We Become Statues - Video Summary + Response
This week I watched a short film called "We Became Statues".
I also read a little bit regarding NPR's How Kodak's Shirley Cards Set Photography Skin-Tone Standards and 'Twelve Years A Slave', 'Mother of George' and the Aesthetic Politics of Filming Black Skin.
These articles address a common problem known as "the norm". More specifically, they're pinpointing an artistic problem of calibrating photographic equipment by using lighter (aka white) skin tones, also known as China Girls. Light meters in cameras are calibrated to enhance the presence of lighter skin tones, and due to the limited range of calibration, this leaves people with darker skin tones to be photographed poorly. Not only does this calibration issue cause problems from an artistic standpoint, it also gently whispers racial slurs into everything we record. No matter what our tactics, like throwing light on a darker skinned person or making changes in post-production, we are all compensating for darker skin tones -- we are working outside of what our cameras normally want us to do. This constant adjusting can cause some artists to move towards using lighter skinned models, which would enhance the racial feel of the history of cinema and photography.
I encourage you to watch the movie below and leave your thoughts in the comments below my post The movie is only 22 minutes long, and it's super interesting. If you're a smart cookie, you can find the articles I read about skin.
I also read a little bit regarding NPR's How Kodak's Shirley Cards Set Photography Skin-Tone Standards and 'Twelve Years A Slave', 'Mother of George' and the Aesthetic Politics of Filming Black Skin.
These articles address a common problem known as "the norm". More specifically, they're pinpointing an artistic problem of calibrating photographic equipment by using lighter (aka white) skin tones, also known as China Girls. Light meters in cameras are calibrated to enhance the presence of lighter skin tones, and due to the limited range of calibration, this leaves people with darker skin tones to be photographed poorly. Not only does this calibration issue cause problems from an artistic standpoint, it also gently whispers racial slurs into everything we record. No matter what our tactics, like throwing light on a darker skinned person or making changes in post-production, we are all compensating for darker skin tones -- we are working outside of what our cameras normally want us to do. This constant adjusting can cause some artists to move towards using lighter skinned models, which would enhance the racial feel of the history of cinema and photography.
I encourage you to watch the movie below and leave your thoughts in the comments below my post The movie is only 22 minutes long, and it's super interesting. If you're a smart cookie, you can find the articles I read about skin.
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