#movingimage2015

It’s a wrap! After writing our proposal, having fun with the green screen and some editing work our moving Image is done. Our goal; show people the emotion happy with a smile. During the presentation of our video everyone was smiling! Mission completed!

We had some positive feedback, but I know there is still room for improvement. People look in the space between the person in the front, and the images on the back. I think we can use this space even more to create a happy feeling and try to give the watcher the freedom for his own imagination. 

Furthermore we could create our own soundtrack which fits the situation even more. I learned how to work with a green screen during this project what can be useful when I ever want to work with one back in Holland. My passion for editing movies started the moment I came to New Zealand and started filming my traveling journey with my GoPro. After this project I’m sure that this is something I really enjoy and want to get more professional with. 

The group worked really well together and we all learned some new things. Even nobody had experience in real movie making, we made our goal come true and made everybody smile!

Our moving image; Just Smile

For me, Moving Image has been the most challenging - and rewarding - studio project unit thus far.

Creating a flipbook was an engaging introduction to the concept of “sequential art” and really got me to consider how to create and transform meaning by placing one image alongside another in a spatial or temporal sequence. Creating the proposal and moving image experience really pushed me creatively, technically and organizationally; I feel like I gave our group a really ambitious idea (as is my tendency) to run with, and ambitious ideas require diligent self-learning, time management and efficient teamwork to execute. This project was an exercise in all three, from teaching ourselves how to projection map using VPT7 and troubleshoot the innumerable technical issues we faced, delegating tasks in an efficient manner, setting ourselves realistic but strict milestones that ensured everything got done on time - all within the span of two weeks. These have been important skills to take away.

Studio I: MOVING IMAGE - Part 2.2 Moving Image Experience, “OASIS” Presentation & Reflection

22/05/15

Big thank you to Fritz for filming and editing the above timelapse video of our installation space during today’s setup/presentation!

“OASIS” was very well received. I was surprised that a lot of people came in and actually chose to pull up one of the bean bags and relax in the space for a while, rather than a brief standing observation. This meant our installation was successful at getting the audience to engage with what we intended it to be; a space of serenity and tranquility.

Our classmates had a lot of positive things to say about our installation. One common theme was that it had a very real subconscious effect; it made them feel “zoned out” as if they lost track of time without noticing while being lulled by the slowly rotating visuals and ambient sound within the semi-enclosed space. The word “calming” was frequently used when people were asked to describe the experience. I’m really pleased with how well all the elements we chose tied together to evoke the emotion we wanted to create.

Pritika also gave us some cohesive feedback on our work. She, too, said the installation was successful in that she felt “calmer and more relaxed, especially after viewing that Anxiety installation!” It also worked as an “oasis” of sorts; the predominantly nature-based imagery provided a welcome place of meditation in the “desert” of technology that is the studio environment. As for the moving images we projected, she felt that the more abstract footage (such as the low angle shot of the trees) was more effective at establishing a serene viewing experience than the more obvious images (such as the zen garden). With more abstract and “ungraspable” images, it’s easier to get lost in your own thoughts (or to not think at all) as they aren’t provoking you to conjure up anything specific in your mind - the same reason we decided to use non-musical ambient sound.

If we had time to develop the project further, among the things I would do to improve it would be:

Replace the vertically-rotating zen garden video with something more abstract. Two reasons: one, as Stefan said, the vertical rotation was somewhat unsettling which is contrary to the aim of our installation; two, as Pritika said, it felt too “obvious”.

Find a more stable and less fiddly way of anchoring down the spheres - throughout the presentation the nylon threads we taped to the floor were in constant danger of people walking through them. Also they didn’t do very much to limit the swaying of the spheres with any passing air currents, which threw our projection off slightly. 

Position the beanbags in a less “movie-theatre” arrangement; maybe organically strewn across the space like wind-carried spores (going back to the natural theme). 

Pay more attention to the small aesthetic details we overlooked - clear up the visual floor space by getting rid of all the white tape, stow wires somewhere unobtrusive.

Reflective Statement:

No pain to gain, I suppose I’m still under my comfort zone during this project.

Considering through the project I’m doing sketching and filming. Shooting video is kind of a casual thing to me, but making the ideas of draw through 60 frames of a couple dancing or shooting environment in Hamilton become reality can be quite an improvement, since most of the time I would consider these kind of idea as too much of a hassle. By think of a idea and “Just do it”. Knowing what I want might be a bit ridiculous but having the courage to make it happen is probably the greatest gain in this project.

2015/05/07

Starts with the flip book, I always have this idea of implanting drawings into photos. When it comes to the task of continues image I thought of this straight the way, to make the background layer more alive, instead of using a still image I decide to use hyperlapse to add in movements.

Idea of joining tango into my hyperlapse comes with two reason

I’ve been requested to make a video for tango community in Auckland,

This will be a good chance to manipulate the structure of the dance of my favourite couple frame by frame by tracing them.

Facing trouble of matching up the movement of the couple with hyperlapse, and draw though every frame took lots more time than I expected. Silly mistake was made by skipping changing background or mixing up the movement of the couple. Ends up that I handed in 3/4 of the final product with pretty poor print quality. And the final complete product was finished 3hrs after the deadline of 5pm.

