Evaluation and Reflection-Narrative

Throughout this narrative project I feel that I have learnt a variety of new skills that I can develop in future projects. For example staging a narrative setting, using expressive lighting techniques and editing my images to create a film noir style. It was a quick project but I feel that I was able to capture my narrative efficiently and professionally.

At the start of the project I had a few initial ideas but realised that I wouldn’t have enough time to complete them because they were quite broad e.g. myths in Dorset. I then had an idea that I wanted to maybe have a black and white narrative because I wanted to create a mysterious style, which made me think of film noir. This genre often links to murder mystery and detective type dramas, which made me, think about considering a Cluedo inspired project. I thought it would be really interesting to incorporate the theme of ‘chance’ within my project. I had a tutorial with Matt and he suggested that I could play the Cluedo board game and capture whatever happens in the game through photography. I thought that this was a great idea and chose to do this and record the movements of each character, which I then captured in reality.

I found that my research for this project was very important because it helped me develop both a strong visual idea and a narrative focus in the photographs. As well as researching into film noir it was suggested that I look at Philip Lorca who uses striking lighting to light his portraits in an expressive way, which inspired me to use experimental lighting. I used photo shop to enhance the contrast and create heavier shadows to make the characters more threatening. I also looked into the colour theory and the moods that are created by certain colours because I had an idea of maybe adding some to my images, so that the characters could be identified. This would help build a stronger narrative about the motivations of the characters and creates connotations of the game Cluedo. I discovered a photographer that links vividly to the colour theory, Boris Mikhailov. He incorporated the colour red into his project, which created many different atmospheres and moods for the audience.

Overall, I feel that this project went well because I was able to capture a subject that I wouldn’t necessarily think about. Most of my work so far has been exploring different documentary approaches and I think that this project has made me work beyond my comfort zone and capture a unique narrative. I enjoyed taking my photographs because I was able to develop my lighting skills and expand my storytelling through my images. If I were to complete this project again I would defiantly explore more lighting and other locations that suit my narrative development.

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