April152013

Dove Real Beauty Sketches - video sheds light on media’s unrealistic portrayals of women
April92013
findvegan: Creamy Asparagus Soup!

findvegan:

Creamy Asparagus Soup!
April62013

Technnolust is a mediation on our culture’s continuing attraction to spectacle over lived experience. We have difficulty paying attention to stimulants for long time periods; rather we seem to demand multiple stimulants daily to occupy ourselves. These stimulants are seen in the form of smartphones, laptops, fashion, games, commercials, and advertisements.

Technolust digitally appropriates recognizable promotional footage between 2010 and 2013. The initial scenes reflect non-commercial activities. In each scene the activities are increasingly consumed by commercial footage. The clips are arranged into triptychs to illustrate the takeover: fish are adjacent to Samsung, wild deer to McDonalds, and ducks to television.

By reducing the film to inverted negatives the piece presents and unembellished view into the natural and commercial imagery. In its reduced state, the commercial footage is more recognizable than the natural. Our consciousness is therefore unable to distinguish reality from a simulation of reality. As there is unclear distinction between where one ends and another begins, a liminal space is created.

The final scene switches perspective. The clips are brought back in colour; again the natural footage is consumed by the commercial but this time the viewer is able to decipher the activities occurring in the clips. A slight blur connects the media and shapes the experience.

The soundscape evokes an apocalyptic immersion referencing Kelly Richardson’s hyper-real landscapes. The glitches in the final scene are disrupting and accompany the rapidly changing footage. 

Hybrid Media 

10AM

Technical Statement

For this project I have combined video, edited in Adobe After Effects, with a soundscape, edited in Adobe Audition.

I chose to work with video as I do not have much experience with this genre of art making. I have shied away from video in the past, intimidated by the prospect of communicating my artistic intentions in an unpredictable medium. I realized that this project would be the perfect opportunity to experiment in a new material. With the help of a EOS Rebel T3 Canon I shot a variety of clips throughout Waterloo, however, as I narrowed my artistic intentions, a lot of my clips have been unused. I feel this is positive, as it is difficult to eliminate footage. Ultimately I think my project is stronger by eliminating unnecessary elements.

Adobe After Affects appealed to me as the primary program I would use as I heard the program has a variety of unique visual effect options when compared to Final Cut Pro. I was also curious to develop skills in a new program to help with experimentation in my third year studio next term.

Part way through my process I decided to incorporate found footage imported from youtube with the assistance of a .mov converter. I realized that in order to comment on the place of images, technology, and advertisements within our everyday life, the juxtaposition of personal with commercial footage would be necessary. 

I imported 21 clips in total. I needed to establish a connection between the clips so I removed colour and inverted the clips. In the youtube clips I eliminated screen logos so the viewer does not automatically realize they are advertisements. By reducing the clips to their negative like state, I am presenting an unembellished view. I exported every clip individually then grouped them in groups of 1, 2, or 3. The images are arranged into diptychs and triptychs so that there are three things stimulating the viewer at once. This illustrates the mutation and growth of technology.

After exporting my project several times to review and edit the footage, I chose an electronic soundscape to connect the overall theme. Having sound adds an interesting dimension to the film – the footage seems faster and becomes more confusing to watch. 

Hybrid Media 

April52013

Sources

Baby Laughing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP4abiHdQpc

Salmon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsRMCF8YXms

Samsung http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf5-Prx19ZM

Deer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=add1xiEE4Ns

Harlem Shake http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9qtCx_NhoY

McDonalds http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWljqAQZR-I

Internet Explorer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkM6RJf15cg

Old Spice http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE

Nike http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dG0vLFFtZDs 

Apple http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo37BlBCFfk 

Blackberry http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPbhzmIq9uU

Victoria’s Secret http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K__gctdkbis 

Lanvin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwwcnUBY9Zg 

Rockstar http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyrpjktqNME

Audi http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wT-4nESh-4Y 

Hybrid Media 

March302013
My piece is now at the stage where I have acquired all of my footage, edited, and compiled into one film. I am now incorporating some of the constructive feedback I learned when viewing other projects in our critique on Tuesday. I have shortened some of my clips to reflect the amount of interest they create and their speed. My plan to use 6 clips has now expanded into 8 clips of varying time frames to create a stronger build up. I have also decided to create a final clip to conclude the piece. My piece will therefore be a compilation of 9 clips, ranging from 10 to 30 seconds long.  My goals this weekend are make touchups on the piece, construct the final clip, and incorporate a soundscape. 

My piece is now at the stage where I have acquired all of my footage, edited, and compiled into one film. I am now incorporating some of the constructive feedback I learned when viewing other projects in our critique on Tuesday. I have shortened some of my clips to reflect the amount of interest they create and their speed. My plan to use 6 clips has now expanded into 8 clips of varying time frames to create a stronger build up. I have also decided to create a final clip to conclude the piece. My piece will therefore be a compilation of 9 clips, ranging from 10 to 30 seconds long. 

My goals this weekend are make touchups on the piece, construct the final clip, and incorporate a soundscape. 

Hybrid Media 

March212013
Upon exploring Adobe After Effects I have realized there are multiple capabilities which I wish to explore further. In the past few days I have developed a stronger visual style and voice for my project. I have extended my project to be worth 35% percent and act as my final assignment.  What you see above is the first clip of my hybrid media. I am in the process of making six collaged videos in after effects which I will export as .mov files and combine in final cut pro for a final film. The six clips will be similar in style but will have different layouts and footage. The purpose of the clips is to combine the natural, urban, and virtual into one space. The project will combine footage I have taken myself with re-appropriated promotional footage. All colour is removed and the footage is inverted with heightened light exposure to produce a contrasted image. Reducing the footage to its negative state will create an unembellished representation of the imagery. It will be difficult to decipher the difference between the commercial and non-commercial footage.  

Upon exploring Adobe After Effects I have realized there are multiple capabilities which I wish to explore further. In the past few days I have developed a stronger visual style and voice for my project. I have extended my project to be worth 35% percent and act as my final assignment. 

What you see above is the first clip of my hybrid media. I am in the process of making six collaged videos in after effects which I will export as .mov files and combine in final cut pro for a final film. The six clips will be similar in style but will have different layouts and footage. The purpose of the clips is to combine the natural, urban, and virtual into one space. The project will combine footage I have taken myself with re-appropriated promotional footage. All colour is removed and the footage is inverted with heightened light exposure to produce a contrasted image. Reducing the footage to its negative state will create an unembellished representation of the imagery. It will be difficult to decipher the difference between the commercial and non-commercial footage.  

Hybrid Media 

March182013
A still from my background footage 

A still from my background footage 

Hybrid Media 

8PM

Inspiration and Project Development

For this project I am creating a multi-media investigation of transitional states that exist within the urban landscape of Waterloo. This is a topic (reurbanization) where there is popular discourse, as seen with Kelly Richardson’s apocalyptic landscapes or Ian Wallace’s ‘The Street’ motif. My piece is becoming a collage of natural and a media assembled world. I am using Adobe After Effects to edit my video footage and experiment with animation effects. Depending on the success of the video stage of my project, I am planning to incorporate text or sound to add another dimension to my ‘hybrid’ media piece. 

Hybrid Media 

March172013
kevinruss: Sitgreaves National Forest, Arizona on Flickr.

kevinruss:

Sitgreaves National Forest, Arizona on Flickr.
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