How has Cindy Sherman Changed?

Over the years I have looked into Cindy Sherman as a photographer and an artist. Her confidence to turn the camera on herself is quite inspiring. Even though she does not photograph herself as herself, she creates dramatic roles of women in the modern world. Her portrayal of women shows Sherman dressed up in wigs, piles of make-up and clothes that are impartial to her style. These unique and abstract images continued from 1985 – 1989. I truly believe that this was her best work. Her minimalistic but stylish photographs have a sense of elegance and want to view more. The low angled shots and indirect mode of address generates an emotional connection towards the audience.

After this period of beauty from Cindy Sherman her work seemed to rapidly go downhill, smashing into scenes of deformity and sexual references. She had a segment of work called, ‘Disasters and Fairy Tales’ which would show her strewn over the floor covered in vile substances. It just shows pure darkness, horror and unease for the viewer. The use of blue and green colours interprets a cold and harsh environment. A massive change from elegant images to disgusting scenes. Even though I think that this period of Sherman’s work was one of her worst, nothing prepared me for her next body of work.

Her next series of photos were called, ‘Sex Pictures’. Instead of using herself in her photographs, Sherman took a different approach by using dolls and prosthetic body parts positioned in highly sexual and erotic positions. Not only do these mannequins look intensely disturbing but most of them have been positioned outside in a harsh environment. These images do convey quite a distressing feeling. I for one have always admired Cindy Sherman until she moved on to create images that generally terrify me. Where has the simplistic elegance gone? 

If you are interested in Cindy Sherman and more of her work, visit:http://www.cindysherman.com/

Thrown into Netball

Yesterday at The University of Buckingham it was the sports fair. There I was able to sign up to the sports that I wanted to go to. After doing a lap around the hall I was very interested in the Pilates, Yoga and Zumba that was happening at the University. I was ecstatic to see netball there, even though my only experience with playing netball was when I was 10 in Primary School, it was something I was very interested in signing up to.

The first session was tonight and after a nervous start of not knowing where to throw the ball and remembering to not move when holding the ball it turned into a really good evening. I had forgotten how much I actually enjoyed netball, especially after months of not doing any type of sport, it was exhilarating to get back into it. Many exercises were given to us to do and I have to admit I struggled with a lot of them; my hand eye coordination is not what it used to be. It really was an enjoyable evening and exciting to meet new people and make more friends.

 

Even though I came out as red as a beetroot, completely out of breath and my legs were wobbling from the amount of running I did, I was also extremely happy with myself. I always find it funny how after exercise I feel so healthy and good about myself. Yes, I probably burnt off about 200 calories - time to go back and have some food.

Nerves and Panics of Public Speaking

I am the type of person who really struggles with presenting. Even with a short sentence, in front of an audience I am a mess. Legs shaking like a leaf and my heart racing so fast that it feels like it's going to explode out of my chest. The worst is the dryness in my throat so that I can barely swallow any moisture to begin talking. I have presented many times before, sometimes to a big audience. However when I have presented in the past it has usually been for a dancing competition. I always felt confident when dancing, as I have been doing it for 15 years. You never have to speak whilst dancing you just let your body do the talking for you. I used to dance jazz and modern, this meant a strong figure with sharp positions, you should never have wobbly legs for that. I never did. For some reason speaking in front of a classroom full of people scares the living day lights out of me.

At my last university my lecturer was very aware of this, so he recommended I read a book called, ‘…and death came third!’ A definitive guide to networking and speaking in public. This book has been a great way to prepare myself for speaking in public. The first half explains about networking, however the second half provides you with information about how to speak, dress, expression to make and actually the realistic facts of speaking, ‘after three days only 15% of what you said is remembered’. That statement did make me think well what is the real point, but it did enthuse me to try and make my speeches memorable.

