Initial Potential Client Research and Correspondence.

06/03/2012

The intention of this unit is to bring our project into the public and professional realm, this means starting up correspondence with and applying to suitable and local (within 100 miles preferably) festivals, clients, arts shows and events nights in and outside of AUCB. We felt it would be important to try and get our project involved in events that fit in with the themes and aesthetic of the piece, and with this in mind we began our research into possibilities.

We started by researching fairly local and small festivals as travelling too far with the project may be an issue (something we intend to resolve in the coming weeks). We felt we should try and stick to festivals with tickets prices under £100 as we felt the piece would work much better in these more intimate environments and spaces. We also thought that an important aspect would be the vibe of the festival, as our piece is arts-based and will need an aspect of that (or a general open mindset by audiences) to be fully appreciated. We took that all into account and plan to apply to this initial list of festivals in the coming days and weeks:

• ‘End Of The Road’ Festival (http://www.endoftheroadfestival.com/):

This festival has an ideal, intimate atmosphere and encourages art pieces, which is perfect for our piece. Also, the fact the festival has an ‘enchanted forest’ and a ‘healing field’ adhere to our project’s themes even more.

• ‘Wilderness’ Festival (http://www.wildernessfestival.com/):

Wilderness fits our theme perfectly, as it is situated amongst a forest and plays on a range of accordant themes. It would blend in perfectly with the surroundings, allowing to be discovered by audiences through the exploratory nature of the festival.

• ‘WOMAD’ (http://womad.org/)

‘World of Music, Arts and Dance’ is a perfect festival to try and get involved with as despite its large size, it attracts a huge arts audience and could potentially give the piece a vast amount of use.

• ‘Hop Farm Festival’ (http://hopfarmfestival.com/)

‘Hop Farm’ is very local to my hometown, Brighton, and has a great music lineup for a small festival, which will potentially attract the kind of people who will enjoy the piece.

We also intend to continue looking up festivals that fit the piece, so we will continually try to find out through word of mouth and looking online about new ones that we can apply to.

Another way we intend on getting our piece into shows and events is through collaboration within AUCB; talking to people on DMP (3^rd year), Fine Art and Arts and Events Management, to see if any would be willing to work with our piece.

We felt the most obvious place to start would be on our own course, as there are people in the year above who work in installation. Tom spoke to a student called Kavi (http://mynameiskavi.wordpress.com/), who he had worked with briefly in the past, about her experience with installation work, whom to get involved with and any possible collaboration ideas. She said it would be a good idea to get involved with fine art and just to generally promote the piece as much as possible (set up a website, apply to any local shows, etc), but most importantly she also said that she would spread the word about our piece to events and clients she had worked with in the past, and to any other events that she felt the piece would fit in with. We were very appreciative of this.

Soon after this, an Arts and Events student on the third year called Katie got in touch with us, saying she found out about our piece through speaking to Kavi. Along with her work partner Chloe, Katie runs an event night called ‘Howl’ (http://www.facebook.com/HowlAgency) at a Bournemouth bar called 60 Million Postcards, which involves live local bands and interactive/installation artwork. She asked us if we would be able to get involved in the upcoming ‘Howl’ which would be in a week, and we said how due to the fact the project was still in its refining stage, we wouldn’t be able to, but could do the following month and Katie said this would be fine. This gives us 5 weeks to get the project to a stage where it can be held in a show context.

This is Tom’s correspondence with Katie:

*(Emails)*

We also got a group email from another group of Arts and Events students regarding a show they were setting up in an abandoned shop, and were looking for Art pieces/installations to house in the space. We responded to this email enquiring as to whether we could get involved, but are yet to get a response:

*(Emails)*

We will continue looking for potential shows, events and festivals over the coming months, but for now this is a good start and gives us a basic timeframe to work around, ensuring we have the piece ready for what is likely to be the first show at ‘Howl’.

Issues highlighted at the end of the previous unit.

