NFF - Week 4: Finally
A great deal of time has passed since Zesbaans last gave an update. I have taken the task upon myself to write a post (in english sorry) despite the discrepancies in the previous one.
So. Lets start off with that we have a whole totally new concept from the previous one (video portraits). The NFF gave us the feedback that they found the video portrait concept to be too focused on the vocation acting. Which is quite justifiable because film is much more than just that. Also by shooting our portraits we will not be using the 30 years of film material that is to our disposal. Many brainstorm sessions and meetings passed before we settled on our latest installation: De Stereoscoop
De Stereoscoop
Two scenes from the Dutch film history of the last 30 years are presented next to each other. The two scenes could react with each other in dialogue, or in contrast etc. Hopefully the combination of the scenes will get the viewer looking for combinations and stories between the two scenes.
The scenes for De Stereoscoop will be selected from NFF 2010 focus. From this selection of films (1980-2010) we will be looking for scenes that reflect the 3 motives of the program: Urbanizing, Emancipation, Tolerance. To keep it from being too abstract, we will be on the look out for more concrete scenes that could help illustrate this subject matter such as different landscapes, street kids, businesswomen, integration, diversity, homosexuality, religion and parties. Well the parties part is because it is 30 years after all and would make for some great contrasting combinations.
The NFF has been helpful enough to supply us with films that fall under their program. And we’re working together with a film expert in helping us select the very best scenes. As of this moment we have ripped about 15 dvds and have timecodes for about 5 of these films. Our very own intern is cutting up the scenes as we speak. The idea is that after the scenes are selected and exported we will attach tags to the scenes and add it to a database. This is where the combination magic will happen.
This is an old render. Right now we’re gearing towards a one screen Phillips 21:9 screen.
Back to the user scenario. The user will be presented with 2 scenes, and can interact with the combination by way of two “turntables”. With these the user can scratch/scrobble through the clips. Slow it down, speed it up. Emphasizing the combinations. Scratching the combinations. Blending the two. Around the “discs” there will be 16 LED buttons that are connected to 16 cue points per clip. The buttons will also visualize where in the timeline of the scene you are by lighting up as the clip is being played. But the buttons would also act as triggers so you can jump to parts of the scene. This allows for more ways to play with the installation. 
Technically the installation will be based on max/MSP & Jitter. So far we got the scrobbling to work quite responsively. We exported the audio separately to make sure that it has the proper pitch bending associated with speeding or slowing down. We will go in more detail on this in the next blog post.
The user can’t select the clips. There will only be a giant button that you can press to choose a new combination. This keeps things fresh. We were talking about perhaps adding a cross fader for the audio because in our original concept we will be having the audio play simultaneously.
How is this going to connect with PLAY Pilots? Well we want to build in a receipt printer in the installation. Achievement badges will be printed depending on the action of the user. For example finding interesting combinations, scratch technique etc. In the end of the session the user can walk away with either one long receipt full of graphics and a code that they can use on playpilots.nl to put badges on their profile.
