Video Installation

In this class we will create experimental film and video art and present them in a variety of different ways.

Quotidian Remix

In this assignment, we were asked to perform a route action, then take it out of context and repeat it with several different emotions. I chose to perform the action of taking medicine each day. This action was taken out of its original context and done in the shower instead of a more normal place for taking your pills. At first, the girl is really meticulous and careful, then she is frustrated and rushed and by the end she is a bit apathetic about the whole process. I shot all of this video on my phone with a rather unusual and creative, but not very professional set up. I put my phone in a plastic bag and tied it up with ribbon to get these shots.

The final video is linked bellow:

Quotidian Color Remix

This assignment is an update to the last video assignment. In this update, I was able to edit and add some effects. I color corrected each shot, added overlapping video effects, movement effects, and added a few shots using a DSLR instead of just my phone.

Project 1 - Analog Spice

This project focuses on integrating digital and analog processes to create a finished video.

Working Title: Canary

Description: Stop motion of a bird drawn in charcoal is displayed both as an original and as an inverted image. The stop motion is done at varying speeds and is out of order. Video of a flickering fire is shown over this at a lower opacity.

Analog Elements: The bird is drawn with charcoal on paper and then photographed.

Concept: Back in the day, miners would bring burning candles and canaries with them into the mine so they would know if there was enough oxygen for them to breath. In life, sometimes we are overwhelmed with so many things we feel as if we cannot breath. This is meant to make you think about the signs in your own life that signal a need to escape.

Project 2 - Interactivity

This project involves creating a video piece that is interactive in some way.

Working Title: American Food

Description: Video is projected on the wall directly in front of a table. The video of Andy Warhol eating a hamburger is overlapped with my own footage of a person eating lays chips and drinking a coke. That is then overlapped with the shadow of the viewer as they eat the Twinkies that are laid out on the table.

Interactive Components: viewer sits at table and eats the food presented while their shadow is projected into the projected video on the wall.

Concept: Americans eat the same classic branded foods. This is true across Americans of different age, gender, income, cultural background, etc. Corporations want to make money off of everyone. This is what brings us together as a nation. This is what makes us truly American.

The presentation of this project had to be cancelled due to COVID-19, so I do not have footage of my classmates interacting with the video.

Project 3 - Projection Mapping

This project required a combination of all the skills we learned in class. I used video techniques, interactivity, and projection mapping.

Working Film Title: "I am the Ghost"

Mapping components: shots of myself interacting with objects projected onto the objects in my apartment.

Concepts, ideas, themes: During the current pandemic, people are being forced to stay in their homes and vacate public spaces. In my piece I want to show my apartment being empty as well, with only projections of me being in the space. This will show the emptiness and lack of human connection that the pandemic is causing as well as referencing the confinement to our homes.

Some Considerations:

I will be projecting cut off views of me interacting with objects in my home. This will show emptiness in my apartment. With the current COVID situation, we are all constantly in our homes. My project will show how we melt into our spaces, and how after a while these spaces feel very empty.

Projection looks better on white or light colored objects so I will project on things that are already white or can be covered with white paint or paper. I think it would also be cool to just use a bright light to project shadows onto walls or objects. I could even do some stop motion sections where it looks like someone is doing something even when there is no one there.

If I cannot get access to a projector, I may only use the shadow projection. I think I can get one to borrow for this project though, so it shouldn't be an issue.

Some things I want to project/project on to:

Getting ready - Mirror covered in white paper
Finger going across text - plain paper book
Footprints - white kitchen floor tiles
Face - open computer screen (not a white surface but maybe it will work - need to test)
Hand opening blinds

Possible shadow projections:

Walking across window light shining on floor
Silhouette of person on shower curtain
Person working at desk silhouette on wall

Possible stop motion:

Writing on to do list white board
Clearing steam off the mirror
Cooking food on the stove

Other possible interactions:

Toaster popping up
Fan slowing after being turned off

My final shot list:

First I shot all my stop-motion segments, plain video segments, and the videos I would need to project onto objects in other parts of the video. Once that was done, I set up a projector to film the scenes that use projection mapping. Once all my shots were taken I was able to edit together this final result: