Our second project was intended to expand on the ideas discussed in our first project; that of the exploration of a livestream as a style of new media, and the role of the modern media consumer as a contributor to the medium being consumed.
The project was intended to represent a theoretical music streaming app, which we named Orchestream. Unfortunately, we were not able to actually develop the app due to combination of time restriction and lack of experience in technical development. Instead, we pre-recorded a series of videos meant to demonstrate, in a less refined way, the way in which Orchestream would function were it physically developed. This involved building a foundation drumbeat in the production software Ableton, and recorded ourselves playing this beat through a MIDI controller along with a customised light display. This was used to represent the role of the streamer, or “producer” in the app. We then used an existing app called Rolling Tones to create 4 complementary melodies that would fit the created beat in a sonically cohesive way, to represent the viewers of the stream, the “consumers”. Looking at the project we produced, I believe it far more effectively addresses the idea of audience contribution; whereas in the first project the consumer simply played the role of the producer with the streamer themselves having virtually no impact, the Orchestream project demonstrates the manner in which the modern producer and consumer are able to work in tandem to produce an effective collaboration, something that is much more similar to the current state of media.
This project was also intended to represent Lev Manovich’s concept of modularity in New Media. As this concept is centred upon modern media consisting of multiple units that can also function independently, the idea was that the foundation beat, as well as each of the contributed melodies would likewise be functional as a separate entity. Looking at this project, I believe it addresses this concept in an effective and less conventional way; if thinking of the app itself as the piece of media the concept is perhaps less relevant, but in regards to its actual function, the combination and implementation of separate “modules” does not only compliment the final product, but is essential to the purpose of the app as a whole.
The area in which I believe this project fails is the implementation of the livestream element. Whereas in the first project, in which live responses were essential to its function, the way in which we assembled this project shows that the state of existing in real time is not at all necessary in this case; the app user could just as easily add and upload their own melody onto a pre-existing beat. That said, I’m overall pretty happy with how this project turned out, and I believe it serves as an accurate example of the many possible implications of new media.