Tuesday 9 December 2014
An attempt at linking my work
This is embedded from my sound cloud made for this project, if it doesn't work follow this link;
https://soundcloud.com/haa-nah-park
Evaluation of Maps and Journeys
As I have been feeling quite lost in terms of this year and being at uni, being able to focus almost entirely on sound this term has really helped.
For this project I'm glad I teamed up with Laura as it meant the work load was equal especially when producing the final piece. We both agreed that Laura could focus on the visuals and I could focus on the sound. We were both surprised when it was so easy to combine them both however we think it was due to us both having a clear vision and a good understand of what we wanted to achieve.
In terms of the finished installation I really like that it is so simple. Even though it wasn't simple to make the final product, it isn't a complicated "in your face" design. The box was a nightmare to make, and as this is our prototype we agreed to make it out of cardboard for monetary reasons and also for time reasons. However when it is put into the gallery we will have a wooden box that will look cleaner in terms of assembly. I must admit I'm not completely happy with how to prototype turned out but unfortunately due to a lot of restraints it is all we could achieve to present our work.
I do think the fact that we wanted it all to be in the box constricted us quite a bit and I wish that the projection idea could have worked.
Assessing my role within our team.
Due to personal issues my commitment to the entire course hasn't been as good as it could have been. However I have dedicated the majority of my time to this side of the course. As I was doing the sound side of the project I found it enjoyable to try experimental sound and really mess around with how people feel sound rather than hear it. Again I feel that the simplicity of all aspects of the installation is what makes it interesting. In total I used 6 tracks on the entire thing and two of those were double tracked frequencies.
In terms of research I looked into binaural sound recording and how it worked, and also the themes Laura and I were going for.
I also made the prototype box which was oddly frustrating as I didn't realise making a box would be so difficult.
Working with Laura.
I've really enjoyed working with Laura. I'm really thankful for everything that she has done within the project. I am also thankful for her putting up with me through the entire term. She was extremely professional in terms of work process and always got everything done.
I think we worked really well together and I'm glad we both had a very clear vision of how we wanted it to turn out.
Over all experience.
I'm really pleased with how the visuals and sound have turned out and also how well they fit together, there were times where we thought it wouldn't work out and that our idea was too simple, however it has come together nicely. In terms of the presentation of the work I think even though it was such a simple idea we may have over complicated it and I think it could have been better. I am currently talking about our prototype box and I know that the box for the gallery will be of much higher quality and look a lot better, however as I am evaluating everything so far, I must say that I wish we had more time and money to make a wooden box. I think that could be our downfall of our project but I know that when it is in the gallery it will be fine.
I think our ideas came together when we had our final meeting with Rosie and it was all a whirl wind to try and get it done, I think in terms of time management we could have been more efficient but at the same time I don't think we "pulled it together" last minute. I'm not sure how else we could have done it, but maybe we could have spent less time on research and more time on making it, again though I think we would have ended up with a very different end product if we had done that.
To conclude... I think that Laura and I always seem to work well as a team and I think it has all turned out okay, due to me being so distant and having issues with everything I could have contributed more. I know that I have done enough research and done my side of the visual/sound aspect and helped with the presentation but there is some element that I feel I missed.
I am not saying that I didn't put the effort in because there hasn't been a waking moment where I haven't been thinking about this project but I don't seem to have the same passion as Laura.
I really enjoyed working on the box and I think that every element of it has turned out how we originally imagined (thinking to the future as well in terms of the box also).
I just like how no one will really completely understand it at first glance and I love that you need to investigate it more to find out what it's really about; and I think that that gives a good reflection on the theme as a whole, as investigation into the journey of life to death doesn't really have much of a backbone as no one can tell anyone what it is like to die, and the thought of the unknown is always daunting and I think thats a good thing.
I hope that people enjoy it, and understand it, and if they don't then it doesn't really matter because I really like what we have produced.
