins style has obviously come
for years and years of practice and you don’t see people with this kind of skill often. A lot of his tattoos are
made from people bringing in reference images taken by photographers and he makes them into tattoos
while keeping the style and detail from the images but making them into permanent art that you can keep on
You at all times which I really like the sentiment behind that
idea knowing that your not going to loose a favourite image or a
memory.
The reason I chose to research martin is because his kind of
style is what I'm interested in and I really like the niche styles
of tattoos that aren’t very common as I feel these days the
tattoo market Is really saturated with bad tatts where people
copy designs straight off the internet and have no real artistic
enjoyment out of them and they don’t really mean anything
whereas I like the styles where I know that artist has taken time
to perfect their style and stand out of the crowd and ones that
really fit my aesthetic.
9. research: exiting products
Tattoo artist: BadmoodMarty
This is a reference to show the kind of work that martin does, on the left is an image taken by
Bernd Becher and hila Becher of a water tower in France this image is from a collection of their
industrial photo projects and the tattoo was made for lee Kieran from the band idles.
This again is the kind of style of tattoos I'm interested in it would be great if I could find someone
to interview and photograph with a similar style to this or similar to my style I know it will be
tricky but that would definitely help me make the documentary fully my own style, if not I will be
able to take photos of other styles people have and I'm sure it can still be made to look great.
10. research: exiting products
The mark of cain-2001
the mark of cain is a 2001 documentary made by Alix lambert all about Russian prisons and
all about the tattoo culture that came out of these environments it delves deep into the
meaning of the tattoos and the relations to Russian mobsters and mafia as they say you can
learn everything you need to know about the mafia by looking at their tattoos things like
what rank they are in their group depends on the tattoos on their shoulders and almost like
a military patch.
This documentary is really bleak and was originally made to show off just the culture of the
tattoos but I think unintendedly ends up showing a lot about the state of the prisons that the
people are forced to live in as the conditions are horrible with overcrowding and filth there
were rooms made for 15 people but would have up to 45 people living in them.
The documenting made in this film is really exceptional I really love how its been filmed and
I'm really surprised that they were able to make this as it seems so underground and not
allowed to be seen.
I really want to make something as well shot as this documentary and seeing how this has
been filmed is really helpful and given me lots of ideas of how to get some b roll footage
and general footage to splice in in-between interviews.
The shots in this documentary really work with the subject matter as it feels very
gritty and almost apocalyptic as its set in these dingy prisons.
I also really like how the information sections are laid out as its really informative on
the meanings of the tattoos and why the prisoners were getting them also about the
statistics of the amount of people that had the tattoos which would be great to
somehow include something similar into my documentary.
11. research: exiting products
George muncey: unnamed project
I've talked about George a few times in many of my projects as he's a great inspiration to my
work and I always take a lot from his style and workflow he's currently working on a project
that hasn’t been named yet and is in really early stages of development that’s all about
photographing people in and around their homes or in their places of comfort he uses his
8x10 large format camera to take these stunning portraits of people in their safe spaces.
A lot of the people George photographs have tattoos or some kind of “body modification” that
stands out to make the portraits even more interesting like piercings or and interesting
haircut or even just their style/the way they dress.
I would like to incorporate portraits into my documentary on my 4x5 camera as a way of
showing off the subjects tattoos in more detail and having a nice collection of images to go
alongside the project which I think would be a great way of layering my project and I can tie
in the portraits after I interview them.
There's also I nice mix again of colour and black and
white so I'm definitely going to shoot both and if I
prefer one or the other I can just focus on one of the
styles but I would definitely lie to try incorporate
both as then I can get a really nice mix of styles.
12. The way George uses colour in his images is really inspiring to me
as there's something really refreshing and cool about how all his
images look they're a nice mix of warm and cool but also seem to
stand out really nicely against any other portraits I think his mix of
good subjects and really good lighting is his strongest points and
there's a lot people can learn from his work.
Id like to get my portraits to look as good as these 3 here as I'm
really drawn to these for inspiration, I know it will be hard fining
subjects as good as these but even just using similar lighting and
editing can go a long way to making them look great for my
documentary.
His use of dark backdrops and clothing
really makes the skin on his subjects stand
out here really nicely which also helps the
black of the tattoos shine through even
more than they would if it was a lighter
backdrop you can see how well these
images are structured even thought they
seem like fairly standard setups
13. Mauvais garçons : Portraits de
tatoués (1890-1930)
this book is a French publication full of portraits made of French
prisoners during 1890-1930 like the title says, there's a whole
plethora of different peoples and styles In this book and it does a
really good job of capturing the evolution of the styes as time
went on in these prisons. These images are all taken by the
French authorities so there's no specific photographer to talk
about but its more of a collective work. All the people in the
images were convicts and individuals who passed by the African
battalions. The photographs were all discovered by a retired
police officer who collected them together which made this book
possible.
The portraits made in this book are really unique and I would love
to try imitate some of these as they're fairly simple shots that
don’t look like they have needed a lot of setup which I think is
why they're so effective as your able to just focus on the main
subjects without your eyes wandering around the backdrop.
