Palm Reading Experiment initial photos to be used in Final Piece

Fight scene and death experiment to be used in Final Piece vision.
Before I do my final piece, I have to gather op some experiments I've done to flash up in my short film to give the effect of death in a palm readers vision. To make it the most obvious to the viewer I decided to go with the moment of death, and the killing. For the fight scene I set up a camera facing the door so it seemed like the fight had already begun and had moved into another room for more space, I also set up stage lights to make sure everything was well lit. I then went in after effects and edited in the hand of the boy who was to die, I did this so the viewer would know which one of the boys were going to die. I did this by going in photoshop and simply masking the background away from the picture of his hand, and place it over the picture as an overlay before using the blur tool to smooth out the edges so it didn't look too out of place.
For the moment of death, I decided to make it seem as real as possible so the tension in the stranglers hand and the expression in the strangled boys face had to be perfect and I think I did a good job of this. This picture is also going to flash up in my short story. I think the colours in the picture contrast well with each other for example the white background contrasts with the boys black hair and the boys white shirt contrasts well with the stranglers navy blazer, this shows evil through the navy, and innocence through the white.

Hand 1(Bright)                                                               

I chose this hand picture to be in the fight scene due to it being the best lit photo I took and for it being the sharpest, it was very easy to take as I just had to set up some stage lights and make sure the position of the hand was right, then take the picture.

 These photos unfortunately though did not make the cut due to them either being not lit well enough or not being sharp enough.

 Hand 1 (dark)

 

Hand 2 (Bright)

                                                                     Hand 2 (Dark)

                                                                   Anonymous

                                                                 

Hand Experiments

                                            Hand Experiments                                           

For this experiment I decided to focus on the signs which can be portrayed through sign language via hands. This ties in to palm reading because the message is received by the palm reader through the clients hands without them having to do anything, whereas in this project, the messages are provided by what the client does with their hands. Either a positive or negative message can be sent by these signs and the messages can sometimes be over looked due to the amount of times these signs and gestures are used in daily life. I have taken two pictures of each gesture in which one is well lit, and one is a mere silhouette. The well lit photo symbolises what we see everyday, whereas the       silhouette symbolises the underlying message of the gesture.

                                                                     
                                                                         Peace

   General Description: The V sign is a hand gesture in which the index and middle fingers are raised and parted, while the other fingers are clenched. It has various meanings, depending on the cultural context and how it is presented. It is most commonly used to represent the letter "V" as in "victory"; as a symbol of peace (usually with palm outward).

                                             
 I will soon mount these for an exhibition and i plan to have some see through paper with the words

Up yours! I’ve worked far to hard fighting for my country for you to sit there and tell me I’m to lose my middle f****** finger, just cause you cowards are to weak to handle us you’re forced to fight dirty.     Where’s your honour for your country? Your passion? We will not forget this, and when this war is over, rest assure that we will make your country look even more pathetic then it does right now.

How did this start? Generations after generations did not go through such hardship for us to still be in a mess like this. We all have our issues with others yes, but this should not bring the innocent trouble. When power takes over a man, he is a puppet, controlled by his ever increasing complex, his need for respect and authority. This is obviously wrong though you see, as the man is going about this the wrong way for true respect is given to those who make the effort to evoke peace, and those who are at war with others, are not at peace with themselves."

                                Giving someone the finger, or the bird                                        

 
General Description: In Western culture, the finger (as in giving someone the finger or the bird), also known as the finger wave, the middle finger, flipping someone off, flipping the bird or the one finger salute is an obscene hand gesture, often meaning the phrases "f*** off" or "f*** you". It is performed by showing the back of a closed fist that has only the middle finger extended upwards, though in some locales the thumb is also extended. Extending the finger is considered a universal symbol of contempt. Many cultures use similar gestures to display their disrespect.
The gesture dates back to Ancient Greece and was also used in Ancient Rome. Historically, it represented the phallus. In some modern cultures, it has gained increasing acceptance as a sign of disrespect, and has been used by music artists, athletes, and politicians. Many still view the gesture as obscene.

                                                               
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I don’t believe in fate or destiny. I believe in various degrees of hatred, paranoia and abandonment. However much of that gets heaped upon you doesn’t matter – it’s only a matter of how much you can take and what it does to you. However if you and I are having a single thought of violence or hatred against anyone in the world at this moment, we are contributing to the wounding of the world. As all human beings are, in my view, creatures of God’s design, we must respect all other beings. That does not mean I have to agree with their choices or agree with their opinions, but indeed I respect them as human beings. Respect your efforts, respect yourself. Self-respect leads to self-discipline. When you have both firmly under your belt, that’s real power.

Two Fingered Salute

  

Before the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, the French, anticipating victory over the English, proposed to cut off the middle finger of all captured English soldiers. Without the middle finger it would be impossible to draw the renowned English longbow and therefore [soldiers would] be incapable of fighting in the future. This famous weapon was made of the native English yew tree, and the act of drawing the longbow was known as "plucking the yew." Much to the bewilderment of the French, the English won a major upset and began mocking the French by waving their middle fingers at the defeated French, saying, "See, we can still pluck yew!"

