The new media course is over, the Spring semester has ended, the first year is down and only one to go in the MFA in Documentary Media program. It's time to bid farewell to required blogging for DM8106, Documentary Production III. I pushed myself into it. Will I drag myself away? I rather doubt it, it's been a great experience.
I purposefully added a subheading that could allow me to go further if I wish. As I continue I may link to another site and expand my posts to include learning and teaching. As the curtain falls on this edition watch for it to rise again.
Thanks to Professors Alex Bal and Steve Daniels and all the students who made six weeks fly, especially Elaine, Gail, Inger and Ernie who I worked with, but also everyone else whose work I enjoyed.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Suddenly, three unanswered questions?
1) The organization and design of a shoot to accommodate user driven narrative depends on a number of considerations. The shots themselves should be able to stand on their own, that is, they should each cover a bit of business of the whole event, experiment or story. I design each shot with it's own signature, which could be focused on composition, content, colour, etc. The shots should be able to connect, that is, there should be start and end points that join seamlessly, which could be designed as transitions (fades/wipes, etc.) or similar commonalities like texture, colour, etc. The final thing to consider is structure and how each shot helps to fulfill the structure in moving the whole piece along. So shot composition, shot-to-shot transitions and structure are the three areas I design to accommodate user driven narrative.
2) I tend to organize and design both user and distributable narratives in much the same way. The only thing I might add to my design is which type of distribution outlet I'm aiming for -- mobility, theatres, television, etc. The main variable in designing the narrative for different formats and media players is pace. I tend to have a slower pace for larger screens and a faster pace for small screens. And this has worked for me, although I've seen people do the opposite.
3) Ahh, Second Life, media and documentary considerations. Let's see.... My avatar is named Gia Parx and she is a cyber-extension of me, Janis Cole.
I designed her to be far more groovy than me but she doesn't come close to having my groovy lifestyle.
She watched some music and met a punk who said no to becoming her friend. She found two people who would become her friend, and it turned out they were both student friend/avatars. She tried to talk to a statue that had a Mona Lisa smile because she thought (s/he?) might give her the "magic pill" -- so that she could "get it" in this strange land -- but that didn't happen. She was hungry and got no food, thirsty and had nothing to drink, wanted to meet people but was pretty much on her own and eventually she sighed and no one much seemed to care, except me, and I couldn't hug her.
Before I let her go off the Island I determined she couldn't spend any money - which neither of us had - on art or other stuff she couldn't bring out with her. She didn't come upon any shopping encounters that I needed to control for her and this was just as well because personally I like shopping. (NOTE: Gia was never off my apron string in Second Life, she didn't run away and make me (wo)man-track her down (by Mike Sage's avatar perhaps?)
Gia didn't learn how to get around well enough to make a photo book, film or new media project in Second Life. If she had been able to make any of these things it may have been more interesting for me than watching her walk and fly (this being my favorite thing that she did), the only activities she learned to do with confidence. But had she managed to make a media art piece my next question would be how to get it out of Second Life to show my (her?) friends who don't have an avatar in there.
Being an avatar not only changes the notion of media engagement, it changes the notion of all forms of engagement. I have written in past blog posts on this topic but I'll quickly summarize for convenience. While I appreciate the concept of Second Life, I didn't like the idea of all the computer hours necessary to be really good at getting what I (Gia?) want, and when it comes to global networking I see possibilities for that with technologies outside of Second Life. I love other people's enthusiasm for Second Life, but did not find my own, with one exception....
The best documentary dissemination purpose I can see for avatars in Second Life is the idea Heather and Marie brilliantly conceived of for their new media project -- putting avatars of fallen soldiers into Second Life. This could be expanded to include others who have been taken from this life. I think that Heather and Marie should design an exclusive "After Life" site where we can visit avatars of our lost ones. (NOTE: an idea worthy of copyright perhaps?) Their fertile imaginations and deep rooted compassion for the lives of others gave me goosebumps about the Second Life concept. I like this After Life idea, hmmm. Should we talk? Call me!
I was just told about these questions today, moments ago, and I've answered to the best of my ability, and with tongue-in-cheek about Gia, the groovy, lonely avatar I have not visited in Second Life for more than two weeks. To be continued.........
2) I tend to organize and design both user and distributable narratives in much the same way. The only thing I might add to my design is which type of distribution outlet I'm aiming for -- mobility, theatres, television, etc. The main variable in designing the narrative for different formats and media players is pace. I tend to have a slower pace for larger screens and a faster pace for small screens. And this has worked for me, although I've seen people do the opposite.
3) Ahh, Second Life, media and documentary considerations. Let's see.... My avatar is named Gia Parx and she is a cyber-extension of me, Janis Cole.
I designed her to be far more groovy than me but she doesn't come close to having my groovy lifestyle.
She watched some music and met a punk who said no to becoming her friend. She found two people who would become her friend, and it turned out they were both student friend/avatars. She tried to talk to a statue that had a Mona Lisa smile because she thought (s/he?) might give her the "magic pill" -- so that she could "get it" in this strange land -- but that didn't happen. She was hungry and got no food, thirsty and had nothing to drink, wanted to meet people but was pretty much on her own and eventually she sighed and no one much seemed to care, except me, and I couldn't hug her.
Before I let her go off the Island I determined she couldn't spend any money - which neither of us had - on art or other stuff she couldn't bring out with her. She didn't come upon any shopping encounters that I needed to control for her and this was just as well because personally I like shopping. (NOTE: Gia was never off my apron string in Second Life, she didn't run away and make me (wo)man-track her down (by Mike Sage's avatar perhaps?)
Gia didn't learn how to get around well enough to make a photo book, film or new media project in Second Life. If she had been able to make any of these things it may have been more interesting for me than watching her walk and fly (this being my favorite thing that she did), the only activities she learned to do with confidence. But had she managed to make a media art piece my next question would be how to get it out of Second Life to show my (her?) friends who don't have an avatar in there.
Being an avatar not only changes the notion of media engagement, it changes the notion of all forms of engagement. I have written in past blog posts on this topic but I'll quickly summarize for convenience. While I appreciate the concept of Second Life, I didn't like the idea of all the computer hours necessary to be really good at getting what I (Gia?) want, and when it comes to global networking I see possibilities for that with technologies outside of Second Life. I love other people's enthusiasm for Second Life, but did not find my own, with one exception....
The best documentary dissemination purpose I can see for avatars in Second Life is the idea Heather and Marie brilliantly conceived of for their new media project -- putting avatars of fallen soldiers into Second Life. This could be expanded to include others who have been taken from this life. I think that Heather and Marie should design an exclusive "After Life" site where we can visit avatars of our lost ones. (NOTE: an idea worthy of copyright perhaps?) Their fertile imaginations and deep rooted compassion for the lives of others gave me goosebumps about the Second Life concept. I like this After Life idea, hmmm. Should we talk? Call me!
I was just told about these questions today, moments ago, and I've answered to the best of my ability, and with tongue-in-cheek about Gia, the groovy, lonely avatar I have not visited in Second Life for more than two weeks. To be continued.........
Sunday, June 22, 2008
"Watching" -- Project notes and critique
Gail, Elaine, Me, Inger, Ernie -- the morning of our presentation, Wednesday June 18, 2008The presentation of my group's new media project "Watching" gave me the anticipated outcome I'd hoped for. We heard several layout suggestions in the critique that were interesting for consideration and there was a lively discussion, which is always a good sign of the work having an effect on the audience. Here's a summary of my thoughts on our project, the concept, development, class presentation, expectations, outcomes, learning experience and critique feedback:
Description and Concept -- I posted a description of my project in my blog on June 9th. We were playing with notions of watching and what it means to be in a private environment but not certain you are alone. As the project developed we considered notions of the surveillance sign on the washroom door that states "This area under security surveillance". (play the film clips at the end of post). The project incorporated a three-camera multiple perspective of a live performance and a projected random playback order of the performance narrative through a MaxMSP patch. Our idea was to take the audience through three steps that turned them into the watcher, watching themselves.
We filmed Mike in a washroom stall, being watched from three cameras and played the clips through the random order playback patch. The projection of the random clips was intended to move the viewer to a box with a hole that replicated the peephole view of Mike in the clips. Originally we were going to have the clips play on a 20" monitor but in the end we projected them on an AV projector. I liked the look and I'm glad we did it this way, but the size may have taken away from people wanting to go to the box. Having them side-by-side, and roughly the same scale may have worked better than what we did for the presentation.
We had to encourage the audience to go to the box initially, and I think this may have been because of the layout. However, people did eventually make their own way there and the result was much as I'd anticipated. A small light was set up in the box so that when someone peeped in they could see the same magazine that Mike had been reading in the washroom clips, and a camera mounted in the box would record the eye peering into the box and seeing the magazine. The image of the recorded eye was then fed to an AV projector that projected it on the wall behind the person peeping, which completed the watching cycle.
The idea was to watch Mike in the washroom being watched with cameras, and be encouraged to peep in the box to see the prop, which would then complete the cycle of looking when the person's eye projected behind them. That was the concept, and the trajectory of the project cycle but of course concepts are subject to change as they develop...
