Updates

So like I said in my previous post, these few weeks I'm focusing on getting the story right, finding loopholes in the project and just finalising what I need to do before I start filming.

I'm thinking that I should scrap the idea of having an interactive projector, there is going to be another type of interaction - less technological, and more about involving people. Some other device can be used to get the message across, such as an iPad connected to a projector.

As mentioned in my last post my project is now about finding meaning from what is meaningless. This is what is going to happen:

In my tests, I will be giving the viewers a recorder to express what they are feeling when they are watching the randomised clips. I wish to generate different opinions about each clip - if particular clips are continuously evoking consistent emotions throughout all the viewers, they would need to be replaced.

After these tests, the new viewers will be viewing the randomised clips, plus the recordings of the previous viewers. However, this also will be randomised. So a viewer might see a video clip with a one recording, but the clip might appear again at some point with a different recording.

What I would love to do is to have viewers recording the meaning they want to give to a clip, and this is uploaded right away to the applications, joining the other randomised recordings.

I would also like the videos to evolve over a period of time, this is where the visuals and processing come in. When the clips reach a climax of vision and sound, will the recording change, and if yes, how?

In the tests I will be putting a number on each clip for the viewer to say the number before the recording, this is will make it easier for me to assemble everything (unless I manage to put together an automated system!)

New title and new interviewee

This weekend has been productive in terms of researching and brainstorming, not much actual production happened in terms of 'creating' but that's ok. The idea is much more important. Today I was scheduled to do storyboarding, but I felt I need to look at the foundation of the storyboard first before getting into more detail, so instead I did some research.

Change in Proposal title



This was my previous title:
Affective Interaction as experience: Employing Immersive Interaction Design to influence a User-Directed, audiovisual Dionysian experience.

Now it’s going to have to change. I don’t want to ‘force’ a Dionysian experience on my viewers; they are free to feel whatever they want. However I’m still interested in what they experience, and the focus is still to create an interesting experience for them.

This is my new title:

Observing the affective outcome of a non-semantic, open-ended interactive installation. 

Semantic - the study of meaning; I need to look further into this.

I want to see what people feel when interacting with something that is not designed to make them feel anything conceptually. I was speaking with a friend today and she mentioned 'Closure' in Psychology which I'm going to have to look into. She also mentioned the Kuleshov experiment, which shows that even the montage of pictures and videos can give them a different meaning. This is why part of the structure of my interactive project will have to be randomised.

Structure of storyboard

There is a starting-point for the basic structure of the interactive installation; it is a Dionysian one, a dream-state, a substance-influenced experience. Everything starts normal, reaches a climax, and then gets out of control. There is one beginning,  several different choices and of course different endings. The experience is not meant to be positive or negative, the viewer may decide for his/herself.

The contents of the video will be that of everyday life events, some more surreal than others, as the experience moves forward. After the user goes through the first couple of shots, the selection becomes randomized however continues to move forward. I need to make sure the videos are not personal and can be interpreted differently by anyone, this is why I need to test them.

Rather than music, I want to have a selection of ‘meaningless’ sounds.
Music can influence how a viewer feels and as much as possible I want to avoid this.

Antoine Beuger


I was thrilled to be contacted by Antoine Beuger on Facebook, who found my blog and messaged me to give me links to Empty Words by John Cage. I will be interviewing him before I decide on the audio for my project. Antoine Beuger is the founder of the Wandelweiser Group. Here's more from Wikipedia (2011)

The Wandelweiser Group is an international group of composers/performers. It was founded in 1992 by Dutch-born flautist Antoine Beuger and German violinist Burkhard Schlothauer. In 1993 Swiss clarinetist Jürg Frey was invited to join, followed by American guitarist Michael Pisaro, Swiss pianist Manfred Werder, then Austrian trombonist Radu Malfatti the following year, then American trombonistCraig Shepard, and others.

