reflection on film piece;

• explores the initial relationship between an individual and a space
• provides physical evidence of 'having been there'
• each film reveals an individualistic traits
• documents the synthesis of our group dynamic- disparate, separate but ultimately combined
• employs Romanticised notions of intuition, instinct, and the determination of form by the original idea
• a video recording is the most naturally suited medium to record reality, but more than a way to document, it becomes how we perceive our environment

Farnham research...

• Farnham- 10 Town and Country Rambles. Chris Howkins. 1990.
• Farnham- A photographic History of Your Town. Jean Parrat. 2001.
• Farnham- By The Wey. Jean Parrat. 1995.
• The Walks Near Farnham. Bill Andrews. 2002.
• William Cobbett's Illustrated Rural Rides; 1821-1832. Christopher Morris. 1992.

Howkin's Country Rambles was a good starting point to get to know the area as it describes the environment and history on each walk. He mentions a rare Service Tree in the Park grounds, that produces fruit called 'chequers', popular in medieval times, which I thought might be interesting to look for.

Hi everyone- I have just found out that I have a seminar at 10 on Tuesday... not sure how long it will be for, but it may interfere with us putting the film together; so I'm hoping that a few of our group will be able to crack on with it while I'm away?
In the meantime I have been researching my chosen place in Farnham, which is the park. It has donkey's years worth of history as it is the deer park connected to the castle, established way back in 1376,- and is now a site for 'nature conservation importance', meaning that it is protected by the Waverley Borough Council's Countryside Section. It was originally used in Medieval times as a hunting ground for royal visitors. http://www.farnham.gov.uk/visit/great-outdoors/farnham-park.html
There is no specific place in the park that I am especially drawn to- but I think that most of it is very scenic and sprawling so I think I envisage myself standing as a solitary figure in a large landscape. This may allude to notions of being small/new to a big space and finding or experiencing a place initially and taking it all in...

Sorry for my possible absence next Wed

Hi, there
The head of our department just told us that we'll have a class next Wednesday morning from 10 to 1, which means that i might be absent for our presentation. (I hope not.) I've mailed Sarah to inform our situation and she replied that she would tried to schedule our presentation in the afternoon session as possible as she can...

So, I'll still go to the vedio shooting on Mon or Tue, but i really feel sorry if i can't make it on Wed's presentation.

Ashley

photos from Ashley's camera

Downtown, the West Street. Group walking down the road.

The river.

The church.

The direction signs.

Testers

Some early image tests that i created in PhotoShop. My idea was to show our group standing in a scene from an earlier period in Farnham. It shows how Farnham, to me, has only really changed in the people that now populate it, and the buildings and scenery remain mostly unchanged from the 18th and 19th centuries.

We have since decided to not pursue this idea.

Farnham History

When we started this project I went to the librey to look for some books on Farnham. I was rewarded with two good books, in particular the Images of Farnham Book, which has some really good pictures, showing how much (or little) Farnham has changed.

Farnham traffic

This was most definitely my 1st impression of Farnham - both ways before I figured out where I was going!

More answers to our questions

Woman, late 50s
1. Has lived in the area for 13 years
2. First impression was of attractive buildings
3. Visual image most associated with Farnham: view up Castle St to Castle

Man, early 50s
1. Has lived in the area for 6 months and is looking to move to Farnham
2. First impression: bustling, busy place
3. Visual image: view up Castle St to Castle

- This is a coincidence - these people were interviewed separately and were unaware of any of the answers we had been given.

Film Piece

I have spoken to Aimee at the I.T support desk who believes that the film piece would not be difficult or too time consuming to produce, as it is a matter of moving each film into the larger frame and then reducing it's size to fit using 'Final Cut'. Unfortunately we can't book any time with her but if we go ahead and make the film and on Monday Nick will be able to help us put it together.

As a group we now need to decide when we can meet up to film these pieces and where we would like to be filmed. We need to get this done before or on Monday as I think Tuesday will be leaving it too late. I am available to do this any day except Saturday. I'm looking forward to it!

Artwork idea

We discussed an idea that I had - to make a short film recording of each member of our group in their chosen place in Farnham and to put each film into the same frame in a grid system. Each film would then run alongside the other for about ten minutes. The idea is that each individual stands or sits in their space not saying a word while the camera captures their quietness as the world passes by.

I think it ties in with the common theme of being lost- but now we have found a place somewhere in the town that we as individuals can experience a connection with. As each of us will decide upon where we will be, it in turn reveals a sense of wanting to belong to somewhere new. As a group we need to decide where and when we can go to realize this project.

As a group, I think it is difficult to converge together to produce a piece of work that we can all be happy with, especially since we are all interested in very different subjects. We have been able to decide on a few points though- our work will be a visual image, and the subject matter has developed from a shared experience of being lost.

My own personal experience of Farnham (which I admit is limited), is the strong artistic culture in the town, made evident in the amount of galleries about. I began some initial research by looking at the Farnham online website set up by the council. It was particularly helpful as it provided a good general overview of the town, but I was also mindful that it was made in bias towards the view of how great the town is thanks to it's council. It was tempting at first to pick and mix my way through the amount of compacted historical information on offer, in order to find something that sparked an interest. Our walkabout town was a really good way of just getting out there into town and exploring for ourselves, the best way to bypass stagnation. http://farnham.online.uk

Some answers to our questions.

An Elderly Couple.

1.They have lived in Farnham for 14 years.
2.Their first impression was of a market town.
3.The visual image he associated with Farnham was the castle. His wife said the attractiveness of the buildings, the view of them from the Wagon and Yard car park - the angles and colours of the roofs.



A Young(30's?) Member of the Church

1.Lived in Farnham all his life.
2.He had returned from 2 months away and was shocked at how many changes had taken place and the amount of traffic.
3.The castle and the church were what he most associated with Farnham

Survey

We decided to ask some random people questions about their impressions of Farnham, to see if our experiences corresponded with other members of the public.

1. Do you live in Farnham?

2. What were your first impressions when you first came to Farnham?

3. What visual image do you associate with Farnham?

Whole group - but where is Ian?

Ian is lost

Walkabout

Walkabout

Shopping Trolleys

First impressions of Farnham ... had read that it was a charming market town, but found that it was a supermarket town - enormous waitrose opposite college and sainsbury's just down the road....
Campus dotted with shopping trolleys, used by students to carry their term's supplies home, and abandoned.

Photoshoot

As a group, we decided to generate some ideas by taking to the streets with a digital camera and video camera of which we later discovered the video camera contained no film, lol. We took snaps of anything that inspired us and some with just the group. It was a success as we gelled more as a group while also coming up with new ideas.

Group Tokyo

Members of the Tokyo group

Max Ballinger
Ros Perton
Joanne Farnell
Jignyasa Rajendra Patel
Karika Arora
Ashley Chang
Tracy Nicholls
Ian Thomson