Where now?

After a second tutorial with Kasper and Edwin, I have decided to write a post to clarify to myself possible areas of research and direction. So my initial fascination was a dynamic relationship between image and sound... My research has lead me to human perception and the senses. I spoke of my 'cosmic' experience and my view of the universe to my teachers, Kasper suggested that I try and explore the experience in terms of my senses and see where it leads me. He also said that if I wanted to present the experience or try and extend the senses in the form of an artwork, I could either go in one of two ways: present an overwhelming display including all senses at the risk of it becoming a circus, or focus in on one sense (maybe two?).

Edwin read my last posts and is keen for me to start doing some artistic experimentation very soon. He summed up our conversation and my blog entries with a few areas.... and from his summary I have edited some areas to focus on: 1) The theory that the universe is linked, or extend on what I meant my the universe as a superorganism. 2) My own experience in relation to my theory of the universe. 3) Possible ways of artistically presenting the universe beyond our own senses- possibly start with the electromagnetic spectrum.

I am quite interested in the theory that our ideas of the universe or just life in general is completely masked by our own experience and influences, and this probably occurs by chance. What makes this interesting is that communication technology and the media completely bombards us with information all the time and does this blur our judgement.

First Thoughts

I recently enrolled on a course called Artscience on Seti, which is loosely researching into thinking creatively about using language to communicate with aliens/extra terrestrials. When asked why I had enrolled I replied saying it was because.... well firstly I am curious about the universe and secondly because the language aspect reminded me of a line from a track by Incubus called New Skin reading 'Until the twentieth century, reality was everything humans could touch, smell, see and hear. Since the initial publication of the chartered electromagnetic spectrum, what humans could touch, smell, see and hear is less than one millionth of reality'. How incredibly interesting. What if we could extend our senses?? What new things or experiences would we discover?? How could we imagine these new senses when we only know our own?? I am reminded about my recent fascination in the Mediated Architecture course with changing the characteristics of sound and sensing it as a physical object. How we can link sound with vibration... another sense.. but still regard sound as a singular occurrence or event. I made the connection that when considering the effect of sounds on image the sense we get is such a small aspect of what is actually happening in a grand reality. I am a firm believer of the 'theory of everything' or that everything is linked to everything although I do not know how. 'The universe is a living superorganism.' It is hard to step out of our own experience and think of how aliens could perceive the world ... I for one feel it is a creative process and possibly the role of the artist to think about this.

More research into senses developed with the consideration of synesthesia. 'Synesthesia is linked to an emotional experience as much as it is to physical perception, art inspired in synesthia is equally so, and therefore strongly subjective. The sense of beauty attained in intensely emotional experiences can be felt when a work of art is ultimately successful.' A suggestion could be made that synesthesia occurs when the brain interprets one sense and wrongly applies to another at the same time... but this doesn't explain why some synesthetes see coloured numbers or letters. I considered the idea that it was an emotional overload... like crying or laughing... but quickly disregarded this theory. Synesthetes typically have good memories and are more often than not mentally balanced (and mostly women)... maybe there is more to the physical world that connect the substances we sense and the way we interpret our senses into language (numbers and letters). - 'Synesthetes have an aptitude for sensing balance and acute observational skills'... This lead me to thinking about a theory I'd vaguely heard of that humans will develop or have the capacity to develop a superior or more intelligent consciousness... sometimes referred to as 'Cosmic Consciousness'.

It appears that many people have spoken of an experience that is described as Cosmis Conciousness (including myself) all mostly considering it as a spiritual experience.

'The experience comes on suddenly without warning with a sensation of being immersed in a flame or rose-coloured cloud and is accompanied by a feeling of ecstasy, moral and intellectual illumination in which, like a flash, a clear conception in outline is presented to the mind of the meaning a drift of the universe.'