The group runs its own publishing operation, Edition Wandelweiser, and its own record label Wandelweiser Records. According to Radu Malfatti, Wandelweiser music is about "the evaluation and integration of silence(s) rather than an ongoing carpet of never-ending sounds." John Cage is a figure of central importance to the Wandelweiser composers; their music is often referred to as "silent music," taking as its starting point Cage’s work 4'33", the first composition to consist largely of silence, after the "Marche Funebre" by the Frenchman Alfons Allais.

Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie

I must say that the process of food and eating, especially social eating is a big inspiration for my work, even in my free-time illustrating, my favourite element to draw is that of food.

This is why "Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie' by Luis Buñuel is always a source of inspiration for all my projects. One of the shots I want to get for my interactive project is that of the viewer having dinner with a group of people. This shot reoccurs but becomes more surreal and distorted as the interaction ascends into more dream-like sequences. Today I wanted to create a mood board as a source of inspiration for my story but I'm finding that it is a waste of time to try and illustrate the shots I want. The shots are in my head and I know exactly what I want to film, the angles are not that important at the moment. I am currently brainstorming the sort of individuals I want at the table.

New Plan

Ok so finally got around to setting a new plan. As you can see, although every day/week is planned out, the general descriptions are vague. This is intentional - I don't want to tie myself to doing a specific task because I want to keep experimenting throughout, but obviously I needed a structure so I can tackle all the key elements in my project which are:

• 1. Sketchbook work (for sketching, storyboarding, brainstorming ideas)
• 2. Processing 
• 3. After Effects
• 4. Reading and Researching
• 5. Interviewing
• 6. Testing
• 7. Filming
• 8. Editing and Post-Production
• 9. Audio
• 10. Interface
• 11. Installation

1. Sketchbook work will continue throughout.
2. Learning Processing needs to finish before the summer. (Experiments can carry on after that)
3. Reading and Researching will also happen throughout, as well as experimentation in After Effects (however ideally I carry out most of AE before September)
4. Interviewing should happen before filming in case I feel I need to include / exclude any particular shots (but can also continue after filming)
5. Testing needs to happen when my students are still at the college, so before the beginning of June. Additional testing can start again in September, after the filming has been done.
6. The basic filming will be done in summer, but additional abstract shots might be done afterwards if I feel I need to add/change
7. Editing and Post-Production will start in September.
8. Audio, Interface and Installation will happen after September, so I will need to generate a new plan.

Silencing the Sounded Self, Introduction notes

Today I started rereading the introduction of ‘Silencing the Sounded Self – John Cage and the American Experimental Tradition’. This book was one of the foundations of my proposal. I started rereading because I felt I was losing track. I took some notes along the way:
In my proposal I wrote that rather than a controlling artist I want to be a coexisting one. I want to have an open-ended, unintentional and unexpected approach to my project. Although I will be following certain guidelines, I have no goal as such in mind. I want to create an experience for the user, but I don’t want to tell them what they need to experience. I do however, wish, that the experience affects them in someway, whether negative or positive.

“Changed, mind includes even itself. Unchanged, nothing gets in or out.” The changed mind is an open mind, where the ego does not control the flow of experience. The unchanged mind is controlled by the ego, which stops the flow of experience. Thus, for Cage, an openly coexistent process required a “changed mind” that could allow outside and inside to coexist. (Shultis, 1998, pxvii)

In the book, Shultis describes how Cage feels about works by Thoreau, who coexistent, and Emerson, who is more controlling. Cage feels that Thoreau’s works are more interesting because when one goes through them, one is “Surprised and refreshed” and there is “Unexpectedness” throughout.
Shultis goes on to explain that for Cage, a coexistent artist is one with nature, whilst a controlling artist feels detached from it. This reminds me of spiritual individuals and religious individuals. For me, spirituality is much more significant than religion. Religion is all about semantics, and for a coexisting artists, semantics are quite unimportant. Although, Cage admits that many artists will display both characteristics (controlling & coexistent)

Let me talk about my works and my projects in relation to what I’ve been typing above. For my degree, I directed and produced (together with a friend) a short film about consumerism, spirituality, religion and humanity. Needless to say, the film was bursting with semantics and symbolism, but to be honest, these were an excuse for me to film experimental shots. Since my degree was quite scientific, I felt I needed a reason for these shots, and thus the semantics were introduced.
For my Masters, I wish to have a different approach. Every piece of film that I shoot, and every piece of art that I scan and animate, will be essentially, meaningless. Now whether or not it evokes particular emotions or feelings in the user, that is something else. However I will not try to guide the user through a particular journey, the journey will be randomised, and the user is free to experience whatever he/she wants. I do not know for sure how they will feel at the end of the journey, and it doesn’t matter.

