Rafolio.co.uk

I must now begin to focus on the realization of my thesis installation proposal. I feel that it is vitally important I incorporate the internet into the installation in some way after being deeply inspired by Melanie Wein’s ‘Fleetingness of Bits’ project, and the method in which this will occur is the internet becoming an interface between the user and the installation. The user uploads data [audio, video, image] to the installation projection loop via the internet, and somewhere along the process this information becomes decayed in some fashion.

Using Twitter as an interface between the user and the installation throws up the possibility of some extremely complex and interesting relationships.

Using Twitter/Twitpic, the user could ‘Twit’ data [audio, image, video] to the installation projection. The Twitter application would decay the data in some fashion before incorporating it into the installation projection loop, and posting it to an online database. The decayed data would also be ‘Twitted’ back to the user.

An extra layer of complexity would exist in a secondary camera situated as part of the physical installation, which would record the projected results and re-twit them back to the Twitter application in the form of videos and stills. This recording feedback could then be re-run through the decaying process before being sent back to the user, who would see their original data incorporated into the installation.

The nature of social networking and the recent developments in mobile internet capabilities encourages impromptu and spontaneous micro-blogging, and it is more than likely that visitors to the physical installation would document what they see. This may involve taking videos/photographs of the installation on their mobile phones and uploading to various internet sites. If the viewers are directed to send their recordings to the decaying Twitter application, this would add yet another layer of complexity into the relationship of the system.

The emphasis now must be on the process of automating the digital decay of the data, starting with some experimentation into real-time recording-projection techniques which explore the concept of digital memory.

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Well the Flash animation is finally finished, take a look here – Glimpses of the Spectacular

Below is a recording of the animation.

Glimpses of the Spectacular from Richard Almond on Vimeo.

Recording of the final Flash animation.

http://blog.rafolio.co.uk

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I’ve eventually managed to get this cloud cursor trail effect working properly, after hours of trial + error. In the end I managed to limit the effect to a container (the glass), but for some unknown reason, the trail generated was offset from the cursor position. A bit of a botch-job led to me adding/subtracting from the _xmouse and y_mouse values until the effect matched up to the cursor. Thankfully the effect works pretty well I think. It’s a lot more subtle and realistic than previously. I’ve also added a further feature to when the upper flickering light is clicked – explore for yourself… 

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Typically, solving one problem leads to the discovery of the next. After managing the get this new cloud trail effect to work properly, I begun transferring it onto my main scene. As you can see, there is an issue with the container. I want the effect to be limited to the area of the glass, like in the previous version of this scene. Now that I’m working with a ‘particle’ effect that uses a bitmap to generate the smoke effect, rather than simply attaching a movie clip of a vector object I’ve tweened and blurred to look like a cloud, it seems I must mask the animation in a different way. This could take a while…

This is the previous version, where the masking works well but the cloud effect is not quite as successful…

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Since (frustratingly) I haven’t been able to do much with the computer lately, I’ve had time to do a lot of thinking about where I want to go with this Flash project. Somehow it seems that thinking about these things whilst sitting on a park bench or in a cafe generates rather better ideas to when staring aimlessly at a monitor in a dark room late at night. There are essentially 3 components to the project – the animation, the installation proposal, and the documentation:

 

Animation

1. I feel I have the individual animations pretty much cracked – at least the idea for each image. What needs some thought though is the transitions between images. I’m happy for the 5 main images to transition via a simple fade out/in effect, representing the monotonous boredom of the respective spaces. The transitions between these 5 images and those that represent a “glimpse of the spectacular” however, may need a little more interest. Possibly an interactive method of transition? I’m drawn to the idea of a mask as a method of transition – something dragable which demands effort from the user to reveal the spectacular.
2. I’m also currently toying with the idea of framing each animation. This could simply be to place them within a white container, but the aim would be to unify the images and bring a consistency to the animation which should hopefully help tie things together visually. A frame further resonates the concept of the window which is integral to my animation.
3. I’d like to think about how the animation will be presented online. I plan to have it embedded into a custom web page which I will design to reinforce the theme of my project. This page could also possibly contain instructions on how to view the animation, links to drawings of the installation proposal and excerpts from my original description of the project.
4. The final idea, and this is very much time-dependent, is to explore the possibility of incorporating a soundtrack into the animation. This will most likely be a piece of  ambient instrumental music that would play in the background as the user explores the animation, rather than specific sound effects that are triggered from the animation.

