Over the weekend, I added the final touches to the presentation of project 3 in preparation of our feedback session with the academic panel. Changes were made in direct reference to the feedback given during Friday’s presentation, however the alteration found most difficult was condensing the 12 minute presentation into 5 minutes. I really valued all of the contextual information our presentation entailed and so I found it difficult to reduce any of that information. For this reason, I put together a power point presentation that ensured no time would be wasted navigating the internet and blog posts, and all visual material could be played in the background as speaking continued over the top. The contextual introduction and indication of relevance to the studio itself ran for almost 3 minutes, only allowing 1 sketch to be focused on for future directions. The periscope sketch became the key focus as Errol and I were interested in the way live broadcasting completely altered both the narrative and non-narrative form of skate video. The short time allocation of the presentation on Monday will require ‘zippy’ speaking to fit everything into 5 minutes.

Today’s studio was the big presentation day for project 3, Errol and I presented our work first and were very satisfied with the outcome. I think the use of visual aids was helpful in demonstrating how we journeyed from our case study to our final probe and I also tried to include as much context as possible so that the presentation could be understood easily by the audience (as per the focus of our first few studios). We received lots of helpful feedback which informed how we improved the presentation for the panel presentation the following Monday. Mainly, it was important that we show a linear video version of the narrative sequence Errol navigated in order to contextualise how it may have altered during discussion of other online tools and services. In addition, display of a quick screenshot of each sketch would also be very useful in demonstrating how the practice varied across the variety of tools and services, as well as help the audience understand what we did exactly. Furthermore, we needed to provide visual aid regarding the case study in order to anchor the entire exploration back to its origin. Finally, more work needed to be done to determine why we were most interested in the Periscope sketch in terms of our probe and what it will do for us for project 4.

Reflecting upon today’s presentation, it is clear that it is vital to portray our discoveries and intentions as simplistic as possible. Rather than become overwhelmed by unnecessary use of terminology, it is more valuable to be able to communicate your thoughts in a succinct and tangible manner. Secondly, it is now clear that a large part of the presenting process is a chance for us to demonstrate reasons for particular actions. e.g. Why we did particular things, why we took particular pathways, why we think certain elements are more important than others and why we are choosing to progress from here the way we are. Most importantly, when presenting future explorations we need to ensure not to get caught up in the technology that surrounds the example of online video practice, but rather focus more specifically on the narrative/non-narrative form. This was of course still prominent in our presentation, however exploration of form needed to be honed in on even more closely in order to progress toward making a potential prototype that consists of a hybrid form of video practice disregarding technological influence.

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 Sketch

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 Sketch

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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How is skate video transformed when the audience can input their preference into the video?

Link: https://vimeo.com/125685934

Informed by the previous exploration of audience interactivity, this sketch experiments with another conceptual idea surrounding the possibility for the audience to interact with skate video via hypothetical online tools and services. Resulting from brainstorming surrounding potential notions of interactivity for the final project, I was interested in the effect audience input might have on the narrative/non-narrative form of skate video.

To create this sketch, I used the footage captured for the previous sketch (Audience Selected Music) and used image and video editing software to create an imitation of a voting system. A combination of Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop were used to develop a number scale system, enclosed by circles to resemble buttons. Also Sony Vegas was used to create a transition between layers of the image to create the desired changing colour effect. A screen recording was then taken of the rendered video during playback, in order to implement the presence of audience interaction via the appearance of the mouse icon. Timing the mouse movements with the transition of images proved to be difficult, however after much trial and error the desired effect was achieved reasonably successfully.

Although not present in this sketch, the audience member having the ability to vote for the quality of particular tricks could change the pathway of the narrative toward one of many options resulting from the audience member’s preference. Consequently in reference to our probe, the narrative form of skate video would be completely structured by the audience member and no longer by the producer. This would reshape the narrative structure of skate video but furthermore, it would create a hybrid of skate video and audience interactivity. However, I believe for this sketch to be more effective in its exploration it would require evidence of the audience vote submissions having a direct cause-effect relationship on the structure of the video, however this sketch still represents a simplified version of these notions in order to experiment with the concept.

How is skate video transformed when the audience can select the music?

Link: https://vimeo.com/125697729

Throughout this experimental exercise I have become interested in notions of audience interactivity within online video practices, as an extension of online tools and services. Also, looking ahead toward the prototype assessment for project 4, I have thought about potential interaction with skate video that may not necessarily exist as such. As mentioned in previous sketches, the narrative and non-narrative form of skate video is strongly structured around the use of music. For example, timing a skater landing a trick with a prominent beat in the soundtrack is an important technique in skate video as it creates a non-narrative aesthetic ‘flow’, whilst structuring the narrative form (the sequence of events) around the structure of the music. Most importantly, it is symptomatic of skate video. Furthermore, the genre of music is selected closely in skate video in order to create the desired ‘feeling’ for the video. Whether it be a ‘sponsor me’ video to be taken seriously, or a video of friends casually playing around on skateboards, the music used is going to be very different. In a typical linear skate video, the selection of music is conducted by the producer solely. Which sparked my interest in an exploration of how the narrative/non-narrative form of skate video might be transformed through the audience selecting the music.

