The Hip Hop Project

A production blog documenting the creation of an art installation for the Hip Hop Dance Summit in Bournemouth.

[hannah-e-cole]

Reflecting on the Feedback

Today we received our marks for our piece and along with this the feedback for our work. I felt that this would be a good time to reflect on the way the project turned out and look at where we went wrong and how we could improve on our work.

One thing stated in our feedback was that we needed "more cohesiveness of group concept across the elements" and this was something that I completely agreed with. From my blog, you can see that I did notice quite late on in the project that our video and projection mapping were almost two separate ideas. I did worry that this would affect our mark, which it ultimately did. I fully understand that my lack of thinking about the fluidity of the two elements earlier on in the project have played a major part in us not achieving a clearer overall concept. If I had thought about this sooner, I might have been able to rectify the problem. However, I can not place the blame solely upon myself as I am working as part of a team, and neither one of the other projection mappers noted this issue or any other team member.

Another reason I think this may have occurred was that there was a lack of disinterest from the majority of the group regarding the projection mapping. Whether this was because they were too busy or if they felt we had it all taken care of I do not know. However, I personally felt they did not engage much with this side of the project, even the director, and so this too could have been a reason for a lack of cohesion between the elements. If we are not fully working as a team, then there is a chance our project will reflect this which I feel it did. Upon reflection, I think I should have actively engaged with the director more. By this I mean having regular meetings with her to update her with the projection mapping side of things and if I had the chance to do the project again this is what I would do.

Also within our feedback it said, "unfortunately the design of the projection mapping could be developed more." While I can see that our projection mapping was fairly static, I am not too sure what else we could have done to develop this particular concept. Maybe this was a problem with the nature of our idea and therefore we should not have pursued it. I think it had the opportunity to be more interactive and dynamic, but this required skills and knowledge we did not have and could not acquire in the time frame available. So upon reflection, I feel that we should not have pursued the cityscape idea but rather another design or product.

It was too noted that the film was the strongest part. I feel this may have been the case as I believe people were more invested in this side of the project. While I understand we did not have to do projection mapping, this was something our group chose to do, and, therefore, should have had a strong interest in it. Thinking about it the way the roles were allocated may have played a part in less attention on the projection mapping. Will and Phil were also on camera as well as projection mappers meaning they needed to be on all the shoots, as well as plan out techniques and storyboards. This responsibility detracted time and attention from the projection mapping meaning I was on my own for the majority of the idea and content creation. While I could handle it in most parts, it did consume a lot of my time, and I did not have anyone to bounce ideas off and collaborate with. Upon reflection, if we had allocated the roles slightly differently maybe more focus could have been placed on the projection mapping, and we could have improved it drastically.

Furthermore, we have had a group discussion since receiving our marks, and we have spoken about what one bold decision we would have made looking back that could have changed the outcome of our project. We came to the conclusion that we would have probably abandoned the projection mapping aspect as our video may have been stronger on its own. Having said that, this would have been an extremely difficult decision for us as we had invested both time and money into the projection mapping by the time we had completed our video.

Overall, I am happy with the marks we were awarded, and I feel it was a pleasant end to the project. Obviously there are many improvements we could have made and numerous mistakes I hope I have learned from. But I feel I have gained lots of new skills from this unit that I can now take on with me into our next project.

[hannah-e-cole]

Behind the Scenes Video

Video 1: Group C1 (Cody Barret, Hannah Cole, Annabelle Dear, Beste Gulan, William Knight, Mollie Latter, Nathan McIvor, Kelsey O’Connor, Philip Small, Astrid Wood), 2015. Anywhere is a Stage - Behind the Scenes Video [video].

Music Credits

“Reflection (Instrumental)” by Tymono is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0).

[hannah-e-cole]

General Project Reflection

Before we receive our feedback in a couple of weeks time, I just wanted to reflect on how I feel the project went as a whole. I want to highlight some of the other issues we had in our group that we can use as learning points and well as to reflect on how we could have improved in this area.