'ineffable light, light rare, untellable light beyond all signs, descriptions and languages'

I would add that the experience was unlike any intense emotional experience I have ever had, although I would certainly agree that there was a feeling of ecstasy it was just not related to any event and didn't feel like it was produced by anything earthly (like hormones). Although I had the experience a number or years ago now and I don't really recall much detail. I would say, that it felt like I could see everything in the universe or in existence... like I ascended from earth and could understand everything . It was just for a few moments but felt like a lot longer... At the time I associated the experience as a spiritual one.. like I was seeing the universe through the eyes of God. How could I present this experience to the world? and how can I research into its meaning? And I think... as mentioned above, that I could start with attempting to artistically extend the senses.

New Artscience Researh Project Plan and First Developments

Research Plan

For my main research concern I am interested in a relationship between audio and visuals. The idea developed from noting how sound can influences ones perception of image, and visa versa. It interests me in how this correspondent relationship between sound and image could be used to aid communication and/or direct the attention of the audience in order to express something explicit. I observed that audiovisual communication is especially effective in film narration, there are many examples of ‘film grammar’, that is, metonyms that associate certain sounds with certain images or transitions in sound that have a particular meaning when paired with visuals or a storyline (as is the case with film music). It is sometimes found in these conventions, that certain combinations of sound and image realised in film that can be used in order to direct the audience to determine a specific conviction about the narrative or concept of said film. Film grammar like this can be seen in commercial cinema, perhaps the reason for this universal knowledge of the meaning behind these conventions suggests a significant cultural process within them.

Human perception altered by media is a subject that I have previously explored. In my practical work I began to think about the resonances of technology, its implications on social spaces and the forms and actions of identity. I thought about the seemingly cultural fascination with the 'dangers' of technology that much science fiction explores. Issues such as this could form the starting point when considering a subject for these short film and video experiments. It is unsettling to consider that we can so easily be controlled without realising. I wish to extend this notion by demonstrating that the controlling action is hidden not only behind language, but behind technology.

Theoretically, the work will pursue the following issues:

• Artistic intentions in reference to audio-visual installation and sound art: for example, to what extent do artists the consider the communication of concept within their work to the perception of its audience and is it in this communication that the art-works defines itself to the audience. I feel that direct interaction with audio-visual digital technologies would be a good starting point for this research.

• Cultural/social influences of the audio-visual conventions found in film: it could be said that the shared experience of a social group can constitute to an ease in communication via this medium.

• Individual experience/perception of sound and sound on image: does the message of the composer/film-maker become blurred if material is experienced differently by other individuals and does this mean that an artistic concept described by the material in audio-visual works can never be explicitly shared.

• The use and place of technology as an artistic medium and holding the potential to shape the processes behind future work. When using technologies to realise creative ideas this issue is a by-product and a resolution could be formed from after-thought of a project.

• Technology as used to express or formulate idea artistic ideas: when regarding technology are there firstly certain restrictions that artists face and technological processes that can influence artistic decision, direction of progress and conception of contained ideas and conception of everyday life.

So an exploration in the from of improvisation or interaction in a performance environment in order to study the immediate perception of the intrinsic qualities in the dynamic relationship between the aural and visual worlds in both narrative and non-narrative context will be attempted over the MA. Interpolating production processes for sound and visuals with reference to the findings of the immediate perception of sound on image.

First Developments

For the first developments into my research have happened slowly and in stages of inspiration an guidance.... Firstly I have had a tutorial with new tutor Edwin, which was mainly an introductory meeting but one of the suggestions that stuck with me is considering light as an medium... and Synaesthesia as a subject linking sound and images senses. A tutorial with second tutor Kasper... the main point I remember from our discussion is his suggestion when I told my fascinations (in a very vague way) to start with my view of the world and filter it down into what I find interesting. In my next post I will state the outcomings of these suggestions.