We filmed Mike in a washroom stall, being watched from three cameras and played the clips through the random order playback patch. The projection of the random clips was intended to move the viewer to a box with a hole that replicated the peephole view of Mike in the clips. Originally we were going to have the clips play on a 20" monitor but in the end we projected them on an AV projector. I liked the look and I'm glad we did it this way, but the size may have taken away from people wanting to go to the box. Having them side-by-side, and roughly the same scale may have worked better than what we did for the presentation.
We had to encourage the audience to go to the box initially, and I think this may have been because of the layout. However, people did eventually make their own way there and the result was much as I'd anticipated. A small light was set up in the box so that when someone peeped in they could see the same magazine that Mike had been reading in the washroom clips, and a camera mounted in the box would record the eye peering into the box and seeing the magazine. The image of the recorded eye was then fed to an AV projector that projected it on the wall behind the person peeping, which completed the watching cycle.
The idea was to watch Mike in the washroom being watched with cameras, and be encouraged to peep in the box to see the prop, which would then complete the cycle of looking when the person's eye projected behind them. That was the concept, and the trajectory of the project cycle but of course concepts are subject to change as they develop...
Development and Production -- I learned about electric circuits, arduinos, and MaxMSP. But without Professor Steve Daniels to write the code there would be no time to mount such an ambitious project. After casting Mike Sage as our washroom performer we determined the look, location and camera coverage. The film shoot of Mike went well and gave us good results. We cut a two minute narrative and then made 28 individual clips intended for the MaxMSP random order patch. We tested it and it worked the way we had anticipated. This part went smoothly.
Meanwhile we attended workshops, built our circuit and constructed the box to hold the sensor, small light, camera and the magazine from the performance. There were a few things that didn't work but I considered them small because they didn't alter the anticipated outcome too much. For instance we couldn't get the sensor to work so the light and camera were on all the time instead of being triggered by an eye filling the hole in the box. Along the way we got interested in sound conversion of emails into music, which became Quicktime files in a sort of effect soundscape by using a software called Soundhack. We attended two workshops and the rest of our time was spent figuring things out, building them and refining them. There was no time for a trial run. We tested both setups the night before the presentation, and we came in early to set up our installation in the RCC presentation room. At 10:00 a.m. we had everything ready for our 11:00 a.m. installation to be viewed by the class. At this point we walked to the Image Arts building for a different presentation and had our photo taken on the way.....
Presentation and Feedback-- It turned out we were the first ones to present because the other presentation wasn't ready. I enjoyed showing the class our project and having them try it out. I thought our "mock gallery" setup looked good, especially given the regular classroom aesthetic. We worked on this project for two weeks, grappled with several new media techniques from lessons we'd taken just prior to making it, aimed for documentary relevancy with notions of watching, being watched and becoming the watcher, and worked at making the projection environment appealing and a bit off-the-wall to suit our main theme of looking at Mike being peeped at through the keyhole and then moving on to become the peeper looking through the peephole in the box. I thought our soundscape created from adapting our visuals through soundhack was complimentary to the visual presentation. I think we were successful in creating an environment that looked and sounded professional. If I walked into a gallery with the look, sound, feel and interactivity of our presentation I would enjoy it. I think there are problems in some smaller details, but overall I liked the result.
I learned that the path we wanted the audience to move through was not necessarily the path they immediately took and some encouragement was needed. If we were to reshow the piece we would all likely agree to try some things differently to move people into the experience of the clips more personally and connect the clips to the box through a better floor plan. These were some of the helpful suggestions from the critique.
Several people felt the piece was more voyeurism rather than surveillance rather than seeing both as being notions of watching, who is watching and who is being watched. There was a lively discussion and it was great to see people getting excited about the topic. I wish in retrospect I'd had a pad to take notes, both to keep track of bundled questions and to have more clarity on the feedback because it went quickly. I like the suggestions I remember.
If time had allowed there would have been a midway presentation to get feedback prior to the final presentations, because it offers a chance to make changes and see how they work. (So in fact, the presentations were all midway in that regard). All things considered I learned a lot about the intricate detail of making an installation. I have made notes on spacial changes to consider to move the audience through the components more effectively. We also discussed the magazine not being much of a payoff and I wonder about the different ways to bring this to life-- a computer screen with the same clips we played of Mike, or Mike no longer being the subject that is watched, but instead having a camera pointed at the peeper. I don't know the answers but I see room to adjust and strengthen the flow to the box and the end point in the box.
I'm intrigued and considering an installation component in my thesis. I'm not sure if it would be intended for a gallery show or be a site specific intervention, but some form of projection or human triggered movement would be involved. I'm also interested in considering an interactive website presence.
Expectations vs. Outcome -- My expectations and outcome were pretty close. From the feedback I believe we could find a different layout and make a more dynamic use of the box. These shifts might have improved the audience's experience and if I'm ever to revisit the project they are the main things I'd work on.
Summary -- I thought the course gave me many options to think about. I liked the fact that we were told early on to experiment, because failing at making something wasn't seen as a failure, it was preferred that we aim big and learn from our mistakes rather than be safe. Our group followed this advice as did many other students in the course. The projects by other students were imaginative and and their critique feedbacks were engaging. I enjoyed this course and have only one suggestion. Taking new media for twelve weeks instead of jamming it into six would have been preferred. I was introduced to more tools in this production class than photography or film/video production and I wanted more time to use them.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Week Six - Workshops and Presentations
Week Six: The final week of classes was spent in electronic workshops, working with my group to prepare our project, presenting our project in class and attending other critiques. Classes are officially over and the course winds down with this post and a few final blog entries.
New Media Production was a compact course that introduced me to an array of ideas and ways of thinking. I may find some of the techniques we worked with useful for my thesis, but haven't determined in what way.
Classes were held two times per week. We moved at locomotion speed and sometimes I would have liked to reflect more in class on some of the concepts and themes that accompanied the readings or questions that arose from our hands-on learning environment. Along with the course readings I purchased two books - one on blogging and the other on convergence culture. I learned about social networking and Web 2.0, became an avatar, experimented with the MaxMSP software and gained some basic knowledge about working with arduinos and electric circuits. The highlight of the course was working with fellow students to create a video installation entitled "Watching" (formerly "Watching the Watcher"). The part I'll take away was seeing the new media projects unfold and the wide range of approaches students imagined.
The final two weeks were dedicated to our final projects. I'll provide further detail about the development and presentation of my group's project in an upcoming post.
The Spring semester has ended. We have also completed the first year of the program - one down and one to go. There's a big pot luck party at Elaine's for all the MFA students, faculty and staff. After I attend a live performance of Guy Maddin's My Winnipeg at the Royal I'll try to join the fun. I'm sure many of my friends in the program will agree that this has been a swift, productive six week course with some fascinating project outcomes.
New Media Production was a compact course that introduced me to an array of ideas and ways of thinking. I may find some of the techniques we worked with useful for my thesis, but haven't determined in what way.
Classes were held two times per week. We moved at locomotion speed and sometimes I would have liked to reflect more in class on some of the concepts and themes that accompanied the readings or questions that arose from our hands-on learning environment. Along with the course readings I purchased two books - one on blogging and the other on convergence culture. I learned about social networking and Web 2.0, became an avatar, experimented with the MaxMSP software and gained some basic knowledge about working with arduinos and electric circuits. The highlight of the course was working with fellow students to create a video installation entitled "Watching" (formerly "Watching the Watcher"). The part I'll take away was seeing the new media projects unfold and the wide range of approaches students imagined.
The final two weeks were dedicated to our final projects. I'll provide further detail about the development and presentation of my group's project in an upcoming post.
The Spring semester has ended. We have also completed the first year of the program - one down and one to go. There's a big pot luck party at Elaine's for all the MFA students, faculty and staff. After I attend a live performance of Guy Maddin's My Winnipeg at the Royal I'll try to join the fun. I'm sure many of my friends in the program will agree that this has been a swift, productive six week course with some fascinating project outcomes.
Virtual reality and visceral realism
The Virtualization of Art Practice: Body Knowledge and the Engineering Worldview, by Simon Penny
This article covers themes such as embodiment, the "digital revolution", "convergence (arts)", "mind" over "body", (behavioral) artificial intelligence, artificial life and pedagogical issues.
Overall there are large sweeping statements in this article that one can wrestle with and choose to agree with or not. Two agreeable thoughts pop out for me (quoting the article):
-- "To make conquering strides across cyberspace, we sit, neck cramped, arms locked, tapping a keyboard, our vision fixed on a small plane twenty inches ahead. As the image becomes more mobile (VR), the viewer becomes less mobile." I'm in this cyberspace position right now to write this post. Getting good at Second Life requires hundreds of hours in this position. It's this immobility more than anything that gives me pause to move my art in the direction of online activities, as this locked-up position is not where I wish to be and it causes back cramps if I stay too long. New vow -- scale down to a maximum of five computing hours/day.
-- "Why do we believe that the consciousness is located exclusively in the brain, when, contrarily, we put so much faith in "gut feelings"? Why do we describe some responses as "visceral"? Why do ancient Indian yogic and Chinese martial traditions locate the center of the will in the belly? We believe we think with our brains because we've been taught that this is the case. What if we believed otherwise? How differently would we live our lives?"