Over the years some "folk etymologies" have grown up around this symbolic gesture. Since "pluck yew" is rather difficult to say, like "pheasant mother plucker," which is who you had to go to for the feathers used on the arrows for the longbow, the difficult consonant cluster at the beginning has gradually changed to a fricative "f," and thus the words often used in conjunction with the one-finger salute are mistakenly thought to have something to do with an intimate encounter.

                                                                         Respect

A fist bump or respect is a gesture similar in meaning to a handshake or high five. A fist bump can also be a symbol of giving respect. It can be followed by various other hand and body gestures and may be part of a dap greeting. It is commonly used in baseball as a form of celebration with teammates, and with opposition players at the end of a game.
The gesture is performed when two participants each form a closed fist with one hand and then lightly tap the front of their fists together. The participant's fists may be either vertically-oriented (perpendicular to the ground) or horizontally-oriented. Unlike the standard handshake, which is typically performed only with each participants' right hand, a fist bump may be performed with participants using either hand.

Palm Reading Research

                                                                 Palm Reading   
 
I believe palm reading is a well justified form of story telling which i find interesting as it details an idea about somebodies future and personal information about themselves. I have chosen to do some experiments based on what type of stories that may be predicted by palm readings. I plan on having a full picture in which shows what is planned to happen in the persons future but the persons hand will be plastered at the very front of the photo to see whether the reader as any inclination of who the person who's palm is being read could be. The hand will block out some key details of the story so the reader has the chance to put pieces of story together themselves and make their own decision about what they think is going on. It interests me as although i personally believe it is all just a combination of showmanship, myth and simply conning money out of people which is very similar to other peoples views but there is no way of telling whether there is some truth behind the tales of people futures which have been predicted being true.

                                                      Technique
Palmistry consists of the practice of evaluating a person's character or future life by "reading" the palm of that person's hand. Various "lines" ("heart line", "life line", etc.) and "mounts" (or bumps), purportedly suggest interpretations by their relative sizes, qualities, and intersections. In some traditions, readers also examine characteristics of the fingers, fingernails, fingerprints and palmar skin patterns (dermatoglyphics), skin texture and color, shape of the palm, and flexibility of the hand.
A reader usually begins by reading the person's 'dominant hand' (the hand he or she writes with or uses the most)(sometimes considered to represent the conscious mind, whereas the other hand is subconscious). In some traditions of palmistry, the other hand is believed to carry hereditary or family traits, or, depending on the palmist's cosmological beliefs, to convey information about past-life or karmic conditions.

The basic framework for "Classical" palmistry (the most widely taught and practiced tradition) is rooted in Greek mythology. Each area of the palm and fingers is related to a god or goddess, and the features of that area indicate the nature of the corresponding aspect of the subject. For example, the ring finger is associated with the Greek god Apollo; characteristics of the ring finger are tied to the subject's dealings with art, music, aesthetics, fame, wealth, and harmony.
                                                          The History Of Palm Reading
Palmistry is a practice originating in the Far East. The practice of palmistry has been used in the cultures of India, Tibet, China, Persia, and some countries in Europe. Studies show that most ancient communities like the Hindus, Sumerians, Tibetans, Hebrews, Babylonians, and Persians were greatly interested in the study and practice of palmistry.
It is believed that Palmistry originated in India with its roots in (Hindu) Astrology (known in Sanskrit as Jyotish), Chinese Yijing (I Ching), and Roma (Gypsy) fortune tellers. The Hindu sage Valmiki is thought to have written a book several thousand years ago, whose title translates in English as "The Teachings of Valmiki Maharshi on Male Palmistry", comprising 567 stanzas. Renowned palmist Cheiro learnt palmistry in India where he is believed to have read ancient scriptures on palmistry. From India, the art of palmistry spread to China, Tibet, Egypt, Persia and to other countries in Europe From China, palmistry progressed to Greece where Anaxagoras practiced it. Aristotle (384–322 B.C.E.) discovered a treatise on the subject of palmistry on an altar of Hermes, which he then presented to Alexander the Great (356–323 B.C.E.), who took great interest in examining the character of his officers by analyzing the lines on their hands. Aristotle stated that "Lines are not written into the human hand without reason. They emanate from heavenly influences and man's own individuality." Accordingly, Aristotle, Hippocrates and Alexander the Great popularized the laws and practice of palmistry. Hippocrates sought to use palmistry to aid his clinical procedures. Modern palmists often combine traditional predictive techniques with psychology, holistic healing, as well as alternative methods of divination.

