I created some interesting compositions while accidentally overlapping videos. I thought they might work nicely as stand alone loops which can play when I need a break or am not in the space. Something like that.
The first clip was created last week on a day when I had given my keys to my brother for the day and couldn't get to any cameras! I learned how to export directly from Isadora, which is a useful thing if I decide to use these interstitials.
I also learned that I can record audio in quicktime but I don't seem to be able to play them except in my iTunes. So! Hopefully I will sort this out soon and post them here.
Tuesday, 12 August 2008
A Score to Settle
Last week ended with me having a clearer idea of a skeleton score to work from. After my experiments, I came up with a progression that I am fleshing out this week. There are 3 sections to it. Here are the notes from last week. Following entries will go into more detail about how this has been manifesting itself in subsequent rehearsals.
1) ambient sounds and images - capturing natural sounds (people talking, feet shuffling) and observational video (people walking around the room from a wide angle, possibly close ups as well)
2) sounds from a body part (snap, clap, percussive mouth noise) video of the same part then shadow play on the projection with the same body part
3) more distinct singing harmonies, shadow play into projections onto skin, use of palindrome movement in the video, free movement and harmonizing live in the space
1) ambient sounds and images - capturing natural sounds (people talking, feet shuffling) and observational video (people walking around the room from a wide angle, possibly close ups as well)
2) sounds from a body part (snap, clap, percussive mouth noise) video of the same part then shadow play on the projection with the same body part
3) more distinct singing harmonies, shadow play into projections onto skin, use of palindrome movement in the video, free movement and harmonizing live in the space
Wednesday, 6 August 2008
yesterday, today, tomorrow
This week is about running performance modes to determine elements for a score that I can work from over the coming weeks and probably into the performance itself.
yesterday was experimenting with types of projections onto my body to see which ones might work easily and effectively in an improvised performance. clips of interesting ones here. This clip is also scattered with another random echoing which I can get to 3 layers (2 video and 1 live) when it's dark and stormy outside! otherwise it's too bright in the studio.
Today I'm going to try and run at least a 1 hour long performance.
Tomorrow I will be adding a second projector and third monitor.
yesterday was experimenting with types of projections onto my body to see which ones might work easily and effectively in an improvised performance. clips of interesting ones here. This clip is also scattered with another random echoing which I can get to 3 layers (2 video and 1 live) when it's dark and stormy outside! otherwise it's too bright in the studio.
Today I'm going to try and run at least a 1 hour long performance.
Tomorrow I will be adding a second projector and third monitor.
Tuesday, 5 August 2008
I like to watch.
Short clip from yesterday's rehearsal. Contentwise it doesn't look much different from other stuff I've been doing, but some important revelations or points of clarification came out of yesterday's rehearsal.
At the moment, I am my audience. I'm setting up a space where I can watch people and build a composition out of their sounds and movements. Judging from the feedback I've received so far, this isn't totally alienating my whole audience, but more to this point about me being my own audience: I've created a structure that I'm fascinated with. This is a step that I think all performers must go through at some point and I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing to be your own audience. Why on earth would you be creating something that you weren't interested in? The danger is when there is little or nothing for other people to get from it. I must be doubly vigilant about this because of my past as a camera person. I love observing people and recording what I observe so that other people can see what I see. So it seems only natural to me that I've created a performance space where I can observe and react to what I've observed. I like to watch. I think most people do, and I seem to be trying to create a setup where I can continue to watch; and I hope it is also a space where a good chunk of my audience is also enjoying watching and walks away satisfied with their experience. I know I can't please everyone. Perhaps I also need to be careful of this assumption and try harder to please more people. Interesting challenge....
Getting bogged down into thoughts, need to jot down some other notes and get on with the practical stuff:
- explore projection onto body parts. requires some intentionality. How to do this on the fly? Try some different strategies.
- workshop vs open studio vs performance: what would a workshop with audience members look like? what are people's expectations of coming to an open studio vs a workshop? What would I do with people in an open studio vs. workshop?
- establish the level of "road map" that I'm going to give me audience. What needs to be communicated to an audience to give them enough structure to get something out of the performance but still allow them freedom to approach the performance on their own terms (or at least feel that they have)?
Time alone in the studio is when I work on becoming comfortable with the setup I have and working out technological issues. I can't really figure out the issues related to my audience without them in the space. I hope people come to the Tues-Thurs afternoon sessions.
At the moment, I am my audience. I'm setting up a space where I can watch people and build a composition out of their sounds and movements. Judging from the feedback I've received so far, this isn't totally alienating my whole audience, but more to this point about me being my own audience: I've created a structure that I'm fascinated with. This is a step that I think all performers must go through at some point and I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing to be your own audience. Why on earth would you be creating something that you weren't interested in? The danger is when there is little or nothing for other people to get from it. I must be doubly vigilant about this because of my past as a camera person. I love observing people and recording what I observe so that other people can see what I see. So it seems only natural to me that I've created a performance space where I can observe and react to what I've observed. I like to watch. I think most people do, and I seem to be trying to create a setup where I can continue to watch; and I hope it is also a space where a good chunk of my audience is also enjoying watching and walks away satisfied with their experience. I know I can't please everyone. Perhaps I also need to be careful of this assumption and try harder to please more people. Interesting challenge....
