Micro-Project: Max Net Appropriation

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I’m the kind of person that likes to idly scroll my facebook newsfeed or instagram feed when I’m bored. This way. I can see what my friends are up to and how life is treating them. Most of my friends are avid posters of selfies. I get to see what my friends look like without actually being with them in real life. I wanted to explore this concept further in MAX for allowing me to see more selfies (even of people I do not know” tagged with “selfie” or “wefie” on Flickr to see how many of these are posted on the Flickr Stream. Thank you August Black and Randall Packer for creating a MAX Patch that a software n00b like me can easily digest šŸ˜›

PROCESS:

This videoĀ is based on Augustā€™s original Flickr Search that has been e-mailed to us. I had Ā I then followedĀ theĀ instructions for audio and visual manipulation.Ā 

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(The original unedited MAX Patch)

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Firstly, I entered the two search queries which is “selfie” and “wefie”.

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The “movie” was moving at a speed to fast for me to screenshot so I adjusted it to 250 from 150:Screen shot 2014-10-08 at 9.50.09 AM

 

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Changing the presets would make itĀ look like filters; the ones you would get on instagram.

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I also renamed it to Ruzana’s Flickr Search before turning on the audio.

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The final MAX Patch Product…

Click the above video to see my MAX working file


Click the above video to see the final video

My concept for this video is inspired by selfies/wefies on instagram. In instagram, you’re able to choose from a vast array of image filters to pimp your selfie. I adjusted various parameters on the max file to create a gradual change ofĀ filter and recorded it. The video starts of slow, representing the beginning of selfie culture and then gradually becomes faster and the filters so extreme that you can’t even see the faces in the images anymore. The accompanied sound also stops and sounds “glitched” at some point and then becomes really really fast – This is to represent how something as innocent as taking a picture of yourself and uploading it onto social media websites online may erupt and evolve into something bigger; an issue of self-objectification.

I findĀ the idea of appropriatingĀ real-time images by searching for them on the internet very interesting. Prior to this, I had no idea you could generate audio based on visual informationĀ andĀ transpose our data from one media type to another. I’ve learnt a lot from this exercise though it proved to be rather challenging at first šŸ™‚ I’m happy I pulled through!

Micro Project: Take Home Glitchin’

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Can’t get enough of glitching now that I know how to INTENTIONALLY create them šŸ˜€ hahaha. There’s something about the unexpected outcome that appeals to me. Unlike Photoshop, Illustrator and Indesign that I work with everyday, I have no control over what happens to my image. Well, i do – just that I’m not completely certain what adding a “&%^21340” or duplicating an entire chunk of text and placing it somewhere else in the image data on TextEdit would do. Using my picture from eons ago, I set out to get glitchin’… hoping and praying at least some part of my face will be untouched cos I do wanna make the end result my profile pic šŸ˜€

So here’s what the unglitched photo looks like:

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Now the fun begins…

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Don’t know what I did but it took out a large chunk of the photo and left it all black for some reason. Not a look I was going for so I undid it and tried again..

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This time it was prettier. The chunk is a textured blue. My face is gone though..

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Now I have multiple bodies. Still no face. Let’s see if I can get my face back…

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Successsss..

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This outcome looks like my picture actually went into a shredder.. and quite possibly a bleach bath.

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My last and final outcome; I’m liking this šŸ˜€

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Soundscape: Little Drummer Boy x Ruzana’s Walk

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// DESCRIPTION

My father is bringing me out to the fair in the city to drum along with him!
Great, I’m sick of this small village – everyone snaps at me for making noise.
Why can’t they understand that all I wanna do isĀ beat my drum.
I don’t wanna be making haystacks or pick up firewood.
One day, I beat my drum a little too loud as we were walking through a forest…
I’m afraid now I can never drum again. All I wanna do is forget the assault.