Mediated Architecture

For the first hands-on course on the Masters ArtScience program we followed the research title of Mediated Architecture. For me personally, I felt encouraged to think about the final exhibition of my work. And how the product and presentation of the work has relevance to how it is experienced... I considered factors such as environment, space, culture, functionality and especially location whilst producing my own prototype for the perfect location for an artwork. I thought about integrating the space into the work and immediately thought of the materialisation of sound... a subject I have previously investigated. Whilst presenting the prototype I gave this speech:

It is an improvisation in a interactive environment would allow me to study the immediate perception of the intrinsic qualities in the dynamic relationship between the aural and physical worlds. To use a wall of sound (white noise, filtered) and spatialisation could demonstrate the idea of sound as a malleable substance. Alters the perception of the audience into new characteristics of space- sculpting the sound like a physical object or containing it in a box. In order to demonstrate a physicalisation of sound brought about by technology. The sound sculptor uses motion as an extension of their own voice, investigating the coded trappings of space, in this way the generators corporeal powers are virtually expanded beyond those in reality where technology allows us the illusion of control. The work examines the presence of sound by placing it in an environment of a virtual sound space to be physically modified by movement as if it exists as an object. The piece intends to represent the resonances of digital technology by alienating sound from a source and presenting an installation that defies what is known about the physical presence of sound. Wands talks of the potential in Sound art with: ‘the active forging of tactile, aural and visual perception between humans, and in collaboration with technology, asks questions which can yield ways of better understanding, seeing and hearing natural order’ (Wands, 2006: 134). The potential for sound art to inhabit such conceptions of perception and moral issues of human nature with special relation to technology, has appeared to be a suitable setting for a work presenting the potential implications in our interaction and development of technologies into our daily lives. The scale should be a size that would demonstrate the concept.... - a paraphrase of a quote by Olaffur Eliasson: "you can only make a space by a transformative act"

An interesting comment from tutor Franz was introducing vibration to the installation... This sparked off a few new ideas about my own research project.

LoFi Video The Architect

The Architect

Methods of control

Upon reading a brave new world I gained a few new ideas or observations about technology and art. A work based based around a technological process both in production and in context loses any significant meaning. For example, in a Brave New World the 'Feelies' cinematic displays based around sensation - revolve around sensation rather than any significant meaning. Sensation without context has no real meaning. This is an example of where the technology has stripped the work of its meaning and therefore, its significance.

Talking of significance... I return to my conventions. These conventions are symbols
'A symbol is a type of sign connected to its object by habit, and is the result of a culturally produced meaning'. The meaning behind the symbol is what drives them and the format in which they occur is driven by technology - in this case it is audio and video recording technology. It seems clear that when the symbol is used out of context is produces an amusing result- like a play on words. We are laughing at our own symbol system.

I am thinking about the possibility of ripping a story (firefly dreams) with a context and significant meaning to me and using it to make the film in my project.

Idea Sparks

Last night, at around 3am I could not sleep (might be something to do with the espresso I had my housemate make me) I was thinking about this project, or rather I was stressing about it. I thought about my theme- an exploration of the social consequences of technology and how new technologies or conventions for use are implemented without considering the consequences or the moral dimensions. How the media has such a strong influence on most of society... Influencing what we like and how we like it (aesthetics), how we should behave, what our idea of happiness should be, what is worthwhile, something to compare our own selves and the way we live our lives to, demonstrating a sense of social archetypes. This could be used as a method of control, advertising has always taken advantage of this. It could be described as a method of social conditioning, a power over the masses.

I have thinking about how film grammar conventions originate, there must be a cultural association between the audio and visual that creates a symbolism that the convention is. The symbol within the convention can be understood without realisation that it is a symbol - just with an understanding of the meaning. It seems strange that these symbols can get old... like a certain generation will be aware of the meaning but new conventions are formed that make the old ones obsolete to new generations of cinema goers. This can be compared to language and how it has evolved. It could be said that certain conventions used at a time echo the 'taste' of that time (forming a loop - where the taste is determined by the media but the media is influenced by the taste of the time). How we live our lives is directly influenced by technology, being the tool we use to work, communicate etc.. So it is clear that 'taste' of a certain time is highly influenced by the technology available at this time.

