Context
Errol and I are addressing the same case study as we have done in previous presentations. ‘Art in the Streets’, which fused skate video with interview and graffiti art. As mentioned previously, we place this work in a hybrid genre of online video practice being – skate video and documentary interview to profile a graffiti artist.
Journey to Probe:
To demonstrate how we got to our probe:
Out of our original 3 ideas of interest we chose to address: playing with the structure of skate video.
From there, attempting to develop sketch ideas, we noticed a recurring theme of media platform based explorations, along with notions of interactivity.
This directed us to think about what would happen to skate video if it were produced across a range of platforms and we wanted to include elements of interactivity.
Our first probe draft was too focused around interactivity which expanded the exploration beyond the scope of this project.
So in order to include interactivity but focus more heavily on the affordances and constraints of media platforms themselves, the final probe was eventually developed to refer to platforms and interactivity as online tools and services, allowing both to be explored in closer reference to the studio aims.
FINAL PROBE
Working from the case study example ‘Art in the Streets’, which fused the online video practice of ‘skate video’, with documentary interviews to profile a graffiti artist on the web, for a contemporary art exhibition. Our group plan to explore how skate video is transformed when it is produced in different online tools and services. We plan to see what happens to a typical linear skate video when it is re-appropriated into different tools and services, like for instance Vine, Snapchat, Cowbird, etc.
How do the affordances and constraints of the tools and services used effect the narrative/non-narrative form of skate video? How do these varying tools and services transform the way skate video is portrayed to an audience?
Sketch Outline
We created a narrative sequence of skateboarding tricks for Errol to complete in chronological / linear order. Captured in a standard linear fashion this would appear similar to an example of skate video, produced on the internet via linear media platforms such as YouTube and Vimeo. So to experiment with how skate video might transform via different online tools and services, we produced the same skate video (sequence of tricks) through 11 different online services. Also, in order to incorporate interactivity, we experimented with 3 different interactive tools in skate video.
Linear Video
If we are to think about why this matters in regards to the focus of this studio, the studio prompt is:
How can video, computers and the network be used to redefine online video practices?
So exploration of our probe is thus making a contribution as to how skate video (being an example of online video practice) might transform and be redefined when produced in different online tools and services. Which encompasses different forms of video, computers and the network.
Errol’s Sketches (2)
(See Errol’s blog)
Nethaniel’s Sketches (2)
Periscope – How is skate video transformed when it is produced in Periscope/Stre.am?
Periscope and Meerkat are popular in current media affairs.
After exploring sketches that involved digital editing and material manipulation, we were interested in exploring the presence of skate video in a service that produced a live stream of content. Periscope is a live video broadcasting application, which is designed to allow users to discover “the world through someone else’s eyes” (Periscope 2015).
Unfortunately due to the application being unavailable on Android, I had to use Stre.am instead which is a copied version.
Unlike Tarsii and Meerkat, Stre.am and Periscope allow the user to setup the recording before choosing to stream the content. This affordance allows the narrative to be structured by the camera person himself/herself, selecting when to begin streaming the video. This also removes a lot of potentially unwanted material from the narrative that might accidentally occur during an automatic live stream on Meerkat/Tarsii. This also portrays skate video to the audience as a more polished form than versions produced in Meerkat/Tarsii.
In regards to a transformation of skate video itself, Stre.am is a live continuous broadcast of material, disallowing any form of digital editing and video manipulation. This portrays skate video to an audience as a more authentic and accurate example of the recorded material. However it also removes a large amount of the non-narrative aesthetic value present in the form of skate video as an online video practice. Music and digital transitions are symptomatic elements of skate video and the absence of such techniques in the use of Stre.am removes a degree of the non-narrative aesthetic appeal of skate video.
Cowbird – How is skate video transformed when it is produced in Cowbird?
Cowbird is a public library of stories and a way to share experiences with other people on the internet. Cowbird is designed to “preserve exceptional stories of human life” (Harris 2014) and sees itself as an alternative to the flood of stories featured on Facebook and Twitter which might not hold as much emotional significance. Also, Cowbird does not feature any video material. Instead, the power of original photographs, text and sound is used to compile a collection of stories and form connections between stories that share location, date and/or theme. This online service became immediately intriguing as a way to explore the transformation of skate video, when produced through a medium without video and one with an emphasis on the use of text, an element which is a rarity in skate video as an online video practice.
Cowbird only allows the submission of one image per story and this restriction generates selectivity. The narrative form of skate video is thus presented visually to the audience through one encompassing image alone. Furthermore, as an affordance of Cowbird, the presence of text to communicate the narrative makes skate video more ‘story orientated’. Meaning, in combination with the presence of sound, rather than communicate a narrative succession of tricks, a non-narrative aesthetic is privileged which communicates the ‘feeling’ of skateboarding. Therefore, skate video is portrayed to the audience from a more insightful and intimate perspective due to the perceived emotional significance of storytelling which Cowbird aims to mirror.
Future Directions
We were most intrigued by the Periscope/Stre.am sketch because using a live broadcasting medium for the distribution of skate video completely restructures both the narrative and non-narrative form. The narrative structure is somewhat lost by the inability to filter the content that is provided to the world wide web. Furthermore, the non-narrative aesthetic value that skate video holds, is diminished by the absence of editing techniques that could create visual relationships and appeal through music. We would like to explore further how hybrid relationships can be formed between skate video and live broadcasting in order to potentially develop a prototype that is a completely new hybrid form of skate video practice that is structured by real time.
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