A Small Showcase of Experimental 3D Cinema

A professor at Carnegie Mellon and an artist exhibited in top new media art galleries around the world, Golan Levin is definitely someone at the forefront of technology, and thus a fitting person to have do an AMA for Reddit. For the same reason, there is no way that the artist-hacker would do a traditional tread interview; of course he's going to showcase some of the crazy things they're doing up there in his STUDIO for Creative Inquiry.

One of the big things in interactive media seems to be the rise of the depth-sensing camera as a way to sense the user. As they are cheap and available, the cameras make for an ideal piece of modifiable equipment. In this video James George and Jonathan Minard have been working with depth cameras at Levin's STUDIO on what they refer to as "virtual cinematography" or "re-photography" in which a recording of the speaker is taken as a 3D image and, in post, editors go back and select different angles. I cannot believe what detail they were able to get from this camera! If you look closely, you'll notice that the image is made up of a lattice, but each part of the lattice is not one definite color. Each line is made up of several colors and, as he moves, the colors change accordingly. It is pretty amazing that you are also able to tell the depth, say from his nose, from angles other than direct side or top.

I am glad that Levin chose questions from users that really are about learning and less about his works. Since he is a teacher, and not all of us can get into or afford Carnegie Mellon, it is nice to hear what the artist thinks computer tinkerers like myself should know and whether or not a top-school education is really the most important thing, as professions such as doctors and lawyers like to believe.

Read the article on how James George and Jonathan Minard made the video here.

Video Art Reviews

Catherine - Good idea to do the time capsule video to yourself, and there was a very positive message, but I was really missing the 'art' part of the assignment.

Michelle - I really like the effects you got from the degradation of re-recording the videos! The way it blurred the motions together made it like 'artistic.'

Juan - Your video expresses a lot of what you think about yourself, which is what an artist should be doing. Like the cool text effects at the beginning and wish this had been throughout!

Lauren - Your piece was more akin to a slideshow than video art, but I can tell you put a lot of effort into the timing. Knowing the context of the assignment, your message is definitely present.

James - Loved it! I immediately got your message, so you were successful at that. By using the 8-bit images with that music, it helped make it even more cohesive. The credit were great!

Maria - Wish I was able to understand the meaning behind the video better, but having lived only in the US, I am ignorant. I know that it means a lot to you and that is most important.


Kim - Excellent job at telling a story without words. The video definitely conveys that this was an important event in your life. Cool outline filter effect!

Nakota - The clips you took were really good; interesting camera angles and sort of misty effect. Your credits and music were also great!

Erin - Good use of color with both the Photobooth filters and abstract art pieces.

Chris - Love that you wrote your own lyrics! Definitely above and beyond. Kind of felt that using a third-party software that created the backgrounds was cheating.

Arielle - By capturing a once in a lifetime event, you will always be able to remember how much fun you used to have.

Brian - Cool combination of sounds that you mixed in order to create the music. You did a great job of de-contextualizing voices that we all know immediately.

Sabrina - I liked your idea of making a digital letter to yourself. By putting it online, it will live forever unlike actual paper.

Cody - From what we saw in class, I am so intrigued! Not only was it a good idea to use 3D animation, but the images you are using, changing yourself to be different character, are just cool.

Video Art

Captured: Video Mapping in Orlando

As a kickoff event for Snap! Orlando, the Kress building in downtown was transformed into a piece of moving architecture thanks to some video artist. By using video mapping software, the production company showcased some of the photography pieces that will shown at the programs for Snap!

And here's another projection they did on May 4, 2011:

Snap! Orlando aims to exhibit the beauty of photography by presenting some of today's leading photography masters throughout the city. Programs will be held May 10-13, 2012.

Performance Art Comments

Kim - It was very interesting how the wax was transformed and revealed the phone from hidden, almost like an extension of your being. Also, the painting with a blower idea is really cool and the resulting product is great.

Sabrina - I see your message that man is destroying the earth via oil and pollution, and that the paint was like a 'blood bath,' but I think it would have made a better statement if you had tied them together a little bit better. You were the only one that used music you  made though, and it was great!

Catherine - Using an 'unsafe,' current issue location was definitely the right idea for performance art. I think that the themes you explained in this are a little far stretch, as I don't know that I would have correlated forgiveness if it hadn't been explained, but your performance was the most meaningful out of all and it was amazing.

Erin - Even though you were critiqued for doing it in too safe of a place, I got your message right away. I think that saying people are now too involved in technology to notice their surroundings is however a little overdone as theme.

Michelle - Good for you to going to the casino! I would definitely have been afraid to get thrown out. However, the performance lacked the interaction from audience members. Even if you didn't use them actively, you must remember the ideas from ART 310 where you have to entice the user.

James - I definitely see your idea of the mini city that people destroy, but I could have been a little better if you had actually gone up to people and said, "Hey, wanna help me destroy part of this?"

Juan - I am surprised no one really came up to talk to you. Yes, you did have a camera-person so it was obvious you were doing it for a reason, but, I mean, you were laying on the couch with a pillow! For the video element, I think it would have been better without the voiceover.

Chris - You missed the idea of a performance art piece; it was too scripted and you might argue that there were some elements of improv, but there is no way of knowing it by just presenting a video.

Arielle - You wrapped you friend up in wires to make a statement, but Santiago is right: the dorm hallway is too safe of an area, and you didn't use yourself in the piece, just actors. Your message is also lost I think; all that is being conveyed really is that college students like to go to the beach, and they use their cell phones a lot there.

Cody - Really cool use of the keyboard, sending out sound that is never the same. It definitely added an element to your piece that made it interesting and unlike performances that people have done before.

Nakota - I like that this is akin to the 1950s idea of 'the end of the world' when people had to stockpile their nuclear bomb shelters in case of fallout. You had the technological element, but it wasn't all about the technology and I like that you did this different from others.

Interviews before 12/21/12

A performance art piece inspired by Sheryl Oring's 'I Wish To Say' project. Playing the role of a news reporter, I ask participants what they would be most disappointed to miss if the world were to end on December 21, 2012. Participants gradually veer from the questions as more and more people are interviewed. After only four interviews, we are asked to leave the park, as tables cannot be set up there.

Laurie Spiegel in 'The Hunger Games'

This is not the first time I have heard the name Laurie Spiegel. As one of the pioneer artists of synthesized music, her use of music has been influential enough for her name to be among the likes of John Cage. Although hearing her name may not be the biggest surprise, it is more bewildering that her piece from 1972, "Sediment," is featured in the cornucopia scene of The Hunger Games.

Though many may think this is most interesting part of the article, my mind wraps itself more around how she recorded the piece without having being able to use multitrack the synthesizers. She says, "I had to do the mixing with two stereo reel-to-reel decks...while one deck was playing audio while the other deck was recording the other machine." In the nature of recording sounds, each copy of the sound becomes more and more degraded, ultimately altering the music that the audience hears. In experimentation, this is really nothing wrong with this aside from the fact that the sound might not be what the artist had originally wanted.

Original article: http://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/03/rare-electronic-music-hunger-games/