It is interesting how the cinematic experience has advanced with the advances in technology... I once read an account of how the cinema can only expand in terms of our five senses, touch smell etc... I propose to create an interactive cinema experience, and a short film to demonstrate it.

Facelees: Trapped by Technology

Sci-Fi theme?

After a second tutorial with Greg it was clearer what the project was lacking. After being confused at why the idea wasn't flowing anywhere or not having the slightest idea how to realise any of my ideas it occurred to us that.. I was unsatisfied that anything would produce an interesting result and this was because of a focus on the techniques/methods of film, rather than any sort of issue behind the conventions I rave on about nor anything that interests me- I always wanted to move away from the work I did at undergraduate level because it wasn't creative or interesting to me to write technical reports or research techniques. Hence I was stuck on how to realise the idea.

One of the initial questions Greg asked me about the project was 'Whats the context?' I was unsure what he meant by the question. We spoke about the ideas I had - which were that firstly I could just demonstrate these conventions, secondly I could 'short-circuit' them and lastly I could research into their cultural origins... I was unsatisfied with the latter two and the last needed more substance.

It then occurred to me what was meant by the context of the work. Explore an issue far more interesting to me than just testing out these conventions. The conversation grew once I'd realised this, we talked about the piece I did with Ben about the 'dangers' of technology. There were many issues that interest me that came up- cultural perceptions of different behaviours of characters in films, what effect they have on society and behaviour, taste and etiquette in social situations. The power over the cinema attending public and all that they encounter that film-makers could possibly hold- I'm talking about being brainwashed unconsciously by copying behaviours and tastes of characters we see at the movies. This issue is also explored by Titchner (I mentioned in my last project.) What the social consequences are... Greg mentioned Brave New World. We thought about 1984 and A Clockwork Orange. Greg also recommended watching Blade Runner. Greg asked me what sort of literature I read at School- the simple answer is not much. I read an awful lot and loved young adult sci-fi and fantasy. I particularly remember reading one book Firefly Dreams in the point fantasy series, out of all of the books I read that one stuck out the most... I am going to reread it and see what happens.


We spoke about auteurism and how blockbuster movies are complex works that cannot be controlled completely by the director etc. Greg relayed that often its the video-editor that would place the conventions into the picture. What effect does this have to the end result- is it a completely different product to what was first envisioned?? If so, how far has it strayed, is this detrimental?

From being an avid film watcher, I always notice that there seems to be a shared aesthetic to films made in certain ages and there always seems to be a plethora of films exploring the same subject in a certain age... For example Sci-Fi exploring the consequences of technology The Terminator in the early mid eighties. Film about aliens in the early nineties Men in Black, The X Files etc. Early noughties to present epic fantasy trilogies/series - LOTRs, The Golden Compass, Chronicles of Narnia. Recently films about terrorism and world politics 9/11, Charlie Wilsons War, Iron Man, Bourne Identity. (I'm not saying that all films made about aliens were always made in the early nineties but just that there seems to be a pattern of occurrence.) It appears that they echo the mood of the age.. Then do they heighten this mood - point out issues/mask others. If so, this could be used as a powerful tool to control the opinion of society at large. Scary! Perhaps Symbolism plays a manipulative part aswell... More on this....

Realisation of Project

The interactive element of this project could be realised in two ways: either by having an interactive interface for the audience to use - like a joystick or button. Or by sensing the audiences presence.

My initial feeling towards the former option was that it was too crude and unsubtle. The idea of simulating a virtual dice to select what audio went with what visual. echoing dada poetry et al. This idea seems too systemmatic as the clips should be able to flow one after the other to form a story effectively. I can to the same conclusion with buttons and other controller - it is not the intension to turn the audience into djs/vjs.

So.... the latter option offers a few variations. Firstly - one big sensor that detects any movement in its field. The upside to this is that it would be simple to programme.

I believe there is a way to detect population.... so the more people in the room the piece could evolve accordingly.

IR sensors detecting where people are in the space.

