The Poison Apple

The idea of my 'Extraordinary vs Ordinary' project began by looking at the mystical things in books and the real world counterpart, with the aim of showing how we do not need to make up these creations as we have beautiful things in the world. However, as stated in previous posts I would like to look at the darker side of reality and why we may want to move into the fantastical world. The initial transition of this is through the use of a poison apple - a classic weapon used in fairytales. This I wanted to juxtapose with the cold and metallic gun - a real world weapon, and arguably a much harsher and grittier weapon than the poison apple.
To start this part of the project I painted a red a apple that I wanted to try working in different ways to blend with a bullet hole. This was not necessarily an idea for a part in the film but more something to help with brainstorming through experimentation. After painting the apple I scanned it into the computer and printed smaller versions which I then transferred onto different materials - canvas sheets, cardboard, a wood/paper material from a wardrobe and acrylic sealant - using white emulsion paint.



The original Apple Painting



Acrylic Sealant





Wood/Paper material





Cardboard



Canvas Sheet









I found some interesting results from these experiments, from how successfully the transfer is completed on the various surfaces. The emulsion paint works by painting onto the ink of the printed image and then pressing it against the surface you want the image on. I then iron the back of the image to help seal it down and then to make the image appear rub the paper away with lots of water. The acrylic sealant worked surprisingly well, I suspect because it is a smooth surface, however, the kinks where the spreading of the sealant was not totally smooth, creates a crack in the image which I think was quite effective. The wardrobe wood material was the least effective as it was the grainiest and creating a successful transfer was nigh on impossible.



While thinking of printing methods I also remembered the sellotape technique of sticking strips of sellotape on to the ink of a printed image (again the apple). Like with the emulsion paint, you then rub of the back of the image with water. I tested this four times on the same materials as in the last experiment but this time with the rough colours and shape of the apple on the material. I then stuck the printed sellotape to the top of these.

Acrylic Sealant



Wood/Paper Material



Canvas



Cardboard

The advantage of this technique is that you have the black and white tones in the sellotape print intensifies by the paint behind it which I thought created a starker image. Also, the more messily painted images also give the impression of blood which puts across the danger of the poison that was originally intended.

However, throughout this process I was aware that this would not translate well to a film but I did pick up on the 'blood' red idea and began to think of ideas I could expand on this, in a filmic process...