Tag Archive for 'video'

Internalised

Published on 22/07/2011 in Art. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Back in April Film Division took part in the 2011 Sci-Fi-London 48 hour film challenge:

We’ll give you a randomly generated film title, some dialogue and a prop list. You’ll then have 48 hours to write, shoot and edit a complete five minute film… hard work but fun!

I provided some glitches – using the What Glitch? scripts – and other graphics for this film, which you can watch below. My glitches are at about 3:16.

Unfortunately the film didn’t win but it did go on to be shown at Cannes in a Van. Go team Film Division!

Despite the film having been shown elsewhere I’ve only just watched it and I must say I’m rather impressed with what a highly dedicated – and possibly crazy (we stayed up ’til 5am editing) – team can come up with in 48 hours. I’m told that a directors’ edit, which will include many of the effects that didn’t make it in time, will be out in the near future. Anyway, enough reading, go watch the film!

Scripted Bends

Published on 19/07/2010 in Blog. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Recently there’s been a trend amongst glitch artists to do more video glitches. I’ve been pretty quiet on that front whilst I work on my techniques. Here’s the first results of my experiments using Chris Cunningham‘s short film Rubber Johnny as a test subject

Just from these tests I can see the opportunities that using video presents, especially when using audio. I can definitely see more of my work being like this

A Short Introduction

Published on 29/06/2010 in Art. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Since I was introduced glitch art last May I’ve really been hooked on exploring this technique and how it can affect my artwork. One thing that I’ve never done is to explain why I do this, so here it goes!

For me glitch art is about exploring the boundaries in which things will operate as expected, with particular emphasis on computers. Computers are very complex and can take years to understand understand. Computers are also very obedient. They will do what you tell them to, but you have to tell them in a way that they understand. For example, it is assumed that if you double-click on an image it will open in an image viewer or editor. This is because the image has data in it (the header data) describing what kind of file it is and when you double-click on it an instruction is sent to open that kind of file with any program that can interpret it that data.

But then, what about if we fooled the computer into thinking it is opening one type of file, when in fact it is another. For example, what if we added the header data of an image file to an mp3 file and then tried to edit it in an image editor? The output is usually a burst of colourful pixels. Whilst we may perceive the output as an error and instantly discard it the computer is not as judgemental. It is devoid of emotion and doesn’t question actions and will do what we tell it to do, and so will happily do this with any data that it has been instructed to interpret.

Why would one want to do all of this? Think of the computer as a world of its own, or the human body. All of the underlying code and hardware relies on each other for it to operate successfully. Should one part become damaged it can sometimes be fatal, but often the overall ability to operate is hampered. How far can I push a piece of hardware or software before it either breaks itself or the whole computer? You can easily relate this to athletes who constantly put their bodies through hours of physically demanding activity in order to push the boundaries in which their bodies will operate. In either case, at what point will you reach the limits?

More importantly, what can be discovered by doing all of this? New, hidden abilities that we didn’t know our computers had, improved performance, increased knowledge of how things work, a new form of art, or something else? Well, that’s what I want to find out.

24 hour Psycho

Published on 07/11/2008 in Blog. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , .

On Halloween, as well as the Brill Drummond talk (see what I did there) at Eastside Projects and the closing party at Ikon Eastside I went to the screening of 24 Hour Psycho at VIVID Gallery, which is just a few moments away from it.

I was there for about an hour and in that time I probably saw the result of only 5 minutes of footage! As is my understanding the film was shown at one frame every half-second. What I find interesting is that if this was shown using a traditional reel of film you’d have to have 12 frames of the same picture followed by another twelve frames of another still picture, thus creating the effect of playing two frames per second. However, due to the absence of noise that would usually come from the projector I’d guess it is a digital projection and because of it with each frame you get slight pixelation in each frame. I would’ve liked to have seen it being projected using reels of film, which then presents the screening of the actual movie as a performance in itself. After doing some research, however, I can see that this wasn’t really the intention of the artist.

He [Douglas Gordon] went on to imagine that this ‹someone› might suddenly remember what they had seen earlier that day, later that night; perhaps at around 10 o’clock, ordering drinks in a crowded bar with friends, or somewhere else in the city, perhaps very late at night, just as the ‹someone› is undressing to go to bed, they may turn their head to the pillow and start to think about what they had seen that day.

I suppose you only really get that effect if you actually do watch it for awhile, and possibly at some of the more interesting parts of the film. That said, the image of someone smiling at me walking across the street is one that is still sticking with me.