Interdisciplinary 5
Forward Movements
To start this week off, I took some more photos and experimented with lighting editing.
Taken on iPhone 14 Pro.
I actually love the mood of these hugely – I think I may star to edit all of the others in the this form. It’s hard to make the ones during the day this moody and unsettling esque. But I feel these have quite a lot of strengths, to do with the liminality side of things. The clouds really come through. Using my phone gives more of an imperfect feeling compared to my full frame camera, which is a plus. I especially love the photo of the church (Photo 3) as it feels really atmospheric. The 2nd one is also worth a mention.
This week I will really be finishing the project, as mentioned before.
I have also arranged with Janos to help me after the tutorial next Monday with displaying my project in the project room with him as the audience. A projector has also been booked for Monday as well to display my film in the room also. I will film and photograph the room with Janos inside to properly display my project as a conceptual draft.
Reflections:
This week’s lesson was interesting with formulating the group workshop but this time assigning roles to each person and making the workshop more group led then just being deligated by the lead. The two successful workshops I’ve led before had me directing and leading the projects, which worked too but this is a cool change. I wasn’t feeling 100% so I couldn’t effectively take part in the group properly as I usually try too.
I was thinking of how I could bring my element of microphoning and sounds to the workshop but I couldn’t think of anywhere it would fit in the time we have.
The group critique was also helpful too as it managed to let me confirm which direction to go with the sound elements. People seem love to the photos too and the concept is working as it is giving off the mood that I am trying to convey, which is uncanny and off, and potentially dystopian. Liminality has these feelings within it’s theme.
Upon researching different types of headphones for the project concept mockup in the project room, I’ve found that I can’t actually find any TRUE 5.1 headphones to properly simulate surround sound. This may be an issue as I am definitely going down that route no matter what for the immersion side.
So I may bring in some speakers to get this surround going properly.
Below is an overview of surround placement for the audio.
In the middle of the photo you can see the PAN bar with 4 squares to the right. Each channel has been deemed a position on the audio spectrum. I will soon change the back channel to rear L/R channels in time.
Square 1: Back Channel
Square 2: Centre Channel
Square 3: Left Channel
Square 4: Right Channel
The sounds (once complete) will really try to immerse the viewer of the film and put them into the moments of the photographs. Arguably, I think that speakers will be a better option overall as headphones will not give the same feeling.
More photos and sounds get recorded and taken – it’s just a case of finishing the film, which will happen in the next few days, ready for the mockup on Monday. Below are some more sample photos:
One idea I had is that since the film is starting off in 35mm film then having the film eventually turn from day to night. So the 2nd half of the film will have photos of nighttime shots, which is more of a liminal stance. This could be the transformative nature of how night feels compared to daytime. this isn’t the core of the film but it’ll wrap up the reasoning for the change of vibe with the photos.
Just a quick look into the production again – I thought I’d put in some screen grabs of the sound side too. I have made it to it is immersive enough in stereo to counter the 5.1 problem as I will not be able to bring that many speakers for 1 hour on Monday easily. So making sounds in different stages within the left and right stereo balance sounds pretty good so far. Below you can see where Audio dips in and out on curves. I have also made the pier segment true to the immersion quite well, It sounds like you are inside! 1st image is the earlier stage of the project and the one below is a closer look at the sound.
I went to take photos of the space for the proposal form today but sadly it wasn’t available due to setting up of a new exhibition. So below is something I made in photoshop, it’s not ideal but its better than nothing. It shows the projector with the film shown onto the wall with the headphones.
I thought I’d end this week with a proper overview of my project so far. The sounds are starting to work with each other and with headphones, it’s immersive and nearly works. Looking back at how this project evolved, I wonder where I took could off taken it further but it’s too late now. It may look short but its only half way (as I had to restart the whole thing the other day) and the other half will be finished soon.
Troubleshooting time!
So when I exported my film from DaVinci, I had serious horizontal magenta lines. I tried everything and I thought it may of been this Mac I bought as its old – but I exported the timeline in XML and exported it within final cut pro. It worked! And I didn’t lose any of my progress, again!
Hi Mike, great to read about your process and progress, and to hear that you’re doing a test install and documentation after class today. Exciting. The visual language of this project and your photos is consistent, strong and compelling. Uncanny, the eerie and strange are all coming through. I think the idea of documenting / tracking day to night is an interesting one. Why do you think night time shots convey the liminal? What is it about the light and less people that conveys liminality as a feeling. I wonder if you want to write more about the vibe and mood of this project. What feeling are you trying to invoke with this work? Why? How? The sound and video editing process looks good. I’m really curious to see a draft of the film. In terms of the installation draft, is this the final display format you’re going with? To develop this, explain your reasoning. Why a single screen? Why a pair of headphones instead of speakers? Make sure you’re contextualising your practice, and linking it to other artists who work in this field. You have done this in previous posts, but it’s good to zoom out of what you’re making, and ask, where does my work fit in in terms of historical and contemporary art practice. Great to see visual documentation and reflection this week’s class. Finally, be sure to evaluate what’s working and what’s not in terms of your project – show careful and in depth reflection on your work. This project is really strong, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the images of the install go this week. Finally, think carefully about the structure and look and feel of your week 10 & 11 presentations. Be sure to caption your images and cite your sources and include a list of references. Looking forward to seeing what you get up to this week and seeing the film take shape. Caitlin.