To begin with I felt right at the beginning of the unit we had much confusion about the concept of our piece. We chopped and changed our idea around so many times that it became almost confusing at some points. I feel this is also evident within my blog. It was not that we had bad ideas or that we felt the ideas had no room for growth. It was more a lack of clarity on one core concept that caused us to all believe we were heading in different directions. Therefore, we had many discussions about our central idea, and this caused us to change our plans many times. I believe it is this initial confusion that caused us to lose a clear focus of our idea, and I think this could be seen within all the elements of our project. One way I feel we could have caused this to not happen was to not rush into a concept but rather to have longer discussions about all our ideas. Maybe this way we would have had a more cohesive project and also a stronger concept.

Additionally, upon reflection in the pitch I think we may have oversold ourselves a little and maybe given off expectations that we could not achieve. For example, suggesting we could make animated dancers was probably a huge mistake. By this I mean that it gave off the impression our projection mapping would be dynamic and full of life but if we could not achieve this we would have had nothing to fall back on. If we had just pitched the idea of a static cityscape then maybe we would have received feedback that was more valuable to us.

Moreover, to the end of the project Will became disengaged with the projection mapping element of the project leaving me and Phil to sort this all on our own. While we felt, we could handle the projection mapping by ourselves upon reflection it would have been better if he were still involved as we would have worked more efficiently. Additionally, if he were still helping us then maybe we would have been able to make the projection mapping more lively rather than static pictures. As we would have had more hands to help us within the short time frame and so could have achieved more.

I suppose as a whole we needed to focus more on project management and teamwork to ensure a smoother and more consistent production. Although I think we did work well as a team, I think a tighter group bond would have also helped us a great deal.

[hannah-e-cole]

Launch Reflection

After installing our project at the Pavilion today, I have had a little bit of time to think about how the unit was managed by both our group and how we could have improved our working process and piece.

Firstly, I would like to note a few things that went wrong at the Pavillion. One minor hurdle we encountered was a lack of tin foil to black out the windows. While I did measure all the windows and work out how much we needed, I did not take into account the fact how easily tin foil rips and that we would probably need extra to account for this. However, there was a quick fix solution as a few members of our group were able to pop out and buy some more. Upon reflection, I should have bought extra anyway, and this is a lesson I have learned for next time.

A more major hurdle we encountered was the issues we faced with mapping our project. In the week previously, we have been having issues with Painting with Light (2015) accepting our images correctly, and so we chose to use a software called VPT. This was working out remarkably well for us until it came to record the output, and the video was lagging causing it to disrupt the recording. After airing these issues with Kavi, at the launch, she suggested borrowing someone else's laptop which had Painting with Light (2015) installed, so we could try and map our project with that to see if it responded differently. In this case it did, and we could quickly map our project. However, upon reflection we should have managed the projection mapping aspect of the project much better so we could have sorted these problems with Kavi before she left for Paris. Therefore, we should have made sure we had created and tested all the elements the week before the launch. This was a significant fault on behalf of the projection mapping team and one which should not have happened.

Having said this, the main reason we were mapping our project on the launch day was due to the placement of our boxes. As we did not have our plinth on the test day, we were not able to fully map and export our project due to the positioning. Without our plinth, we could not tell exactly how our boxes would sit and, therefore, how our project would need to be mapped. On the test day, we mapped our project but could not export it for this reason. Upon reflection, we should have made sure we had our plinth at the Pavilion on Tuesday so we could have mapped and exported our video. So all we needed to do was load up the Raspberry Pi and set up the projector today. Again this is due to project management issues, and I can see we needed to organise this side of the project much better.

Another reflection point for me was that the plinth still partially smelt of paint and could have done with a few more days of airing out. Again, due to a lack of project management within the projection mapping team, because if we had built the plinth sooner we could have left it to dry/air for longer.

One major point of reflection for me has been the projection mapping. While we were developing our project, it became apparent that our video and projection mapping where somewhat separate and almost in some ways different ideas mashed together. Although we did realise this, the issue only really became apparent during the last stages of the production. Even though, we did try and rectify this problem as best as we could, by creating the billboard, it was not enough to resolve the issue of the two pieces being in cohesive.

Furthermore, as our piece did not get selected by Pavilion Dance to be displayed at The Hip Hop Dance Summit, I feel that we should reflect as to why. The three criteria the curators assessed  the pieces on were the appropriateness of the piece for the hip hop summit, the suitability of the piece in relation to Pavilion Dance and also the content. Thinking about our piece upon reflection I do not feel we fully understood the audience of the Pavillion and we did not entirely gauge the ethos of the Hip Hop Dance Summit. Therefore, I feel we should have done more research as a group into both these thing so that we met both the targets of the brief and met the needs of the client. If I had the chance to do the project again, I would 100% do more research.