The visuals and effects I am currently creating are produced without any actual thought – but rather, drawing something, scanning it, and playing around with the software until something interesting emerges. For my filming, I will have a basic storyboard structure, but no actual predefined angles or storyline.

My next step will be to watch “Empty Words” by John Cage.
‘“Empty words” by Cage – “In “Empty Words,” Cage removes the sentences and initiates a direction where phrases, words, syllables, or letters are dropped one by one in each succeeding lecture until the final text consists of nothing but letters and empty space. Without semantic reference, language becomes sounds in the way music is sounds. Text and music coexist as one.’ (Shultis, 1998)

Watercolour & Video

And here's another experiment. I tried combining one of my latest experiments with some footage I had taken a few years ago (once I get a video camera, I can do this more effectively by having more appropriate footage, but this will do for now). I liked the last bit of the experiment, when the watercolours are much more generated, however the initial parts are quite weak. I also want to be able to incorporate the watercolours with the video in a much more subtle manner, rather than just overlaying them over the clips.

Manovich - The practice of everyday media life

Today I read the essay 'The practice of everyday media life' by Lev Manovich, suggested by my tutor, and I took some notes along the way.

"But in the area of consumer economy, the changes have been quite substantial. Strategies and tactics are now often closely linked in an interactive relationship, and often their features are reversed." (Manovich, 2008)


I must say that I have to disagree with how Manovich discribes that 'strategies' and 'tactics' are overlapping one another and are sometimes reversed. Unless the user can code, I think it is quite impossible for him/her to really cross the barrier from tactic to strategies. If anything, a company makes the user THINK they can cross that barrier, but generally they are still within the limits that the designers and developers set.

A user can buy a blog template, change colours, find background images, move the sidebars etc... but always has to abide by the limits set by the template designer/ developer. To truly be able to set a strategy and completely change the web template, a user has to be a developer. They must know html, Javascript etc... they must know how to hack the design. In the same way, a user needs to have some design skills to create an eye-catching colour scheme, background and header.

In order for the user to be able to truly recreate the strategy – they have to be a designer and/or developer themselves.


"In short, while modern artists have so far successfully met the challenges of each generation of media technologies, can professional art survive extreme democratization of media production and access?"


Let's say everyone gives up on art – what will happen? We will be continuously squeezing every last drop of overly reconstructed art – over and over again – until we have nothing, or more of the same thing. The average user can only do so much with 'remixed' art. Yes in this modern day, 'remixing' is in, but for how long are we going to be revisiting elements which have already been created. I think giving up on art just because it is being copied and reused everywhere all the time does not makes sense at all. Most of the time, when this happens, it is free advertising for the artist, and this is never a bad thing.


"While the typical diary video or anime on YouTube may not be that special, enough are. In fact, in all media where the technologies of productions were democratized (video, music, animation, graphic design, etc.), I have came across many projects which not only rival those produced by most well-known commercial companies and most well-known artists but also often explore the new areas not yet touched by those with lots of symbolic capital." (Manovich, 2008)

Most of the time these projects that Manovich mentions are created by artists and designers, albeit not commercial or popular ones. Rarely are they created by someone who isn't the least bit creative (I say creative because I'm not looking at art as visuals, but also as a narrative piece, sound, etc...) So I think the question is not 'is art still possible?' but 'how is art evolving?' Perhaps the bourgeoise art is coming to and end, whilst artists who are not so well-known are rising because of the quality of their art, and not because of who their parents are, or what museum they afford to exhibit in. This is, needless to say, a good thing.


One of the questions our tutor put on the wiki was : How do you respond to Manovich’s final statement, ‘ The real challenge may lie in the dynamics of Web 2.0 culture – its constant innovation, its energy, and its unpredictability.’?

