Over to you  - Lunchtime Talk 24/05/13

This week we decided to do an experiment. We took a break from the usual lunchtime talk format to give people we know, and importantly people that we don’t know the opportunity to share what they are up to and interested in. It was a fantastic session; we met some brilliant people and covered all sorts of things, from the technical constraints of locative positioning systems to creating magic through electric shocks! Here is our attempt to condense a flurry of thoughts and ideas into a short blog. Do let us know in the comments if you’d like to expand on any of the areas discussed or to add your own.

Terry Flaxton spoke first; he is a Professor of Cinematography and Lens Based Arts at UWE. Terry is interested in increasing the perimeters of moving images and raising the ability to capture and match that of the pathway of the eye and brain. He wants us to look at any form of digital display and feel as though we’re actually looking out of a window.

Terry introduced an interesting area of research that suggests that people engaging with media are prepared to suspend disbelief and ignore incongruities such as continuity errors in films if they are approximately 60% convinced by one sense, such as sight, and then a further 10% convinced by another of their senses. For more on this research have a quick read of: This Is Your Brain On Movies: Neuroscientists Weigh In On The Brain Science of Cinema
 
Tom Melamed Product Director of Calvium then talked about some new apps he and Calvium are currently working on. All built using AppFurnace they help brands and people tell stories. Tom talked about how physically being in the location helps the audience engage on a more emotional level with the app and experience.

Check out the app Calvium made recently for the Guardian- http://calvium.com/client-case-study/guardian-street-stories/

Tarim is a Studio Resident and he creates Media Playgrounds. He is working on a number of projects including, Ghosts in the Garden a unique immersive audio experience and adventure using an antique listening device, which tunes into the past. Ghosts in the Garden is on at the Holburne Museum in Bath until 29th June. Tarim also spoke about his recent work on BikeTAG Play Test: Colour Keepers and the app he developed which logged data from the players in the game. Tarim hopes the data can be used to improve future games and help with proximity/ GPS issues.

Harry Gee is a designer living in Bristol; he also leads and facilitates workshops using the new raspberry pi educational computers. Under the umbrella of eco-archi.com he has designed and developed a portable, low cost power supply unit.


Jolyon Jenkins a radio Producer by day and a Magician/ Inventor by night talked about creating pseudo paranoid experiences, using a genre of effects and not through just technology but a whole experience. He has developed and is about to start manufacturing a blank picture frame where an image gradually seems to appear. He wants it to appear organic, like no technology was used. As well as seeing the image he also wants the user to feel something. Jolyon has experimented with electric shocks but some users felt the shock and some didn’t. This sparked much debate amongst the group and other people suggested vibrating, smell and using piezo crystals.


Will Pritchard works for www.arvoyant.com. Arvoyant is a film pre-visualization tool that uses mobile Augmented Reality (AR) to plan physical scenes with instantaneous visual feedback. They are developing technology to bridge the gap between pre-vis and post- vis in filmmaking; reducing costs, speeding up production and delivering enhanced visuals. They have been commercial for the past four months and are currently working with a Hollywood studio.

Tom Abba, Studio resident and lecturer at UWE talked about his most recent project  ‘These pages fall like ash’ and limitations of using remote technology in the landscape of the city. He spoke about a physical digital interaction and how the two platforms can be merged to create a new exciting experience.

Tom sited Tapestry as a great example of an app designed for storytelling, using some of the affordances of mobile technology to tell a collection of tap-able short stories www.robinsloan.com/fish/

Charlotte Crofts another Studio resident talked about a project she is working on for Encounters film festival later in the year. It’s called, ‘What the Curtains’ and is an evolution of her earlier work, Projection Hero. There will be a portable miniature projector called fleapit. There will also be a larger one at a pop up Encounter’s shop at the bottom of Park Street where you can scan a QR code and open the curtains of the cinema screen using your mobile phone and play films from the DepicT! 90 second film challenge.