Video Deconstruction/Decontextualization

HuskyStarcraft Remix

For my video deconstruction project I decided to indulge my inner nerd and remix StarCraft II replays by HuskyStarcraft. I started out by creating downloading a variety of replays that contained memorable parts, such as "drop the double forge", the intro, and "thosdamjuice" which sounds like something quite inappropriate when pulled out of context (which is the point of de-contextualization).

After I had the videos I linked the sound and arranged it in Final Cut Pro. Once I had a decent sounding mix, I exported and XML over to Logic Pro to start mastering the audio and adding music. 30+ tracks, and many hours later I arrived at a mix I really liked. I then ported it back to final cut where I overrode the sound with the new audio I had created and adjusted the video to reflect the changes and added credits.

Overall the project was enjoyable, and I look forward to sharing it with Mike (Husky) and his fans.

This is my last post for this blog, to continue following my projects visit:
Facebook.com/MichaelEasterArtist

Klaus Obermeier & Gideon Obarzaneks & Kevin Warwick

Klaus Obermeier demonstrates a magnificent utilization of a single projected screen and motion capture with his artwork "Apparition". The tracking is so precise, when the one person has the stripes on him, and the other has no projection, it makes you wonder if the no-projection is even real because how he avoids any light bleeding onto his skin. The use of choreography, motion tracking, projection, and dynamic video really makes for an interesting combination that adds a lot to the art of dance.

Gideon Obarzanek presents another great example of projection with dancing and motion tracking. This time the projection is on the ground and I love his effects that focus on where the person had been, rather than just preventing video around them and interacting with it. The blob area recognition is awesome, and gives more of that idea of a blog.

Kevin Warwick has a different field of study where he is going into cybernetics, which really interest me. What's most amazing about this is that he did it in 1998! The technology he is using is now available in most smartphones. NFC technology and wifi transmitting through dedicated tunnels give us the ability to do all these things through our phones. This begs the question of do we need to be a cyborg when we have all those features in our hand? On one side neural interaction could only be done through cybernetics, but do we really want something to have a direct connection with our minds?

I can imagine that the only cybernetics I would really be for are those medical operations that restore full functionality of a person, such as the pressure sensitive robotic hands, and the implant that restored sight to someone born without it, or lost it to disease.
http://www.livescience.com/27252-eye-implant-restores-vision-blind.html

Josh Walton & Gordon Levin

Josh Walton presents a lot of information and focus on the abstraction and the vague boundry that exists between the physical world, and the virtual binary world of computers. He immediately dives into the idea that we can exist in both simultaneously, which is a fantastic idea that I completely believe in. For example, I'm in the Study Lounge, but I'm also on Blogger, Facebook, and Santiago.bz, interacting with all four simultaneously, or near simultaneously. He then goes on to his projects in creating spaces that interact with both worlds, and submerse you in both at the same time. His connections with the block experiment in the city are especially interesting how you can interact via another portal (twitter) and the physical space. He refers to this as generative interaction, however I would say it's procedural, two ways of saying the same thing though I suppose.

Golan Levin was asked a lot of theoretical questions, and these can be debated and seen in multiple ways. A few things that I really liked was when someone asked what came after the kinect, and he answered a smaller, cheaper kinect. I highly agree with this statement and his general philosophy that hardware exists to pave the way and create opportunities for software, and that once we run out of ways to use a piece of hardware, that's when we try to find a new technology. I'm also excited for the augmented reality ideas he throws out there.

videoarets.com

For a lot of the video art sections, they were either under construction, or removed for copyright claims. I have commented on a few that I was able to view below:

The first one I saw was Video Arte en Portugal with "Scratching the Surface".
In this, the artist took a piece of grafitti and transformed it into a piece of mixed media surface art. It looks phenominal, but the video art is in how it was recorded and preserved. The artist manipulated time of course, and took a variety of different angles and shots, incliding those observing the act such as the cat and the birds. Time lapses were also included and cuts that broke time in two.

The second one I viewed was the Video Arte Siglo xx "parking"

I like this one because it involves direct involvement with something the artist is not involved in, and it did so in a way that you can't tell at first if it's miniature, or the cars are real and pretending to be changed, which was the case. It was a little short, but it was sweet.

The third one I really liked was the third on that page "Video Flag"

This took a simple idea of a video installation of a flag and combined it with a montage. I liked how the content matched the sections of the flag, and had a political influence.

Source:
videoartes.com

Watch Animations (Animated Gifs)

 http://annstreetstudio.com/2013/03/21/amans/

So I'm trying to recall which animations we were supposed to watch, and since we already posted on the stop motion section in BluBlu, I figured the Gifs were a good topic to do.

The first one I clicked on was the one that stunned me. The cinemagraphs at http://annstreetstudio.com/category/cinemagraphs/

In a second I was mesmerized by the pool with the steam coming off of it. I had never seen gifs used in such a way. Where the scenery remained static and there was just a component that moved. The natural beauty of the pool and the high level water was emphasized by the fog cascading off the surface. It almost feels more like a photo still, just with a more immersive effect. Needless to say I was taken aback and for lack of a better word mesmerized.

The rest of the gifs on the page were not as astounding, but I like how the second one with the one person defying time tells more of a story than it does create an environment, and the same goes for the fourth. The third with "Right on the MARC". While this one says it has a goal of a person looking on a city she is going to conquer, I suggest otherwise. While if we could see down the side of the building from the outside, it would look like the suggested story, however the stance of the woman and her position toward the glass tells another story to me. That she is trapped by the glass by the city, and her sad looking face and lackluster apparel make her look more like a slave to the city, or that she is trapped, longing to get out.

While this kind of interpretation lends itself to photography, I believe that this isolated time element adds dramatically to the story and appeal, while not completely separating the work of art from photography into animation or film.

History of Magnetic Tape

 

The history of magnetic recording was a repeat of a lot of stuff I not only learned in this class, but also in my Visual Literacy and physics class a few years back. However I was not aware of Valdemar Poulsen's contribution in that he created the first actual magnetic sound recorder and that Oberlin's theory was never tested.

I'm always kind of suprised in how much the military also furthers technology, and this presented another instance of just that when WWII "further perfected [magnetic recording]... technology."

This article may not have taught me too much new history, but the technology involved in competing video tape technologies was new to me. The head mechanisms and different rotation speed conflicts were ones I was previously unaware of.

Source:
http://www.h2g2.com/approved_entry/A3224936

Img Source:
http://www.ferrographworld.com/recordings.htm