Cross Stream Broadcast Technical Test

Idealisation

Due to personal reason I did not attend the last lesson which the first trail of streaming. This makes me more nervous on what I suppose to look out for during this cross stream but luckily it is a technical test! After brainstorming with Makoto, we came up a few ideas such as attaching our phone at different angle and news reporting. So to explore the different angle of viewer, for example attaching at our toe as it is a totally different view from what we usually see. Or collective visual connecting our face together visually. However all those did not have a concrete theme for us to play/explore with. We arrive at the final concept of Safari adventure while playing with the filters. We wanted to do something that make use of the interesting filters.

Linking that up with the safari idea, we decide to explore ADM with the people we meet with the filters! So it will be like searching of the “wild animals in ADM NTU”. It is like how documentary they film about animal. We found rabbits, wolf and also cat filters that would help us to portray the idea. In OBS, we also added filters such as the logo and titles to mimic how we would see on the tv.

Process in streaming

The internet connection was really quite bad some areas might not able to connect to internet especially when I walk out of IM room there is a short period of time it was disconnected. I might be just change to my mobile data for the actual streaming to prevent the break off. I feel it would interrupt the process and might miss some moments.

We also face sound difficulty as there is a feedback coming out from Makoto side. After we went for the second technical test just for the sound he manage to solve the problem which end up coming from his live streaming. After offing the volume for that the feedback seems did not appearing anymore.

While going out to stream, I actually have quite a blank mind again even after a few times of streaming experience. Yet, keeping my ideas in my mind of finding the “wild animals” in school. I have plan to prepare which filter to use next when I saw people I know yet I will still panic a bit when I was switching around the filters. However, the unplanned situation makes the streaming unexpected and impromptu. Maybe some overlay effect can be adding on OBS to make the whole live stream more interesting. Probably some moving image and shift of camera angle like dip to black just like switching scene would have a smoother flow.

The first technical test:

This is a trial video

Posted by Su Hwee Lim on Monday, 18 September 2017

Second sound test:

https://www.facebook.com/suhwee/videos/10155082554878403/

The outcome after combining together:

https://www.facebook.com/nicholas.makoto/videos/10155799366832698/

The outcome on sound test:

TEST RUN FOR OSS ASSIGNMENT

Posted by Nicholas Makoto on Monday, 18 September 2017

Research Critique Hyperessay – The World’s Longest Collaborative Sentence

Douglas Davis was interested in exploring the possibility of video and internet interactivity. He was once a writer before he started his artist career on 1960s. A few notable work from him was the satellite broadcast “The Last Night Minutes” that feature him staring out of the television trying to make connection with the viewer and trying to escape visually in the camera wall.

Another was in 1994, “The World’s First Collaborative Sentence” that involved super participation from people around the world to add their own words online. Mixture of languages are used to convey various of thoughts without using full stop that makes the sentence go on. This platform provides a gateway for people to voice up their view.

The huge difference between broadcast TV and the Web is the keyboard. With that people can say anything; they have full expressive capacity.

Similarly in the modern days, we have social media for us to voice out our views and having discussion. From their sentence, it feels like this platform became a window for them to shout out their thoughts to everybody.

When the artist involved the audience to be part of the contributor created a sense of belonging being able to participate in it. When you are involved, you feel more excited about it as it is a different experience when you are just an audience.

Wow, I was a part of the world’s first collaborative sentence!

While, getting the whole world to write this sentence making it more comprehensive with interesting narrative. You would get to know different content which while you are reading, it creates the nonsensical sequence in your mind.

However art work like this created in the pioneer days are facing a problem which was mention in the article by Melena Ryzik. Due to technical advancement digitalise artwork could no longer be working, in this case like Davis’s work. Until Whitney curators decided to rebuild and mend the broken links. This leave me thinking about the programme we are using now, we might not be using it next time. As the way we communicate, we interact and we look at things will be very different in future due to technology advancement. The art direction would be evolve as well because art revolve around the society and culture. I felt its really important that Whitney are preserving the digitalise art that the pioneers artist has done showing us how art evolve until today. Just like how we learn about videofreex to the hole in space to The World’s First Collaborative Sentence.

