Before I came into contact with this lecture, my understanding of creative was a new idea, which is a simple word. In my past view, this concept seems to be correct. After completing study 1, 2 and 3, I found that creative is actually a complicated process, not just a new idea can be summarised. It needs to compare or combine countless ideas to get a perfect piece. In this process, ideas need to be constantly adjusted and improved to make up for the shortcomings and defects of the work. Just like when I was completing study 3, a project that needed creativity, there were more than three ideas coming up in my mind, but in the end, after discussing with the group members and lecturer, I decided to finish the one you can see now. Although it is still not perfect, it has matured and improved a lot. Creativity is not an easy task which I also feel deeply through study 1, 2, and 3. I need to spend more time than I expected to create and complete the work. In the process, I will often deny my own ideas, and even give up the original ideas to rethink. But all this is to get a better work, which is worthwhile.

For the first time I contacted max, it was novel, fresh, and also unfamiliar, terrible. At first, I felt that the operation was amazing because of the freshness of it. What I can see is that a small change will make the whole picture different. Max is a powerful platform that accommodates and connects a wide variety of tools for sound, graphics, music and interactivity using a flexible patching and programming environment. Max allows most computer users to write a simple, meaningful program within a few minutes, even with limited programming knowledge.

Now, I have also learned the concept of interactive art which means a form of art that involves the spectator in a way that allows the art to achieve its purpose. Some interactive art installations achieve this by letting the observer or visitor “walk” in, on , and around them. Some others ask the artist or the spectators to become part of the artwork. There are also examples of interactive art in Melbourne, like “Fun interactive Art gallery” which is a fun interactive gallery of themed art. After I researched, I have known a lot about the interactive art. In study 1, 2 and 3, the original intention of each work is to resonate with the viewers, so that they can feel the information and emotions we want to convey while watching. In study 1, I used the keyboard to control the front camera of the computer being played, letting the viewer feel like walking into a controllable screen, like “Shifting Time”. In study 3, by entering the fixed point data in Max, then use the movement of the mouse to control the playback of video. These are the things I learned about techniques of interactive art making.

The most successful work is study 2 which is our group work. This seemed to be the first time I shared my thoughts with the lecturers and team members boldly in this class this semester. In this project, we chose a keyword — gradual, and then triggered a series of ideas. We want to convey to the viewers the feeling that a person is getting older by this project. All actions and sounds are slow, and the mouse is controlled in both directions. Once the mouse moves too fast, the warning tone of “slow down” will sound, and then the picture becomes unclear and the video will stop playing as well. What’s more, this project touch upon sound and movie playback (the audio recorded by ourselves), sound and video effects processing, interactive control (use the movement of mouse to control)

For the moment, my three projects are based on the simplest steps and operations. Although Max is a brand new software for me, I should conduct the research and exploration more in-depth. In other words, some more complex techniques should be added to my project. For example, in study 3, I can try to modify it on the current basis, change the background colour of the video, or add background music, or even use the keyboard to control pause and play. By completing the process of study 1, 2, 3 and the lecturer’s teaching, I found that Max is also a very interesting software. It has many techniques and effects that I have only seen before, and now I can learn and get in touch.

In addition, I still have something to improve, that is the lack of creativity. Creativity is not enough in all my projects. In the following assignments, I will try to think about more than one idea which discuss with the group members and lecture, thus to choose the best one to make it in Max. If I want to do something more substantial, it is necessary to approach Max as an actual programming language, by taking advantage of its various mechanisms for abstracting program elements into scalable, reusable components that can be combined in increasingly powerful ways. I hope that with the increase of class time and the improvement of the software operation skills of max, I can complete the more difficult projects better.

The study 1 is the first practice of tactile interaction for me. It needs to discuss and reflect on the work of the artist called Maurice Benayoun. He is a French pioneer new-media artist and theorist based in Paris and Hong Kong. His work employs various media, including (and often combining) video, performance and interactive exhibitions and so on. The theme of study 1 is sourced from him. I try to make different image quality thus make audience have different feelings. For instant, make it into mosaic effect. The switch of camera is controlled by the “open” and “close”. The letter “Q” on the keyboard can let the video stop and restart. To make sure it would be displayed, I need to create a play list first. For the audio part, the viewer can not only see their appearance but also hear their voice. The video is sourced from the computer front-facing camera. I’m really a newbie for this application. This is the first time I try to explore it, there are so many effects, such as change the colour, control the speed and transform the background. Hope I can explore more about it.

The aim of study 3 is to create an idea by myself in using Max. Before doing it in the Max, we have a group discussion about this program. And then I come up with an idea—using the mouse to control the video on. There are four videos I gave in the third study. I attempted to give the specific number in the window. These number are corresponding to each video. Once I put the mouse into that number, that video will on. It can only have one direction that only the mouse move to the right, the corresponding video can be shown. On the contrary, if the mouse move to the left, nothing will be happened. The most difficult thing in this study is how to make the video on in turn but not at the same time. At first, I tried it by my myself, but the four videos could only displayed simultaneously. Finally, with the assistance of my teacher, I finished doing my study 3 and attained my expectation. This is the chance not only made me brainstorm, but also let me learn more technical and operating skills of Max.

In study two which is a group work, we choose our theme “gradual” to present. In total, we give three elements to express the feeling “getting old”. Firstly, we record an audio by ourselves in order to let the moving speed of the mouse within 20. If the speed is over 20, the audio will say “slow down”. What’s more, there is a photo which can change the colour if the speed of mouse is over 20. Finally, we choose and cut a video about sloth from the film “Zootropolis”. The reason why we choose this video is that the action of sloth can present “gradual” completely, its movement is slow enough. Once the speed is over 20, the video cannot be seen. We use all these elements so as to made the audience can feel the feeling of getting old. We try to connect all the steps in the Max.