Overall I do not think we created a bad piece of work, but I do feel we could have managed the project better, especially the projection mapping side.

[hannah-e-cole]

Video 1: Installation Taster (personal collection)

[hannah-e-cole]

Projection Mapping Video - Final Piece

Video 1: Group C1 (Cody Barret, Hannah Cole, Annabelle Dear, Beste Gulan, William Knight, Mollie Latter, Nathan McIvor, Kelsey O’Connor, Philip Small, Astrid Wood), 2015. Anywhere is a Stage - Projection Mapping Video [video].

Music Credits 

1st Track:

“Danger Zone” by Dave James, Adam Skinner, and Dan Skinner is licensed under the Home and Student License from Audio Network.

2nd Track:

“In Your Head” by Bob Bradley, Matt Sanchez, Steve Dymond, and Giuseppe De Luca is licensed under the Home and Student License from Audio Network.

[hannah-e-cole]

Photos from the launch.

[hannah-e-cole]

The Launch!

It finally came launch day! Over the past two months, we have been creating the content for our installation, and now it was finally the time to piece it all together. Before everyone headed to the Pavilion at 12pm to set up, Phil, Mollie, Nathan, Kelsey and I had to carry the plinth into the taxi so we could get it there. The five of us managed to lift the plinth safely into the taxi then Phil, and I traveled with it to the Pavilion to make sure it was secure during transit. Mollie took everyone else in her car, and then we all met at Pavilion Dance, so we could get the plinth into the building.

Figure 1: Me and the Plinth (Philip Small)

As soon as we arrived we had to carry the plinth into the Pavilion so that we could begin setting up. This was a bit of a challenge, but the five of us worked great as a team to navigate the plinth into the space. Once we arrived, we met Beste and with the plinth in place, we could begin gluing the boxes to each other, setting up the projector and blacking out the windows.

When Astrid and Will arrived a bit later, they began to black out the windows with tin foil. However, when they started they were sticking the tin foil up with tape as planned, but it looked untidy and unprofessional. Sam, the technician, later suggested we should maybe think about using sugar paper. We had thought about this previously, but we presumed it might need fireproofing, and so we went with tin foil after Sam originally suggested it as an option. Upon reflection, we should have thought more about the aesthetics of the tin foil. However, we decided it was a bit too late to change this now but if our piece did get chosen then we would replace the tin foil with sugar paper. Sam did, still help us out by saying we should use water to stick up the tin foil instead of sellotape so that it looked better. He showed us how to do this and lent us a craft knife so the tin foil could be cut to the size of the windows making it neater.

Figure 2: The Completed Projector Set Up (Philip Small)

As the rest of the group were blacking out the windows, I was struggling with Painting with Light (2015). While we had created our project many times within the software this time it was not working correctly on Phil's laptop. We had a problem with the way images were being added to the workspace and the workspace itself. Not only was the workspace not calibrated correctly, so you could not see where you were drawing, but it was inverting all the colours of our pictures and also turning them blue. We tried changing the settings and preferences within the program but it did not help. After struggling with this problem for a while, we decided to consult Kavi on how to solve the issue as we had no clue. Nevertheless, Kavi did not know why Painting with Light (2015) was acting like this, and she did not know how to fix it. She suggested borrowing someone else's laptop to build our project upon, but it was a struggle to find someone who was finished and who still had their laptop with them. Luckily Lizzie had her MacBook, complete with software, with her which meant we could borrow it, and we were able to re-create our projection quickly.  

With the projection portion complete all we had to do now was add the audio to our piece. As we do not know how to input or record sound from Painting with Light (2015), we decided it was best just to record our projection and then add the sound afterwards in Premiere Pro. While this should be simple, our edit starts with five seconds of black and so it was difficult to determine where our audio needed to come in. Additionally, Painting with Light (2015) gives a blank output (also black) before it begins to play any videos. Therefore, it was also difficult to tell when our video even started due to the black at the beginning. However, we proceeded, and I managed to get the audio in sync as best as I could. It was a few milliseconds out, but I did not have the time to fiddle with the audio so that it was perfectly in sync, and so it would have to do.

