Documenting the research and production of interactive network based media. By David Wolf
Segmentation Fault
Loud noises and flashing lights
Dale Nason = sound + additional projections
David Wolf aka Kernel Klink = sound + visuals
Adrian Lucas aka Doktorb Robotnik = sound
Elaine Carter aka Null Hypothesis = sound (DJ Set)
Stephen Huon = visuals
Michael Rigby = visuals
Free 9:30PM
Tuesday 6th April @ Loop
23 Meyers Place Melbourne
A while ago Adrian Miles’ posted Video Blogs, Vidblogs and Vogs, presenting an ongoing discussion about the nature and definitions of video weblogging.
He writes:
“At the moment all video blogs are video inside text orientated CMS [Content Management System] engines. But here’s a simple idea (more complex backend), you make a movie that has a sprite and a text track. The text track is there to show a number. The sprite reads an external XML file which simply indicates how many trackbacks that video has.”
So I set about looking for examples of alternative content management systems which deal natively with video rather than text. I’m still working out how to get Quicktime movies to read and write to my own XML databases using Livestage Pro.
WaterCooler provides a very slick looking and functional interface for their content management system in a small 265k host movie.
Navicast provide another ‘aqua’ styled interface to their CMS, this time with more controls such as three levels of compression quality and playback size. The selection and organisation of clips is, however, not as well executed as WaterCooler (for example the first movie loads by itself - slowing down access on a slow connection before the user has made a choice).
The two sites provide good examples of what is possible using the Quicktime Player as a front end for content management, accessing online clips and data. While both feature linear movie clips, a similar approach could be used to deal with interactive and dynamic ‘hyper’ media. This is a direction I am looking to explore as I learn more about the tools.
The problem:
Technologies exist to enable artists and media producers to create and develop new media forms which remediate and draw upon existing forms such as video, photography, text and sound, creating works based on real time user interactivity and global networking.
Why the problem is a problem:
Video is generally thought of as linear and time dependent and so tends to have generic methodologies that mitigate against interactivity.
As the role of the viewer or consumer of shifts to that of the user or player the methodologies of the director or producer of new media must also shift.
My approach to the solution:
By studying the history of interactive video
Why my solution to the problem may work:
The uses, affordances, and history of real time interactive video
The changes associated with the shift to ‘new media’
* linear vs non-linear or multilinear structures
* real time vs non real time video
* ’soft’ media vs ‘hard’
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* The use of cinematic language and theory to analyse and critique new media
* technical realities and notes
* alternate and mixed realities
* user performance, theatre in virtual spaces and role play
* Human Computer Interaction, ‘Information Architects’, ‘Interaction design’ and such
* The database as an alternative to narrative structure
* What can we learn from video games and the concept of play and what are the differences
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* Deleuze and Guattari
* The ‘Action-Research process’
* Narrative, closure and the refusal of closure in interactive media
* Maps and the topographical features of hypertext
* unfinish as an aesthetic of new media
* Interactivity as totalitarian vs the utopian view
* ergodic vs traditional narrative
* ‘texts’ vs ‘Cybertexts’
* the history of hype and ‘vapourware’ associated with new media
videos.antville.org is an endless source of music video goodness. It’s a video weblog of sorts, using a weblog content management system and anyone can sign up as a user and post links to interesting clips and comment on posts. The site also features links to well produced ads and is categorised by both artist (music) and director.
OK, this is a very basic example of what you can do with a little bit of scripting in Livestage Pro:
CODEBASE="http://www.apple.com/qtactivex/qtplugin.cab">
The whole movie file is only 17k and thats mostly taken up by the background image. The light grey rectangle (or paddle) should follow the cursor and the little red square (ball) will bounce around the square. If the ball hits the ground its game over, but you can get it going again by clicking on the paddle.
I don’t actually remember signing up for it but every day since the end of February I’ve been receiving email from the Livestage Pro discussion/mailing list. I’m definitely not complaining! It’s great to eavesdrop on Quicktime interactive developers as they push the envelope.
A great example of the amazing work that is going on was a post from Bill Meikle. He linked to his Inexpensive Panoramic Video pages which document the development of a system for recording 360 degree panoramas in real time using cheap firewire webcams. The most impressive part of the project is that you can see exactly how it progressed from a basic idea to a series of well executed examples and experiments of the courese of only four weeks.
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