For this project I'm glad I teamed up with Laura as it meant the work load was equal especially when producing the final piece. We both agreed that Laura could focus on the visuals and I could focus on the sound. We were both surprised when it was so easy to combine them both however we think it was due to us both having a clear vision and a good understand of what we wanted to achieve.
In terms of the finished installation I really like that it is so simple. Even though it wasn't simple to make the final product, it isn't a complicated "in your face" design. The box was a nightmare to make, and as this is our prototype we agreed to make it out of cardboard for monetary reasons and also for time reasons. However when it is put into the gallery we will have a wooden box that will look cleaner in terms of assembly. I must admit I'm not completely happy with how to prototype turned out but unfortunately due to a lot of restraints it is all we could achieve to present our work.
I do think the fact that we wanted it all to be in the box constricted us quite a bit and I wish that the projection idea could have worked.
Assessing my role within our team.
Due to personal issues my commitment to the entire course hasn't been as good as it could have been. However I have dedicated the majority of my time to this side of the course. As I was doing the sound side of the project I found it enjoyable to try experimental sound and really mess around with how people feel sound rather than hear it. Again I feel that the simplicity of all aspects of the installation is what makes it interesting. In total I used 6 tracks on the entire thing and two of those were double tracked frequencies.
In terms of research I looked into binaural sound recording and how it worked, and also the themes Laura and I were going for.
I also made the prototype box which was oddly frustrating as I didn't realise making a box would be so difficult.
Working with Laura.
I've really enjoyed working with Laura. I'm really thankful for everything that she has done within the project. I am also thankful for her putting up with me through the entire term. She was extremely professional in terms of work process and always got everything done.
I think we worked really well together and I'm glad we both had a very clear vision of how we wanted it to turn out.
Over all experience.
I'm really pleased with how the visuals and sound have turned out and also how well they fit together, there were times where we thought it wouldn't work out and that our idea was too simple, however it has come together nicely. In terms of the presentation of the work I think even though it was such a simple idea we may have over complicated it and I think it could have been better. I am currently talking about our prototype box and I know that the box for the gallery will be of much higher quality and look a lot better, however as I am evaluating everything so far, I must say that I wish we had more time and money to make a wooden box. I think that could be our downfall of our project but I know that when it is in the gallery it will be fine.
I think our ideas came together when we had our final meeting with Rosie and it was all a whirl wind to try and get it done, I think in terms of time management we could have been more efficient but at the same time I don't think we "pulled it together" last minute. I'm not sure how else we could have done it, but maybe we could have spent less time on research and more time on making it, again though I think we would have ended up with a very different end product if we had done that.
To conclude... I think that Laura and I always seem to work well as a team and I think it has all turned out okay, due to me being so distant and having issues with everything I could have contributed more. I know that I have done enough research and done my side of the visual/sound aspect and helped with the presentation but there is some element that I feel I missed.
I am not saying that I didn't put the effort in because there hasn't been a waking moment where I haven't been thinking about this project but I don't seem to have the same passion as Laura.
I really enjoyed working on the box and I think that every element of it has turned out how we originally imagined (thinking to the future as well in terms of the box also).
I just like how no one will really completely understand it at first glance and I love that you need to investigate it more to find out what it's really about; and I think that that gives a good reflection on the theme as a whole, as investigation into the journey of life to death doesn't really have much of a backbone as no one can tell anyone what it is like to die, and the thought of the unknown is always daunting and I think thats a good thing.
I hope that people enjoy it, and understand it, and if they don't then it doesn't really matter because I really like what we have produced.
Putting the box into the Gallery, should we use beanbags?
I really like the idea of putting the box in the gallery. However as it is such a small box there is potential for it to get ignored when there are other things in the room.
We would like to put it on a table in either the corner of the room or the centre of the room. However there are things we need to consider such as a charger for the laptop and we wouldn't be able to put the laptop in the centre of the room as the cable would be a health and safety hazard. This will limit us to the walls.
The other idea with the bean bags could potentially work however, with a projector projecting images onto the ceiling could mean that the light would spill out over the room and loose quality and there would then be more complications.
