Micro-Project

There are 5 posts filed in Micro-Project (this is page 1 of 1).

Micro-Project: Glitched Abberations

These experiments were really fun to make. The results are all really unpredictable. I chose a variety of images (slightly overexposed, dark, greyscale, etc) to edit and see what effects I can achieve from the experiment. I took screenshots each time I make an edit to the text file, so here are some of the process shots. I’m glad I took the screenshots because the end result were so different from the saved .jpg, when I go back to Photoshop to save them. Still interesting results, nonetheless!104grrb01

I started off by editing only the top part of the code, which seem to break the image into monochromatic layers. I like the result of this one, it really transform the original image into something quite exciting.103grrb02

The colours in this photo is rather flat and faded. For the next image, I scrolled down all the way to the bottom and edited the code there. The effect was comparably drastic to the first: after a second edit, the image became a series of lines. The lines were also quite flat, nothing very saturated, like the original photo.55grrb04

Next, I tried a greyscale photo. The result is absolutely exciting.  It’s quite interesting to see how this one produced such a colourful results. My favourite part is how the glitchy lines, after rounds of edits, became a smooth streak of gradient.28grrb06

This is one of the more exciting result out of all the images I’ve tried. It has the same result as the greyscale photo; both have streaky gradient glitch lines, but what is interesting is how at one point of the edit, the “glow” of the text seemed to be separated from the text itself, creating a ghostly glitchy effect. It kind of reminds me of what you can do with slow shutter speed on a camera.38grrb05

This one looks like a 3D image. After the first edit, the result didn’t seem to change too much, the image just separates into different segments.

Here are the images opened in Photoshop:glitchab01 glitchab02 glitchab03 glitchab04   glitchab07

These experiments were surely exciting, but as with experimental art, sometimes I ask myself, when is it complete? I try not to over-do the glitching as a result of being encouraged by a previous outcome, because I’ve gone through a few images that became totally ‘destroyed’, and previous outcomes couldn’t be ‘saved’. Anyway, after I opened them in Photoshop, I realised they are all different from my desired outcome. Perhaps this is the nature of chance aesthetics.

Micro-Project: Pirate Broadcast II

Photo 14-9-15 9 48 16 pm Photo 14-9-15 9 48 35 pm Photo 14-9-15 9 49 06 pm Photo 14-9-15 9 49 56 pm Photo 14-9-15 9 49 58 pm Photo 14-9-15 9 50 07 pm    Photo 14-9-15 9 51 44 pm Photo 14-9-15 10 15 32 pm Photo 14-9-15 10 15 38 pm

 

Here are some screengrabs from my latest broadcast on Periscope. I haven’t been shooting much outdoors because I’m afraid I’ll bust my bandwidth. Today I took a few random snippets of my activities, but this one had been my most viewed so far. I was quite surprised, honestly. This morning after I came back from the supermarket, I proceeded to make a Vietnamese-inspired chicken dish and I did a broadcast of that. I thought it was quite interesting, you know, since food is involved… but nobody was watching it. ha ha. While drawing just now, I made a broadcast. It was a little tricky to hold the phone on one hand and concentrate on my lines. I was focused on making sure I wasn’t drawing out of line and not really looking at the screen, and then suddenly all these little coloured bubbles started popping up with these hearts! People are actually watching it and commenting, live. It’s quite cool. The reaction is definitely instantaneous.

Anyway in my excitement, I forgot to save the broadcast to my phone. But you can view it on my periscope account (username: bever_gif).

This reminds me a little of Snapchat which my siblings encouraged me to join. They tell me that Snapchat is for broadcasting mundane details around us. I thought it was needless, and I couldn’t keep up with broadcasting every little thing around me. But I seriously admire my siblings’ effort to Snapchat everything.

Here’s a photo of them Snapchatting a carwash scene:

Photo 12-9-15 10 45 28 pm

 

 

I find that I have to make a conscious effort to pick up my phone to broadcast things. I think this is something I’m beginning to learn since taking up this class. My kind of documenting usually only involves writing about stuff in my book and collecting ephemera from a certain event. I am also definitely learning from my siblings, who seem to have gotten this down pat.

Going to experiment some more with Periscope and consider the possibility for its usage in my final project for Internet Art & Culture.

pirate broadcast

I’m trying to combine various methods of capturing footage and put them together in this pirate/unedited fashion.

  • screen recordings
  • filming with my iphone
  • using cheap special effects

I haven’t been out of the house in the past five days because I’ve been caught up with making some work, so I don’t have a very exciting story I can tell. So everyday I filmed a few minutes of ‘pirate’ footage of something that I’m doing. I try to do it from an outsider point of view, like what would somebody think of this girl who haven’t left her home in a few days, all cooped up in this room? How would somebody snoop around my working area, and what happens if somebody turned my screen recording on without me knowing? It’s nothing very Cloverfield though. But I can possibly expand on this. I haven’t tried putting my camera in anywhere that’s dangerous or particularly sneaky.

Strange

I don’t have a strange story to tell, sadly. I think. There isn’t really anything I’ve ever considered strange. Perhaps it is because I am a careful person. I think I live in my world too much. And I also think I make quite a bad storyteller too. But I will give it a try… A lot of people raise their eyebrows when I share with them about living in mixed dormitories when I traveled around Europe by myself. “Why didn’t you go for an Airbnb?” Do you know how expensive some of these airbnbs are? Anyway, as far as hostels go, I think my experience was pretty good. Free breakfast was okay, which means I could save on breakfast. Wifi was not strong, which was even better for me, because it is necessary to go off-grid sometimes. Goodbye, third space. I did have a strange experience though. It was around 7pm, and even though it was still bright outside, I stayed in my room and read some of my new books by the window. One of the guys I shared the room came in and started to chat with me. He said that he enjoyed reading too and was here for a conference. You know how your mother always tell you not to talk too much to strangers? Well, it was the kind of thing I decided not to remember. Most people living in hostels are quite a chatty bunch and I’ve shared with at least ten other strangers why I am gallivanting around Europe by myself. So I did not think too much about this young man, and carried on a lighthearted conversation about books and learning German. This young man had a backpack full of books. He also had on a thick glasses, which made him look rather bookish and intelligent. After some time, he asked me earnestly if I wanted to go to the common room (for the wifi). I assume he was just going to go online and add me on Facebook or something, so without thinking too much, I followed him out. Suddenly, around the corner, he opened a door and pushed me inside. It was a tiny, tiny toilet. “There, isn’t it nice to have some privacy?” I was shocked and utterly terrified. He ran his hands up and down my back and I stood frozen to the spot. I most certainly did not expect this. I quickly turned around, unlocked the door and I ran out. I went back to my room. Fortunately, the rest of my room mates were back. The young man returned the room and apologised profusely to me. “Before I go, I would like to say goodnight to the moon”. With that he bend down and kissed my tattoo. That was probably the strangest thing that has ever happened to me. Now my tattoo has a new memory attached to it… Well, it will serve as an interesting reminder of my first solo trip.

Video Double — virtual nostalgia

My video double is a work in progress of an alter ago. This lady is pretty much my ideal self, I think, as an artist, as a personality. She’s got some fun tattoos and beautiful hair. The illustration style is largely inspired by the aesthetics of Palace Doll avatars (from Palace Chat, briefly discussed in Media & performance class last semester), as well as Microsoft Paint. These are some things that influence my early artworks made on the computer, so I wanted to capture a bit of what I remembered and loved, like going crazy with the colour wheel and adding all the colours on my digital palette. Palace Doll avatars were really some stellar pixel artwork. And Microsoft Paint was my virtual art studio before I ever got to play with Photoshop.