And Impact Sensors underfoot detecting the audiences passage
through the space.

Final MA Project

For my final MA project I always proposed to research how one can alter a perception of image using sound. I have been collecting conventions of film sound grammar.

Such as: Wind Blows/Wind Chime Sounds - signals - Natural Disaster (or paranormal activity).
Reverberant Gunshot (out of many shots) usually preceded by a pause- signals- Someone has been Shot.
Celestial Strings/Harp usually accompanied by a dissolve- signals - transition into memory/past event/day dream.
Psycho style high pitch shrieks - signal - attack
Barking Dogs - signal - somethings wrong

Any many more....

I am interested in how these conventions aid the communication of a narrative. I thought about conveying a narrative just using these conventions. I think that there is something quite funny about pulling them apart and revealing them for what they are. In light of this, I've also thought about selecting a number of clips involving an event using one of the conventions, then mixing up the visuals and audio to review the result in the form of an interactive installation.

During a recent tutorial it was advised that I looked into semiotics and social archetypal communication. It was stressed that there should be a performance/interactive element within the project to fit the brief of the project..

Experiments with Movement Sensing

So far I have set up the sensors and cameras, gathered some audio material for the sound sculptor to sculpt and thought about what effects and how they could be applied to give the right impression. I am at the stage where I will be testing out these certain effects and will choose the most effective ones to feature in the installation. More on this later.

I am concerned about the aesthetics of the performance. What I already know is that I will have and octagon or hexagon of perspex screens and the sensors and cameras will be placed on these. Whether or not these will be perfect shapes i have left open. I am keen on the idea that certain areas of the space will have different sonic characteristics. I have already decided that there will be four areas each triggering different groups of sounds. and this will be realised using the four IR sensors that I had so much trouble getting to work. Overall subtleties of sound sculpting overall will be realised by cameras. I have three iSights, mid and side and one birds eye view. This information from the cameras will control effects on all outputted sounds from the sensors. Probably in the form of filters and delays. As previously mentioned I am concerned about thaat aesthetics of the performance. I originally intended for the room to be dark and laser beams would be visable to the audience. However, I am unsure whether the motion tracking in jitter will be able to see well enough. The laser beams would be static beams projecting the beam of the IR sensor and I feel a quite important aspect of the installation. I suppose that even if the beam is not seen the dot will be seen but this wil not be as effective, I feel a compromise coming on :( One way would be to use luminosity sensing, but stil the laser beam that jitter would be sensing would be static and so no movement sensing would not work this way. If I could find a way in which this could work- for example using the laser level that emits a line and this line could be intercepted to show horivontal movement. But I can only find one of these lasers lines in my budget. I would need two front to back and side to side. but maybe I could work this out with the proximity on the IR sensors. I originally intended to map out the image coming in from the cameras into areas that possessed certain sonic characteristics- but am starting to worry that it won't work because the lighting will be low.

Tech Problems solved

This post celebrates my arduino and sensor success!! I cannot believe how such a simple thing has cost me so much time. I bought my sweet little arduino mini and tiny ET looking sensors almost a month ago. I have just this minute got them to output data into Max. I had problems with the arduino software- I now feel I am quite familiar with it after quite abit of troubleshooting on the forum and with Jamie and Lawrence at the conservatoire. There is still one issue- Lawrence did mention this tbh - the input data does seem to fluctuate even though I (carefully) soldered on a 100uF capacitor onto the sensors power and ground. I am going to ask Lawrence what value capacitor he used to solve the problem. If not, I am sure there is a max object that can smooth it. If I use Max! Jamie was showing us a few things in PD that looked really interesting. Although I'd better use Max now because if I changed my arduino set up to work with PD I don't trust it to work again!! Another project for PD perhaps.

I have been looking into using some information from a motion capture system. I have been doing some research and have found that I can input 4 firewire cameras into a computer using a hub and plan to map the input so certain areas of the image can effect the sound output- I feel I am getting closer to a system that will allow the 'sculpting' of sound in space by combining the sensor data and motion capture. I have been looking at a few Jitter objects to this. Now I intend to talk to Greg about what resources I have and how I can experiment with them.

Also I have been thinking about my lasers- it seems that green lasers are better than red lasers in being able to see the beam. I am looking into gettin g some to some the IR beam visually.

Tech problems

I have been trying to set up 4 IR sensors to output to an arduino board- a simple enough operation but it has taken me weeks to get to this point. Now it doesn't work. The arduino board has completely died! I have wasted so much time tralling through forums etc I am starting to panic that I will have done nothing at all by the assessment. I have also spent alot of time reading and writing my contextual essay. I has been very beneficial because I have found quite a few works similar to mine and the theoretical analsis of them has been really interesting. Messa Di Voce, Very Nervous System, and more recently Mark Titchners Run, Black River, Run (see Picture above) have been really inspiring. In Mark Titchner installation which I went to see at the baltic- the piece is really powerful, The sheer awesomeness of it, to me, expressed how small we are in relation to these big companies (or authorities as I like to relate it) The video installation was visually very powerful for reasons I'm not going into atm, but the sound (similar in all his works I have now discovered) was mesmerising/unsettling/hypnotic, I obviously already liked the use of the mechanical voice in the piece, and it was interesting to hear how he had got the mechanical voice to sound hypnotic. Maybe it was the evolving sort of synthy sounds that looped around with the vocals that was causing the mesmerising effect or just the fact that the vocals were going around in a loop and after a while a rhythm would appear to the listener. I found this very interesting - I you place patterns deep into a piece and loop it will these 'hidden' patterns/rhythms emerge after a while of listening??
Anyway, meanwhile, I have been gathering some sounds- I recorded my own computer talking in a few different voices. I also wanted to capture electrical hum - So I sat next to my rather noisy fridge and recorded that. I have been gathering robot sounds and electrical equipment sounds (microwaves/beeps/internet dial up) I also have spontaneously recorded anything that sound interesting, loaded sound such as lighting a match or a gas hob. I will compose a montage to see what sort of tone/sound environment I can make from these sounds. I intend to talk to Lamberto about musical form to help me do this.

The Mechanical Voice

The sound material that will be represented could be in the form of a mechanical voice. I felt that the mechanical voice would embody the suspicion of the attitude of societies mistrust toward the ‘dangers’ of technology. The mechanical voice is alarming to us because it displaces language as a human communicative tool. A relational device from using the idea of the phenomenological ‘I’ speaking from its interior- via an exterior medium to the exterior of another in order, to communicate interior relations to its interior. The mechanical voice speaks from the object of which there is no phenomenological ‘I’ and thus questions the internal mirror of humanity and the self defined presence. Communication begins in the mind- as social activity ultimately from mind to mind. Mechanical objects certainly do not have minds, and therefore, the mechanical voice (as singular representation or sound event) would be borne of nothing! If mechanical objects were able to perceive the phenomenology of ‘I’, learn of its own presence (as a mechanical object), possess human intelligence would prove the mechanical vocal output is borne of an interior. Speech always supplies social and cultural tracing individuality intrinsically enacts and a machine possessing this kind of human intelligence and individuality would point towards either chaos and the lack of a soul, or the (hardly credible notion) that machines could possess a soul. The mechanical voice irrationally evokes the notion that our own humanness ‘could’ be disproved.

By using voices in the performance to be manipulated by the spatial gestures of the generator could be suggest that the generator is conjuring the mechanical voice and emitting them from his or her body, this would be less alarming as the voice would take on the interior of the performer and his or her human characteristics instead of suggesting that mechanical objects have minds, or in a very surreal way the voice invisibly inhabits the space and they are ‘talking’ to the generator and he/she is communicating back.

The Architect?

I have been watching alot of sci-fi now I've been thinking about this project and have been noticing some issues that seem to reoccur. Firstly, the skepticism and suspicious way authority is questioned, secondly the faith in humanity or the faith that man-kind will always have a saviour.

