INSTALLATION
Jason and I are working on the films, there will be two, one negative one positive.
Rach and Sam are working on three different audio tracks.
TJ will be programming.
Jason and I went around the class, asking for each person to give one negative and positive thing from their day. Heres what we got:
Negative:
People spitting, being unable to connect to internet, bills, smokers, sad face, loneliness, slow walkers, bullies, pain, littering, cold, injuries, crying, technology, homeless people, pollution, traffic.
Positive:
Technology, bed/sleep, smiles, cat videos, sitting in the sun, chocolate, music, video games, 5pm, drinking, mustaches, meditation, long boarding, fast food, mrs Higgins, nature, generosity, food cooking, busking, adrenalin- car speedometer- red bull, candy, google images.
We plan to find images/clips through youtube, or film some of these things ourselves. However were wanting to have these two short clips made within a couple of days for our experiment installation, which means we may have to rely on youtube.
The three stations could be made up of:
- A film which will evoke some kind of emotion, could potentially be showing very graphic disturbing images.
- The audio corner playing a recording of a speech by a man which would be interpreted differently by the listeners, once again evoking different emotions, also being aware of others interpretations of the recording by being able to physically see where they have placed their string.
- Final corner, haven’t decided what will be here yet.
We have hit a wall in between the conceptual side and the physical network of which we want to portray.
KEEPING IN MIND THAT WE AIM TO:
make people aware of their emotions, of the emotional network.
More so focusing on making the public aware of the emotional network in the room, instead of measuring their reactions to the film/recordings etc….
What was once an almost empty space, is now filled with different pathways of changing emotions. The colours slowly grow and change direction, this physically shows the emotional network within the room, something which you would not be aware of when first entering this installation.
My installation idea:
As you enter the room infront of you, there will be a series of colours representing different emotions. Attached to these colours will be string. Choose which one represents you the best at the time, pick the string up, and pull it along with you to one of the three corners of the room. Once viewing/listening to whatevers infront of you, decide whether or not your emotion has changed from the time you entered the room, if so, attach your string to the new colour, and carry on to the next corner, if it has remained the same, tie it to the original colour, and move on .. repeat until you have been to all three stations, having done so, left with your final coloured string, attach it to the matching colour where you first entered the room.
Installation idea
We could potentially incorporate aspects of our individual research into our installation. Have people choose a particular colour dependant on their mood, enter the room. then pull it behind them as they walk to and from the different research we have made, whether it be a film in one corner, music in the other etc…. eventuating in a room full of different coloured string/material patters, creating a network of different emotions.
Individual research
We each chose a topic we were interested in, created a question around it, and are going to do a little research on it- potentially adding this to the final installation of our network.
My question:
How does context and media influence our view of emotion of subject?
What techniques are used to produce emotions within the viewer of a movie?
- The triumvirate responsible for creating emotion are;
The Writer, who creates the character and lays out the obstacles; The Actor, who gives the character weight and breath; and The Director, who coordinates the technical elements (such as lighting, editing, and music) to achieve the emotional reaction desired.
What sort of components (lighting, sound, dialogue,…) have the most emotional effect on the viewers?
Dr calagari- german horror film- started playing with light and shadows
-clever way of effecting audience through lighting and shadows
-explorative and fun, rather then theoretical based
What causes emotional catharsis in a movie?
- Emotional catharsis is a direct function of how much the audience identifies with the character(s). Catharsis is a journey through dark territory, and you don’t go on that trek unless you can put yourself in a given character’s place, and feel like you’re living that experience.
An emotional network.
