The Project’s Current Standing And Future Plans – Pre And Post Crit.

21/1/12

Pre Crit:

Currently, taking into account the fact that our crit is coming up in a few days, we feel confident about our progress with the project. We have our audiovisuals ready, a basic MaxMSP patch (which still needs refining however) and a completed track base. Thusly, we have working prototype of the instrument along with exact floor plans and many aesthetic arrangements/intentions for the final installation. We plan to continue testing and making the piece as good as possible before the crit, but there are a fair few developments we have had over the past few days which alter the urgency of having everything ready A.S.A.P.

After discussion with both Liam and each other, we are now certain of the direction we intend to take this project, and plan to continue work on it for the next ‘Professional Project’ unit. We felt the upcoming critique could be used as test run for the prototype project as it stands, to help us refine it in the coming weeks and months. Liam agreed this would be a good idea, meaning that so look as our prototype portrayed our premise and direction, it did not have to be the finished project.

We felt the project, once completed, would work well in a festival setting, so we decided that once we’d got a little further in making the project work, we’d try and get it involved in some low-key festivals and art shows. This would mean a fair amount of networking and research, but we are excited about the possibilities and opportunities it will bring. One suggestion Liam gave us, is to create a website with demonstrations/documentations of previous works of Tom’s and a refined, completed current project, for use as a ‘promotional’ tool to demonstrate what we have to offer potential spaces (festivals, shows, exhibitions, etc). I know a couple of website designers and/or people who could help us out with this, so felt it would be something to work on over the coming weeks, once all the project refining and documenting had been completed.

Before the upcoming crit however, we plan to iron out as many problems as we can to make the piece as good as possible for the demonstration, as currently (mentioned in the previous post) we have a couple of issues with aspects of it. These are some of the problems and how we intend to fix them either prior to the crit, or once we begin the refining process in the next unit:

• The fluctuating, weak Arduino signal – This is an issue based around the wiring and it’s connection to the Arduino board. It can be fixed by soldering the wires into the connection ports, strengthening and making permanent the connection. However, as we currently do not have access to a soldering iron (and won’t before the crit), this will have to be something we do during the refining stage. For the crit demo we can simply connect everything as well as we can and tape the wires to the ‘instrument’ base, resulting in less wire movement and more connection stability.
• The double triggering, overlapping pressure pads – Initially we though this problem could be fixed by cross-fading the media alternations in the patch, but this would have only been a temporary solution, as the mats and stoppers will most probably have to be disassembled during the refining process anyway. We can’t fix this problem prior to the crit, but we can in the refining stage by taking off the stoppers, spreading the pads out equally and non-overlapped, and replacing the stoppers on the edge or changing them altogether. This will be worked out when it comes it comes to it.
• The issues with the Max patch - As previously mentioned, the subtlety of the transitioning between the different levels of visual opacity and audio volume is currently non-existent, making the changes between the 5 different triggers very noticeable. This will just be something we will have to research in the coming weeks, and if we happen to resolve it prior to the crit then that will be a bonus. The same is true for another issue we are having with the patch, as it also seems to be playing the visuals in a sort of ‘preview’ mode, so despite all the QuickTime files being full quality HD, when running in the patch they are played very pixelated and low quality. This issue is even more noticeable when the visuals are played through a projector, so we will work on trying to fix this prior to the crit. But, like previously, if this isn’t possible immediately then it will have to be rectified during the refining stage when we have more time to research how to resolve it.
• We currently don’t have all the aesthetic material we need for the piece – We don’t have much of the aesthetic items we intend to have in the space for our crit, but these can be sourced in the coming weeks fairly easily. Even then, they are not necessarily needed for the crit, as it’s purely a demonstration of the ‘instrument’ and our direction for the installation.

Finally, we have decided to name our project ‘Forest Floor’ for now, as we feel it is a simple name that ideally portrays the kind of imagery and themes we are striving for.

Post Crit (24/1/12):

The Crit went well, with a fair amount of positive response all round. People got involved working the ‘instrument’ and despite it simply being a prototype, I feel our intentions and direction were put across to everyone fairly well. People liked the ‘back-to-basics’ nature of physically rolling a log back and forth and it became (albeit basic at this stage) a communal experience for the people involved; the desired effect we wanted it to have.