05/03/2012

Nearing the end of the previous ‘Performance Video’ unit there were a few issues we had with the project, which we intended on ironing out during this unit in preparation for potential upcoming shows (http://alhodgsonn.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/the-projects-current-standing-and-future-plans-pre-and-post-crit/). These are the issues we had and our plans to overcome them:

• ‘The fluctuating, weak Arduino signal’:

An issue we had with the first prototype of the piece was that weak trigger signal. This may have been due to the weak connections into the Arduino board, as this is how the laptop and Max project read the triggers. Now this may not be the only reason for a poor signal, as the pads themselves may be part of the problem, but we can certainly help address the issue by rewiring the pads into the Arduino as securely as possible once the pads have been re-positioned. We would then secure further using strong tape to ensure this wiring didn’t come out of place when the piece was being used or transported. Initially we considered soldering the wires into the Arduino but, despite this being a very solid way of attaching them, it would be permanent so any mistakes would ruin the Arduino and be irreversible. We will sort this general issue as soon as the piece has been redesigned; once the pads and stoppers have been repositioned.

• ‘The issues with the Max patch’:

Approaching the crit in the previous unit we were still struggling with the structuring of the Max patch, as we could not figure out how to subtly transition the multiple different opacities of the visuals. For that crit we decided to simply have 3 states of opacity, and allow the alternate triggers to interchange between these states. This wasn’t our ideal scenario but we intend to work on this issue throughout this unit, testing different options with audiences and noting their responses. Tom has a much vaster knowledge of MaxMSP than me, so he is most likely to take this role in developing the Patch. It will be a continual process and will most likely have to be tested once the base has been redesigned, but research and experimentation will be a key factor.

Also we had a problem with the quality/pixilation of the projected visuals, but after some research following the crit Tom discovered this was an issue that could be resolved by altering the MaxMSP video playback resolution. So soon afterwards he changed this in the patch and this issue has now been resolved.

• ‘We currently don’t have all the aesthetic material we need for the piece’:

We felt the crit last unit should act as a test of how audiences interact with the piece and how it works in that setting. We didn’t see it necessary to fill the space with décor (not anywhere near the amount we intend to use in future shows anyway), as it was purely a demonstration of the prototype and a test. We have access however, to a vast array of forest related décor and fitting aesthetic material due to my family contacts in forestry. This means that when it comes to future shows in a festival environment, we can decorate the space to our desired aesthetic. I plan to have a meeting or phone call with my mum in the coming days/weeks about what kind of décor we can attain and when, as we can arrange the collecting of it prior to upcoming shows.

In terms of what kind of aesthetic items we’re looking for, Tom and I have put a strong focus on portrayals of life and death (skulls and bones – death, birds nests – rebirth), as well as any fitting items that go well with the pieces colour scheme and style. We will then apply the attained décor to the base and the space in future festival spaces to make the piece look as good as possible.

• ‘The double triggering, overlapping pressure pads’:

An issue we faced throughout the previous unit was the fluctuation of the triggering; how sometimes multiple pads would trigger or not trigger at all, resulting in the transition between the two ends not being smooth or subtle. One difficulty with the piece which may cause this, is that the log isn’t designed to trigger the pressure pads, and similarly the pads aren’t specifically designed to be triggered by a rolling log, meaning that using the log to do so sometimes proves less effective. However, we felt that this was only a small issue as the mobility of the logs, regardless of their awkward shape, usually trigger the pads.

What we found was a bigger issue in the double/non-triggering of the pads was their placement on the current design of the base as, due to the lack of space on the base, they overlap each other.

Thusly, we need to redesign piece to work better in public use/festival environment, altering the placement of the stoppers and spreading out the pads. I intend to begin on this stage very soon, but before I do I feel it is important to draw up some basic plans to follow. I drew an initial plan:

Then asked a friend of mine (graphic design second year) to help create a more specific, digital, final copy of that plan:

The current design of the base forces the pads to overlap, due to the placement of the stoppers, hindering the pads’ ability to easily trigger. In the redesign, the stoppers have been attached to the outside of the board as opposed to on top, allowing the pads to spread out and not me overlapped. This redesign also means that there are more points of impact on each end for the rolling log, doing a more effective job of stopping it rolling off the end.

