Maps  and  Journeys  Work      Original  Idea      The  original  idea  consisted  of  a  model  brain  with  USB’s  coming  out  of  slots  that  would  be  cut  into  the  brain.  The  idea  was  quite  adventurous  and  I  needed  help  of  the  visual  side  as  I  was  stuck  for  ideas  on  how  the  piece  could  develop.  Lauren  first  approached  me,  whose  idea  to  do  with  Anxiety  could  link  in  well  with  my  project.  Julia,  who  was  fascinated  by  the  scientific  aspects  of  the  piece,  then  approached  me.  Lastly  Thomas  approached  me,  who  I  felt  could  really  help  with  the  visual  inspiration  and  technical  elements.      Synopsis/Proposal  of  our  project      Our  project  is  an  interactive  installation  art  piece  consisting  of  a  brain  (Made  from  vacuum  formed  plastic)  a  laptop  (to  play  the  visual  elements  and  sound)  and  a  projector/television  (to  show  the  visual  elements).  The  4  main  elements,  being  the  lobes  of  the  brain  (Frontal,  Temporal,  Parietal  and  Occipital)  need  to  work  as  a  whole  to  produce  a  clear  narrative  structure,  however  if  one  element  is  taken  away,  it  affects  the  brain.  For  example,  if  the  Temporal  lobe’s  functionality  is  taken  away,  there  will  be  no  sound,  such  as  speech  as  this  lobe  deals  with  recognition  of  different  things.    The  Frontal  Lobe  will  visually  activate  an  array  of  color,  in  an  aura  like  state.  This  represents  emotions.  The  Occipital  Lobe  will  visually  activate  a  number  of  black  and  white  images  focusing  on  specific  details,  such  as  the  dog  in  the  film,  street  signs  and  so  on  as  this  part  of  the  brain  represents  visual  processing.  The  Temporal  Lobe  will  audibly  activate  segments  of  sounds  that  will  be  difficult  to  understand  alone.                          Drawing  by  Thomas  Doukinitsas                      The  piece  itself  requires  human  touch  to  trigger  off  each  element,  and  when  all  4  lobes  are  touched  collectively,  it  brings  together  the  elements  and  plays  a  simplistic  narrative  film,  a  person  walking  a  dog  through  a  park.  Using  Quartz  Composer,  each  element  has  been  split  and  through  the  touching  of  any  four  parts,  it  triggers  a  key  on  a  keyboard  that  when  held  down,  it  will  play  that  specific  part.  The  ‘up’  key  controls  the  emotions  (colorful,  abstract  visuals),  the  ‘down’  key  controls  the  black  and  white  image  that  will  appear,  the  ‘left’  key  controls  the  sound  and  the  ‘right’  key  controls  the  logic,  bringing  it  all  together.      The  meaning  of  the  piece  relates  to  the  idea  of  the  components  of  the  brain,  more  specifically  the  lobes,  which  need  to  work  as  a  sequence,  so  if  one  lobe  stops  functioning  properly,  the  whole  brain  is  affected.  The  piece  is  really  an  insight  into  how  important  each  individual  part  of  the  brain  is,  widening  people’s  knowledge  further,  making  people  think  about  its  importance.    

 Research    http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/kinser/Structure1.html    When  researching  into  the  brain,  I  looked  at  a  few  websites.  One  of  which  gave  in  depth  details  into  the  parts  of  the  brain,  specifying  that  the  ‘Lobes’  were  the  sections  of  the  ‘Largest  Part  of  the  Brain.’  This  website  simplified  the  parts  of  the  brain  and  their  functions,  which  really  helped  when  it  came  to  understanding  more  about  the  brain.      

 Artistic/Visual      

                                               

Image  from  http://anewlifewandering.com/2014/04/09/creative-­‐vs-­‐artistic-­‐right-­‐left-­‐brain/    This  website  was  really  interesting  to  look  into  as  it  explained  the  image  as:      

“The  right  brain  –  left  brain  theory  originated  in  the  work  of  Roger  W.  Sperry.  In  the  1960s,  while  

studying  the  effects  of  epilepsy,  Sperry  discovered  that  cutting  the  corpus  callosum  could  reduce  

or  eliminate  seizures.  

Because  the  corpus  callosum  connects  the  two  hemispheres  of  the  brain,  the  left  and  right  sides  of  

these  patients’  brains  could  no  longer  communicate.  Many  split-­‐brain  patients  found  themselves  

unable  to  name  objects  that  were  processed  by  the  right  side  of  the  brain,  but  were  able  to  name  

objects  that  were  processed  by  the  left  side  of  the  brain.  Based  on  this  information,  Sperry  

suggested  that  language  was  controlled  by  the  left-­‐side  of  the  brain.”    