After a session with Jonathan and a tutorial with Lamberto I have a thought of a way of realising the concept. I am going to enclose 'the artist' or 'the saviour' in perplex screens shaped in an octagon (represent the cacoons from the matrix that kept the humans alive in the human farms!!) separating the artist from the spectator. Inside the octagon the performer has the role of the generator - triggering and/or reacting to the audio and visual material. The octagon will be rigged up to infra red proximity sensors (I have chosen these because they emit a single beam which can actually be shown to the audience by means of a laser pen- smoke will have to be involved!). There will be visual material presented by CCTV monitors- there will be 4 to 8 of these screens and the signal to them will be controlled by the performer. I propose to scramble the signal of all of the video streams until the performer gets into close proximity to the associated sensor then the signal unscambles the closer the performer gets to the sensor. The visual material and audio material will not be from the same source.

The original idea was sculting space in order to sculpt sound, after a tutorial with Lamberto we approached this issue and came up with ideas about a block of sound would begin the performance and the sculptor would use movement (detected by the sensors) to add and subtract audio elements. Revealing sounds hidden under the wall of sound, adding or subtracting certain sounds to the mix. We also discussed generating pulses or rhythms by the movement which I feel will be interesting in a real time interaction. I recently read somewhere that the city hums at 50Hz due to the AC-powered equipment- perhaps I will start with this.

Technically I am apprehensive about the project and there are a few problems with the arrangement of the piece that will need to be experimented with. such as the location of the CCTV monitors - it is important for the performer to see them in order to interact but as the performer in behind the screens this proves problemmatic.

For now I am going to gather sound material to experiement with and attempt to produce a mock-up of the installation in order to begin composing. I was also thinking about the idea of site-specificality and thought it would perhaps be benficial to compose in the Recital Hall for the recital hall to enhance the piece as it would be tailored to the space.

Concept 1

Over the course of the last few days I have been developing an initial concept for the performance I below mention involving sculpting space in order to control AV. The idea is still in its early stages and I haven't much idea of how I would realise the concept- I will jot a few ideas down here but maybe I should intend to experiment with the technology in order to fall upon a way of realising the the idea. So to experiment with technological process in order to fall upon a way of representing the idea?

I was reading a book (recommended in the reading list) called 'The Edge of Art' The text used case studies mainly in the field of internet art to demonstrate the analogy presented in the introduction that technology is a virus and art provides the antibody. Upon reading this text I began to think about this analogy and the seemingly cultural facination with the 'dangers' of technology that much science fiction explores. The moral dilemmas surrounding genetic research come to mind when thinking of technology as a virus. I often wonder whether we take ourselves too seriously and we are actually scared of losing our 'humanness' or perhaps in reality the meddling in genetics could only lead to grotesque results. What really interested me is the concept of technology turning on the human race as in the Matrix films and the Terminator series. I believe that the paranoia that seems to surround new technology and implementing it into our social conventions is borne from the science fiction we encounter. I cannot say that I understand how most technology works and that maybe it is alarming how something that alot of us don't understand can have suc a bearing on our lives. There is a fear that it evolves so quickly most of us have lost control and we are left vulnerable, computer hacking could provide an example of this.

The piece could be a parody of the science fiction mentioned, it could also comment on social issues of implementing technology into our lives in the way of CCTV, GPS, internet social interactions and generally the complex systems we now live by, for example the production line and the network of economics.

New Semester Projects

Upon completing stage 1 of the masters programme I am venturing out on my own.
I want to observe the relationship between visual and sound by means of experimenting with different aspects of this relationship. After a tutorial with Lamberto I now have three different projects in mind.