I subscribe to a world of intuition and feelings. I engage my feelings, assess them through logic, and draw on wisdom and intellect to figure out the best way to act on them. My approach is not for everyone, but I swear by it with few exceptions. In rule-rigid environments and spheres of logic I try to hover behind the words I wish to speak instead of blurting them out (and not always successfully), aware that feelings and passion are generally out of place in such spaces. Whereas in open, expressive environments I freely raise my voice in song, without constraint.
These are general terms to describe forms of complex physical engagement articulated in this article. The main thing I take from it is a confirmation that being a sponge to the full range of human experiences, including my own and those of people in vastly different environments, allows me feel and think concurrently, rather than just imposing my thought, which can be dry and absent of passion. In my artistic practice my gut instinct is part of the intellectual rigor that makes my work distinctly mine. New vow -- in the second year of the program I'll work with advisors who understand and support my intuitive, visceral process in making art work.
This article covers themes such as embodiment, the "digital revolution", "convergence (arts)", "mind" over "body", (behavioral) artificial intelligence, artificial life and pedagogical issues.
Overall there are large sweeping statements in this article that one can wrestle with and choose to agree with or not. Two agreeable thoughts pop out for me (quoting the article):
-- "To make conquering strides across cyberspace, we sit, neck cramped, arms locked, tapping a keyboard, our vision fixed on a small plane twenty inches ahead. As the image becomes more mobile (VR), the viewer becomes less mobile." I'm in this cyberspace position right now to write this post. Getting good at Second Life requires hundreds of hours in this position. It's this immobility more than anything that gives me pause to move my art in the direction of online activities, as this locked-up position is not where I wish to be and it causes back cramps if I stay too long. New vow -- scale down to a maximum of five computing hours/day.
-- "Why do we believe that the consciousness is located exclusively in the brain, when, contrarily, we put so much faith in "gut feelings"? Why do we describe some responses as "visceral"? Why do ancient Indian yogic and Chinese martial traditions locate the center of the will in the belly? We believe we think with our brains because we've been taught that this is the case. What if we believed otherwise? How differently would we live our lives?"
I subscribe to a world of intuition and feelings. I engage my feelings, assess them through logic, and draw on wisdom and intellect to figure out the best way to act on them. My approach is not for everyone, but I swear by it with few exceptions. In rule-rigid environments and spheres of logic I try to hover behind the words I wish to speak instead of blurting them out (and not always successfully), aware that feelings and passion are generally out of place in such spaces. Whereas in open, expressive environments I freely raise my voice in song, without constraint.
These are general terms to describe forms of complex physical engagement articulated in this article. The main thing I take from it is a confirmation that being a sponge to the full range of human experiences, including my own and those of people in vastly different environments, allows me feel and think concurrently, rather than just imposing my thought, which can be dry and absent of passion. In my artistic practice my gut instinct is part of the intellectual rigor that makes my work distinctly mine. New vow -- in the second year of the program I'll work with advisors who understand and support my intuitive, visceral process in making art work.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Telepresence Art and Public Surveillance
Telepresence Art -- Eduardo Kac
telepresence |ˈteləˌprezəns|noun
the use of virtual reality technology, esp. for remote control of machinery or for apparent participation in distant events.
• a sensation of being elsewhere, created in such a way. (see Webster's Online Dictionary)
This article discusses a pragmatic form of telepresence research by scientists that can equate robotic and human experience, aiming to have features of the robot matching nuances of human gesture. This is a concept I try, but don't yet succeed at wrapping my head around. There's something missing for me in the experience of being an avatar in Second Life or witnessing an art show with a fluorescent bunny. Not that I don't value educational concepts being developed in Second Life or Kac's art, I do, but using live animals in art blurs boundaries of ethical practice for me. Admittedly, this is a personal thing. And while I have had fun scooting around in Second Life I don't feel confident about knowing my way. My gut instinct is that one must spend significant time tied to the computer to have a meaningful Second Life and I don't have enough time to do all that interests me as it is, and this might be my main factor in not getting it -- lack of time. Also, the idea of building a community in Second Life does not stimulate me the same way building communities around student life at Ryerson, cultural life in Toronto and Wilberforce, OCAD teacher/student life, neighborhood life, Thesis project life and so on.
I prefer human nuances and gestures to be shared between humans, not between me as a human 'type' mingling with other human 'types'. Art works that experiment with altering humans or animals is not going to be something I pursue soon, if at all. Art that replicates the human body or animals has not yet caught my imagination. I can reconsider these things down the road and see if it change but for now I've tried it and confirmed it's not a fit.
surveillance |sərˈvāləns|noun
close observation, esp. of a suspected spy or criminal : he found himself put under surveillance by military intelligence. Watch, view, inspection, supervision; spying, espionage, infiltration, reconnaissance; informal bugging, wiretapping. (see Webster's online Dictionary)
"Today, remote surveillance is found in public areas, such as the subway, or in private environments as office and apartment buildings." -- quote from the article
"The use of remote surveillance for social control is already rooted in our public space, and now its scrutinizing gaze invades the privacy of the home." -- quote from the article
The Toronto police have been scanning surveillance tape since the brutal shooting deaths of two 25 year old men, Dylan Ellis and Oliver Martin on June 13th while they were parked in their vehicle waiting for a friend. There is no known motive. Could something this horrific be random, and if so, what does it mean for increased public surveillance? I learned through news reports of police activities that there is a large volume of tape from the crime scene and surrounding area to go through. This is good news on the one hand because it might help to solve this crime, but on the other hand who uses the surveillance cameras and tapes on a regular basis until the police require them? Spy cameras are becoming ever present, in public and in private, known and unknown, and what does this mean to our daily movements in life?
I have friends who live on Richmond Street within a few houses of where the shooting took place. I'll now be aware that as I come and go to visit them I could be taped by surveillance cameras. The same is true about coming and going anywhere -- perhaps even in my own downtown neighborhood. How do I know when I'm being watched? It's something that can happen anywhere.
As society continues to break down more people are likely to subscribe to surveillance as a means of property protection. I find this spooky. Yet at the same time, having access to surveillance tape after a crime is invaluable. For instance, I remember a case reported in the Toronto Sun about a year ago in Toronto where the murder of a prostitute was solved due to a surveillance camera in a stairwell.
Have you ever necked in a stairwell? A store? An underground garage? On the street? The public and the private merge, understandably, but not for the pleasure of a camera the lovers are not privy to knowing is trained on them and can capture their actions for use beyond their control. I don't subscribe to a world of surveillance, and yet, tape that captures any part of a crime and can lead to solving crimes is invaluable. In the unsolved murders of Dylan Ellis and Oliver Martin I'm glad the police have surveillance tape to go through and I hope it helps them solve the tragic murders of these two young men.
telepresence |ˈteləˌprezəns|noun
the use of virtual reality technology, esp. for remote control of machinery or for apparent participation in distant events.
• a sensation of being elsewhere, created in such a way. (see Webster's Online Dictionary)
This article discusses a pragmatic form of telepresence research by scientists that can equate robotic and human experience, aiming to have features of the robot matching nuances of human gesture. This is a concept I try, but don't yet succeed at wrapping my head around. There's something missing for me in the experience of being an avatar in Second Life or witnessing an art show with a fluorescent bunny. Not that I don't value educational concepts being developed in Second Life or Kac's art, I do, but using live animals in art blurs boundaries of ethical practice for me. Admittedly, this is a personal thing. And while I have had fun scooting around in Second Life I don't feel confident about knowing my way. My gut instinct is that one must spend significant time tied to the computer to have a meaningful Second Life and I don't have enough time to do all that interests me as it is, and this might be my main factor in not getting it -- lack of time. Also, the idea of building a community in Second Life does not stimulate me the same way building communities around student life at Ryerson, cultural life in Toronto and Wilberforce, OCAD teacher/student life, neighborhood life, Thesis project life and so on.
I prefer human nuances and gestures to be shared between humans, not between me as a human 'type' mingling with other human 'types'. Art works that experiment with altering humans or animals is not going to be something I pursue soon, if at all. Art that replicates the human body or animals has not yet caught my imagination. I can reconsider these things down the road and see if it change but for now I've tried it and confirmed it's not a fit.
surveillance |sərˈvāləns|noun
close observation, esp. of a suspected spy or criminal : he found himself put under surveillance by military intelligence. Watch, view, inspection, supervision; spying, espionage, infiltration, reconnaissance; informal bugging, wiretapping. (see Webster's online Dictionary)
"Today, remote surveillance is found in public areas, such as the subway, or in private environments as office and apartment buildings." -- quote from the article
"The use of remote surveillance for social control is already rooted in our public space, and now its scrutinizing gaze invades the privacy of the home." -- quote from the article
The Toronto police have been scanning surveillance tape since the brutal shooting deaths of two 25 year old men, Dylan Ellis and Oliver Martin on June 13th while they were parked in their vehicle waiting for a friend. There is no known motive. Could something this horrific be random, and if so, what does it mean for increased public surveillance? I learned through news reports of police activities that there is a large volume of tape from the crime scene and surrounding area to go through. This is good news on the one hand because it might help to solve this crime, but on the other hand who uses the surveillance cameras and tapes on a regular basis until the police require them? Spy cameras are becoming ever present, in public and in private, known and unknown, and what does this mean to our daily movements in life?