With our box at the moment it is obviously just the prototype and when put in the gallery it will be made from wood. I feel that if there is no sign posts for it and it is very discrete it will be more mysterious to those who do find it potentially.
My drawing above on the floor plan is obviously not to scale (to be honest I'm not sure what measurements the drawing is) but we would want to place it either on a table or build a plinth for it to sit on. We thought that a table and chair could work, or maybe even without a chair as you can just peer in the top and put the headphones on.
Forgetting to publish posts - Development on the final idea
After our meeting with Rosie, Laura and I decided that we needed to add things to just a bass sound and swirly images, the idea of keeping it simple would still apply as sometimes things are better when they are less complicated.
After talking about it in depth, Laura and I decided to add small changes to our piece including a different way to present it.
The sound; as it has to be calming and distracting from the outside world, we decided to pan the frequencies so it creates a "ping pong" effect where the sounds go from left to right in your head without having to make them do that in the edit (if that makes sense). Your brain tells you that the frequencies are moving from left to right when they're actually parallel in panning and not moving at all.
By using a program called Max 6.1 I was able to create patches that meant I could test specific frequencies that I wanted to use in the audio.
After a lot of tests I exported frequencies of 30Hz, 104Hz and 106Hz I then mixed them together and panned them with 30Hz in the centre and the others to the left, I then copied the higher frequencies and panned them to the right, and made sure they were directly opposite in terms of stereo field. This then created the "ping pong" effect. I then decided that the 30Hz was too loud and created distortion that didn't sound nice, I then pulled it back to create more of background noise.
I added in speaking that I distorted into the foreground to create depth, I then panned them to walk around the person listening but not to obvious that it distracts them from what they will be watching on the screen.
_____________________
After another meeting with Rosie, Laura and I came up with a different way of presenting it.
Laura had visited a museum in Amsterdam where they had an entire room filled with bean bags that you could lie on and watch projections that are on the ceiling.
We decided to take that idea and potentially use it for our project and have two bean bags that are either side of a projector and make the audience watch it on the ceiling. This idea however we thought would be better for the gallery in January, so we are currently working on the box idea still.
PRESENTATION
As the box idea seems to be ever changing we decided to branch out from that and almost give it a theme. We decided as the theme was linked to death and the journey from life to death, that we could present it in a way where it looks like a memorial to someone.
We thought the idea of having flowers all around the box and letting them die would be a good way to symbolise it however we thought it may be to cheesy and takes away from the main part of our project. The accessories around the the box however was just ideas that we came up with and again took away from the main focus and it all became to cluttered.
After a lot of deliberation we decided that we should go back to our original idea and just have the box.
The next thing on our list was how to have the hole or view finder.
There was a lot of discussion of different methods and we agreed that the simpler the better and maybe even the smaller the better.
The final prototype, we decided to have the view finder at the top of the box, below are some pictures of our tests.
Our prototypes of "eye holes".
We decided the one at the top would be the best one as it makes you look down and is a lot more comfy to use. We have then made a piece of card to cover the keyboard of the laptop and also to direct the audiences focus.
THE BUSINESS CARDS
One way that Laura thought would be a good way to describe our idea was to put business cards with our names, the names of the piece and a link to a website where people can read about our idea, instead of putting lots of information around the box. This way in the gallery the box is the main focus and nothing takes away from it.
Laura and I came up with some ideas for the business cards and designed some different things, but agreed that the more simple the better.
This is my initial idea;
I think the simplicity of the cards is essential because our whole idea and message behind it is so simple, if we start adding complicated and extravagant designs to it, it could loose what we originally wanted.
THE WEBSITE
Laura being computer whizz made a website for the project. It's pretty self explanatory and it is simple and in keeping with the theme of our entire project.
http://lthomas15.wix.com/-thomasandpark
After talking about it in depth, Laura and I decided to add small changes to our piece including a different way to present it.
The sound; as it has to be calming and distracting from the outside world, we decided to pan the frequencies so it creates a "ping pong" effect where the sounds go from left to right in your head without having to make them do that in the edit (if that makes sense). Your brain tells you that the frequencies are moving from left to right when they're actually parallel in panning and not moving at all.
