Compositional Ideas

These compositional ideas I have drawn up are just a guideline for my developments. During the course of the project I will experiment originally with these ideas and refine and change them depending on the success of the photographs I produce.

Sleepless- One of the main things negative about Oliver's lifestyle is his lack of sleep. Knowing that this is a very big part of his life, this had to be one of the topics to touch on. Oliver spends most nights awake until early hours of the morning working on college work. I decided that this idea will be set in his own bedroom, having him sitting on the bed on his laptop with the light off. The light of the laptop will be the only source of light within this composition. If this turns out to be too dark, I will experiment with using a lamp or the flash to see which one will create the best quality. Also in the composition, I will have a clock which will then be enlarged in the photograph, placed behind him to show the time, which will be set to early hours. Lastly, I then will place an oversized cup in the composition. Oliver, likes to drink tea and will always be drinking this while he works throughout the night therefore, I felt that putting this within the composition would fully explain this situation.

Love of animals- One of Oliver's ambitions is to become a zoologist. His love of animals is very broad from dogs, to phoenix's. As an owner of a dog, Molly, this aided my ideas with this composition. Knowing Oliver quite well, I would say that in another life, he would definitely be an animal, therefore using this I thought of using Photoshop to use two photographs, one of his dog, and another of himself. Then either place two halves together or experiment with merging the two together to see how that would come out. Depending on how successful my experiments are, I intend on trying to make it look realistic as possible and not too obvious as to how I managed to merge or put together these photographs therefore making it more surrealist linking to the photographer Joel Robison. 

Love of reading- This is the first of the series that includes Oliver's hobbies. He loves books and reading them, mainly of the adventure genre. Also, writing his own books are of massive interest and again, is one of his aspirations. Reading, also is a sense of relaxation and I feel that if Oliver had more time to read, it would aid his sleeping pattern and help him feel more relaxed. I came up with a simple composition to be shot at home in an empty space/area. There will be a stack of books, to which a lamp is placed on top which will be the source of lighting within this composition. Looking at Joel Robison's work, a couple of his series, the photograph is only lit by an ordinary light. This, however may have to be experimented with using trail and error, by the power of the light used, and the positioning. Oliver will be curled up under a blanked on the floor with an oversized book as a pillow. I will take a photograph of the book separate to the full composition, so then I can place and enlarge the book to where I want it. The book will not be too oversized in the fact it will not be bigger than Oliver himself, it will just be bigger than a normal book size so that it fits with the aspect of it representing a pillow.

Seasonal Affective Disorder- This topic is a big part of Oliver's life and is something in which he suffers from every year. This idea was quite difficult to compose, as personally I do not know what it is like to suffer from this therefore I had to go on what Oliver has told me about how he feels when these periods come and go. Knowing the basics that moods are affected by the darkness, especially in the winter time of the year when the early mornings and evenings become darker more quickly. I thought of the idea of having the bottom half of the composition to be the night time, having it really dark, I could potentially use a real photograph of the night, or using photo shop to create the darkness. Above will be the main photograph, of the sky in daytime, preferably getting clouds within the composition. The surrealist effect that would then come into it would be using photo shop to show Oliver hanging from on of the clouds, almost into the darkness. He will be looking worried and trying to avoid entering the darkness. 

Similar to reading and the genres, Mythology is one of Oliver's favourite genres and one he takes interest in. For example; Lord of the rings and The Hobbit are a couple of his favourites. Mythical creatures in particular are of interest to him. Taking inspiration from Joel Robison, I thought of this to be set on location, in woods, or somewhere where there are trees and grassland. A mythology book will be placed in the composition and Oliver will be dressed as his favourite mythical creature. This expresses how this genre enhances his imagination. I will also create magic dust coming from the book also trailing from Oliver to show that he has come out of the book.

Fear of losing hair- Comments made to Oliver on a regular basis are about his hair. His distinct volumed hair is one everyone likes and Oliver takes care and pride over. Now that his hair is a personal statement to him and also is a distinguished feature to his appearance and one people know him by, the fear of losing it is very much a present thought. This will be shot in the studio having Oliver sitting central in the composition. He will be wearing a bald cap so that it looks as if he has no hair. There will then be piles of hair stacked on either side of him. These piles will be really high just going above his head. Clearly, Oliver will show a very worried look and this will be as if it were a nightmare for him.

Creativity- Being a very creative person, Oliver also has a love for art. This composition will be one of the fuller photographs, however will still only contain little amount of subjects and items. It will show an oversized canvas, along with oversized paints and water pot. This could either be shot in the studio or in the art room at school, as the natural lighting will be good up there. Oliver will be shot in the same place as wherever the background will be shot so that the lighting is the same. He will be holding an oversized paintbrush. I will then use photo shop Oliver onto the background, making him smaller than the art supplies. He will be seen to be painting on the large canvas. As an addition, I could also place previous art works of his hanging in the corners. This composition is to represent how much creativity Oliver has and that his creativity is much bigger than he could probably handle!

Adventure- Adventure is something that Oliver loves, and that I know he has a burning desire to adventure more as he gets older and in the future. Along with adventure, he likes being in the open and exploring. This composition will be more complex on the photo shop side and editing. I will have Oliver looking through a magnifying glass. The magnifying glass will either be enlarged a little or kept the same size. I will then take a photograph of Oliver's eye and place it in the magnifying glass so the eye is seen to be enlarged. I will then take a photograph within the grass and then place Oliver and the magnifying glass in and amongst the grass so that he is seen to be really small and having his own adventure within the grass.

Nude Art- This is to be shot at home. This is another one of the simple compositions. It will contain a sofa or some sort of comfortable seating, Oliver will be laying down on the sofa and will appear to be naked. I will the take a photograph of a nude art book. This then will be placed over the areas that don't need to be seen and will be an enlarged book so that it is oversized so that it can cover what is needed. This is to represent that nude art is something that Oliver would study or enjoy in his own time and in the comfort of his own home.

Dislike of the concept of money- One of Oliver's dislikes, is the value that money presents on families and people. For example; a person could do everything for other people yet hardly do things for themselves being selfless however their wealth is seemed to be 'lower' or 'middle' class due to income. This also can be turned to the opposite and that the less deserving person would have the most money and classed as 'upper' class. The way others judge on wealth is not something Oliver is fond of. I thought of a studio shot composition where there will be an oversized wallet that will be the same size as Oliver himself, the wallet will be full of money and bank cards. He will be holding a pair of scissors which will also be larger than normal. His facial expression will be aggressive and angry and it will be as if he wants to cut up the wallet. I feel this is a simple yet effective way to portray his anger to how he feels on this topic using simple surrealist techniques. 

Losing memory- One of Oliver's fears is losing his memory. I felt I could be more creative with this one, making the surrealism more upfront. I thought about a head and shoulder portrait of Oliver which will be shot in the studio, he will then be holding a brain which will represent his own. It will then be as if it is coming out of his head, and that his brain is not present, or that gradually his memory is fading. Oliver will have a worried, upset expression as if his fear has become reality.