Interdisciplinary Project:

A reflective research based platform for Masters programme: Creativity, Projection and Installation: Group 10

[practice2group10-blog]

Social media interface-Final UI elements and fine tuning

5th February 2018

In terms of building the social media interface, I built upon what other group members have produced. With the draft animation completed, I proceeded to add the final UI elements such as the audio visualiser, the box animation, the glitches and finally sound design.

Designed by Laurent Maas, 5th February 2018.

In terms of designing the visualiser I thought back of what “i” stands for; an almost ever-looming social media presence that casts its shadow upon every aspect of the user’s life. The final design ended up resembling a talking iris. This UI element represents the Artificial intelligence that the spectator is talking to while building their profile.  After effects proved to be quick in generating the necessary motions for the animation while I used Premiere to bring the different elements together. Looking back it might have been more efficient for all group members to submit the individual UI elements and their relative animations with an alpha map which would have allowed for easier customization as we were bringing it together.

Designed by Laurent Maas, 5th February 2018.

The box animation used an expression, similar to coding to calculate the physics for the bounce during the drop. As I lack programming skills some tutorials helped me figure this part of the process out.

While After Effects is usually my program and choice for motion graphics and visual effects the program took a lot longer to render those animations than I expected. Repeatedly doing this would take up a considerable amount of time.

Designed by Laurent Maas, 5th February 2018.

It is for that reason that I chose to produce the final animation in Premiere, namely the glitch and the system crash. Furthermore, it is my program that I usually use for my practice. Therefore, in the end, it turned into a rewarding experience; allowing me to speed up my workflow inside Premiere without having to rely on After Effects. I have also noticed that I need to organize my timeline better. While it takes some time when setting up a project once the elements start getting more intricate.

Finally, the project really came together by adding the sound. All sound in this project is licensed under the creative commons copyright. They are free to use and modify. Some of the sound effects demand attribution which is why the I have attached a list of the different sounds below.

Written by Laurent Maas.

[practice2group10-blog]

Construction Work

5th February 2018

Today we had our first construction day in which we gathered at the exhibition hall to be briefed on our space. A senior technician was there to help us start off our construction by handling the first steps. He taught us to make a corner first, and guided us throughout the day. Below you can see a picture of the initial room with one wall across the width and two half-walls along the sides. The group  decided to leave the wooden boards in their original height as it was too tedious to send them to the 3D workshop and get them cut. Overall that makes the box room a bit above two metres tall.

Photo by Chee Yen Wang, 5th February 2018.

There was a lot of waiting and confusion involved in the process. A few times we had to unscrew the boards or the wooden planks as they did not quite match its alignment. Double layering the walls made it a very time-consuming process, but at least it ensures that safety is considered. For the door, we told the technician that we wanted a curtain falling down the top part. He offered the first photo below as a design that would work for our project. Putting two boards across the top part of the door would complete it. The group believes this is quite a professional way of creating a room as other teams simply left an opening as a door.

Afterwards, when it turned 5pm and the technicians were leaving, we started painting the walls white (see second picture below). Some of the boards were already painted, but we added another layer so it was more even. With masking tape, we fixed the corners and empty gaps between boards, and painted them over.

Photos by Chee Yen Wang, 5th February 2018.

Initially, we also wanted to construct a bench, but the technician said we could just borrow one. We still have to add the shelf for the projector, the ceiling, the curtains, and the logo painted in red. Tomorrow will be another day to work on the installation, and we hope to finish it in two or so hours.

Written by Chee Yen Wang.

6th February 2018

Today was a late start because we had a Creative Economies lecture in the morning. After a short lunch break, however, we met up at the exhibition hall to finish our construction. We still had to attach a few parts to the room, create the ceiling, and add a shelf, chair, and curtains for the door. We started off by attaching the wooden boards to the structure as we would have to complete the construction first before we could finish painting and adding details to the walls, such as the ‘i’ logo.

After we put the box room together, Laurent went onto figuring out how to create the ceiling. Jinming assisted him. They placed two wooden planks diagonally across the roof and attached another two on top of them. Then they pulled black fabric across the structure as you can see in the below picture, and stapled it onto the wooden planks and the walls. Lucy and I got a bit of fabric from the art shop, and stapled it to a piece of wooden plank the width of the door. We made sure to not cover it whole as we still had to drill the plank to the wall. In that manner, we successfully created a curtain.

Photo by Lucy Mckinlay, 6th February 2018.

As for the painting, we outlined the letter ‘i’ with masking tape, then drew over it with red paint. A bit of the colour went through the tape so we had to fix it by refining the edges. Jinming was working on that in the below picture, using a roller to draw over the logo with white paint.

Photo by Lucy Mckinlay, 6th February 2018.

The ceiling turned out to be quite a struggle. At some point, we did not have enough dark fabric, or we had no idea how to attach it safely to the construction. With a bit of advice from our tutor, we managed to finish it which made us very glad.

Lucy borrowed a chair from her studio so we did not have to worry so much about building one. As a finishing touch, the technicians helped us screw in a shelf to the wall. 

Once we were done with the construction, we had to start testing our projection. Since the shelf was placed quite high up, we had to tilt the projector from its back and change its keystone settings. This allowed the projection to remain in its original angle, without any skewed images. Below you can see the final product. An image of a social media page that is perfectly aligned to the wall. 

Photo by Lucy Mckinlay, 6th February 2018.

After all of this was completed, we cleaned up our space, and were ready for the exhibition. It was a long and tiring journey, especially the construction part. However, we also believe it was fun and exciting, and the end results were satisfying.

Written by Chee Yen Wang.

