Iterations

Everyone in the McLane group began with the same script.

From there we could do pretty much whatever we wanted. If you want to know the guidelines we needed to fulfill, check out the Foundations Studio Research page.

Iteration 1

This is a map of the motion of the group walking around the racket room. It took me a few tries to get it to where I wanted it to look. The first time I watched the video my group made while using colored markers to try and map out the general motion of each person as they walked around the room. The second trial was done in black and white, using arrows to show the direction of motion. This allowed the picture to make a bit more sense and allowed me to follow the motions of the group more easily.

I wanted to express what everyone did during our silent time. I also wanted to use what we learned in the Thursday class about the artist who made concept maps about conspiracy. I did my best to show where each member moved about the room. It was cool to see this project take form with every iteration I redrew. As I added and subtracted elements, it drew attention to different parts of the piece.

I used clean lines and easy to understand arrows. These are there to give a calming affect. You can follow one of the colored lines or you can take in the piece as a whole. The simplicity contrasts with the chaos of the intersecting lines giving a sense of conflict. The bold colors give a sense of straight forwardness. All in all, I’m pretty happy with how this came out.

Iteration 2

This video was much harder to do than I had originally anticipated. As simple as it is, I didn’t even want to do a video. My phone has a recording app and I had hoped to put up a recording. Unfortunately wordpress is not very accommodating. If I want a recording on a post, I would need to pay money. Therefore, I made a very simple video involving my vest.

If you didn’t spend the time to try and read the script in the first photo, that’s fine because this video is basically that. I realized I needed one of my iterations to involve a vest, so I put it in here. I also wanted to directly involve the script so I used it. The concept of this video wasn’t particularly hard but it did take some time to make.

First I had to find a blank wall. Though they’re everywhere in Alfred, I needed a place no one would walk through. I ended up in the hallway of Openhym. It was kinda hard to get the whole video without a door slamming or keys jingling. Then Emma’s phone wouldn’t take the video, I had to rewrite the script so I could use my own phone to record. Then it took a couple tries before I was able to make it through the script without stumbling too noticeably. I just came back from watching the Samuel Beckett movies where the characters spoke in a monotone. This influenced how I preformed this piece. E Voila, a video.

Iteration 3

This part of the project was both easy and frustrating. On the one hand, it didn’t take long for me to put together a list of words to use. Then I was going to use the handy dandy mind map maker, bubbl.us. However, the website would not let me us it. So instead I was forced to do it by hand. While I was working I thought it would be cool to use my colored markers in different ways. All of the subjects are in primary colors and the lines are the mixtures of each of the subjects they connect.

This was to illustrate my thoughts and the main ideas that ran through my head while retelling the story. Doing this project allowed me to think about the project in a different light. It focused down a lot of excess information and pin points specifics to do with the project.

It’s supposed to give the viewer room to let their own imagination run wild. With the lack of details, the viewer is able to fill in their own experiences attached to each of the given words. They can create stories with the bubbles that are attached to one another.

Iteration 4

The story. Ah, the story. This iteration I did for an audience at McLane. I basically just kidnapped a few of my friends after dinner and we walked down to the racket room. I played charades with Emma, my roommate, Duncan, and Toni, friends of mine. I chose a simple few phrases to sum up what my group did during last Thursday. It was pretty fun, and they did really well guessing the words while I couldn’t speak.

Next, I read through the groups whole edited story. They were a very attentive audience and it was fun to react to their reactions. The story consisted of this:

“Hannah was there for an hour before hand and there was a huge miscommunication about time. Then Sam and Mackenzie found me in Harder and were really nice and waited for me. I in turn waited for Sam at the Terra Cotta with Mackenzie. Then we went to the racket room in McLane and had to wait for sweaty people who were actually using the room. Then Brian informed us he was coming but Josh and Amy were missing *gasp*. Char would not text fucking text back, so them. Unfortunately I had to call Char and snapped into the phone because I couldn’t talk. Lo’ and behold he actually had sent out a message in the group chat.

When we were all in the racket room and quite as not talking people, we were making weird noises. We put two phones on the walls for video. Broke into spontaneous activity that was familiar to us, such as dancing. The first thing that we did together was Down by the Banks of the Hanky-Panky when I put my hands out for it. No one new when everyone was supposed to end so we didn’t know when it was out. Brian was confused and tired to change the direction. Then Sam put his hand to begin ninja. Brian tried to do the hokey-pokey. Eventually we were all on the same page and began the game. Char kept hitting me in the arm and I didn’t know if it was out or not. Sam seemed to think it was only out when you hit the hand but Char obviously thought that it was elbow to fingers. Slowly the numbers dwindled until Hannah had won. We bowed and clapped.

We began to walk in a circle. I had to pull Char into motion because he didn’t want to be a follower. When we were all moving in a circle, we began to run. Char was done with that shit, as I tugged him along. We walked around without direction.

Brian held out his hand for a thumb war and I thought Hell yeah. We ducked it out forever. The other two pairs made it through quickly. Then Sam and Brian did a rock-paper-scissors. Then we crab-walked. And had mocha battles, specially between Sam and I and Mackenzie. Next we texted to create a plan that fell through very quickly.’

We all started making weird noises. Hannah made a really loud cricket sound, to which Brian responded as a pterodactyl. I did finger fangs because I can’t make animal noises. Brian did an elephant. Then Sam, Brian and I grouped together to make a horse, clopping and neighing. Then the boys trotted about. I thumbs upped. Clapping, snapping, then we broke into the makarana. Sam knew the beginning but not the ending. I knew the ending but not the beginning. We all went at different paces and jumped in different directions.
Char and I wrestled. He won. We spun a coin, then a knife. Brian did the Russian thing, poorly and scared everyone. Then we asked one another whether we were done. Then we found out my phone didn’t work.”

Telling the same story in two different ways opened my mind up to different forms of communication. In the first I was unable to respond when my friends went off on tangents and it was harder to steer their attention to the ideas I wished for them to focus on. But when I read the story aloud, I was able to remember little details to add and give extra tidbits to my listeners. Being able to see my listeners let me react to them, making them laugh or think let me be more spontaneous and animated.

While we were talking after though, we talked more about ASL and how their lives and experiences compare to ours. My friends and I began to think a little more in depth about how their view of the world changes when they can’t hear it and must talk with their hands. On one side, I used my hands to communicate nine words. On the other I was able to tell a page worth of information. This seriously hinders how a person with a hearing impairment interacts with the world.

Iteration 5

I wanted to make a collage but I needed printed paper to be able to do that with the photos I took from my phone. So instead I just used pic stitch to put all the photos I had together. I only took photos with feet and hands to show what we used to communicate. The focus of our group work was to communicate without talking and to do that we were forced to use our hands, faces, and body to get a story across.

Working on the pictures made me think more about the way we use our hands when we speak. I feel like I almost have to use my hands while talking. It’s part of how I communicate. When I’m driving, or my hands are occupied in another fashion it feels like I’m only telling half the story.

This piece is meant to begin a question. What are the hands for? The shoes? What is the message? Well, as the creator, I wish I knew. If you figure it out go ahead and keep it to yourself. Let everyone else interpret. I do like how it turned out, though. I enjoy the way the different pictures interact, directing the eye in different directions.

If you made it this far, nice job. If you actually read all of this, I’m impressed and a little sorry.