There was only about 1 hour left until the launch, and all we needed to do now was export our video and transfer it on to the Raspberry Pi so that it would play on loop. However, this was not as straightforward as we initially thought. When we first exported the video and loaded it on to the Pi, the ratio was wrong, and so our projection was too tiny. We tried exporting it again, but this time it was way too big. A couple of exports later Kavi, Phil and I managed to get the correct aspect ratio and our projection finally matched up with the piece. 

Figure 3: The Completed Installation (personal collection)

With only 15 minutes left to spare we had finished and could eventually relax.

In the 15 minutes before the curators would be coming round to view everyone's installations we went and had a little sneak peek at all the pieces. I was amazed at what all the groups had managed to create, and it was really nice to see what the whole year had come up with.

A bit later on after the curators had been round and deliberated all of the projects they announced the pieces that they would like to keep on for the total six weeks. 

Figure 4: Our Group with the Curators (Laura Dodds)

The winners were "Welcome to Hip Hop", "Breaking Free" and "Hip Hop Fusion." I was happy that all three of these pieces got chosen as they were the ones I enjoyed viewing the most. While our installation was not chosen, I was not disappointed as suspected this was going to be the case anyhow. Having said that, I was a little disheartened when I found out we would have to take our installations down the same day. It was rather disappointing to know that not many people were going to see our work even though we had put in a great deal of effort. Kavi however did say that the media school may display our projects, and told us to hold on to our boxes. I hope this happens as it would be satisfying to see our work on show.

After dismantling our installation, we now had to work out what to do with the plinth. We had no means of transportation to take it back with us and even if we did we would not know what to do with it. I thought it would be best to donate it to the university so they could maybe use it for displays. Following a quick chat with Lizzie we were able to get her to agree to take the plinth, so we no longer had to worry about it, and with that taken care of we left the Pavilion.

Overall I was happy with how the final piece looked and I pleased with how the team worked together to set up the installation. It has been a busy couple of months, and we have encountered lots of stress throughout the project, but I am proud of what we have achieved. I am now ready to get on with our next project.

[hannah-e-cole]

Video 1: Group C1 (Cody Barret, Hannah Cole, Annabelle Dear, Beste Gulan, William Knight, Mollie Latter, Nathan McIvor, Kelsey O’Connor, Philip Small, Astrid Wood), 2015. Starry Sky [video]. 

[hannah-e-cole]

Changing to Stars

So over the past couple of days Phil and I have been focusing on the projection mapping and in this time we have come up with many different variations.

Just the other day we thought about projecting clouds behind the cityscape to make it more realistic. We had chosen some cloud footage from the internet that we found through Creative Commons and had written out the attribution ready to be put on the poster. However, we were not 100% happy with the clouds we had chosen and thought it would be better to try and create our own. So I began looking at how to make animated clouds. I discovered you could make them in MAYA, and I also found a tutorial on how to do it. Except after downloading the software and having a quick fiddle with the functions I soon realised it was going to be way too difficult for me to make them using the program.

With all of this in mind, I set about thinking what else we could create to make the cityscape seem more realistic. The first thing I came up with was to turn the cityscape from night to day, therefore making the backdrop stars. So I looked up a tutorial on how to make stars in After Effects and began creating them.

Video 1: Starry Sky - After Effects Tootorial (Tootorials, 2011)

I found this tutorial quick and easy and had the stars created for our backdrop in no time. As we did not have a projector at the time, we could not fully test how they would look within our projection mapping. However, we did place the images on top of the video and thought it looked okay. I realise we have changed this so late on in the project, but Phil and I both agreed this move was essential to improving the look of our piece.

All we have to do now is create our piece tomorrow in time for the launch at 4pm. Phil and I are both positive we will be able to get this done as we have 4 hours in which to set up. I can not wait for the launch, and I am excited to see how our project will look when we finally piece it all together.

Media Bibliography

Tootorials, 2011. Starry Sky - After Effects Tootorial [video, online]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oyv5y46EaTQ [Accessed 26 March 2015].

[hannah-e-cole]

Anywhere is a Stage - Final Edit

Video 1: Group C1 (Cody Barret, Hannah Cole, Annabelle Dear, Beste Gulan, William Knight, Mollie Latter, Nathan McIvor, Kelsey O’Connor, Philip Small, Astrid Wood), 2015. Anywhere is a Stage [video].

