https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1dzBV_d43Rd97EzLduStn9KzxGzb_ToqLQKlaO2ZoGzk/edit?usp=sharing
Proposal
MED3004M Proposal Form - Digital Media
Name(s): Chris Pilkington
Date: 02/10/14
Tutor(s): James Field
Working title: Vector
What is the intended idea/concept of the project?
The intended idea of the project is to create an audio-responsive interactive installation exploring the vectorial class academic theory. This is a socio-economic theory that analyses the way industry has evolved since the dawn of the digital network. Industry used to be confined to a factory, a town or even a country but now digital networking allows creatine to breach these spatio-temporal boundaries and industry becomes more globalised and instantaneous. I shall apply this theory in the question of how the vectoral class is affecting the media, with particular focus on the music industry, and if in breaching these boundaries do we have a more democratic creation environment or whether we are cheapening art and culture?
Describe the intended audience:
The installation will be of an experimental ilk and therefore potentially could have a wide audience demographic, however due to the material involved i expect the project to appeal to mainly educated, intellectual and critical thinkers. These people will be aware of popular media and communications theory as well as have a strong grasp of the current socio-economical and political environment as Vector will challenge and address these areas of thought.
How will this project extend your creative and technical skills?
I plan to experiment with a combination of Analog and Digital media, these will include developing my skills in compositing and animation, projection mapping and potentially even coding with an Arduino. Creatively, I wish to experiment with audio and use it to embellish animation and light designs that are being projected simultaneously.
Outline how the practical work will be carried out and the time-scales involved for each task. (If working in a group, please also indicate the division of labour):
Once i secure access to all the relevant components the majority of the time will be used developing, designing and compositing the animation. I shall also have to devote a proportionate amount of time in learning the Arduino code and using the audio interfaces.
A rough timescale could be as follows;
6-7 weeks compositing
2-3 weeks coding
1 week final assembly and mapping
What other work (by animators, designers, film-makers, writers, digital media producers, etc.) is relevant to your project? (This work may either be relevant for its conceptual, inspirational or technical similarity):
Jonas Odell - Designer & Animator
Marcel Duchamp (Amongst Other Dadaists) - Artist
EXPLORINGAUDIO - Musician & Experimentalist
Allessandro Cortini - Musician
Busby Berkeley - Director & Choreographer
Len Lye - Experimental Filmmaker
List at least two critical texts that are relevant to your conceptual intentions:
Marshall McLuhan - Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man
McKenzie Wark - The Vectoral Class and its Antipodes
Karl Marx - Grundrisse
Any other information not covered previously:
I shall also be studying the post-fordist approach to enhance my inspiration for the designs of the animations.
I shall use the audio techniques and research of the Berlin School of Electronic Music to inspire the sonic element of the installation
The audio genre shall also be inspired by the Bristol Trip Hop Scene, a la DJ Shadow, Portishead & Massive Attack
The project will attempt to illustrate, exemplify and demonstrate how the vectorial class theory can be applied to practical media production. It will be an immersive atmosphere that is different for every user, due to their experimenting with sound and the tape desk live as the performance loops. The Twitter visualisation of a heart rate monitor that spikes every time a selected keyword is tweeted (eg. #vector) is to show how a news story isn't alive unless its being tweeted about. This is a demonstration of how digital networks have breached the confines of the conventional newsroom broadcast or even tabloid or broadsheet press. The installation will be fast and dynamic to illustrate how the utilisation of said networks allow the contemporary socioeconomic to thrive at a much higher speed.
I will address three main media ideas in the piece as I apply Wark’s theory. Twitter as the new Newsroom, The degradation or embellishment on the audio industry due to increasing amounts of prosumer equipment and new distribution methods (Soundcloud, Youtube etc) And finally the artistic impression of the age of the machine. Dadaist and Constructivist ideologies shall be implemented to showcase the mekonos and how analog machines have been breached in wake of the digital revolution. This will be a recurring theme in my inspiration and development of the composited animations part of the projection mapped element of the installation.
The Tape deck will allow the users to experiment with the audio, by changing pitch and speed, fading in and out of tracks and banks of noise as well as general panning and equalisation controls. I shall be distressing some of the tapes in a similar way to how Len Lye distressed film in his Colour Box piece, but I may also encourage the users to distress the tapes in their own way.
Some examples of the types of visual inspiration are as follows;
Jonas Odell - http://www.nexusproductions.com/work/take-me-out
Marcel Duchamp - http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/duchamp-the-bride-stripped-bare-by-her-bachelors-even-the-large-glass-t02011
Len Lye - A Colour Box - http://vimeo.com/53129725
Audio Inspiration
Exploring Audio - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxi7RwFSKEg
Massive Attack - Mezzanine - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpD-yf_vHYA
