Initial visual Research

 

http://musosguide.com/manic-street-preachers-postcards-from-a-young-man/11672

I started off my visual research by looking into the album 'Postcards from a young man' By Manic street preachers. The title of the album itself drew me towards it, as it links into my own ideas of postcards and memories. I found this review (on the link above) written about the album itself. It is said the this album shows the personal history of the band, bringing the abandoned Richie's words to life, and how the band no longer wanted to hid from their own history.  The album cover to me suggests that photographs hold those memories which otherwise could have been forgotten, they are a visual aids to our own mind.

When I first came up with the idea of postcards and memories, my first thought turned to the classic 'Wish you were here' and 'Greetings from.....' style postcards. Examples below:

http://editdesk.wordpress.com/2010/04/13/wish-you-were-here-8/

http://blogs.psychcentral.com/therapist-within/2011/07/2697-mindfulness-self-therapy/

The two images above are both good examples of postcards with the classic, popular and some what cliche sayings which you see all over the world, and many send to loved ones from there travels. Using similar sayings which relate more to my project such as 'Greetings from you future', 'Wish I was there again' and even the classic 'Wish you were here'. Would make people realise that the images were simply representing a memory they would show they were also postcards from the future, making my theme stronger and more present to the viewer of the project itself.

Life on mars

David suggested I take a look from a clip of 'Life on mars' after I described my project ideas to him. Unfortunately I had not watch the program myself, but David owns the box set. So found me a clip in series one episode 8, where the main character is watching a moment of his past. During this clip his Mother and Father are dancing, and at the end of the scene he talks to his former self stopping him from following his Dad into the woods. Along side the clips the song 'Life on mars' By David Bowie plays, which fits in perfectly with the scene itself.
  The clip gave me the idea that your memories are forever being replayed in the past, like an imprint of what has happen has been left in the place on which it happened. You often see this concept in films when a characters returns to a place that holds a strong memory of there former self, seeing in front of them a ghost version of what once happened to them.
  this has given me two ideas towards how to present the project, as I want to focus on photograph I had the idea of during any scenes I photograph the people in that scene would be faded as though an imprint of them has been left behind. Some could be more faded then others to show the time in which they  were once there. They get more faded with time. The other idea was instead of faded photographic images, I could involve illustration in to my photography and have blank faced line drawings of people in the images as though a small part of a person had been left behind.
As I want to link the theme to my own childhood and memories, the images of people in the photographs would represent myself.


'What we remember from childhood we remember forever - permanent ghosts, stamped, inked, imprinted, eternally seen.'  ~Cynthia Ozick

This is a quote which i found which I feel relates well to my ideas, and could be a starting point for the postcards.

Initial theme ideas

I have started to consider the theme which consist of childhood, looking back onto your own past, memories and writing postcards back to yourself. This theme came from my thoughts from my last blog on the wilderness down town video. I have started my research into this idea by listening to songs which I feel relate to this theme, to get inspiration.
    The first song I listened to was '1973' by James Blunt. When listening to the songs I tried to link them to the concept of past memories, including my own. In this case ignoring the date during the song, it made me think of being around 16 in new relationships, and how the experiences affect you in your life. The childish way you behave at that age together because of how much you love each other. But this carries on with you and no matter how old you are, when you feel this way about a person you will always behave in the same manner.  
      The imagery that came into my head was of a faded photograph of a young couple dancing together nearly falling over as they were laughing together and acting young

The second song I listened to was 'Conversation with my 13 year old self' by Pink. When I listened to this song I could imagine the former 13 year old me in my head and tried to envision what it was like to be that age again, and what kind of advice would have been helpful to be given.
   The imagery that came into my head when I was listening to this song, was firstly of the back of an adults head looking into a mirror which had a young girl in, upon the mirror their hands touching representing the care between the two. Another image was of a young girl walking along through a park throwing paper out of what could be a school bag to suggest she had had enough even at such a young age.

I also listened to 'We're going to be friends' by The white stripes. This song made me think of the happy memories of those days in school where there was nothing to worry about but seeing friends. The songs talking about not noticing time past, which is how I sometimes feel now when I realised how far I have come in life.  The imagery which came into my head while I listen to this song, was of a busy school day in the playground but everything is blurred and faded expect for the small group of friends in the middle not noticing the time going by around them. In a way it tells you that you grow up allot quicker then you know when your that age so to make the most of it.