I have friends who live on Richmond Street within a few houses of where the shooting took place. I'll now be aware that as I come and go to visit them I could be taped by surveillance cameras. The same is true about coming and going anywhere -- perhaps even in my own downtown neighborhood. How do I know when I'm being watched? It's something that can happen anywhere.
As society continues to break down more people are likely to subscribe to surveillance as a means of property protection. I find this spooky. Yet at the same time, having access to surveillance tape after a crime is invaluable. For instance, I remember a case reported in the Toronto Sun about a year ago in Toronto where the murder of a prostitute was solved due to a surveillance camera in a stairwell.
Have you ever necked in a stairwell? A store? An underground garage? On the street? The public and the private merge, understandably, but not for the pleasure of a camera the lovers are not privy to knowing is trained on them and can capture their actions for use beyond their control. I don't subscribe to a world of surveillance, and yet, tape that captures any part of a crime and can lead to solving crimes is invaluable. In the unsolved murders of Dylan Ellis and Oliver Martin I'm glad the police have surveillance tape to go through and I hope it helps them solve the tragic murders of these two young men.
The Movements of Life
Why New Media moves me to new heights of visceral, theoretical and personal expression...
New Media social networking strategies such as blogging and tagging, and technologies such as arduinos that allow us to communicate through authorship/parameters/feedback and repeatability of actions in a room -- or half-way around the world, have taken over my days and nights. I look forward to blogging. I am thrilled to be working on a new media project with a group of student friends. We will present our installation tomorrow (see invite above and come if you can!). Our group is working with surveillance, multiple cameras, random narrative structure, MaxMSP, arduino circuits with a sensor activator, AV projection of an interactive audience participation movement and a soundscape that includes soundhacking some of our video clips into audio samples to replicate nature (Elaine being the lead mother nature soundhacker). And as awesome as all this knowledge and taskmaking is, it's not even this part that moves my spirit to the euphoric place that I speak of.
My imagine has been called upon in order to work with New Media tools. For almost six weeks of learning I've been imagining the world as a better, kinder, more caring, loving place, and wondering how best to express this through intangibles like cyberspace and electric circuitry. The friction of tangible and intangible have forced me to open to potential, to look and listen, and to pry open the sometimes lax recesses of my imagination. My feet are on the ground but my head is so high in the sky I can feel my skin breathing. The aliveness of breath fueling imagination, ahh... what a wonderful time for creativity.
While this process of becoming new media((ed) - educated) is taking place, I have also delved deeper into my thesis topic which opens me to the pain and suffering of innocent people who were murdered primarily because of their vulnerable lifestyle. I have also thought about overcoming pain and suffering from losses in my own life through my determination to succeed. And I have mourned for the fifth day now -- (but what feels like much longer) -- the lives of two young men shot last Friday in Toronto, all the more affecting because one of them is the relative of a dear friend. Loss of any kind is simply that, it disrupts the movement of life, and begs the question why is the world this way?
Is there an answer to pain and suffering and the loss of innocent lives? I rather doubt it. The most obvious one -- a world where only acts of kindness take place and we don't treat people as disposable and we turn away if we feel anger -- feels far, far away. Our role as artists, communicators and citizens is not to judge people, but rather to imagine, through new media and other practices, how to make the world a more equitable place for everyone. I'm talking for myself here, but with my usual dose of idealism, what can I say.
I was sent a beautiful poem last night, "Fallen Angels", a tribute to the missing women in Vancouver and a gift for a mother who lost her daughter. Today I'm carrying the words of this poem with me and I'm seeking out acts of kindness that mirror my thoughts, imagination, dreams, hopes, expressions and artworks for a safer, gentler, kinder world of imagination fueled by breath.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Database Aesthetics and 'Information Overload'
Database Aesthetics: Of Containers, Chronofiles, Time Capsules, Xanadu, Alexandra and the World Brain, by Victoria Vesna
With the amount of information available on the Internet a concern is the organization and retrieval of data. Vesna claims that artists have a role to play in the design of systems of access, and likens this to building an atmosphere of 'information architects'.
A fascinating part of the article recalls Buckminster Fuller and his "Chronofile" collection of his life objects, data, possessions, papers, events, etc. I visited one of the sites about him:
"Guinea Pig B is a name Bucky gave himself, to signify that his life was an experiment.
Excerpted from "BuckyWorks: Buckminster Fuller's Ideas for Today" by James T. Baldwin:
His alternative to politics was radical and deeply subversive. If we are designed like other animals to be a success, then nature must have provided enough of everything needed for all to live a healthy existence. People living well would have little interest in fighting and destruction. Bucky decided that reliable information and efficient design could identify and fairly distribute the Earth's resources, bringing a good life to all. Developing that information and putting it to work would be the mission of Guinea Pig B."
-taken from Who is Buckminster Fuller? page @ BFI.org, with this citation in place;
Reused by permission of the publisher John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Imagine how forward thinking this is that Fuller began a chronological record of his life in 1907. He added into his personal life archive data of world events and became more ambitious with the introduction of computer technologies. In 1965 he is quoted as saying "...We will store all the basic data in the machine's [computer's] memory bank..."
Vesna's article also covers major archives such as The Great Library of Alexandria, the exhaustive image collection of (Microsoft/Bill Gates owned) Corbis Image Library and the work of Brewster Kahle's archive of every public Web page since 1996. His Alexa site is home to web page searches, check it out. If you take nothing more from this article than an exploration of Fuller and his Guinea Pig B experiment, you will have a good sense of information overload.
With the amount of information available on the Internet a concern is the organization and retrieval of data. Vesna claims that artists have a role to play in the design of systems of access, and likens this to building an atmosphere of 'information architects'.
A fascinating part of the article recalls Buckminster Fuller and his "Chronofile" collection of his life objects, data, possessions, papers, events, etc. I visited one of the sites about him:
"Guinea Pig B is a name Bucky gave himself, to signify that his life was an experiment.
Excerpted from "BuckyWorks: Buckminster Fuller's Ideas for Today" by James T. Baldwin:
His alternative to politics was radical and deeply subversive. If we are designed like other animals to be a success, then nature must have provided enough of everything needed for all to live a healthy existence. People living well would have little interest in fighting and destruction. Bucky decided that reliable information and efficient design could identify and fairly distribute the Earth's resources, bringing a good life to all. Developing that information and putting it to work would be the mission of Guinea Pig B."
-taken from Who is Buckminster Fuller? page @ BFI.org, with this citation in place;
Reused by permission of the publisher John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Imagine how forward thinking this is that Fuller began a chronological record of his life in 1907. He added into his personal life archive data of world events and became more ambitious with the introduction of computer technologies. In 1965 he is quoted as saying "...We will store all the basic data in the machine's [computer's] memory bank..."
Vesna's article also covers major archives such as The Great Library of Alexandria, the exhaustive image collection of (Microsoft/Bill Gates owned) Corbis Image Library and the work of Brewster Kahle's archive of every public Web page since 1996. His Alexa site is home to web page searches, check it out. If you take nothing more from this article than an exploration of Fuller and his Guinea Pig B experiment, you will have a good sense of information overload.
Friday, June 13, 2008
More about my Thesis project
It's time for me to shift into filmmaker mode. My thesis project begins this summer and continues for the next year. But in reality preparation and research for my project started long ago with major turning points in my life that have set the path in motion for me to explore "visibility and invisibility in the margins of disappearance".
I'm generally reluctant to speak about my film topics, life experiences and creative process, but here I am in Documentary New Media making a huge leap -- blogging online about all that I am going through at school this semester. I have Professors Alex Bal and Steve Daniels to thank for bringing me out of my shell and into the realm of social networking via the Internet. Equally important I have become friends with students in the program and enjoy the creative process of our shared class projects. School is an enlivened time to open oneself to self expression, creativity, theoretical discoveries, collaboration and shared learning.
Getting back to my thesis, it's been the turns in my life that have provided me with the foundation to make this project about 65 women who went missing in Vancouver. It unfortunately came as no surprise, and remains a total travesty that at least 26 were murdered. There is heartbreak for the families. There are questions about why society looks away from the vulnerable. And there is the construction of news stories to unravel, that can act to depersonalize people, especially disenfranchised women living harsh lifestyles with limited resources. I have been advocating for people in the margins since I began making films more than thirty years ago and I've recently started trying to understand why that is.
A big shift happened in my life when my brother Kevin, 10 months younger than me, was removed from home for being a so called "bad boy". I was about 11 and he was 10. I was too young to understand or do more than visit him in a group home. I didn't think he should have been taken away and eventually placed in training school by the time he was 13.
The next big shift happened when I was 16 and began living away from home through no choice of my own. Kevin had become a ward of the B.C. government and my big brother Barry, a year and a half older than me, left home of his own choice the day he turned 16. Wanting to disown our family he relocated from Vancouver to Toronto. The end of my time at home came while visiting in Chatham ON, and it was easier to join Barry in Toronto than make my way back to Vancouver on my own with the $500 I'd made at field jobs that summer.