[practice2group10-blog]

Time Management and Planning

3rd February 2018

This project revealed a lot about how we work as a team. Not only did it show us the organisation skills of our group, but it also demonstrated how we handle time management and conflicts. Overall, I think we managed to do quite well in regard to meeting deadlines and fulfilling tasks. And here is the reason why:

Before every group meeting, I wrote down an agenda, a list of things to discuss and to do, so we could increase our productivity in those meetings. We hardly ever spent time to think about what to talk about and which tasks to tick off. Instead, we went straight ahead and discussed the important points. Additionally to that, I always made sure to write down the development of our ideas and what we considered during the meetings. It was like taking minutes so that it was easier to write a blog post about it. Furthermore, I think it was vital to document our progress.

At the end of each group meeting, we wrote down the homework for each member with a rough date upon which they will have finished the task. We also recorded future plans and meetings in order to keep organised. Outside of seeing each other, we made sure to be in contact on Facebook and tell each other about the progress of things. Sometimes members would forget to provide evidence of their work, but we would always remind and help each other out if the workload becomes too much.

Generally, we spent a lot of time on planning the project. Only last week did we really come up with a concrete idea for our installation. However, I believe we needed the time as a group in order to agree on a plan and be satisfied. The scale of our project was also something we carefully considered as we knew we only had two weeks left to finish the final product. I believe, with our detailed planning, we will manage to finish the video by tonight or tomorrow evening.

For the process and development of our creative ideas, I think it really helped that we were visual thinkers and oftentimes turned ideas into visual representations. It allowed us to understand the plan better and have a common idea of the installation. For example, I created a time sheet for the video so we can estimate when each animation, text, or audio will appear. Lucy designed a construction plan so we could wrap our head around it. Jinming showed us her old work to illustrate her skills and where they could be needed. Laurent gave us samples of his work in progress, and provided the team with a lot of ideas. Together as a group, we were very organised and communicated fairly well. The journey was exciting and fun. We spent a lot of time getting closer as a team. According to Tuckman and his idea of group formation, we will surely be arriving the adjourning phase soon. 

Written by Chee Yen Wang.

[practice2group10-blog]

Starting the Animation

1st February 2018

After our group meeting and having decided that we were going to start creating the video, I went ahead and dipped my feet into Adobe After Effects in order to learn a bit of 2D animation. I have knowledge on 3D animation and a bit of frame by frame 2D animation. However, I have never tried After Effects before. So I thought it would be a great idea and opportunity to learn a new software. Of course, as I was very unfamiliar with the interface and layout, I had to look up tutorials to have a better understanding of the programme.

KimozGM (2015) was very helpful in providing the relevant basic knowledge to animate what I needed for After Effects. For instance, he mentioned that, in order to change the background colour, you had to go to composition settings and change it accordingly. Importing media (such as the “i” logo and the circle part) and dropping it down to the composition timeline allowed me to work with those files within the composition. KimozGM also showed how to create a spinning effect for the logo which happens through keying frames and changing the numbers of the Y Rotate attribute. I purposefully used different numbers for the “i” and the circle in order to create a dynamic effect. In the below pictures, you can roughly see my workspace in After Effects. I have the camera view in the middle where I can see how the animation works. On the left side is the media browser. The timeline and the composition layers are at the bottom. In the first screenshot, I have inserted keyframes (the dots on the timeline) for the rotation of the circle on the Y axis. In the second one, you can see I have added text to the composition (”Welcome.”). The animation of the text is a preset from After Effects. On the right side, you can see the folder Effects & Presets, which allowed me to find a fitting animation.

Screenshots by Chee Yen Wang, 1st February 2018.

Once I had a general idea of the software, I worked on more effects and animations. For instance, as you can view in the below video, I added a fading out effect for the text. This was achieved by splitting the initial text layer with the fading in effect, then assigning a fading out animation from the presets to the second part of the text layer. I also added a few more keyframes to set the rotation, scale, and position in place. Then I changed the position and scaled down the logo in order to imitate it moving to the righthand corner. I think I was quite successful in achieving what I had in mind.

Video by Chee Yen Wang, 1st February 2018.

Initially, I also experimented with the animation of the progress bar and the timer, but we realised that it was difficult to share our work in progress (After Effects project file) because I only have the trial version. I know there is a way to create a team project, but I would need to upgrade my iCloud account for that. Instead, I thought it would be a great idea to create the initial animation as I had done above and make it a 5 minutes long video. 5 minutes would be enough for all the other animations and the audio, so the other group members could add their work to my rendered video. 

Written by Chee Yen Wang.

References:

KimozGM (2015) Adobe After Effects Tutorial | How to make a spinning logo or something spin [Online] Available at: https://youtu.be/hzHrtPXDJ4E (Accessed: 31st January 2018).

[practice2group10-blog]

3D Installation View

Designed by Lucy Mckinlay, 1st February 2018.

1st February 2018

Following up from our walk through story board and construction plan and todays construction workshop and Chee Yen’s construction plan illustration, I thought it would be beneficial to have a 3D version of the final predicted installation which is subject to change due to actual size of the space and technicalities, however this is just a rough idea of what we are aiming for in terms of design and our look.

Written by Lucy Mckinlay.

2nd February 2018

After seeing Lucy’s design for the installation, I decided to make an actual 3D model to visualise how the box room construction could work. I used Autodesk Maya for my design, and built a real-world scaled model that considered the technical aspects of construction work. Below, for example, you can see the construction as the visitor would view it. I did not add the curtains for the door, nor did I spend any time on building the ceiling. For me, it was more important to see how the actual box would be constructed. I also developed a plan for the shelf inside the box, onto which we would place the projector and speakers. I did not model the desk or any other of those details.