We also intend to cover the base entirely with the patterned sheet (under-laying with a taught white sheet first), hiding any sign of the construction and technical parts of it. We will attach the stoppers after from the inside.

Professional Project Learning Agreement

03/02/2012

Learning Agreement.

Name: Al Hodgson

Course: FDA Digital Media Production                                           Level: 5

Unit: Professional Project

Reference number: IMD513

Credit points: 45

Study hours: 450 Hours

Tutor(s): Liam Birtles, Phil Beards, Amanda Stephenson and Bob Cotton

Synopsis of study:

For our Professional Project unit, we plan to begin the initial stages of bringing our ‘Performance Video’, interactive, audiovisual installation project, ‘Forest Floor’, into a professional environment. This will involve preparing the piece, testing it in a legitimate audience environment and researching/applying to shows, festivals and events. We feel this is the natural progression of our piece, and through using it we want to experience the professional context of interactive art installation. The experiences from the previous unit working with interactive installation have helped me develop my career prospects, and directed the context of these prospects towards festival, art show and event show-based installation work. I plan to use this unit and project as an experience of the professional installation environment and the pre-production and project development it incorporates.

For the critique and deadline on May 8^th, we propose to present a working, refined and redesigned model of the ‘Forest Floor’ installation piece, completely prepared for interaction and placement in festivals, shows and events. The developments of this piece will consist of a redesigned, complete base with new aesthetic design, adjusted pressure sensor pads controlling the audiovisual levels and redesigned stoppers to enable more enjoyable use and practicality. To bring the project up to a professional level we also intend to develop the audio, by creating a more authentic and longer Gamelan sound, and the visuals, by shifting between five states of opacity as opposed to just three. However, in order for the new audiovisuals to work effectively with the project, we will also need a refined MaxMSP patch that caters for these developments whilst also being of a professional standard. All of these developments will take research, careful planning and time, but in order to have the piece ready for professional level showcasing, it is all very necessary.

We also plan to provide a completed blog each of our research into the development and furthering of the project. This will include all the planning and documentation of the complete project redesign stage, the technical development of the piece, any shows we do and what they teach us in a professional experience, experimentation with audiences to understand how the piece is received, the budgeting and invoicing of the piece and finally, the evaluation of how the unit went. All will be very important aspects in demonstrating knowledge of the professional context of the piece and documenting the development of getting the project to that stage.

Within these blogs, we also intend to demonstrate our efforts in bringing our project into a professional context, as we want to gain a strong feel of how this industry works. Through the blogs we plan to demonstrate all our festival, art show and event research, along with all the resulting correspondence, applications and preparation, as this is the most effective means of showing our advance to a professional environment. The blogs will additionally show our organisation and preparation of logistics and travel, as these are important aspects we must accustom ourselves to for the professional realm outside of university.

We also intend on creating a separate website for the project itself for use in demonstrating the piece to prospective clients. This will further help our progression to the professional environment, as it will be a good platform to demonstrate and publicise our work. The planning and construction of this site will be documented on our blogs.

We want the piece to be fitting in festival, art show and event contexts and, in a critical context, on a level equal to that of the lower budget yet professional end of the interactive art installation industry. We intend for this unit to help enter this industry and show us how to bring our project to a level it will be received and enjoyed amongst others of a professional level.

All this work is achievable as fortunately we already have a set idea in the early stages of the unit. There will be a vast amount to do to get the project to a professional level and enter it into a professional environment, but if we divide the work between us to play to our strengths and start correspondence with potential showcasing early on, I feel the set timeframe will be enough.

Finally, I plan to take on the primary role in the base re-design stage as I have had fair experience with this aspect of installation production before. This means I will take time to plan the new design and begin production and testing on it. However, this is not the only role I will be taking in the project; I have demonstrated the exact roles and timeframes Tom and I intend to employ in the action plan Gantt Chart Below.

Aims: 

A1 – To develop my creativity, knowledge and understanding of professional practice.