In conclusion, getting the audience involve can create interaction and something that can never be achieve by just one person. It is the combination of effort from different people in different culture to create this unique piece like The Worlds’s First Collaboration Sentence. Yet conservation of the pioneers’s digital art can be challenging. What we can do now to preserve our own digital art was to do good documentation and videos to convey our concept and ideas.

 

Desktop Mise-en-Scene – OBS Experience

Video: https://www.facebook.com/suhwee/videos/10155065521923403/

The OBS live stream is something that I really like to play with. There is filters and effect when combing them together it can create bizarre and interesting visuals. Before the streaming, I when online to search to learn more about this programme. I came across this youtube video with green screen effect.

I think it was really interesting those effects he has create. He duplicate the image capture and uses chrome key to select green to blind it so he was exactly looks like in the third space together with his screen. I apply the chrome key as well in my live stream on the moving letters. The image was to give a more digitalise feeling. Display capture are also another interesting tools that I found while exploring OBS. It allows you to capture anything on your screen such as your menu, time and date and mouse.

The mouse really interest me because it will auto change its icon while we are working or browsing. I added because I felt it will give variation to the live steam and highlight the presence of it. The mouse icon was so automated that we don’t really pay attention to.

One of my everyday task was to complete artwork for my client. In my live streaming, I was working on a brochure for a Vegetarian Festival in NewZealand. I though it would be interesting to see how the background process before the poster is completed. You also get to see my to-do list for school work.

During the live stream, at first I do feel some pressure as if there was like whole bunch of people looking at my screen. It was a bit uncomfortable and even I face some difficulty with the sound. There was a feedback from my speaker and suddenly there was someone cutting the grass under my block. It the noise was so loud that affecting my sound projection. The noise makes me panic until I realise I can stop it by offing my speaker. Initially I planned to play my playlist songs while I was doing my work like usually I would do, but it was too lag to do anything else. About half way through I get more comfortable by focusing more on the work. Time flies and I did not realise I actually did up a 25 min live stream Wow!

Video: https://www.facebook.com/suhwee/videos/10155047249408403/

 

In conclusion, the experience with OBS was really fun! I really enjoy using different filters to create the visual. From the first OBS moving images of my desktop, changing of mouse to chrome key effect, I just let my mind run while and do what I though it was interesting and curious about. I really like how the effect how my Desktop Mise-en-Scene turns out especially the mouse! Perhaps next time, I should think about how the sounds is projected too, which this time the sounds was quite bad in the first few mins.

 

Research Critique Hyperessay – Bold3RRR

Jon Cates started his Realtime BOLD3RRR… in a totally different way by switching between his desktop share screen and his webcam Skype. Manually controlling of the visual images accompanied by various different noise combine together. It all feel very natural to the artist but a very different style of narration. Although it is different, it catches people’s attention because they are curious about where is this sound coming from and why is the image switching around. In the reading stated:

his “dirty new media” aesthetic that brings to the surface the aberrations and raw imperfections that are typically verboten in “high-end” digital circles.

I do agree that raw imperfections are portray in the works he have done demonstrates the glitch are breaking the rules but exploring with a different platform. He is just like a DJ but doubling the job of controlling the visual as well! It also stir us away from perfection to look at the raw imperfections, looking beyond the imperfection. Which I felt while viewing BOLD3RRR… I would let nature to take it course to bring me everywhere whenever familiar objects or experience bring me. Even though I might not get the full meaning of what Jon Cates, I am sure certain part of the video would reminds you of your certain experience in life. I though that was intriguing and evoking questioning would be enough to serve its purpose.

…+ openUp possibilities, potentialities for ppl, as well as for myself, but also for a community that can mobilize around these approaches, these ideas.

