rhoadley.net music research software blogs
New Media Performance
MOD000594
Timetable 2013-14, semester 2
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Class 1 (RH)
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Tuesday 1300-1500
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Hel029
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Class 2 (RH)
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Wednesday 0900-1100
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Hel029
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Class 3 (TH)
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Wednesday 1100-1300
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Hel029
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Richard Hoadley's office hours (teaching weeks only)
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Monday 1300-1500 Tuesday 1200-1300
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Hel244
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NB Sometimes office hours may be rescheduled in order to accommodate breaking events.
Please try to make an appointment in advance.
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Structure and Notes
Assessment Submission Details
MPA Writing Guide
Description
This module will introduce students to recent innovations in contemporary
theatre and performance through a practical and theoretical consideration of new
technologies and forms of information exchange available to theatre-makers at
the start of the twenty-first century. Students will examine the technological
interventions that give rise to mediatised performance and new methods of its
dissemination. These ideas will be explored in practice through the use of
technologies of sound, music and video to produce a piece of mediatised
performance. Students will be expected to engage with the interfaces between
live performance, digital technologies, social networking sites, mass
participatory sites of video performance, online arts marketing and experimental
film-making. Students will be assessed by the production of a short mediatised
performance piece designed for dissemination through digital technologies,
rather than within a traditional theatre or from a television studio location.
This module also seeks to inform and guide students in the production of
mediatised performance that may be used as a multi-media element within live
theatre practice. Selected multi-media practitioners will be studied as they
produce, react to and question the value of such technologies in performance.
Further Reading
Salter, Chris, (2010), Entangled, MIT Press
Broadhurst, S., (ed.), (2006), Performance and Technology, Palgrave
Week 1
Outline: Introduction to the module
- Making sure you can deal properly with 'old' media!
- What you will and won't be able to do (it's up to you)
- Keep an eye out for any examples of use of technology for inspiration or just
storylines that you think might be good - use the
Facebook group to share these.
- Make a note of anything that interests you and bring it in to discuss.
Preparing for this session
- make a list of the technology that is already available to you.
- This may include:
mobile phones (consider each technology separately: texting, camera, email, internet, etc.),
tablets, laptop and computers as well as
social media (skype, Facebook, Twitter, etc.),
cloud media (Google Docs, etc.),
games,
as well as fairly 'old' things: hifi equipment, TV and DVD...
Lesson Activities
- Overview of module
- Use of course resources (website, VLE, Facebook group)
- Department facilities
- Faculty and University facilities
- Assessment items
- Examples
There will be workshops covering the following:
- microphone types and techniques;
- checking levels, stereo image, using stereo image
- sessions on sound or video checking, appropriate stereo, fade outs, etc
- to implement and reinforce this, session on basic sound editing;
- triggering ideas (from iTunes to Isadora): can be as simple as a series
of cues each of which trigger a series of previously made recordings, or more
complex, for instance the triggering happens when a particular performer makes a
particular gesture;
- preparation and workflow for performance - things that you have to prepare
for and consider.
- Will Baker will run a workshop focusing on Isadora from 2pm till 5pm on Wednesday 19th February in HEL 330
- Will will also provide short introductions to use of the lights, mics and remote cameras during classes in week 2.
- Divide into balanced groups:
Ideally, each group should have
-- at least one person with access to their own game controller or Wiimote,
-- at least one person with a reliable laptop and software they are prepared to use with the group, etc.
- Discussion about aesthetics vs. technique vs. presentation
Practitioners
Our own use of technology.
Olympic opening ceremony.
Reading and resources for this session
- d'Escriván, J. 2012. Music Technology. Cambridge: CUP
background reading on microphones: pp. 45-61
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http://www.brightandloud.com/microphone-placement/
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http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/audio-music/question309.htm
-- (Ten Types of Microphone)
Tasks to be completed for next week or upcoming assessment submissions
- Devise a piece where you use at least two elements of the media reviewed
above. Pieces should be about 5 minutes in length. Here are a few
suggestions for elements of pieces you might think about, but ideally please develop
your own if possible, maybe inspired by stories in the media, your own experience, etc.
New media should play a role, but the piece does not have to be 'dominated' by technology.
- imagine that you're in a train, a boat or another type of vehicle where
sound plays a significant role in identification. Consider ways in which
you might use this way of identification dramatically, from utiising a
simple aural backdrop, to more sophisticated manipulation with the expected
meaning of 'sound effects', etc.
- if some members of the group have mobile phones or other devices, consider
ways in which use the devices to direct a performance. Maybe a sub-group
sends a number of performers messages telling them what to do (c.f. Bruce
Nauman).
- use a variety of electronic devices from the home to generate and exploit
sonic and visual entertainments.
- make a set of basic videos and/or sounds. Edit them and trigger them at
points during a performance that also includes live action. Find ways of
making interplay between the two, if possible (faking liveness).
- use spaces on the projection screen as well as stereo panning to determine
the positioning of actors on stage (faking liveness)
Other books and resources:
Online access:
Intimacy across visceral and digital performance
Maria Chatzichristodoulou; Rachel Zerihan
Basingstoke : Palgrave Macmillan 2012
Literary art in digital performance case studies in new media art and criticism
Francisco J Ricardo; Ebrary, Inc.
New York : Continuum International Pub. c2009
Digital performance a history of new media in theater, dance, performance art, and installation
Steve Dixon Ebrary, Inc.
Cambridge, MA : MIT Press c2007
Mapping intermediality in performance
Sarah Bay-Cheng; Ebrary, Inc.
Amsterdam : Amsterdam University Press 2010
Electronic performance support using digital technology to enhance human performance
Philip Barker; Paul van Schaik; Ebrary, Inc.
Farnham ; Burlington, VT : Gower c2010
Week 2
Outline: Presentation and critique
Lesson Activities
- Present short devised pieces and evaluate the use of audio and video in
them
- Peer critique: evaluate pieces (what does and doesn't work, technical problems,
integration of the technology, etc.)
- General discussion about the role of technology in performance in general and
the theatre in particular.
Some practitioners
...and how they have used New Media
- Joyce,
Finnegans Wake
- Beckett,
Not I (1973)
- Beckett,
Rockaby (1980)
- Cage Variations V, 1965
- Cage, Tudor, Cunningham
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http://movimientolaredsd.ning.com/video/john-cage-variations-v
- Roaratorio (1976-79)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNE1ezCTGMk&feature=related
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Cage Musicircus
Isadora Tutorials
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Tutorial 1 - basics
Tasks to be completed for next week
- You should research the influence of Futurism as found in performances
involving new media. You may use the argument put forward by Steve Dixon in
Chapter 3 of 'Digital Performance' (see below), that Futurism is at the heart of
what we now call New Media Performance as the starting point of your reserach.
In your groups prepare short presentations (10-15 minutes) of case studies that
include video and any other found materials to support it. Through a system of
discussion board/Facebook posts or just by talking to each other, lay claim to
found videos or materials that you wish to present so as to not overlap with others.
- Use the following as the basis for your research and presentations:
- Dixon, S. 2007. Digital Performance. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press
Read Chapter 3: Futurism and the Early-Twentieth-Century Avant-Garde
- The above book is available in paper form in the University Library or
in
electronic form with access from the UL catalogue.
- There's also a futurism paper by Steve Dixon providing much of the information
of the above chapter available
here.
- Here's a translation of
the first Futurist manifesto
- Information about Futurism on the following page may be of use or interest:
http://www.paulj.myzen.co.uk/blog/futurism/
Finally, you might also have a look at
ISEA (International Symposium of Electronic Arts)
proceedings for some up-to-the-minute examples of technology in performing arts.
Week 3
Outline
Presentations involving the influence of futurist ideas in New Media performance.
Isadora software is introduced.
Lesson Activities
- Presentations and demonstration of Isadora software
- Discussions with groups about first assessed performances
Practitioners
- Bruce Naumann
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Good boy, bad boy 1985
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Clown Torture 1987
- Shit in Your Hat - Head on a Chair 1990
- David Hall
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This is a Television Receiver 1976
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Stills from This is a Televison Receiver
Commissioned by BBC TV as the unannounced opening piece for their Arena video
art programme, March 1976. Programme produced by Mark Kidel, conceived by Anna
Ridley and presented by David Hall
- Compare Alvin Lucier
I am sitting in a room 1969
- Alvin Lucier
I am sitting in a room part 1
- Alvin Lucier
I am sitting in a room 2
- Alvin Lucier
I am sitting in a room 3
- Alvin Lucier:
Music for Solo Performer (1965)
- Alvin Lucier
Music On A Long Thin Wire
- David Hall
Tap piece (intervention)
Isadora Tutorials
Isadora Instructions 1
Tasks to be completed for next week or upcoming assessment submissions
- In your groups, generate a new 8-10 minute performance, or, if preferred, edit
the previous performances to include elements using Isadora, including at least
one effect type (for instance, feedback) and the addition of text elements on
screen.
Week 4
Outline
To evaluate how well we have integrated Isadora into our workflow
Lesson Activities
- Evaluation of the techniques employed
- Introducing cyborgs and notions of teleoperation
Reading and resources for this session
- Dixon, S. 2007. Digital Performance. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press
Read Chapter 10: Virtual Bodies
Tasks to be completed for next week or upcoming assessment submissions
- Student research on cyborg art approaches like Stelarc and
the research of Prof. Kevin Warwick. Use Facebook
to claim examples
Practitioners
- Stelarc
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Extended Body: Interview with Stelarc (text)
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Stelarc: the body is obsolete (3:49 video)
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Stelarc: The Man with Three Ears (13:40 video), OR
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Stelarc: The Man with Three Ears (14:03 video)
- Kevin Warwick
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Kevin Warwick (text)
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Project Cyborg 2.0 (text)
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Cyborg Life: Kevin Warwick Interview (7:48 video)
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Professor Kevin Warwick - Keynote Speaker at Science and Information Conference 2013 (25:00 video)
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Google Science Fair: Kevin Warwick Interview (4:40 video)
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(Somewhat out of date) list of interviews
- El Dibuixant - Marcelli Antunez Roca
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El Dibuixant - Marcelli Antunez Roca (60:00 video, see 16mins)
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Paul Sermon, Telematic Dreaming (1992)
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Susan Kozel, Across Bodies and Systems, 2009
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Art Shock - The Human Canvas (extreme) (52:00 video)
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Video: The F.D.A. Approves a Bionic Eye
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A sensational breakthrough: the first bionic hand that can feel
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How to Build a Bionic Man
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CYBORG FOUNDATION | Rafel Duran Torrent
Also to discuss if time:
- Uncanny valley -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNdAIPoh8a4
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Orlan
- Golem
- Frankenstein
- What if the sun disappeared? -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rltpH6ck2Kc
Isadora Tutorials
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Tutorial 2 - compositing images
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Tutorial 3 - using scenes
Week 5
Outline
Talking about cyborgs: students present group case studies on cyborgs and virtual body extensions
Lesson Activities
Presentations and a workshop on
basic video and sound manipulation.
Reading and resources for this session
Dixon, S. 2007. Digital Performance. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press
Read Chapter 13: Cyborgs
Tasks to be completed for next week or upcoming assessment submissions
Isadora performance 1:
In your groups, present a devised piece using Isadora and including other media covered so far.
Incorporate image manipulations into your pieces or start a new piece that makes use of them.
You can start from scratch or use previously developed ideas;
Pieces should be between 8 and 12 minutes long;
You should include at least eight different videos and/or still images
You should including composited images;
You should include at least four different scenes;
You should include at least two different sounds;
What should it be 'about'? Choose a story in the recent press for
inspiration, or a passage in a book you like. Take a simple idea from life,
like work or colours or animals and think about how you might use that.
See these instructions
Practitioners
You may find it useful to look at the work of the following practitioners for inspiration:
poles pps danse 1996
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNl5iDsyWxY
http://www.ppsdanse.com/en/repertoire/poles.html
Corpus Corvus
p123 Digital Performance
troika ranch future of memory
Isadora Tutorials
Isadora Instructions 2
You may find the following online tutorials useful:
Tutorial 2 - compositing images
Tutorial 3 - using scenes
Tutorial 4 - Performance: Best Practices
Tutorial 5 - Using Effects
Week 6
Outline - Controllers and video manipulation
Introducing Controllers: Isadora Instructions 3
Lesson Activities
We present the devised pieces set last week and then introduce video manipulation of images via controllers;
Hands-on activities with video delays and effects;
Carry on with these exercises:
Isadora Instructions 2
Check that we're okay with
Audacity as a sound editing environment
Tasks to be completed for next week or upcoming assessment submissions
Isadora performance 2:
Presenting devised pieces using Isadora and including other media covered so far.
Devising a piece that uses remote controlling or enhancement of gestures through video game controllers and the Wiimote
Practitioners
You may find it useful to look at the work of the following practitioners for inspiration:
Christian Marclay
Back to Back Theatre
Matralab
Isadora Tutorials
Tutorial 6 - Value Scaling (Part 1)
Tutorial 6 - Value Scaling (Part 2)
Tutorial 7 - The Self Generating Patch
Week 7
Outline - Regarding soundwalks...
We evaluate the performances from last week, inluding use of controllers and
of image manipulation techniques and then discuss soundwalk devising
strategies.
Practitioners
Janet Cardiff/George Bures Miller soundwalks and installations
The Muriel Lake Incident
Blast Theory,
'Can you see me now'
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I'd Hide You
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Blast Theory on Northwest Tonight (2008)
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So, err... by Blast Theory (2009)
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Blast Theory - A Machine To See With (2011)
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Fixing Point 2011
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Blast Theory Videos
http://www.soundwalk.com/ and
http://soundwalkcollective.com/
An article on soundwalking
World Listening Project
notours.org
aporee.org
...just Google 'soundwalk'
You can also try the following software (unchecked as of March 2013):
SonicMaps (http://www.sonicmaps.org/)
Lesson Activities
- Introducing the noTours sound walk software for augmented aurality,
substituting environment sounds and performing in open spaces with GPS
guidance. You may use, but are not required to use noTours. Contact Mat Skidmore if you wish to borrow an Android phone with noTours software installed.
