mise en abîme - placing into infinity

Our idea has now progressed into using an effect called mise en abime, this simply means into the abyss or placing into infinity.
To perform this technique on our wall we are going to film the projection from the van the projector is in, we will then project that onto the projection to give a never ending void effect, this will give the image a depth that will make the area look like it could actually be a window.
The effect is similar to one one seen when two mirrors are faced towards one and other with a never ending repetitive image, going into the visible distance.
Luke Mears has practiced this effect using a webcam on his computer screen, see below, I think the effect works well and is extremely simple to perform.




Practice by Luke

I believe this effect makes the building appear empty, and possibly like a blackhole, sucking in the surrounding area, this metaphor works well for the stonehouse area as everything around it seems to be run down and broken.

To change from the "good" to the "bad" we are going to have to have something that changes it, we'd previously discussed using sound levels, but we are now going to use a website questionare. This idea is similar to the website for the dutch sculpture shown to us by Shaun, which changes colour when local issues are raised on the sculptures website. We now need to have a meeting to decide the questions we will have on the website, how it will effect the feed and how are we going to promote the website around the area. Shot-codes could be a possiblity however the site isn't very well known and I feel we should use a website that the locals of stonehouse are more likely to use. Another idea would be to do some guerrilla advertising or use facebook to create an event and invite local people to it using already existing local groups such as the Plymouth page.

I have found a pretty cool image effect on the internet which would be a nice effect for our projection, it seems to have been made pretty simply using shadow effects and two pictures to give the effect of time passing.
I feel this effect would give a seemless transition between the images, also I just think its cool!

Image Effects

Projection Idea

Below is a test projection I made with my other group members today using After Effects.
The content isn't really what we'd have but the cabaret image is there to represent a "good" image, whilst the old operating theature represents a "bad" image.
We are planning on using a feed with our projection which will make the projection change with the change of status in said feed.
We'd like the feed to be related to the traffic passing the Dance Academy, as this is the main way people pass our location. Sound could also come into this as the traffic is also the main sound in the area.
Shaun has given us an idea of using slow shutter speed images to show the passing of time, we all feel this is a great idea and will be perusing this idea soon.

Insperations and Ideas

Whilst on the internet I found the following website and thought it related quite well to our project, I feel that the way the house has been built means people can persevere why it looks so strange in different ways. I think that that would be a good idea for our projection, clearly we cannot change the building physically but if we were try to project onto an unusual area which looks different from different perspectives.

Tunnel House

Dance Academy

Today our group all went down to Stonehouse to take some measurements of dance academy. We found some good places to project upon, one on the side of the building, in a boarded window and one in a door at the front, the both of these are visible to the public and are places a van could get to to project from. We took measurements, of the locations and probable distances to project from as well as photographs, and also a 15 minute survey of the volume of buses, cars, people, bikes etc from various points at the same time. The results of all of these are posted below.
Our next step is to see if this is viable with the projector available.
In a 15 minute period:

1. People at bus shelter/opposite restaurants = 12 people/1 bus



2. People walking by on foot = 55



3. People walking by side of building on foot = 8



4. Cars entering and exiting car park = 38 cars



5. Traffic passing on main road = 422 vehicles

Unlawful Places

Here is the map which Shaun sent us in an email. I feel its a lot like our map, and even works in a similar way to mine except mine used coloured areas rather than lines. It also uses a key similar to ours.

Postcard Task

Shaun has set us the task of creating a postcard, which has been taken in the future in the Stonehouse area. The image should in someway reflect our ideas on what we want to do with our Stonehouse project.

I am going to take some photographs in the Stonehouse area before I think about what to do with them. I am going to take a set in the day and in the night in the Union Street area, and focus around the area of The Dance Academy. I feel having a contrast between day and night will show how the atmosphere of the area changes between the two times of day.

I want to take pictures of the architecture of the area as this is the main feature we want to change, I am going to try to find buildings which have large flat surfaces as we are looking to make projections onto buildings in the area. I am going to take normal photos of the buildings but try the least amount of other factors in as this makes it easier when I come to Photoshop the images.


Nightshots

As you can see, the night shots came out quite poorly, this is because there was a lot of rain and I had to use a slow shutter and flash, which meant the rain can been seen quite a lot.
The night shots have a lot of neon lights in them, but as you can see the area is also very industrial with very little signs of life other than the odd person and passing traffic.

Everyone in the area seems to be passing though and noone is stopping. Barely anyone even noticed me taking photos in the area. The photos are taken around 8 - 9PM which is too early to see the drunken revelers falling out of clubs, I feel the main people in the area will probably be people associated with the nightlife of Stonehouse (clubs, pubs, late night take-away, strip-clubs, adult book shops etc).

The atmosphere in the area is very unwelcoming, I felt very out of place around Stonehouse, and there isn't anything in the area to make anyone feel any differently.
The lighting is very dull which gives the streets a foreboding feel. I think that our illuminations on the buildings would help combat this a lot. It would also make people stop and look around the area.