Designed by Chee Yen Wang, 2nd February 2018.

In the below two pictures, you can see a rendered version of the box room without the inside walls (first one) and without the outside walls (second one). I removed them in order to show how the construction remains stable. We will have to use wooden planks that support the walls. They act like a skeleton for the walls to be attached to. Another thing that is important to mention is that, even though there will not be a wall where the door is, we will have to create a bridge across the other side. That way, we can add curtains to the construction by hanging fabric down the wooden plank. We will also have to make sure that we attach the wooden structure of the shelf to the inner wall in order to make it work (as seen on the second picture).

Designed by Chee Yen Wang, 2nd February 2018.

I added a picture where you see a bit of detail for the shelf construction. After the meeting with our tutors, they provided us with the solution that we will have to add slanted wooden planks in order to support the shelf. Further discussion with the group members and technicians needs to take place in order to ensure that the construction is safe.

Designed by Chee Yen Wang, 2nd February 2018.

Designed by Chee Yen Wang, 30th January 2018.

Above you can see our old floor plan which, after a review by the tutors, had to be altered. Before, I allowed the room to be 3 metres by 3 metres, as I thought it would be big enough and save a lot of space. I also added footprints to initiate where the spectators would go. Additionally, I made a side view and a front view to illustrate where the projector is. Acknowledging our tutors’ advice, I went on and decided to make the long walls 2 metres long and the short one 1,50. Below you can see a 3D floor plan of the top view and the side view. The door will be around 85 centimetres wide, making the wall next to it 1,15 metres. The overall construction will be 1,80 metres tall. One thing we will need to reconsider is that tall people might bump their head against the shelf because it is so close to the door. Besides, the curtains will prevent them from seeing the danger, so maybe we will have to add a sign that tells them to be careful with their head.

Designed by Chee Yen Wang, 2nd February 2018.

This is only a rough design of the construction. On Monday, we will have to see if it can actually work.

Written by Chee Yen Wang.

[practice2group10-blog]

Construction Workshop:

11am 2D Workshop: Lucy Mckinlay (1st February 2018)

In terms of the construction workshop and some thoughts arising from this in terms of our installation, we may need to reconsider our scaling and design of our final product as I feel we underestimated the sizing, space and complexity of our initial design as we wanted to go with large scale box in order to stick with keeping in with an immersive enclosed environment. 

During the workshop we were shown how to use various tools in putting together smaller and bigger installations, such as plinths and a large scale box installation. We also were directed in terms of health and safety, codes of conduct, building and dismantling, considerations in the gallery space, and painting our installation. 

In terms of painting our installation (box) I feel we have to consider the use of colour as painting on the wall in the colour such a red could present more work in terms of making and taking down, as it would need to be returned to it’s initial state, as also have to think in terms of time scale and simplifying our outward design and branding. It was noted it would be more beneficial to paint onto external chip board as this won’t need to be returned to it’s initial state (white). 

We also have to consider now sizing and scale of our box / installation as it was noted during the workshop it is at least 4 / 5 man job, in terms of putting it together, and supporting each part of the construction simultaneously, and I feel it is a possibility we may have to reduce the size of our box in order to allow for more time for other aspects and to be realistic in terms of actually building this as a group. 

As we wanted a top to our box, and initially we thought to go with chip board also, it was noted to use fabric and wrap this around wood and attach this to the top in order to create an enclosed roof. 

I feel we also now need to consider technical aspects, and holes in the box form, that will allows us to feed electrical wires through in a way that is not hazarderdous and will be as a simple as possible. 

3D WALL CONSTRUCTION / BOX CONSTRUCTION DESIGN:

by Lucy Mckinlay

Written by Lucy Mckinlay 

3:30PM Construction Workshop: Chee Yen Wang

1st February 2018

Going to the construction workshop made me realise a few things. First of all, I now have a general idea of the working process in regards to building and craftsmanship. Before, I was very confused and could not grasp how to build a box nor a chair for example. At the workshop, the technician opened my eyes to the various possibilities you have when creating something from scratch. I learned that wooden poles are there to support the structure. In the pictures below, you can see what I have created with three other people. We used planks to create a desk, attaching it with screws and a wooden pole. This was the general idea of creating a stable construction. As you can also see, the desk can stand on its feet (planks), and I was able to even sit down on it. We also added a wooden pole across the top desk and more towards the bottom of the construction in order to keep the legs separated and more stable.

Photos by Chee Yen Wang, 1st February 2018.

Secondly, I was made aware of the health and safety measures, and what to consider when creating a construction. It has to be stable and safe. This workshop allowed me to have a better understanding of the working methods, and it will be really helpful for our actual installation. Besides, now I can think more about the design of our box in its technical terms.

Written by Chee Yen Wang.

[practice2group10-blog]

Wednesday 31/01 Group Meeting

In our latest group meeting, we borrowed the projectors once again in anticipation of designing the final installation. Our group ended up finding a small room painted entirely in white similar to the clean look our installation will be aiming for. We finalised our decisions regarding the floor plan and walkthrough storyboard that were due that day. 

Photos by Chee Yen Wang, 31st January 2018.