- Introducing soundwalks.
- Headphones are required for the following:
Binaural sound.
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Or try this one.
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ARU noTours Facebook Group
- Using
Audacity to edit sounds and create soundwalks and sound installations.
- Using iMovie to edit and create movies -
here are some tutorials,
and some more...
- Using
games controllers with Isadora.
Tasks to be completed for next week or upcoming assessment submissions
In your groups, create a short new devised work using sound walk technology
and ideas.
Isadora Tutorials to work through
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Tutorial 8 - Live Video
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Tutorial 9 - Interactive Control with Live Sound
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Tutorial 10, Part 1 - Custom Interfaces with Control Panel
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Tutorial 10, Part 2 - Custom Interfaces with Control Panel
If you do wish to use noTours:
The noTours app can be downloaded directly onto your phone from
www.ultranoise.es/anglia/noTours.apk
After it has downloaded, pull down the 'notifications' menu from the top
left, and double-click on the noTours icon / select install.
Then check out the
noTours
editor, and try setting something simple up.
Currently, the noTours application plays all soundfiles at full volume, so
you need to normalise each soundfile to the relative volume you might want,
and confirm that when testing the walk in situ.
In the noTours app, soundfiles fade in/out over 2 seconds when a circle
boundary is crossed. To avoid a fade, insert 2 seconds silence at the
beginning / end of the soundfile.
Soundfiles can be mono or stereo wav or mp3s (up to 320kbps); mp3s work
best.
Do not use spaces or unusual characters (?!@^%& etc) in your file names, or
they will not sound in your phone.
After you have downloaded a zipped version of your completed walk to your
computer, your project will be inside a folder named with 3 digit integer,
such as '427'. Rename this to something more user-friendly (though no
spaces) if you like.
Inside this folder will be an empty sub-directory named 'sound'. In this,
copy the soundfiles for your project (whose names will match those of the
files named in your project, e.g. soundOne.mp3, etc.)
Hints:
When choosing the names of your soundfiles only use lower-case letters. No
numbers, symbols or spaces. At least when starting out, make your
'soundpoints' nice and big and if you do this at home in your garden, cover
both your neighbours' gardens! This gives you the best possible chance of
good clear coverage. Once you have your points sorted and recognised you
can be more detailed and experimental. To start with, I would recommend only using 'soundpoints' rather than 'soundscapes', but feel free to investigate.
Here are a couple of mp3s that I know work
Week 8
Performing outside
Presenting preliminary versions of the sound walk performances.
Evaluation and refining the sound walk performances.
Check that we're okay with
Audacity as a sound editing environment.
Discussing
ideas for final performance:
for next week please have some plans for what your group will
be aiming to perform for the assessment in week 12.
Outline
Monitored rehearsals
Lesson Activities
Presenting the sound walk performances.
Evaluation and refining the sound walk performances.
Discussions about final performances.
Outlining the task for next week.
Reading and resources for this session
Dixon, S. 2007. Digital Performance. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Pressread Chapter 20: "Theater" in Cyberspace
Tasks to be completed for next week or upcoming assessment submissions
Research case studies in MUDs (Multi-user Dungeons), MOOs (MUD, Object
Oriented), MMOs (massively multiplayer online game) and related, like
second life avatars, G+ handouts, Google docs performances, etc. and prepare
a demonstration of these techniques. See
here for more info.
Practitioners
Forkbeard Fantasies
Wooster Group
http://www.forkbeardfantasy.co.uk/
Isadora Tutorials
Tutorial 11, Part 1 - Interactive control with MIDI
Tutorial 11, Part 2 - Interactive control with MIDI
Week 9
Preparing for assessment
Outline
Check final groupings
Outline rehearsals for next two weeks
Bring along draft essays for me to look at while others are rehearsing
Alternate rehearsal venues
To do:
lists of jobs for group members
lists of required equipment and who is to provide it
Any other class-wide requests?
Talk to each group about what they're going to do
Isadora Tutorials
Isadora 4: Video in and Effects
Tutorial 12 - Playing and Manipulating Sound
Tutorial 13 - Activating Multiple Scenes
Practitioners
Robert Lepage
Faulty Optic
http://lacaserne.net/index2.php/robertlepage/
http://www.stationhouseopera.com/
YouTube sites:
'A Beginner's Guide to 'Crossing the Celluloid Divide'
http://www.forkbeardfantasy.co.uk/Use_of_Film_3.html
Week 10
Outline
Monitored rehearsals and checking of written element for submission
Isadora Tutorials
Tutorial 14, Part 1 - Creating your Own Actors
Tutorial 14, Part 2 - Creating your Own Actors
Week 11
Outline
Monitored rehearsals and checking written element; Details of next week's final performance will be agreed.
Week 12
Final Presentations
Outline
All final performances are presented today;
They will be double marked and video recorded