By using a program called Max 6.1 I was able to create patches that meant I could test specific frequencies that I wanted to use in the audio.
After a lot of tests I exported frequencies of 30Hz, 104Hz and 106Hz I then mixed them together and panned them with 30Hz in the centre and the others to the left, I then copied the higher frequencies and panned them to the right, and made sure they were directly opposite in terms of stereo field. This then created the "ping pong" effect. I then decided that the 30Hz was too loud and created distortion that didn't sound nice, I then pulled it back to create more of background noise.
I added in speaking that I distorted into the foreground to create depth, I then panned them to walk around the person listening but not to obvious that it distracts them from what they will be watching on the screen.
_____________________
After another meeting with Rosie, Laura and I came up with a different way of presenting it.
Laura had visited a museum in Amsterdam where they had an entire room filled with bean bags that you could lie on and watch projections that are on the ceiling.
We decided to take that idea and potentially use it for our project and have two bean bags that are either side of a projector and make the audience watch it on the ceiling. This idea however we thought would be better for the gallery in January, so we are currently working on the box idea still.
PRESENTATION
As the box idea seems to be ever changing we decided to branch out from that and almost give it a theme. We decided as the theme was linked to death and the journey from life to death, that we could present it in a way where it looks like a memorial to someone.
We thought the idea of having flowers all around the box and letting them die would be a good way to symbolise it however we thought it may be to cheesy and takes away from the main part of our project. The accessories around the the box however was just ideas that we came up with and again took away from the main focus and it all became to cluttered.
After a lot of deliberation we decided that we should go back to our original idea and just have the box.
The next thing on our list was how to have the hole or view finder.
There was a lot of discussion of different methods and we agreed that the simpler the better and maybe even the smaller the better.
The final prototype, we decided to have the view finder at the top of the box, below are some pictures of our tests.
Our prototypes of "eye holes".
We decided the one at the top would be the best one as it makes you look down and is a lot more comfy to use. We have then made a piece of card to cover the keyboard of the laptop and also to direct the audiences focus.
THE BUSINESS CARDS
One way that Laura thought would be a good way to describe our idea was to put business cards with our names, the names of the piece and a link to a website where people can read about our idea, instead of putting lots of information around the box. This way in the gallery the box is the main focus and nothing takes away from it.
Laura and I came up with some ideas for the business cards and designed some different things, but agreed that the more simple the better.
This is my initial idea;
I wasn't sure whether it would be a good idea to make the font a traditional font in the sense of what you associate with a funeral, so I made two with different fonts.
The back design I wasn't sure whether to have black or white as it would look aesthetically pleasing to have white as it would contrast to the black much like the idea behind the journeys from life to death, however I wasn't sure whether that was to overly complicated.
I think the simplicity of the cards is essential because our whole idea and message behind it is so simple, if we start adding complicated and extravagant designs to it, it could loose what we originally wanted.
THE WEBSITE
Laura being computer whizz made a website for the project. It's pretty self explanatory and it is simple and in keeping with the theme of our entire project.
http://lthomas15.wix.com/-thomasandpark
Friday 7 November 2014
Final Idea - A break down
We wanted to create an immersive piece of installation work based on the spiritual journey of the afterlife. By using sound and light as visuals we wanted to make the viewer on an emotional journey to take what we have researched after life to be like.
Originally our final idea was to create a mask for the viewer to wear so that the viewer is fully immersed in the experience.
However we thought that could prove to be quite complicated, so decided to present it in a box that the audience would look in to.
With a mixture of lights fading in and out within the box, put together with sound that is made from a specific range of frequencies this should hopefully be quite a calming experience. The limit of time aloud would be 2 and a half minutes maximum due to potential health and safety otherwise the viewer could potentially hurt their ears and eyes.
THE IDEA - BREAKDOWN
Duration: the visuals and audio will be on a loop but it will be 2 - 2 and a half minutes long. The reason for it looping would be so people can watch from any point.
