Visualising Data Reflective Journal

With the difficulties of the past week I was able to pull it together in the final hours, with help of course. I was able to get the light blinking in unison while the vibration and buzzer was going off. I had to adapt the headset by taking away periphery items which wouldn’t have made much difference to the experience anyway.

This head device which was meant to immerse the user by using input from their hear rate and convert it into light sound and vibration, didn’t really give the experience I was expecting. It was neither intense or soothing. More of a beeping mess

I definitely achieved the LowFi electronic look with the wires crazily going everywhere and the Arduino and breadboard being held down with electricians tape. I didn’t time to add the fan unfortunately

I feel like the presentation went well as everyone was intrigued by the device. It looks like it would rewire your brain after putting it on so maybe thats why. The franticness of the wires and obscurity of it compared to other artworks could be why. I don’t think I have really met the criteria of the final because it doesn’t really feel like its art. I’ve tried to develop a data narrative but seeing the device doesn’t do what I intended its a bit of a stretch.

POST-VISUALISING DATA
I really want to experiment further with Arduino and processing (although I didn’t get a chance to try it out). I have a couple of ideas while making this device and getting through assignments.

I’ve done some filming work at festivals and find it hard to film during the night without having an invasive light onboard so I was thinking I could make a LED matrix in the shape of a dancer which interacts live with the beat of the music. This way it will make people inquisitive, make them dance and achieve the primary goal of lighting the crowd.

Another thing I want to make to help with productivity is an eye tracking device which follows eye movements when looking towards one of my two computers ( I use one for editing videos and the other for general stuff). Ive found it annoying having to shuffle over keyboards and mouses to quickly switch from one to the other. I would love to be able to use one keyboard and mouse to control two computers without having to plug them back in. Im not sure how this will be possible (it night be a job for processing?) but there would definitely be some kind of tutorial out there. I think this could be a good side project this year to figure out how its done.

REFLECTION

Posted on May 25, 2018 by Alec Wilson

This isn’t really a reflection on the course material but an overview of what I’m thinking right now looking back and forward. This semester has been very beneficial to my filmmaking development and as a human being. I’ve had lots of trouble along the way with getting uni work in and balancing my time with work and social commitments. Its been three years since becoming an ‘adult’ and I’m still slowly learnt the industry/world works so I feel ok about my current outlook. I feel like I could have done more but it doesn’t matter because maybe I’m not ready (or maybe that’s the wrong way to look at it). Unfortunately I don’t really learn from my mistakes and always say that it’ll be different next time. The main take away is the need for a process for my life. Knowing what the day has in store with achievable tasks will be the first step in ground myself; having a clean room, exercising and going to sleep at a reasonable times is good place to start. From here it will influence my organisation of not so clear tasks such as assignments like this or filmmaking process. I have stunted myself for too long by not addressing my problems which is why I look forward to having some time off to re-adjust and figure out what I need to ‘move forward’ as the end of my uni career is neigh. I’ve got lots of time till then but only if I learn from this semester and build upon it. It seems as though there is a lot of stuff coming my way so its in my best interest to grasp it by the horns.

FILMING AND REFLECTING ON SHOOT 2

Posted on May 20, 2018 by Alec Wilson

We filmed in Michael Firus’ kitchen for this exercise. It was good filming there because it gave me a greater understanding of how to film on location and the variables which occur. The 1960’s house was perfect in its look and layout for lighting gear and natural light though the windows. We have previously filmed outside in Project 1 which was ‘basically’ a controlled setup because of the lack of environmental lighting, so it was good use the controlled studio light knowledge inside class and apply it into a real house with a script and actors. Once thing we knew and found was that filming in the daytime, especially in winter, meant the light from outside was constantly changing with the clouds rolling over. We couldn’t really do anything to avoid this unless we had much more powerful lights. Its not too noticeable the fogginess at the start of the scene compared to the end but because we demonstrating our ability to control the light, it is very noticeable that we didn’t control it very well. The windows gave us the majority of light in the scene so it was important that we stabilized the light inside the kitchen and dinning table. We used a number of techniques to give the scene smooth diffused lighting inside. We bounced the LED’s off the ceiling because to avoid hard lighting the subjects. A fog spray can was also used to give the interior a flat atmosphere which was heightened more by the flatness of Michaels camera colour profile. Thinking about it now there are a number of things we could have done to improve the lighting in the scene. We could have setup on stands black cloth to reduce light bouncing around the room. This would have given Michael and Lydia extra darkening and lightening on their face. This was a massively beneficial exercise because im filming a sketch in a similar type room in a couple of weeks. I might be able to take a few trick from this shoot and apply it.