To create this sketch, I video recorded Errol performing the skateboarding line in its entirety and used image and video editing software to develop a song selection on the side of the footage. A combination of Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop were used to create the song list on the right hand side of the frame and video editing techniques were applied to create the highlighted change in song selection. I then screen recorded a playback of this video and timed my hand movements in order to include the presence of a mouse icon, resembling the selection of an audience member. All of the music is royalty free and the track names are accurate.

Upon reflection of this concept, once the audience has control over the selection of music, a level of the creative rights, along with the ability to structure the narrative is transferred from the producer to the audience. Furthermore, the non-narrative aesthetic ‘feeling’ of a skate video, primarily created by the music, is portrayed to the audience potentially more powerfully and effectively due to the fact that the audience member can create the ‘feeling’ for the video that they desire.

How is skate video transformed when it is produced in Twitter?

This is followed by his signature trick: the no comply shove. #Brunswickskate

— Nethaniel Rochester (@NateRochester5) April 22, 2015

Errol rolls his way over to a car park ramp where he hop manuals the platform and drops off the edge. #Brunswickskate
— Nethaniel Rochester (@NateRochester5) April 22, 2015

He then pops the front wheels off the ground and drops down two sets of gutters. #Brunswickskate
— Nethaniel Rochester (@NateRochester5) April 22, 2015

Firstly Errol runs and jumps onto the skateboard to generate speed. #Brunswickskate

— Nethaniel Rochester (@NateRochester5) April 22, 2015

You will often find him skating his local street spot in Brunswick, where we has a favourite run of tricks to do: #Brunswickskate
— Nethaniel Rochester (@NateRochester5) April 22, 2015

Errol is a local Melbourne skater, he lives in the inner north and skates street the majority of the time. #Brunswickskate

— Nethaniel Rochester (@NateRochester5) April 22, 2015

 

To experiment further with notions of applying skate video to different online tools and services in order to produce a potential transformation of skate video form, I extended its production to a service that eliminates the presence of imagery and sound all together. To produce a skate video in Twitter, the producer is restricted to the tool/medium of text.

To create this sketch I wrote a scripted version of Errol’s skate sequence. The narrative script was similar to the text used in the Cowbird sketch, however via Twitter there was less emphasis on the story telling aesthetic and more of a focus on creating short and sharp announcements. This, in conjunction with a constraint of 140 characters per post, meant that the communication of narrative was premised on short snippets of only the most important information involved in the narrative structure. Thus, a disregard for aesthetic ‘fluff’ is raised in replacement of direct simplistic communication. Therefore the non-narrative aesthetic appeal of skate video, predominantly formed by the use of visual relationships and music is removed. Meaning the narrative form becomes structured around an explicit portrayal of content.

Furthermore, the functionality of Twitter is strongly premised upon the use of #tags to form relations between ‘Tweets’. By using a consistent #tag (#Brunswickskate) across each ’tweet’ involved in the sketch, skate video is portrayed to the audience in a potentially disjointed nature. Moreover, each individual element (‘tweet’) of the skate video can be separated across the web and therefore not presented in association with the other pieces of the narrative. However the affordances of the #tag enable the audience to discover the associated segments in order to form a narrative. Finally, due to a lack of visual and audio material, the audience is restricted to create their own visual version of the content, which is a powerful affordance of text media. Therefore the ‘skate video’ becomes a hybrid collaboration of produced script and audience imagination.

How is skate video transformed when it is produced in Cowbird?

Link: http://cowbird.com/story/113050/

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.

To create this sketch, I took a photograph of Errol performing the finale trick of his skateboarding sequence, I recorded the sound of Errol completing the entirety of the trick sequence and also typed a short story version of the performance. These three elements were then compiled together through cowbird.com. 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.

How is skate video transformed when it is produced in Periscope/Stre.am?

Link: https://vimeo.com/125673300

Also evident throughout current media affairs is mention of Periscope as the main competitor to Meerkat. This encouraged me to explore how skate video might be transformed differently across the two online video streaming services. Periscope is a live video broadcasting iOS application also associated with Twitter, which is designed to allow users to discover “the world through someone else’s eyes” (Periscope 2015).

Due to the unavailability of an apple iPhone with a compatible operating system for Periscope, I was restricted to using the Android equivalent (copy) of the application called Stre.am for this exploration. Stre.am is not a direct copy of Periscope, meaning the affordances and constraints are not necessarily consistent across both services. However Stre.am still represents a live video broadcasting service which can be experimented with in regards to the transformation of skate video. Also the similarities between Stre.am and Periscope associate this exploration with relevant current media affairs. Unlike Tarsii, Stre.am does not save a copy of a captured live stream and instead requires users to be connected in time for live viewing. Therefore, to create this sketch I positioned my DSLR camera on a tripod facing down at the screen of one phone that was viewing the live stream. Whilst simultaneously filming Errol performing the skate sequence on another phone, that was streaming the live content to the original phone, as well as any other potential public viewers. We faced many issues in terms of connectivity and network malfunctions. Due to a lack of data on the receiving phone, a hotspot also had to be used from the filming phone. Thus, the processing strain inflicted on the phone that was filming created glitches in the stream and poor quality frame rates. This required much trial and error before the end result was achieved. Also, this indicates that using Stre.am effects the narrative form of skate video in the way that an audience member may not receive contextualisation or important foundations within a narrative if they join the stream late.

