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Evaluation

“Psychedelic Escape” is a video projection installation. Relaxation is the purpose of this project, the cultural context of this project is for mental health and emotion expression.

 As people with mental health problems are experiencing social isolation, there are not many people understand or care about the mental illness or can not control their emotions. The videos are divided into three parts, lost; loved; healing. Each part is supported by a poem. First, it makes people understand how those who have mental illness such as depression and anxiety feel meanwhile to express the emotion of patients and make them feel relateable. Second,it is about the emotions of being loved. It expresses that people with mental illness are not alone there are people care about them and mental health, everyone deserves love. Third, it is the healing emotions to cheer people up and encourage them to face their challenge and pain.

 The audience of this installation could be anyone since everybody has stress and need to relax, also most of people experience a period of depression in their life. This installation could be at an art museum, school or office.

 The artist, Pipilotti Rist, has a similar work called Worry Will Vanish (2014). The content of the video is a journey inside human body, “It is created by manipulating close up images of skin, creases and the textures of human flesh. Every so often there are flashes of close-up images from nature; blurring the boundary between the internal and the external and exploring our relationship with the world around us, from the particular to the universal.” (CW, 2014) The video style is colour- saturated and there are a lot of close-up, which helps people to know the texture of different things and get to know the relationship between human body and universe. It also inspired me when i was editing my video,I zoomed in the video to create a close-up look so that audience can see the details of the texture and motion of ink floating in water, when audience really look into those motions they might feel relaxed.

“Worry Will Vanish” has a cozy space for visitors to sit or lay down on the floor which is a smart idea because taking off shoes makes visitors feel this is time to relax in this safe space. In terms of my installation, instead of using comfortable pillows or carpets i used colorful reflecting materials on the floor and walls to reflect lights in order to create a colorful environment.

The artist created this space with relaxing sound and video to make visitors give themselves a permission to slow down and stretch out, allow their mind to forget about their worry and just feel this whole environment, which is quite similar to the purpose of my project. 

As for the successes of my project, using abstract art and poems to take audience into an emotional and colorful world to express true emotions and make people relax and release pressure. However the weakness is the decoration of the installation could be improved, i think add more cozy seats for example bean bags would create a more comfortable and relaxed user experience.

 In terms of the further development, such installation for relaxation, emotion expressing and mental health could be used in video art or advertising for mental health organization, it also could be used in hospital for improving mental health.

 Reference:

CW. (2014). Pipilotti Rist: Worry Will Vanish, Hauser & Wirth. [Online] Available from: https://www.culturewhisper.com/r/things_to_do/preview/3058

 Pipilotti, R.(2014) Worry Will Vanish.

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Contributor Release Form

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Technical Problems

Due to the projection will be on three walls from different angle, three projector will be needed. In order to make sure all three different videos play in sync i have to connect three projector to one laptop with Matrox Triple Head 2 Go, which was not as easy as i thought. 

I download the Matrox TripleHead2Go Digital edition driver from Matrox website. When i wired up and did the setup but there was only one projector was working, the other two could not detect my laptop. As for this issue i am still working on it for now.

Update:(07/05/19)

The triple head 2 go connecting problem has been solved out on 7th May. It successfully connected with a PC and three projectors, now all three projectors display on screen so that i can play three videos on each projector.

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User Experience

Audience 1: (25/04/19)

I showed three videos separately to him. After watching the video he said he liked the colors and how the ink flows in the water however the backgroud music is a little bit low. i agreed with him then i turned the background music a bit up.

Audience 2: (02/05/19)

In order to play three video together I have combined three video together to a 5760 x 1080px video. however they seem quite different from each other since i worked on them separately. She said the colors are very beautiful and powerful. She suggested that at some emotional moments i should make all three videos show the same footage because it could be distracted when there are too much colors, she felt like it was hard to focus on three beautiful things it  would be better to focus on one. also she suggested i should consider to make the colors of three videos match each other more. 

Therefore i have changed some colors in order to make all three video match together, and i have switched it to three same videos at the emotional moment.

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Third Party Materials Reference List

Music:

HELLAND, P.B. (2018).  Deep Underwater ★147. [Online] Available at: https://youtu.be/OVct34NUk3U. [Accessed: 26th April]

Poem:

KAUR, R. (2014). Milk and honey. Canada:  Andrews McMeel Publishing

SMITH, S. (1972).  Collected Poems of Stevie Smith. New Directions Publishing Corporation.

Video Footage:

MEDICUS PHILLIP, (1939). Home Movies: Medicus collection: New York World’s Fair, 1939-40 (Reel 4). [Online video]. Available from: https://archive.org/details/0638_HM_Medicus_collection_New_York_Worlds_Fair_1939-40_Reel_4_17_00_37_00. [Accessed: 31st March]

GETTY IMAGES, (1946).  Downtown Los Angeles streets. [Online video]. Available from: https://archive.org/details/PET0981_R-2_LA_color. [Accessed: 31st March]

BARR FILMS, (1976).  If Mirrors Could Speak. [Online video]. Available from: https://archive.org/details/self_image_film. [Accessed: 1st April]

ZFOOTAGE, (2015). Abstract Turquoise Background Loop.[Online video]. January 4th. Available from: https://archive.org/details/turquoiselights. [Accessed: 11th April]

PIXABAY.  Jellyfish, Tank, Water, Life. [Online video]. Available from:  https://archive.org/details/pixabay-10480. [Accessed: 11th Apirl]

PIXABAY. Space, Space Travel, Wormhole.  [Online video]. Available from: https://archive.org/details/pixabay-21542.  [Accessed: 11th Apirl]

