Video Installation

For this unit we are studying Video Installation, and as part of the project we went to a couple of places so that we could understand the concept. We went to the infinite mix and the Tate modern museum where we saw many exhibits.

Video installation is a contemporary art form that combines video technology with installation art, making use of all aspects of the surrounding environment to affect the audience.

Stan Brakhage -

An American non-narrative filmmaker. He is considered to be one of the most important figures in 20th-century experimental film.

He has made work such as Mothlight and Stellar.

In the mothlight video you can see how he might have used the space, the images are could be leaves or some sort of insect wing, thus explaining the name of the video. The way he could've used the space is simply putting object in the room and shooting the video many times over.

Whereas the other video could have been watercolour paint or any paint which looks like the universe or galaxies therefore calling it stellar. This particular work doesn't seem to have an audience as its a very simple context. I would say under 12 may not comprehend the concept of the art and this may appeal more to people who appreciate contemporary art.

The first one that really caught my attention was this one about an elderly man talking deeply about life. He was wearing a suit and there was no background just a shining light on him, the whole video was also in black and white. All around the room there was televisions where it showed him again but in different angles and every video happened simultaneously as the angles switched between tv shows, it was very intriguing and a good use of space.

For that kind of space I would do something similar but instead have all the videos go one after the other so they form one story using the different TVs as one whole projector. It was interesting because it gave off a sort of sad, nostalgic emotion.

Another interesting thing in the infinite mix was a room that was band playing music, the musicians were playing their instruments and the audience could really see the environment and the ambience and the usage of space they had when they filmed and made the music.

The main exhibit in the Tate modern museum was interesting because it interacted with a lot of the space and the audience. It started off as a normal short and then it went to a blue screen where then rain sounds would pour out of the speakers above us, it was a very relaxing and interactive experience as everyone in the room were laying down. There were also 2 more screens, which made a really good use of the space.

If I had that usage of space I would do something completely different, maybe using the space to interpret seasons and have 4 screens instead.

After that was finished I explored more and found what happened to be a similar exhibit to the one in the infinite mix, using televisions as a projector, they were slightly more vintage and showed a variation of different things.

Sonia Falcone -

Is a Bolivian painter and artist who also focuses on video installation. Her most famous work is 'Biennale in Santa Cruz'. Its mostly colours and movements between a range of different sized rectangles that are used as a screen so they all have different colours and different movement that when put together create a beautiful masterpiece of colours. The space was very well used as its a large exhibit and its hard to look at everything at once. It's also an interesting space because the colours can move around and blend and make any movement and all the space would be used. I interpret this piece as emotions, every set of colour means a different emotion, it could also tell a story without having any images just colours, and that's what truly spectacular about this piece. I would say the target audience could range from 12 to mid 30s only because there is a lot of flashing lights and for people who appreciate video art installation.

Bill Viola -

is a contemporary video and video installation artist whose artistic expression depends upon electronic, sound, and image technology. His works focus on the ideas behind fundamental human experiences such as birth, death, mostly to do with life. His work is mostly based around people. He uses the space to put up the video installations as art and also to put objects to correspond to the video. The interpretation that I get from watching his videos relies on what he uses. There is a lot of usage of water and fire which represents death. But it could also mean water as life and fire as death and destruction. I believe he is trying to notion the audience his own interpretation of birth, life and death. The target audience I would say would be over 15 as it has nudity and disturbing images associated with death. His ideas also involve a lot of people so that it all revolves around the birth, life and death of that particular person. The idea that he is trying to portrait is a story but also contemporary video art.

Plan:

Ideas:

-A memory involving music when I was a little girl.

-A dad walking to the beach with his daughter.

-A nightmare I had as a child

We used a Steenbeck to edit 16mm tapes so that we can see how they used to edit back when it was first invented. This isn't only a fun new look on film but also educational, it truly made me appreciate editing softwares as they are much easier to use. I learnt that the dotted line goes at the bottom and the tape comes form the outside connecting to another piece of machinery so that it functions correctly. One of the fun and positive things about the Steenbeck is that you cut exactly on the frame you want and you can always tape it back in.

Idea:

I decided to go with my first idea.

My found footage is of a little girl staring into the camera saying she doesn't like boys. That gives ideas because its an old footage and it looks like it could've been a memory or a thought. I also thought of using the idea of that memory and using my vinyl player and record the music and the record player itself to go on the big monitor, which is a white board. The space I will be using will be similar to the exhibits I've seen in the places I've been to. The idea of using more than one monitor in one room. This is because I could create a very different and inventive way of telling a story, another reason is so that not only am I using the space but also people can choose what they look at because it had no order. I will purposely put the beginning at the end of the classroom because its the beginning of the classroom.