I'm going to shoot a mix of colour and black and white for my
project so it would be good to use these as references for my
black and white portraits .
14. research: exiting products
Eastern promises-2007
Eastern promises is a film made by David Cronenberg set in London in the
early 2000s all about the Russian mafia Vory v Zakone and its about a
midwife that gets caught up in the mafia after she delivers the baby of a
14 year old Russian girl who dies in childbirth the baby is directly linked
to the Vory v Zakone and they end up trying to remove all knowledge of
the babies existence. Viggo Mortensen is the main focus of this film as he
plays the “driver” which is really not true as he ends up helping out the
mafia to work his way up in the ranks doing all kinds of brutal things to
earn their respect like disposing of bodies. The main thing that drew me
to this film was how they used tattoos as from what I've recently learnt
from researching Russian tattooing that many mafias used tattoos to show
everything about themselves to their rank in their mafia and to show how
many kills or even things like tattoos on the knees meaning they bow to
no man.
I really love how the film goes into these reasoning for the tattoos and
how important they are to the Russians. There's a scene that I really liked
where they go into a sauna and one of the mafia members basically says
you can know everything you need about a vory v zakone by just looking
at their tattoos which I found really interesting as they're almost like a
sign of respect or even to be feared by, but then that also helps prove that
there's also more to tattoos than just for looking cool and does a good job
of showing off the deeper side of some peoples tattoo art.
15. research: exiting products
Eastern promises-2007 pt2
The look this film has is really special it has a really distinct look I think it a mix
of the British atmosphere and the fact that it was shot on film that just makes
some of the colours and scenes look really nice especially the indoors ones as
the lighting really fits the ambiance of the film with dark shadowy corners and
moody bluey green shades everywhere. I think there's some good inspiration ill
be taking away from the colour grading from this film to us eon my own
documentary as id really like to get mine looking as good as this.
There's a scene in this film that shows Viggo Mortensen's character getting
tattooed which I think is filmed in such a nice way and id like to figure out ways
to make my b roll of tattooing look as nice as that with some good location setup
and lighting, I think something similar but in black and white could be really
effective and keep with the tone I'm trying to go for.
I know the film isn’t really fully related to what I'm making for my documentary
but I thought there was still a good amount that I can take from it especially I
terms of visual style, I think the main focus for my documentary is getting
footage that works with my subject and to make it not just video of people
tattooing with narration over it which would be boring and not what I want my
doc to be like so watching films like this is helping me figure out b roll and
cutaway footage that I can use to help round out a style.
16. Research analysis
Now that I've researched all these existing products I've come to realise that there definitely is a lot if
similarities in the styles I like and they all seem to merge together quite well some could even be
inspired by each other somewhere down the line but I do think this will help me form my own style for
my documentary as I have lots of ideas from researching these peoples work.
Some of the similar themes in the work is the use of simplistic portraits where the backdrop isn’t
anything too fancy or crazy and the lighting isn’t extreme and noticeable its more the subjects that are
left to shine which I think is really cool as a lot of people get caught up in portraits trying to make sure
the backdrop Is perfect and noticeable to match the subject but that isn’t always needed which is shown
really well in all the portraits I've looked at.
I defiantly plan on using the techniques I've seen like showing off the full collections of peoples tattoos
by maybe having them take of their shirts (obviously only if their comfortable with it) as a lot of the
photos I've seen are really nice when the whole collection is seen instead of just some glimpses at their
arms or legs.
These are things I'm going to have to figure out with my planning with questions being scripted and
figuring out shots I want but the research should really help out with that so I can plan poses or ways id
like them to show off their tattoos.
17. Production research Filming in locations pt1
The main sections of my documentary is going to be my interviews they're kind of going to be the
main structure of my whole video so I plan on making them the best part and work around them
with other footage I plan on interviewing my friend Alfie who is a tattoo artist and I have being
getting tattooed by him for a year or two now and he's more than happy to be interviewed and let
me film him tattooing me so this will be great for using in my documentary, knowing ill be using
footage like this I need to do research into how people video tattooing being done and find a way
to make it my own style which I already have ideas about using black and white to make it seem
quite dark and shadowy but then I also like to use colour too so there's lots I need to find out.
there's a few techniques I plan on using that are going to help me achieve the style id like things
like using my vintage lenses for my digital camera so all my video work has a nice soft style to it
all and it also works well with me shooting film images on my 4x5 camera for the portrait section
of the documentary.
I'm going to investigate peoples techniques on forming styles around the idea they have as
something I'm trying to figure out is mixing my visual style into showing off tattooing as its quite
different to what I've done before as I'm used to filming things like landscapes and scenes out and
about in woods and streets not in shops or peoples homes. in previous projects I've sued a setup
for my filming where I use my digital canon camera for filming but I use an adaptor to attach my
vintage Pentax lenses onto the body which gives all my video work a much softer look and makes
it seem less digital and sharp and as close to a vintage film camera as I can get while keeping the
practicality of a digital camera, its something I've enjoyed doing a lot as it really makes my video
work feel a lot more stylised and helps me put my own spin of style onto my work.
I'm going to look into people who have used this technique before for films as I'm sure it’s a
common thing to use vintage lenses on modern film cameras especially with the rise of people
loving retro vintage styles for fashion and photos. I also am also going to look at the techniques
of using black and white and colour in one video as id like to mix it up and have a bit of both in
mine as I think sticking to one can limit me in terms of visual style.
18. Visual techniques research
Using vintage lenses on modern cameras
Using vintage lenses seems to be a bit of a craze at the moment with people loving the look of vintage
style but there are some film makers that have really good reasons for using lenses that go beyond
just doing it to look cool or to fit in with the latest trends,
Dana Gonzoles was quoted when talking about the use of vintage lenses while filming Fargo season 2:
"'Fargo' being a period piece, I felt I should shoot on period lenses because vintage lenses have
different coatings, different glass," Gonzales said. "If you go back to a movie like 'The French
Connection,' it looks a certain way partly because of the film stock and also because of the glass in
the lenses. That was the next level for me: to shoot 'Fargo' with the same kind of lenses used for
films of the ‘60s and ‘70s“.
I think Dana’s ideas fit in the same view as mine where its more about creating a specific look to your
project to be remembered or noticed as there's not much better than seeing a film that just has a
really noticeable look to how its filmed, and that’s how id like my documentary to be seen as having
an interesting look about it and one that’s hopefully rememberable.
For me using these vintage lenses on digital
cameras is all about capturing a softer look that
isn't cursed by the ultra sharp sterile look that
most modern digital lenses give I think they have
their uses but for my personal style it look much
more characterful and dreamy to have a film lens.
19. Research existing research
Online article: The Vintage Lens Craze, Explained
While looking into vintage lenses I came across this article online made by sharegridblog which goes into
different directors and why they use the vintage lenses and what made them get to where they are now
with different influences.
The article talks in depth about why the lenses are so popular since they give such different looks
compared to new modern lenses and they do a really good job explaining and showing the directors
thoughts and why they use them I used a really good quote they found from the director of Fargo who
gives some insight into using these lenses to set a mood and fit in with he historical style of the period
their films set in.
https://www.sharegrid.com/blog/posts/the-vintage-lens-craze-explained
20. Mood/style board
These kind of images all fit into the style id like to build
into my documentary they all have a distinct style with
their choice of colours and how they are framed id love
to mimic some of these portraits for when I take my
own of people for this project.
I think a lot of the black and white images really work
with the style I'm going for as they look quite old-
fashioned and rough which fits into he themes ill be
talking about with the whole Russian and French prison
tattoos and the history behind them.
21. Scanning text
A technique I've seen some use of recently that id like to try for my experiments is using flatbed
scanners to scan in text on paper but while its scanning you move and drag the paper to morph the
text to make it really wavy and experimental which I think could fit with my project quite well so
this is something I'm going to give a go and if it works then I may use it for my title texts or even
for bodies of texts that I may use for facts/information.
This may or may not work how I want it to but I think it’s a good idea to look into and attempt as
from what I've seen other people make with this technique then I think it could be really great the
only negative that I could see happening is making the text to difficult to read as a lot of it is made
for posters and things where you don’t need to know what it says fully as its quite experimental
whereas mine is going to be used for informational text and it needs to be readable.
Text like to one on the right are great
examples of what I've seen where the
text is almost stretched and dragged
into strange fonts which looks really
effective
22. bibliography
Brent Zaffino. (February 24, 2017). The Vintage Lens Craze, Explained. Available: https://www.sharegrid.com/blog/posts/the-vintage-lens-craze-
explained. Last accessed april 2022
David Cronenberg (2007). Eastern promises. .: David Cronenberg . 1h 40m.
David Hadland (2021). DxH. London: Bigcartel. 74.
George Muncey. (2021). portfolio. Available: https://georgemuncey.com/. Last accessed 7/3/2022.
Negative Feedback. (2017). Negative feedback. Available: https://www.youtube.com/c/NegativeFeedback/videos. Last accessed
7/3/2022.
Alix Lambert (2001). The mark of cain. Russia: Alix Lambert.
Martin Rosenberg. (.). Badmoodmarty. Available: https://www.instagram.com/badmoodmarty/?hl=en. Last accessed 7/3/2022.
Studio Sanspatrie. (2020). Frenchprisontattoo. Available: https://www.instagram.com/frenchprisontattoo/?hl=en. Last accessed 7/3/2022.
reba (3 August 2013). Mauvais garçons : Portraits de tatoués . France: Mauvais garçons.
Alix Lambert (2003). Russian Prison Tattoos: Codes of Authority, Domination and Struggle. US: Schiffer Publishing Ltd (US).
FUEL ( 07/09/2009). Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia Volume I. uk: FUEL Publishing. 400.
Cedric Arnold. (2010). Yantra. Available: http://www.cedricarnold.com/portfolio/yantra-sacred-ink/. Last accessed april 2022.
