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8 Dec - 4:30 AM - Uploaded

So, here is the demo upload!

The video narrative is as follows:

During the day, the security camera is simply a background element, noticed but often ignored as a fact of life or as a building decoration.

However, in the solitude of night, the sensation of being watched is unshakeable, and through the eyes of the captive or the camera (indistinguishable/difficult to tell at points) we see an existence defined by being watched and watching, and in the end, both the camera and the watcher exist in the same space.

Themes and Correlations to Research

Heavily inspired by the trip to the Ai Weiwei exhibit, major themes are surveillance, captivity, paranoia, and technology.

Ai Weiwei was (and is) an active blogger and social media advocate, using such platforms as Twitter and Instagram to share commentary and photos, even while under restricted access to many means of communication, as well as having a famous blog (now removed from the internet).

As he was under home arrest and under 24/7 surveillance, I shot mostly around my own home, using trick shots to get warehouse and other shots from around where I live. (This was forced early on by lost or damaged footage from technical difficulties, but I played it to whatever advantage I could to fit into the reconstructed narrative of home arrest.)

I wanted the video to also explore the technological aspect- Webcams can be hacked or otherwise tampered with to work both ways without indicating they are on, and most people have some camera-capable device in their homes.

I selectively edited clips to make some seem more sinister than others, leaving the interior shots largely unedited save for one window shot, and the daytime shot of the CCTV camera unedited, to add to it’s unassuming daytime appearance. Clips switch between “camera vision” and the view of the individual being watched, while also blurring the lines.

It is purposefully left up to debate if some clips are from the “camera” point of view, or the individual’s point of view, or both.

The shots all feature windows and bars of some kind, suggesting voyeurism and containment. In one shot, we see leaves moving freely with the wind, next to a grid of steel bars placed over a large window in the side of a building.

The use of singular powerful light sources (the moon, intense exterior and interior lights at night, etc.) to suggest both a camera flash and the moon- Something Ai Weiwei noted as being a focus for him while he was under home arrest (and the reasoning for the relevant quote from him being used as the video description).

Shots are purposefully slightly shakey, both from the “camera” effect used and from using an iPhone to shoot everything, for file size and stylistic effect. It is also thematic- Ai Weiwei frequently tweets from his iPhone, and uses several social media apps, including the video function on Instagram (as previously stated), and phones are common enough to be known as the main technological element in most people’s daily lives as a constant “monitoring” device, whether it be the person filming, or the person being recorded through data available from the phone.

As Weiwei is a blogger, I added a clip of late night blog typing to show that the Individual being watched is simply a normal person, but normal people are recorded constantly, in ways many don’t know about. Technology is a great source of freedom, but it is also a data bank of you and your thoughts and processes as an individual.

Even if you stay inside, you are still being recorded. You are watching people watching you. And you watch others. It’s a cycle. We are the subject and the beholder.

Noteable Technical Issues in this Edition

In a quick review of the YouTube version of this clip, we can see some black frames, which is probably a result of either slightly misaligned clips in the editing bay or frame rate misalignment during rendering/export, due to the application of certain effects.

Due to the darker nature of the clips. my “camera” effect did not come out very well at all, and will have to be redone entirely. It just looks like some vertical tugging on the screen, in most clips, and serves only to dampen colour.

The clips also need to be resized better, which is both an issue with default and manual ability to do so. I’ll be looking into solutions.

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