As there are 16 computers in total, I will put the first footage on the first 4 monitors and then another footage on another 4 and so forth. The big screen will have the recording of the record player and I'll time it so that everything starts simultaneously as soon as people enter. I will also have it on a loop as its video installation.

For my own footage I'll be filming my little sister reading, to show that its me when I was younger, I'm also going to use old footage of me then I was young to add to the memory theme. It also makes for a more interesting video installation, by making it more interactive.

Primary research:

I went around the classroom to check ask people which idea they would like best out of my 3. After some time I also asked other people outside the classroom overall these are the results:

First idea: 4

Second idea: 2

Third idea: 1

This wasn't enough information therefore I decided to make a survey to see what people would like to watch. The feedback I got was not as mixed as I thought. The audience mostly chose the first idea, here are the reasons why.

A memory involving music when I was a little girl.

A dad walking to the beach with his daughter.

A nightmare I had as a child.

Use all the monitors in the room to make a spacious video installation and mostly separate all the footage.

Record the music on my vinyl and play over the footage aswell as record the actual vinyl playing.

Have found footage and my own recordings, paralleling each other.

Record own sounds of the beach and make sure to play it while there's footage of moving water on the big screen.

Make whole area be hard but have random torches in places so that it looks scary.

Find footage that most resembles sleep and to also record someone sleeping.

Risk assessment:

Risk

Level

(Low/Medium/High)

Possibility

(Low/Medium/High)

Safety Measures

In event

High

Low

Handle with care

Be careful with handling this the equipment, also make sure not to break it even more

Medium

Take care of them rsponsibly

Make sure to stop the recording and make sure they are okay, and make sure to fix the problem that hurt them in the first place

High

Medium

Take equipment and run

Camera breaks

Medium

Someone gets hurt

Rain

Stop what you doing and put equipment away.

I'm going to be using a tripod and a camera to film the footage on the Steenbeck, as I already edited it on the steenbeck I will only need to record it and I will be using that as one footage for the 4 monitors. I will also be using a camera and tripod to shoot the other planned videos for the rest of the installation.

Number

Shot type

Location

Length

Dialogue

Music & Sound

Description

Actors

Equip

1

2

3

4

5

6

Close up

medium shot

extreme close up

Close up

long shot

medium shot

indoors living room

4 minutes

2 minutes

10 seconds

20 seconds

30-40 seconds

30 seconds

Record player playing the whole song

Record player playing parts of the song

my sister's eyes paralleling the little girl on found footage

girl reading

camera and tripod

no actors

myself

no actors

vinyl playing

no sound

talking

no dialogue

no sound

Helaine

no dialogue

talking

myself

footage of home video vhs tape recorded

I recorded my found footage and made sure to zoom in to the right size so that you can see her face when she speaks. I then decided to add my own footage of my sister reading but with the same mannerisms so that its as if its paralleling her and add that to my own video installation.

What I like specifically about this video is that it looks vintage and therefore has the nostalgia of memory. The little girl talking could be me as a child and therefore suitable for this memory video installation theme. The man walking by the coast is the indication of a memory I had when I went on holiday with my family. The other bits of the books opening and closing is a memory that shows how much I used to read and its also there to fill in gaps showing how abstract video installation is. I also decided to put the little girl at the start of my exhibit so that people understand the rest of it such as my own footage will also be of a little girl and it will be a comparison of this found footage.

Video 1 - Record player - smart board

Record plays as everything else loops. It plays classic music which I used to listen to a lot as a child, relates back to the other videos and also relates to the theme memories.

Video 4 - Little girl

This video plays on 4 monitors in the room.

The first 4 macs in the room all looping in sync simultaneously, as the other videos play in loop.

Video 3 - Books

This shot loops around until music stops as all others also play simultaneously. They also play in between little girl and the shots I filmed.

Video 2 - My footage

As I only have one of my own footages of my sister, I decided to make sure I have old VHS tapes so that I can incorporate that and have the theme of memory.

I thought after having a survey I would take it a step further and ask a much more ranged audience. I thought having a sit down with some people in a room and share my ideas I would get some feedback and see what I could improve one, so I gathered a couple of people in a room and got their opinions:

Evaluation

I decided to colour grade some of my footages so they all look more pleasing to the eye and more artistic, making it look more and feel more like memories. I also then wanted to add more footage instead of repeating loads of them, replacing some of my own footage with old footage from old cassettes from my childhood, making it real memories.

Use old childhood footage

Audience:

For the audience, I decided I wanted to give off a nostalgic feeling. I would like 5 people at a time so that they can see what is going on in the room, as there will be a lot going on at the same time. The room must be dark and I will be using all the monitors in the room. The room I would like to use is room E346 Floor 3 South Thames College.

