Project 4: Project Proposal

Polluter:

In the room, there will be a viewer who walks through the installation. As you walk through the space, there will be a series of videos/images projected along the walls/surfaces, and trash around the room and on the floor in which the viewer will have to either pick up (which most viewers probably will not do, but shows results from my experiment/hypothesis) or kick to the side. Another idea I can do, but is not necessary, is to spill some juice or liquid on the ground where the viewer will walk, to make their feet feel sticky, which will add to the vibe of dirt/pollution, as well as add another element of the sense of touch for the audience.

As the viewer makes their way to the end of the space/installation, there will be a figure or shape of a human, and on it will be a video projection of a person doing some sort of pollution, while standing close and looking into the camera. The viewer will then be able to lift a flap or some piece of cloth of the figure, to reveal a mirror underneath, with the viewer's reflection directly on it. The viewer watches as the polluter becomes the reflection of their-self.

As the viewer walks through, another experiment I can trial is having some fruits/food on branches that the viewer can rip off and eat if they choose. The fruits will be delicious, but it will go to serve the metaphor for humans taking the planet's food and resources.

In the beginning, I can include projections of nature/earth with lush vegetation and healthy heartbeat sound in background, and as you walk through it, the planet dies and is barren/plants withered and planet's heartbeat dies off.

Senses:
-Sight
-Touch (touching the trash/sticky floor, moving the flap)
-Hear (heartbeat, any other sounds)
-Taste (if they choose to eat a fruit)

Materials:
-Camera
-Projector
-Laptop, MadMapper
-Mirror
-Fruits/branches
-Trash, juice
-Sheets/materials for wall surfaces or surface to project on

Plan:
April 9-14: Research which materials to use (projecting surface, fruit branches)
April 15: Should have all materials acquired by this point
April 9-17: Get all videos/animations/footage to be projected
April 21: Should have set up the whole set-up at least once by this point, to make sure everything is right and don't need anything else
April 23: Plan out lighting and positioning of projector, to prevent unintentional shadows
April 28: Should have everything done/acquired by now... Now time just for practicing and run-through's

Project 3: Documentation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFxarcMJXEg

The video file was too large to upload here so the link to the video documentation on YouTube is above. I think that choosing the lizard may have been a little misleading, as not all pets live miserable lives. However, there are tons and tons of animals mistreated, trapped in enclosures way too small for them, and stolen and taken away from their homes/environment. The installation was intended to serve as a setting in which a person/audience can enter a room and first-hand experience being under the circumstances that so many innocent animals are forced into, and better understand/feel sympathy.

Project 3: Process Post 3

Editing has always been one of my favorite aspects of new media, so I had a fun time editing this project. When I first uploaded all my clips to Premiere, I felt that the footage I had was good but not amazing, however I feel that my skills in editing changed that and the final product came out very well!

Project 3: Process Post 2

This is me and the adorable supporting actor featured in this project. This photo was taken during the shoot when I was filming my installation. He was being such a good boy that I had to interrupt the shoot to praise him and give him some love. The filming of this went pretty smoothly and luckily did not run into any issues!

Project 3: Process Post 1

One of the first steps I took to creating this installation was animating this scene. Along with other videos I recorded for this project, this piece was one of the most difficult but powerful. I illustrated and animated this scene in Toon Boom Harmony. It was designed to act as the shadow of the participant/subject, as he is scared to see that he is really just a prisoner.

Artist Research 3

The artist that I chose to research this time was Sabrina Ratté. Ratté is a Canadian artist and film director, and the inclusion of her film/animation skills in her art works so well and is what makes her work so captivating and beautiful. In most of her installations, she uses a scene/setting of which she created to be projected onto. Varying from miniature models of an interesting piece of architecture to abstract 3D designs/sculptures, to using a whole room. Her choice of platform to project on supplemented with her amazing animations creates remarkable installations and art pieces. She is really good at being able to augment reality, as her animations look so realistic that you think its real and then it emerges into a trippy animation. One of the things that I really love the most about Ratte's work is her use of colors. In almost all of her many artworks, the designs are so unique and psychedelic and the vibrancy from the colors really pop so much and looks so cool and aesthetic. It is really tough to pick a favorite piece of hers, because not only does she have so many installations/pieces, but they are all so incredible that it's almost impossible to think of any flaws in any single one.

http://sabrinaratte.com/

Project 3: Proposal

For my next installation, I was thinking about making my piece centered around the feeling of being trapped and/or on display, like a zoo animal. My plan was to utilize a small room to act as the "cage" or terrarium/tank that the viewer will be the direct participant and subject. Using projections of zoo-goers or pet-owners, etc. on the walls looking at you like a small animal, and possibly using a mesh screen/fence or glass wall, the participant should feel as if they are a small animal being watched in a cage.

The purpose of this is to make the participant, as well as the audience, feel how the animals feel when us humans lock them up for our entertainment. The direct message should be a sense of entrapment, but the deeper message I will be trying to evoke is to first-hand experience the morality of locking exotic animals up so the audience can have their individual feelings/make their own opinions/conclusions on this topic.


In more specifics:
-you/the participant is the lizard/pet/animal
-the space used is in a small room but supposed to make you feel like you're inside the cage
-crickets/worms/food crawling around you
-human looking at you from outside the cage (face is pressed up against the glass)
-using a human-shaped shadow of prisoner/prison clothes to pretend to be the participant's shadow


What I shall project:
Wall/floor- shadow of animal/bearded dragon
Wall/floor- worms/crickets/food
Wall- person's face up against glass
Wall- person tapping on camera/glass (like finding nemo)

Materials:
Projector
Laptop
Participant
Illustrator/photoshop
Premiere Pro
MadMapper

Timeline:
March 19- Arrange what room installation will take place in
March 20- Decide what will be projected; what will be projected on each wall/surface
March 20- Figure out where the participant will be relative to the room and animations
March 30- Complete animations
March 30- Test out/coordinate finished animations in the room
March 31- Final run through
April 1- Film final installation