A2 – For me to develop and produce a professional standard of creative work in response to a ‘live’ or simulated brief.

A3 – To prepare me for employment, freelance work or further study.

A4 – To develop my understanding of costing and invoicing in preparation for business.

A5 – To encourage me to see critical reflection as a key element of creative thinking and practice.

Learning outcomes:

On completion of this unit I will be able to:

LO1 – Demonstrate a professional standard of creativity and practical ability, including:

• Work that is technically comparable to that made within a specified genre.
• Work that shows an awareness of contemporary trends, styles and subject matter, within commercial contexts.
• Work that shows a high degree of creativity and aesthetic judgement.

LO2 – Respond appropriately to the demands of a professional/self initiated brief, including:

• Appropriate creative outcomes to industry/work related briefs.

LO3 – Demonstrate readiness for employment, freelance work or further study with confidence in the level of your creative, practical and professional knowledge and skills.

LO4 – Demonstrate understanding of relevant costing and invoicing procedures, including:

• The various costing and pricing scales and structures within relevant commercial contexts.
• Timescales for payment.
• Legal requirements, copyright and syndication rights.
• VAT, National Insurance etc.

LO5 – Reflect critically upon work and to use this as a springboard for the further development of ideas and creative practice.

Assessment Requirements:

Deadline Date: Thursday, 10^th May 2012.

For assessment I will produce:

• · A refined, working model of the project, ready for use in a professional environment (festivals, art shows, events, etc.)          50%

• · A personal blog highlighting the further development of the project, the project redesign planning and process, research into the professional environment (festivals, shows, etc), applications to and correspondence with festivals/shows, experimentation in audience reception of the piece and organization of the budgeting and logistics of working in a professional environment.          50%

Assessment Criteria:

• Evidence of knowledge of concepts and contexts (a) – Project work that shows creative maturity and direction within a commercial context (LO1,LO2)

• Evidence of understanding through research and analysis. (c) – Extensive research, and the application of it, used for the underpinning and final conclusion of project work (LO1,LO2,LO4)

• Evidence of realisation through presentation (f) – Work is placed within a commercial context and appropriate methods of presentation used. (LO3)

• Evidence of understanding through critical evaluation and reflection (e) – The objectives of the research have clearly been identified and used to inform project work. (LO5)

• Evidence of realisation through technical application and skills (g) – A synthesis of creativity and professionalism is demonstrated in the conclusion of the project work (LO1)

Action Plan:

Introduction to the Professional Project and our Direction for it.

1/2/12

We are now moving onto our Professional Project unit, our final unit of this year. This is the unit outline:

‘Professional Project draws together your practical and professional knowledge of digital media and provides the opportunity to plan and develop the solution to a live or simulated professional brief. The brief will reflect industry standards and the area(s) of practice in which you would like to concentrate professionally after completion of the course. The unit requires you to consider all logistical and organisational aspects of the brief and to define your proposed solution in a Learning Agreement.

Your Professional Project is the culmination of your creative and practical work on the course. You have an opportunity to develop and produce the practical work required to the highest professional standard. This will be evidenced in the form of professional quality work, displayed in an appropriate way for employment or progression to further study. The work will also be displayed in the end-of course exhibition. The Project thus not only draws together your creative and practical knowledge and skills, but also presents your best possible work to a public and professional audience.

Through consolidation of the learning achieved through the unit and critical reflection, students will have the opportunity to analyse and evaluate all aspects of their work and achievements from the final professional project unit.’

Fortunately, as we have a general idea of the direction we intend to take with this unit, we feel we’re currently in fairly good standing to begin moving it forward. As referenced in many posts from the previous unit, our plan is to continue with the current project; developing, refining, preparing, and promoting it for shows in an art show, event or festival environment, etc. This will also mean documenting the project and finding a space online to showcase it in action, as a visual example of the piece for potential clients, etc.

I am likely to learn a lot in the next few weeks about the promotion/plugging of art installations, as it is something I’m fairly new to. Fortunately however, Tom has worked on a few similar projects in the past so has had some experience with this side of things, so I feel we should be fairly competent at moving the project forward and getting it involved with festivals and shows.

 The unit will involve rectifying any flaws highlighted a the end of the previous unit, redesigning the piece to a suitable stage where it can be brought into a professional context, and researching potential clientele (Art show, event, festival, etc) and beginning correspondence with them in the hope of getting the piece involved. I will elaborate on this in my learning agreement.

PPRD 2 Reflective Writing – ‘MEANWHILE’ Trailer.

The piece I have decided to analyze is a promotional trailer for the DVD release of ‘MEANWHILE’, a ‘Minuit’/Magenta Skateboards collaborative project, filmed and edited by Yoan Taillandier. The video is intended to be a brief, stylistic portrayal of the night skateboarding collective ‘Minuit’, demonstrating the group and their nocturnal utilization of inner-city architecture.

Due to the niche, stylistic nature of both the collective and this project, careful consideration has gone into the aesthetic aspects, composition and themes of the trailer. To begin with, the video plays on fairly tribal themes though the use of Gamelan-esque music, the visual emergence through forestry and the title, ‘A Night Tribe Called Minuit’. The video then begins to cut and layer in nocturnal, urban imagery (such as an owl and tower block) while also introducing the members of the collective featuring in the project. All this is done with fast-paced cutting and adhering to an almost solely black and white colour scheme, representing the night itself. The video then changes, cutting to fast paced demonstrations of the collective utilizing their urban architecture, but cutting each shot before it finishes in order to create viewer intrigue. This section is shot with the archetypal skateboarding camera set-up of the Sony VX1000 and fisheye lens, contrasting to the filmic and Super8 styles of the introduction. The piece ends by cutting from the skateboarding to the DVD title and Taillandier’s name laid over a time-lapse of the night sky, and then the title ‘DVD out now’ over more fast paced, urban imagery, again portraying the essential, nocturnal themes of the project.

Regarding emotions the piece evokes, its main purpose is to create a feel of excitement and anticipation within its audience for the release of the film. I feel it achieves this entirely through its use of face paced, stylistic editing and only partially revealing the skateboarding tricks. Additionally to this however, I feel the piece (much like previous ‘Minuit’ projects) also tries to play on the intrinsic and primal human fear and intrigue of the night. This adds an air of mystery and curiosity, only enhanced by the style and tempo of the music and editing.

Finally, I feel that a lot of messages and meanings can be drawn from this video, and one which stands out to me is the representation of the ‘Minuit’ collective as a tribe. Tribes are often groups alone in their rural environment and this parallels the collective in many ways. They are alone in their usually bustling city; a tribe (subculture) solitarily disconnected in a concrete jungle. I feel the representation is a portrayal of the collective’s utilization of their cities after dark and away from its diurnal inhabitants. Whether this highlights class difference between the group and the rest of the cities inhabitants is debatable, as these details are not obviously portrayed, however cultural and subcultural notions are apparent as the collective are using the cityscape in a different and unintended way. A notion of community within the group is also hinted at, as they are referred to as a tribe, which are often known for working together to be self-sufficient. There is also a very archetypal reference to skateboarding culture in terms of how it is shot (following close with a fisheye lens) and a strong ‘back-to-basics’ element through a lack of modern processes, a use of Super8 film and the fact that the name titles are hand painted. Overall, I feel the portrayal of the collectives’ urban, nocturnal utilisation and the parallels drawn to tribal culture are strongly apparent and, along with the stylistic filming and editing, help in representing ‘Minuit’ as the conceptual, niche subculture that they are.

In Conclusion, I feel there are two most significant aspects of my analysis. Firstly, that of how the parallels between the tribal representation and the urban actuality of the collective are definitely apparent, as this shows a much deeper meaning to the project and work of ‘Minuit’ and shows better understanding of the culture/subculture, diurnal/nocturnal divide. And secondly, how the piece exploits the instinctual human fear and mystery of the night, as this shows how Talliandier has played upon these provocative emotions to promote ‘Minuit’s’ work while also demonstrating fairly complex theory into the portrayed themes and evocations.

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.