Visuals: They will be created in after effects it would simply be black fading to an off white (maybe a beige because bright white could hurt the viewers eyes at such close range) Thus creating a calming experience. Throughout the parts that are light there will be silhouettes of people/faces getting closer to the audience as the duration goes on, almost like they are walking through a tunnel , which from our research is a common occurrence in near death experiences.
We would like the visuals to be all over the box to give the viewer an all round feeling, like it's surrounding them.
Sound: ideally we would like to use binaural sound so that it moves in and out with the visuals. Another idea was to move the sounds round the viewers head making them feeling disorientated.
The collections of frequencies would not only be audible but you can also feel the lower frequencies in your chest.
There will be a sub bass of around 30Hz and on top of that we will layer other higher frequencies that harmonise with each other to create a tone that is calming.
Another part would be a deep voice telling the viewer to wake up as some people have experienced that too. However it wouldn't be the main part of the audio.
Presentation: we would quite like to build a box from wood that could either fit a computer screen in it or create a periscope type box that has mirrors to reflect lights that we put in it, meaning that we can create most of the visual physically rather than all on computer.
We will be testing both ideas to see which one works best.
Originally our final idea was to create a mask for the viewer to wear so that the viewer is fully immersed in the experience.
However we thought that could prove to be quite complicated, so decided to present it in a box that the audience would look in to.
With a mixture of lights fading in and out within the box, put together with sound that is made from a specific range of frequencies this should hopefully be quite a calming experience. The limit of time aloud would be 2 and a half minutes maximum due to potential health and safety otherwise the viewer could potentially hurt their ears and eyes.
THE IDEA - BREAKDOWN
Duration: the visuals and audio will be on a loop but it will be 2 - 2 and a half minutes long. The reason for it looping would be so people can watch from any point.
Visuals: They will be created in after effects it would simply be black fading to an off white (maybe a beige because bright white could hurt the viewers eyes at such close range) Thus creating a calming experience. Throughout the parts that are light there will be silhouettes of people/faces getting closer to the audience as the duration goes on, almost like they are walking through a tunnel , which from our research is a common occurrence in near death experiences.
We would like the visuals to be all over the box to give the viewer an all round feeling, like it's surrounding them.
Sound: ideally we would like to use binaural sound so that it moves in and out with the visuals. Another idea was to move the sounds round the viewers head making them feeling disorientated.
The collections of frequencies would not only be audible but you can also feel the lower frequencies in your chest.
There will be a sub bass of around 30Hz and on top of that we will layer other higher frequencies that harmonise with each other to create a tone that is calming.
Another part would be a deep voice telling the viewer to wake up as some people have experienced that too. However it wouldn't be the main part of the audio.
Presentation: we would quite like to build a box from wood that could either fit a computer screen in it or create a periscope type box that has mirrors to reflect lights that we put in it, meaning that we can create most of the visual physically rather than all on computer.
We will be testing both ideas to see which one works best.
Mood Board and other thoughts...
Thinking of how to portray a Near Death Experience.
Within our initial ideas of how to present the idea we thought about trying to create a trapped feeling Laura suggested making a coffin for the audience to lie in however due to health and safety we thought it best not to do that.
We then moved on to the idea of creating a smaller space or a room to immerse the viewer. However the idea of making a room didn't seem very feasible either.
We decided that using technology to create a rom could be better and by using technology to create a room could be better and by using a box to focus the viewer on the screen showing the visuals.
A method commonly used within gaming is the Oculus Rift. Its basically goggles with an interactive screen that you can play games on : - .http://youtu.be/ECyVSwzsSlE?t=2m10s
However they're extremely expensive so we were looking at how to create something similar.
http://www.oculus.com/
We thought of having flashback sequences and creating a fantasy world however we then decided that the idea could be more effective it was kept simple.
Some examples of Wes Andersons films include;
Within our initial ideas of how to present the idea we thought about trying to create a trapped feeling Laura suggested making a coffin for the audience to lie in however due to health and safety we thought it best not to do that.
