Finally, I wanted to round up the loose ends in things accomplished, unfinished and disregarded and the reasons why.
The statement of intent.
The descriptive title the project was given was ‘ an expression of abstract construction: Minimalist sound,’ and I set myself the challenge of creating a piece of a/v that adhered to a minimalist frame f reference. In the SOI, I wanted to include far to much unnecessary theory much of which was dropped from the start. These elements are mythology, synaesthesia and colour theory. Although colour was used, there wasn’t much ‘colour theory’ involved. I decided to represent the audio with colours that I felt best suited the sound. Therefore any semblance of colour theory, apart from colours that work together was dropped for a more naturally evolving approach. This has been due to the fact that I spent more time creating the audio than expected, and wading through semiotics and the semantic intent of audio ended up taking precedent. I do not feel the piece, or project suffer in any way, however it has left a whole new area of communication open for future endeavours and I will definitely be returning to look at colour in much greater detail.
Wanting to include mythology, in a minimalist piece of a/v was a naïve aspiration also. Nothing within mythology sat with the desired aesthetical results and for this reason was dropped as a line of inquiry early as not to waste time.
The main areas that were explored were semiotics, symbolism, suggestion and phenomenology. As with most of the practitioners I researched, I found myself reducing sounds to their essence and constructing them in a visual form with the most appropriate shape, colour and movement that described its sound. Using shapes and lines, it partially keeps the content open to interpretation, using the bare bones of a conceptual idea, to suggest that these shapes MAY represent these sounds. (To me they do, but others may have a different interpretation) Therefore, wrapped up in this notion is an open dialogue between the artist and the observer, in as much that I have suggested a ‘pallet’ or a motif for the observer to interprete. Highly subjective and certain aspects could be perceived as lazy. However I have tried to use everything within my power to prevent this from being the case, using particle systems, interpolators and generators from within Quartz to really give the audio a visual dynamic that is not lazy, but considered and natural. I feel this is apparent within the piece.
In terms of software, I have utilized most of the proposed items. However I have not used Modul8 and illustrator.
I was planning to use Modul8 in post to manipulate, live or otherwise, an exported Quartz composition. But with the complications in exporting from Quartz, this has had to be sacrificed, as I haven’t had the content to manipulate.
This, although a disappointment, has been a good thing. It enabled me to focus on getting the most out of Quartz, in correlation with my technical ability, but also I feel the piece is too cluttered and busy as it is. I feel more artefacts need to be stripped away and removed; so another layer of production might have confused the situation more. This cant be said for sure, but relating things to my SOI, I stated I wanted a minimalist aesthetic, and the piece only just adheres to this ideology as it is. Once I have an exported file, I will be moving things into the ‘Live’ arena to see what potential creative routes are available here. (VJ, live, club and real-time manipulation)
Quartz, in essence enabled me to achieve a reasonable attempt at minimalist a/v so I feel the need for other softwares and inputs may have disrupted clarity and focus. However, a more compartmentalised approach to software and time management may enable me to use others in the future. I will definitely be attempting a live project next year that utilises midi and vj approaches to Video.
In terms of my deliverables from the SOI, I stated I would e handing in Mood-boards, on going analysis’ of conceptual desires and a comprehensive body of research, concept art and several ideas. This target, apart from mood-boards, which I have done, just in an unconventional way. Due to my inspiration being video or moving image, I felt it pointless to make static pictures of pieces as they would be unfaithful to the notion of motion graphics. Therefore, extended research and analysis/deconstruction has been done of the practitioners that inspired the project on my blog. There are multiple excerpts from videos and critiques on my blog that have been used instead.
This did not disrupt the project in anyway, nor did it cloud my vision of what I wanted to create. Although having nice arrangements of minimalist work would have not done any harm to look at, I feel it would have been an unnecessary use of time.
The written analysis and critiques (RATIONAL) of position and concept have really helped me stay in check with both my time management program and enabled more accurate continuity within concept. Constantly referring back to, and criticising my work has helped define narrative from start to finish. I set out to do three pieces at 1000 words each, and have ended up writing 6 pieces, all at over 1500 words. And I feel I need to do more. Mainly explaining and justifying my reasons for doing what I’m doing. This helps clarify concepts and desires in my head, as well as providing a clearer substrate for marking purposes and explaining my ideas.
The storyboards and animatics came in the same workload as the concept art. The concept art acts as ‘concept art,’ art direction and storyboards. These images were then abstracted further. All of which is explained in detail in previous ‘Rationals’ and on the blog.
There are a few facets that were highlighted in the SOI that have not been kept or used. This may have been to the detriment of the project as a whole, however all of the elements that were dropped were for a justified, considered reason. Whether the reasons were correct or not for the product remains to be seen (Grade/marking), but the piece, aesthetically justifies the theory and facets used. The processes or software that I dropped will be returned to in future projects. (Colour theory)(Modul8)…
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