The first idea involves a series of photographs taken of a walk through an urban park on my way into town everyday. The photos document the light each day as I walk through the park into uni or to work and mark the passing of time and will hopefully show the passing of the seasons in central Birmingham if I get enough pictures. I am interested in the subtle changes of atmosphere the light creates and wish to experiment with different soundscapes or maybe a sound narrative (due to the static nature of the stills). Lamberto suggested that something to establish the notion of passing time would be beneficial in the piece and I thought it would be important and immediately thought of Bill Violas 'The messenger' and the sounds of going underwater in it used in this piece to induce the notion of sleep between the days of the photos. I originally pictured the end result to be an installation, perhaps interactive, where the audience could control which picture and accompanying sounds to explore, maybe scamble up the sounds to perceive the, if any, difference sound makes on the atmosphere of the picture once it has already been established. At the moment I feel this is the least strongest of my ideas and feel it needs another level.

The second idea splits into two:- a performance and a fixed media piece.

The fixed media piece will involve presenting a number of film sound/music conventions and film grammar in order to form a narrative or improve the communication presenting a narrative. I am in the process of seeking out these conventions by watching a few films.

The performance will involve a dancer sculpting the sound by means of movement in a space, I am gona experiment with enclosing a space with some screens Lamberto has in his office, and use some sensors or something similar to capture the movement. I immediately thought of infra red sensors in films such as oceans eleven as a form of security for precious objects. I wish to observe the reaction of the dancer to the visuals or sound or both or in terms of sound to visual or the other way around. As the dancer would control an element of the sound or the visual there would be a feedback loop where the dancer would be reacting to what she/he controls and is controlling, and controls the sound/visual whilst reacting to it, would there be no end? I think it would be interesting to suggest a sculpting of space that controls sculpting the sound and project visual. I feel that this project needs a theme or a concept in order to progress. Lamberto suggested a text to follow, I am going to look at other works similar to get some inspiration.

LRRH Performance

Old Film

After showing Nick Jones the judderman video he suggested we tried a plug-in in an obscure editing program (on a PC!!!) It was incredibly simple to put the plug-in onto the film and adjust the properties to our desired effect. The result was the film looked like, well an old silent film with a hand cranked camera. Complete with blemishes, hairs, flicker, tint and jitter (juddery effect). It looked cool, and certainly complemented and enhanced the style of film film and for me because of the old film effect I associated it with the nosferatu film and so associated that sort of atmosphere with it. We added titles in a gothic styley font - we thought it was quite amusing as it was so over the top. Next week, (last week) we have booked the studio and are going to mix the audio in 5.1 Surround and do the DVD authoring to submit.......

Post Production

This week Carla and I have been putting the last touches to our music video. After having a break from the production over christmas I cam back to watch the video with fresh eyes and was pleased to find that the effect was creepy but in a quite amusing way. We were hoping that we would be able to film the establishing shot with the moon in shot. However, the weather did not permit this- so I had the idea that we could find a picture of the moon on the net and layer it over the establishing shot (zoom into the lake). Once we had placed the (resized) moon into the sky and used automation scaling and positioning to move the moon with the zoom. The effect looked ridiculous!! We spent quite abit of time trying to get it to look natural but had to give up and go for more of a comedy effect (I must have laughed everytime I saw it!). I was very pleased with it once I had gotten used to it - it was certainly very surreal, tying in nicely with the rest of the video. Next we attempted to lighten up details of some of the shots in the woods just to establish some background- we used contrast and tweaked the RGB Balance. We enhanced the red in a big way, Greg made a comment that we looked like east european witches and it was felt that the red made a contribution to this effect. I preferred the aesthetic look of the brighter red highlights anyway. A few fade in/outs and cross dissolves were added (although not too many or it would have cheapened the whole thing) to smooth out some transitions that needed it just to improve the flow of the film. A few edits were tweaked and now we are going to see if we can emulate the effect of a hand cranked camera. We have placed soft edges on the footage- it was felt that this frame gave the film an 'old' character. 

Everytime I watch the progress I feel more and more of a weirdo, the middle 8 scene that we acted backwards in order to reverse to play forward in particular looks effectively creepy. This certainly corresponds with our theme of dark fairytales.