The Life Of a Water Droplet

Stage One : Birth

Stage Two : Growing Up

Stage Three : Forming Bonds

Final Stage : Death

In this experiment I decided to focus on using inanimate objects to portray life, I decided to do this in different stages. The first stage represents birth which involves the water droplet being created from the action of turning on the tap. The second stage is growing up which involves the water droplet traveling further and further away from the tap which is a metaphor of progressing through life. The third stage is called forming bonds which resembles the creation of a family and in the picture you can clearly see multiple droplets which are touching to form one line of water. The final stage resembles the death of the droplet as the water droplet hits the wall and cannot progress any further through the cycle and is wiped out from it's journey.

Francis Bacon Research

Francis Bacon (28 October 1909 – 28 April 1992) was an Irish-born British figurative painter known for his bold, graphic and emotionally raw imagery. Bacon's painterly but abstracted figures typically appear isolated in glass or steel geometrical cages set against flat, nondescript backgrounds. He began painting during his early 20s and worked only sporadically until his mid-30s. Before this time he drifted, earning his living as an interior decorator and designer of furniture and rugs. Later, he admitted that his career was delayed because he had spent too long looking for a subject that would sustain his interest. His breakthrough came with the 1944 triptych Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion, and it was this work and his heads and figures of the late 1940s through to the mid 1950s that sealed his reputation as a notably bleak chronicler of the human condition.
Personally i find the paintings look quite disturbing, i feel the subjects in the photos are in pain due to the intense orangey red background and due to the fact the faces seem to be screaming. I also feel this as the "bodies" look bent and mutated out of shape.

 From the mid-1960s, Bacon mainly produced portrait heads of friends. He often said in interviews that he saw images "in series", and his artistic output often saw him focus on single themes for sustained periods — including his crucifixion, Papal heads and later single and triptych heads series. He began by painting variations on the Crucifixion and later focused on half-human, half-grotesque portraits, best exemplified by the 1949 "Heads in a Room" series. The colours are very un-naturalistic on the face but the hair and coat seem normal, this also looks violently mutated and disturbing.

 Following the 1971 suicide of his lover George Dyer, Bacon's art became more personal, inward looking and preoccupied with themes and motifs of death. The climax of this late period came with his 1982 "Study for Self-Portrait", and his late masterpiece Study for a Self Portrait -Triptych, 1985-86.
After looking at Francis Bacons work, I decided to give it a go. For my first triptych I stole a picture from google images of some already made photography (the rubber duck with swans) and tried to find a meaning behind to which I found it to be a sort of 'something doesn't fit in' effect in the photos. I then decided for the other two photos to go along with this theme and took a photo of a darts board in which the one that doesn't fit in, is outside of the the double 10 which the others had gone for, but is still inside the ten in the "0". This shows it is different from the others. I used depth of field in this photo in which it is very blurry at the top but slowly becomes very focused at the base, and slowly becomes a bit less focused at the dartboard. This is to show that appearance shouldn't make anyone different, I did this by putting the flights (which are coloured and designed for decoration) out of focus. I showed the message that the person which matters, I did this by making the base of the dart in focus which shows it is the most important bit in the photo. Finally I also showed that our future is unclear by making the dart board out of focus which shows that we don't in all honestly, no exactly where we are going to end up. I also think the photo was well lit and that the red, green, black and white all contrast very well with each other throughout the picture. For the last picture in the triptych I took a well lit, sharp picture of two biscuits. The message of the picture is that no matter what colour or shape people are, we are all the same things and do the same jobs and that it's what's on the inside that counts. To show this message I got two different coloured and shaped kinds of the same type of biscuit and removed the top covering in order to show the inside of the biscuit (person) is what matters and it is practically the same in both biscuits. I feel this triptych worked well over all as the same message throughout symbolising things which didn't fit in but if you look further into the photo (person) you can see that they are in essence, all relatively the same in their own ways.

My next triptych was meant to symbolise the things which I feel are most important in my life. I therefore went with my main interests and the things that make me happy which are Family, Nature and Music. In order to make this triptych effective I made sure that all the photos were well lit and sharp in places. For family I chose to do a  photograph a Christmas tree decoration which I was given as a present a while ago. I feel Christmas symbolises family due to it bringing families together when they might not see each other all the time throughout the rest of the year. Family is important to me as I know in life no matter what happens, I will always have people who care about me and will always have the memories I spent with them. The photo was very well lit with a nice effect of shine on the hat and the photo is extremely sharp overall. For the next photo I decided to show nature through taking a picture of a flower. I feel this photo worked very well as I chose one part of the flower to focus on and made it very sharp whereas the rest of the flower is very blurred and out of focus which therefore creates the effect of it looking far away when in all reality it is extremely close. The colours of what is focused contrasts very well with the angelic white of the petals as well and adds to the depth of field effect. For my final photo, I decided to photograph a guitar as it is my favourite instrument and I wanted to play with the depth of field effect again in this photo. I did this by laying the guitar down and putting focus on only the strings so that everything else was out of focus. This made the neck of the guitar look extremely  far away in which it begins to look like a long stretch of road which is ahead.