I took a wide range of jobs as a teenager and learned very quickly about the pitfalls of life and how to survive. Mom and dad lived in Florida at this time, Kevin never left B.C. and I settled into life near Barry. By the time I turned 18, without family support, I had learned how to enjoy life and support myself. I kept up good relationships with each family member and never wavered in my love for any of them, even dad, who both my brothers strongly resented.
I was fortunate to hit film school when I was 19 or 20, meet up with Holly Dale and focus my energy on building a film career throughout the late 70's and 80's, most notably with films like Thin Line, P4W, Hookers on Davie and Calling the Shots. Finances were a struggle, but I was doing the work that I wanted. Then when I was 35 another huge shift came, I started to lose people close to me, almost twenty friends and family members in ten years, and this is where the preparation for my thesis is really grounded.
I lost friends from my P4W film, most notably Marlene Moore (Shaggie) who I went on to make two films about -- Shaggie and Dangerous Offender -- and Janise Gamble. They both died far too young after living turbulent lives of suffering and grave injustices.
Then Dad died in 1990 when I was 36. He was a tough character in some ways, generous and loyal to a fault in others and a smooth professional gambler who introduced me to the downtown eastside of Vancouver when I was 13 and spent a summer painting the rooms in the Balmoral Hotel with him. I spread dad's ashes at the finish line of the racetrack like I promised I would - (not an easy task, but a different story!)
A month after dad died Barry went from HIV to AIDS and Holly's Dad Basil got cancer. My dad, Holly's dad and then Barry were all suddenly gone in less than a year. This huge time of loss seemed like too much to have happening, and it was happening too early in life, I was still in my thirties.
A few years later Holly's mother Pat got cancer and passed away. And then we lost our three surviving grandparents. And just when I thought the wave of loss was over, my mother got cancer. I cherished every moment of our time as I cared for her, much as I had for Barry when he had AIDS. She steadily deteriorated and died in 1999. That left me orphaned, and Holly too, so we bonded as surrogate siblings. I also lost two cousins in this time, Beverley Cole to suicide and David Cole who was murdered in downtown Toronto - both of whom I had never met. Along with losing Marlene and Janise several other close friends died far too young -- Tim Jocelyn, Eroll Ramsey, Ray Richards, Thomas Gardner, Al Yule and Cathy Bowie. The 1990's had so much loss that it often felt like it was too hard to take, but you have to. Perhaps it made me stronger, and most definitely I believe it's helped prepare me for the monumental task of opening myself to the overwhelming loss I will feel in making my thesis project.
My first film shoot is in Vancouver this July. I'm taking on an important topic and I want to do a good job for everyone in my film project and for all who are connected with my development and production.
Along with the research prep I'm doing and the solid filmmaking background I bring, there are advisors I'm consulting with at Ryerson and students I share my experiences with. I have also become friends with a major contributor to my topic, Wayne Leng. We talk often and he will be part of my thesis project and he'll also contribute to the production.
Have I really said all of this out loud? Wow. I tend to hold my cards close to my chest. I digest things in solitude, not on the Internet. And while I am social and enjoy mixing with people and directing films, I'm most at home alone, writing and editing.
p.s. While writing this post a strange thing happened. I haven't thought about my old friend Janise Gamble who died in 1990 for some time. I found a book about her on the Internet to link in this post and sent the link to Holly, (presently located in L.A. directing TV shows). My phone rang about 10 minutes after I sent the note. She had been having a dream about Janise that woke her and she freaked when she saw Janise's name in the subject line of my note (yes, it's true, the 1st thing Holly does upon waking is reach for her Blackberry!) It was 6:00 a.m. in L.A. but she couldn't get back to sleep. She called twice more. The simultaneous connection to our old friend when neither of us had thought of her in almost a year was the kind of stuff that happens when you open yourself to the creative process. I feel I'm ready to start my film.
I'm generally reluctant to speak about my film topics, life experiences and creative process, but here I am in Documentary New Media making a huge leap -- blogging online about all that I am going through at school this semester. I have Professors Alex Bal and Steve Daniels to thank for bringing me out of my shell and into the realm of social networking via the Internet. Equally important I have become friends with students in the program and enjoy the creative process of our shared class projects. School is an enlivened time to open oneself to self expression, creativity, theoretical discoveries, collaboration and shared learning.
Getting back to my thesis, it's been the turns in my life that have provided me with the foundation to make this project about 65 women who went missing in Vancouver. It unfortunately came as no surprise, and remains a total travesty that at least 26 were murdered. There is heartbreak for the families. There are questions about why society looks away from the vulnerable. And there is the construction of news stories to unravel, that can act to depersonalize people, especially disenfranchised women living harsh lifestyles with limited resources. I have been advocating for people in the margins since I began making films more than thirty years ago and I've recently started trying to understand why that is.
A big shift happened in my life when my brother Kevin, 10 months younger than me, was removed from home for being a so called "bad boy". I was about 11 and he was 10. I was too young to understand or do more than visit him in a group home. I didn't think he should have been taken away and eventually placed in training school by the time he was 13.
The next big shift happened when I was 16 and began living away from home through no choice of my own. Kevin had become a ward of the B.C. government and my big brother Barry, a year and a half older than me, left home of his own choice the day he turned 16. Wanting to disown our family he relocated from Vancouver to Toronto. The end of my time at home came while visiting in Chatham ON, and it was easier to join Barry in Toronto than make my way back to Vancouver on my own with the $500 I'd made at field jobs that summer.
I took a wide range of jobs as a teenager and learned very quickly about the pitfalls of life and how to survive. Mom and dad lived in Florida at this time, Kevin never left B.C. and I settled into life near Barry. By the time I turned 18, without family support, I had learned how to enjoy life and support myself. I kept up good relationships with each family member and never wavered in my love for any of them, even dad, who both my brothers strongly resented.
I was fortunate to hit film school when I was 19 or 20, meet up with Holly Dale and focus my energy on building a film career throughout the late 70's and 80's, most notably with films like Thin Line, P4W, Hookers on Davie and Calling the Shots. Finances were a struggle, but I was doing the work that I wanted. Then when I was 35 another huge shift came, I started to lose people close to me, almost twenty friends and family members in ten years, and this is where the preparation for my thesis is really grounded.
I lost friends from my P4W film, most notably Marlene Moore (Shaggie) who I went on to make two films about -- Shaggie and Dangerous Offender -- and Janise Gamble. They both died far too young after living turbulent lives of suffering and grave injustices.
Then Dad died in 1990 when I was 36. He was a tough character in some ways, generous and loyal to a fault in others and a smooth professional gambler who introduced me to the downtown eastside of Vancouver when I was 13 and spent a summer painting the rooms in the Balmoral Hotel with him. I spread dad's ashes at the finish line of the racetrack like I promised I would - (not an easy task, but a different story!)
A month after dad died Barry went from HIV to AIDS and Holly's Dad Basil got cancer. My dad, Holly's dad and then Barry were all suddenly gone in less than a year. This huge time of loss seemed like too much to have happening, and it was happening too early in life, I was still in my thirties.
A few years later Holly's mother Pat got cancer and passed away. And then we lost our three surviving grandparents. And just when I thought the wave of loss was over, my mother got cancer. I cherished every moment of our time as I cared for her, much as I had for Barry when he had AIDS. She steadily deteriorated and died in 1999. That left me orphaned, and Holly too, so we bonded as surrogate siblings. I also lost two cousins in this time, Beverley Cole to suicide and David Cole who was murdered in downtown Toronto - both of whom I had never met. Along with losing Marlene and Janise several other close friends died far too young -- Tim Jocelyn, Eroll Ramsey, Ray Richards, Thomas Gardner, Al Yule and Cathy Bowie. The 1990's had so much loss that it often felt like it was too hard to take, but you have to. Perhaps it made me stronger, and most definitely I believe it's helped prepare me for the monumental task of opening myself to the overwhelming loss I will feel in making my thesis project.
My first film shoot is in Vancouver this July. I'm taking on an important topic and I want to do a good job for everyone in my film project and for all who are connected with my development and production.
Along with the research prep I'm doing and the solid filmmaking background I bring, there are advisors I'm consulting with at Ryerson and students I share my experiences with. I have also become friends with a major contributor to my topic, Wayne Leng. We talk often and he will be part of my thesis project and he'll also contribute to the production.
Have I really said all of this out loud? Wow. I tend to hold my cards close to my chest. I digest things in solitude, not on the Internet. And while I am social and enjoy mixing with people and directing films, I'm most at home alone, writing and editing.
p.s. While writing this post a strange thing happened. I haven't thought about my old friend Janise Gamble who died in 1990 for some time. I found a book about her on the Internet to link in this post and sent the link to Holly, (presently located in L.A. directing TV shows). My phone rang about 10 minutes after I sent the note. She had been having a dream about Janise that woke her and she freaked when she saw Janise's name in the subject line of my note (yes, it's true, the 1st thing Holly does upon waking is reach for her Blackberry!) It was 6:00 a.m. in L.A. but she couldn't get back to sleep. She called twice more. The simultaneous connection to our old friend when neither of us had thought of her in almost a year was the kind of stuff that happens when you open yourself to the creative process. I feel I'm ready to start my film.