In reflection to the current society when we are too obsessed with perfection we become so serious in a way that we forget how to play and enjoy the process. We also focus on the productivity that we forget to explore the possibility.

but from a d1Ɍ+y̶̶N̶3WWW_M3DI∆ perspective, what you might want to be doing is “rebugging,” && pushing different aspects of the machinewwwhirlds to see their thresholds, exxxperiment, + play.

Viewer might also have a sense of annoyed at first like how I did. This almost natural reaction triggers our memories from our previous experience from technological errors. However, I felt we should not exclude and avoid the possibility. I found an article regarding glitch art interview with jonCates as well questioning about the kind of thinking we have from this art form can be applied to other aspects in life which

we often ignore those who don’t fit into our social ideals of perfections and worthiness;

It makes me think deeper that are am I open up to surprise or only see what I wanted to see? In conclusion, many times in our lives we face obstacles, problems and sets backs which we can all relate it as glitch. The dirty new media that Jon Cates created provides a whole new experience for us to face those natural accidents that we usually wanted to get rid. As when we are expose to unconventional means we could gain new insight that help us delve into opportunity like we never before.

Reflection – Adobe Connect

Last lesson the class was conducted on Adobe Connect where everybody gets online to attend the lesson. At first it was really overwhelming and fascinating. There is even this interesting function to raise up our hand or leave the room which on the online conference is very important to have this indication. The message area are also very new to me while listening and my classmates would raise some question. However, it get sort of distracting when we need to concentrate on both side. At last I actually give up on reading the messages and concentrate on what Prof was saying.

During lesson, I felt quite tense up because I am afraid if I heard wrongly or over heard what people were saying. It need full attention to comprehend as compare to face to face.

At the last part of our lesson was the most memorial and amazing experience. We are on our webcam and need to corporate with the person around us in the grid. I really like when we try to connect each other together visually that shows some narrative. The object that we shown around us also reveal bits of our personality and has a story behind it. From the web cam also reveal a part of our personal space at home which I felt that was interesting to see our daily surrounding which we are all very different.

Research Critique Hyperessay – Hole in Space

This public communication art “Hole in space” was created in 1980 using satellite connection through a life-size video screen. The location was placed on in New York City and Los Angeles. This unexpected piece attracted large amount of people to interact with strangers also incidentally become a meeting place for people who hadn’t seen their loved ones in years.

People start gather around out of their curiosity until they figure out that they are able to communicate to another side of the screen they just start to talk! Just like what was said in the readings:

The absence of the threats of physical harm makes people braver. Virtual space diminishes our fears of interactions.

The reaction of people was really amazing, from the video, some are talking about their day, singing a song [probably the first live stream performance] and even starts to play some guessing games! Through the installation it created some kind curiosity which make people talk to each other easier. Many smiling face was seen when they were interacting. I feel that the life-size screen could be one of the well thought reason from the artist to give more impactful experience to simulate the real-life communication.

Screenshot from the video: A lady who was really excited to see her love ones

Moreover it also accidentally become a meeting place for people who did not seen each other in many years. A lady was totally screaming when she saw her family on the screen. It shows how the video interaction would communicate emotion. Through this installation, it bring down the barrier between people and help them to communicate where it does not happen frequently on street.

While researching, I came across the modern Hole in Space in Oakland neighbourhoods who was inspired by Kit Galloway and Sherrie Rabinowitz’s Hole in Space. The two location are geographically close but socially and economically different. The intention of this piece was to break down the distance between the two neighbourhood. The results was drastically different, not many people crowd around the screen like how it was in 1980, which caught me thinking that our society has grown differently. However people are more comfortable bring in front of the camera, they were seen dancing and able to react to this “video call” quickly.

Where have we arrived? The implied answer is that we’ve come to a point where we regularly interact with people across the globe, but frequently ignore those who are right around us, buffered by increasing racial and economic segregation that allows for erasure of difference. It has happened all over, but especially in Oakland.