It did highlight a couple of issues however…

As we had not tested it with the intended 6 people before, we noticed how, despite making the movement of the log much smoother, people had a tendency to unintentionally trigger the pads with their hands by leaning on the base, etc. This will be an issue we will have to try and resolve during the refining stage in the next few weeks.

It also highlighted the fact that we may need to look further than our course for help in MaxMSP, as troubleshooting amongst the class and lecturers proves fairly unsuccessful. This is something for us to take into account during the refining stage, when we are working on the patch.

Overall though, we’re happy with how it went and looked forward to moving this project onwards in the next unit.

The Pressure-Sensor Pads and Synchronising Everything with MaxMSP.

14/1/12

In order to test everything together, we had to buy the pressure sensor pads that we intended to use. We knew exactly what size they needed to be and after a fair amount of research into local stockists of them, we found the best place to get them would be Maplins in town. We ordered them online and it came to around £40:

Tom had already imported the audio and visuals into the Max patch and we knew roughly how we intended to correspond each pad with the audiovisuals, but we needed to attach the pads to the base and each pad to the arduino board before we could test this.

These are the pads once we had stuck them to the base; they had to be slightly overlapped for them to fit on. We hoped this would not effect how they worked but knew that if it didn’t we could un-attatch the pads and stoppers and re-do them:

We ensured that the wires were accessible and in the correct order before we connected them to the arduino and stuck them down:

We then attached the wiring together and stuck it down, syncing the wires with the correct holes in the arduino board:

We then tested the pads with the Max patch with our hands and then with the log to see if they trigger successfully, which fortunately they did. However, the overlapping and sensitivity of the pads did mean there was a fair amount of double triggering. We thought we could combat this by trying to find a way to crossfade between our set volume levels and visuals, as this would make the double triggering much less noticeable and smoothen the transition between the two ends of the ‘instrument’, but we had little luck finding a way to do so. So we settled on it the way it was and decided to refine it in the coming weeks, most probably taking the wiring and stoppers apart and removing the pads to re-attach everything in the most effective way. This is a video of some of the testing we did of the pads:

For the top sheet which we would use to hide the pads, we decided against our initial idea of staining a white sheet with mud/foliage, as Tom found a couple of sheets which fitted our base and suited chosen aesthetic perfectly: Their design was similar to the bark of a silver birch, so this was ideal for use in hiding the mats:

To attach this top sheet, we decided against our original plans of taking up the stoppers and re-attaching over the sheet or cutting holes in the sheet to fit the stoppers. Instead we decided that because we would be un-attaching it to re-work the wiring, pads and stoppers, our best method of attaching it would be to fold the ends of the sheets to fit inside the stoppers, plus it taught, tuck it underneath and staple it in along the inside edge, ensuring we do to staple to wires. This would also act to protect the wire connections and arduino, thus stopping any potential faulty triggering. This is the base with the sheet attached and the underside view of that attachment:

 

Overall our tests were fairly successful, there were a few issues when we had finished (overlapping pads, weak wire connection to arduino, no crossfade between changing audiovisuals, etc) but we felt these could be ironed out and the ‘instrument’ could be refined in the next few weeks as the project moves forward. We have a working prototype with audiovisuals for the crit, so we’re happy with the current progress of the piece.

Shooting and Editing the Visuals:

10/11/12

As the MaxMSP patch and audio we planned to use were beginning to take shape, we felt getting the visuals shot would have to be done as soon as possible. It turned out Drew was unavailable for helping us shoot due to his workload, but Sirus was completely available, so I spoke to him to see if he could shoot in the next couple of days. He said he could, so we decided to shoot the next day so long as it was dry. Initially we wanted a sunny day, so the beams of light would cascade through the trees, but as time was of the essence, we decided to shoot whenever we could.

Due too our reccy a few weeks previously, the stump and verdant tree we intended to shoot were mapped out in our heads, so if all went to plan, shooting wouldn’t take long at all.

We got to the forest, set up and shot two, 4-minute takes of both visual from slightly different angles to ensure we got one we were happy with. These are some photos Tom took on his phone of the shooting:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

We were happy with the eventual outcome of the shots and decided on the two angles slightly further away from the tree as they were the most cinematic and fitted well together when overlaid, as the tree and stump were the same width.

