Dead Troops Talk by Jeff Wall

Jeff Wall created Dead Troops Talk in 1992. The concept for this work is soldiers on a battle field coming back to life and carrying on conversations. Jeff Wall is known for his ability to create and construct huge scenes for his photographs. His cost for a single photograph is often the same as the budget for many short films. Jeff Wall designs the set, hires actors and make-up artists, and incorporates props, costumes and special effects as well as items such as lighting equipment for movies when he’s preparing for a photo shoot.

Jeff Wall created a unique scene for Dead Troops Talk that would not be possible without using elaborate construction methods. For this photograph he began by constructing the set. First wooden scaffolding was created to approximate a war torn hill. Then multiple loads of dirt and stone were brought in to cover the hill. Actors were dressed in period uniforms then make up and practical effects artist made the actors look as if they were the dead returning to life. Wall posed small groups of the actors in the scene and photographed the groups separate from each other. After photographing all the elements of the scene, he digitally composited everything together on a computer. Wall then made a transparency and mounted it on a light box. The work is 2290 by 4170 mm. The image has a monochromatic washed out use of earth tone colors that is offset by the images mounting on a light box. This method of display adds to the images other worldliness.

Jeff Wall has a strong sense of composition and storytelling. In Dead Troops Talk his use of composition of figures and their actions are reminiscent of the methods used by renaissance painters, giving the overall feel of the piece a timeless quality. The work keeps the viewers gaze constantly moving from one group of figures to another. Each of these smaller compositions tell a story to the viewer that add to the larger story told by the entire scene. In the lower right corner of the image one group of soldiers listen to the main character, who has lost his hands and top of his head tell a story. Scattered around the rest of the image other soldiers are in various stages of re-animation. To add some light-heartedness to the otherwise bleak image a group of three soldiers are laughing and making jokes. Wall seems to mix the modern film techniques of set design with renaissance era painting compositions to create an image that the viewer finds believable yet fantastical at the same time.

Ophelia by Gregory Credson

Gregory Crewdson created a series of twenty large scale photographs titled Beneath the Roses. One of the photographs in this series is Ophelia. Crewdson is known for creating images of surreal suburbia. The production of these works is very expensive. Crewdson creates elaborate sets that some critics love while others say make the subjects appear lifeless and flat. I find that he creates an atmosphere and feeling of awe that is unattainable without constructing a movie set like environment. Crewdson uses both interior, private spaces such as home interiors and exterior spaces comprised of up to multiple city blocks when creating sets for his photographs.

In Ophelia, Crewdson takes the setting of a flooded suburban house and introduces a floating female corpse. The furniture and style of the interior of the house is very plain and could be almost any older middle income suburban home. The introduction of water, as if the neighborhood has experienced a flood would make for an unsettling photograph, but Crewdson takes the process one step further and introduces a floating corpse to the composition. The introduction of the corpse should make the scene demented, but in a strange way it matches the calm water and adds a weird, all be it morbid, tranquility to the scene. Crewdson divides the aspects of his set for Ophelia into an upper half and a lower half. The upper half of Ophelia is mundane and normal suburbia while the lower half, defined by the water level is mysterious, surreal and sinister.

Crewdson creates a private space that he invites the viewers to peak into. The lines of the stairs, corner of the room and furniture guide the viewer’s gaze to the floating corpse. The corpse is framed by the flood water and the viewer is left to guess what lies just below the waterline. The position and pose of the female corpse is of interest. Instead of floating lifelessly, limbs sprawled, the corpse is rigidly posed with arms to her side and feet together. The corpse creates an unnaturally harsh horizontal line.

The lighting in Ophelia helps create the atmosphere and define the space. The exterior light, seen through the window hints at the time being during the day, perhaps after the storm. In contrast the interior ambient light is blue in tint hinting at a night setting. The most disturbing source of light is the lamp located in the center right of the scene and the reflection of this lamp directly below. What makes this light source disturbing is that the lamp should not be on because the power outlet is below the water line.

Ophelia is only one photograph from Gregory Crewdson’s Beneath the Roses series. The cost and time of this series rivals the budget of some movies. Crewdson creates entire worlds for his viewers to immerge themselves into. Gregory Crewdson uses extensive set design, familiar environments and common props in conjunction with surreal characters and disturbing natural events to construct a unique atmosphere that will make almost any viewer pause and think.

pop critique

This image is for a pop critique our class had. This is another self-portrait. I originally showed this image above a slightly blurred image with my eyes wrapped in bandages but I realized the blur distracted from the overall impact so I am leaving it out of the blog. The scan of this print blows out the whites a little more than in the actual print.

Project Two Contact Sheet

This is my contact sheet for Project Two. I had some problems developing the film as can be seen in the bottom right and at the top of the contact sheet.

Project Two Found Object : Mask

*I used an air bulb remote with a 20 ft. cord to take these shots. I highly recommend the air bulb remote.

Project Two Owned Object : Trunk

Project Two Guidlines

Project Two Guidelines:
For our second project we needed to use two objects and set up two shots for each creating a story. One object needed to be something we already owned and the other object was to be purchased. I already owned an old trunk and bought a wrestling mask from a shop on Franklin Street.