PIXABAY.  Space, Galaxy, Abstract, Lights.  [Online video]. Available from: https://archive.org/details/pixabay-5200.  [Accessed: 11th Apirl]

ZFOOTAGE, (2015).  moviesTurquoise Abstract Background Loop. [Online video].March 10th. Available from: https://archive.org/details/turquoise_201503.  [Accessed: 11th April]

SHIKIGAMI202. Year of The City - DJMix #0085. [Online Video]. Available from: https://archive.org/details/Shikigami202YearOfTheCityDJMix0085X264. [Accessed: 20th April]

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The Idea of poem

I came up with the idea of recording poems because poetry is a great way to express deep emotions, so do colors. As the purpose of this video is to use color to help people relax and deal with their deep emotions and their mental  health. The poems will make audience feel more relatable.

the poems include three parts, lost, love and heal. Dealing with mental health is a lonely road, i use Not waving but drowning to express the loneliness and misunderstanding from other people. 

People all need love and care instead of judging and isolation, so i use the poem from milk and honey to make audience to realize that love is around them and it is ok to face their pain or stress and it is ok to open up to others.

Not Waving but Drowning

by Steve Smith

Nobody heard him, the dead man,   But still he lay moaning: I was much further out than you thought   And not waving but drowning. Poor chap, he always loved larking And now he’s dead It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way,   They said. Oh, no no no, it was too cold always   (Still the dead one lay moaning)   I was much too far out all my life   And not waving but drowning.

Milk and Honey

by Rupi Kaur

“ Love will come

and when love comes

love will hold you

love will call your name

and you will melt

sometimes though

love will hurt you but

love will never mean to

love will play no games

cause love knows life

has been hard enough already”

“you whisper

i love you

what you mean is

i don’t want you to leave”

“it is a part of the

human experience to feel pain

do not be afraid

open yourself to it”

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Adobe Premiere Pro Tutorial

How to edit slow motion and fast motion video in Premiere Pro tutorial:

https://youtu.be/VI2BC45s81g

This tutorial is about how edit videos into slow motion, fast motion and freez frame with time remapping. I have tried to edit my video into slow motion but it was not smooth, in this tutorial i have learned how to create a ramp to make the motion smooth between normal speed video and slow speed video.

Youtube chanel: Premiere Gal

Video Link: https://youtu.be/VI2BC45s81g

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Free Video Sources

Website: https://archive.org/

This a website with a great number of old movies, home videos, art videos and they are free to download.

After tutorials with supervisor i came up with the idea of import videos of features or abstract lights from online free downloded videos. Different layers will be added and mix them with different effects and it will create a more abstract and colourful effects. Also the footages of sea, beach, and features that were shoot by myself will be mixed in this video.

The work that i have done so far:

The videos that i have downloaded from https://archive.org/ :

1.  [Home Movies: Medicus collection: New York World's Fair, 1939-40] (Reel 4) byMedicus, Phillip Publication date1939-40

UsagePublic Domain Mark 1.0

Available at: https://archive.org/details/0638_HM_Medicus_collection_New_York_Worlds_Fair_1939-40_Reel_4_17_00_37_00

2.  [Downtown Los Angeles streets]

Publication date1946TopicsMotion pictures (Process plates), Motion pictures (Night scenes), Los Angeles (Downtown), Motion pictures (Theaters), Streets

Available at: https://archive.org/details/PET0981_R-2_LA_color

3.  If Mirrors Could Speak : Self-Image Film

Publication date: 1976

Topic: ssocial engineering

Publisher: Barr Films

Available at: https://archive.org/details/self_image_film

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Sounds

Website: https://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/Signal_Identification_Guide

There are many signal audio samples in this website and all the audios are free to download. It would be fun to have some experiments using signal audio in my video.

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Demo 03

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DEMO 02

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DEMO 01

I used needle tubing to squirt ink into the water and also tried dropping ink with dropper, which has created two different outcomes. 

The demos was edited in Premiere to create a different speed motion.

In next stage i will shoot more footage with different color and materials, and i will learn more editing skills from online tutorial and professional skills workshop.

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SHOOTING FOOTAGE (14/03/19)

Camera: Blackmagic Ursa Mini Pro

Lighting kit

Ink:  Acrylic ink

Color: green, yellow, blue, red, white, gold

tools: needle tubing, dropper

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Online Tutorial

How camera works:

I watched this tutorial on YouTube to learn how lenses and camera works so that it helps me to operate a camera.

Here’s my notes below:

Video link:

https://youtu.be/YojL7UQTVhc

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Professional skill workshop-07/03/19

Premiere Pro

I have learned basic sequence setting, frame size and edit mode in Premiere, and how to edit a video into slow motion and quick motion. These skills are very helpful for editing my video since my final project is a video that needs to be edited to a slow motion one. 

Here are some notes from the workshop :

(Since these are some basic settings in Premiere and I have known some of them before, there are not that much notes to take)

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Video art exhibition

Bill Viola-Life Death Rebirth (Royal Academy of Arts)

-Slowly Turning Narrative, 1992. Video/sound installation

I went to Bill’s exhibition on 18th Feb. Slowly turning narrative is one of my favourite works. A rotating screen is placed in the centre of the large and dark room, one side is a mirror.  One color and one black-and-white video projections at opposite ends of space. The mirror side creates beautiful reflection on the wall. amplified mono sound is played by five speakers. Audience stand still or walk around the rotating screen to have a different experience.

The idea of projection on a mirror inspired me, it is worth to try to project on to different materials for my installation.

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TEST 1

Colour: Gold; Silver

Materials: Acrylic ink; Water

Camera: iPhone7 Plus

This the first try of filming ink motion in water, I’ll try more colors in different materials such as oil, milk, soap in further tests befor I get hand on shooting my final video.