Once we had the visuals shot, it was time to move the editing/colour correction stage. But first we needed to decide how we were going work the footage in MaxMSP. These were our options:

• Just have the two contrasting, fully colour-corrected Quicktimes and adjust the opacity between them through 5 points (the pressure pads) in Max.
• Have 5 separate Quicktimes – one for each pad on the scale – all with separate opacity values (e.g. 0%/100% – 25%-75% – 50%-50% – 75%/25% – 100%/0% – or whatever percentages look like they represents these) and fade between them as each pad is triggered.
• Have the two contrasting Quicktimes for each end, but also have one other (50%/50% opacity mix) representing the middle three (opacity mixed) pads.

Eventually, we decided on the latter option, as it would be easier to work into the Max patch as a starting point to represent what we intend to do. We decided that once we refine the ‘instrument’ and understand the Max patch better we would progress onto have just the two Quicktimes, opacity fading between each other, but for now this would work for what we wanted to portray in the crit. We also realised, that using the second option (having a QuickTime for each pad trigger) would mean Max would have to run 5 different, high-quality Quicktimes simultaneously, giving the computer and program a lot of things to run at once, potentially crashing it while in use. The way we intended to temporarily use; having three separate Quicktimes running, would be easier for the program to run, but the most effective would be the option we intend to run with for the actual installation; running between two Quicktimes via opacity adjustment. This is because apparently opacity adjustment is a fairly simple processing tool that Max handles very well, we just have to ensure the opacity alternations are smooth and the Quicktimes and exactly the same length for seamless looping.

Once we had this decided, I could move on the editing and colour correction stages of the visuals. For the ‘Dead’ visual of the stump, I added a slight vignette, brought up the whites, brought down the blacks, brought up the blues and lowered the saturation:

…For the rejuvenated end, I added a subtle vignette, brought down the blacks and upped the saturation slightly:

…And finally for the mix of the two, I placed them together on the timeline and adjusted the opacity on each until they looked even (38%/69%).

This is a YouTube video of the before and afters of the visuals:

I asked Tom what the best format would be for the Quicktimes to run in Max, and he said H264. So I exported them full quality as that to give to him to put into the patch.

Tom put the videos into the patch and they played when triggered within it, so in theory this means they should work well in reality.

How we intend to prevent ‘Passive Audience Mode’.

6/1/12

When viewing installations, some audiences become passive amongst the space, and as we are not informing them directly and specifically where to go or what to do, we must ensure we strongly imply in order for them to feel comfortable doing so.

One thing I found while on my work experience placement with ‘Rolemop’ on ‘Broken Loops’  (here) is that, even when the piece is interactive and audience reliant, sometimes audiences don’t feel assured that they can have an inter/active role. On the multiple ‘Broken Loops’ test runs we did, audiences would come in, knowing that it was an interactive piece and they would play a role in moving the narrative forward. Yet many times there would be long gaps where audiences did nothing, becoming completely inactive within the space, possibly feeling that the narrative would run it own course.

To combat this, we devised a few techniques that got the audience feeling more comfortable to activate the triggers and move the narrative forward. On the first test run, we lit each trigger with a very direct spotlight (using the stage lighting we had access to), signalling to the audience that they were the props that initiated the ‘memory’ projections and thus, the set of dialogue between the actors.  This worked fairly well, yet not as well as we’d initially predicted, so we decided that for the second test run we should take things a step further. For this run Alex, the show’s director, got in touch with another actor he knew who could play the role of a barman. This barman would then become an interactive addition to the piece, directing audience members to do certain activities (subtly getting them to activate the triggers). This worked fairly successfully and it was decided that he should play this role when the piece begins its run of paid shows.

Much like ‘Broken Loops’, our piece also relies heavily on audiences actively triggering the audiovisuals and exploring the space, so it is imperative for them to feel at ease working everything. Of course, ‘Broken Loops’ is different to our piece as it involves interactive actors, altering the audiences comfortableness and assuming the narrative will take it’s own course, but nevertheless it is definitely something we have to be wary of with our own piece, as audiences can become complacent amongst a space. To combat this, we plan for multiple things to act as signals for the audience to feel comfortable being active amongst the piece:

• Firstly, the placement of the foliage/twigs, etc will create paths amongst the space for audiences to follow, directing them to the instrument primarily, but also around the projector screen partition to the stump and to the television monitor.
• Secondly, the 6 mats on the floor beside the instrument, as well as being a colour scale of dead to rejuvenated, should hopefully act as a signal to the audience that the instrument is there for communal/group use.
• Thirdly, the ‘instrument’ is central in the spaces layout, potentially signalling to the audience that it is an integral part of the installation and there for use.
• Finally, the monitor will show the view from the CCTV camera, which will be pointing at the ‘instrument’ showing audiences interacting with it, or subtly direct audiences to do so.