I  found  this  really  interesting  as  there  are  arguments  throughout  history  that  argue  that  the  left  

brain  (Scientific,  logistical  thinking)  and  right  brain  (Artistic,  creative  thinking)  theory  does  not  

exist  and  I  find  that  fascinating.  The  image  itself  was  also  a  visual  influence  on  our  project  as  it  

made  me  want  to  make  the  project  colourful  and  creative,  thinking  ‘outside  the  box’  when  it  

came  to  its  aesthetics,  rather  than  making  it  a  simple  pink  coloured  brain  model  that  most  

would  expect.  

                                                                                                                                                     Image  From  http://thediagonal.com/tag/brain/    I  found  this  piece  similarly  inspirational  to  the  previous  website  as  it  inspired  me  to  think  more  about  my  creative  side  of  my  brain,  as  I  feel  im  quite  logical  and  strategic  as  a  person,  however  

creativity  and  freedom  is  needed  to  open  up  another  world  of  ideas,  so  seeing  artistic  visual  pieces  like  this  inspire  me  to  think  more  creatively  rather  than  being  more  straightforward  and  simplistic.    

Image  from  http://www.instructables.com/id/The-­‐Brain-­‐an-­‐external-­‐hard-­‐drive-­‐and-­‐light-­‐sculptu/    This  website  came  crucial  when  it  came  to  making  the  brain  model  and  thinking  more  about  the  project’s  physical  aesthetics.  The  creator,  Quentin  Thurtle,  described  the  piece  as  follows:      “A  while  back,  I  was  asked  to  make  a  floor-­‐standing,  animated  brain,  external  hard  drive.  It  was  to  'light  up'  when  the  hard  drive  was  accessed  and  'look  good'.  

When  idle,  it  has  a  red,  throbbing  'pulse'.  When  the  hard-­‐drive  is  accessed,  it  has  a  number  of  animated  LED  effects,  which  make  it  light-­‐up  like  a  Christmas  tree!  

This  Instructable  gives  information  about  the  build.  I  made  a  blog  about  the  project,  but  have  only  had  one  comment  in  two  years!  Hence,  I  thought  I  would  give  the  project  more  exposure.  

In  this  Instructable  you  can  see:  

• Sculpting  a  life-­‐size  clay  brain  and  vacuum-­‐forming  a  transparent  version  of  it  

• Installing  the  numerous  LEDs  and  modifying  old  hard-­‐drives  to  form  part  of  the  sculpture  • Creating  the  PIC  microcontroller  circuit  boards  which  control  the  effects  • Building  the  laser-­‐cut,  illuminated  'spine'  • Building  the  black  base  and  installing  the  real  external  hard-­‐drive  inside  

It  is  not  a  full  set  of  instructions  to  make  something  identical,  more  a  set  of  ideas  which  might  be  of  interest  to  others.  

                                           Quentin’s  work  really  helped  us  as  it  gave  my  group  inspiration  when  it  came  to  making  and  displaying  our  project.  The  handy  step-­‐by-­‐step  instructions  on  how  to  build  make  and  display  the  work  really  helped  when  it  came  to  creating  the  model  brain  and  thinking  about  ways  in  which  we  could  go  about  displaying  our  work.                                    

My  Role    As  I  originally  created  the  idea  of  looking  into  the  parts  of  the  brain  through  a  creative  installation  art  piece,  I  decided  to  be  the  director  of  the  project,  mainly  working  within  all  the  departments  of  the  project  being  the  technical  side  i.e.  working  with  Thomas,  looking  in  the  programming  side  of  our  project  using  Quartz  Composer,  working  with  Lauren  on  the  visual  aspects  of  our  piece  (Attending  test  shoots/final  shoot,  coming  up  with  ideas  for  the  narrative  scenario)  and  lastly  working  with  Julia  on  the  physical  making  of  the  brain  (Helping  build  the  brain,  Vacuum  Forming  and  Wiring).      My  main  role  however  was  working  with  the  post-­‐production  of  our  sound  and  the  re-­‐shooting  of  additional  sounds.  Due  to  my  knowledge  of  sound  editing  through  the  sound  unit  I  did  with  Harry  as  part  of  our  Professional  Toolkit  unit,  I  felt  it  would  be  good  to  work  with  sound  as  Julia,  who  also  did  the  sound  unit,  was  working  hard  on  the  brain  model.      

Screenshot  of  Premiere  project      My  job  was  to  sync  up  the  sound  separately  recorded  by  Julia  during  the  second  shoot.  This  wasn’t  too  difficult,  however  I  came  across  a  few  scenes  where  the  sound  didn’t  quite  add  up,  which  made  me  want  to  do  a  re-­‐shoot  for  additional  sounds,  which  we  did  the  following  day.  I  used  Premiere  for  this  as  I’m  used  to  using  it  and  I  felt  it  would  be  the  quickest  and  easiest  way  to  sync  the  visuals  and  sound.  After  I’d  synced  the  sound,  I  sent  the  video  file  and  sound  to  Thomas,  who  would  then  use  it  to  start  work  on  Quartz  Composer.              

