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Facial Expression

By danny.rees, on 30 April 2009

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuvWY3Ty4ak]

Posted by Danny Rees

4 Responses to “Facial Expression”

  • 1
    S.Kuriyama wrote on 4 May 2009:

    A lucid presentation of an endlessly fascinating topic.
    Two suggestions:
    1. I juxtaposition of a talking head and images of the face is very effective, and probably could be exploited a bit more. It may be worth returning to the talking head near the end: if the historical survey of still images could serve to make the viewer see the living face differently by the clip’s conclusion, the effect would be extremely powerful. This might be set up by some self-referential questions by the narrator at the outset: “What sort of person am I?” “What do you think I am feeling?” “Do I look like a historian the body?” etc.
    2. The clip is of course fine with just the narration, but it might be interesting to experiment: in particular, the use of two different kinds of background music might amplify and articulate the contrast between traditional physiognomy and modern readings of the face

  • 2
    Carole.Reeves wrote on 14 May 2009:

    Thought-provoking subject matter, well-paced expressive narrative and well written. I am not keen on messy distractive backgrounds so I would have done away with the ‘office look’ behind the talking head. I think the visual material could have been improved by trimming off the ‘Wellcome Images’ captions and generally tightening up and enlarging the pictures. I like some of the transitions between images, particularly the human/animal comparisons of Le Brun. I admit to being confused by the almost abstract opening image of the brain in a 21st century neuroscientific interpretation. I think this type of image is difficult to use because. I agree that music effects would have enhanced this production.

  • 3
    Mike Stanley-Baker wrote on 23 May 2009:

    I loved your choice of similar images to reflect similar cross-cultural emotions – the cowboy and the chimp toward the end was particularly effective. You must have had fun choosing all of these. Would have liked to see an Arabic physiognomic picture at 0:37.
    In the narrative, I was a bit surprised by the reference back to fortune-telling at 2:20 – b/c we had just been hearing about racial characteristics, and similarity to animals, which struck me as more to do with character assessment rather than destiny (related but different).

    Overally, I thought it was really effective, and the cross-comparisons of these different images really drew me in. You chose an excellent topic for the medium.

  • 4
    R.MacFarlane wrote on 25 May 2009:

    I’m in agreement with the other commenters.
    One other idea: perhaps an introduction in which the narration was given over a still and silent face would have proved an effective entry point into the video?
    Otherwise, interesting topic delivered through clear images and narration. The last picture shown was a really strong image on which to close.

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