Despite all this, and the intention to direct the audience, the signals must remain subtle and mustn’t influence the audience’s decisions too blatantly. We also do not want to force a specific narrative path for audience to take, only suggest direction for them; else the illusion will be spoiled. The only slight exception to this is we hope for the audience to view the tree stump last as it is slightly hidden, so it will usually be the final discovery. But if this is not always the way it works then we do not see it as too much of a hindrance to the installation.

Developments in the Housing of our Piece and the Freedom it gives us:

5/1/12

Throughout the planning and pre-production of the piece, we were set on having a space to house the installation prior to the crit. As time went on we spoke to a host of different potentialities, none of which were available in the timeframe we had: The Film Production studios were entirely booked until February due to the many projects going on and the Fine Art studios were the same.

However, we stumbled upon a possible route for the showing of our piece due to Tom knowing some people studying the Fine Art course. He found out that for their end of year project, they have to curate an art show, giving us a potential space and purpose for our piece, but it would be between April and May. Tom spoke with Kieran Leonard (the Fine Art student) about whether this could be a possibility and was greeted with a positive response. So potentially, if this plan was given the go ahead from Liam or Phil (our course lecturers), we would have an art show to house to the installation, an ideal scenario for this project.

Eventually, we spoke to Phil to see how he felt about this direction, and he was happy with it. He felt that, on the condition that for the crit we had a working ‘instrument’ with corresponding, completed audiovisuals and MaxMSP patch, exact plans for the aesthetic side of the project and the conceptual side fully formulated, we could house and display the installation whenever, and however we wanted. This was a perfect development for our project, as it allowed us the freedom for a number of things:

•  It gives us the freedom to utilise the time we would spend looking for a space pre-crit, and focus more on other pressing aspects on the project.
•  It gives us (potentially) as long as we want to refine the project and make it as good as possible – More time can be spent finding the perfect aesthetic items for the piece such as the stump and foliage.
•  We would have time to perfect any flaws with the workings of the ‘instrument’. Any problems could be troubleshot in the weeks we have to develop the piece.
•  Aspects such as lighting can now be taken into account. We had the idea to have lighting which changes corresponding to the end of the board being triggered; the dead end triggering a colder, bluer lighting and the rejuvenation end triggering a warmer, more wholesome light, adding a whole new atmospheric element to the installation. I spoke to the course technicians about this briefly to see how they felt we could achieve this/how we could tie it in with our MaxMSP patch, and they said the most effective way to do this would be to use ‘DMX lighting’: http://www.onstagelighting.co.uk/lighting-equipment/stage-lighting-control/dmx-lighting-systems/ We plan to look into this is in the coming weeks.
•  Having all the time we need on the project also opens the possibility of taking it further than we initially planned. Once refined to a point we feel is exactly how we want the piece, we could potentially see if there is any interest from small festivals/other art shows to house the installation. This then also opens up the possibility of taking this project into our next unit, The Professional Project, as we would be taking it into a completely new, professional environment. So potentially, thinking ahead to our Pro Project, we could take this current project a lot further for it, pushing it into other areas like small art shows and festivals, and see how far we can take it…

While looking into other possible ways we could house our installation in future, Tom found a group of Events Management students (via student email) looking for art works to display in an exhibition housed in an abandoned shop:

We got in touch with them and are currently waiting a response.

Discussion About Intended Audience Perceptions.

4/1/12

Despite the fact that we were quite clear about the conceptual direction and themes of the piece, we still felt it was necessary to discuss the perceptions we wanted to create for audiences. For example, we know we want to portray the transitions between two states of winter, but do we want it to be perceived as a specific narrative journey from one point to the other, or to leave it completely down to audience interpretation?
We could let the log take its course across the instrument and leave it where it lays – portraying no specific narrative journey, or set it to a specific point each time it’s used – portraying a journey from death to rejuvenation or vice versa.