Week Five - Circuits, Arduinos and Breadboards
The world of electronics and the use of electronic devices in new media projects, and installations in particular, is vast. Working on an introductory level in class I can begin to see how effective building a circuit can be to trigger actions such as moving robots and starting up devices in media installations.
Electricity requires a circuit. A circuit is a loop of electricity, designed by using schematic drawings that show how to route things like Current (I), Voltage (V) and Resistance (R), and get devices to talk to switches, etc. Getting objects to have a remote action, based on concept, circuitry and programing, gives me a great feeling of accomplishment and wonder.
The tools I'm working with are inexpensive and produce far bigger results than one could imagine. Being an electronics artist does not seem to require tons of money, but requires knowledge of circuitry and writing code (programming the arduino board circuit).
It's a rush to build a circuit and watch as it causes objects to play out as you require. The New Media project I'm involved in for the course project requires a circuit, built with an arduino, breadboard, wires, USB (5 V) power and Arduino code (written by Professor Steve Daniels).
Electricity requires a circuit. A circuit is a loop of electricity, designed by using schematic drawings that show how to route things like Current (I), Voltage (V) and Resistance (R), and get devices to talk to switches, etc. Getting objects to have a remote action, based on concept, circuitry and programing, gives me a great feeling of accomplishment and wonder.
The tools I'm working with are inexpensive and produce far bigger results than one could imagine. Being an electronics artist does not seem to require tons of money, but requires knowledge of circuitry and writing code (programming the arduino board circuit).
It's a rush to build a circuit and watch as it causes objects to play out as you require. The New Media project I'm involved in for the course project requires a circuit, built with an arduino, breadboard, wires, USB (5 V) power and Arduino code (written by Professor Steve Daniels).
Monday, June 9, 2008
New Media Documentary project proposal
New Media Project
Documentary Production III, DM8106
Proposal written by Janis Cole, June 9, 2008
I'm working in a student group that includes myself, Elaine, Inger, Gail and Ernie. We are playing with notions of watching, being watched, voyeurism, privacy and surveillance.
Our new media project incorporates a four-camera multiple perspective surveillance of a live performance, a random playback order of the performance narrative through a MaxMSP patch, a small light and camera that will be triggered when someone peeps into an object in our installation and a monitor feed to an AV projector that will complete the watching cycle.
Here’s how it works:
We attended the electronic workshop to learn about setting up circuits and sensors.
*** new media applications we're using include– Multiple camera coverage of an event with the clips to be run in random narrative playback order through a MaxMSP patch. A small light and small camera set to be triggered by sensors. A real time monitor feed into an AV projector. An interactive environment where the viewer becomes part of the installation piece.
We would like to install our project in a room approximately 14' x 10'. There will be a 20" monitor, a 20" box and a 3' x 3' projection in the room. The equipment we're using includes two laptop computers, a 20" monitor, stereo speakers, amplifier, AV projector, 7W light, small camera, stands and/or tables, cables and AC power cords, control of lighting in the room (overheads on dimmers or lamps and dimmers), sensor, circuit, Arduino code folder and the MaxMSP random order patch.
Documentary Production III, DM8106
Proposal written by Janis Cole, June 9, 2008
Watching the Watcher
I'm working in a student group that includes myself, Elaine, Inger, Gail and Ernie. We are playing with notions of watching, being watched, voyeurism, privacy and surveillance.
Our new media project incorporates a four-camera multiple perspective surveillance of a live performance, a random playback order of the performance narrative through a MaxMSP patch, a small light and camera that will be triggered when someone peeps into an object in our installation and a monitor feed to an AV projector that will complete the watching cycle.
Here’s how it works:
- We have choreographed our four-camera coverage (i.e. four perspectives) of a live performance, secured our performer (Mike Sage) and arranged to film on June 9th.
- The video clips of the performance will play back in random order through a MaxMSP patch like the ones we used in class, and will be projected on a 20” computer monitor.
- As audience members watch the monitor with the performance clips they will be enticed to look through a peephole in a 20” box set up close to the images of the performance (one camera perspective of the event coverage is through a peephole which will entice viewers to peep into the box).
- Looking into the peephole will trigger two sensors. The first sensor will set off a small light that illuminates an object used in the event we film. The second will trigger a small camera that begins to record.
- The projection behind the person peeping into the box creates an image of the watcher watching, which gives us the result we want.
We attended the electronic workshop to learn about setting up circuits and sensors.
*** new media applications we're using include– Multiple camera coverage of an event with the clips to be run in random narrative playback order through a MaxMSP patch. A small light and small camera set to be triggered by sensors. A real time monitor feed into an AV projector. An interactive environment where the viewer becomes part of the installation piece.
We would like to install our project in a room approximately 14' x 10'. There will be a 20" monitor, a 20" box and a 3' x 3' projection in the room. The equipment we're using includes two laptop computers, a 20" monitor, stereo speakers, amplifier, AV projector, 7W light, small camera, stands and/or tables, cables and AC power cords, control of lighting in the room (overheads on dimmers or lamps and dimmers), sensor, circuit, Arduino code folder and the MaxMSP random order patch.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Week Four - Arduino and Second Life
Working with arduino boards in class we set up interfaces that responded to sounds. By definition interfaces are social because they involve two or more people coming together. Interfaces have qualities such as control (authorship and how much control the audience can have); parameterization (the rules and constraints of control); feedback (as you engage something happens); and repeatability (things happen repeatedly to allow you to figure out the control/parameters and feedback). I learned about an amazing pioneer during Steve Daniels' lecture this week, Alan Turing and found a dynamic tribute to him on YouTube.
We ventured into Second Life and my introduction was fairly smooth except that I could never understand why naked women kept coming up to me -- however the longer I spent in Second Life and the more I designed my avatar Gia Parx the less this happened. It might have had something to do with looking "new" when I entered. This virtual environment has two million users and grows by about twenty thousand users a month. It takes practice to get around, change appearance, find places, pick up objects and such. It was fun to encounter people, ask if they wanted to become friends, get rejected and get accepted. My favorite was flying around, something I wish I could do in this life. People are building communities in Second Life and making money there. I am still trying to find my way around. Can you get robbed in Second Life? Is it crime free? Apparently not!
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Narrative structure and random order
In the past decade the term "narrative" has become diluted to include "narratives of identity" [Jerome Bruner], "Grand narratives" of History [Jean Francois Lyotard], "narratives of interface in computer software" [Abbe Don] and "cultural narratives" expressing values, experiences and beliefs of cultural groups. "Narrative" is intertwined with "story" and can be analyzed together as one and the same thing, or separately -- as an event or sequence of events (the story) and the textual actualization of the story (narrative). For this exercise I use the two terms interchangeably, i.e. the narrative IS the story.
I cut four clips from the opening scene of a YouTube video I like, "Shoes" -- 1) parents set up it's a birthday party for their teenage twins, 2) the first twin gets a great gift, 3) the other twin (Kelly/main character) gets a lousy gift, 4) both twins yearn for things that are more ideal 5) Kelly leaves the party to get what she wants. The clips were played first in the linear narrative order intended, then I put them through a MaxMSP patch to let them play in random order. The idea of this exercise is to see if letting the clips play out in a nonlinear fashion add, detract, change, muddle, heighten or do relatively little to alter the intent of the linear narrative.
In most examples I watched in class it was interesting to see that both the linear order and random order formed narratives with little shift in the narrative. The clips I chose from "Shoes" took on a slightly different and equally enjoyable narrative, and had a bit more strangeness when played in random order.
For anyone who wants to play with the structural order of narrative(s) rather than locking into a preconceived narrative order, this software is a great tool. I suggest using clips with dialogue and intercuts within the clips to get the most out of the exercise.
If this post peaks your interest in exploring notions of narrative, and I hope it will, it's time to explore narratology.
I cut four clips from the opening scene of a YouTube video I like, "Shoes" -- 1) parents set up it's a birthday party for their teenage twins, 2) the first twin gets a great gift, 3) the other twin (Kelly/main character) gets a lousy gift, 4) both twins yearn for things that are more ideal 5) Kelly leaves the party to get what she wants. The clips were played first in the linear narrative order intended, then I put them through a MaxMSP patch to let them play in random order. The idea of this exercise is to see if letting the clips play out in a nonlinear fashion add, detract, change, muddle, heighten or do relatively little to alter the intent of the linear narrative.
In most examples I watched in class it was interesting to see that both the linear order and random order formed narratives with little shift in the narrative. The clips I chose from "Shoes" took on a slightly different and equally enjoyable narrative, and had a bit more strangeness when played in random order.
For anyone who wants to play with the structural order of narrative(s) rather than locking into a preconceived narrative order, this software is a great tool. I suggest using clips with dialogue and intercuts within the clips to get the most out of the exercise.