Getting bogged down into thoughts, need to jot down some other notes and get on with the practical stuff:
- explore projection onto body parts. requires some intentionality. How to do this on the fly? Try some different strategies.
- workshop vs open studio vs performance: what would a workshop with audience members look like? what are people's expectations of coming to an open studio vs a workshop? What would I do with people in an open studio vs. workshop?
- establish the level of "road map" that I'm going to give me audience. What needs to be communicated to an audience to give them enough structure to get something out of the performance but still allow them freedom to approach the performance on their own terms (or at least feel that they have)?
Time alone in the studio is when I work on becoming comfortable with the setup I have and working out technological issues. I can't really figure out the issues related to my audience without them in the space. I hope people come to the Tues-Thurs afternoon sessions.
Wednesday, 30 July 2008
Anna Parkina performance.
I went to the Wilkinson Gallery last night to see an intermedia performance by artists Anna Parkina. Need to check out what other people are doing in my interdiscipline.
At any rate, I wasn't in love with the performance, but it was worthwhile to put a couple of things in perspective about my own practice.
The performance involved a video projection, a cello player, some ambient crowd/commuter train sound, and Parkina doing what can only be described as "interpretive dance" in the most gaudy and stereotypical sense. (please note that I'm not saying this to be catty, judging from the playfulness of her other work that I glimpsed, she'd probably agree.) The video was a mirror image of itself where figures would pop out of the seem between the two images and make an interesting shape. There were times when either her live body or her shadow (or both) were beautifully complementing the form that the recorded mirror bodies were creating. I felt that could have been the whole piece right there.
I saw in her performance, that while she clearly has done work in video before, she's still struggling with the big challenge of working across disciplines: you get kinda overwhelmed with all the cool stuff that's at your fingertips and it's really really hard to edit it down into a cohesive whole. And even when you think you have, it's still too much.
The question this raises, which I think I'm trying to address is: Is it interesting to watch the chaos of too many parts not working together for those rare glimpses when it does come together? I clearly think that the answer is yes for my own work, but am I that patient with other people's work? Mmmmm. not really.
This is really telling! I'm glad that I'm proud of my work and want to embrace the quirks and uncomfortable moments and I do love work that takes the quiet little pops and fizzles that are all around us and make something beautiful out of it. I guess maybe the difference is that I don't always feel that's what other artists are trying to do with their work, that they are trying to present a polished piece when they haven't yet harnessed all the nuances of the different media they're trying to throw together into one piece. It's really a tall order. Maybe I'd like it better if I thought it was really trying to embrace the chaos?
The performance also confirmed for me that it's important that people that come to my show are able to come and go as they please. I felt soooo trapped at this performance last night and I wanted to act out, which is very unlike me. I think it's because I'm so close to this type of work right now with the final show only a month away. I don't care that not everyone wants to stick around my work for a long time, I certainly stay with some pieces longer than others. However, I've also had people note both during my scratch performances and the Nunnery show that they wanted to sit with the piece for a while. I'm happy to have people come to my work on their own terms and not put a finite time limit on something that seems to want to continue to evolve longer than a 20-45 minutes time slot.
At any rate, I wasn't in love with the performance, but it was worthwhile to put a couple of things in perspective about my own practice.
The performance involved a video projection, a cello player, some ambient crowd/commuter train sound, and Parkina doing what can only be described as "interpretive dance" in the most gaudy and stereotypical sense. (please note that I'm not saying this to be catty, judging from the playfulness of her other work that I glimpsed, she'd probably agree.) The video was a mirror image of itself where figures would pop out of the seem between the two images and make an interesting shape. There were times when either her live body or her shadow (or both) were beautifully complementing the form that the recorded mirror bodies were creating. I felt that could have been the whole piece right there.
I saw in her performance, that while she clearly has done work in video before, she's still struggling with the big challenge of working across disciplines: you get kinda overwhelmed with all the cool stuff that's at your fingertips and it's really really hard to edit it down into a cohesive whole. And even when you think you have, it's still too much.
The question this raises, which I think I'm trying to address is: Is it interesting to watch the chaos of too many parts not working together for those rare glimpses when it does come together? I clearly think that the answer is yes for my own work, but am I that patient with other people's work? Mmmmm. not really.
This is really telling! I'm glad that I'm proud of my work and want to embrace the quirks and uncomfortable moments and I do love work that takes the quiet little pops and fizzles that are all around us and make something beautiful out of it. I guess maybe the difference is that I don't always feel that's what other artists are trying to do with their work, that they are trying to present a polished piece when they haven't yet harnessed all the nuances of the different media they're trying to throw together into one piece. It's really a tall order. Maybe I'd like it better if I thought it was really trying to embrace the chaos?