After some discussion, we felt the piece would benefit most from being left completely down to interpretation as, for an art based installation piece, this seems the most fitting.

However, despite the ‘instrument’ portraying no specific narrative direction in the piece, we felt the installation itself should create a subtle path for an audience member to follow. For example, we felt making paths in the floor out of the foliage and twigs, etc would be a perfect way to subtly direct the audience around the piece. There could be a large space around the ‘instrument’ and then small pathways towards the television monitor and around the projector partition to the stump. This would then give audience members direction through the piece. However, this will depend on the space we acquire for the housing of the piece, as it may be slightly different in shape to the floor plan, so these pathways may have to be re-thought at the time of set-up.

Another point must be taken into account regarding audience perception as well, and that is the tree stump. As displayed in the final floor plan, the tree stump we intend to house behind the projector screen partition will hopefully act as a discovery, made by audience members venturing around the piece. We assume, due to the layout of the installation, this discovery will be made near the end of the audience’s journey throughout the space, hopefully making it the final discovery, similarly to the cherry tree in ‘DreamThinkSpeak’s ‘Before I Sleep’ production. In that production, the cherry tree symbolised a glimmer of hope in a dystopian outlook of modern Russia, although this symbolism relied heavily on audience interpretation.

That is a question we must ask ourselves regarding our own project; is the stump (being potentially the final part of the installation) there to symbolise anything specific or is it down entirely to audience interpretation? Is the stump there to portray a happy or sad outlook or no specific outlook at all?

After a fair amount of thought, Tom and I felt that, seeing as the stump slightly references the tree stump in the visuals (which itself portrays the death winter brings), it should have a subtle portrayal of winters deterioration and death, but still be left open enough for audiences to create their own interpretations and conclusions about it. We intend to light and dress-up the stump well to make it a visually appealing conclusive feature, all in aid of allowing audience members freedom to decide what it potentially portrays.

Designing and Creating the Track.

23/12/11

Now that we had sourced all the ‘instrument’ base materials, and we knew the exact size it would be (due to the fact we knew the pads we would buy, the exact size of 5 of them together and that we had a log that fit our desired specifications), we could begin work on the creation of it.

Essentially, we needed to create a table that was strong enough to support the heavy log, large enough to house all the pressure sensor pads, the log and the stoppers, flat and level enough to allow the log to rest anywhere on the board and roll smoothly, and high enough to be used by people kneeling on the mats beside it. To make certain of all this, I decided to work out a few measurements:

• Each pad’s length (72cm) would equate roughly to the width of the base. So we felt 74cm would be the ideal size for the width as it allowed a centimeter of space each side.
• Five pads laid width-ways (5x38cm) would equal 190cm, so we decided to make the length 196cm, leaving room for the stoppers at each end. Due to the thinness of the pads, they could also be overlapped slightly, so this measurement didn’t need to be 100% perfect.
• We wanted the table to be around knee height, as this would be the ideal height knee kneeling next to it on the mats and all equipment would fit neatly underneath. I worked out that this would mean each leg should be about 45cm, making the combined height of the whole ‘instrument’ around 48cm.

As mentioned in a previous post, my dad had agreed to let me use his selection of tools and guide me throughout the creation of the base, as he has a fair amount of previous woodwork experience.

We began by marking the two separate boards of wood that would become the top of the base, with the measurements they would be cut to. Then we started cutting the boards to size using the circular saw.

To attach the two (now cut to size) boards together and reinforce, we cut a 2-meter wooden bar to size and screwed both boards to it, making certain it was strong enough to stop the two top pieces bending by standing on it.

We then continued to reinforce by attaching a second wooden bar along the left hand side, a third across the right and one on each end. We wanted to make certain the wood wouldn’t warp over time or bend while in use.

We then moved onto the legs, measuring 45 centimeters on 8 and cutting them all down. As the top part of the base was now so strong, we felt it was likely that we’d only need 6 legs, but cut an extra two as spares.

A leg was then attached to each corner with 3 screws to guarantee stability; one through the top and one on each outer side. The two middle legs were then screwed in with only two screws each.

