BCM116: Project Prototype + Reflection

Today I presented my idea for an immersive media exhibition; an audio-visual work utilising projection and mirrors and aiming to centre the participants through interaction and agency. Taking inspiration from a variety of works detailed in the slides below, I want to create a projection sequence featuring the hands of people in my life, recorded as they speak about various things. Their body language will reflect their stories, and these stories will be mixed through multiple speakers. I’d like for the separate voices to interact with each other in interesting and unexpected ways, giving the participants the opportunity to take what they might away from the concept based on their own experience of it. Particularly, I’d like to mimic the work of Guy Sherwin’s Man With Mirror, in this case, in an effort to create a sense of self-awareness within the immersive experience of the piece – to reflect the audience’s body language back to them.

Presentation Slides here.

In order to follow through with my idea, I need to carry out my ‘interviews’, as such. I need to get footage of people’s hands and record their voice as they talk. It will take some time to do this. I will need to speak to multiple people, and then edit the footage to pick out usable moments, and then create the visuals and audio for this project. I will then need to play with the tech and possibilities of the space I’m presenting in. I’ll need to identify and wrestle with any issues that might come up in the final project, and maybe test-exhibit it to observe the audience’s reaction and make tweaks to better achieve my intent for the work. I received feedback after presenting that although I’ve built a strong conceptual background for this idea, one with parts that speak to each other in interesting and nuanced ways, I need to start experimenting more consciously with the idea. In the video below I have taken the step to test out the use of mirrors in my work.

Prototype:

YouTube: BCM116 Proof of Concept