Reference: Murat and Michelle in Purdue with Poema

2015/05/11

Group started up of me Patricia and Kento are joined by Kryten, Jenny  and Yonathan later on. After the brainstorming we decide the sensation of calm and serenity. The process including ideas of making a silent chamber and Oculus rift and set-ups to isolate people from the surroundings. Conclusion for the day will be sorting out the works for every group member. Patricia and Kento are in charge of projection mapping, Kryten, Jenny and Yonathen are setting up the chamber, and I’m in charge of the moving film, the moving image.

2015/05/14

Proposal are finalized and handed in today.

For the moving image that I’m in charge with, tasks I received from my group are:

3 films that makes peaceful sensation to the viewer.

Seamless loops for every film.

Boarder of the films needs to be circular and rounded.

Finish filming before the 18th (Monday) so than the projection mapping group can work on it till Thursday.

2015/05/15~16

Filming ideas has been inspired by the installation of the projection mapping with 3 circular paper lanterns, which brings my mind of serenity into a picture of meditation in the nature. “Japan it is” I told myself, beautiful gardening in the bamboo forest. but where to find Japan? Only place I can thought of finding that sensation is Hamilton garden.

Problem appeared: If filming during weekend in Hamilton garden, Feeling of serenity and peace can’t be well generated if being surrounded by tourist taking selfies. Hamilton garden will not do a good filming location during weekend, only chance of film there will be Wednesday (Considering there will be lectures on Monday and Tuesday.)

Instead of sit and wait till Wednesday and finish up the “planed” last minute film. I decided to ride around Auckland Domain & one tree hill, got some footage of trees in day time and night time. Tested out the visual effects of hyperlapsing with my camera facing up 90 degrees, having the comparison to the previous shot I had I discovered that different angle of camera setup have effects of lanterns spinning in different angle

2015/05/18

Returned to school and handed in two of the films that I made during the weekend to my crew and let them work on projection mapping. Problem appeared: While running two video at once, frame-rate of the video have significant drop. Solution I came up with was run the projection through my computer(since my computer can probably have better performance) But while running pvt7 through my computer the mapped video wasn’t able to export(preview). According to experience of second year senior this problem can probably be the software pvt7 wasn’t supported by my graphics card. Hance the solution changed to lowing down the quality of the video from 1920*1080 into 1280*720.

2015/05/20

Wednesday Shooting in Hamilton. Bus leave at 7:15 am and return at 9:30pm. Beside it’s a slightly tired trip, biggest challenge can be the tourist running into my hyperlapse. This is when I learn the importance of prioritise the sequence while shooting, for instance the 360 degree surroundings is the hardest to keep people out of frame. and the facing up 90 degree shot will be the easiest since the camera’s facing the sky. So for the surrounding shot, the time from 12:00~ 2:00pm will be a nice choice since the tourists should be having lunch (group of people walking by decrease from 2min per group(11am) down to 10min(1pm) per group.) Well, I didn't thought of that so I shot the 360 degree surroundings at 10:40am, which took me some extra effort to process out the tourists by doing digital zoom(better way will be photoshop, but since it’s time consuming) and caused a insignificant problem of uneven rotation speed indirectly.

Prioritising the sequence of scene while shooting was learnt the hard way.

2015/05/21

OASIS

the projection mapping spheres has been completed.

Totally impressed by group mates overcoming the technical issues of projection mapping with pvt7 in less then a week and made this amazing installation for people to enjoy. Ambient sounds from the space, Japanese landscapes, bean bags with soft and comfy blankets and cushions. 

SUBMISSION AND EXHIBITION

Today we presented all of our projects to the class and setup our installations and showed the films made to the class and the work that everyone produced was absolutely amazing.

There was all kinds of installations; some films, some multidimensional projections or films; and some were simply short films but they were all incredibly well made work. I personally really enjoyed the Teddy Bear film which was all about intensity it conveyed its idea very well. Also very well done was the film TERROR it was incredibly well thought out and well filmed and graded. 

Anxiety seemed to do well with a number of class members saying the really enjoyed it and it conveyed the emotion really well and I was quite pleased with that. A lot of work went into making sure it conveyed the anxiety and feelings we intended.

Reflecting on the project there were two things I think i would have changed in retrospect; i think using a larger piece of perspex and dressing the box/chamber a little better on the outside or having the time to build a box you could walk into and have lights all around you. This is a huge amount of work and a lot of time and parts to get this to work properly but I think this would make the experience incredibly immersive and really convey the things we wanted to a much greater audience. The bigger piece of perspex would also blur the entire viewing window out so light filtered all around the box not just towards the viewers eye but this is all work that can be though about for out next assessment. 

BUILD COMPLETION 

The build is done, and all we need now is to get the video filmed and ready for submission before 10am tomorrow.

The build has gone well and has achieved a very high quality of build structure after some fine tuning and perfectionism; i feel as if every bit of extra effort will help immerse the user that much more. We managed to play test the installation with a large number of class maters and this was very helpful in identifying a few faults and improvements that need to be made. 

We also got a lot of helpful info about what caused them to feel anxious and what colours worked what didn't and what distracted them which meant when we went into the final building process we knew exactly what we had to do.

Things we received specific feedback on was the soundtrack and the colours so we worked on these and the new versions are much better ad confirmed by members of the class who used it before and after the changes were made