Life of a MAGI Security Camera (Week 5 Theme: Objects Are Not Exhausted)

Theme: Objects Are Not Exhausted

The idea for this story came from my group discussion in Animated Narratives yesterday about a security camera at an FBI facility who's sentient and has feelings and desire. I've simplified this story right down with the security camera in our MAGI classroom; an object where we think only has a single purpose  - to record the classroom. I wanted to dive deeper, and explore the relationship between the camera, the classroom and the window.

Context:

Animated Narratives group discussion with Chris, Valerie, Maddy and Faye (?).

The simple yet hilarious comic panels of Nathan Pyle - check out the one with the soup and spoon, or the ants and human. Pyle is amazing at bringing humour out of the simple relationships between objects. He often gives faces to objects (two eyes and a mouth) to show their expressions, feelings, speech and action - from everyday objects like a spoon, to astronomical objects like the sun. In just four comic panels, Pyle shows the inner thoughts of these objects and highlight the amusiing scenarios they find themselves in.

Method:

Animate the security camera to be able to look out the window and enjoy the view. Take some still photos and recorded videos on my phone, then edit using Adobe Photoshop, After Effects and Premiere into a short video.

Response:

I found this week's theme particularly hard to come up with concepts. I started off just taking photos of everything inside Building 7, but settled down with the security camera idea after I saw it so lonely on the wall in room 18. :( I was trying to imagine it's view; how it's forever stuck in a position where all it sees are students and teachers in the classroom. If it had a wish, what would it be? And then I saw the window and thought how nice if it could turn or move its position to look out the window - obviously against its original intended "human" purpose - to "keep an eye" on the classroom. The outside view would certainly be much nicer! What if the security camera could move from it's position to anywhere it wants?

Credits:

• Music: Theme for a One-Handed Piano Concerto by Sir Cubworth
• Sound effects: Various from YouTube Audio Library