Ten minutes writing about participation.
We then did a game of exquisite corpse. We did this so everyone understands what we are actually doing in the AV exchanges. Exquisite corpse. It can be done with words, not only drawings, and so is a method of constrained and procedural making. It was formalised as a creative method by the surrealists. The surrealists were interested in this because they were interested in the unconscious and giving up control. We are interested in this as a method because agency is now distributed between the rules, four participants, pen, and paper.
I also showed a video clip of a murmuration as an example of a complex self organising system that does not have a director, directing consciousness, or centre. Yet it does produce complex patterns and behaviour. This is a simple rule, repeated, and this is a viable way of making content.
Then discussed how to proceed. It was recommended that:
You find something that stands out for you in the received soundtrack. Treat this as an object or thing in itself. As a word, or sound, as a physical object. What qualities does it have. If a word it might have a definition, use that. Synonyms and antonyms. List them. Perhaps this becomes a shot list? Or part of the next soundtrack. Where you start from makes an enormous difference to the outcome of the work and here you letting it go where the logic of the procedure and rules or actions you have defined dictates. You are giving agency to these other things.
Then we worked in groups solving and doing this. And each group described back to the class what their sound track is, what their sound is, and what they had come up with.
(Remember, the AV component of this is not being assessed, so you can completely ignore my suggestions, comments, and critique. Entirely up to your group.)
Readings were distributed, with what this involved discussed.
Questions and Confusions
There is only one film that you submit. It will now be two minutes long. It will have one minute of vision and two minutes of sound. The vision goes over the sound you have received and should respond to this sound. The new soundtrack that you add can either continue the theme or can take a part of this and work with this.
It is handed in via the google folder as was done with the first sound track.
Your video and new soundtrack respond to the theme of the work you have received, not what you started with your original project.
