Rationale

Research

I began by finding the Definition of what a Cyborg actually is. Then from here I looked at artists such as ‘Stelarc’ and ‘Raoul Hausmann’ to see their style and interpretation of what a Cyborg is. I then moved on to looking at films and music videos such as terminator. All of these helped me get a general idea of what a cyborg actually is so I was able to start my own work.

Plans and Ideas

For my cyborg brief I came up with the idea that I want to include sport to my theme. My first though was to look into the idea that professionals in sport (such as basketball, football, rugby ect) that once they get paid for what they do; they have to train up like ‘machines’. They can’t afford to make mistakes, in which case they’re not ‘human’ anymore, as they are becoming too perfect.

I then decided to look in to the idea that professionals also have to use high tech equipment to get the shape and stamina that they are after. They would use equipment such as weights, treadmills ect. So I went with the idea of combining the gym with my sport theme.

After a few edits and experiments I noticed that my work looked too complicated and too full so I had to change my concept once again.

Final concept

I decided to go down the basketball route instead of combining the gym too, this is because I feel there is still a big area to cover.

I have a couple of questions I want to answer in my work such as,

1.     How is technology developing for our convenience?

2.     One day, will it develop to better ourselves in trivial things such as sport?

So my new concept is this… I want to show that technology is a good thing, I want to show that it can better ourselves and help us do things we wouldn’t be able to do alone. This could also be good as it might help more people get into sport as it will be easier and more fun to do.

Dystopian or Utopian?

I have decided to go with Utopian, as I would like to do my work as an advertisement style. I would like to show that ‘Cyborgs’ could be used in a good way and it could even help us. I want to show the good affects technology can bring to sport users.

Who is my Audience?

I feel that my work could be aimed at people of any age, as it’s more of a keep fit campaign. I feel that everyone will be in good use of my idea as fitness is very important. However to narrow it down, I have decided to look into people who are interested in sport, whether they play sport now or if they are thinking about playing sport.

Technical Skills (Photoshop)

·      Opening up a document on to an A3 sized canvas

·      Creating new, Duplicating, Masking Layers

·      Cutting out using the quick selection, magic lasso tool

·      Copy, Paste, Resizing, rotating and cropping

·      Changing contrast, brightness and capacity levels

·      Using the blur, burn and rubber tool

·      Saving my work as a high quality JPEG.

How does this affect society?

I feel my work will affect society in the fact that people may wish to become more active, due to my photograph. I’m hoping that my work will inspire more people to get involve with sport or any kind of exercise, giving the world a fitter and healthier image.

To Conclude

Over all I feel I have made very good progress with my Photoshop skills. Before this brief I was unable to do the most simplest things in editing, however now I am more confident. I definitely feel I have more of a knack now on editing my photographs and I will definitely be doing it more in the future.

I also feel that I have found a good concept that works well with the image I have created. I changed my thoughts and ideas many times, giving me a much simpler and more interesting concept.

I feel I may carry this work on further, as I feel I could branch off to many other paths, such as using other sports instead of just basketball.

Final Piece

Here is my final finished piece after all of my photoshop editing.

I am very please with how my work has turned out, especially since I haven't used much photoshop before. This has been a great eye opener on what possibilities I can achieve with photo editing equipment.

I feel my work is clear on what I am trying to achieve and I feel it is pretty realistic, which is the affect I was going for.

