suburbia
Investigating our connections to our immediate contexts and the spaces in which we inhabit, we are able to recognise how these spaces can both shape and reflect our identities.
​
Students used images of their homes, explored the art practice of Howard Arkley and applied Pop Art sensibilities to developing their paintings.
guitar/ violin
These sculptures were inspired by artists such as Pablo Picasso, George Braque and Juan Gris. Students considered three-dimensional form as well as how to represent a musical object from multiple perspectives. Each individual piece of balsa wood is hand cut and assembled through a system of slots or grooves.
surrealist films
It is a great pleasure to present the Year 8 Surrealist Film Festival.
You have all worked across both subject areas now, spending a semester in Visual Arts and Music. In Visual Arts, you have taken the role of film producers, writers, directors and editors. In Music you have written a film score using Garage Band.
Both subject areas have encouraged you to experience the film making project through different lenses.
In making Surrealist films, we can see that the ability to shock or startle the audience using unusual imagery has forced you to think through the eyes and ears of an audience.
In Visual Arts you have learnt that Surrealist artists injected their imagery with elements of confusion, wonder, fantasy and fear. This semester, students have had the added requirement of incorporating various themes into their films. These have included clocks, the colour red, limbs, light and dark, mirrors and reflection, doors or fire / water.
​
Creating the soundtrack in Music was about making the film come alive by adding 'horror' to the mix. Once receiving a silent film, the Music students have an important role to play. Creating a soundtrack can enhance the believability of an image. Sometimes the music students have done quite the opposite, and juxtaposed an image with the wrong sound, creating a sense of confusion. The music students can also exaggerate the impact of a scene in a film or turn what was funny or silly into something scary.
​
Changing tempo is a device used by the film makers and musicians. While music students have had to time sound to image, they have also used tempo to build expectation. In Visual Arts, during the editing process, students have used tempo to time the sequence of images. When one image flashes into another and then flashes back to the original image, we not only create new meanings in our artwork by linking two seemingly unrelated images, but we also create a rhythm. Breaking that rhythm creates further impact.
Collaboration between Music and Visual Arts students has developed our understanding of the relationship between image and sound in film making. Undertaking the same project twice has given you further insight the second time around. You have done the job better. You have known what to expect and this experience has enabled you to be more precise, more articulate and hopefully more adventurous.
- Louise Heilpern