Daniel Levi
Reconfiguring the Mundane

Workshop March 22 – March 25 2011
Public lecture March 22


See and download Daniel Levi’s interview


Daniel Levi - Biography

Hailed by Creative Review as the next Gondry, Daniel Levi has directed music videos for the likes of Massive Attack, Interpol, Prodigy, LFO and more. Since graduating with honors in painting from Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town in 1995, Daniel has worked in art and film, having focused primarily on music videos and commercial direction for the last eight years in London with Independent Films and more recently in America with Anonymous Films and Velocity Films in South Africa.

 

Workshop Brief: Reconfiguring the Mundane

mun·dane

[muhn-deyn, muhn-deyn] Show IPA
–adjective 1.
of or pertaining to this world or earth as contrasted with heaven; worldly; earthly: mundane affairs.
2.
common; ordinary; banal; unimaginative.
3.
of or pertaining to the world, universe, or earth.

 

RELOOKING AT THE EVERYDAY: PEOPLE, PLACES AND THINGS

- INTERACT LATERALLY WITH EVERYDAY THINGS, PLACES AND PEOPLE.
- MAKE ART WITH WHAT YOU HAVE.
- TAKE SOMETHING MUNDANE AND CHANGE IT INTO SOMETHING IMAGINATIVE & ORIGINAL.

THEMES:
- CONNECTIVITY,
- CHANGING THE FUNCTION OF SOMETHING INTO SOMETHING ELSE,
- DISCOVERING THE SECRET OR MAGICAL FUNCTION OF SOMETHING (IMAGINATION),
- RELOOKING,
- UNEXPECTED ACTIONS,
- THINGS RECREATED INTO NEW UNEXPECTED CONFIGURATION,
- RECONTEXTUALISING,
- FRIENDS AS OBJECTS OBJECTS AS FRIENDS (PORTRAIT/HUMANITY).

TERMS:
- GIVING LIFE TO THE MUNDANE: BODY, THINGS, SPACE (PERSONAL OR IMPERSONAL)

CREATE:
- ICONIC IMAGE/S

BE:
- RESOURCEFUL: USE WHAT’S AROUND YOU (PEOPLE, PLACES & THINGS)
- LATERAL
- USE ANYTHING EVERYTHING
- A WALL CAN BE A CANVAS

MEDIUM:
SHORT FILM, STOP MOTION, MOVING PHOTOGRAPHY, STILL, SCULPTURE, A DOCUMENTED HAPPENING, MAGAZINE, BOOK, SOUND, ETC. AS LONG AS THE END RESULT IS A VIDEO (TIME-BASED MOTION/SOUND NARRATIVES).
REFS:
- NICOLAS BOURRIAUD RELATIONAL AESTHETICS
- PETER TRAUB’S ITSPACE: http://www.turbulence.org/Works/itspace/
- FISCHLI AND WEISS – THE WAY THINGS GO:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXrRC3pfLnE

 

Schedule:

Day 1 – Tue 22 March

Presentation of Brief
5 groups are created from the 30 participants (6 members per group).
The groups will spend the day brainstorming and produce, by near end of day, proposals of their best ideas. Before the close of day, we will whittle down the best concepts and briefly discuss their execution. Sketches will be presented and, if a group feels ready at any point in the day, references and sketches will be sought and presented with their ideas (ideal).
The medium will be finalized by each group.
Lists for needed materials and equipment must, too, be finalized. As well as delegation of roles.

 

Day 2 – Wed 23 March

Planning, plotting, more sketching and developing - process. At the end of the day we will look at roughs in whatever form the group feels suites their planning process. The idea is to refine the concepts on this day so that groups can begin the execution confidently.
Working out a production schedule so that the production day is used in full, efficiently.
Group members should, at this stage, begin embracing their individual roles.
Prepping, collating material and equipment.
If the group feels ready at any stage on this day, roughs may begin to be produced.

 

Day 3 – Thu 24 March

Production day. The day is spent modeling, shooting, building, animating etc… whatever needs to be done to produce the work.

 

Day 4 – Fri 25 March

- Tweaking, editing, adding sound, polishing, final adjustments and presentation texts…
All projects and videos will be presented by their groups at the end of the day.
Each video will need to be presented along with these texts.
Title
Authors names and roles
Introduction to concept essence and narrative (minimum 200 words). This text must be able to explain the video’s concept to the general public.
Final presentation at 4pm

 


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