I don’t think this is a challenge at all – to me this is a breath of fresh air, and for most artists, who do not want to enclose themselves within an unchanging environment, innovation, energy and unpredictability is brought by other developers and designers anyway, so rather than seeing it as a challenge, we see it as an opportunity. Well, at least I do.

Updates

What's Happening?

Ok, I'm a bit stuck at the moment, but let me try and put my thoughts here on the blog. This week I've tried to work on my flowchart and my storyboarding. I've been trying to put this off because it's a scary process... essentially its visualising how the project will look like. Processing is moving slow and although the visuals are taking shape, I'm trying to stay focused on what the project is about, before going out of point.

Discussions

During the chats we've been talking about Web2.0, or the end of Web2.0 - art after Web2.0, open-source environments, the connected, seamless digital works. This got me thinking about my project. I think it is extremely important that my project focuses on the interactivity as well as the experience. We are in a time where everyone is a creator, everyone can be famous, everyone can be an artist. Everyone wants everything to be about them, so it is important that my interactive experience puts the user at the centre of this experience, and makes them feel important.

Flowchart / Storyboard

I've been brainstorming some ideas for filming. I will be filming in the summer, and in september I will start combining the film with visuals. So far the structure of the idea is this:

Structure part one: Norm
The visuals start off calm, perhaps a little bit confusing. I was thinking of having a series of calming shots like the sea moving. After these shots, the viewer finds him/herself sitting at a dinner table where everyone is looking at them. There is a final sound of a fork hitting a plate, as if everyone has just stopped eating and looked at the viewer. I would like to have a few shots of people eating and food. People eating at a dinner table symbolise a very strange experience for me. Essentially it's a couple of human bodies paying to put 'object's in a hole in their face. I would love to bring this sort of strangeness in the shots, or perhaps just a bit of disgust. Disgust is very real, and at this point, reality is what's important in the project.

Structure part two: Interaction
At one point, the person opposite the viewer on the dining table says something like, "Well, what are you waiting for? Do something." This will trigger the interactive process. Since I live in Malta, I would like to have the people in the film speaking Maltese and then have English subtitles. Although this will only happen once or twice.

Structure part three: Reality
The viewer can then 'click' or 'touch' any of the people at the dining table and this will take them to another video. The videos will be shots of everyday life which tend to make us feel uncomfortable, reflective, frustrated... such as a full, busy shop, looking at someone right in the face, trying to draw something but nothing comes out (this stage needs to evolve - I need to brainstorm and research more). The viewer always has a way out of these uncomfortable situations, they can click 'somewhere' and escape to another video. [I still need to see whether the videos here will be linear / random. Osiris suggested a program called 'Soft Cinema' which generates a series of random visuals which I need to look into for ideas.]

Structure part four: Surreality
Eventually the viewer starts seeing visuals in the films. The viewer can interact with these visuals, touch them, (perhaps they change colour, move, enlarge, duplicate). The more the viewer interacts with the visuals, the more intense they become. Audio is introduced at this point. [This part of the structure is still not clear to me, I need to look into it and elaborate on what exactly happens to the visuals, what sort of video is showing in the background) The goal is however, to amuse the viewer and to let them know in a very subtle manner that the more they play with the visuals, the more intense they get.

Structure part five: Frustration
I'm still unclear of what will happen here, but my idea at the moment is that the visuals and audio become so intense that they become intolerable. I want the audio to be loud, distorted, the visuals to be jumpy, pixelated. This is the climax of the experience. I'm not sure whether I should provide the viewer with a way out, or just leave them here. So far, this is the end but it might change.


I will be getting a video camera around May, where I can start taking some test shots, which I can then combine with visuals to start getting a feel of the final project. Until that time, I will continue to read, process, experiment with colour & after effects, and of course update my structure.

Digitised Watercolour II

Another digitised watercolour experiment; this time I deliberately went a bit too far. Although I still prefer my previous experiment, I liked what happened to the lines. The rest of the week will be dedicated to Processing - hopefully finishing Chapter 6.