Footage Tryouts

For our installation, we created a short montage of the videos to be played before rotating between the different videos played on the canvas screens.
It features excerpts from each video, as well as voice overs of the interviews and audio recordings Iv recorded, as well as stereotypical old fashioned 'white noise' type static between each cut to make it more visually interesting as well as linking up with the physical TV canvas installation.
The audio levels may need to be raised a bit to make it more audible, and on the actual exhibition day on the Friday, we were planning to have headphones attached to the projector to enable a good quality audio experience for the viewer where they can be fully immersed in the piece as it plays on a loop.
We included the title of 'Welcome to Hip Hop' as a rough point to focus our piece around, as well a constant repeated phrase throughout the piece.

            

Set-Up: Footage in action

Oh the joys of software! Due to our high resolution video, and our 5 minutes totalled content, when recording the projection from the screen of the laptop to enable us to save it to a USB and then play it from the Raspberry Pi, 30 seconds took 35 minutes to record. Having 5 minutes of footage, we were there for over 5 hours waiting for it to be finalised, watching it record frame by frame of our piece.
We hoped also this would improve our frame rate, going from a literal one frame per second to a higher rate. This took away from the effort and creativity we had put into the piece as it was not able to be viewed in its entirety which I felt was unfortunate.
Below is a short video showing what the piece looked like as we were mapping out the spray can canvas, and deciding on the colours for the TV set.

Here is an image of the majority of our group, including our almost finalised installation. Go Team!

Set-Up: Content included

After mapping out each individual canvas, we were able to upload the content.
We then started to discuss ideas about colours, seeing as although we hadn't originally planned to have a colour TV, and there was split choice between the group, we finally decided on a black TV set, with a white control panel, and grey tuning knobs. This gave some distinction from the brick background that we started off with here:




We also looked at rectifying finer details such as the top and bottom of the spray paint can which were difficult to map as they were smaller shapes on the screen, however we finally managed to, and coloured them grey to fit in with the colour scheme of the TV set.
This image shows Joe and Lauren mapping out the more specific details using the software, and relating it to the projection on the canvas'.






These pictures show the final stages of colour correction on our piece.

Leaflet

As part of our installation, we were to create a short piece of writing which discussed our project, what we are trying to accomplish and showcase, as well as the story/meaning behind it. This would act as an informative description of the piece, as well as to enable passers by/visitors to see what the installation is about and why it's there. 

We decided as a group to create a colourful leaflet type piece which we could either stick to the plinth as other groups had, or to leave on the projector for people to skim read before moving on. We thought this would create a more interactive and physical aspect to our piece, rather than a block of black and white text, which is uncreative. 

We included our contributors in the leaflet to inform viewers of who was involved in the project, as well as for the contributors benefit to get their name and work on display. We also wanted to make sure we had emailed the dancer/graffiti artists/MC/DJ duo, as well as the companies we had been involved with such as BEAT dance company.

Set-Up: First Layer Projection

The system kept crashing of which we were using to project our piece with, and therefore it took twice as long to set-up our actual physical installation onto the canvas screens. If we were to do this project again, we could look further into other software available that is more reliable when working with a larger media piece. Due to the fact we had 3 videos playing at once, the system struggled to cope with the media we were using, not only due to the quick frame rate, but also the high quality of image. Therefore to improve our piece in future, I feel it would be wise to research into the software and possibly find another way around it.

This is the installation at a shorter height from the ceiling. As you can see from the previous post, the projection now is displayed across every screen, and can be easily mapped via our software.
We chose to have a brick background as our first layer, this was specifically important as it reflects the urban perception around Hip Hop, as well as being a relaxed and expressive style of dance, not needing a professional or clear background stylised to the style of dance, such as in Sia's Elastic Heart music video. We also felt this was a good basis as it reflects some of the locations we shot in, as well as being a strong foundation both physically and metaphorically.
The next layer of the set up is to create the shapes, and map it to the canvas' before uploading the content to play on a loop. So far I am extremely impressed with the creativity of our group, from location choice, to final set up and physical installation.


The second step was to draw shapes upon the hanging canvas' in order to transfer our videos onto so that they can be exhibited. We started with the Vinyl record, seeing as it was straight on i.e. not at a slant, making it trickier to map.
A problem we did face, was when we were setting up, due to other groups also finalising their projects in a close location, when a couple of people ran past the installation it fluttered and shifted its position. This was extremely frustrating at the time of mapping which is crucial for the videos to be lined up with the shapes as perfect as possible. We managed to work around this by holding the installation to stabilise it, and therefore making the mapping easier to finalise.
The vinyl record was simpler to map in terms of colour, as the shadows are black from the projection on the installation, therefore there is room for a little error. This aspect of our piece resembled the audio content for our piece. 

Set-Up

On Tuesday 24th March, we set up our plinth, projector and physical installation in our allotted area just inside the left corridor of Pavilion Dance.
We cut out 4 screens from a rigid plastic material using a knife that resembles canvas. The main screen was set up to look like an old fashioned TV set, linking back to the years when Hip Hop was first introduced. The screen to the left was to resemble a CD case to reflect music popular amongst the Hip Hop movement. The middle hanging screen resembles a Vinyl record which again links to the era of Hip Hop discovery, and furthermore to create a vintage, retro feel. The final canvas installation resembles that of a spray can to depict the graffiti pillar of Hip Hop.

Our ideas developed from simple square screen canvas', to varying shapes such as circles and rhombus', before it developed into Hip Hop related objects which fit the theme and the brief specifications.

After much deliberation over our project, we decided not to include the timeline, due to the fact it would feel cluttered when we assembled the piece. Another downside was that our Graffiti artist Tom Whitton was in Swanage visiting friends and family, and therefore wouldn't be able to create our timeline as we had initially planned. This was a shame, but I feel on reflection it helped our piece to breathe, and gave a sense of stronger creativity with our final project.

As you can see, we suspended the canvas cut out screens on Nylon wire from the grooves in the metal inserts in the ceiling. At first, the spacing of the project was good, however it hung too low for the height of the plinth with the projector mounted atop. We adjusted the length of the Nylon wire so and increased the size of the projection as much as we could to enable all our screens were covered, and could be successfully projected on to.

Initial Set Up

Tuesday 24th March 

On the 24th of March, we arrived at Pavilion Dance early to start our project. The tasks we had to complete in our allotted time slot are as follows:

• Assemble the canvas cut out shapes into their arrangement. 
• Hang the shapes from Nylon wire and hooks from the ceiling.
• Secure a plinth and projector as well as HDMI cables and jacks.
• Mark out where the Plinth has to be on the day of the Exhibition.
• Map out the Projection shapes to fit the assembled installation.
• SAVE IT.
• Upload the videos to the software - Painting With Light.
• Move and adjust all audio files to a USB.
• Change the design/Colours of our canvas shapes.
• Once finalised, record the piece on a loop to show on Friday.
• Upload and sync the audio to the projection.

Rush

Test footage

After consideration for our final display among our group, we decided to have our main canvas focus in the shape of an old fashioned TV monitor. We also decided on making the other canvases into shapes which represented the parts of our project we had included i.e. record (MC/Rap), spray can (graffiti), TV (knowledge, when Hip Hop became noticed). 

Here is some test footage for the intro to our piece, which features some close ups of our MC/Rap footage, alongside our dancer footage in both the underpass and the rooftop, and furthermore our graffiti artist. 

The idea is that the canvases will rotate, but will play simultaneously (only one audio piece at a time). We will accomplish this by having the one on the main screen or old fashioned TV monitor playing the audio when featured, and then as it passes to the next, the audio changes for the piece being displayed. 

           

Group Meeting

Next week on the 24th and 27th of March is the installation and launch, with a technical day on the Tuesday.
We decided to have a group meeting to make sure everyone was ready for next week and to make sure we were collaborating effectively.

In the meeting we discussed the various elements of our project which were in the process of being finalised.
- Motion Graphics - in progress - to be completed this weekend.
- Film of the BBoy - edit in progress - completed this week.
- DJ Film edit is complete, however the choice of song has clashed with our artistic filming stylem and therefore has delayed completion.

- The physical installation is ready to be made.
We have sourced the materials and are currently planning on the creation of the shapes for the pillars. However, in keeping with Lizzie's advice of keeping ideas open and not limiting our options, we have discussed making our installation more aesthetically pleasing. We though of the possibility of having different shaped canvas sections. It was suggested a spray can shape, or shapes relating to Hip Hop culture, which can be projected onto without distorting the projection image.
During the discussion, we came across the idea of the main section being a vintage TV with the "screen" being projected onto. These are all ideas we have accumulated at such a late time, and in hindsight should not narrow our choices too quickly from the outset. If we decide to use these ideas, we will test them.

- I was assigned the collaborative task of more research for the 'Knowledge' pillar (timeline), of which I will collate with my other group member working on it with me, and send to the graffiti artist to be produced before next week.