The base could now stand alone, and we could get a rough idea of what it would be like in the piece. I tested the log rolling on it and it was perfectly stable. This is a video of all the above stages (the video features my dad demonstrating how I should do each stage, for me to then copy):

A couple of days later, I decided to cut and attach the stoppers using the log we had found in Meyrick Park a few weeks previously. This log fit in well with the themes of the piece and we felt it would be an ideal aesthetic yet purposeful addition to the base. The log was roughly a meter long, so we decided to have each stopper measure around 21 centimeters each, giving us space to cut off the worn and damaged ends. I cut the ends off and cut the remaining log into 4, 21cm sections that would then act as stoppers.

We finally screwed the sections on in 3 points per stopper from below, making sure they were solid and strong enough to take the weight of the moving rolling log. Once this was done, we had completed the construction of the ‘instrument’ base and could begin working on attaching the pads and fixing on the mud/foliage stained sheet. Holes will be cut in this sheet to allow the stoppers to poke through (also keeping the sheet in place) and it would work to hide the equipment underneath the ‘instrument’ (laptop, speakers, arduino, cables and projector).

Overall, I think we’re very proud of the track base. It’s sturdy and stable and fulfills its purpose successfully. I also gained a lot of knowledge about woodwork and look forward to creating things like this again in future.

Collecting some items for the piece.

18/12/11

 Over the weekend, I went to visit my mum to check out the item she had sourced for the piece. I documented what was there to send back to Tom for his opinion. There were two logs for us to choose from, both the perfect size with ideal cylindricality:

This is a test of me rolling one of them:

Also, I got to see one of the potential stumps we intend to have in the space. This one was very similar in size to our rolling log, but was quite dissimilar to the one we intended to use in the visuals. So we may wait for another one:

I was then shown a selection of potential aesthetic items we could use in our piece. I intend to show Tom these and we can decide what we want and the quantity of it for the space:

Finally, my mum showed me two skulls that she had found while working. I told Tom and we agreed that these would be amazing additions to the piece:

All in all, we are really grateful for the opportunity to have of all this for our piece. I took the logs and skulls back with me, and planned to collect the other items nearer the time we have a space arranged for the installation.

Tom and I also managed to get hold of some Mats from a charity shop, which fit our desired colour scheme and would act as a signal to the audience that the ‘instrument’ is for interactive use. Two are green, two are light brown and two are grey; this can be used to represent the rejuvenated side of the scale, the dead side of the scale and transition in-between:

Floor Plans

12/12/11

To move our project further, we felt it would be a good move to make a series of floor plans to show the layout of the installation within the space. At first I decided to put together some rough draft layouts for us to then work around, ensuring we included the ‘instrument’ base, the log, the projector and projected surface, the CCTV camera and television and the entrance the to space. We felt it wasn’t worth portraying the general aesthetic additions to the space (the foliage, twigs, dead wood, etc), as this requires little planning and would be done once everything was set up within it. These are the first 4 layout ideas I had:

These four drafts made us ask a few things about the general layout we intended to eventually settle with:

1. Do we want one or two projections (dead on one and rejuvenated on other or single with both visuals interchanging through opacity adjustment)?
2. Do we want one or two CCTV cameras and Television screens?
3. Where do we want the camera facing? – What do we want to both shown on the television?
4. Do we want to use a projection screen as a partition across the room?
5. Should the projectors be visible/obvious or hidden?
6. Is there anything additional we need to add to the space?

After discussing it in depth with Tom, we decided that we wanted the general layout of the piece to have a slight symmetry to it, as this would signal to the audience that the ‘instrument’ was a central part of the installation. We also decided that we only wanted a single projection, which would also act as a partition across the centre of the room. We felt this projection must also be easily noticeable by the audience member triggering it, so it would have to be fairly close to the ‘instrument’ they would be using. Additionally to this, we could then use the ‘instrument’ base to conceal the projector and all the other equipment we will use to make the piece interactive (the laptop, the arduino board, the cables and the speakers), preventing the projector from hindering the aesthetic.

As for the CCTV/TV monitor, we felt we only needed one of each, with the camera pointing at the instrument (showing the ‘instrument’ being used on the monitor). This would act as a signal to the audience that the ‘instrument’ is for interactive use, and thus would hopefully benefit the piece a lot.

Finally, we came to the conclusion that we needed something else in the space to enhance the aesthetic. After looking at other installation pieces, we decided to take some influence from DreamThinkSpeak’s ‘Before I Sleep’ which had a cherry tree as it’s penultimate feature (referencing the cherry tree in Chekov’s novel and the themes portrayed in the rest of the piece). We decided we should have a feature similar, and decided that an actual tree stump, referencing the one in our visuals and similar in size, texture and shape to our rolling log, would be ideal for that. We would have it lit well, symmetrically placed behind the projection screen partition, so the audience can discover it as they move amongst the space, and it would tie in strongly with the themes of the rest of the piece.  I got in touch with my mum again to see if we could also get hold of a stump, similar in size and texture to the rolling log, and she said this would not be a problem, promising to get in touch with us once she had it.

Now we had made these decisions regarding the space layout, we felt it was worth making another layout draft taking it all into account and describing what was changed (the key from the previous floor plan applies this plan too):

Once this was done and we felt we were entirely comfortable with it, we felt it would be worth looking creating a final layout plan, one that would be in colour and done well on a computer. I spoke to my housemate Jack who studies second year Graphic Design to see if he could help us create it in illustrator, and he was happy to do so. There were a couple of final things we decided to alter for it though; we wanted the log to not overlap the base and also to show the stoppers on it. This is that final floor plan:

Like the previous floor plans, this does not portray the aesthetic additions to the piece (like the dead wood and foliage, etc), but after some discussion, we felt it would be an interesting idea to create pathways for the audience to follow through the foliage, giving them subtle direction around the piece and again signifying the interactive instrument is for audience use.

Sourcing materials for the space and deciding on the audiovisuals.

10/12/11

Now our idea is settled, we need to begin sourcing our materials and deciding the exact content of our audiovisuals. When sourcing everything we must ensure it all applies to our specific aesthetic in order for it to have the best effect on the audience when placed amongst the piece. We intend to portray a natural winterscape, so a lot of attention should be paid to colour (focusing on a colour scheme of browns, whites, greys, blacks and greens) and style (using dead wood, winter foliage, and other things amongst the piece to represent the cycle of winter).

We felt we should start by finding our rolling log, as this seemed the primary part of the interactivity of the piece. We felt the best way to do this would be to venture to Meyrick Park and look amongst the forests for anything we could use. We also felt it would be a good idea to look for potential spots to shoot our visuals (looking for a dead tree stump and a verdant tree both in slight clearings) and also to look for other foliage for aesthetic use amongst our installation.

We found a few potential logs…

But eventually settled with this one initially, as it seemed fairly cylindrical and weighty enough to trigger the pads:

However, we then came to the realisation that despite the fact the log was fairly heavy, it was not cylindrical enough to roll smoothly or shaped in a way that the weight could be distributed to trigger the pads successfully. For this we realised we would need a much thicker and shorter log, which in turn would also be heavier. We decided that the first log however, would be worth keeping as it could be used either aesthetically amongst the piece, or be cut down to make the stoppers for the track base stopping the rolling log falling off the end.

As we were in the forest, Tom and I felt it would be wise to search for potential foliage and other aesthetic items we could use in our piece. We searched for things that fitted specifically with the theme of the piece, taking colour and style into strong consideration.

There was an abundance of this bracken, which was brown one side and silver the other (fitting perfectly with our colour-scheme), so we felt we should note it down and collect it at a later date:

Tom said how he had a lot of foliage in his garden that would suit the piece very well aesthetically, as well as a large quantity of bamboo that would fit it nicely with the Gamelan audio we intended to use.

We then set out to find possible places to shoot our two contrasting visuals; the stump and verdant tree. As verdant trees were in abundance we felt we should focus on finding the stump as it was much more specific. These are some photos of potential stumps, however in the end we did not settle with any of these:

Eventually we found our desired stump: one that was in a slight clearing and due to having been there a while, was rotting away and perfect for our piece.

We decided that to get the most aesthetically stimulating visuals, we should shoot on a clear day when the sun is low in the sky, as the sunlight through the trees looked ideal. I felt it would be best if we could shoot using a DSLR as this would enhance the visuals hugely. I decided to get in touch with my friend Drew who studies second year film production at AUCB to see if he would be available to help us shoot in the coming week using his Canon 5D MkII. He said he may be around but due to his busy schedule he couldn’t guarantee he’d be available. As we have a fair amount of time before we will need the visuals, and as the weather isn’t ideal at the moment, I said we should play it by ear. To be sure we would be able to shoot though, I also got in touch with my friend Sirus, who is on film production year one and has a Canon 550D. He said he would be available to shoot in two weeks so we planned that if we hadn’t managed to shoot with Drew by then, we would shoot with him.

For the corresponding audio we intend to use in the piece, we wanted to have Gamelan-esque, melodic sound signifying the rejuvenation and return to stability winter brings, and a harsher, white-noise sound for the portrayal of winter’s death. Tom wanted to have and active role in the creation of this as he’s had a fair amount of previous experience in sound design and has all the equipment necessary for it.

He felt an interesting method in the creation of this music/audio would be to create a lot of it through analogue processes (to then digitise it afterwards), as it then adds an atmospheric rawness and distance that would work perfectly in our piece.

Additionally, a very helpful part of him creating this audio is that he knows the exact theme of the piece, so will be able to create something that fits perfectly with it.

We plan to discuss it a little more over the next few days and then Tom says he will begin work on it all once we know the exact themes we want the music to play upon.

As we had not found a rolling log during our search through Meyrick Park forest, I felt it would be a good idea to get in touch with my mum, as she works in forestry in the countryside and would be able to source a vast amount of things that we would need in our piece.

We knew that the size of the track would depend on the size of the pressure sensor pads, so I looked into how big they would be in order to get and idea of what size we would need the log to be. Generally, the pads were about 70cm long by 40cm wide, so this would equate to the track being about 72cm wide (as the pads would be laid out widthways) and the log to be around 60cm. This would mean however, due to the shortness of the log, it would have to be wide enough to have enough weight to trigger the pads. So we decided the best dimensions for our rolling log would be between 60 and 65cm long and 30cm wide (straight across, not the circumference measurement), whilst also being cylindrical enough to roll smoothly.

I asked my mum whether she felt it was be plausible for her to get hold of a log or cut one to this size and she said it would be fairly easy, due to a wealth of forestry at her disposal. After explaining our piece to her in detail, I also said that if there was anything that she felt would fit within the theme of the installation that we may otherwise not have access too, could she collect it and let me know.

Having someone who works as something so relevant to the project is incredibly helpful, and as we do not have immediate access to all the things we may need for the final piece we intend to utilise this accessibility throughout the project, regarding that it is feasible with my mum of course…

Finally, we had to start thinking about sourcing the materials for our base, as this would be a huge part of the interactive ‘instrument’. At first we felt we may be able to source an old door which we could use as the primary base piece, and simply attach legs to it, etc. We could potentially source everything we needed from wood-recycling centres, off Internet pages like ‘freecycle’ or even from skips, trying to save as much money as possible. But then we came to the realisation that not only might a door as a base piece not be big enough to house all the pressure sensor pads and the stoppers, the unpredictability of finding everything we needed through those means was unlikely, and thus a bit too much of a risk for us too take.
As an alternate solution to this, I decided to get in touch with my Dad, who usually has a fair amount of wood lying around that could potentially be used as the base. The main piece of wood would have to be almost 2 metres (192cm to be exact) in order to house everything perfectly and also would have to be strong enough to support the weight of the log. We would also need to create between 6 and 8, 45cm wooden legs in order to fit everything underneath and make the base the ideal height.

I got in touch with him to see what he had to spare and if it fit any of those specifications and he told me that he had a large selection, of which we would be able to create the base with. However, he said how despite the main piece of wood being long enough, it would have to be reinforced in order for it to hold the log. Additionally to this, he said how it would most likely be too thin, so as he had two of the same length piece, we would have to attach them together and reinforce that too.

I asked if, due to his wide selection of tools and expertise with woodwork, he could possibly help us with the creation of the base and he said yes, but it would have to be over the Christmas holidays when I went back home to Brighton. This was ideal, as he also offered to help transport the completed base back to Bournemouth, so it seemed ridiculous to refuse.

So we now know we will have a rolling log in the next few weeks and access to an plethora of varied, relevant foliage, we know we have the materials to make the base and have the expertise behind us to make it, we know how we’ll create the audio for the piece and what it will potentially sound like and finally, we know what we intend to shoot for our visuals and have people who are willing to help us do it. We can now move onto other aspect of the piece and begin creating everything…