We then compared the size of the image relative to the position of the projector and opted for the smaller projector in the end. We made this decision due to its clearer image, projecting distance and practicality. We concluded that the installation would have to be roughly 3 meters long. During the actual discussion of the floor plan with our tutors, our group was advised that we should aim for half that measure. Furthermore, we projected some of the graphics designed by Lucy Mckinlay, which allowed us to see a glimpse of the installation for the first time. We also established that the small speakers of the projector wouldn’t be enough to immerse the spectator. External speakers will be necessary. Another sticking point was the timing of the different questions. We, therefore, stop-timed us answering the question and realised inserting a timer with each question would facilitate the process. Since this was the last meeting leading up to the construction we concluded by delegating tasks and setting a deadline for the finished Social Media Interface Animation.

Written by Laurent Maas.

[practice2group10-blog]

Script and Voice Over Recording

28th January 2018

After having done a bit of research on social media to back up our writing, each member wrote a draft version of the script. They were all based on the same idea that we had agreed on during our last group meeting. However, everyone, being influenced by their research, implemented their own twist to the scriptwriting. Jinming, for example, worked around the idea of privacy, and how the ai-enhanced personal assistant could read into your answers and base the next question on them. She made the personal assistant very interactive, as if it were a good listener. Laurent focused on the personality of the personal assistant. He gave an overall background story on the social media platform and its company, then gradually made the personal assistant become more and more sinister. He also did a bit of research on tests that could determine a personal’s personality type, such as the Rorschach inkblot test. Lucy focused on the interface glitching. She opened the script with normal questions, such as asking for the name or for the favourite colour. Then she allowed the interface to glitch and ask about murder. I did something similar in which I directly asked questions that could be interpreted in a different way, and would be hard to answer. The results then led to a misconstructed but truthful social media profile.

In order to combine everyone’s scripts, I picked out the best ideas to make a coherent text that would perfectly deliver our theme. In the below pictures, you can see the final product of mixing each members’ script into one. We have also decided to use one screen instead of three as we weren’t sure what the two other screens would show. Initially, we liked the idea of creating an immersive experience with three screens luring the spectator into the film. However, after much consideration, we thought it would be simpler and make more sense to only use one.

At first, I made sure to set up the scene. I wrote a short introduction on the spectator (Alex) entering the box room and seeing the red interface. Then I combined a bit of Lucy’s as well as Laurent’s introductory speech to begin the interactive experience. Throughout the script, I paid attention to the details of the interface. For example, I elaborated on what can be seen on the screen so it will be easier later for the graphics and animation team to visualise the video. These details will be very helpful in the process of creating the final product. Additionally, they help immersing us as the readers into the scene.

When the interface glitches, I added the idea of the question (the letters) changing and showing a different question (”Have you ever thought about murder?”) in order to create a sinister and eerie effect. We think the audience will be caught off guard, maybe slightly confused, and that aligns very well with our idea of creating a psychological twist. A different way of generating the same effect is created by faintly adding another question (”Who would your victim be?”) on top of a drawing (the inkblot picture). It will be visible enough for the audience to notice. However, it is also very subtle. This will create some type of mystery and a strange link to the previous question after the first glitch.

I added a bit of effect or distortion to the voice in order to show yet another glitch. It might be a bit hard to imitate that in the recording, but we can surely tweak the voice in an audio software. When the screen turns black because of the black out, a screen with binary code running through it will be shown. This is to illustrate that the interface is reloading its data. When it reloads, the “i” logo grows in size, as if it were staring you down.

Photos provided by Chee Yen Wang, 28th January 2018.

Overall, I think we managed to create a script that combined everyone’s ideas and taste. I looked at the interesting aspects of each text and integrated them into a coherent script. With this done, we can finally head to the voice recording with Lucy and move on to the animation and the final product.

Written by Chee Yen Wang.

Photos by Jinming, 29th January 2018

AUDIO // VOICE OVER PRODUCTION: 29th January 2018

(Lucy, Laurent, Jinming)

In charge of audio production was the above, myself acting as the voice over / voice that be projected as the interface, Laurent in charge of recording the audio and technical elements, and Jimning as a documenter of the process and sending over the audio files. 

When the discussing the audio, Laurent suggested that we record this in the editing studio and use specialist equipment as this will allow for better sound quality, noise cancellation, and a private space in order to record the voice over.

 In terms of actual voice over, and in order to create a realistic interface language and voice projection/tone, I read the script in a way that emulated this however this will be edited during post-production by Laurent. I also broke down the script in terms of each question and direction, and in chronological order so it comes to editing, we do not have to worry about misplacement and confusion. The process was fairly quick and successful without much complication. 

In terms of post-production, the voice itself with be slightly altered to be more robotic and any noise cancellation in the background will be edited, as well as considering pauses within the audio in relation to the actual animation itself, and will be timed in a way that allows for the audience to respond and continue on wards. Although not an actual responsive interface, it will be edited in a way that creates this simulation and be as realistic as it possibly can in the final product. 

During testing the projection and sound quality, we noticed that through the actual small projector itself, the sound quality was fairly poor, therefore we need to add additional speakers in order to have effective sound projected within the space as this is the one of the most important elements to our concept. 

Written by Lucy Mckinlay (1st February 2018)

[practice2group10-blog]

INTERFACE DESIGN: STILL IMAGERY 

Rough Draft (In Progress)

Adobe Illustrator CC 2018

Designed by Lucy Mckinlay

Designed by Chee Yen Wang

28th January 2018

In terms of designing the initial idea for the interface and graphics, I was inspired by simplicity and colour of the graphics presented in the film Her (research below). I decided to develop my own take on this incorporating our concept and idea, following our decision to call the interface “I”. In order to in keep with time scale, as a group we decided to go with a more simple interface in appearance and function, also we wanted to present a minimalistic, clinical, futuristic and clean graphic that would mirror our concept. This will also allow the viewer to read the interface clearly in a way they will understand and isn’t overly complicated and cluttered in terms of design. 

