Thank the Gods for After Effects

In regard to my previous post, while technology has hindered it has also helped. I have been able to put areas of the film through after effects and subsequently created a look I am happy with. In fact it goes very well with the jack hammer looking like the result of jack hammer on concrete :)

Frustration and Fear

The nature of the beast is that it is not always going to work out right and invariably technology lets you down. Need I say anymore.

Trialing my movie using isadora and putting it on the three screens showed that it was extremely pixillated. I have had to re export and change settings twice so far, I have increased the quality but not good enough in my book as yet!

Installation Technispecifity

The project required three screens and the computers we have available can only facilitate two screens therefore we need to use two computers. Isadora is the programme used to talk between the two computers and to make Isadora talk between the two computers we needed to set up a small lan using a router.

The Power of Interruption

In making this piece I have become knowledgeable of where it is taking me and the narrative is predictable (to me) even tho it may not be to the audience. I believe it would create a more synaethestic experience to cause an interruption in the narrative, while experiencing the narrative. This interruption should still be related to the narrative but at a different level. This is done well in the current TV series Reservoir Hill with Beths Dreamscape. See TVNZ

While shooting the footage for this film I captured two Tuis playing in the treetops and as the Tui call is through the current narrative I decided to explore this more by taking the Tui footage and subverting or corrupting it to an even deeper space than that of the memory, more likely a subconscious level. For this I have used colouring effects and desaturation, which makes it different to the rest of the film footage.

ALso re enforcing the deeper level is the soundscape for this piece which is the call of the Tui, however I have slowed it down to different levels of speed.

I will embed small bits of the movie into the current narrative, to fracture time and space. The transition between the time and space will be both visually and audibly experienced by the audience with a jolt like action

Constructing the Installation

Originally I wanted to create an almost cocoon like space for the audience to enter and pass through the experience, however logistics prove to be a challenge and therefore I have adapted an earlier concept I have had.

It is important that the audience feels somewhat immersed in the experience, I want the experience to reach the peripheral edge of the eye so that it is all encompassing.

It is also important for me to bring the theme of the installation into the physical aspect and materiality is vital.

I made the decision to erect three flat wide screens at eye height, one front and one to each side, so that the peripheral vision is affected. The screens will be rested and attached to mobile panels. The panels will be disguised in the foliage of the outside such as flax and ferns which will be attached using velcro dots. The panels will then be surrounded by a second layer of mobile panels which are of similar design to exterior walls of the APA. This will also serve the purpose of hiding the required computers and cords. A set of headphones will be placed for the audience to put on.

By doing this I effectively will be bringing the outside in not only as an audio visual representation but also as a physical representation

Soundscape

I believe that sound is affectual, in that with the added form of sound to a visual experience, you not only enhance the experience for the audience but create pictures within the mind, which in effect creates an implicit layering of the experience within the mind of the audience.

Finding the correct sounds for this project has been a challenge. The soundscape I wanted to create would both incorporate the past sounds of the bush particularly the sound of the Tui, the sound of the construction of the APA and the sounds that now emanate from the APA space.

In constructing the soundscape I had to incorporate aspects that represented memory all the while considering the process of change to the space and how could I create this so that the audience experiences this. It is important that time is represented and this is difficult to do, however, if you think about the time it takes for a forest to form and exist with its inhabitants and then the very small time in comparison to deconstruct it to then construct a space of performance, I needed to not only visually represent this but using the soundscape allow the audience to feel this.

Therefore I used various soundclips from online sound stores, these include, violins, cellos, piano, jack hammers, construction vehicles working etc. To gather the forest sounds I was able to access recording by conservationists on Kapiti Island.

I then layered all the sound filtering over each other at specific times to represent the transition through time and space.

Particularly in the third part of the sequence I have used the effect of echo on sound as time and space converge closer, with the voices sung in the APA appearing the forest scene.

Taking into account the space for which I will be installing this piece and how it will be installed, I will be using headphones as part of the installation which the audience will individually wear, hence the installation will be experienced by no more than two people at a time. I will place two headphone sets for use at the same time.

This is also important as some people would be more comfortable experiencing an installation like this with someone else.