It has been a day of many accomplishments. It started off with an initially dull and unsuccessful frame by frame experiment in Flash. The final few frames however made it all worth it (I will explain this later).
Together with my friend Eleonora, who's my trustworthy source for technical as well as creative filming/editing advice I set off to film a story I recorded this week. We also visited her grandmother who was nice enough to tell me some stories which I recorded. We came back and have just stopped editing and discussing the project now (3 AM).
We were trying all sorts of effects and filters over the filmed footage, when Eleonora asked me what kind of footage / animation would the user be submitting. I said whatever they wanted, but then realised that if they had to film a one minute video, or a one minute recording, or a one minute music piece, the requirement is so structured and so controlling that perhaps it is not doing its purpose after all. After a long discussion I came to realise that I am going to be tackling almost two projects at once, and it would be almost impossible to get a good result from both of them.
Although I wanted to include the user as much as possible, after various late night careful considerations with Eleonora, we came to the concludion that the submission system has to go. It's painful to see it go but there is something new in store, that is, more interaction - more curiosity - and a way for the user to finally get to his/her closure.
This is what I have decided to do:
There will be the usual one minute footage, one minute recording and one minute music piece. (The amount is not important at this stage). Each footage / recording / music will be given a symbol (this can be anything - again not important at the moment). The user will be presented with three sets of symbols which he/she will need to choose from. The symbols will be ambiguous so the user will not know what to expect when he/she chooses the three symbols.
The three symbols will then play a footage with a recorded voice over and music. The user will then have a choice to go back and try three different symbols... you get the picture.
How can the user win? How can he/she find closure?
The symbol for each story will somehow be connected to its corresponding recording and music piece, although this will not be obvious at first. Finding a link between symbols will reward the user with the 'correct' recording/film/animation/music piece.
So why have I decided to take my project onto this new route?
1. More interaction rather than just submit and click
2. A Goal for the user
3. Project is more focused
4. There is still an element of randomisation but within a context
5. A better guideline for my film / animation style
6. The stories filmed are still something which came from a participant, rather than from the artist's mind
7. A greater potential for installation experimentation as well as distribution
8. For the user who doesn't figure out the 'game', it is still (hopefully) a thought-provoking project
9. Element of unexpectedness is still present throughout - yet it can be personalised
10. A stronger concept of the idea of closure, and continuous testing is viable
One more important note is that by including the submission system, I feel I was getting into some complications - mostly the focus of the project was becoming the programming. I wanted the user to interact and be a part of my digital art project, rather than simply using a program that I have made - I felt this was making the project itself slightly too technical, and it was risking of becoming just another attempt at social media.
I suppose a sketch would be a better way of explaining things - which is why I will be uploading one soon.
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