If this post peaks your interest in exploring notions of narrative, and I hope it will, it's time to explore narratology.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Week Three - Linearity and Nonlinearity
Working with a Max MSP patch created by Professor Steve Daniels I projected film clips first in linear narrative order and then randomly to create nonlinear results. I enjoyed the exercise. I found that examples I watched in class that were based on visual montage, i.e., a series of shots without dialogue and with no cutting within scenes would play out as a montage without a narrative both in linear and nonlinear modes, there wasn't a big difference. The narrative shifts were more evident in clips that used dialogue and had cuts within the clips. I enjoyed the sample I played with for this reason. I used four clips from a video I like called "Shoes" and the story intent at the start of the video shifted with the random order to become more wonky than it had been in the intended order. Watch the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCF3ywukQYA
I will dedicate more time to the topic of narrative linearity in a post on the topic in the next few days. I got a little behind because today is my birthday and I've discovered that at my age it takes two days to prepare to turn a year older :0)
I will also write a post about archive aesthetics and notions of telepresence art. I want to dedicate a bit of extra time to each of these explorations and will catch up in the next few days. I find time going quickly and information overload piling up. Is there a new media sortware for sorting out time to extend the day -- to give us more time, say roughly five hours.....
I am also about to enter second life. My first question is why go there? I have created an avatar named Gia Parx and hopefully she will lead me to the answer.
I will dedicate more time to the topic of narrative linearity in a post on the topic in the next few days. I got a little behind because today is my birthday and I've discovered that at my age it takes two days to prepare to turn a year older :0)
I will also write a post about archive aesthetics and notions of telepresence art. I want to dedicate a bit of extra time to each of these explorations and will catch up in the next few days. I find time going quickly and information overload piling up. Is there a new media sortware for sorting out time to extend the day -- to give us more time, say roughly five hours.....
I am also about to enter second life. My first question is why go there? I have created an avatar named Gia Parx and hopefully she will lead me to the answer.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
New Media Software MaxMSP
MaxMSP is a software I am trying in in my New Media course. I am tinkering with a basic projector set up and I'm impressed with the ease of coding I've been shown. I have been wondering how new media might factor into my thesis project but I don't think it's going to be with this sofware.
The MaxMSP software is a valuable tool for programming installations. An artist who makes great use of MaxMSP is David Rokeby. To view clips of his work check out You Tube.
I think new media will factor more into the delivery of my project rather than the production, but I still have a few weeks to consider my options.
The MaxMSP software is a valuable tool for programming installations. An artist who makes great use of MaxMSP is David Rokeby. To view clips of his work check out You Tube.
I think new media will factor more into the delivery of my project rather than the production, but I still have a few weeks to consider my options.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Week Two - Web 2.0 Social Networking
My accounts on Del.icio.us, Flickr, YouTube, Vodpod and Listal.
"Web 2.0 has numerous definitions. Tim O'Reilly [credited with terming Web 2.0 in 2004] regards Web 2.0 as business embracing the web as a platform and using its strengths (global audiences, for example)" -- taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0
My exploration of the Web 2.0 platform begins with building a social network for my course in New Media, part of the MFA in Documentary Media program at Ryerson University. Eventually I will expand my networking capacities to include research on my thesis topic. By doing so I can begin to meet people who share similar interests identified by the way we tag our blog posts, bookmarks and online interests. This potential for building research relationships fascinates me. At the same time, the Web 2.0 platform is merely four years young, and I am interested in understanding more about it as I enter into this realm.
In a podcast interview Tim Berners-Lee [developer of the World Wide Web] described the term "Web 2.0" as a "piece of jargon." "Nobody really knows what it means," he says. -- from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0
I have found these mixed opinions, however the value of Web 2.0 as a social networking platform seems clear. Still, I have some questions about using these technologies for sharing information, especially with user interfaces changing as rapidly as they are. To explore my questions it is necessary to understand the network potential and there is no better way to do that than trying it out.
Here are links to my del.icio.us, flickr, vodpod, youtube and listal accounts:
http://del.icio.us/documentarynewmedia
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26535911@N08
http://documentarynewmedia.vodpod.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/documentarynewmedia
http://janiscole.listal.com/view/books
"Web 2.0 has numerous definitions. Tim O'Reilly [credited with terming Web 2.0 in 2004] regards Web 2.0 as business embracing the web as a platform and using its strengths (global audiences, for example)" -- taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0
My exploration of the Web 2.0 platform begins with building a social network for my course in New Media, part of the MFA in Documentary Media program at Ryerson University. Eventually I will expand my networking capacities to include research on my thesis topic. By doing so I can begin to meet people who share similar interests identified by the way we tag our blog posts, bookmarks and online interests. This potential for building research relationships fascinates me. At the same time, the Web 2.0 platform is merely four years young, and I am interested in understanding more about it as I enter into this realm.
In a podcast interview Tim Berners-Lee [developer of the World Wide Web] described the term "Web 2.0" as a "piece of jargon." "Nobody really knows what it means," he says. -- from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0
I have found these mixed opinions, however the value of Web 2.0 as a social networking platform seems clear. Still, I have some questions about using these technologies for sharing information, especially with user interfaces changing as rapidly as they are. To explore my questions it is necessary to understand the network potential and there is no better way to do that than trying it out.
Here are links to my del.icio.us, flickr, vodpod, youtube and listal accounts:
http://del.icio.us/documentarynewmedia
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26535911@N08
http://documentarynewmedia.vodpod.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/documentarynewmedia
http://janiscole.listal.com/view/books
Friday, May 16, 2008
About my MFA Thesis Project
My thesis project is on invisibility and visibility in the margins of disappearance. While doing research this morning I found these two links to a Toronto Star newspaper article that was published on December 13, 2008. The article describes my thesis work so you can read a bit about it. These websites do a lot of work specific the the downtown eastside missing women in Vancouver, hosted by Wayne Leng and inspired by his missing friend Sarah De Vries.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Week One - Web 2.0
Introduction to blogging (hence this blog!), Digg, Del.icio.us, Flickr, MaxMSP and Web 2.0
I will do weekly posts to summarize ideas, concepts and development strategies I'm being introduced to and the new media practices I'm trying out during the months of May and June. This will include outreach and integration into online social communities and especially blogs on various technologies that might be applied to my documentary projects.
My background in media includes thirty years of independent filmmaking. I am first and foremost a conceptual practitioner working as a writer, director and editor on more than a dozen documentaries and as a story consultant and writer of drama. http://www.spectrumfilms.ca
I am currently researching my thesis project for the MFA in Documentary Media program at Ryerson University in Toronto. http://www.ryerson.ca/graduate/documentarymedia
My thesis project at Ryerson will be completed in the spring of 2009 and is titled "Visibility and Invisibility in the Margins of Disappearance". I started my research for this project five years ago when I began to look into writing a film on the disappearance of sixty-five women in the downtown eastside of Vancouver. I have been involved in various development stages of projects along the way, but each project collapsed. During my first year at Ryerson I have broadened my research to include missing women across Canada and homelessness. From this ongoing research several projects will emerge over the next two years with the immediate focus being on my thesis project. I am at an early development stage with this project and interested in discovering how various forms of new media concepts, technologies and delivery modes might factor in.
I will do weekly posts to summarize ideas, concepts and development strategies I'm being introduced to and the new media practices I'm trying out during the months of May and June. This will include outreach and integration into online social communities and especially blogs on various technologies that might be applied to my documentary projects.
My background in media includes thirty years of independent filmmaking. I am first and foremost a conceptual practitioner working as a writer, director and editor on more than a dozen documentaries and as a story consultant and writer of drama. http://www.spectrumfilms.ca
I am currently researching my thesis project for the MFA in Documentary Media program at Ryerson University in Toronto. http://www.ryerson.ca/graduate/documentarymedia
My thesis project at Ryerson will be completed in the spring of 2009 and is titled "Visibility and Invisibility in the Margins of Disappearance". I started my research for this project five years ago when I began to look into writing a film on the disappearance of sixty-five women in the downtown eastside of Vancouver. I have been involved in various development stages of projects along the way, but each project collapsed. During my first year at Ryerson I have broadened my research to include missing women across Canada and homelessness. From this ongoing research several projects will emerge over the next two years with the immediate focus being on my thesis project. I am at an early development stage with this project and interested in discovering how various forms of new media concepts, technologies and delivery modes might factor in.
Friday, May 9, 2008
My Documentary Manifesto (abridged, 2008)
Janis Cole’s Documentary Manifesto
1. Committing to a documentary begins with a passion for the topic.
My early student films were about friends living alternative lifestyles in downtown Toronto, and my passion in telling their stories was to convey their point of view and break down stereotypes. My goal (in 10 minutes or less!) was to introduce them and slowly reveal their alternative lifestyles as strippers, hookers, transsexuals, gay men and female impersonators. In the 1970's when I made the student shorts there was much less material being made on these topics than there is now. I believed then, and still do, that people get stereotypic ideas and/or unfounded fears about people who live different lifestyles because they don’t know similar people in their own lives. The people in my early films were friends and I related to them without awe or intrigue about their lifestyles. I wanted to get that same feeling across to audiences. In this way it is my belief that audiences will get to know people in different walks of life for who they are. The approach I used in these two student films became the approach I built upon in subsequent films about people living in the fringes of society. I have an ongoing passion to bring stories about people living in the fringes into mainstream consideration.