 

// BACKSTORY

I stood in front of my shoe rack and spent a few minutes staring at all my shoes; slippers, sandals, trainers, boots, heels — I chose the noisiest ones. These are my Miista Esi Suede Leather oxfords that I’m trying to wear in. I knew for a fact they make so much noise as they hit the pavement – PERFECT!

k8GefHyoiOP3pF5kycvpsr2mStieTe1lli8oaWYQYzo,VM-owqc6gWVwGVM2hUh8i1lMD-XO35Muol1bPrQ674I

thepick1_0

I walk round the perimeter of my student accommodation here in NTU, Pioneer Hall andĀ started thinking of what I wanted my story to be like. As my heels kiss the ground, i hear:

CLACK CLACK CLACK, BOOM BOOM BOOM

Sounds like music; Sounds like the beating of drums. So i told the dramatic story about the Little Drummer Boy and his father, accompanied by the clacking of my lucite heel in replacement of the beating of a drum.

There was construction nearby and lots of these manhole covers. Thought they would make for interesting atmospheric noise for the soundscape. Used the noisy bits to add drama to the story I was crafting. šŸ˜›

Shine bright lika diamond.

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I’ve always thought that working with code is an extremely daunting task. The vast array of commands and characters – where do I even begin.

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Thankfully, there’s Juan to the rescue.
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Firstly, I learned that /* disables the function and if you just delete that, it would make the code “alive” and coloured again. I also realised that normally, the higher the number, the larger the quantity/sizeĀ of something is. However, in code, 20 will generate a significantly smaller image compared to 7. (these were just random numbers)

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Notice how the circles are tiny and how it looks like a constellation of stars. How about decreasing the amount?

Screen shot 2014-09-10 at 9.23.39 AMĀ Ā Screen shot 2014-09-10 at 9.24.00 AM

The “stars” begin to take the shape of planets instead.

Scratch that, readded the /* on the circles SVG and removed it from the lines. Same thing happened..

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This is rather embarassing; but thats all I knew how to change. Thats a start, but I’m looking to change the images to something else.

Toyed with the cheesy idea of changing the images to diamonds. Cos you know what they say… Diamonds are a girls best friend. šŸ˜›

diamond_png_by_doloresdevelde-d4l00lb

Found this .png image online. Tried to copy the link:

http://th02.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/i/2012/001/e/3/diamond_png_by_doloresdevelde-d4l00lb.png

Also tried hosting the image on my own flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rznrhm/15191287731/

Neither worked. Something went awry but I have no idea what.
Just sent an e-mail to Juan and I’m hoping he can help me out, cos right now I have no idea what I’m doing – which brackets to open or close. Will update this post again if Juan replies! šŸ˜€

—————————-(( UPDATE ))———————————

Juan replied and turned out all I forgot to do was remove the */ at the end tag (-___________-)”

Here’s what happened when I embedded the flickr image. Turns out my flickr link was https and the picture wasn’t able to load.

(but its quite fun looking at the default error image flooding my data visualisation hahaha)

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However, undeterred, I tried the other version of the .png and came up with this.

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Changed the values of the height and width from 100 to 10 and here’s what happened hehehe.

You may view my diamond constellation here:
http://codepen.io/rznrhm/pen/oDpaL

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Shine bright like a diamond 2

Maybe this happened cos I was listening to this while attempting to code šŸ˜›

A mask to hide perceived imperfections.

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60 sec alter ego oss:

What are your views about make up?
Is it a veil or mask to hide our faces, or is it a form
of artistic expression and creativity?

Here’s mine.

 

EDIT: I guess the same could be said about our avatars. In a way, we hide ourselves behind a tiny icon online. We choose that photo very carefully and are consciously choosing only the best to represent ourselves with.

:'(

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retrospect

The cold night breeze hitting my face as I walked over to my old hall of residence. Used to be my routine for a whole year. Now I’m back here, for the sole purpose of taking a photo for my class and not to turn in for the night :/

UPDATE: Received an email on the 26th of August and it said I’ve successfully got a place in hall. The initial offer was Hall 6 but somehow when I went to One Stop @ SAC they said to report to Pioneer Hall. Made the deposit and collected my keys and hurrah, I’m no longer travelling 2 hours to and fro from school everyday! šŸ˜€