Telematic Stroll

Telematic Stroll (with Win Zaw)

Posted by Anam Musta'ein on Wednesday, 8 November 2017

Win Zaw and myself had the idea of broadcasting from two different setting in Singapore, one being a residential area in Pioneer where I was and the other being in the business district area in Raffles Place where Win Zaw was. We have also decided to film it in the evening to capture both the difference and similarities in Singapore’s night lighting whether it came from street lights, buildings, or vehicles on the road. The stark contrast in the number of people appearing in our individual videos offers two perspective into the night scene of Singapore – with mine being slightly relaxed and quieter while it is more congested and busier on Win Zaw’s side.

To give the co-broadcast experience even more comparison, we have turned on our own tracking app in the background to allow us to see the trail that we have traveled in throughout the broadcast. It is pretty interesting to see the difference in the amount of turns we make and the direction that we both went on our broadcasts. I went on a more linear route while Win Zaw made more turns and loops in his. Below are two screenshots of our movement throughout the broadcast:

Anam’s Movement:

Win Zaw’s Movement:

We had some very interesting moments during the broadcast where we tried to match our visuals with building lines, horizon lines, perspectives, trails, and passing vehicles. There were moments where we had nearly symmetrical compositions, while some looked like we intentionally positioned our cameras to align the objects appearing on our broadcast across the dividing grid.

All in all, the experience was an exciting one as we struggled to coordinate with each other’s screen. We did not communicate much during the broadcast, but having to coordinate lines within the grid was almost intuitive. It made me realize that there is a degree of synchronization in everything we do, especially we put them side by side.

Video Double

VUVW

VUVW (vah-voo) is a rising underground urban contemporary recording artiste whose upcoming debut album “Dossier” (stylized as “dossier.”) is hitting stores worldwide this September. VUVW plays the cello, writes his own lyrics and mixes his own music since his early years. He calls his fans “Patient Zeroes”, recalling his days back in the psychiatric ward.

ORIGINS

The name “VUVW” is derived from literally flipping my name “ANAM” vertically. I envisioned VUVW to be a reflection of my subconscious state of mind, a reflection of my body and a reflection of my psyche.

VUVW constantly struggled with depression, substance abuse, physical abuse, and racism throughout his years of adolescence. He grew up under the care of his alcoholic single mother with three younger siblings, and was working side jobs while producing mixtapes to make a living back when he was in high school. Writing music became an outlet for him to truly express his inner most self and it also acts as a coping mechanism for him from the cruel world we all know today.

dossier.

The experimental album explores the dark themes of mental instability, profane indulgence, treachery, and self-infliction. It is a bold yet incongruous record which is most compelling when it is at its most idiosyncratic. “dossier.” is a work of art, embellished in demented vibes, psychedelic sounds, and titillating verses.


Check out his debut single “Brown Rice” available on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, Google Play and Tidal!

ANAM V.S. VUVW

Anam is reserved, seemingly composed, but most importantly, too afraid to take leaps in his ventures. VUVW is everything Anam is not. Or is he?


*Disclaimer: This is a school project. Characters featured are fictional and in no way meant to provoke anyone.

Posted by Anam Musta'ein on Thursday, 24 August 2017

 

Real-Time Aggregation

The in-class assignment without a doubt caught us all by surprise. The moment we were handed this project, I was most concerned about the content of my Facebook Live broadcast. I wanted to make sure that the conversations I have with the audience were engaging, the visuals were captivating enough to make them watch and stay, and that I was able to keep this up for a good 15 minutes without losing any enthusiasm. I have done a couple of live broadcasts on my Instagram so I was never camera-shy to begin with.

When we started to go live, my initial plan was to show my Facebook friends the exterior of the school. I wanted them to see how beautifully lit the ADM building was in the evening. And I thought that shooting outdoors would mean that I was able to take a smoke break at the same time. However, I did not go any further than the sunken plaza because it was drizzling and I started losing connection from the WiFi signal while I was making my way up to the rooftop. So instead, I decided to take my audience to my locker so that I could show and talk to them about the paintings I made last semester. I toggled between the front and back camera as and when it was more effective to interact and have conversations with my viewers. And before I knew it, the 15 minutes came to a halt and we all had to return to class.

It was only when we got back and watched our broadcasts up on the video wall in a collage that I realized how riveting the whole experience was. At that very moment, I was not only paying attention to my video. I was looking at the videos collectively, deciphering how it was all happening concurrently, and how both the spaces captured in each individual video and the video wall as a space itself colligate. This then brought my attention to what was introduced in class earlier on – the third space. The cyber space that brings us all together no matter where we were recording from.

What I found most enthralling about the video wall was that they were captured live and the content of our videos heavily depended on spontaneity; almost like performance art. I managed to spot a number of common things that we captured on camera. And as more events transpire simultaneously, we get to observe new things like cross-streaming when you capture someone else broadcasting in your live video. It stimulates a multitude of perspectives to what we would consider as just ordinary shared space. It amuses me when this happens because the broadcasters not only share physical space, but they also share electronic space. All happening in real time!

This assignment has certainly redefined what we would traditionally consider as contemporary or performance art. It has stretched my mind to view broadcasting beyond just a one-dimensional stage. It is a platform to integrate a chain of networks to create an even interesting form of entertainment.

 


 

Posted by Anam Musta'ein on Thursday, 17 August 2017