Music Credits

1st Track:

“Danger Zone” by Dave James, Adam Skinner, and Dan Skinner is licensed under the Home and Student License from Audio Network.

2nd Track:

“In Your Head” by Bob Bradley, Matt Sanchez, Steve Dymond, and Giuseppe De Luca is licensed under the Home and Student License from Audio Network.

[hannah-e-cole]

All the projection mapping images.

[hannah-e-cole]

Test Day and Plinth Completion

Today was the day of our tech check at the Pavilion. We arrived in the morning to run through the set up of our installation in preparation for Friday. The purpose of this was to iron out any issues we had before the day of the launch. However, as we have not completed the construction of our plinth yet, we were not able to fully set up how we would on Friday. Having said this, we still brought the boxes with us so we could test roughly how our installation would look in the space. 

Figure 1: Building the Cityscape Projection (Beste Gulan)

One thing we noticed after setting up the projector was how washed out our projection was, confirming to us that we must blackout the windows otherwise our piece will lose the majority of its impact.

After testing all we could at the Pavilion, we then discussed the issue of how we were going to transport the plinth there. Due to the size of our plinth it will not fit in Mollie's car and so will we have to think of another way of transporting it there. Some of the group have suggested booking a large taxi, and this is an option that we are looking into. The production manager seemed distant and not forthcoming in helping out with a solution to this problem and instead left it up to me and Phil to sort out transportation. However, we feel overloaded with work as it is, as we still have a lot to do before the launch. Luckily Kelsey, Mollie, and Nathan were more than happy to help us out! They went and spoke to United Taxis for us to find out is we would be able to transport our plinth in one of their taxis.

Just before leaving Pavilion Dance we found out our get-in time for Friday is 12pm. This will be especially useful for us as we have a lot to do before the deadline at 4.

After the tech check, me and Phil immediately went back to his house so we could carry on with the plinth construction. Our aim for today was to finish building the plinth and to get a coat of paint on it so that it had time to dry. 

Figure 2: Myself Sawing Wood (Philip Small)

We managed to complete the box structure and then we were able to attach the front and back panels to the frame. 

Figure 3: The Completed Plinth (personal collection)

We then gave it a quick coat of paint, and we plan on spraying it with fire retardant tomorrow.

*Update*

Kelsey, Mollie, and Nathan informed Phil that United Taxis would be happy for us to transport the plinth in one of their vehicles. All we need to do is book out a seven seater taxi. Phil then went off and made a booking and the taxi will be picking us up at 11:30am so that we can get the plinth to the Pavilion for 12pm.

[hannah-e-cole]

Back to B&Q and Edit Issues

Today Mollie and Phil had to go back to B&Q to get two pieces of the wood re-cut and to also by longer drill heads and screws. The reason they needed to recut the wood was because I accidentally got the measurements wrong when we got the wood initially. I think this happened because when we went to purchase the wood we did not have a clear plan as to what we were buying. Luckily the wood was too long and not too short! Upon reflection, we should have drawn out the plans of what we wanted to build, complete with measurements before we went so we knew exactly what we were getting. This was also the reason we had to go back and get more drill heads and screws as we had not thought about how we would need longer ones for the joints. However, all was good because Mollie and Phil returned swiftly, and they had a successful trip.

Figure 1: The Wood Now Fits! (Phil Small)

While Mollie and Phil went to B&Q to resolve the issues with the plinth, I carried on with testing and creating our projection mapping piece. One idea I had was to project moving clouds behind the cityscape to make it look more realistic and provide more dynamism to our installation. However, when I imported our video into the software, I noticed it was boarded, and this was causing a black box to be projected around it. 

Video 1: Projection Mapping Test (personal collection)

To me, it seemed like an exportation issue. I thought it would be a quick and easy issue to resolve as it would just require me to re-export the edit in different dimensions in order for it to work within Painting with Light (2015). I had access to the edit after we had told the team that the projection mappers would need a copy of the editing session in order to fiddle with codecs and dimensions of the video so it would work correctly within the software. However, when I opened the project I noticed it was not an exportation issue but rather an issue with they way the clips had been edited. Astrid and Will had taken over editing after Beste was unavailable and somehow had managed to border all of the clips very severely. Therefore, Phil and I had to re-edit the whole project in order to progress with projection mapping. It was a huge setback, and it wasted a considerable amount of time. I feel this issue arose after the editors had a lack of knowledge in what they were doing and instead of asking if it was correct continued anyhow. In the end, we managed to re-edit it quite quickly but it created a significant amount of stress for me that did not need to have happened.