 

Installation

1. Although I have a number of ideas for the installation, I feel that this is the area of the project that still needs most consideration. It seems obvious firstly that my main images/animations should be projected in a way that reproduce some of the sense of enclosure and claustrophobia that the actual rooflights generate.
2. My initial idea for the installation is a raised platform into which viewers will climb. This platform will be enclosed above by the projection screens, which will be positioned above head-height and angled inward to resemble the orientation of the actual rooflights. The screens will be projected from behind.
3. Behind these main screens will be further screens featuring the images which represent the “glimpses of the spectacular”. It will not be immediately obvious to the viewer that these screens exist, and so it will be a matter of chance or determination whether or not these glimpses are revealed.
4. The next question is how the transitions between the main images and the “glimpses of the spectacular ” occur. One thought is that the screens are roller-blinds, which the viewer must operate to reveal what is beyond. Another is that the roller-blinds are automatically operated at random, and so the viewer has no input into what is revealed to them. A further, interesting possibility is that the viewer does trigger the automatic roller-blinds, but through hidden sensors, i.e. pressure/proximity sensors. This would mean that the user is triggering the “glimpses of the spectacular”, but they are unaware of just how.
5. There should probably be a clue given of the existence of the secondary images which are behind the main ones. An idea for this is that small sections of the screens are cut away in areas that correspond to gaps in the image. For instance a crack in a window pane of a stairwell will actually be a cut through the corresponding projected image, and this would offer the viewer a small glimpse of what is beyond.
6. It may be interesting to use the projectors themselves as part of the installation. Since most of my secondary “glimpse” images are of bursts of sunlight, there may be an option to use the projectors to further enhance the experience of viewing one of these “glimpses of the spectacular”. The screens would be projected from behind, and so when the the screens featuring the main images are temporarily removed to reveal the secondary images, a projector would be potentially projecting directly into the face of the viewer. Instead of having the projector temporarly shut off, it would be appropriate to leave it running, representing the blinding sun as it pierces through the horizontal slit windows in the studio before setting.
7. Something else I’d like to look into is using sensors to control the animations. I’m aware of an Arduino-to-flash script which which would allow users to control animations through physical movement when viewing the installation. One idea is to have a proximity sensor mounted on the screen which features one of the “glimpse of the spectacular” images. As this bright, vibrant image is revealed, the viewer would naturally be drawn to explore it more closely, but upon doing so the image would gradually become more desaturated, depending on the viewer’s distance from the proximity sensor. In this way the viewer truly only experiences a “glimpse”, and experiences the frustration of isolation in the studio space.

 

Documentation

1. I’d like to think more deeply about the method in which I document this project, and a simple A4 bound booklet seems rather inappropriate. Using the fantastic Things Our Friends Said On The Internet 2008 project by Really Interesting Group as a precedent, I plan to create something unique and pertinent, which could almost exist as a project in its own right.
2. Since the project is about windows, the glass, what is beyond it, isolation and striving to discover something spectacular, it would prove relevant to experiment with an origami-style document. Initially in a folded state, the document must be unraveled by the viewer to unveil the money shots. During this process of unfolding, the document would reveal snippets of the development of the project.

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Ok so this is the third image animation which again has taken me a ridiculously long time! I started by duplicating the original image and turning it into a night-time shot in Photoshop. Then I created a button from the top fluorescent light which triggers a fade transition between day and night.