 Adobe  Audition    From  one  of  the  first  project’s  I  did,  I  learnt  how  to  easily  transport  sound  snippets  into  Audition,  by  simply  right  clicking  and  selecting  ‘  Edit  Clip  in  Adobe  Audition’.  Having  Adobe  Creative  Cloud  allowed  me  to  use  the  adobe  products.      

 

 I  took  each  individual  sound  and  separated  them.  I  trimmed  each  clip  so  that  the  sound  was  exact  meaning  there  was  no  unnecessary  bits.  Highlighting  each  individual  sound  allowed  me  to  actually  export  a  specific  sound,  rather  than  the  whole  session.  This  was  great  as  it  allowed  me  to  send  the  files  individually,  easily  to  Thomas.  The  individual  sound  files  were  sent  to  Thomas  via  his  Air  Bridge  account.              

Sketches  (Kindly  drawn  by  Thomas  Doukinitsas)    

 

Images  throughout  the  production  process                                                                                      

   

Taken  during  the  first  test  shoot          

                                           

Clay  brain  model  drying                                                    

Vacuum  forming  the  brain  

                                                                                                 

Vacuum  formed  brain  (Top  Half)                                                  

 Vacuum  formed  brain  (Bottom  half)  

 Image  as  part  of  the  visual  elements  of  our  piece.  

   

   

Drawing  (By  Thomas  Doukinitsas)  of  the  brain  model  on  the  plinth.    

 Screenshot  from  the  Quartz  Composer  project.    

                                                 

‘Emotion’  element  of  the  piece.        

Gallery  Space  work    For  our  work  to  fit  into  the  gallery,  Thomas  had  drawn  a  plan  of  how  it  will  fit  into  the  gallery  space.      

                                           

 As  you  can  see  from  the  diagram,  what  is  needed  is  space  to  fit  the  plinth,  television  screen  and  speakers.    Our  project  does  not  need  too  much  space,  however  multiple  plug  sockets  need  to  be  available  to  keep  the  laptop,  television  and  speakers  operating  however  this  is  possible,  as  we  had  been  told  previously.      Links  to  Blog  Posts    I’ve  made  a  short  list  of  a  couple  of  blogs  posts  I  feel  specifically  stand  out  when  it  comes  to  the  documentation  of  the  project’s  progression.      http://joshuasampsonblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/maps-­‐and-­‐journeys-­‐16-­‐sound-­‐editing-­‐re.html  http://joshuasampsonblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/maps-­‐and-­‐journeys-­‐11-­‐project-­‐update.html  http://joshuasampsonblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/maps-­‐and-­‐journeys-­‐9-­‐looking-­‐further.html    Risk  Assessment      

BA (Hons) Digital Film & Screen Arts RISK ASSESMENT

Production Title: Maps and Journeys: ‘The Brain’ The contents of this risk assessment must be communicated to all students, staff, contractors, actors and persons involved. In the case of a studio production a copy of this assessment must be displayed on set.

Campus: Farnham Course: Digital Film & Screen Arts Unit Maps and

Journeys Year 2 Group

Student Producer name & phone number (NB - all students are responsible for safety in production): Julia Cowell,

Unit leader(s): Rosie Gunn Proposed date(s) and times(s)

Travel/Set up date(s) / time(s): 28/11/14 12:000pm

Shooting date(s) / time(s): 28/11/14 12:00-:1:00pm

Pack down/travel date(s) / time(s): 28/11/14 2pm

1. Exact location of filming, including address & post code.

University for the Creative Arts Farnham Falkner Road Farnham

1a. Location Permission

Mark where you are at with an X

Yes

In the process of getting it (incl details of where you have got to – ie email

confirmation)

No

N/A Do you have signed location permission? x

Does your location require you to complete their own risk assessment? If so, attach it

x

to this risk assessment.

Have you notified the local Council and Police? You must do so if you are doing any of the following: • Filming in a public place • Using weapons • Have cast in uniform

x

1b. Address & phone number of nearest Walk-in Centre or Minor Injuries Unit

Farnham Hospital- 01483782000  

1c. Nearest bus and train stops to location / local taxi phone number

Bus Stop- Farnham Union Street Farnham Station Farnham Taxi’s- 01252856449

1d. Fire / emergency plan

1e. Work facilities – food & drink, toilets, secure storage etc

Sainsbury’s- Water’s Lane.

2. Brief summary of set & nature of filming / activity

Outdoors, park environment. Walking scene.