2. Voice-over narration is best used sparingly to fill in the story, not to ‘tell’ it.
My goal in documentary filmmaking is to avoid using voice-over narration altogether. “We have been ‘taught’ to believe in the image of reality and similarly ‘taught’ how to interpret the narrational voice as distorted and imposed onto it [film].”(1) While I prefer avoiding narration altogether in my own films (with the exception of Thin Line, 1977), I can appreciate films that use voice-over narration effectively. The Times of Harvey Milk (1984) has been a long standing favorite of mine.
The narration, which is carried through the whole film, never bothers me; in fact the voice of well-known gay actor Harvey Fierstein acts as a welcome guide to convey the emotionally packed story. “The role allotted Fierstein’s narration is confirmatory as opposed to purely instructional, so the ‘voice’ of The Times of Harvey Milk ostensibly comes from the active collusion between filmmakers, form, subjects and archive.”(2) I admire docs that don’t use narration. Next to that I like docs that weave narration into the story so it doesn't feel added afterwards. I dislike overly narrated docs explaining the obvious instead of letting the audience get it for themselves. Robert Drew says “narration is what you do when you fail” (Drew 1983: 271-3)”.(3) While this is harsh, I find it’s generally true.
3. Research your doc topic thoroughly, and then do more research, and more…
To make Thin Line I researched criminology, criminality, sociology and psychology, the Penetanguishene Hospital for the Criminally Insane and the penal system in Canada for similarities and differences, noting recidivist rates in both streams of incarceration. I screened every film I could find on penal issues in Canada and the United States. I researched famous prisoners who were locked up at Penetang, the categories of crimes the patients at Penetang fell into, like rape, murder, spree killing and serial killing, and the types of treatments patients underwent such as the capsule, the use of pure alcohol and forms of speed (I also researched acid treatments which had been controversial and were no longer used by the time I filmed). I researched various mental health conditions the patients were diagnosed with such as schizophrenia, antisocial disorders, paranoia, and psychosis. Once I met the participants for the film I researched their crimes and backgrounds. I taught myself how to do deep research on that film. I prefer doing my own research even though it’s time consuming. There is no greater gift than discovering a nugget during research that leads in a new direction to explore.
4. Get to know your participants before you film them.
I was lucky to have the advantage of knowing my participants in early student films I made. Then I worked on getting to know participants once I left school. It took six months to get into Penetang to film Thin Line. This seemed like a long time but I focused on research and when I started filming I was able to converse with the patients on their terms. Taking so long to get in turned out to be an opportunity in disguise. This waiting period carried on into the next project, P4W; Prison for Women. It took four years to get into the prison to make P4W. I can’t say enough about the value of getting to know the participants in advance of filming, which includes getting to know the primary location, especially when it's an institution such as the Penetanguishene Hospital (for the criminally insane) or the Prison for Woman. An institution, just like a person, has a life and a story all its own.
5. Documentary filmmaking is a transaction between filmmaker and participants.
A documentary filmmaker enters into a transaction with their participants, a negotiated way of conducting the business of making the film. I want my participants to be themselves. I want to capture the naturalism of their lives on film. I want them to be reliable, especially when I film over a period of eighteen or twenty days. One way to secure participants is to pay them, which I have heard of some documentary filmmakers doing. Television reportage tends to pay participants for the ease of filming without getting to know people due to quick turnaround for delivery. Personally I have ethical questions about paying participants. On the one hand if the crew is being paid why not pay the participants. But on the other, if the participants are paid do they see their role as a job, and act accordingly. It can be a tough call. I work out the filmmaking transaction with my participants, not paying participants to be in my documentaries, which has been the right decision for me. I always go back to show the film to my participants. I don’t give them editorial control, which I make clear from the start, but at the end when I’m completely finished I get great satisfaction in hearing my participants say, “Wow, you really got the story right.”
6. Documentaries are harder to make than dramas.
Unlike most dramas which are scripted before shooting, there isn't a script written in advance for most documentaries. The shaping of the story is a series of decisions made by the filmmaker about what to film, and when and how to use the rushes. One of the main difficulties in making documentaries is learning to balance objectivity/subjectivity in making these decisions. Documentary film is traditionally perceived to be the hybrid offspring of a perennial struggle between the forces of objectivity (represented by the ‘documents’ or facts that underpin it) and the forces of subjectivity (that is the translation of those facts into representational form).”(4) One’s objective/subjective balance in documentary shapes everything in the film, from the choice of participants, how and when they’re filmed, when the cameras roll, how the film is put together, what the story is about and how to release the finished film. The entire shape of a documentary rests with the objective/subjective choices of the maker, often an auteur, and he or she cannot escape the result of these choices. If you make the wrong choice at any phase of the production the story might not cut together, may require narration, or at worse may never work at all.
7. A good documentary director uses their ‘eyes’ and ‘ears’ in the field.
Learning to direct a documentary is about learning to shape a story as you go. There is no point in writing a script for a documentary film and then heading out in the field and trying to film that script verbatim. When I go out on a documentary shoot I’m well prepared. I’ve done my homework, carried out exhaustive research and I know my topic and participants. I have a schedule for every shoot day and a list of things to be shot. I am prepared for every interview. But that is not a blueprint to abide by, it’s an outline so I’m prepared to converse with people and learn from the actual experience of being in the field. I veer from my shooting plan all the time when I’m filming documentaries. Something happens that is different than I anticipated, so I shift things accordingly. Or I discover something I didn’t know and shift my plan to fit it in. Sometimes I learn that I’ve gotten something wrong in my research and by learning the right thing in the field I have to change quickly and move my shoot in the right direction, even if it means eliminating things I thought were important. I use my eyes and ears in the field, and I process what I hear and see through the knowledge I’ve gathered in my research. I make informed decisions and instead of doing what’s best for my schedule and plan, I do what’s best for the documentary story and the portrayal of my participants.
8. Documentaries are written in the cutting room.
The place for writing documentaries is in the cutting room, not at the writer’s desk. It helps if the documentary director is an editor or at least understands the job of editing. I have edited all but two of my documentary films and I was involved in those cuts all the way through. “This book [New Documentary, second edition by Stella Bruzzi] has argued against the uncompromised rendition of the real being an attainable goal for non-fiction, [however] the presence of the auteur is not so problematic, for one of the corollaries of accepting that documentary cannot but perform the interaction between reality and its representation is the acknowledgment that documentary, like fiction, is authored.”(5) Yes, documentary is authored, but unlike fiction where the story is scripted before shooting, documentary rushes are generally used to ‘find’ the story after the filming wraps.
The director experiences a freedom of choice in their rushes, the opportunity to tell any number of stories, and yet there is generally only one ideal story lurking in the rushes that rings true to the experience of the filmmaker. Any number of stories exist in documentary rushes. Finding 'the' story takes skill, practice and time. I did three rough cuts for P4W and each told a different story. I settled on the final one because it reflected what I wanted the film to say and it had an emotional structure. My sound recordist, who had seen all three rough cuts, was disappointed at first that I didn’t stick with the first, which she said was the best because it was wonky just like the prison. She was right, but it was also all over the map, and the story needed to unfold with a structure. “I found that there were many smart, articulate people willing to talk to me, but the amazing thing was that none of these smart people could agree on anything. So it fell on me to try to develop the truest story I could (Fairweather 2003: p.6) [about the experience of making Capturing the Friedman’s].(6)
9. Practice good ethics.
Ethics is a way of operating in the world, a way of treating people, a knowledge of what is ‘truth’, what is not, and how reality events are used. Ultimately ethics will form the guiding principles of documentary storytelling to shape the final results that will be shown to an audience. Wrapping a film in a documentary package gives the subliminal message that you are presenting the ‘truth’. I see no reason why anyone should needlessly be disregarded in the making of documentary filmmaking. I see no reason why fiction events should be disguised as non-fiction to fool audiences. In this era of the hybrid doc this is one of the more controversial aspects of documentary ethics to consider before setting off to shoot.
10. If you’d like others to be changed by your films allow yourself to be changed too.
Making documentaries is a gift of continual learning. I’ve had rare experiences along the way and gained unique insight into the human condition. My greatest reward is earning the trust of people living in the fringes, who are usually there because they have a mistrust of people. I learn something each time I make a documentary film, and it keeps me going to make the next.
1 Stella Bruzzi, New Documentary, Second Edition, pg. 47
2 Stella Bruzzi, New Documentary, Second Edition, pg. 54
3 Stella Bruzzi, New Documentary, Second Edition, pg. 48
4 Stella Bruzzi, New Documentary, Second Edition, pg. 46
5 Stella Bruzzi, New Documentary, Second Edition, pg. 197, the auteur
6 Stella Bruzzi, New Documentary, Second Edition, pg. 241, Capturing the Friedman’s
Welcome to my documentary new media blog. I am a graduate student in the MFA in Documentary Media program at Ryerson University in downtown Toronto. I have made documentary films for three decades. I am new to the world of new media. My main interest in exploring new media is to learn concepts that can be applied to my documentary projects. Once I know which concepts I wish to explore I'll be interested in exploring the appropriate technologies. This is my first post and I'm not sure if I need to date it or if it does that automatically, we'll see. I can edit it later if I need to add the date. Janis
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