MAGIC MIRRORS

Reflective Statement

This assignment was a good exploration on the video effects possible in Isadora. Some challenges I faced in this project was getting a grasp of the software itself and just exploring the best I could. In a time of quarantine and pandemic, we find ourselves on the screens more and more, I wanted to create something where we don't see ourselves in the webcam reproduction looking back at us. This may come from the fact of not wanting to see myself when videochatting with friends, so that's likely the reason why I wanted to obscure myself in some hypnotic visuals.

It was also a good exercise to generate a lookbook based on the 9 magic mirrors we made. It helped to contextual the work as a series together and allowed me to see the common thread of colour and abstraction in the pieces. I enjoyed this project because we live in an age where the reproductions of ourselves in images has become so ubiquitous, so it was refreshing to see my movements on the webcam generate something was was me but obscured to an art.

Supporting Research

During this time, I was looking at my coffee table books because of the quarantine. I had Johannes Itten's Art of Colour in which he goes through a lot of colour theory and colour blocking to explain the colour story in many of the famous art pieces in history.

From then, I started thinking about abstract art and the different movments during the decades. Like 60's psychedelic, impressionist, pop art, just to name a few.

Ideation

At first I wanted to first get a grasp of simple webcam manipulations that made use of zooming, slit-scanning and changing the basic saturations in the digital rendering.

Eventually I went onto more abstracted colourblocking, which then set the tone I wanted to achieve onwards.

LOOKBOOK

POP ART

AIM: Make use of dot gains to create a dreamy pop art
mirror.

Isadora Effects: Flip, warp, video inverter, dots actors

AIM: To generate a psychedlic lava lamp from the 70's. I wanted
the forms to take on a really organic, round shape that was comforting.

Isadora Effects: Reflectors x 2, slit-scan, explode, motion blur,
gaussian blur actors

LAVA LAMPS

TANGERINE DREAMS

AIM: To create shoegaze grunge themed mirror. This is one of the few
you can see a figure more clearly. I wanted the colours to resembled
a cotton candied sky sunset.

Isadora Effects: Zoomer, motion blur, video inverter actors

AIM: To create a kaleidoscope butterfly in a blurred and impressionist way.

Isadora Effects: Gaussian blur, slit-scan, reflector actors