The performance also confirmed for me that it's important that people that come to my show are able to come and go as they please. I felt soooo trapped at this performance last night and I wanted to act out, which is very unlike me. I think it's because I'm so close to this type of work right now with the final show only a month away. I don't care that not everyone wants to stick around my work for a long time, I certainly stay with some pieces longer than others. However, I've also had people note both during my scratch performances and the Nunnery show that they wanted to sit with the piece for a while. I'm happy to have people come to my work on their own terms and not put a finite time limit on something that seems to want to continue to evolve longer than a 20-45 minutes time slot.
Notes on scratch 2.
A little belatedly, here are my thoughts on Scratch Performance 2.Having trouble uploading videos to YouTube. I've managed to get 3 of the 4 up there!
Click here to view the videos. I've included small descriptions of what's happening in each section. Feel free to comment here or there if you have questions.
So recapping the performance:
- the call and response strategy worked well once I got the technological glitches sorted out.
- the technology setup continues to be good. I really like how the space changes depending on what is happening. For example, people were quite free with their movements around the space until the projector turned on. That shifted things completely.
- My sense from the audience is that I am tapping in better to the vibe in the room. They'd mostly gotten over the novelty of goofing off for the cameras on the televisions and were ready to sit back and watch when I started singing and recording video.
- I think I like to move away from the hypertheatrical screaming mouth.
- It seems like the little explanation, with some work, is a helpful point of entry for audience members into the performance.
What next:
The big thing: I realize I can't develop this in a solitary vacuum. I'll be sending out an invitation to MA students and other artists around London to come visit me in the studio Mon-Thurs afternoons throughout August. I plan to have a more casual, open studio approach to Mon-Wed and then push it over into more traditional "performance mode" on Thursdays. I think this model will continue to allow me to have some alone time to flesh out ideas and work on technology issues, and continue to help me figure out the right pitch and how I interact with visitors.
What needs work:
- play with having 4 monitors so that there is full coverage of the room
- I would like to try having the monitors play back pre-recorded material at times too. My idea at the moment is for that to be edited pieces from previous days' performances
- sort out the sound. I'm not quite sure how to get the immersive sound system going and how that will get hooked into the Isadora setup on my computer. Tech consultation is imminent.
- continue to experiment with different shifts in tone and how audience members shift their activity in the space
- try adding another projector (figure out how to control it from same computer) is it also capturing video or is it playing back pre-recorded stuff? Interesting prospect of expanding temporal dimension back into the less recent past in the space.
- I'm going to experiment with inviting people to stay after the performance and do more of a hands on "workshop" with them. I have a feeling this will be met with resistance, but might be another natural and nice extension of the performer/audience dynamic
Hm. there's probably more to be added, but I feel a more pressing need to get SOMETHING about Scratch 2 up on the blog!
Click here to view the videos. I've included small descriptions of what's happening in each section. Feel free to comment here or there if you have questions.
So recapping the performance:
- the call and response strategy worked well once I got the technological glitches sorted out.
- the technology setup continues to be good. I really like how the space changes depending on what is happening. For example, people were quite free with their movements around the space until the projector turned on. That shifted things completely.
- My sense from the audience is that I am tapping in better to the vibe in the room. They'd mostly gotten over the novelty of goofing off for the cameras on the televisions and were ready to sit back and watch when I started singing and recording video.
- I think I like to move away from the hypertheatrical screaming mouth.
- It seems like the little explanation, with some work, is a helpful point of entry for audience members into the performance.
What next:
The big thing: I realize I can't develop this in a solitary vacuum. I'll be sending out an invitation to MA students and other artists around London to come visit me in the studio Mon-Thurs afternoons throughout August. I plan to have a more casual, open studio approach to Mon-Wed and then push it over into more traditional "performance mode" on Thursdays. I think this model will continue to allow me to have some alone time to flesh out ideas and work on technology issues, and continue to help me figure out the right pitch and how I interact with visitors.
What needs work:
- play with having 4 monitors so that there is full coverage of the room
- I would like to try having the monitors play back pre-recorded material at times too. My idea at the moment is for that to be edited pieces from previous days' performances
- sort out the sound. I'm not quite sure how to get the immersive sound system going and how that will get hooked into the Isadora setup on my computer. Tech consultation is imminent.
- continue to experiment with different shifts in tone and how audience members shift their activity in the space
- try adding another projector (figure out how to control it from same computer) is it also capturing video or is it playing back pre-recorded stuff? Interesting prospect of expanding temporal dimension back into the less recent past in the space.
- I'm going to experiment with inviting people to stay after the performance and do more of a hands on "workshop" with them. I have a feeling this will be met with resistance, but might be another natural and nice extension of the performer/audience dynamic
Hm. there's probably more to be added, but I feel a more pressing need to get SOMETHING about Scratch 2 up on the blog!
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