In terms of projection the whole idea was create an immerse environment also interlinking with this idea of horror, the psychological, unnerving and an a unusual atmosphere, which speaks of the reason for in keeping with using the colour red as the primary background colour. As shown below in the image we tested out general technical aspects, and also how the red from the projection would bounce off the environment and create a glow of red circulating around the room:

Further in terms of design, we wanted to keep a coherent and standardisation between each section, therefore we used the same font, design and graphics through out in order to almost create a brand type element and make it clear the “company” being “I’. 

In terms of creating a logo for the interface, and after much discussion, initially I started off with the simple letter “I” in lowercase, however I felt it would be powerful and more logo-esque to place it within a circle and through out each section this will appear in the top right hand corner. This will also be presented on the outside (possibly) of the actual installation box itself in order to tie in with the whole theme and create a sense of believability and realness to it. In order of other graphics presented, simple elements such as a loading bar, typical, social media icons, and a search bar are also presented in order to create again a sense of realness in terms of real social media/interface platforms. 

In further development from original design, Chee Yen then went onto to develop the graphics in more refined detail adding more realistic graphics such as typical social media example and also development the actual “I” logo itself, in terms of changing the dot to appear more stylistic and eye-catching, which in all will be the final version of our interface which will appear in the final outcome, followed by this she has also been working of animation in relation to our design. 

Although we would of liked to make the interface, graphics and animation more advanced, as a group we had to delegate in a way that would allow us time to operate other parts of the installation. 

Written by Lucy Mckinlay (1st February 2018)

[practice2group10-blog]

HER (2013): INTERACTIVE INTERFACE // OPERATING SYSTEM // CONSCIOUSNESS // PERSONAL ASSISTANT // TECHNOLOGY //  AUDIO // GRAPHIC DESIGN // ANIMATION // CONNECTIVITY // HUMAN EMOTION 

Image/Video Sources (In order top to bottom):

Anderson, K. (2014). Want to buy the Oscar-nominated music from the 'Her' soundtrack? You can't. Available: http://ew.com/article/2014/01/23/her-soundtrack-score-arcade-fire-oscars/. Last accessed 28th Jan 2018.

Visual Parables: McNulty, E. (2013). Her (2013). Available: https://www.readthespirit.com/visual-parables/her-2013/. Last accessed 28th Jan 2018.

Ford, J. (2013). Her: Movie Poster. Available: https://alternativemovieposters.com/portfolio_tags/her/#iLightbox[gallery]/5. Last accessed 28th Jan 2018.

JoBlo Movie Trailers. (2013). Her - Official Trailer (HD) Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams. Available: https://youtu.be/WzV6mXIOVl4. Last accessed 28th Jan 2018.

28th January 2018

Following on from our concept development and discussion in terms of graphic design and how the interface will look, appear and function, the film Her (2013) was discussed in terms of visually how we could incorporate it’s simple and minimalistic graphic design, colour palette and function into our social media interface, and how we could incorporate and work from the audio and voice projection and it’s characteristics in terms of language and tone. 

As a group we where drawn to the colour red initially in terms of being a bold, powerful colour which has associations with horror, the psychological and a sense of alarming-ness, intimacy and immersive-ness and also would project and illuminate quite powerfully within a confined environment such as our idea surrounding the box. It would create again that level of intriguing and curiosity towards the viewer entering the space.

Although the film itself takes on a more romantic comedy role and aspect and the lighter side of interfaces and operating systems in which the main character falls in love with the operating system, however it also looks at creating a level human connectivity, simulation and interaction, again looking at this idea of tricking the mind, human emotion and perception which is relevant to our concept, and in a way presents the idea surrounding dystopia and utopia and how machines are becoming technologically advanced to resemble humans. 

Written by Lucy Mckinlay.

[practice2group10-blog]

Mindset (2016) - Anna Hyrkkänen and Tiina Pyykkinen

Finnish Art Agency . (2016). Mindset by Anna Hyrkkänen and Tiina Pyykkinen. Available: http://www.finnishartagency.com/mindset-anna-hyrkkanen-tiina-pyykkinen/. Last accessed 28th Jan 2018.

Pandora’s Box (2008-2010) - AMANDA CACHIA

Cachia, A. (2008-2010). Pandora's Box . Available: http://www.amandacachia.com/curating/pandoras-box/. Last accessed 28th Jan 2018.

28th January 2018

Following on from our one to one group tutorial and how we would present the installation, the idea of the box was highlighted in terms of creating an immerse, intimate and mysterious space in which the audience would be invited or by their own curiosity would enter in order to see what is being displayed inside. This also ties in with this idea of we are looking at in terms of our concept and also delivering the delighting and exciting the audience aspect, to do with the concept and narrative of the psychological, horror and the idea of playing with perception. As a group we wanted to develop on the idea of multiple projections and how we could present this, as opposed to an open space and go one step further and create an room where the projections will be. Essentially it plays upon this idea of a space within a space, and ideas surrounding the unnerving, a shock factor and levels of curiosity and risk. 

I have included two references and imagery to present a visual interpretation and idea of what our group could aim for in terms of size, build, colour, construction and entering, as we have a specific budget and access to only specific materials, we have to think realistically in terms of size and space, and how we could achieve this to our best outcome, and how this could effect how many projections we use. 

Written by Lucy Mckinlay.

[practice2group10-blog]

28th January 2018

BLACK MIRROR: SOCIAL MEDIA  // TECHNOLOGY // SURVEILLANCE // DYSTOPIA  

Hernández-Santaolalla, V & Hermida, A. (2016). Beyond the technological dystopia & surveillance and activism in ‘Black Mirror’ and ‘Mr. Robot’. Index Comunicación. 6 (2), p53-65.

Beyond the technological dystopia & surveillance and Activision in ‘Black Mirror’ and ‘Mr Robot’  looks at the notion of the depiction of dystopia within societies through humans are faced with the defeat-ion of it’s own act of creating, the idea of technology and machines becoming conscious and simulating human consciousness in the act of rebelling, which results in the idea of possibilities as a theory surrounding this and how representations of technology and information is presented and it’s darker aspects and effects induced by this (Hernández-Santaolalla & Hermida, 2016).

Hockley, L. (2015).  Recognition and the image of mastery as themes in Black Mirror (Channel 4, 2011–present): an eco-Jungian approach to ‘always-on’ culture. International Journal of Jungian Studies . 6 (2), p55-66.

Recognition and the image of mastery as themes in Black Mirror looks at the notion of the moving image, sci-fi, technology and a utopian society and the roles in which these play and their aspects presented in the British TV series Black Mirror. Hockley almost speaks of this idea of a society that is different from ours as we know it, free of crime, hunger, and disease, however the questionable being things are not as they seem or appear, which translate itself in Brooker’s depiction of this in Black Mirror, and this idea surrounding the ‘always-on’ society. Hockley also touches upon the idea surrounding negative affordance in relation to a cultural complex, issues surrounding connectivity and social media usage, consequence and implication also comes into play in terms of interpersonal relationships gaged in this ‘always-on’ culture within contemporary society, and Black Mirror in effect allows us as the viewer to rethink and question how this speaks of our online depiction of ourselves (Hockley, 2015).

Hill, D. (2017). Black Mirror [Opinion]. IEEE Technology and Society Magazine. 36 (2), p35 - 87.

Hill’s Black Mirror (Opinion) looks at the how notions surrounding the future is depicted within science fiction, and how all pick upon this idea of dystopia, and how this could evidently give these mediums of technology a bad reputation, Hill presents the headline featured in Wired: “Stop Writing Dystopian Sci-Fi - It’s Making Us All Fear Technology.” which further sums up this realm of taking aspects of modern society and turning it on it’s head. The title Black Mirror refers to this idea of multiple screens that have instigated their way into daily life, and this idea of domination through machines, focusing in on this darker aspect of technology and our destiny in relation to this, Black Mirror is very much about looking at how we live now and how we might live in the future, always being one step ahead. Black Mirror’s other uncomfortable and uncanny aspect is it’s ability to predict disturbing outcomes, that in some cases have materialised within contemporary society, noting why Black Mirror is important in terms of television, in highlighting elements of recognition towards new technologies, that although science fiction, and simply an expression which causes the viewer a level of anxiety but also projects real concerns and issues (Hill, 2017).

Written by Lucy Mckinlay.

[practice2group10-blog]

Dystopia and the age of information

27th January 2018 The modern dystopia was arguably established by a set of key novels such as Alduous Huxley’s Brave New World and 1984 by George Orwell. In contrast to a utopia, it is a generally unpleasant vision of the future (Baldwick, 2008). This makes dystopia an excellent tool to project contemporary social issues to another place that is usually displaced by time. In other words, its novelists and filmmakers are encouraged to construct fictional societies which function as a case-study for contemporary social issues. 

Gregory Claeyes argues that dystopia is antithetical to the concept of democracy (2013). Rather than governing themselves, the masses are controlled by an authoritative entity such as a party or corporations for instance. A fairly recent account by Raffaella Baccolini reports that the daily broadcasts by former Italian prime minister Berlusconi are reminiscent of 1984’s Big Brother, especially since most of the Italian media used to be under his control. In more recent events one might argue that US President Trump uses the term “fake news” to criticise unfavourable news that depicts him in an unfavourable light, essentially rendering them irrelevant for his supporters (Gabbatt, 2018). French Philosopher Foucault argues that surveillance technologies of the powerful have the potential to lead to the deepest form of social control. However, Foucault died in 1984, never truly experiencing the peak of the information era. Data collection is even more effective nowadays which might contribute to a bleaker vision of the Foucauldian dystopia (Davis, 2012). The goal of interconnectivity should be to facilitate socialising; instead, however, we are overwhelmed by the sea of information. The opposite ends up being the result, the technology contributes to loneliness.

Written by Laurent Maas.

References

-Baldwick, C. (2008). Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. 3rd ed. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, p.361.

-Claeyes, G. (2013). Three variants on the concept of dystopia. In: F. Vieira, ed., Dystopia(n) Matters : On the Page, on Screen, on Stage, 1st ed. [online] Cambridge Scholars Publishing, p.17. Available at: http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/herts/detail.action?docID=1336784. [Accessed 27 Jan. 2018].

-Davis, J. (2012). Social Media and Experiential Ambivalence. Future Internet, [online] 4(4), pp.955-970. Available at: http://www.mdpi.com/1999-5903/4/4/955/htm#B15-futureinternet-04-00955 [Accessed 27 Jan. 2018].

-Gabbatt, A. (2018). How Trump's 'fake news' gave authoritarian leaders a new weapon. [online] The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/25/how-trumps-fake-news-gave-authoritarian-leaders-a-new-weapon [Accessed 27 Jan. 2018].

[practice2group10-blog]

Research of personal privacy and social media platforms

27th January 2018

Our project is based on social media platform, and it involves some privacy issues, so I made a further exploration of social media and users’ privacy.