[hannah-e-cole]

Poster for our Piece

After our last production meeting, Nathan was tasked with creating the poster that we would place alongside our installation piece. The intention of this poster is to state the title, synopsis and tagline of our project as well as credit both the dancers and anyone else that was involved. Nathan went away and created the following poster.

Figure 1: Group C1 Credits Poster (personal collection)

While I think the poster is well done, I think it could have benefited from having the synopsis of our piece on it. It does state the tagline and title, but I think a summary would have added a nice touch. Also, I would have chosen a photo that did not have Will in shot with the camera, so that the focus was on the dancers and the central idea behind our video. Lastly, there is a bit of wasted space within the poster but this is a minor detail that I feel can be overlooked.

Overall, I think Nathan did a good job, and the poster should look great placed next to our installation.

[hannah-e-cole]

Beginning to Build

After buying the wood and tools to make our plinth yesterday, we commenced building it. Our plan is to create a full frame that we will then attach the larger boards of wood to in order to create a box like structure. Firstly we built the sides of the plinth by glueing and screwing in the first parts of the frame. 

Figure 1: Glueing Wood (Philip Small)

Then we attached the top piece of wood to both the sides creating the basis of the structure. As we were building it, we tested its stability, and we were very pleased with how sturdy our creation is.

Figure 2: Top and Sides of the Plinth Built (Philip Small)

A couple hours into the plinth building we had created the majority of the plinth, but we encountered a problem. The two planks of wood we have bought to go on the front and the back of the plinth are too long, and so we will have to go back to B&Q to get them re-cut. We decided it was not possible to proceed with the construction until we got this issue resolved. Additionally, we worked out that we will need longer screws and drill heads in order to attach all of the pieces of wood together how we planned to. Upon reflection, we should have had clearer plans and measurements before we went to B&Q to buy the supplies so that we did not have to waste time to go back and resolve these issues. We have already contacted Mollie, who has kindly agreed to take us back to B&Q on Monday.

We did, however, decide to paint the plinth to make it more visually appealing. We too thought it would make it more professional looking. Also, as we chose to paint it white, it will match the plinths the University have provided us with to hold the projectors. Phil and I also spoke about how we could have graffitied the plinth, so it was more fitting with the brief and topic. It is just a shame we came up with this idea a little too late. For now we have to wait until Monday before we can progress with the plinth. Nevertheless, we are very satisfied with the progress we have made today.

[hannah-e-cole]

The Big B&Q Trip

Mollie was very kind and gave Phil and me a lift to B&Q this afternoon so we could buy the materials and tools we needed to build the plinth. When we arrived, we quickly realised none of us knew what we actually needed or how we would go about making a plinth. 

Figure 1: Mollie and I Discussing Materials (Philip Small)

Phil and I had previously discussed creating a frame structure out of wooden planks and attaching MDF boards to it and so we quickly drew out the designs for this.

Figure 2: Plinth Design Plans (personal collection)

With our plans in hand, we decided it was best to ask for some assistance. The staff at B&Q were extremely helpful, and they made sure we selected the right kind of wood, tools and screws. Also, while we were there, we got some of the larger pieces of wood cut down to size. 

Figure 3: Cutting Wood (Philip Small)

By doing this, it not only saved us time, but also allowed to fit all of the materials in the boot of Mollie's car.

I was the one chosen to upfront the cost of all the supplies, and it came to a whopping £72. 

Figure 4: All the Plinth Materials (Philip Small)

The only problem with me paying this amount is that Astrid has decided not to sort the finances until after the Easter break. So everyone who has paid for the project will not be refunded until a while after we have finished the project. Upon reflection, we should have agreed at the beginning of the project that we would divide any costs of the project up immediately so that we did not have this issue.

Overall, I am glad we have everything we need to build the plinth, and I can't wait to get started with construction.