Reflective evaluation

Now that I have completed my final piece for this project I am able to look back upon my initial brief that I set myself and see if I met my objectives or if the project changed from my initial proposals.

My personal reflective objective was primarily aimed at developing my skills regarding timing and fluidity of pieces. The use of video, animations or images seems secondary in comparison to my primary goal of achieving fluid pieces of work. The projections or medium are only a form I have chosen to use to develop these skills. During the course of this project I have still noticed issues with timings with music and visual connecting. However I seem to be dealing with these as a gradual progression can be seen with each of my experiments as timings become better each time which in turn gives more fluid pieces. The final piece shows the most dramatic increase in my awareness of timings and pace. The use of fast changing backgrounds and patterns on the trainer work with the music. I feel I have worked with the pace of the music and bring the focus onto the trainer as the advert progresses. The idea was to grab attention at first the show the different designs more focused on the trainer as the advert nears the end. The changes in patterns, backgrounds and where the focus is placed all work with change and tempo of the music itself. This piece to me now seem very satisfactory as I feel I have achieved one of my main goals in creating a piece of work that is fluid.

My personal reflective objective was to see how I could possibly use projection mapping within my own work practices in future. The idea of incorporating this into a workshop seems valid and I believe could work really well. The experiments did not only teach me about timings and fluidity but also taught me many valuable lessons about the practicality of projection mapping. Considering the scale of projections, the equipment and softwares required, the environment they will be displayed within, lighting levels are all crucial factors working with this type of medium. My initial idea was to create a mobile workshop that I take with me. Using projection mapping as a part of this now seems slightly impractical. The idea of using projection mapping as part of a workshop still seems valid although I would now consider one longer term venue to carry out such works rather than mobile.

My learning objectives were to create fluid animations/videos which I feel I have achieved with the final piece of this project. To trial materials to see how they react to projections, this was done using smoke, mirrors, water, coloured trainer and detailed items such as the clock face. Each brought up different findings and helped my process overall. The planning of videos, timings and combinations were crucial to all the experiments I carried out. Each had it own concept and were planned out how I felt it best to portrait the concept, timings were considered along with music and pacing of pieces and the combination of video, images and animation were dealt with on a piece by piece basis. The content was created or used in what way fitted the piece best, these were decided upon what was the main focus or purpose of each piece. All pieces worked upon a theme or conceptual idea and each would focus on one or more aspects of projection mapping. The mapping, animation, materials and timings were all aspects that had to be considered and prioratised. The final piece collects all aspects together and in addition also adds the consideration of projection mapping softwares.

Final piece

I tried to give some context to my final piece for this project. I decided to try and create an advert for converse trainers using projection mapping. The reason I done this was to try and show what I have learned and how this may be used within the creative industries. The focus was not some much on the idea of an advert but was still based upon the experimenting with projection mapping.

This experiment ended up being far more difficult and time consuming than I had imagined it would be. Although it is by far the shortest length of video I have produced it far exceeded the others in both technical ability and execution. The timings between animation and music were critical to this piece especially as it is so short in length. This is probably the most satisfying part for me that I can see a vast improvement with my timings and pacing.

The experimental side involved me learning new software Madmapper which is specifically for projection mapping and also to see the difference of reflections from coloured surfaces. Learning the new software allowed me to overcome issues I was having with this piece and also rounded off what I had previously learned about mapping processes although this was only a demo version so the logo can be seen on the final work. Using a coloured trainer showed me a difference in how light might reflect of surfaces that were not white.

The final video can be seen on link  https://vimeo.com/125815387

The components and further explanation can also be seen on link  https://vimeo.com/126245344

Experiment No 4

This experiment was to see how projections might be altered by water. My initial idea was to try and create an underwater world with coral and movies of fish layered over. However this was not possible with the scale of projection I could display within the water. The image above shows how little of the water surface could be covered. The main issues were distance to allow the projection to be bigger, height as the projection stand was already at full height and the angle as the projector was already propped up by a book. Ideally this projection should have been done overhead which would require some method of fixing the projector. Also the ceiling would likely be to low to allow for a full scale projection of the bath. The lessons I learned were probably more valuable due to this being my most unsuccessful experiment. The scale of projection, the distances required, angles and heights that must also be considered when carrying out any projection mapping project. This experiment threw up many issues which I probably had not considered fully in my other experiments so it was definitely worth while carrying out.

The finished video can be seen on link  https://vimeo.com/126234203

The components and further explanation are also on link  https://vimeo.com/126239997