The best part of this book for me is the, ‘Energise before opening’ section, it gives a list of four things to do before going into the room to present so that you look energised and ready to go. My favourite point is the last one:

‘If all else fails, find somewhere away from everyone and jump up and down shouting “I FEEL FANTASTIC!”’

I have tried this and let me tell you when you feel as though all you want to do is curl up into a ball and cry, do exactly that, and you will feel so silly that you will be crying with laughter.

A Day as a Camera Girl

Filming for the first time was really exciting but did make me quite anxious. I've never filmed with cameras so technical and challenging before. To know whether to put the sound on external or internal, manual or automatic, to use the tripod or have the shots hand held. Also I learnt where to hold the microphone. With the wind so strong it was affecting how James (who helped with filming) and I heard the presenter, therefore we took the microphone off the camera and held it out in front of us to hear more clearly.

I learnt a lot about how to position the protagonist off centre, either to the left side or right. The off centre gave a very professional image, as we were able to capture an appropriate background to tie in with the story. This was also used when interviewing people to get them to look as though the audience were looking over the shoulder of the interviewer.

As the script had to be re-written for the LGBT story we had to, as a team, make sure that the script had the correct information and that it flowed. As this was the first script I had re-written and proof read I remembered ‘The Rise and Fall of Freytag’s Pyramid’ from Videojournaliam multimedia storytelling book. This rise and fall helped to place, into the script, what the climax would be (Voxpops and interviewing Michael Pearson) and the denouement (the conclusion for the story). I was surprised when it helped with writing a script for a news report as it is mainly for storytelling, but I found it was a very useful source. 

Adventurous day with my Mama

On Saturday 25^th January I visited the Villiers Hotel in Buckingham. It is truly one of the nicest restaurants I have been to. Sitting in comfy black chairs, a calming view of the beautiful outside in one direction and elegant, pastel peach fish floating around their tank in another, it was suitably tranquil. Not only did the environment create a relaxed feel, I had the wonderful company of my mother with me. The meal we had was absolutely delicious, tender pheasant with smooth mashed potato and a creamy mushroom sauce was our main choice. For dessert I had a cooling chocolate parfait with rosewater Turkish delight, whereas my mum had pistachio baked alaska.

Even though we had a fantastic lunch we were not aware of what the weather had in store for us on our walk back to my accommodation. The heavens opened, with not only rain but with so much forceful wind and hail, we chose to take cover under a large tree until it had calmed down. Unfortunately it didn’t. We braved the rest of the walk and managed to make it back, looking as though we had decided to go swimming with our clothes on. After my mum had climbed into my onsie and I had some drier clothes on, we settled down to a nice warming hot beverage and ended the day with a very good laugh about our adventure. 

Second University

The first week at Buckingham University has been scary, exciting and a nerve wracking experience. Emotions have been very up and down. I could say that I have an advantage over some of the students here as I have already experienced a first year at Nottingham Trent University. That first year was tough and unexpected. With classes being cancelled, not being challenged enough and rowdy flatmates everywhere (apart from a few lovely ones) it was a difficult time. Even though this happened I feel I have a lot of experience under my belt.

With this experience I felt as though I had an idea of what to expect when coming to Buckingham, which helped calm the nerves but not entirely, especially when seeing my timetable for the first time - lectures for 3 hours, definitely going to need water and snacks.

With only 2000 students at Buckingham it is a massive change from 28,000 students at Nottingham. It feels a lot like going back to my college or secondary school. Everyone knows everyone. 

Meeting new people has been a lot easier with all the student union activities going on. The day trip to Milton Keynes was definitely one to remember, maybe it should be suggested that the trip might need to be shortened as 5 hours shopping is not the easiest thing to do in a new environment. However, with new friends we found a lovely tea shop called Tea Monkey which kept us entertained for the last part of the day.

I also have made friends with the man in Londis, as I seem to be spending lots of evenings going in there with people to buy chocolaty snacks or alcoholic drinks.

Very much looking forward to the second week where sports can be chosen, especially seeing as I haven't done any since Christmas.