We could have small illuminations in harder to find areas which mean people explore Stonehouse. I feel using warm and inviting colours such as orange, reds and yellows will help improve the moods of people in the area too. It will also give the area a warm feel, which it lacks due to its close proximity to the sea.



Dayshots

As you can see from the day shots, the area still has a very untidy look. The feel of the area is slightly different however. People are visiting Stonehouse to shop in the supermarket (Aldi) eating in the fast food restaurant (KFC) and taking their cars to the garage (Kwik Fit). There isn't really anyone in the area just walking around however. Everyone is getting their tasks done then driving off in their cars.

This shows the area does need to be made more pedestrian friendly. Walking around the area, it was clear there was very little appreciation of the history, people had graffiti-ed all over the old dance academy, there was also litter and dog mess around which isn't really seen in the town centre, just a few hundred yards up the street in the Town centre.

I feel that the area needs something different in the day time, as the projections won't be visible in the day.

For my postcard I think I'm going to use the idea I had about the garden in the deserted areas of Stonehouse along with a picture of one of the buildings with a projection on it. I feel this will show the main features we want to add to Stonehouse.
I am going to photoshop both images to look futuristic and generally more tidy.


I have now made both the postcard images, they don't however look very good together, therefore I am making two postcards. I am basing them both on the 2012 olympics, which is when I feel the area will need renovation.

Below are the two postcards I made.

Joint Picture Theories

This is how I have perceived the other symbols in the joint picture, I have worked this out from the colours, shapes and positions of the symbols.

Looking around the Stonehouse area we have decided to go with working mainly upon Union Street, this area has a grand history originally one of the main, and richest parts of Plymouth.
The area has now fallen greatly, becoming a main area for anti-social behavior, such as drinking, gambling and also strip clubs. With this the history of the area has been all but lost, with our project we hope to revitalise Stonehouse and bring back much of its former grandour. Buildings such as Malthouse and Dance Academy have been uninhabited (other than by homeless people) for many years and have little hope of referbishment. The Dance Academy is actually a Victorian listed building, and is on the list of most in danger listed buildings in the UK.
In areas where the old buildings have gotten into such a bad condition they had to be pulled down there has been no new development as the area is so undesireable. These areas have been left clear for so long that they have in fact started to grow trees and shrubary.


This is very ironic as the growth is there as a direct cause of the lack of archutectural and cultural growth on union street.
I feel that greenery would actually benifit the area and possibly instead of keeping these dead zones closed off, they should be cleaned up, replanted and opened up, creating a small park for the area.
The group has decided to go with the idea of projections on buildings as our idea. We feel that projecting '3D' images of Stonehouses history on new buildings will help renovate the area. The light it will produce will make people want to visit the area and stop when passing through to view the illuminations.

Below is a video which shows the sort of projections I feel the group would like to get, whilst they may not be actual projections and instead made in a program like After Effects I believe the idea is achievable.

Projection on Buildings from NuFormer Digital Media on Vimeo.

Stonehouse Photographs

Now I've made my map of Stonehouse I am going to go around the area to look around and see if my predictions from the Google earth map reflect what the area is really like.
This building was actually in the red area of the map. If I'd seen this building before I may have reconsidered the borders of my zones.
This is in the yellow area of the map, whilst this isolated area does look nice, the rest of the area is houses and small factories so I feel this overall is accurate.


















All of the following pictures are in the green area, I feel the majority match how I had pictured this area of Stonehouse, there was lots of interesting architecture, and the whole area seemed very well maintained and litter free.
The people who were around the area were mainly residents but there were some people who seemed to just be visiting, this was the only area I found this was the case. So it shows that people find it desirable.










All of these photographs were in the yellow area, I feel that this may have been a bad judgement as the yellow area is so broad it doesn't take into account the small areas of beauty that you find in every area, instead just generalizing the whole area as mediocre. As you can see from the photographs there are some great examples of modern and older architecture in the area mixed in with the housing. One thing the area did lack however was a feeling of somewhere you'd like to visit, which I feel would put people off of visiting the area. Therefore people would probably bypass this area if they were going to visit Royal William Yard and the surrounding area or on the way to the continental ferry port.





The following pictures are all from the red area on the map. Whilst there was nothing in the area to stop people visiting, there is nothing to encorage them to come to the area, the area was simply an assortment of ugly low-rent factories and storage facilities. This area is clearly not for people to visit but it does seem strange for residents of the Royal William Yard, who are supposidly part of the upper weath bracket of Plymouth, pass through this area. This could put off potential buyers, a solution would be to put improve the image of the main street, Durnford Street, this would give the whole area a boost in my opinion maybe meaning people take the time to look around the rest of the area and find the hidden gems the the majority of people would normally never see.