When I arrived to class today Indri and Nicole were mid-discussion with Robbie about our ideas for our final assignment. I semi joined the conversation, but mainly jotted down some notes I was gathering from their chat:

(Random notes jotted down quickly)

• Compact experience that is documented. Set it up as an experience
• Primary part? Or just a section.
• What are our aims and outcomes?
• Outcome = live performance? Or a series of interactions that you experience in the same place?
• Identity focused. Different realities online, presenting yourself in a new and different way.
• Character building exercise? Program is about constructing characters that match their personality.
• Idea of dealing with a virtual space, finding a way to be in it – whether it’s through the screen, suddenly everyone is in the same space. Uniting in the same space. Conversations coming from that space.
• Creating an environment that we are all able to be a part of.
• Physical consideration – webcam – changing something in the physical site but it’s available through the virtual

 

The plan so far is to get the footage done asap so we can start compiling everything together. We have lots of ideas, but aren’t sure the order of them, or the narrative structure. So with all the footage done first it will be easier to work this out because we can visually see what works and what doesn’t.

 

Exploring how sacred space for people can be online.

 

Today I also had an interesting thought. The video requirement is between 3-4 minutes. Our video starts with the opening of a laptop/online and screen environment. It then bookends itself with the laptop shutting and the screen fading to black. In between the opening and closing shots/segments, a range of online activity is displayed. This suggests that even though people can only be online for 3-4 minutes, they are able to participate in so much activity. Whether this be communicating with friends, family or strangers, downloading, uploading, editing, searching, learning etc. So the video length itself could be an interesting aspect to explore, putting it into literal perspective.

So good because our whole group is in the same boat. We have very similar ideas and visions of how the final product will look like. Whenever each of us expands on a particular idea, we can all agree and build on it because we have the same mindset in what we’re aiming to produce. Makes the process a lot easier in terms of equal collaboration and time management.

This project is a lot more liberating in what we can consider and explore. Which is exciting. We aren’t locked into specific questions and restricted with our delivery like we were in assignment 3, rather have the opportunity to be free in our work and in expressing our ideas.

 

Started class with a little exercise based on our previous assignment, to get us thinking about assignment 4. These were the four steps:

1. Write down 20 words that relate to your assignment 3
2. Then cross out 10 that don’t really relate as much as the others
3. Now link two of the remaining 10 words together, to make 5 pairs
4. Write 10 words relating to the new idea

So interesting how this little exercise allowed us to easily narrow down our idea. We didn’t have any idea that we wanted to explore how public vs private space is used online, it wasn’t until we did this little word exercise that we came to the conclusion!

Got our minds working and allowed our ideas to collectively come together.

 

Ideas for assignment 4 video:

Video ideas

• Starting in a dark room with purely the laptop lit. Slow zoom towards with eerie music, sounds of mac starting up, phone on charge etc. sounds of technology
• Cuts to a close up of the brightness on mac turning up
• Then video turns more up beat and fast paced, shots of computer and being online

Overall aims/ideas

• Exploring physical and non physical presence while online
• Exploring in a public yet private way
• Privatising part of yourself through becoming anonymous online (public space)

Challenges would be capturing a non-physical space, and how to actually do that. Making our idea come to life.

Site = website

 

Discussing our idea to the class

Feedback pointers:

• Can the virtual self be the real self?
• Representing yourself differently online.
• Robbie suggested to narrow it down – allowing a broader conversation.
• Research will give us ability to grow
• Interesting how to document our ideas