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 symbolic 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.

How is skate video transformed when it is produced in Meerkat/Tarsii?

Link: https://vimeo.com/125677428

All of the sketches thus far have addressed online services that entail a degree of digital editing and manipulation, or at the least selectivity on distributed content. This interested me in the exploration of online video services that stream live media. Evident throughout current media affairs is mention of Meerkat. Meerkat is a live video broadcasting iOS application that is linked to the functionality of Twitter in order to instantly stream live video to Twitter followers.

Due to the unavailability of an apple iPhone with a compatible operating system for Meerkat, I was restricted to using the Android equivalent (copy) of the application called Tarsii for this sketch. Tarsii is quite a direct copy of Meerkat, meaning the affordances and constraints are transferable in almost all cases. The only significant difference noted was the fact that Tarsii saves a copy of each stream to Twitter profiles (similar to the original Periscope) whereas Meerkat does not. The specific affordances and constraints of Tarsii itself will be addressed in this sketch but the applications resemblance to Meerkat positions this sketch with relevancy to current media affairs and therefore a contemporary example of online video practice.

To create this sketch, I captured Errol performing the skate video succession of tricks through the Tarsii application on my mobile phone. This instantly produced a live stream of the content to my Twitter account, which was then later screen captured to show the audiences perspective of the results. The constraint evident in Tarsii (as well as Meerkat) being a singular stream button which starts the camera, whilst simultaneously beginning the stream meant that the camera and skater actions had to be timed perfectly in attempt to tightly structure the narrative. That being said, a large constraint evident in the use of Tarsii (and Meerkat) is the delay between selecting the stream button and the content actually beginning to stream on the internet. Therefore, the issue that I faced was that the first part of the skate video was missing due to the stream delay. This effects the narrative linearity of the skate video as it begins the narrative from a separate starting point that restructures the narrative form as a vital piece is missing which instigates the starting point of the sequence. Instead of re-filming this sketch and allowing more time for the stream to be connected, I chose to keep this sketch because it highlighted the difference between the constraints of Tarsii in contrast to Stre.am (see Stre.am next) in regards to how the applications transform skate video.

How is skate video transformed when it is produced in Vine?

Link: https://vine.co/v/eavn6z0BWMJ

As a popular online video service that has evident stylistic constraints, Vine was an important video service to test the transformation of skate video within this video practice. The use of Vine was informed by noticing the correlations between Snapchat and Vine, however also detecting their differences in terms of affordances and constraints. Vine restricts users to submitting videos of no longer than six second in duration and is designed to be engaged with via a mobile phone device (however this is not the only level of engagement). This associates Vine’s video practice with notions of spontaneity and simplistic content. Similarly, Snapchat is designed for mobile phone use, however Vine also has a ‘stop, start’ feature which separates the online service from other short duration video services such as Snapchat messenger, where the user is restricted to capturing a short video in one attempt of continuous recording. Whereas Vine’s ‘start, stop’ feature enables users to record segments of the six second video in individually captured pieces. This allows for elements of creativity to flourish and allows the user to redefine the narrative structure of the video.

To make this sketch, I used the Vine application on my mobile phone and recorded Errol completing his line of tricks in four segments. This file was then uploaded to Vine through the application. One option could have been to break down his skating performance into the four steps and capture each one individually, potentially allowing more concentration on the quality of each section. However, I chose to follow Errol during one attempt at the complete line of tricks and used the ‘stop, start’ feature intuitively to capture the series of tricks on ‘the go’. The reason for this was that the camera would therefore be positioned accurately in relation to Errol during each segment in regards to the representation of a linear video. In skate video as an online video practice, there is an expectation that footage will not be altered for reasons of deception in regards to the performance of tricks. As a result, a well-regarded stylistic technique of skate video is to capture a lengthy long take of continuous sequenced tricks in order to portray authentic skill. Due to these notions, this Vine sketch was captured in the same manner as close as possible and within the constraints of the online service. Regardless of these efforts, the six second constraint and ‘stop, start’ affordance of Vine are extremely prominent in the production of material through the service. Therefore, in reference to our probe, producing skate video in Vine completely restructures the narrative form as it allows the producer to portray a narrative of tricks in sequence that may not have been achievable in a continuous succession. Meaning the narrative is portrayed to the audience as a less authentic skate practice.

However, in contrast to a Snapchat story where the producer can capture each section of the narrative completely independently of the success of the previous part of the sequence, Vine restricts the performance of tricks to be captured in chronological success. Finally, since the affordances of Vine allow the user to create a disjointed video sequence, translation of a narrative form may be lost in replacement of a non-narrative aesthetic due to a potential inability to make narrative associations between the segments of the Vine video.