Another Night Time Visist To Union Street:

The purpose of this visit now is to try and take some more images that focus on light in the area, but by leaving the camera with longer exposure times to create a more fluid stream of light. This will mean the photographs should display a much clearer and controlled image and can then be used to put to together to try and communicate or tell a story by the way in which they are sequenced.
Below are the images I managed to take:










I will now use all these images and turn them into one, this will make it much easier to view, but also create a time line style of the journey taken down Union Street. I could also create another type of postcard to show a difference in the area.

Related Media:

The video below is an advert that I happened to catch on TV and made me immediately think about this current project and the direction it is taking. Shown in previous posts the focus of my work has now become light focused and the effect it can have on it surroundings. I am also lookin at trying to communicate with an audience which happens to be any people in the area at the time.
This caught my attention as the light shown looks exactly like it does in the LAPP art works, appearing as though it is an image caught by a camera set with a long exposure to a light source. It also interested me as this is introduced as a movie clip, following the Ford Focus which again is done to give the effect that the car gains attention.
I think this kind of video would be very exciting to attempt to recreate in some way and would definitely be a creative method of expressing the way that light can change an environment or communicate to the surrounding people in different ways.

The Space Linked With Human Interaction:

Edward Twitchell Hall was an anthropologist and cross-cultural researcher. Some of his research was looking in to the personal space people have and with different distances from the body the feeling towards the other elements would give different emotions.
For example, If another person were to be within a foot of your body, this would be considered to be intimate space...following that another 3ft would be personal space, then another 9ft on top of that would be social space and ending with anything out of the perimeters of 26ft would be public space. Knowing this and researching into the field of how people change the way they feel in relation to foreign objects can help us in determining where to project our interactive video.

Above is a diagram to show this space, showing the distance along with the type of space it represents to the person, who is situated in the middle.
The diagram above shows two people that are not in any contact with each other and have no effect on either persons space.
Here the two people have now become close enough to both interact with each other and violate their personal space. In heavily populated areas where many people are forced together such as subways, ques and crowded environments, peoples personal space clearly tends to be much smaller.
These example diagrams are definitely useful for how people feel about the space that surrounds them in regards to my specific project.

More Inspiration:

Now that we as a group have decided to communicate our project in the use of light in dark environments, I decided to look into existing projects that consisted of similar qualities.
LAPP - light Art Performance Photography is the effect light sources can have to a single image (one-shot) when the shutter is open to a long exposure. This image captured in this method are not tampered with in any way using any computer software and created extremely beautiful works of art. It originally came from light drawing and then developed into its own form of art.
The photo's below, are all one photograph, taken with one camera, with no enhancements or adjustments by any means. All photos taken from: lapp-pro.de website.




These photographs are absolutely outstanding. The fact that not one of them has been edited or manipulated in any way and is purely just the result of one camera's settings are able to produce such amazing images. They are also directly related to the direction of the project I am looking forward to producing. I have been interested in this type of photography for a long time and can definitely be recognised in similar posts. To now see such art that is related to the kind of photography I wish to achieve is definitely exciting. The focus of light in all of these photo's is exactly what I am looking for and and will definitely be an extremely useful source in helping me with generating similar works of my own.

More Fuel For Thoughts:

Horizontal Abstract:
Shown below is a video found on Youtube that has been edited in a way that focuses on people in one place over a period of time. The people in the short clips are then highlighted by strips that overlap and show people all there at the same time. This helps with identifying how many people are in an area over a certain period of time and looks really good.
This method of showing peoples activities is very effective and is a useful video to use when referring to our own projects. It also looks alot like the Stonehouse chessboard that I have uploaded in a previous post, only in a moving video. Possibly by combining the two the outcome could be rather interesting.