LIGHT METER

Posted on May 17, 2018 by Alec Wilson

Robin brought in some new high-tech light meters into class which have really intrigued me. It’s really cool to be able to finally try out the meters and understand how they work or why you would need them. I feel like it’s a valuable skill to know even if are the opportunity to shoot on film gets lower. I’ve got two super 8 cameras which I’ve been meaning to try out but haven’t had an opportunity yet. The more practical use of light meters these days is for recording the exact levels of a shot. By doing this you’re able to systemize workflow and build onto your knowledge of how to light a scene. Like anything like this once you’ve do this a lot it becomes second nature when looking at the light levels and differentiating between the levels by just using your eyes. Using a light meter also means you can set up a previous scene another time and because you have everything documented it would be easier to recreate the scene. It’s an OCD approach but its really the only way to understand and develop lighting skillsets which is beyond just looking at the scene. Video monitors are become increasingly important to me as I understand their importance more and more. Using a little LCD screen isn’t very easy when trying to get exact focus on a subject and I’m needing more information about how the shot looks in data terms. The first place I really need to understand and master is how waveforms, vector scopes and false colour work. Each project from now I want to use a monitor to increase my understanding of the way the light actually effects the scene. It’s the only way I can improve because at the moment it’s purely from the waveform on the camera screen.

VDIA Research

Posted on May 16, 2018 by Alec Wilson

After the Milestone review i’m now incorporating more on the headset to engage more sensors to make the experience more than just flashing lights at the BPM of your heart beat. Im going to be incorporating an accelerometer onto the Arduino which measures tilt and velocity.

The new narrative of the device:
The pulse sensor is still fundamental to the headset. When most people put a heart rate monitor on themselves the first thing we usually do is increasing BPM to test if it works. We breath at a faster rate or run around to do this which obviously creates motion. So with the new addition of motion sensors 0n the headset, and the initial idea of creating a device which either aggravates (feedback loop) or soothes, I thought it would be a good opportunity to ruin fun by rewarding stillness. If the user runs around with the headset on there will be annoying beeps and vibrations will make you want to take the whole thing off. Also because of its rickety nature its also a defence mechanism so it doesn’t fall apart faster. So not only will it hypnotise the user but it also rewards them for staying still. A case of classical conditioning.

Im thinking at this point when the user angles their head to the left a buzzer near the right ear will ease in, and the opposite for the left ear, right buzzer. Im also going to incorporate little vibrators which will increase depending on the amount of movement detected
A speaker will also bleep to the heat rate. If the BPM gets above 110 a fan will also turn on to cool down the user.

So its a device which has conflicting morals because it wants to give the user an experience but at the same time doesn’t want them to have too much fun

SPECIAL GUESS RORY

Posted on May 16, 2018 by Alec Wilson

It was really interesting class because Rory gave insight into the industry which I haven’t really gotten before. He basically gave us a history lesson of the industry and how its evolved and changed with the technology. The advancement in digital camera quality means you can achieve a higher exposure with less lighting and better and more affordable LED’s lights must have caused a positive disruption in the industry. Bulbs do still have a place on set but the controllably of LED, their life and energy performance definitely outweigh the benefits of bulbs. The L-series Arri light was amazing and it really out shines the lights we have at RMIT. We don’t really need the best lights anyway though so it doesn’t matter I found his advice about the industry very valuable. I never through that grips would own their own equipment but it makes sense because it adds extra perks to hiring them especially if they have an arsenal of lights in their truck ready to be used if needed. I kind of expected it to be the job of the cinematographer to own their lights but this makes sense.

SHOOT 1: CAR PARK SCENE

Posted on May 10, 2018 by Alec Wilson

Straight after our presentation we got into filming for project 1. We set about to build a cinematic night atmosphere using 4 led lights and a fog machine. We knew from the start that we didn’t have to create realistic lighting on the scene as the script Michael had made allowed us to follow film noir conventions. Even so, there is still a balance between style and the real. The trend of independent and high budget films today is in creating a natural cinematic soft look. At our level of knowledge its easy to generate an image which is faithfully noir but easily falls into its cliché trap of over stylization. So we set about creating a morph between the style of now and then by defusing all the lite panels and distancing some away from the action, while a lower intensity was places near the foreground elements to give a stronger light to the scene but with soft rolloff. The environmental lighting was set to a height to emulate the moon gleaming across the subjects and background. The environment is an important device in film noir so having two lights solely running against the car and the carpark gave the scene a sense of depth and coldness and picked up the smoke machines fog perfectly, but maybe too much. Overall the shoot was very successful as seen in the video. There are a few things wehre we could improve on, such as controlling the smoke etc but I can only really comment on the stuff I helped out on as I had to leave halfway though.

Milestone Sheet

Posted on May 7, 2018 by Alec Wilson

The Idea
The head device I am creating aims to regulate the users ‘mood’ (measured by their heart rate) using two pulsating LED’s which frequency will be controlled by the users heart BPM or a knob. Listening to your heart can be quite a meditative experience and often lowers its rate. It will be interesting to see if the heart sensor output into the LED’s will increase heart rate in most cases and create a feedback loop. This is where experimentation will be essential. Headphones will also come on the goggles so that the entire experience will feed into itself. A beeping/ticking noise will accompany the flashing/pulsating lightsI also did a bit of research into how colour temperature can affect mood. So depending on the frequency input, there will be a specific Kelvin temperature (between 2700k-6500k) Some other interesting research I found was about how light at 40hertz substantially reduces the beta amyloid plaques which is seen in Alzheimer’s disease. So this device could also go down the path of Neuro Hacking. This however isn’t ‘visualizing data’ in art. I have also thought about extending from the LED path and using small screens inside the goggles which will pulsate and react in a more aesthetical way, adding onto the data narrative. Because of the ‘in your face’ nature of this project a lot of experimentation will have to take place otherwise the end product will be unbearable put on… unless that is its purpose

The Tools
The live heart rate input will be collected from the user. The pulse sensor will then be wired to an aduino which will process the data. From aduino, the LED’s will respond as the output. I will need to experiment to what level this data will be controlled at e.g it might be too intense if the LED’s match the exact BPM, so might make the lights blink once every 2 beats. The data will also be processed into sound with a pulsating frequency. Again I will need to experiment with this as I am creating the device. As you can see by the simplistic drawings a phone VR gogglebox will house the electronics. This will be a portable device and will run on batteries. Originally the LED’s were going to come through a mirror so that you would see yourlsef in the reflection but after testing I found that It would be impossible to see your eyes through the eye lens’. I might still test this out however.

The Plan
I aim to have the device built and tested by week 11 so that I will be able to refine and improve its usability. Already my initial tests with phone VR goggles have shown me that instead of one LED I will need two. If the idea works well with the LED’s (and I have mroe time left) I could also try to create a 3D visualisation instead of pulsating LED’s. This would make the project more complex but if I have extra time i will go down this route.

The goggles!

Posted on May 3, 2018 by Alec Wilson

As ive said earlier in the blog posts im going to be using this VR Headset. I forgot that it actually had lenses to help your eyes focus on close objects.

Its got a really low-tech vibe to it which i’ve found a lot of wearable biofeedback devices have in common. Jacob Rivkin’s ‘Memorandum for walking’ is an example of this as the shoes he has made to record sensory information looks like the least durable shoes ive ever seen. There arnt any bells or whistles on its put together using a hot glue gun. The devices made by Rivkin and Paul Granjon look like they’ll electrocute you after attaching. From my perspective on Fine art, electronic arts such as this doesn’t get much attention compared to photography or painting. It’s a very different aesthetic but serves different purposes and uses.

The awesome thing about this kind of art is that its uses the real world data and has to abide by physics to make meanings. There are completely different techniques and processes.

http://jacobrivkin.com/memorandum-for-walking/

A Short Digression

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