The room must be dark as the videos are quite vintage looking and hard to see under a harsh light. Another reason is because I want it to come off as nostalgic an as if they were to watch their own home videos, but also because all the videos are scattered it gives more freedom for the audience to interpret the video installation as they want, and so they can understand for themselves and have their own opinions.

The classroom is on the 3rd flood room E346. The reason I chose this classroom, is because I know it well and I know how many monitors it has, because I want to use as many as I can

For my video installation I will use all the monitors in the room. I'll also want the room as dark as possible and make sure I loop all the videos so that I don't need to replay it every time. I also want the big screen to be the main screen to that everyone can see where the main music is coming from and also so its not too much going on at once too fast

After some time of searching boxes for CDs, the only thing I could find of my old self and home videos were VHSc cassettes. This made it harder for me as I don't currently own a VHS player. I had to buy an adaptor and use that with the tape I had and play it in the VHS player at school. After I saw the footage I wanted, I recorded everything from the TV in the same room. This made it look old and nostalgic, aswell as that it was also a very good quality enough to watch and hear the audio. I decided I would use all that I shot. Replacing some of my pre-recorded videos of my sisters. I used some footage of the beach, me playing with my dog and grandma, and other footage of me. This relates to the theme of memories, as they are my memories. The beach footage will make a good background aswell as sound with the classical music. It doesn't need any colour grading or effects as it's already filmed on a tv screen so it has that old home video effect for theme of memories.

I used a classroom that is full of macs, so that I could use all 16 macs. Sadly some of the macs weren't working so I decided to use 8 so that all of them show at least once, I looped all of them so that they would be the same length as the main video with the record playing the music. It was still affective as it was interactive and not too much at once. It was also very effective as I used most of the aspects of what I was asked to do. I used 2 of my found footages, my own footages to go with the found footages, and then I use the idea of memories, the other thing I also used was making sure I used the space I have been given to make the video installation and make sure I use the space in a creative way. The audience I believe also found it very intriguing and I believe that it was effective in the way of video installation and in a really good exhibit.

There was hardly any lighting and mostly a dark room, this is because I wanted the audience to pay attention to my work and make sure they find every video as they are all very important for this particular video installation. Another important element was the sound. I decided to record the sound myself, with my record player and a camera, I used a vinyl and played classical music as its something I used to listen to a lot as a kid, therefore it would fit in to memories. The other videos didn't have sound as I decided the classical music would be overwhelming as it is. But the footage of the little girl speaking was crucial therefore I also decided to put the sound on that footage too. The camera shots for my own videos were very important, as I wanted to make something contemporary, I thought about what I should do but decided to keep it classic with an element of abstract. The video for the vinyl player is a High angle shot so that it looks over the record player so its as if a person is looking down on it. I used a medium shot to show they little girl reading, this is a memory of myself reading as I used to rad a lot of book as a child. The other videos were of me when I was younger therefore I had to get a VHSc adaptor and put it in the VHS player, play it on a TV, and then I recorded the shot with a camera and edited them on premiere pro, so that I could cut away all the unwanted footage.

The found footage I found was of an old tv show called 7 up, its still made today and its about 7 year olds that every 7 years they look at where they are now. It's of a little girl who is complaining about the boys in the place she is at. She explains how she doesn't like boys but she likes her friends that are girls. I founds this interesting because the little girl is very serious about this and she has a mysterious tone and facial expression, the close up of her squinted eyes were very eye catching and makes the audience take her more seriously. I decided to use this footage with sound and in the middle of the room as its a found footage that was interesting and could make sense with my video installation. Having it places spread across the room could give the sense of a timeline that could be used as interpretation, and so the audience can take notion of the parallels of the little girl in the found footage and the little girl in the footage I filmed. The vintage outlook of it and the way it was filmed to the time it was filmed really goes well with the music I picked out fo this.

I believe the looping was the most difficult part as I couldn't start all of them at the same time, therefore I had to start all of them as quickly as possible and have them loop until the music was over. I decided to only showcase it once but that gave me enough feedback as I knew what I had done good and what could've been improved, this is by making sure I have them looped for a longer amount of time so that it doesn't matter if they start before the music because the music is the start and finish whereas everything else loops. That was good advice as next time I would make sure to do that. Another thing thing was the music. I think next time I would've liked to use maybe a shorter piece of music or a more modern piece of music as I would've also listened to that as a young child. Maybe even made my own music to put on top of that moving disc footage, but I was quite pleased on how that turned out. I got mostly positive feedback from the people that attended my video installation.