This next video is an absolutely outstanding piece of work. It shows all the environment slowly being constructing in 3D software. I find it is very good to watch and shows how things can be created. Not only that, but there is also a strong link to living and feeling qualities. His attention to detail with the flower in the clip shows perfection to his work, but also art and beauty. He also smiles which shows he cares and is happy with the final result. The woman in the video also helps connect to the emotional side of the creation although it isn't real. This is not where the work I am producing is going to be directed, but definitely shows what can be achieved and incredibly useful to give inspiration.

Hyposurfacing:

This is a similar way in which a flat surface can become an interactive object with users (audiences) who are in the vicinity. However, this is not the same as this flat surface has a number of individual tiles that are attached to pistons on the back. These pistons can be programed to open and close in different times to each other that can create an actual moving wall. This definitely wins the attention of people as 3D objects are much more easily identified and this particular was can be physically interacted with.
In the video below it shows how people can lean against the wall, but once the wave of pistons reaches them they are literally pushed off.




This is not entirely what we as a group are focusing on producing, but this certainly proves for useful research into developing a successful way of interacting with people in and around out chosen location. By using such images in out video as 3D shapes, or almost by creating a 3D movement could provide us with the edge we need to attract people attention.

Interactive Surfaces Controlled By User:

As well as the video above, I have come across another video from Youtube that not only has a series of motors that change the position of the tiles on the wall surface, but is actually controlled by the person in front of it. This works by using a computer to capture the image of the person in front of the surface, taking the black and white scale, and corresponding the result to an angle to face the tiles.
This is explained below:



Again, we are not looking to recreate this, but I find it very useful when finding and researching on things that are likely to attract peoples attention, so my groups video can achieve the same.
Another factor involved in the success of this mirror is that it only works when strong light is facing down onto the wooden tiles from directly above. My group and I have all been focusing on light for the past couple of weeks so this also helps with this.
I am now going to be looking even more a light and trying to find a way that light communicates with things and people it surrounds.

Looking At A More Controlled Image

As shown in the post: A Drive Down Stonehouse, alot of the images taken that night were extremely blurred with a high number of light streams that were visible in all directions. To now take those images and turn them into something we can actually use, I looked at Simon Winters Blog who has been doing a very similar project as what I am looking into.
The following images show how light has been blurred, but still show an element of control. The lights are produced by red LED's along the side of the body and photographs capture movements made. Once a number of images have been captured they can be put together to make the complete scene of motion.
As shown above, it is clear that the side of the body cannot be seen, but the LED's make up the rest of the image to create the full picture. They also show exactly what could be seen by the images I had taken on my trip down Stonehouse, but in a much more controlled manor.
By using these images to refer to, I can be able to take the images from the previous visit to Stonehouse and try to create a similar single image, but by using all images taken.

More Of The Same

This post is to look at similar forms of grabbing the attention on people in the area, but not by using projections. This method of achieving the public's eye is by making the images large and of a subject that makes you think.
Banksy is a British graffiti artist and has been creating street art works for many years. The topics of his street art are usually based upon politics, ethnics and culture. His name has become well known by many and he has definitely caught the the eye of many people with the creativeness of his art and designs.

Here are some examples of some of Banksy's street artwork:



These are all paintings that grab the attention of others, the reason for looking at these is that I cane use these successful methods of interacting with surrounding people as research and will definitely help me develop ideas of how me and my group can generate a similar visual project to interact with our audience.

The Drive:

Now that we have taken a trip down to the Stonehouse area we were able to take the footage and photographs and use them in the transforming of the area, paying more attention to Union Street.
Below is the video we as a group captured and created, taking the file clip and speeding it up using Premiere Pro. The result of this is shown here:



As seen the video is not in a fixed position, this is because we decided not to use a tripod to further portray that the experience of the journey was of the passengers point of view.

Manipulation Of The Floor:

As I have previously discussed in the previous post: Determining a Projection Sight, The tiles on the floor of one of our potential sights could be used to be measured and then project a video that would fit to the scale of each of the tiles o the floor.
One member of the group decided to take the image of the floor, and by using After Effects created a vision of what our projection could possibly look like.

Video/After Effect image, click on the picture below to see:

This video is very useful in showing the vision and potential projection we can come up with when generating a real, life size video for the chosen location.

Hand Tattoo:

For our next assignment we were set the task of designing a tattoo for our hands using Photoshop. the brief was fairly broad, in that we had to use an image of our hands, and write a list of words/sentences that basically sum us up as individuals, the text all had to be written at angles of 30 and 40 degrees in tolerance. That was it, so we all had a huge amount of play to work with in designing this tattoo. Immediately I was all thinking about skating and how I could focus my whole design around this, as well as summing myself up in the image as a whole.

Below shows the tattoo that i managed to come up with:


As you can see there is alot going on in my tattoo, and below is the explanation of how I came about producing this.
I began this hand tattoo by changing the image of my hand to generate a lot of colour. This is because I love bright and strong colour, eye sight is a gift and should be utilized. I then began to list things that identify me, such as my name, date of birth, hometown and family members at the top of my hand. This is because people read top to bottom, and by positioning them here this is likely to be the fist thing people see when viewing this, the reason this is important is because these things are out of my control and I am unable to change.
I then wrote in large font things that have an influence on me such as family and friends including some of my hobbies. These are in green as green has been programmed into us as being a positive colour, many natural and living things are green, as well as traffic lights standing for good to go. The reason for this is because these things are something I care about and have a positive effect on me and how I live.
I then listed down the fingers in the image the result of these influencing factors. Skateboarding for example is the reason I am a very determined person, it has taught me that commitment and dedication can lead to success, not only skating but in all areas of life.
I then listed some of my characteristics in a light shade of blue, in a font that looks like it has been literally written on. This is because these words describe the way I feel, and describe me.
Skateboarding has been a huge factor in my life since a young age, so I added the LOVE park sign from Philadelphia where many professionals skated. I also skate in a team called No Pain No Gain Skateboards back home, so added the name to my hand, aswell as abbreviating it to NPNG and making it appear like the LOVE sign, placing many along the vein lines to show its something in my blood.
I then left a small section on the thumb for the future. This is yet to be told, even though i feel you should live everyday like its your last, Id still like to live a little while longer.
Finally to finish I changed the background to play on the phrase 'state of mind' changed to Skate Of Mind. This is to show that no matter how much I have going on, stresses and problems life throws at me, as soon as I skate they all disappear and allows me to look at things in a new perspective.

A Drive Down Stonehouse: Photos

After visiting Stonehouse again with thee group in a car, we all decided that this method of research was particularly useful to the project. By driving in the area and many times back and forth down Union Street we were able to locate certain areas we believed would be a perfect place for projecting. We took many photos and video clips of the journey on the course we took, and below some of the images we captured that night.


This image above is clearly not of the floor of the street, but was taken from the roundabout that is fairly central to Union Street and a hot spot for the majority of people moving in the area. This could be a good building to project infront of aswell as the Dance Academy as I have previously discussed.


The above images show pictures taken that are not very blurred and give a clear shot of the street ahead. These prove useful to determine where pedestrians are in the streets aswell as revealing a good capture of the the light. The reason the light is so important for this project is because we need a fairly dark target area for our projection so we are able to project out our interactive video in the clearest it can possibly be. A dark location will provide the best projection as any other light source around the area will reduce its quality. All the images above show an extremely dark vision of the street ahead, making this an ideal place to carry out our projection.

Below are images with slower shutter speed to capture areas in and around Union Street that have many light sources which prove to be areas that are not suitable for the objective we have set out to achieve.



Although these images are not clear and cannot really show any of the potential pedestrian hot spots, this is not the purpose of them. As mentioned before, these images were captured strictly to display well lit areas which will help narrow down the locations we could use to project out interactive video.
By taking these images on route, they have made choosing a projection location much easier and we as a group now are much closer to finding it.