SUMMER BREAK
I’ve been teaching a month long Beginners TV Graphics course for Al Jazeera in Qatar in the Middle East. Extreme Culture shock and very a challenging teaching assignment. I observed a very different and expressive gestural style of communication from the west, which varied largely between men and women. It seemed much closer to Meditreanian cultures in style.

Week plan:
Draw over football footage.
Experiment in After FX with the white on black keylines.
Create sound palette.
Research cinema exhibition spaces

AUGUST
I have found a wealth of gestural footage taken from the final of the Champions League. It is the ISO of close ups of the captains of both teams which has been shot at double speed so it can be slowed down without any quality loss. It is incredible to watch these men react to the game as thousands of people are watching and shouting, investing huge amounts of emotional energy and tension in them. The men are Brazilian and French, which are both expressive gestural cultures.
Because the camera is trying to capture the footage as the men run around unpredictably, the camera angle is always moving. This adds a great perspective dimension to the footage, like the viewer is trying to capture the meaning of the gestures, as they would do in communication. The footage I had shot myself had a very static quality, which felt too staged.
I intend to draw over the footage to make line drawings of the gestures.

JULY
Final show response
Preparing for the 2006 final show was a very beneficial experience. I learned some important lessons. There is very little time so it is important to be organised and have a structured plan. It helps to have your own tools, and if I need to build something that is beyond my own personal skill level, plan for someone to help me.
Such a large open plan space has serious consequences for sound based work. The private view is very crowded so sound gets lost. I don’t think projecting visuals with speakers works in the open space. I don’t feel too good about headphones either. People are reluctant to pick them up as listening with them is a very personal experience. I’m tending towards building an enclosed cinema space with comfortable seating and good sound-proofing. Alex is interested in participating in this and hopefully so are some of the new students. If we pool our resources, we can get great a quality projector, screen and speakers.