Lastly, both artists in 1980 and 2015 uses the form of connection to create interaction between both location. The collaborative effort was form unknowingly by the public which created the unscripted forms of communication that involved surprises and giving us hints about the nature of our society. The reinterpretation of the artwork in 2015 bring in one important point. The original intention of creating more human interaction through internet connection might have been lost. We interact lesser to the people around us even when they are our neighbours. Its a loosing of interaction that we can see from A Hole in Space in Oakland. However, it really depend on oneself, technology would bring us closer and closing us off to our own world.

Research Critique – Videofreex

The documentation was shown in a different way just like you are watching a real documentation of the olden days. I was surprise by the amount of video they took. It is very well documented just like showing us everything about them since they started. As compare to present days everything can be video and document easily, I was quite ashamed that with these easily accessible devices I should have created a more detail documentation of my work process.

Videofreex being the first to go out to film was another facts that surprise me! Although there are television channels available during that time, they are only shows and news which did not broadcast what is happening around them. Videofreex did something that out of the norm taking the camera out to shoot for example the Woman Liberation rally. Its one of the event that leave a deep impression in me, some woman were shouting against mans and there was a lot happening during that time. In the documentation, they said that

It is important to go there where history are being made

which I strongly agrees and it speaks about how I feel towards the Woman Liberation rally. It is like in the present days, we only could have a glimpse of the olden days from the limited amount of images or from our grandparents stories. Whereas, while watching the documentation it sort of take me back to the olden days in real time. The video clips provide me information of how they speaks, what their fashion is like and little details that cannot be said by a person. Stories are good too, nevertheless the picture we get was solely by our imagination. However, its a two different experience.

I am sure envious that they can be so brave in chasing what they believe in and being confident about it. Especially when it comes to money they have been through a lot of limitation and difficulty. On the another hand, I feel that they have gain a lot as well. Being able to capture the history personally I am sure its a once in a life time experience. Moreover, they even build the connectivity to broadcast on television. They are so resourceful even at that time when Google are still not their best friend. It reminds me of that day we tried using Facebook live was so much easier as compare to them.

Doing what the mainstream television channel was not doing, they firmly believe something can be done. There was once in the documentation they saw some other people was videoing the situation and they feel excited about it too. I feel it could be also an encouragement to them during that time because there is also someone who are similar like them. I am also sure that what they are doing would inspire lots of people. In later part of the documentation, they reveal that they also tired many experimental ways! Like using mirroring effects, live call in and hosting unconventional topics. In comparison to the shows that air in the present days I feel videofreex had change the way how television programme flow made during their era where their methods were used in the present. Their creativity sure break the old rules and created a new perspective to the media world.

The language of media is everybody’s language. Set up a camera and you can speak to the world!

They ended with quote above which I can relate with. When videos are images that flashing, even if we do not understand their language spoken we would still get some ideas of what it is showing. At least roughly what the topic is about. Nowadays social media are widely use and posting of photos or video are just as normal. What we are posting are also speaking to the world in a subtle way. Just like how one photos/video can be famous in one night by sharing from the viewers where it goes viral!

Artistic alter ego: National Geographic photographer

This is really for my core module ? Artistic alter ego: I bought my first dslr which also the one I am using now in 2011. It started with pure interest in photography until my working holiday trip in New Zealand. I really like to capture moments and places I go which give me the instant satisfaction like "YES! This photo is good." I aspire to be a National Geographic photographer. Its a long term goal that I am still trying to explore and achieve!

Posted by Su Hwee Lim on Wednesday, 23 August 2017

Artistic alter ego:

I bought my first dslr which also the one I am using now in 2011. It started with pure interest in photography until my working holiday trip in New Zealand. I really like to capture moments and places I go which give me the instant satisfaction like “YES! This photo is good.” The sense of satisfaction drive me further wanting to capture more interesting photos that tells a story or even giving a different perspective about life. The images we took also can be powerful, I came across one of the most iconic images that was taken in the Vietnam War by Eddie Adams who captured a officer execute a prisoner on street. He won a prize for capturing this, however the photo was view differently from the actual story as a result the officer life was ruin because of this image.

