Documentary Design i-doc installations from sethkeen on Vimeo.
Documentary Design i-doc installations (2016)
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Category Archives: practice
Review and review again
Hi everybody,
This blog entry on PhD to Start up? reminds me of what I tried to get across in the doco design studio this semester in terms of bringing design methodologies into the media production process…
With your final k-films – I have introduced you to sketching (keeping the design of something open to multiple ideas and potential external influences)…
in reference to the article below;
# don’t make the k-film from your desk – user test, run it past me, others – keep getting feedback (design is an ongoing conversation) and engagement with the client, the audience the real world…
# and “Don’t be passionate about your idea, be passionate about the problem you are trying to solve”
in this case the prompt you are aiming to address – this is the design problem you have set up for yourselves..
This is where people go back to the habit of fixating on an idea and loosing site of the whole, the context, the brief etc…rather than trying out multiple ideas/sketches to resolve the problem (i.e do a number of interface designs, move the previews around, try different colours in the background etc) chose the one that works best as response to the problem – what you are trying to communicate…get it looking aesthetic then user test…)
# Learn, Build, Validate, Review…and again, and again, and again
so many times I see media students complete their first iteration of a work then call the work finished – what I am seeing is a work at 50% of its potential – follow above and you will improve the work TEN fold (i,e look how far the Drawing Attention work has come in a week!)
Every Shot Every Episode (example)
One perspective on the reuse of material in a video installation.
Link to Every Shot Every Episode’ (McCoy & McCoy 2001)
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/2002.274a-e/
An excerpt on this work adapted from my PhD exegesis:
Keen, Seth. “Netvideo Nonvideo Newvideo Designing a Multilinear Nonnarrative Form for Interactive Documentary.” Doctorate. RMIT University Print.
In ‘Every Shot Every Episode’ (McCoy & McCoy 2001),…, a database is created by assembling TV programs onto DVDs in a video installation. Each shot in ‘Every Shot Every Episode’ is burnt onto a DVD as a collection of shots; 227 DVDs are stacked and catalogued on the wall beside a DVD player and screen. In ‘Every Shot Every Episode’, twenty episodes of ‘Starsky and Hutch’ (the 1970s television series) are transformed into, as Paul describes, ‘a form of enhanced cinema that focuses on the construction of single shots and the messages that they convey’ (2007, p.102).
…in a DVD titled ‘Every Laugh’ within this video installation, in which all the shots that contain laughing are grouped together (The Metropolitan Museum of Art 2006). The DVDs act like [categories]… Paul (2007) suggests that the functionality of a database is often used in visual art to explore associations that are not made visible in the original material. In ‘Every Shot Every Episode’, I would suggest that a categorical multilinear nonnarrative is created out of existing television programs using an indexing process and the storage functionality of multiple DVDs presented as a collection.
References:
Every Shot Every Episode 2001, video installation, The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York. Produced by J McCoy & K McCoy.
Paul, C 2007, ‘The Database as a system of cultural form: anatomies of cultural
narratives’, in V Vesna ed, Database aesthetics: art in the age of information
overflow, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, pp.95–109.
Prompts
In the Project Brief 3 blog entry, I have suggested that use a concept from the readings, presentations, blog entries, video interviews to inform the design and production of the three sketches you are to make.
I refer to these concepts in this context as being ‘prompts’. A prompt is a sentence statement or a question that is used to guide a practice inquiry. This is a method that is often used in practice-based research at honours or postgraduate level. We witnessed this in Hannah’s presentation in the way that she used a concept as a starting point, a catalyst to frame and guide the production of a k-film.
In my own practice-based research, I adapted the concept of a ‘cultural probe’ (Gaver, Dunne & Pacenti 1999) into a prompt that could be used as a catalyst for each practice inquiry. In design research, a probe is often a carefully designed artefact. For example, in Gaver, Dunne and Pacenti’s project, the probe consists of an envelope that contains an ‘assortment of maps, postcards, cameras, and booklets’ (1999, p.22). These artefacts are designed to direct and initiate a conversation around unanticipated design ideas with the participants involved in their project (Gaver, Dunne & Pacenti 1999). In contrast to using a probe as a means to work with collaborators situated outside the project design team, I [use] the concept to induce ideas self–reflexively. I [do] this by formulating questions from the research prompts to provoke unexpected outcomes. This [is] a useful method for achieving Rosenberg’s centrifugal concept of moving beyond my own established body of knowledge. (as discussed in the ‘Video Sketching’ blog entry).
Often these prompts were open–ended and experimental. Schön’s concept of the ‘exploratory experiment’ provides an insight into how such probes are used:
When an action is undertaken only to see what follows, without accompanying predications or expectations, I call it exploratory…Exploratory experiment is the probing, playful activity by which we get a feel for things. (1987, p.70)
These prompts [are] created progressively as part of the iterative design and production process that was used…(in this case to produce three k-film sketches that present three different perspectives on the ANZAC topic and the use of Korsakow (multilinear narrative/nonnarrative) in relation to form.
References:
Gaver, B, Dunne, T & Pacenti, E 1999, ‘Design: cultural probes’, Interactions’, no. 6, pp.21–9.
(note access via RMIT Google Scholar)
Schön, DA 1983, The reflective practitioner, Basic Books, New York.
Links
Video Sketching
In PB-3 we are using what I refer to as video sketching process to generate some innovative ideas. This is an example of using a design process in the production of media and points back to the key aims of the studio to use design methods and methodologies in media production practice.
The notion of “video sketching” was originally adapted from Miles’ concept of using sketching as a process in the production of interactive video for publication online. Miles experimenting with what is referred to as a ‘softvideo’, aimed to utilise the affordances of video, computers and the network, by working with (quote) “domestic, ready to hand recording technologies and editing tools” (56-7) (unquote). Miles proposes that the types of works produced are (quote) “informal, vernacular, serial, and aligned to a lo–fi sketch practice rather than being high resolution, professionally crafted and closed works”(56-7) (unquote).
For Miles the objective with softvideo, was a type of practice that utilised the serial and repetitive nature of the web. Videoblogging is provided as an example. This is an online video practice that relies on the regular posting of content and in most cases the use of ‘brevity’, to produce multiple small-scale video works, as a unified collection.
An example of Miles’ early interactive videos.
Miles, Adrian. Collins Street Melbourne (a documentary). 2 min., QuickTime, June 2001, videoblog:vog 2.0. http://hypertext.rmit.edu.au/vog/7.2001/collins.html (accessed 6 November, 2003).
Video sketching as a design method
The idea of developing video sketching into a design method occurred due to using Rosenberg’s concept of “poetic research” from the design field, in my doctorate study. I used Rosenberg’s notion of the “hunch” to invigorate what was a practice-led inquiry.
Rosenberg uses Bakhtin’s concepts of the “centripetal” and “centrifugal” as a way of understanding the relationships formed between the practitioner and the practice. The centripetal moves inwards and refers to an established body of knowledge, while the centrifugal moves outward to something that is yet to be realised: the centrifugal is intuitive, risky, a step away from conventions and norms (Rosenberg 2006). Applying the idea of following a “hunch” opened up my practice to being iterative and evolving. I became interested in what might happen to my practice, if there was space that allowed intuition to be followed, with the idea of not knowing what could eventuate. It was video sketching as a process that enabled me to utilise the void that had been created, to explore possibilities. Video sketching in combination with poetic research shifted my practice towards design.
Images from p 4-5, Rosenberg, Terence. “The Reservoir: Towards a Poetic Model of Research in Design.” Working papers in Art and Design (2006): n. pag. Web.
Sketching in design
Analysing the design process, Grocott puts forwards the notion of “figuring” as a method to visualise design research (67). Figuring as a concept is informed by Rosenberg’s idea of poetic research and the friction that occurs for the practitioner between the centripetal, what is known, and the centrifugal, the unknown. It is the discord between the two, according to Grocott, which enables the designer to come up with something original. Figuring as a concept is positioned within the broader notion of allowing “speculation” to occur, which is referred to as (quote) “an experimental, investigative space” (72) (unquote).
Two methods of drawing “diagrams” and “proposition drawings” are used by Grocott to frame figuring. These two types of drawing methods are taken from a taxonomy of drawing types created by Lawson from an evaluation of the processes designers use (45). It is Lawson’s outline on the “proposition drawing” that provides some insight into how video sketching is being used in my own practice and teaching, in relation to integrating it as design method into media production.
Lawson argues that the “proposition drawing” is situated at the very core of the design process and it provides a space for the designer to make a start. The proposition drawing puts out into the world an idea in a visual form that can then be used as a focal point to begin the design process. According to Lawson, the “proposition drawing” is what Schön would have defined as a sketch that enables a conversation to get underway.
In reference to Lawson’s evaluation of drawing in design, different types of drawing form an integral part of the design curriculum. Drawings as a form of visual representation are used to externalise what the designer is thinking and as Lawson states (quote) “may be seen as a kind of window into the designer’s mind and consequently into the designer’s knowledge system and method of mental representation” (33) (unquote). I propose that using video sketching, as a type of drawing in a different form, in media production, presents an opportunity for students to visualise ideas and explore a varied number of potential outcomes.
In PB-3, I see the sketching process as being used to encourage students not to settle on the first idea that comes along…instead the aim is to generate several varying ideas (and potentially make an unexpected discovery).
Booth argues that we are often taught to follow through with our first idea, which is referred to as “satisficing”, rather than explore lots of ideas and potentially a creative outcome that is much more significant.
Booth provides an example of a ceramicist teacher, grading students in two different ways. The first was based on a student making their best single pot, the second class on the amount of pots produced. In the class based on quality, students were quietly thinking and carefully considering options before picking up some clay. In the class working on producing as many pots as possible, students were busy, noisily playing and experimenting they worked constantly in the medium. It is my aim in this phase to get students to work things out by picking up a smartphone.
‘Eric Booth: Playful Brainstorming and Creative Experimentation’, music educator at Carnegie Hall, New York. – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Mly_OTeLcc
Follow up this blog entry and extend your understanding of the process sketching and how it being used in this context…by engaging with the readings that look at the concept of sketching in more detail. These are in the references section of the blog.
Write up a reflection in your diary that responds to these questions:
What is your understanding of the concept of sketching and how is being used in within the context of this studio?
How do you think video sketching could be applied to interactive video and authoring software like Korsakow?
References:
Booth, Eric. Playful Brainstorming and Creative Experimentation. Juilliard, Stanford, 2012. Video.
Buxton, Bill. Sketching User Experiences. San Francisco: Morgan Kaufmann, 2007. Print.
Grocott, Lisa. “Design Research and Reflective Practice.” Doctorate. RMIT University, 2010. Print.
Lawson, Bryan. What Designers Know. Oxford: Architectural Press, 2004. Print.
Miles, Adrian, ed. PIMP 01: Post-industrial Media: Education? . Melbourne: School of Media and Communication, RMIT University , 2012. eBook.
Miles, Adrian. “Soft Cinematic Hypertext (other Literacies).” Doctorate. RMIT University, 2012. Print.
Rosenberg, Terence. “The Reservoir: Towards a Poetic Model of Research in Design.” Working papers in Art and Design (2006): n. pag. Web.
Schon, Donald. The Reflective Practitioner. London: Ashgate, 1983. Print.
Korsakow – Florian Thalhofer interviews
Interviews with the inventor of Korsakow
(video) INTERVIEW WITH FLORIAN THALHOFER at Universidade Lusófona
http://korsakow.tv/interview-with-florian-thalhofer-at-universidade-lusofona/
(text) A champion of nonlinear narratives: An interview with documentary filmmaker Florian Thalhofer
(video) Florian Thalhofer – Korsakow Software
https://vimeo.com/channels/297850
(video) Interview: Florian Thalhofer von Korsakow-Institut
Franziska Weidle – Korsakow interviews
These interviews completed recently (2015-16) form part of Franziska Weidle‘s postgraduate research. An excerpt from Franziska’s research blog about page, which provides context on the interviews in relation to Korsakow.
In the light of the digital age, different kinds of scholars and practitioners increasingly test the potential of interactive media as a means of capturing the real. The emerging field of interactive documentaries, however, is a very heterogeneous one: various protagonists, approaches, aesthetics and dynamics are involved in constructing meaning within the framework of documentary knowledge production and dissemination. As open-source software that is used for creating “non-linear, interactive, rule-based narration”, Florian Thalhofer’s “Korsakow System” exemplifies these particular challenges to the documentary configuration on a micro level. But how does one study something like this as a system? Drawing on anthropological methodologies, one way is to look at key agents who form the “Korsakow community”, i.e. developers, academia, industry and the wider public, to see what this community makes the software do, and why. As a result, I hope to shed light on the question of what happens to the documentary genre in the digital age and which consequences arise from that observation in terms of documentary knoweldge production.
These videos are from the Korsakowians page on Franziska’s research blog.
Making with Korsakow from Korsakow Research on Vimeo.
Hannah Brasier: Introducing Korsakow from Korsakow Research on Vimeo.
Seth Keen: Introducing Korsakow from Korsakow Research on Vimeo.
Korsakow – A Tool for … What? from Korsakow Research on Vimeo.
Patrick Kelly: Introducing Korsakow from Korsakow Research on Vimeo.