This was all pretty simple stuff and I introduced a flicker into the up state of the button to signify its function. The cloud animation behind the glass, on the contrary, caused me a great deal of stress. I had to introduce “depth” into the AcrionScript of a simple movie clip to generate the dispersing cloud effect, and then use the cursor tracking function to apply the movie clip to position of the cursor.

The result is that the user can draw a cloud trail across the glass. The next problem was limiting the cursor trail animation to the area of the window, so that it appeared as if the clouds were forming behind the glass. I initially used the StartDrag function and limited the active area to top, right, bottom and left boundaries, but this had the disadvantage of restricting the area to a rectangle, whereas the window consisted of a series of rhombus-shaped panes.

After some further research it seemed the way forward was to create a button with a hit area which filled all the glass panes, and to assign the cloud trails movie clip as a RollOver state. This button had to have an instance name, and I then had to duplicate its hit area to be used as a mask for the animation.

Finally I had to create an empty movie clip which was subject to the mask, and give it an instance name. Again the process was rather long-winded and certainly more complicated than I’d expected, but the result is quite effective.

Here is the full size version

I feel I need to work on the actual cloud trail animation, specifically for the night-time image. Please test the animation and send me any feedback you have: rich@rafolio.co.uk

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html upload test, work in progress…
(this is a SWF so please interact and let me know what you think)

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After last week’s review, it’s clear I’ve got a lot more thinking to do on this Flash animation. Re-reading the brief, I remind myself of the 4 key factors to consider:

•                Navigation (a cognitive approach, association and reoccurring objects)          
•                Type of animation (controlled, interactive, triggered)          
•                Life spans (of individual objects as well as the animation as a whole)         
•                Hierarchy (primary/secondary objects)

 

Initially it seems vital to get the navigational system cracked. Further consideration has led to the idea of using the window panes as an intuitive, constant navigational feature. Since the main section of my animation will feature 5 images of the roof lights, it is sensible to use the right most window pane as a forward button, and the left most as a back button. This has the advantage of allowing the user to navigate how they desire through the main body of the animation.

Each of these main 5 images will have its own unique, subtle animation, but it will hopefully become clear very quickly how to navigate between them. The theme of my photographic project was “Glimpses of the Spectacular”, and so along with the main 5 images which portray the general mundane, monotonous, grey gloom of the studio, I will have 4 further images of the special moments of weather that remind us of nature’s beauty.

Finding these images will not be so simple, they may be appear when an inquisitive user explores a small, interesting area of one of the main image, or they may appear at random. They will certainly appear suddenly and disappear even more so, back into the gloom. The user will never know quite how to see these moments.

Another issue brought up in the review was that of transitions. Initially the transitions were a simple cut from one image to the next, but a fade in and out, or even a gradual overlay transition from one to the next should prove more in keeping with the subtleties of my animation.

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So this was a short project with Dirk Lellau which looked at space through the medium of weather, and was restricted to our Uni campus on Marylebone Road.  I focused on the materiality of the windows and was interested in their control over the atmosphere of a volume, rather than what is beyond them. Of particular interest was the contrast in my experiences of the weather.

In my flat I am surrounded with windows and roof-lights, I hear the rain pounding the tiles, I am blinded by the sun as it sets, piercing dark storm clouds, I see the frost glistening early on a winter’s morning. As I step into the studio, I feel immediately restricted. I am allowed only a thin band window with which to experience the weather and a series of looming, filthy, frosted roof-lights which provide me with a sense 

of what exists beyond them. My whole experience of weather is reduced to light. A dull, pale, grey is cast over the rutted wall surface of a stair well.

This oppressive environment provides an intensified appreciation of these moments of the spectacular. A sudden burst of sunlight illuminates a discoloured roof-light with a warm glow. It comes alive with deep turquoise, orange and blue, where before there was only gray. The glass glistens like a fine slab of splendid marble. We are reminded that the weather exists when it is so easy to forget in these monotonous labyrinths.

Click to see the full Flickr set

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