Visual Framing

For blog 5A we were asked to pick one of our favorite images from the soundscape project and reframe it. I chose a Salvador Dali painting which I believe is titled,"Shadow fuq ramel" (according to a google search). As you can see below, I chose to pull the frame in tighter on the woman who appears to be crying and cut out the rock in the background.

ORIGINAL

 

REFRAMED

I originally was drawn to the image because of its boldness and mystery. Upon first glance you can guess that the woman is crying, but you have no idea why. It's very mysterious. Aesthetically, her shadow immediately pops at you. The shadows visual intensity is stronger than any other element of the picture. It is extremely bold.

When I went to reframe the image, my goal was to discard of the rock/mountains in the background, leaving just the crying woman. By doing this I was planning on focusing the attention on just the woman. Unlike the original piece which directs your eye to the mountains using the shadow. When you analyze this image you immediately notice the shadow, see that it's coming off a woman who appears to be crying, then you can't help but follow the virtual lines of the shadow directly into the mountains. This is why it's mysterious to me. Okay, so she is crying, got it, but why with the rocks and mountains? So my plan was to take that mystery out of the equation. However, I don't think that is exactly what happened. If you notice, the base of the rocks are still in the corner of the reframed picture. This almost makes it more mysterious! Because not only do you not know why she is crying, but now you can't even tell what she is looking at. The little hint in the corner creates tension because frankly it could be anything. You would think that pulling the image from an Extreme Wide Shot to just a Wide Shot would clear up some confusion, but the feeling of mystery remains an affinity.

When it comes to why I think Dali framed the original they way he did, a few answers come to mind. First of all, I believe Dali created with the rule of thirds in mind. If you divide the frame into thirds vertically, there is an important element in each quadrant. On the left is the woman, middle is the shadow, and right is the rocks/mountains. And again if you divide the frame into thirds horizontally. The bottom contains the blackness, middle contains the woman and shadow, and the top holds the horizon and the mountains. The rule of thirds is demonstrated to well to be a mistake. Also, by the use of lines (both actual and virtual) and direction, I believe that Dali wanted the rocks to be just as important as the woman. The woman creates a virtual line by facing the rocks and, as mentioned before, her shadow literally walks your eyes directly to it. The primary direction of the image is aimed at the rocks/mountains.

Overall I did dislike this blog as much as I expected. Once you apply the concepts we learned in class, it becomes obvious that the artist clearly had them in mind. It's interesting to pick up on the intrinsic information as well as the extrinsic.