Major Project TERM III - Research presentation

 This week I was presenting a piece of my research regarding my major project. I decided to talk about the first part of my secondary research - Edward Hopper.

Title slide from my presentation

The entire presentation you can view in the form of a video below, or you can download in from here (I used custom fonts in the presentation therefore layout might be different from the one in the video).

And here you can read the script based on which I presented my presentation.

Slide 1

Good morning, my name is Nikodem Trzcinowicz, [click] my continuation route is photography and video, and today I want to talk to you about Edward Hopper. 

The presentation should take around 10 minutes and at the end there will be time for you to ask any questions regarding this topic.

Slide 2

This presentation is divided into three main sections,

In the first one I will [click] introduce you closer to the persona of Edward Hopper, and his art,

Next I will [click] analyse more closely one of his artworks and talk about his influences,

And finally I will talk about [click] the contextual aspects of his paintings, which apply to my project.

But first, let’s [click]

Slide 3

Introduce our artist

Edward Hopper, born and raised in New York, was an American artist who specialized in oil painting. During his life he created countless paintings most often depicting scenes from the life of American citizens. like the one you can see on the slide [click]

Slide 4

Edward Hopper was interested in art from his early years with his education starting at the age of seventeen in New York's school of Art and Design, where he spent next four years of his life. [click]

Slide 5

Hopper over the course of his career created almost exclusively in the style of Social Realism.

While he created in this style, often the realistic urban scenes he created were entirely made up from his imagination. Edward Hopper's isolated yet seemingly familiar scenes mixed with his fascination of lighting and depicting human poses were a great influence for the future generations of artists.  [click]

While his art was penetrating and invading scenes from other people's life, it remains personal and intimate. As he said himself [click]

Slide 6

'Great art is the outward expression of an inner life in the artist, and this inner life will result in his personal vision of the world.’ 

I think that this quote pretty much exactly sums up his approach to art.

So now that we know the basic idea who Hopper was, let’s analyse one of his artworks [click]

Slide 7

‘Nighthawks’, is probably the most recognizable artwork of Edward Hopper. [click]

Slide 8

It merges all of the familiar styles which Hopper developed over the years of creating art into one mesmerizing image.

Ranging from [click]

Slide 9

very photographic frame in frame composition, which Hopper was often implementing in his paintings, to [click]

Slide 10

to his very recognizable warm lighting coming from one source [click]

Slide 11

While the cafe presented in this painting was more or less based on the streets of Greenwich Village, where he lived, the actual place existed only in the imagination of Edward Hopper. It is still unknown where exactly the inspiration for this piece come from, however according to Gail Levin, Hopper took inspiration from The Killers, a short story written by Ernest Hemingway and from Vincent Van Gogh's Night Café. 

Which colours are very similar to the ones in Nighthawks.

Ok, so  now that we’ve took a closer look at Nighthawks, we can go on to the [click]

Slide 12

Influences which have formed Hopper’s style.

The main one was Martin Lewis who now could be even called forgotten, his etching studies however, created a whole generation of artists, including Edward Hopper. 

Lewis taught Hopper how to create etchings which helped him greatly in perfecting his painting techniques. As Hopper said himself [click]

Slide 13

'After I took up my etching, my painting seemed to crystallise’ . Hopper really used every skill he learned to develop his own artworks.

Now that I talked about Hopper’s inspirations, let’s now talk about people inspired by him. [click]

Slide 14

Gregory Crewdson, an American photographer was very much influenced by Edward Hopper’s paintings.

The eerie imagery combined with warm inviting lighting, isolated and alienated scenery. In his photograph, like in Hopper's paintings the people in the frame feel like the only people on the planet in that moment. The deeper connections can be drawn to the places in which both artists were creating their artworks. New England is a place where most of Crewdson's shoots are situated, it happened to be also a frequent holiday destination of Edward Hopper. 

Holiday on which he often created his paintings.

Connections between Hopper and Crewdson can also be seen in a way they are treating characters and their relationship to the space. 

There is no main subject in either Hopper's paintings or Crewdson's photographs. Both space and people are the character in this one frame story.

Let’s now talk about how Hopper influenced me and my project. [click]

Slide 15

A long night is a title of my project, it is a film, which I am currently shooting. Here you can see the prototype of the poster, not sure if I will change it or not, at this point I have a lot of other things to do in regards to this project so I am not keen on changing it. I wanted to create a poster which would remind you of older class b films, like ’Plan 9 from outer space’ and similar. 

Okay, let’s see what my project is about. [click]

Slide 16

So for people that have seen Wild Strawberries, this short will be quite similar in story to the nightmare sequence from it. I actually have not seen this film before I was writing my script so all of the similarities are an accident, however this scene is very much similar to what I want to present. 

What my project and the work of Edward Hopper have in common is visual style. In my film I want to create a feeling of isolation and alienation, as if the main character was the only person in the whole city, it will also be shot in a few places inspired by Hopper’s paintings, we will visit one of the locations in a second.

Yes so the basic premise of the film is that our protagonist after trying to sleep decides to go out, after walking around the empty, extinct almost, streets he starts to notice that he is being followed. 

If you are interested in the rest you can either read a script which is available on my blog with storyboards, or you can wait until the film comes out.

Okay, so let’s take a closer look into one of the locations for my film which were inspired by Edward Hopper’s ‘Nighthawks’ [click]

Slide 17

As you can see the location on the right, which is in Leicester is quite similar to the Hopper’s Nighthawks. From big windows to even colours of red brick on the building in the background and the greenness of the walls in the foreground.

I tried to capture the composition which Hopper used in his painting. I tried my best but the placement of the Hopper’s café is quite different to the one in Leicester.

Okay,  if you would like to learn more about Edward Hopper [click]

Slide 18

I have a big and in-depth research post on my blog, and I also have a big post about Gregory Crewdson, and also if you would like to learn more about [click]

Slide 19

Nighthawks specifically, I recommend this video essay. You can either search this title in youtube or scan this QR code.

Okay, that is all from me, thank you and [click]

Slide 20

Please, feel free to ask any questions

Slide 21

And of course this is my reference list

After the presentation I did not receive too much feedback, except for comments that my presentation looked great. One person had a question about my project theme since I forgot to say that I was working in the theme of 'Ultimate Black', but other than that everything was clear.

I am satisfied with how this presentation went. This form of presenting my work was one of the factors that brought me to creating films, because of that my presentations are often less static the the usual ones. I use slides as an extension of what I am saying, and not the repeat of what I said.