Social media websites have provided a platform for people, and it allows people share their views and communicate with others. Due to the information on the social media platform is easy to transfer, some private information becomes public. It may cause some users’ privacy has been violated.

Paquin(2016) states, there billions of Facebook profiles, mobile phones and websites on the London underground all generate a lot of data. Users can use the copy and paste technology to copy and dissemination other users’ privacy information easily. Mobile phone users also can take pictures at any time and upload images to the social media. Besides, some users also like to post their daily life details on social media platform, a part of those users consider the social media platform as a ‘diary’. Many detailed and private information has been posted on platforms. Sometimes, those behaviors could threat internet users’ individual privacy. Also, open data help some hackers and lawbreakers threaten others’ network security and sensitive data easily.

Actually, as early as 1999, the German scholar Brin has stated in his book "the transparent society", he said that people are living in a transparent society. Because of the low cost of monitoring equipment, it causes the abuse of surveillance widely. Many users' privacy is replaced by surveillance. Because of the existence of these problems, people have to take the initiative to give up some personal space and information protection to adapt to the society and preserve our free social system (Brin,1999). Such as census and ticket real name systems. 

We can see that privacy issues deserve great attention now, our team plan to let users have uneasiness or fear of emotion by asking sharp questions. I think is like simulating the process of human flesh search. Maybe we can use this unusual way to let the viewer experience the feeling of individual privacy has been exposed.

Written by Jinming Zhang.

Reference: 

Brin, D. (1999). The transparent society. Sem data.  [Assessed:27.01.2018]

Paquin, S. (2016). The big revolution of Big Data. [online] Available at: https://blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk/the-big-revolution-of-big-data/[Assessed:27.01.2018]

[practice2group10-blog]

"i”

25th January 2018 

Today, we had a group meeting at the gallery café. We needed to discuss further details about our project and homework. Firstly, we finalized our general idea. We agreed on a social media platform in which a personal assistant first asks you general questions, like your name, your favorite color, before it becomes more personal with glitches here and there. The personal assistant will then create a social media profile based on those answers. However, the interface crashes before it finishes calculating the data. When it comes back up, the profile is misconstructed and shows the user’s true self.

We also discussed some details about our installation, like we considered to build a box room as the construction to imitate a photobooth. Further information and research will be provided soon by one of our group members as to why a box room would be suitable for our installation. We also thought about using red for the box or even for the curtains that keep the box room closed. Because red is an eye-catching color, it may help our story create an interesting atmosphere. After that, we talked about adding some effects, for example, face identification and some type of artificial intelligence in order to enrich our video. We are not very sure whether we can achieve this kind of effect because we have not done a similar one before.

As part of one of our homework for next week, we had to create a walkthrough storyboard. This is described from the view of the spectator, a storyboard that illustrates the audience’s experience and emotions as they interact with the installation. Together, we attempted to construct the following:

1. Alex (the spectator) walks into the exhibition and sees all the other installations. He notices a box in the middle of the room with a red curtain.

2. Alex becomes curious and approaches it. They walk into the room.

3. There is a red screen and a chair/bench. Alex sits down.

4. The interface starts welcoming Alex. 

5. They find it interesting and feel some type of curiosity when the interface starts asking questions.

6. When the interface asks more personal questions, Alex feels uncomfortable and wonders whether they are being recorded.

7. Suddenly, the interface shuts down. Alex is confused and freaks out.

8. The interface starts up again, making Alex calm down.

9. When they see the misconstructed social media profile, Alex is shocked and impressed.

10. Alex leaves the room, thinking about the projection. They feel curious and confused.

This is the general idea that we wanted to deliver to the audience. It also shows the possible response of a spectator when they encounter our installation. We kept in mind how they would feel as well as how they would act when faced with the projection

We also wrote down a list of equipment in order to have an overview of the scale of our project. Except of three projectors, we also need a chair, a big red box, three laptops, and red fabric to make a curtain. This gave us a clear insight into what else we had to do regarding the actual installation. For the video itself (the interactive social media), we developed a plan of things to do such as recording, animation and graphics. We delegated tasks to each member. Laurent and Lucy will be doing the recording on Monday, as we had decided that Lucy was going to be the voice actress and Laurent had knowledge on audio. Lucy and Chee Yen shared a similar taste in design so they decided to take care of the graphics and the look of the social media platform. Laurent with the help of Chee Yen will be working on the animation. Jinming will finish off the project with editing. Furthermore, we gave ourselves the homework of each member writing a draft script for the video so we can combine all ideas and finally create the best script. With the end of our meeting coming near, we agreed on the name of our installation: i. It was simple and minimalistic, a theme we were going for regarding the design. Additionally, it was intriguing and spoke for the aspect of showing one’s true self, as it was telling everyone that this social media platform is for the user itself, for the “I”. We all liked it, and we're excited to further develop our project.

Written by Jinming Zhang.

Edited by Chee Yen Wang.

[practice2group10-blog]

Social Media Comparisons

25th January 2018

As we have decided on the subject of our installation - it being centred around social media with a psychological twist - I decided to do some research on the side effects of social media in order to further develop the content/storyline of our installation. Hereby, I will mainly focus on the negative aspects as those perfectly align with the psychological element of our concept.