Characteristics of emotion
- Strong, important, controlling
- Temperamental/ not static
- Caused by things that happen/ situations
- Environment
- Subconscious
- Abstract
- Personal
- Influence-able (ethics)
- Human Vs robot (organic)
- Shape you/ personality
- Social understanding/ compass
- Transferable (network)
- Help from opinions or not
- External/ non-personal/ indirect
Things which influence emotion
- Events (death/disaster)
- Temperature
- Volume
- Sound type
- Other peoples actions
- Lighting, aesthetics
- Location
Things which influence networks:
- Strength of connection/communication
- Efficiency of communication
- Delay/ping
- Client base (nodes)
- Hub
Internal things which influence emotion:
- Comfort
- Tiredness
- Stress
- Alcohol, Drugs
Ideas:
Emotions in a local network.
Possibly build an installation which explores how other people influence other peoples emotions. Integrated film, music..
Sometimes you have no say in your emotions changing, other people influence this… What is an emotional network?
We must focus on questions for now, not answers!
People are connected by the emotional network, relationships, the way that they feel
Your own decisions effect your emotions
Twitter: allows you to find out little fragments of peoples lives
- emotional connection to the person……
the more dots you have, the better the picture is- twitter, facebook etc, allows you to find out small partial of information about people, photos,
following celebrities- feel like you know them, like they are directly speaking to you
facebook groups- grouping emotions-sympathetic like-minded people who have a common experience
liking things- little things I do which I thought were kind of rare, have groups made about them with 300,000+ likes….. made me realize Im not the only one
Kony- world wide spread over social networks, within 24hours, millions of hits.
What will this be like in the future? Devices will be more and more mobile- clothing linked into a network- huge pressure on the presenter of kony-social network created a monster, everyone knows who he is, judging him, now we know all about the guy who made it, not about the campaign at all.
Emotional connections- historically based?
Emotions can be misinterpreted – two totally different meanings, to someone something can be nothing, and to another it can be something else
Why are we so emotionally involved with social networks?
Indirect emotions- how others in the room are effected by – we want people to be immersed into the installation- experience the entire
“Our group would like to focus on the idea of an emotional network. We are interested by the idea that our emotions can and are continually changing and evolving, affecting others and ourselves through an invisible but clearly tangible network.
OUR GOAL: We want to discover ways that emotions are created, and then how they travel throughout their own, and external networks to affect individuals. We are captured by the idea than a emotion can act like a virus throughout an ‘emotional network’ in the same way a virus might hi-jack a network in order for it to affect a system.
We want to build an understanding of the ‘emotional network’ and then portray our understanding of said network to the public eye through means of an installation.”
More brainstorming:
- Ideas of mapping In an emotional network, how to make things propagate through the network- lots of psychology involved in it.
How emotions can travel through a network of people
Physical mechanism of a transition through a group
How emotions are transmitted into a network
Public intervention?
Think up a scenario of an emotional network which you could propagate through
Crowd mentalities—flocking, crowd dynamics
The how and the what
Constructing a situation which brings an emotional network to life- identify a social network which operates as an emotional network- creates a situation where you can expose its operation.
Framing peoples interaction, tracking emotions- psychological, biological, linguistic , how emotions propagate through different people
Emotions use other networks, not just their own. Emotions are always mediated in some way
How emotions get propagated though existing networks
The Network Project
Group: Racheal, Sam, Tom, Jason, Tj and myself.
Brief:
“Develop a group project that explores the concepts, theories and technologies of networks. Rather than take up obvious or literal responses to the topic explore the ideas and generate projects that extend our
understanding of the issues. This is not necessarily an internet project! You are free to utilize any technologies or media that support your ideas.
The project should highlight some particular aspect or chararcteristic of networks, either
through building a network or making a bit of media about or with a network.
The project could for example be as literal as the creation of a wifi network, but you are
encouraged to look beyond simple computer networks. It could also be the creation of a
social network, a mapping of an existing network like an ecosystem, a performance that
uses a network as it’s material, a film that documents something that we don’t normally
think of as a network, a piece of networked media, the development of a protocol etc.”
Website design
I’m slightly indecisive towards which design I prefer. The black and white home page was my first design, inspired by a third years website. The pink and white version is a lot more feminine, I did struggle with the imagery, not too sure that a growing floral pattern is suitable.
