Flagons Den

For anyone interested in making CatCam short films and montages from a human perspective - here’s my quick and easy how to guide;

Equipment you will need;

CatCam, protective case, memory card and battery

Duct tape

Baseball cap (or any other stiff peaked hat)

Use the duct tape to secure the wire loops on the protective case to the peak of the cap - so the lens hole is uppermost and facing forwards - leave the case open at this point as it is easier to insert the CatCam.

CatCam case attached to peak

Set the CatCam to your preferred timer setting (as per instructions) - I have utilised between 2 - 5 minutes to get the best results. Insert it into the case - and off you go!

CatCam mounted on cap peak

This setup will allow you to take approx 190 shots - So to ensure you capture all the footage you need remember to transfer the pictures from the memory card at regular intervals - it takes no time at all and allows you to continue shooting for as long as you require.

Just be prepared for the occasional odd glance - especially if you decide to film in shops and city centres.

How it looks in practice

Away you go! The results can be very hallucinatory if you head is in motion a lot and you can exaggerate this with visual effects - but the usual picture quality is good and clarity is OK - and as the photos are taken automatically it is very interesting seeing what the camera has captured without your conscious involvement.

Example of a comic book panel for the day in the life of me

I had my tutorial today and showed Mike my newest idea for representing the CatCam data - unfortunately it seems it’s still not right. He suggested I investigated the relationship between me and the data - and made this the focus of the project. The act of remembering/reliving the past through these snapshots could become the content of the photos themselves. Sort of a picture within a picture within a picture…..ad infinitum like a fractal landscape. I could even create a sort of narrative of me descending into the past and ignoring the present.

It’s flipping hard.  Even though I have hundreds of frames from the catcam - what to do with it is still a difficult decision - here’s one idea;

Thanks Gavin Cooper - gave me the heads up on getting around my tikitag problem, using some php script I can get the tag off via a query string - just need to use flash vars to get the animation/database calls working. My main worry is that if each tag makes a web link open then the interface will be an ever expanding number of browser windows…not that nice.

Following the meeting with Geoff Cox today I have to decide whether I go with the initial idea of the projected environment triggered by each individual tag holder or come up with a completely new scenario.

I like the idea of creating my own Internet of things, which could be quite tangible - but sort of ignores my initial concerns about the dark side and surveillance.  But there is nothing wrong I guess with accentuating the positive aspects and potential for RFID technology. Each tagged object could link to a page about itself which links to all the aspects of it - ie, a toy made in China could link to the online sales sites to buy it, details of China’s human rights issues and production standards, and details of the relevance of the item to me - a personal provenance if you like.

There is the possibility of a game scenario - with tagged cards/pieces which trigger actions or alter the space?

A display of ID cards - as you would get in a factory punching in set up - which allows you to access their details if you pick one and swipe it?

Cards which are like the poetry fridge magnets - showing adverbs, adjectives creating some sort of audio poem/montage when they are scanned?

Doyouthinkysaurus

I downloaded cyclops for maxMSP to try to improve the colour tracking but I can’t get Max to utilise the object from the library which is pretty frustrating.  I have made my own rough version using four different flash animations as test movies to read the colour info from using the jit.getbounds object - which works but has some bugs with redrawing the patterns.  Will work on it tomorrow - but I’m pretty sure I will have to unpick the patch and start from scratch.

I have just completed my 2nd version of the unbranded adverts montage - to make the content more recent and therefore more recognisable to viewers.  I managed to find some sites like thinkbox which have galleries of well known ads and current breaking ads - as well as youtube to download a better quality assortment. I now have a 50 minute montage which should be ample for the unbranded show.

I am also perservering with the Apathist Cookbook - and I have a few more chapters to do - I am currently on Diet, extolling the virtues of convenience foods.  I have decided to make a kind of info station which will have leaflets and posters to explain the apathist manifesto.

heres one I made earlier…

Lets beat the recession folks!

Well - the HMC lent reader didn’t read the tikitags so I now have bought and had delivered this morning a tikitag reader and more tags.  I have installed the software and tried out my first app - at the swipe of a designated tag my homepage appears on Firefox.  I just need to see if I can write and add more functions from each tag- as it seems to be one job per tag so far and I want to instigate a whole cascade of functions per swipe.

But to see it working is a nice thing - just have to read their API to see if I can code my own app now.

I had another idea too - that the project could reflect the new turn in my dissertation of exploring the dichotomy of digital technology with regards to how it’s percieved socially.  The final app could highlight both sides of the spectrum, by doing what you would like it to - and simultaneously retrieving data and or making assumptions you wouldn’t want it to - maybe continually making suggestions or imposing it’s own agenda?

I have worked up a rough and ready and also non working version of the paintsounds applet which is fed from colour tracking instead of drawing - It sort of works but slowly grinds to a halt when its running of the i-Sight camera.  My plan will be to have (maybe) a top down camera on a white background and the interface being a cube with different coloured sides.  Each one triggering the different instruments and the captured movement drawing the sound. - The resulting drawing loops will be projected on a screen.

So… robot watches TV fitness show of other robots tries out some push ups to reach some sort of Blue Peter style pushupometer maximum and his arms fall off so he gets mad? Right.