These days it takes a lot to stand out a music video or visualizer, but it is the same as Defetton and UK-based artists and researchers were capable of creating the base. Videos for the chopped hands seen above were made with more than 2100 hand printed cyanotypes, an analog process that was required by Carr. We were curious as to how Carr dealing with the project and who inspired him to use an analog process for the video, and he was sufficiently complied to chatting with us about his work.
Carr began to take a picture of the landscape with a DSLR and by editing them extensively in Literoom, but eventually realized that something was missing. He said, “I will go out, focus on the live view screen to get an ideal composition, then come back, and focus on digital edit in Literoom.” The process completely cut him from the natural world that he was trying to document.
At the same time, Carr began reading about radical ecology and was designed for the idea of using analog processes to feel more connected to the physical world. Since then, Carr Analog has been deeply involved in photography, which includes alternative processes such as cyanotypes, as it meets the touch due to the feeling of connection.
Cyanotype There is a photographic printing process resulting in blue-toned images striking. The technique contains coating paper with a mild-sensitive solution of potassium ferricinide and ferric ammonium citrate, which is yellow green when initially brushed. To create an image, you expose coated paper to UV light (usually sunlight) and rinse it to reveal the final image. This is a very hand process that closely aligns with Carr’s desire for a physical relationship for his art.
| Image: Aid Carr |
As an artist who focuses on nature, working in analog also adds another layer of connection. “From an ecological point of view, analog procedures allow me to include natural elements in my work, and connect the living landscape to my pieces subjects,” Carr explained. By that end, sometimes he grows his film in plants or burys it into soil. “I try to give voice to the land through my work,” he said.
While analog is central for the work of Carr, digital is also an important component. For music videos and their other animation work, projects begin as a digital cut based on stock footage. They are then translated to analogs to make imagery, and go back to digital for final animation.
Carr explained that making imagery was a laborious process for the Dfton project. Sourcing of stock footage was just one step. “Then (i) compiles it in a way to create a story, and also to flow through the match cutting (similar shapes, such as snake eyes and eclipse), or matching movements,” he said. “It is like making a sculpture from found objects.”
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| Image: Aid Carr |
Once Carr makes a digital video, he divides it into a individual frame, usually on 12 frames per second. “This means that I end with a stream of digital still image, including the entire video – in the case in over 2,100 images,” he explained.
After establishing the story digitally, Carr began the process of converting each frame into a cyanotype. For some work of Carr, he uses a DLP projector to highlight the cyanotype. The bulb has a trace of UV, and this allows it to project the image on paper without a digital negative printing first. However, exposure takes too much time, so it is not possible for animation projects with lots of prints.
For high-length projects such as deftones video, Carr first makes digital negative for each frame. Since he was working with a lot of images, he opted to make a contact sheet with 9 and 16 images on the A4 sheet. Each sheet then produces about a second of the footage.
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| Image: Aid Carr |
Once the negative is ready and the paper is coated, it uses an artificial UV LED light to highlight prints. Artificial light allows him to fully control the exposure, which enables more consistent prints. “If they are not consistent, you shine too much, due to variance in the exposure,” they explained. “In fact, you can see something in this defendone video, even with controlled UV.”
Like the defatton video, the outer number of print in an animation project challenges the process. “The amount of print is always a challenge, especially in a professional context, as you often have a tight deadline,” Carr explained. For the defendones video, he was making 100 prints a day, which he says that he was incredibly intense. He explained that he would coat the cyanotype in eight batches, print two rounds, wash and dry and print again. He said that this resulted in 12 hours of printing a day, which was a very physical process.
After the cyanotypes are made, CARR scans back each frame, edits something and leaves them back to the video editor. He said that, in principle, it should play smoothly, but often one or two frames are disappeared or out of order. Finding those frames and taking them back is a time -taking process. He says that he spent more than 12 hours a day, and said that it is “a little brain melting.”
Carr says that he wanted to channel Rock Music Video Esthetic, which he grew up in both subject matter and visual effects in the 90s. Thanks for coming through the look, scratches, folds, paper textures and other flaws in that grunge look as a result of cyanotype animation. Carr said that unexpectedness is one of the things she enjoys the most about analog processes. “This is one of the reasons that I love analog, a thumbprint of mine can make its way into animation unexpectedly, or give a certain scratch in paper or a fold another otherwise an additional exciting texture for another specific image,” he said. “I can’t imagine losing it in digital, or artificially combing it with AI.”