Images from Google Search

Battery in charger- for side of the leg

Indoor Basketball Court- for the background

Nike Basketball Trainers- for the feet

Circuit Board- for the arms

Cog- for the elbows

Earpiece- for the ear

Wires- to connect the springs with the batteries

Springs- for the leg

Step by step process

• Firstly, opened up and A3 sized canvas as that is the scale I am working to.
• I began by making a new layer and cut out my model using the magic lasso tool.
• Then looked on the internet for a background, selected the background and moved it, until I was happy with the positioning.
• I then changed the contrast to make the background darker so it wasn't over powering. Next I used the blur tool to make my model stand out more.
• I looked on the internet for a spring, then used the 'quick selection' tool to high light it and the put them near the legs.
• To make the legs look like there part of the springs, I had to select the legs and use the rubber tool.
• I then searched the internet for a pair of basketball trainers. Quick selected them and changed the contrast to make it fit in with my model more.
• Next I researched the internet for some batteries in a packet, changed the contrast and the capacity to help it fit in with my model.
• Then researched the internet to find different colour wires and used the magic lasso tool to highlight them to paste on a new layer. I attached the wires for it looked like it was coming from the battery to the springs, I did this by resizing and rotating the wires. 
• I searched the internet for a motor bike engine, used quick selection tool, pasted it on a new layer, and changed the capacity to make it blend in more with the body. I had to resize the engine to make it fit better and I had to rub out sections.
• Next I searched the internet for a computer circuit and changed the capacity. From this I dragged it up near the arms and I could now see which parts needed rubbing out. 
• I search the internet for cogs, used quick selection and copied on to a new layer. I then duplicated the layer to make more than one cog. 
• Finally I research the internet for a basketball net. I used the magic lasso tool to select the areas I was after. From this I had to rub out sections in the middle so that you could see through to the background. 
• I then saved my work as a JPEG and made the quality as high as I could.

My chosen Image

Here is the image I have decided to use for my final piece.

I have picked this image as I like the lighting, composition and the movement involved in it. I feel the shape of my figure will work really well in my editing progress, giving me the finish I am after.

Shoot for final piece

Here are my three favourite images, which I may use for my final piece.

 I have chosen this one as a possibility as I like the use on movement in the images. I feel the lighting works really well against my models shirt as it helps to exaggerate the movement.

 

 I have chosen this image as a possibility as I feel it is very powerful as well as a little mysterious. I feel this could tie in well with the cyborg theme.

Here is an image I may use in my final piece as I like the use of movement and shape, as I feel I could edit this well to make it look like my model is shooting.

third attempt

Here is my final attempt before I start my final piece. I have experiment with the capacity tool, which I feel has worked really well. This tool has been very helpful as I like the was the computer circuit is blending in with my models head. I will definably use this technique in my final piece.

I like the simplicity of this image how ever it is too simple, making it hard to tell what message I am trying to get across. I will bare this in mind when doing my final piece.

Problems

From my last two edits, I have realised that the image quality is very bad and pixilated. This is a big problem as my image won't be able to stretch to A3 which is how I will be presenting my work.

To solve this problem I will use raw images for the ones I have photographed myself.

Also when searching on the internet on google search I will select the 'LARGE' image size to make sure the images I look at are all a high quality.

I will also have to save my images as a JPEG and then put it as the highest quality.

Using these techniques will help my insure that my work will fit as an A3 at the best quality.

Second attempt in photoshop

Here is my second photoshop attempt for my cyborg brief. As you can see it is a lot more simpler now. I have also used a lot more technique skills in photoshop such as the smoothing tool and the burning tool.

I feel I have definatley shown what my new concept is about, however I would like to use even more technique skills as I feel I am getting in to this photoshop a lot more. Also I would like to incorporate some of my own images to make my work feel more like my own.

New Ideas

Because of my last edit, I felt like my work was too full, so I have decided I need to change my idea and go down one route.

I have decided to just go down the basketball route in stead of the gym idea. As I feel there is still a big area to cover.

I have a couple of questions I want to answer in my work...

1) How technology is developing for our convenience? 

2) One day will it develop to better ourselves in trivial things such as sport?

So my new concept is this... I want to show that technology is a good thing, I want to show that it can better ourselves and help us do things we wouldn't be able to do alone. This could also be good as it might help more people get into sport as it will be easier and more fun to do, i.e. like if people could just higher and run faster.

first attempt on photoshop

Here is my first attempt at using photoshop for my cyborg brief. I have done it in an advertising way, with writing such as slogans. 

I have gone with the idea that sport is good and more people should get involved with a sport. I have also used the idea that the gym is connected in keeping fit, this also relates to the idea that machines can help us get fit.

I have used the magnetic tool on photoshop to cut around the edges on my images, giving me a nice clean and crisp finish. I then used many layers just I copied and pasted each of my images. The images I have used are from a shoot I have done previously in the studios, which were my basketball trophies and my basketball. I have also incorporated a basketball court which I had found on the internet, as well as the treadmills from the gym. 