One of the interesting but not so surprising things I found was the correlation between self-esteem and social media comparisons. In a study that analysed self-esteem on the basis of frequency of Facebook use, the results show that people who have the tendency to use Facebook a lot depict lower trait self-esteem due to an increasing amount of comparison with positive social media profiles (Vogel, Rose, Roberts and Eckles 2014; 216). This means that participants usually compared themselves with people that seemed to have a better life, better looks, or higher popularity, suggesting that the constant exposure of better social media profiles leads to lower self-esteem. Similar findings were reported by Fardouly, Diedrichs, Vartanian and Halliwell (2014). Their research illustrates that women show evidence of being in a more negative mood after using Facebook compared to an appearance-neutral website (Fardouly, Diedrichs, Vartanian and Halliwell 2014; 43). Consequently, this implies that negative feelings (mood and self-esteem) happen as a result of social media exposure due to the tendency of people to compare oneself with others. I believe this is important to our project as we are working with the thought that social media users only ever post the highlights of their days in order to construct the best image. We want to give this notion a twist by working with the opposite idea - a social media that shows your true and unedited self. This gives us the opportunity to create a shock factor, an option to challenge the future of social media. Also, these findings offer a foundation for us to evaluate a dystopian world in which social media has changed drastically and become sort of terrifying.

Written by Chee Yen Wang.

References:

Fardouly, J., Diedrichs, P. C., Vartanian, L. R. and Halliwell, E. (2014) Social comparisons on social media: The impact of Facebook on young women’s body image concerns and mood. Body Image [Online] 13, pp. 38-45. Available at: https://ac.els-cdn.com/S174014451400148X/1-s2.0-S174014451400148X-main.pdf?_tid=d0387cac-0200-11e8-b75a-00000aab0f26&acdnat=1516906495_5513028ef66f4ad1fc7d5f3e92999447 (Accessed: 25 January 2018).

Vogel, E. A., Rose, J. P., Roberts, L. R. and Eckles, K. (2014) Social Comparison, Social Media, and Self-Esteem. Psychology of Popular Media Culture [Online] 3(4), pp. 206-222. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000047 (Accessed: 25 January 2018).

[practice2group10-blog]

Final Idea

24th January 2018

This week, our main task was to discuss our concept ideas with the tutor and determine the final plan. Through the group meeting last week, we identified the theme of our work which was psychology, and we came up with four plans and presented them with pictures below:

Photos by Jinming Zhang, 24th January 2018. Drawings by Chee Yen Wang.

Idea 1: Three Projectors

We will have three screens - one that is in front and one on each side. There will be three projectors to project an image on each screen. It has not been decided yet whether the projectors are mounted to the ceiling or whether it will be placed on a small desk. Because of its design, the imitation of a room, it becomes immersive for the audience. We considered using props to add to the idea.

Idea 2: Silhouettes

In this concept, we will create silhouettes that stand out from the screen in order to create a three-dimensional effect. The image projected onto it will have to be perfectly aligned to the shape of the silhouette. It is similar to a shadow play in which we engage with light and shadow to create a story.

Idea 3: Interactive Screen

There will be one screen and a projector at the back, projecting an image onto the screen. This will ensure that people moving around will not cause any shadows on the screen or impact the projected image. For the projection itself, we will have interactive pop-up text that asks the audience to do certain things in order to feel immersed. The content could be something along the lines of a character talking and asking for help. We are also considering using props possibly.

Idea 4: Mattresses as Screens

This concept uses mattresses as screens in order to create a domestic link to the content of the projection. It is original and different. The story could be sleeping patterns and what weird things people do in their sleep. There will be interesting things that can be produced through such projection as it plays around with material.

Although we had enough options, we haven't thought about the specific content and what we were going to show in the projection. So we decided to add an appropriate scenario and a story to our project. First, we used ‘issues when engaging with technology’ as a starting point and based our thinking on that. We thought of a number of topics such as cyberbullying, stalking, peer pressure and harassment. Finally, after some discussion, we decided to base it on building a new social media platform. The reason being, we quite enjoyed the notion of creating a dystopian type of Instagram/Facebook as it gives us the opportunity to discuss possible effects and ‘dangers’. Unlike other social media, the one we wanted to create would show your true self. It was a very exciting concept that we wanted to explore more. Social media is such a popular platform; it is so involved in our lives that we thought it would be interesting to choose something that is second-hand nature to us and give it a horrifying twist. Also, it would intrigue the audience because it is something they can relate to. The twist will encourage them to reflect on their own social media usage.

For example, nowadays, most of the people prefer to show their perfect face on the social media platform. They may use photoshop to edit photos to make their pictures look more beautiful. We even hide some of our weird hobbies. What we want to achieve in this project is a completely new model. When the audience uses this new social platform, a personal assistant (artificial intelligence) will ask some questions to create a real profile. You can lie but it will still reveal your true self.

We found using our first installation idea with the three projectors for the implementation of the ‘story’ made the most sense. The ‘silhouettes’ and ‘mattresses as screens’ concepts were not suitable in their function. Using bold material such as mattresses does not enhance or even support the idea of social media. From the beginning, we already thought it would be too difficult to create silhouettes for the projection as the perfect alignment of the silhouettes and the projected image has to be paid attention to. Our tutor suggested that the social media idea was already interactive in a way, so it was best to combine the ‘interactive screen’ and ‘three projectors’ concepts.

According to our thinking, the first screen is an intelligent personal assistant like Siri. We chose to use a voice instead of showing a real person. The middle screen will show a profile page of our social media platform and another screen will show an emoji which will change its face/mood depending on the reaction or the question that is asked. We thought about changing the voice of the personal assistant, starting it off as sweet and comforting, then it becoming monotone and sort of terrifying as it asks more personal questions like they know you. Finally, we also considered using an ‘eye’ or the letter ‘i’  as the logo of the social media website. Tomorrow, we will meet up to further develop our idea and start creating a walkthrough storyboard as well as delegate tasks to each member. 

Written by Jinming Zhang.

Edited by Chee Yen Wang.