We then moved on to the idea of creating a smaller space or a room to immerse the viewer. However the idea of making a room didn't seem very feasible either.
We decided that using technology to create a rom could be better and by using technology to create a room could be better and by using a box to focus the viewer on the screen showing the visuals.
A method commonly used within gaming is the Oculus Rift. Its basically goggles with an interactive screen that you can play games on : - .http://youtu.be/ECyVSwzsSlE?t=2m10s
However they're extremely expensive so we were looking at how to create something similar.
http://www.oculus.com/
We obviously don't have the budget for this.
The other ideas such as the Wes Anderson style film we wanted to incorporate the cinematographic style. The way in which Andersons film are shot is, we think quite calming, the way in which the colours and framing work together to make all the shots really satisfying.
When we were still unsure of whether to have a narrative we thought that if we were to have one we would film it in that style so that the colours and framing would make it peaceful and calming. We thought of having flashback sequences and creating a fantasy world however we then decided that the idea could be more effective it was kept simple.
Some examples of Wes Andersons films include;
Please refer to my other blog post 'Why am I not Wes' for extra examples and unbelievable enthusiasm from me about his work.
A similar expereince to what we want to create is the sensory deprivation tank here is someone reactions to being in the sensory deprivation tank https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mMVipm_IQ0&list=UU4PooiX37Pld1T8J5SYT-SQ
After looking at examples of other peoples work, it made it easier for us to decide what we wanted to do.
The Research Process
Through talking to Laura about my initial idea for maps and journeys and recreating anxiety for the audience we decided that there should perhaps be a simpler theme in terms of journeys, as the anxiety path could be complicated to portray to the audience.
We wanted to create an experience that everyone could relate to/ be a part of, after brainstorming and coming up with ideas, not just for the theme but for the presentation as well, we narrowed it down to a few ideas and then branched out from those:
- Create a feeling of being lost in a woods, very dark atmospheric cinematography, maybe add fog / a smoke machine into the room.
- Replicate the feeling of anxiety, make the room feel like its getting smaller and create a paranoia through sound.
- create an elevator shaft and make it feel like it has broken down creating fear and make the viewer go on an emotional journey.
- make the viewer feel like they are trapped in a video game creating some kind of journey for them to go on.
- have a Wes anderson style to the video, very pretty high production design
- have a kind of surreal aspect like the Might Boosh
- create a spiritual journey representing what the after life is like, very deep bass sounds to feel through body, create a coffin so they are fully immersed in the experience
We agreed that the majority of our ideas were quite far fetched and would take a lot more than a student budget and the amount of time we have. The thought behind them however is what we wanted to focus on and the fact that it would get the audience to think... we hope.
We decided that we wanted to look into the Near death Experiences as it could be considered the most relatable as everyone will go through that experience, how morbid.
Laura researched into after life and the experiences related with that, I just looked into near death experiences and what comes with them.After looking at articles from people who have had near death experiences there are a certain set of "traits" linked to almost passing away.
http://www.nderf.org/ was a website I had found, completely dedicated to people sharing their near death experiences. I spent the majority of my time reading through peoples stories and picking out the similarities.
Laura also sent me some articles to look through in terms of near death experiences:
- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2547714/Our-astonishing-near-death-stories-thousands-touched-thought-provoking-series-intensive-care-nurse.html
- http://listverse.com/2013/09/15/10-astonishing-near-death-experiences/
- http://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/extrasensory-perceptions/near-death-experience1.htm
- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2545668/Is-proof-near-death-experiences-ARE-real-Extraordinary-new-book-intensive-care-nurse-reveals-dramatic-evidence-says-banish-fear-dying.html
- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-24509/Near-death-patients-afterlife.html
The common things reoccurring in the experiences are;
When typing into an image search "Near Death Experience" these type of images come up, with bright lights and the portrayal of outer body experiences too.
The next stage would then be to recreate this in a way that we could put it into a gallery.
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