Here's an updated version of the animation. I took out the part that seemed to have negative reception across the board (the one with the Lord of the Rings reference).
Animation
I didn't get a good consensus among the faculty as to how best to display it. With my mentor critique, Susan suggested using interactive user-imput to control the animation (and have it projected). Bob and Susan thought that it was best to be lost without any control over the speed, and for the interaction to be passive. Robert thought it should be kept small and precious and hung on the wall so that it would draw people in. Karen thought that something small could be easily ignored, and it would be best projected.
I'm anxious to here your imput. For those of you who saw it projected, do you think it works better displayed on a nice computer screen? The colors do seem to be sharper. On the other hand, projected it has an unexpected but interesting interplay with the audience's shadows. Because the background of the animation is black, it creates some neat negative space (along with some form of interaction).
So yeah, I'm pretty much stumped.
I agree that it is two different experiences going from the computer screen to the larger screen. My feeling is that you're trying to overwhelm the viewer and get them to understand how overwhelming all of this useless information is, in that sense it is fitting to project it large and make it even more overwhelming. Also, I think the audience's interaction should be minimal, indirect, as Bob said it's the loss of control... I think the shadows have an interesting touch. Hope this helps!
ReplyDeleteYou definitely have a dilemma on your hands! I'm actually struggling with the same issue myself in away, related to the scale of my work, and at the moment I'm feeling a little bit stumped myself.
ReplyDeleteWhile I don't think I've found the best answer yet, I definitely have lots of questions! I think it's important for both of us to consider what effect each option has on the audience - both as individuals and as a group - and what effect we WANT it to have on our audience, as well as how each of the options supports our concepts.
In the midst of the various forms of "communication" that we are examining all around us, what exactly are we trying to say about it? And what is the best way to say that?
Do we want to address our audience as a group, forcing them to confront the work in a way that can't be ignored, like a loudspeaker shouting at them? Or do we want to engage individuals in a more subtle way, one or two at a time, more like a private conversation? How much initiative and/or control do we want our viewers to have as they respond to the work? And what purpose(s) does it serve to give away or maintain our control over various elements? Do we want our viewers to experience our work in a way that is similar to (and in a way reinforces) the ways that they typically engage with texts, or do we want to set up a greater contrast that calls even more attention to the fact that we're asking them to look at it in a new way?
I guess for me it's all about the implications of each of choice, and the effects that we want to achieve.
Let's keep talking...
P.S. I just watched the updated animation, and I think it's AMAZING. I like it even better than the earlier versions. Your choices about what speeds up and what slows down, freezes, and fades away are really powerful. Gotta run now, but when you see me, remind me that I have one other comment for you.
ReplyDelete