Advanced, Play, Design - Week 4 (KJD)

Week 4 Finished Play

Theme

- In response to the theme “Play and Place”. I went through my phone archive and will showcase pictures and videos of one of my favourite places for hangouts with my friends. It was my car when I used to live in Dubai and these videos are from October 2019.

- With the videos, I created an animation in Unity with Cinemachine and Unity Timeline.

Context

- From the journal as shown here (Smuts, 2013), I agree with what Smuts says here “My claim might sound implausible, but it has phenomenological support. This mode of engagement is unlike reading a novel written in the first person. Listeners are not just hearing someone else’s thoughts; rather, they assume the persona of the speaker. Singing along is closer to portraying a part onstage, but subtly different.”. As I sang along with my friends, it felt like we all connected and harmonized as one and I felt like the car was some sort of physical moving stage. Or more precise a karaoke stand.

- Even in the journal, he also states this happened to me many times when singing with friends. That we try to imitate the singer of the song by matching with their vocals and it turns out horrible and we get some embarrassing moments.

Method

- In this theme of the play, I created an animation using Unity Timeline and Unity Cinemachine for the cameras. I 3D-modelled my old car with the reference images I had and animated it in Unity. Along with that, I created a reenactment of the recording by recording myself and placed that video on the front of the car windshield.

Response

- Here is the background to the video. Can't post it on YouTube I think as it will get a copyright strike Country Roads Sing-Along. 

- Here is the response to this video APD Week 4 - Play and Place.

Reflection

- This week was more technical-heavy as I focused more on finding the context for this. Looking back at the videos threw me into a memory lane and made me miss my friends back in Dubai.

- I am quite happy with how the animation turned out and that it's perfectly looped so it keeps playing again and again. I did want to add car control but that would mean I will have to keep the video and audio looped and synced together. Which in turn, has more changes to do.

Week 4 References

- Smuts, A., 2013. The ethics of singing along: the case of “Mind of a Lunatic”. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 71(1), pp.121-129.