“Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site” – A quote from Sherrl Duskey Rlnker`s childrens book “Steam Train, Dream Train”. The story follows a night time cargo train that makes a series of pit stops along its journey. At each stop a new carriage is added to the train, each is loaded by a different species of animal. The animals load material that is suited to their qualities e.g polar bears and ice-cream, rabbits and pogo sticks. I like the dreamtime and surreal aspects of this story. I love the “midnight” element and the emotions it evokes. Focusing on midnight can create a sense of peacefulness and calmness but also uncertainty in the stillness quietness that is present whilst you are awake but everyone else sleeps. I think the billowing smoke depicted in the cover of the steam train mirrors the shapes and colours of clouds. I think the shape and form of a train is a suitable subject to focus on at Signal because, the wide shape of the screen will be complementary to the length of the train. I could try to incorporate some ‘childhood dream’ elements in my piece, similar to the use of animals within this story.

Amy Holdsworths reading deals with the effects of television and technologies on memory and nostalgia. She questions the difference between “what we know” and “how we remember it”. Nostalgia can often play a part in warping or altering our memories. The older we get, the more life experiences we obtain, therefore we generally become more nostalgic. Our memories and associations between certain sights, sounds and smells begin to form links and create strong connecting emotions. As the gaps in time grow with age we tend to look at the past in more of a haze. Our memories develop a film as we look through a brighter, shiner lens that leaves us with a sense of fondness as we reminisce about “the good old days”. As a traveller on public transport you are given time and stillness to look out the window and ponder your thoughts. A driver is required to maintain constant awareness as they are actively participating in the task of driving. On the train our thought process is mirrored by the views we see out the window. Our thoughts flicker from one time and place to another just like the flickering and flashing trees, telephone posts and houses. We are then snapped back into reality by the sound of the doors opening and closing, Myki inspectors checking tickets or other passengers having overly loud conversations.

TELEVISION, MEMORY AND NOSTALGIA
Amy Holdsworth Print Pub Date: August 2011 Online Date: October 2011
Media & Culture Collection 2012, Series: Palgrave Macmillan Memory Studies

Today we broke off into groups for our signal project. I have taken on the responsibility of project manager with Nicolette.
Job description:
Overseeing the main events, (Signal and RMIT studio exhibition.)
Contacting specific groups to check progress.
Dividing up roles and delegating tasks
Ensuring everyone is clear of their tasks
Keeping a document that is accessible by everyone to access important information, technical requirements, preparation and instillation dates and deadlines e.c.t

Scenes to capture on the train:
City night lights
Lights reflecting on river
Nepean highway
Bridges between Southern Cross and Flinders St
Other passing trains
Brighton Beach
Richmond buildings with reflective windows
Richmond scaffolding, studio buildings, architecture
Graffiti

Technical considerations:
I have been having difficulty with filming out of the train window to capture the correct angle and compose the shot how I want. I want to be able to capture the experience a passenger has on a train by shooting a POV shot. Initially I imagined the footage would be framed by the window frame but in order to do that I would have to film the window on an angle. This was not technically possible especially with filming at nighttime. The contrast in light from the dark surroundings and bright interior of the train meant that the recording was only capturing the reflection of the interior of the train rather then the external environment. I had to film parallel to the window with the camera pressed right against the glass which is limiting when trying to capture the full scope of the perspective of a passenger. Other considerations were the scratches on the glass that obstructed the camera. Also other passengers on the train who can take seats and obstruct shots.

Thought progression for the signal project:
Horizons
Elements
Water, Earth, Air, Fire, Clouds
Landscape
Panning shot
Tracking shot
Following outside a train window
POV
Windows moving around the parameter of the building
Windows as transition
Connecting the experience
Making relations between a person standing in the city and their experience within transport
Juxtapose experience in open and closed environment
Progression
Progression of clouds passing by
Time lapse
Time passing
Transport
Scenes from different modes of transport
Train
Tram
Car
Bike
Skateboard
Boat
Bus
Journey
(Reel time, slow down, sped up, flashes of blank for audience to insert own images and interpretations)
(Departure, reel time, sped up with black flashes, arriving at destination)

I also thought of creating a dimensional piece that is one big image split into lots of smaller ones. I would want it to experiment with perspective so the image can only be viewed as a whole when you stand in one particular spot and look at it from one particular angle. The further away you move the more the image would become warped and irregular and when you return to the viewing spot it would gradually come together as a single, unified image.

Today was my first class at signal. We gathered in the room upstairs and piled round tabled of textas and butcher paper. The environment was very conducing to creative thinking. The room had windows on 3 of its 4 walls that looked out to the CBD. Being placed right in the centre of everything we had a almost 360 view from the very heart of Melbourne. On one side there was the train line with train tracks, wires, metro pedestrian trains and large trains carting shipping containers. It was interesting to look at the juxtaposition of nature (trees, river and birds) and man made things (sky rises, bridges and boats). Another thing that I found interesting was projecting the elements onto the windows (fire, water, earth, air, clouds). Another idea that intrigued me was playing on the windows as windows or mirrors. Exploring how people look a their reflections, moments of privacy when we think no one is watching. Using each window as a window was another idea. Having them framed with curtains or blinds that are peeled back to reveal the lives of the people inside, like the windows in a sky scraper, each window tells a different story, they can each give an insight to different cultures or ways of life. Looking at movement or zoom was another thing that interested me. Starting with a single image of something on a large scale e.g a forrest, then break into 2 images of something closer e.g a tree, 4 images of a branch, 8 images of a leaf, 16 images of an ant on a leaf, 34 of microscopic cells of a leaf skeleton, giving the effect of a zoom. Light and illumination was another idea thrown around, or different skylines and horizons e.g city, clouds, beach, desert.

In todays class we watched everyone’s artist interviews and received feedback and critique. I think our video could have incorporated some of the background music and sound that other groups had to give the piece an extra layer and engage the audiences a bit more. Another audio difficulty we had was with the quality of our sound. I tried to reduce background noise to make it cleaner and crisper but this slightly warped Marcus` voice. Joseph and Robbie said that if this was exaggerated and amplified it would have made sense in the context of Marcus` work because he experiments and warps sound and radio frequencies. Because it wasn’t enhanced enough and wasn’t intentional it didn’t work in context of the piece and wouldn’t be obvious of evident to the audience. We were also told there was a lack of externally sourced information and other visual mediums to provide the audience with more to look at then 1 artist talking. As a group we were aware of this in advance due to the lack of information available online with examples of Marcus` work. The final piece was clunky and there were some unrefined cuts between shots. Upon watching the piece on a big screen I thought that some of the shots were held for too long, for example the shots of the hand gestures. We had tried to use these in place of the actual artistic work to give the audience more to look at but it was extended for too long. Another criticism we received was that the juxtaposing shots weren’t clearly related and that because of the change in angle and lighting it almost seemed like a different shot filmed on a separate occasion. I am glad that the piece seemed to communicate one overall idea. I was worried that the cutting of Marcus` statements would mean they were taken out of context and weren’t coherent but the audience seemed to understand his overarching ideas about his artwork, in particular his sensory pieces at Testing Grounds.

Marcus Cook is a Melbourne based artist whose work consists predominantly of interactive pieces that are accessible by the public. Usually these works contain visuals and audio such as light, projections and sound. During the interview process we learned allot about the site of Testing Grounds and Marcus` take on it as a ‘non space’. He spoke allot about the transitioning nature of the space and how things can be moved, manipulated and replaced. Things can be torn down and build back up again to work in the best way possible with its associated artwork. Marcus used the space on 2 separate occasions to exhibit his work. The area was particularly conducive to his work because of the different shapes and formations of objects around the space. This gave Marcus different levels and areas to experiment with his interactive sensors, enabling the public to utilize their whole bodies to communicate with the art. Marcus spoke about the importance of having the sensors’ interact with the public on multiple levels enabling them to create their own art that would vary and change with each unique user. Standing in front of a sensor doesn’t simply trigger a light or turn something on and off, the sensors measure the space between the person and the sensor and then emit the appropriate sensual reaction. Marcus spoke about the importance of having humans interacting with machines. Lopes (2010) shared similar views on the human, machine relationship and growing importance of interactivity in order to engage contemporary audiences in a modern society. He connected this relationship to that of the video game, a modern form of entertainment with growing use and support. The video game is the ultimate form of interactive art where the user is physically embodying a character and taking on their life. Grant Tavinor opens his book The Art Of Video Games by admitting he “routinely carries out acts of murder and barbarism for fun”. He argues that since the invention of video games 40 years ago, they have “developed from rudimentary artifacts designed to exploit the entertainment capabilitilites of the newly invented computer, into a sophisticated form of popular art.” Marcus has utilized these modern technologies in his artwork too. Both seem to express the importance in exploring “the artistic potential and … producing results arguably equal to other representational arts”. Interactive art is random and unpredictable, the beauty of it is that it happens spontaneously in the here and now and cannot be recreated as it stems from raw and instinctive reactions. This makes these artworks a “space of living memory”. It is the “thrill of seeing something new” that makes these artworks so engaging to their audiences. This is for 2 reasons, one being appreciation for the technical capabilities of the physical product as well as the artistic originality of its user. To experience this type of art it must be experienced “first hand”. It cannot be communicated effectively through a 3rd party observer, via photo or even through video. Both interactive video games and interactive art such as Marcus` give the user “a great deal of choice over exactly what they do”. They have the freedom to make individual choices and decisions they would in the real world but in this enhanced, super heightened and intensified digital world. Interactive art in any form provides an “engaging, emotional and aesthetically rewarding experience”, that connects with audiences on multilayers. One of the things that draws the connection between the structure modern video games and interactive art is their lack of linear structure. Many traditional video games lead players down one path and provided them only one road from a-b with a set number of challenges in between. These games lacked the ability to provide their users with individual creative expression and responsibility that modern video gamers are now entitled to. Marcus spoke about one of his main joys in producing this art was to watch the different ways in which people consumed it and the patterns that would form based on the different variables in the individual as well as their environmental surroundings. Linear structured work does not allow this type of human documentation. In our interview Marcus spoke about the primary challenge in getting the public to engage with the artwork was their hesitance to enter the unknown. Tavinor too spoke about his first open interactive video game experience as “bewildering”. He found himself intimidated by the questions “what should I do” and “what could I do”. I think audiences at present still find the unknown intimidating as they are responsible for the work they produce by interacting with these technologies. I think with the growing popularity of these art forms people will begin to feel more comfortable to explore the boundless opportunities of these open interactive experiences.

Editing our footage the first thing I noticed was that Jourdan conducted the interview really well in that he didnt speak over Marcus and he gave him time and space to fully express his thoughts without external influences. This also makes the editing process easier because you dont have to cut out a 2nd persons voice. As a group we decided to edit the film as a collection of comments from Marcus and emitting the interviewers questions completely. It was a challenge to try and compile the footage so the comments would hake sense without the audiences knowledge of the prompting question. Another challenge was incorporating elements of Marcus` work within the interview to make it more visually appealing. As much of his work is interactive, live work there were limited sources available to include in the interview. We tried to use footage that was provoking and gets the viewer thinking and contemplating Marcus`views and artwork. Another challenge was getting clips at the right length. You want them to be short and snappy and engaging but not too quickly cit that it doesnt give you time to understand what Marcus is saying or the context of his comments. The major challenge with this process was exporting the final edit and sharing it as a file.

This week our group interviewed Melbourne based artist Marcus Cook. His work is highly sensual based. He does allot of audio based work including manipulating sounds and sound frequencies. He works with music festivals and up and coming artists and assists with technical specificities. The main project that our interview focused on his work located at Testing Grounds. This was an interactive art work that used sensors to monitor human behaviour and create the appropriate sensual reactions relating to their movement. This allows audiences to activate the site and create their own live art work through interacting with these digital machines. During the process of filming the first consideration was the scripted questions. We had to try and cover all aspects of Marcus` work and ask probing questions that prompted an answer that was detailed and allowed Marcus to expand on his thoughts and perspectives. The next consideration was technical ones. We had to use appropriate equipment to capture and document the events from as many angles as possible. We used a base camera from a front angle as ell as trying to capture short snippets from different angles. We also recorded the whole interview on an external microphone incase the camera audio was insufficient. The environment was another consideration, we tried to get somewhere without distracting background noise or echoes. We used a plant as a prop to provide background visual stimulus. Lighting was also important, we had to light Marcus from multiple angles to provide light without being blown out or harsh.