I then used the text box app to write my title and slogans.

I feel this was a good first attempt, however I feel it is too busy and I haven't made the most of my photoshop skills. 

From this I feel I should focus on one area such as just basketball, meaning that I may need to change my ideas.

Oscar Pistorius

Oscar Leonard Carl Pistorius was born 22 November 1986, and is a South African Sprint runner. People have named him "Blade Runner" and "the fastest man on no legs"

I have chosen to research Oscar as he has metal legs making him a cyborg. From this he is one of the best runners and people say he has an unfair advantage as he has 'a machine' helping him run. I don't feel it is unfair, as I feel its extordinary that a person can get on so well with a robotic leg, making them a cyborg put together.

Although him and his legs are really I may use this kind of technique in my own work, 'springy legs'. This will help me to get the cyborg affect that I am after.

My Ideas

I have decided that I want to look into sport and sports people for my theme for this brief. For my concept I have decided to look into the idea that professionals in sport such as basketball, football, rugby, ect... that once they get paid for what they do, they have to train up like 'machines'. They can't afford to make mistakes, in which case their not 'human' anymore.
I will start by getting images from magazines of people playing sport and cut and paste robotic arms on them to make a photomontage.
I will then develop this by getting images from the internet of people playing sport and then incorporate cogs and wires on to their arms and legs. I will do this through the process of photoshop.
To finish up I will take my own images of sports and machines and then incorporate them with the same process of photoshop.

Turn Me On ft. Nicki Minaj & David Guetta

Here is a music video I saw on the box channel, and noticed it has about robots in humans, so I decided to research it further.

Here is the first clip I have chosen as you can see clearly the metal in the mechanic face. I like all the cogs and wires that you see under the skin. This is something I will consider when doing my own interpretation of cyborgs.

Here is the full music video of turn me on, by nicki minaj & David Guetta, I have put this on as it has been a great inspiration to me, helping me find a starting point for my own work.

Terminator

For my search I watched the film terminator and that has a lot of robots in it as its supposed to be set in the future.

Here is a photograph as a shot from the film. It saws a robot inside a mans body, I like the way its just one side of the face that is burnt away, giving us a really good feel that its a cyborg. This is something that I would like to look into for my own work, as I feel it looks more realistic rather than comical.
This process will have to be done on either photoshop of light room and I will have to start practising now if I want to use this in my development, maybe even final product.

Raoul Hausmann

I decided I needed more artist research to help me find my own path in the cyborg brief and I came across Raoul Hausmann.

From looking at his work, it is far from my own style of working. But that is why I picked him to research. I want to keep my options open, also I feel his style of working would be a good place to start. It is very abstract and comic book style.

 As you can see in this photographs there is a lot of cut and paste in people and objects. This gives a very strange and unrealistic feel when looking at his images. He experimented with techniques such as photomontage, painting, fashion design, poet and publisher. 

Raoul Hausmanns photomontages were very artistic in the early periods of Dada, this demonstrates how free his personality is.  Hausmann once quoted that his work is more engineer rather than an artistic which I can kind of see myself.  


I'm glad I research Raoul Hausmann as his style will help me with my own starting point for this brief.

Stelarc

After looking into what a 'cyborg' means, I decided to do some artist research. So I came across Stelarc from doing some internet research and found this photograph.

The Man with the Ear-Arm

This photograph made me feel really uncomfortable when I first seen it. I didn't understand why there was an ear on his arm, so I researched in to this to find out more.

"I replied that it has to do with ideas about how the body is not located where it's located anymore; that in this wild world of instantaneous reproduction and projection and distribution, we are located in several places at once."
Jen Graves. (2009). Stelarc: The Man with the Ear-Arm. In/Visible. 11 (1), p2

Basicly Stelarc focuses on extending the capabilities of the human body with both technical and physical manners. His ideas came from the notion that the human body is obsolete.

Third Arm

Here is Stelarc himself with his robotic arm that he made. His theory is that our bodies are already just extensions of our mind, so adding technology to our bodies is a logical next step.
To me this makes sense, he is showing the fact that technology is moving forward. There is no stopping it so we might as well follow it and join the path with everyone else.


“Bodies are both Zombies and Cyborgs. We have never had a mind of our own and we often perform involuntary conditioned and externally prompted. Ever since we evolved as hominids and developed bipedal locomotion, two limbs became manipulators and we constructed artifacts, instruments and machines. In other words, we have always been coupled with our technology. We have always been prosthetic bodies. We fear the involuntary and we are becoming increasingly involuntary and extended. But we fear what we have always been and what we have already become - Zombies and Cyborgs.”
Stelarc. (2008). Stelarc Third Arm Helps Improve Your Ski-Boxing. Available: http://www.electronicsinfoline.com/News_Gadgets/Robotics/stelarc-third-arm-helps-improve-your-ski-boxing.html. Last accessed 18th Feb 2012.


Here is a quote I found from Stelarc himself. This quote to me means that the zombie is our past, and cyborgs is our future, in which creates us as we are now. We are becoming more and more like cyborgs however we will still have our zombie human side to us.

The Eyeborg Documentary (youtube)

I watched this documentary to help give me some ideas for my own work.

Metamorphosis

After reading the book Metamorphosis, I was lost for words. I found it really hard to understand and get my head around what it was about.


Basicly its about a boy who turns in to a bug. He can't move from his bed and looses his appetite. His family all get sick of him as he can't work any more from this illness, and the family become poor.
I feel that the story isn't really about him becoming a bug, as at the beginning it mentions "He becomes miserable and reflects upon his life as a travelling salesman and how fed up of it he is and he would happily quit the job if he didn't have to provide for his parents and sister. "
This to me is more about him and his job and how he doesn't want to work there anymore but feels he has to for the families sake, from this he becomes mentally ill.


Dictionary Definition

MET·A·MOR·PHO·SIS

1. Biology . a profound change in form from one stage to the next in the life history of an organism, as from the caterpillar to the pupa andfrom the pupa to the adult butterfly.

2.a complete change of form, structure, or substance, as transformation by magic or witchcraft.

3.any complete change in appearance, character, circumstances, etc.

4.a form resulting from any such change.

5.Pathology . 

a type of alteration or degeneration in which tissues are changed: fatty metamorphosis of the liver.

I found the dictionary definitions to see if it would help me understand what the book was about. And yes it is about a change in an organism.

So how does this relate to my brief of cyborgs? I think it is to do with the change in people, whether its a physical change or metal change. This could even be due to technology, i.e from the equipment at his work, or a tv program on bugs. I am still unsure of what this book is about, but I feel I have a bit of an idea and I'm hoping that I will understand it after doing more work on cyborgs.

Definition of Cyborg

A cyborg, short for "cybernetic organism", is a being with both biological and artificial (e.g. electronic, mechanical or robotic) parts.

The term cyborg is often today applied to an organism that has enhanced abilities due to technology, though this perhaps oversimplifies the necessity of feedback for regulating the subsystem. 

Fictional cyborgs are portrayed as a synthesis of organic and synthetic parts, and frequently pose the question of difference between human and machine as one concerned with morality, free will, and empathy. Fictional cyborgs may be represented as visibly mechanical (e.g. Doctor Who) or as almost indistinguishable from humans (e.g. Terminator films) 

Basicly to me a cyborg is man and machine. This could be something simple like a person with a mobile phone or a person in a wheel chair. Cyborgs are all around us, technology is getting better and better meaning soon to come they will be everywhere.

Introduction

The new brief for this unit is 'Cyborg'.  This will introduce the main techniques of photographic manipulation and will give a broad overview of popular photo editing software such as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom.  It will provide an introduction to essential skills in respect to image composition, manipulation and retouching. 


Requirements
Consider the idea of the Cyborg through the production of an A3 digital composite. 
The image must use two or more originals which must be at least one or more of a human body and one or more of an image of technology.  
I must have a clear standpoint so this could be Utopian as a human constantly developing and improving or dystopian in a culture where body parts are increasingly understood as commodities.