"I
didn't pick up a camera until I'd been doing photography for five
years">
 |
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Photography Workshop |
Take a look at Tim's own great website
- there are some great examples of movies.
Reports and happenings from previous
workshops on Ian Woods website
| "I
didn't pick up a camera until I'd been doing photography for five
years," confesses Tim MacMillan a photographer whose work defies
the categories of conventional photography, MacMillan's images explore
the area between still-photography and cinema, fusing time and space.
While studying painting at the Bath Academy from 1979 to 1981, MacMillan
turned, in his second year, to photography - but with an iconoclastic
twist. He concentrated on making his own photographic paper and
emulsions, an artisanal approach that gradually developed into making
his own cameras." |
|
The 'Time-Slice' camera
was first devised in 1980 by Tim
Macmillan at Bath
Academy of Art during his BA. Fine Arts degree course. Originally a painter,
Macmillan was interested in
combining Cubist theory with contemporary technology. Initially using hand-made
photographic emulsions and photo grams, he went on to using a series of cameras
creating multiple viewpoints of a space which were then collaged together. The
multiple camera concept then made a lateral leap to being applied to cine film. The first camera involved
a length of 16mm film negative held in a channel. Above the neg Macmillan
placed clear Perspex spacers to give the camera a focal length. Above the
spacers was placed a length of opaque 16mm cine magnetic tape with a pinhole
drilled into each frame (cine magnetic tape is opaque). A simple shutter over
the magnetic tape then provided the means of exposure. The result was a
perpendicular tracking shot through a space.
The profound revelation
was that while the viewer experienced a move through space, time was frozen. A
paradox!
Tim has spent the the last 20 years developing
camera rigs and producing new work, always on the cutting edge of the possible.
The past two to three years has seen the emergence of a plethora of similar
camera rigs or arrays. As the concept disseminates through film and television
and as the software needed to compile, track, stabilize and interpolate between
the adjacent frames improves, we are now experiencing a tidal wave of the
'time-slice' effect in TV commercials and feature films. The effect has also
known as 'temps mort' (dead time) in France, while in the USA it goes under the
generic name of 'virtual camera', with various companies advertising under names
such as 'Timetrack' and 'Multicam'.
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| Workshop History
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| A really exciting new
addition to our workshops, Tim promises a good workout with special camera
rigs, including one with 10 Nikons, and working with digital video and
still cameras. After an initial overview we will get down to picture
shooting and then "virtual object" making with both easy to
obtain and reasonably priced software and some esoteric stuff that will
leave you gasping. Tim's broad background will be mined, with, as he puts
it "some historical stuff" and time will be spent individually
discussing various approaches that might be made to your work.
(I saw new work Tim was working on at a
conference in Bristol in November 2000, a landscape piece is absolutely
riveting! One workshop I intend participating in
myself! Ed. aka Peter Goldfield) |
| Tim
MacMillan cites the example of Cubism's disordering of conventional perspective
as an influence on his approach. His work can also be seen as returning to and
re-evaluating another epochal transformation in the history of art and
technology - the encounter between early cinema and photography, as evidenced in
the work of pre-cinematic pioneers Eadweard Muybridge and Etienne-Jules Marey.
Tim
MacMillan himself acknowledges a fascination with this transitional moment. |
 1
"I
thought it would be interesting to see how much time I could pack into a
single image. The idea of a spiral came up. As well as being a beautiful
motif, it's one of those motifs which is a representation of ideas to do
with space and time. Something which is infinite - infinitely inwards,
and infinitely outwards. You can take a particular section of it, but in
itself it represents infinity. There are various ways of looking at time
- as linear or circular. Or as a spiral where things come back on
themselves and repeat but have moved on and are different. Also, it was
a way of getting an awful lot of time into one image. If you start at
the centre point and work outwards, there's an awful lot of time there,
in one kind of coherent image." |
As the nineteenth century overlapped the twentieth, two new technologies
collided, claiming new fields of representation as their own. MacMillan's work
suggests we currently inhabit a similar moment, where the advent of digital
technologies threatens any investment we have in the residual
"realism" of the photographic image. MacMillan's response to what
might be seen as the "tyranny of digital technology" has been to
explore other, earlier and more individual applications of image-making
technology: "I think that what's happened is that there's a reappraisal of
what photography's about and a part of that is a return to a more artisanal
approach - the photographer as print-maker." |
About Tim Macmillan
| Born:
3 August 1959, Portland Oregon, USA.
Nationality:
British. |
|
| Education |
| 1978-79 |
Mansfield College of
Art - Foundation, Fine Art. |
| 1979-82 |
Bath
Academy of Art - Fine Art, B.A. Hons. |
| 1982-84 |
Slade
School of Art - Experimental Media, H.Dip. U.C.L. |
|
|
|
Overview
|
|
1981-84
|
Developed
'Time-Slice' camera during BA and Post-Grad studies. |
|
1984
|
Freelance
photographer (speciality - artwork, painting & sculpture) and
film-maker. |
| 1985-90 |
Resident in Japan,
Tokyo. Studied 'Kyudo' (Japanese Archery). Worked as freelance
photographer, photographic artist and film-maker. |
|
1990-96
|
Return to UK.
Freelance photographer and photographic artist, established studio in
Bath, UK, continued to develop time-slice technique. |
| 1996- |
Film director of
music videos, commercials, and short films. |
| 1997 |
Established
Time-Slice Films Ltd. Expanded time-slice technique into cinema. |
| 1998 |
Filmed 'Dead Horse'
installation artwork. |
| 1999 |
Directed short film
'Ferment' for Channel 4 and Arts Council of England. Shortlisted for the
Citibank Prize for 'Dead Horse' video installation. |
|
|
|
Exhibitions / filmography
|
| 1984 |
'Spilt
Milk' film installation, London Film-Makers Co-op. |
| 1985 |
'Incidentally'
touring group show. |
|
1987
|
'Recent Works'
prints, films and cameras, Yamaguchi Gallery, Tokyo.
'Aspects of Contemporary Japanese Photography' group show, Tochigi Art
Museum.
|
| 1988 |
'Seeing Photography'
group show, Gei Dai Art College, Tokyo.
'Pinhole Photographs' , The Garage, Tokyo. |
|
1989
|
'Toyama Now', group
show, Harajuku, Tokyo.
'20 Photographers' group show, Parco Department Store, Tokyo.
|
|
1993
|
BBC
TV Tomorrow's World, feature on Time-Slice camera.
'Time-Lines', Montage Gallery, Derby Festival of Photography.
|
| 1994 |
'Homage
to Edgerton' 3 ' Time-Slice video piece.
'Chronographs', Untitled Gallery, Sheffield.
'Radio Real
World' Time-Slice works for Real World Multimedia, Bath.
|
|
1995
|
'What you see is
what you get' , 3rd ICA Biennial of Independent Film and Video (Homage to
Edgerton).
'Super Camera' TV feature on Time-Slice, Nippon Television.
'Timeworks', Royal Photographic Society, Bath.
'Chronographs', Metro Arts Centre, Derby.
|
|
1996
|
'Fireflowers' 3'
Time-Slice video piece.
'3+3' group show, Watershed Media Centre, Bristol (Fireflowers).
'Swimming Club', linear works, commission, permanent display, Gloucester
Royal Hospital.
|
| 1997 |
'3 Views', linear
works, commission, permanent display, British Council building, Hong Kong.
'The Bigger Picture' album/CD cover, Kirsty Hawkshaw, Coalition Records.
|
| 1998 |
'Dead Horse', video
projection, London Electronic Arts Gallery.
|
| 1999 |
'Dead Horse', video
projection, Rotterdam.
'Ferment', short film, Channel 4 'Animate!' award.
'New Natural History', National Museum of Photography, Bradford, UK.
|
| 2000 |
Citibank Prize
shortlist exhibition, The Photographers' Gallery, London, UK.
'New Natural History', Hasselblad Museum, Goteburg, Sweden.
'The London Orphan Asylum', Open Space, Milan, Italy.
|
| |
|
| 'Ferment'
screenings |
| 1999 |
Sao Paolo Short Film
Festival, Brazil.
Edinburgh International Film Festival, UK.
London Film Festival, UK.
Channel 4.
Shortlisted for the British Animation Awards.
|
| 2000 |
Stuttgart
International Film Festival.
Rotterdam International Film Festival.
Tampere 30th International Short Film Festival.
|
|
|
| Broadcast TV work & time-slice/special
effects |
|
1995
|
'Beetlemania',
Nat. Hist. Documentary, Green Umbrella Films, Bristol.
'Watch Out',
BBC Natural History, Bristol. (Also QTVR for web site)
'Future
Fantastic' BBC TV. |
|
1996
|
'London
Static' TV commercial for Capital FM, Paul Weiland Films. |
|
1997
|
Beasts
& Monsters' Nat. Hist. Documentary, BBC Natural History, Bristol. |
|
1997-98
|
'Supernatural'
Nat. Hist Documentary, John Downer Productions (BBC). |
| 1997-98 |
'Documentary
of the Human Body', BBC Science, London. |
|
1998
|
'Merlin'
TV feature film, Hallmark Films, USA.
'Wing
Commander' cinema feature film, Digital Anvil Productions, USA.
'Winter Sports' ident, Vancouver TV, Canada.
'Rugby' ident, Sky TV, UK. Oxford Scientific Films. |
|
1999
|
'Curiosity' BBC
Corporate Promotions, UK.
'C4 Racing
Ident', Liquid TV, UK.
'QED The Secret Life of the Family', BBC, UK.
'Hormone Hell', BBC Features, UK.
'Beyond Human Senses', documentary, BBC Bristol. |
|
2000
|
Sky
Sports
Millennium, Irish Cable TV
|
| |
|
|
Directed commercial film work
|
|
1996
|
'Dil
Cheez' music video, artist - Bally Sagoo, Sony London. (4') |
|
1997
|
'World
Without Music' short film, EMI Records. (2'30")
'Underwater
Love' music video, artist - Smoke City, Jive Records. (4')
'Psyclone'
music video, artist - Kirsty Hawkshaw, Coalition Records. (4')
'The
Amazing World of Paul Mckenna' TV trailer, Carlton TV. (15")
'Campaign for a
Drug Free America' TV Commercials, USA. (2 at 15")
'When You Come
Back to Me' music video, artist - Edyta, EMI. (3'50")
'Madazulu'
music video, artist - Deep Forest, Sony Paris. (3'30")
|
|
1998
|
'With
you' music video, artist - Smoke City, Jive Records. (4')
'How to Make a
Movie' TV series titles, BBC Scotland (15")
'Leafy Lane' music video, artist - Kirsty Hawkshaw, Coalition Rec. (4')
'Disaffected' music video, artist - Kirsty Hawkshaw, Coalition Rec. (4')
'Inspiration'
TV commercial, J&B Whisky, J Walter Thompson UK. (45")
'F Zero X' TV Commercial, Nintendo, Leo Burnett USA. (30")
'Escape That'
music video, 4 Hero, Mercury Records UK. (3'30")
'How will I know' music video, Jessica, Jive Records. (3'40") |
|
1999
|
Iwan Thomas,'Sporting
Anthems', ident, BBC Resources. (40")
Keith Wood, 'Sporting
Anthems', ident, BBC Resources. (40")
Tony McCoy, 'Sporting
Anthems', ident, BBC Resources. (40")
'Nido Extra Calcium' tv commercial, Nestle, three spots at 30".
'Ma
Liberte Contre La Tienne' music video, artist - Patricia Kaas.
(5'45")
'DelMonte'
TV Commercial, DFB, UK. (40")
'West
Lights' Cinema Commerical, Germany. (66")
|
|
2000
|
Sky
Sports
|
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