3. Names and contact details of the production crew / cast / documentary participants. Add extra lines as you need to.

Name:

Role:

Contact number

Thomas Doukinitsas Director/Cameraman 07748882728 Lauren Fox Assistant Director 07568398851 Julia Cowell Production Assistant/Supervisor 07429530552

4. Identify potential hazards; who could be affected; how they could be affected; and list the control measures that will reduce the risk. University H&S policies can be found here.

Hazards or hazardous activity

Who may be affected? Crew, actors, participants (documentary), crew, helpers, public.

How may they be harmed? Type of injury or health problem that might result i.e. cuts, bruises, fractures, electric shock, burns etc.

List the control measures you will put in place to reduce risks from the hazards to an acceptable standard Control measures should ultimately reduce the overall risk. Do not purely rely upon providing Personal Protective Equipment or rely on just ‘being careful’

Evaluate the probability and consequence  

Indicative values for P column (P = Probability) L = might happen, but unlikely

M = could happen H = will probably happen

Indicative values for C column (C = Consequence) L = can return to filming work after minor attention

M = person unable to work for 3 days or longer H = permanent injury or death

P C

Access/ Egress

Aircraft / flying

Allergens

Animal

Audience / public

Boats

Compressed gas / gas

Confined spaces

Cranes, hoists, lifts & access platforms

Derelict buildings, dangerous structures

Diving operations

Electricity

Falling objects

Fire

Generators

Glass

Hand tools

Hazardous chemicals

Heat / cold Crew could be harmed from the cold conditions.

Make sure they are wearing suitable clothing i.e. coats, scarfs, gloves.

M M

Inexperienced / children / vulnerable persons

Location Lighting

Machinery

Manual Handling

Mines, excavations / tunnels / quarries

Noise

Physical exertion

Poor visibility / night shooting

Roadside working, traffic, vehicles

Scaffolding

Speed (running or other sport - not vehicles)

Stress

Stunts

Trailing cables

Messy environment (equip / props)

Violence, aggression, public disorder, war

Visual effects: smoke, snow, fireworks

Water

Weapons

Weather Weather may be cold. Wear suitable clothing i.e. gloves, scalfs and warm coats.

M M

Lone working

Working at height

Other (list and add rows if necessary)

Mark an X next to your choices 5. With control measures in place what is the likelihood of an injury or health effect? Minor

1 X

Moderate 2

Major/Fatal 3

6. How likely is the most significant hazard to cause harm?

Unlikely 1

X

Likely 2

Very Likely 3

7. Calculate the risk score (use the figure which represents the highest risk of all present hazards)

Low 1−2

X

Medium 3−4

High 6−9

     Conclusion    My  idea  has  really  developed  since  I  originally  came  up  with  the  idea.  I’m  proud  of  the  progression  the  project  has  made,  feeling  as  if  the  project  has  naturally  and  smoothly  progressed  into  something  I’m  proud  of.  I  feel  I  have  definitely  pulled  my  weight,  working  within  each  aspect  of  our  project,  being  the  modeling  side,  technical  side  and  filming  side.  I  feel  I’ve  edited  and  produced  the  sound  to  the  best  of  my  ability  and  I’m  happy  with  the  end  result.  I  feel  our  project  has  been  successful  in  meeting  the  criteria  given  to  us  in  the  project  brief.  The  idea  has  broadened  the  literal  term  of  a  ‘Map’  and  a  ‘Journey’  into  something  I  feel  is  unique,  experimental  and  creative.  Our  piece  is  interactive  and  informative,  yet  simplistic,  so  that  anyone  can  understand  what  the  piece  is  about.  I  feel  my  other  group  members,  Thomas,  Lauren  and  Julia  have  also  pulled  their  weight  in  bringing  creative  and  artistic  direction  to  the  piece,  really  helping  a  rough  idea  become  something  quite  interesting  and  well  thought  out.  I  look  forward  to  displaying  our  work  in  the  gallery  space  and  receiving  feedback  from  the  tutors  and  our  peers.  

13. Signatures The names below are confirming the date that they have read and discussed this risk assessment with the production team. Based on the information supplied on this form it is noted that the control measures are considered appropriate and proportionate to the hazards identified. At all times, students retain responsibility for their own safety and for those around them. Student Producer: Date:

Production Coordinator: Date:

Unit Tutor: Date:

Technician/Tech Tutor (supervising if studio based): Date:

Estates Services Manager (where UCA routes, building features etc are impacted): Date:

Resources Co-ordinator/Manager (Medium/High Risk): Date:

Course Leader: (High Risk/International Shoot): Date:

Health, Safety & Wellbeing Advisor (High Risk/International Shoot): Date:

Executive Dean (International Shoot): Date: