"BLANK CANVAS 2" - Reflection, Documentation
Statement
Every life is special. Of all the possibilities, somehow, the human race has developed into something that could answer all sorts of questions. However, there are some things that we cannot answer, no matter what, because we see them as contradictions. These contradictions can lead to fear, which is something I wanted to tackle with my final project. Inspired by trap music, creepypastas, and science fiction, my video project aims to instill a sense of discomfort and ambiguity while exploring the mind of @rophy, a rogue AI who has manifested into a humanoid figure.
Reflection
The title, “Blank Canvas 2,” is significant because I used this final project as a way to incorporate the themes and images that I have used throughout this semester. Starting with the original “Blank Canvas,” project 4 utilized an nontraditional setup to project my video. After visiting the Dryden, I spent time thinking about the importance of a theater and how the space is used to project a film. In almost every theater, people are watching while sitting down and looking up at a giant screen. To play off of this, I wanted people to stand over a screen, and the video would be projected onto a relatively “blank” canvas. Since the AI is representative of the side of human beings that people typically choose to ignore, I wanted the viewer to literally “look down” on this video. I chose to project my video in the Blackroom because it was a space that we could take chairs out of and view in a very dark room, giving the viewing experience an even creepier atmosphere.
For the “screen” that the video was being projected upon, I decided to incorporate the same techniques I used for the original “Blank Canvas,” which used spray painting and handwritten lyrics. I used the lyrics from Lil Uzi Vert’s “XO Tour Llif3,” which was the song I played during my display of “Blank Canvas.”
The most obvious of continuity among my projects is with Project 3’s “Atrophy.” In this video, the character of Atrophy appears once again, this time as a full figure. I believe I was successful in doing what I wanted to do with this character! Atrophy holds its awkward positions in a catatonic-like state, and it only shifts whenever it glitches. I am also satisfied with how the landscape pictures turned out, especially with the birds. I basically took PNG files of certain constellations and stamped different birds using Photoshop over where stars would normally be. I think the choppiness of the bird’s movements, along with its lack of movement, adds to the overall feel of the video.
There is something to be said about the power of sound that adds to the overall experience of any art form. Inspired by the ominous noises that can be found in any creepypasta, I found sound to be an effective technique in instilling a sense of discomfort with the viewers. Already, people are standing to watch a video in a dark room, but the ambient sound fills the dark room with even more discomfort. I loved hearing some of the reactions from my classmates because they felt as though something could have popped out of the darkness and attacked them (for future reference, I think this could add an interesting performance-art element to my piece).
Overall, I am extremely happy with my final project. There are some things I would like to improve on, like the short clip of the two quarters. The camera jerks in one part, and it still bothers me! One thing that I would have loved to incorporate is the idea of a “projection within a projection.” When I recorded the video, I used the projector to show the landscape images with the birds. I tried two backdrops while recording (a black and a white one), but, no matter what I did, the projection didn’t come out as bright as I wanted to on-camera. I cut this out and spliced in the landscape images, which, in retrospect, look much better than my original concept. Still, I do wish I was able to successfully do the projection-within-a-projection.