Materiality - Tayla Greene

Series - Tayla Greene

Goodluck for everyone tomorrow. Though from everything I've seen in class, you guy's won't need it!

These are some stills from when I was editing. I've decided against using text though as it forces a meaning that's already heavily implied. And I was struggling to find words to put on there, meaning that they probably weren't very necessary in the first place. The last ones with 'don't go' were a impulse choice to bring back some personal meaning about my father moving away and how that was directly linked to that part of the video. But I think again, there is already implied familial emotion.
My work is going to be projected in a corner with the video on two separate projectors. They're both level to the floor and I think it's a really immersive view. Especially the first clip of the pool.

Works from the MDPA were really inspiring as digital portraits were what I had been planning all along. This one especially http://www.portrait.gov.au/files/3/c/e/a/v123.mp4 I think because of how comedic it was, and how different it was to any portrait I had ever seen.

I thought about bringing objects from that appear in the background of the segments and having them on the floor, to bring physical materiality into it. But as my work is about memories which are more ethereal and non-physical, bringing in physical objects would make it seem like the experiences and memories are re-creatable and not already passed.

I've been terribly busy right now and I've had to put on hold my idea of video portraits for the moment. Instead I have been looking at collage work. I wanted to create a nostalgia for the immediate past. That probably doesn't make a lot of sense. It's like when I look at my sisters and I know that they will be growing up so quickly and I suddenly become nostalgic about the present moment that we're in. It is the same for the house I'm living in and the moments I have, I want to preserve them. But I know that one day they will be forgotten. I wanted to create video that highlights the growth of my sisters and also create settings that will immerse the viewer. I want them to be able to feel what I did in those moments. A lot of these clips are old. From 2011 onwards. My deceased cat features in one. As she got older I got more frantic in trying to preserve images of her, because I didn't want to forget any detail about her character. This clip was a part of that. Another clip that featured overlayed was a slow-motion video of my sisters on a trampoline. When I first started to experiment with film I created a video from this clip which has always been my favourite thing I've made, even though it was so simplistic.

Here Is the collage. And below is the old video I made, just if you're interested.

Cool subway animation

more selfies

After learning how to reduce the file size of my images I can now fit more selfies into my gif! Which is awesome! I am not experimenting with different ways of arranging them (some are more creepy than others!) It's interesting how selfies can tell you how someone sees themselves or how they want to portray themselves compared to how you see them. Slicing the selfies and placing different ones to from a face is another contrast of what the original selfie is too. Just having fun~

Here is a link to an edited version of my projection project
https://vimeo.com/126718196

and here are some links to some of the things that i found interesting in my research - the memory hole channel is pretty disturbing

https://www.youtube.com/user/MemoryHoleTube
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoHhGQZgzMMCBtq7LRhdf8A
http://www.timanderic.com/
http://www.foundfootagefest.com/

So I did another round of audio recording with my grandmother. Because of the language and generational (and therefore educational) barrier between us, it becomes a challenge to direct my nana into creating a narrative for the sound recording, so a lot of my finals are sound which has been chopped up a lot to fit together pieces she has told me at completely differing periods of time. Below in the sound cloud link are 4 different versions of the sound recording. In a past post I did say I wanted to more down the fairy route but I have quickly decided against that. Firstly, I think the idea is too well 'airy fairy' I guess and second, because of the language barrier and the nature of my grandmother, I think it would be too difficult for her to tell a story she doesn't understand or know, and therefore I sense there will be this element of the contrived creeping in, which is something I'm not aiming for. I'm aiming for an authentic verbal telling of a story or folktale she knows. 

https://soundcloud.com/hhiiccuupp/sets/media-art-class-pula-arena

The first version is my initial track from the first session of sound recording. It was just my foundation for the ones which were to follow.

The second is what resulted after my second session of sound recording with my grandmother, she gave me a lot more descriptive information and language which I really liked and I think will benefit my stop animation. I was able to provide some sense of direction but she understood that in her own way and she came out with things I never would have expected.

The third sound recording is a more refined version of the second with the "uhs" and her stumbling. I maintained some of her stumbling with the english language but I removed the uhs and kind of thinking noises. Just texting if that sounds a bit smoother.

The fourth recording is where I have taken out a little bit of information. I basically wanted to test and see if half of the information would be enough for the recording. I also removed the section in which she asks me for the english word and I respond. Even though I like this section because it becomes apparent this is a conversation and story with a grandchild or someone else and not simply a viewer, I just wanted to see what it would sound like without it. 

If anyone has any responses of which they think is more successful, let me know!

This is just a quick update so you know how I'm doing. I looked into the Canon Shutter app, that app however is only compatible with newer models and not my camera so that was a bust. I then googled around and found the app DSLR CONTROLLER BETA from google play which i downloaded onto my mums samsung tablet. This app actually looks amazing. It basically sends the image (what you're seeing in the lens) to the tablet so you can see it larger and you can zoom and move around the change the aperture, shutter speed, iso, etc all on the tablet. You can also take photos on the tablet. This would have been great for my purposes because I can change all the camera settings without actually touching the camera, and therefore not moving it. I was able to test out the camera because I wasn't able to connect the two. I found out I can connect them with a female to female usb connector, so I went online and purchased one of those, simply because there was no physical retailers who sold them, and that came overnight - so quick and amazing! I got it in the mail, I was so happy. I connected it all yay I thought! I loaded the app while watching tutorials videos and my camera is not detected! I was bummed. I restarted everything, and I was so psyched I finally got everything. Didn't work again. I went to the apps website and read the faqs and apparently my camera isn't compatible with the app (it's not even that old!! like 3 years!). So I can't use that app. 

So now I have had to source out another way to take photos without touching the camera. I tried some program camera utility or canon utility or something like that, but it didn't work as I needed the cd and my cd port jams so I didn't want to risk it. I now have a friend who is coming to my birthday on saturday (woo I'm 24 on sat) and he has a physical shutter clicker thing that he is going to lend me! I hope this works! 

If anyone wants to use this program, the DSLR CONTROLLER APP, it seems really promising. I'm sad I wasn't able to use it. It costs $7.99. I suggest learning from my mistakes and checking that your camera is compatible because paying for it (I'm getting a refund anyway) and if you need a female to female usb I brought mine from a lady in WA, she shipped it like 2 hours after I brought it and it was about $3. 

If you are interested in this program below is a link to a youtube video I was referring to. The guy is quite good. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2Z1IZNhNhA

ALSO DANIEL I HOPE YOU READ THIS, THE ARTIST I WAS TELLING YOU ABOUT IS.... BILL VIOLA! The work I was thinking of was "The Stopping Mind', I have provided the link below on Youtube. Reminded me or your work for the first assessment, just a more rapid version. Hope you like it and it helps you!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK_QWY-FOhk

A small video I made in Final Cut after learning how to batch photo's in photoshop. I also played around with Garage band to edit together some of the default sounds of car doors closing to create a rhythm to match the shots.

Selfies of my asian friends!