Since then I aspire to be a National Geographic photographer. Its a long term goal that I am still trying to explore and achieve! I feel there is a lot of things can be shown through photography that helps the viewer to relate more. Moreover, knowing the background story would deepen the viewer’s understanding and sometimes provoke self-reflection and thinking.

 

Behind the scene

 

In the livestream, I wanted to portray that I am in the wild to capturing photograph of the wild animal. Since the steaming is live must as well film it like a National Geographic channel! The small little yellow rectangular was to mimic logo from their youtube videos. I had a hard time thinking how to actually keep it on that corner until I found this wire that I tie it to my selfie stick.

the screenshot of real National Geographic youtube.

The sound of lion was also played on the background add on to mimic wildlife. It was film at Japanese Garden where there is small hill and I was literally running on the slope! I was quite lucky that I did a trial test before the actual filming. The words that I wrote that appear on Facebook livestream recording was a flip image so the actual props I wrote it on a translucent paper and flip. 

Overall, I enjoyed the process even though I was a little lost in the beginning. I face many challenges during the filming like initially the ending of National Geographic logo should be dropping in and I will be within the yellow rectangle taking photos. (ending with a more cool way) However there are many constrain such as the wind was keep blowing and because of that my props are falling apart. Still, I really like the outcome although is not perfect but imperfections makes it more natural. I had some fun too!

Real Time Aggregation

 

Okay so is for one of my core module ??? night time in adm!

Posted by Su Hwee Lim on Thursday, 17 August 2017

 Reflection

This real time aggregation caught me by surprise. No plans or any idea what do I need to say or do in this live video recording on Facebook. Facebook is a social media that include my close friends, family and lastly acquaintance which are those I hope they doesn’t see it. (although is not possible LOL) This is also the first time I try streaming of myself LIVE.

Once the video started, an idea actually pop up in my mind. “At this hour who else is still in school” which I wanted to know if there is anyone staying back and what they are doing. I was quite nervous at first and accidentally knock on to my friend’s head. However I started off introducing this video are for one of my core modules and I feel less tense when I saw my close friends was watching! There is a few conversation in between the 15 min video, they communicate with me by leaving a comment. I get carried away after awhile when I was walking around the school introducing where I am going, where is this place and who are those people I met along the way.

During the live streaming, I constantly remind myself to speak in English just in case there is any viewer who do not understand Chinese. I also feel the whole class got more interactions during this project as compare to before. Just when the camera is on, it somehow weaken the ice and barrier that we had, saying hello to each other live streams. It a kind of bonding when everybody is doing something together.

Like I feel that Interactive media class has the lesser interaction with our classmates as compare to other majors. They would stay in dungeon or carve wood together but we seems a little scattered around. Its also understandable that due to our course nature, our project is very different from each other, we code different things which is not something we can help each other easily. Moreover most of us are new to this course so most of our time spends on coding and solving our project problem.

The effects are also something interesting to play with. Sometimes the face detection feature just look funny to me and some effect also helps to beautify the whole scene. It even can be a tool to help you to hide yourself from the camera for awhile. I just feel a bit more at ease when there is effects because it just looks good! However after awhile I got bored at it and I keep switch back or changes to other effects.

In conclusion, its really interesting when we put all the video together and see what others was doing as it happen simultaneously. The live streams shows a different view point from each of us probably like a multi dimensional streaming. We also get to laugh at some of the videos like the pink lama was appearing everywhere and someone also tries to imitate the lama voice. Although this is my first time doing live stream, many things can be plan or be better but I really like how it is so natural and impromptu. The feeling and experience would not be the same if we all planned out before hand. We also can see different sides of our classmates and subtly learn about them through their video from talkative ones to the just filming ones. Indirectly this project also creates a topic between ourselves. Along the way we also helped each other as probably this is all our first time using the live function on Facebook. The overall experience was very interesting although I was quite panic at first, I felt this project bonded our class a little more and we all had fun!