Film Plot ( Initial Concept )

This project includes a 9 part non-linear story, the narrative of which draws heavy influence from Lucas Thurston's concept album. In the future when science has advanced society towards one goal, to reach the edge of the universe. The story will be broken into parts allowing the viwer to slowly piece together the true nature of this society. Exploring themes of increased surveillance and the prevalence of news narrative.

The video itself will be compiled from "news footage" and "surveillance footage" as well as scripted dialog sections; exploring the societal decay brought on by digital drugs.

In addition ( if approved by the curatorial comity)

Madness is a fundamental component of the concept album this story is based upon. Drawing from that, the piece would also occasionally offer narrative conversation about the environment around the piece, describing art on the adjacent wall or directly beside it.

Video Concept Art

Infinite Reverb Over the Mare Marginis (Crawford Mix)

On Soundcloud:
Infinite Reverb Over the Mare Marginis (Crawford Mix) - Forest King by FNTSY FLGHT RCRDS

And on Bandcamp:

A new demo completed today. Written and performed by Lucas Thurston. Produced by Mac Pepler.

I: The Edge by Supercompact Wormhole Propulsion - Album Artwork Prototype

I: The Edge by Supercompact Wormhole Propulsion album artwork prototype
Note: Forest King is the pseudonym I assume for my sound pieces

The Captain I (Crawford Mix)

On Soundcloud:
Captain I (Crawford Full Mix) - Forest King by FNTSY FLGHT RCRDS
And on Bandcamp:

A new demo completed earlier today. This track is from the second half of the upcoming album: I: The Edge by Supercompact Wormhole Propulsion. Written and performed by Lucas Thurston. Produced by Mac Pepler.

North of Mars - The Two Ships (Crawford Mix)

On Soundcloud:
North of Mars - The Two Ships (Crawford Mix) - Forest King by FNTSY FLGHT RCRDS
And on Bandcamp:

A new demo completed earlier today. Written and performed by Lucas Thurston. Produced by Mac Pepler.

Assignment 1 - Steven

MPM42a/b

New Media Production

4^th year student’s senior PROJECT SYNOPSIS template document

Fall-Winter 2011-12

Due: 2nd class September 2011

Instructors: Jessica FIELD, Lila PINE, Priam GIVORD

Below are the features to include in your 1^st Project Synopsis document. It is an indicative list (non-exhaustive) of the first things to put down when starting, we would like to see them all addressed and more if you see fit.

Please bear in mind that this is going to be part of the first mark given for 4^th year.

__category of the work

Consisting of sound, sculpture, video.

__artistic and technological references

Steve Mann- wearable computers.

Nick Bostrom- Transhumanist Values.

The term “transhuman” denotes transitional beings, or moderately enhanced humans, whose capacities would be somewhere between those of un-augmented humans and full-blown posthumans. Our cognitive limitations may be confining us in a Platonic cave, where the best we can do is theorize about “shadows”, that is, representations that are sufficiently oversimplified to fit inside a human brain.

-Bostrom

Stelarc- biotechnology- Humans seek mastery of their own skin.

“The body now performs beyond the boundaries of its skin and beyond the local space that it occupies. It can project its physical presence elsewhere. So the notion of single agency is undermined, or at least made more problematic. The body becomes a nexus or a node of collaborating agents that are not simply separated or excluded because of the boundary of our skin, or of having to be in proximity. So we can experience remote bodies, and we can have these remote bodies invading, inhabiting and emanating from the architecture of our bodies, expressed by the movements and sounds prompted by remote agents.”

-        Stelarc

__descriptive text of 10 lines mini, for example: what it is going to feel like experiencing your work? What is it about, what is its message?

The piece is a journey through space sound and time. Three sculptures will create a parallel between fiction and reality to allow us to question; what it is to be human? Requiring recognition and further exploration as the technological age of human manipulation progresses. I will be transforming the ‘concept albums’ music into a physical storyline, comparing themes of exploration to present day biotechnology to explore alternate, intimate and involuntary interfaces with the body. The final form depicting a futuristic state; the singularity between technology and the human form.

__materials and technologies required

Ply wood, pink insulation, winter-stone, high-gloss white paint x1 gallon. Glue, screws. 1” metal tubing x 20ft. Heat gun, drill, Dremel, skill saw, Pikoe Projector, IR sensors, LEDS, Arduino x 2, video camera x 1.

__Include potential fabrication difficulties that can happen during project making this year

There is always a possibility I will run into technical errors throughout this year. The last of the three sculptures will be projecting an eternal feed back loop along one of the galleries walls. The angle at which I position the camera and the projector will be tedious as it needs to be exact in order to achieve the wanted visual result. Lastly the designing of how the sculptures are going to look like and what emotions they convey will be a difficult task to visualize.

Assignment 1 - Lucas

MPM42a/b

New Media Production

4^th year student’s senior PROJECT SYNOPSIS template document

Fall-Winter 2011-12

Due: 2nd class September 2011

Instructors: Jessica FIELD, Lila PINE, Priam GIVORD

Below are the features to include in your 1^st Project Synopsis document. It is an indicative list (non-exhaustive) of the first things to put down when starting, we would like to see them all addressed and more if you see fit.

Please bear in mind that this is going to be part of the first mark given for 4^th year.

__category of the work

Sound installation/sound piece

__artistic and technological references

The Edge utilizes many new media technologies to create the sounds heard throughout the piece. The Reactable is a source of influence for creating my own tangible user interfaces. Furthermore, Nietzsche's writings on transhumanism ("the Ubermensch") and utopian society influences the universe created within the concept album.

                •Reactable - http://www.reactable.com/

                •Friedrich Nietzsche - Thus Spoke Zarathustra, The Gay Science, Human, All Too Human

__descriptive text of 10 lines mini, for example: what it is going to feel like experiencing your work? What is it about, what is its message?

I: The Edge by Supercompact Wormhole Propulsion is a concept album about a far future where Earth's single, science-driven nation sends eight astronauts to find the edge of the universe. The journey is conducted on a super-advanced spacecraft that takes them through a massive wormhole, sending the travelers through infinite dimensions, to the farthest reaches of deep space. In the emptiness they descend into madness until they are drawn to the edge of the universe. The album is divided into three movements: "From Earth",  "Supercompact Wormhole Propulsion", and "The Edge". As the narrative progresses through the movements the tone shifts from utopian grandeur, to lonely despair, and finally to the edge of sheer madness. The journey of the eight astronauts warns the listener of being blinded by the hopes of a technological utopia,  but also reflects that of our own technologically saturated society. The tracks are comprised of digitally processed acoustic instruments, electronic drum programming, and ambient soundscapes. These three sonic elements represent the astronauts, the spacecraft (Skyfish), and the infinite space that surrounds them, respectively. I: The Edge utilizes a variety of new media techniques to create the soundscapes heard throughout the tracks. These include glitching audio Hz rates, tangible user interface-based musical instruments, and processing acoustic instruments through Processing and Pure Data programs. The album will be integrated with Mac Pepler's video installation and Steve Wright's sculptures, each drawing up different themes from the album. I: The Edge will also be printed onto vinyl and compact discs, as well as being hosted on a website for free download.

__materials and technologies required

For the installation, see Mac Pepler's list of materials.

For recording the album:

An array of microphones

XLR and 1/4 sound cable

Audio mixer

DAW's

Various musical instruments

Various constructed instruments

__Include potential fabrication difficulties that can happen during project making this year

Recording an entire album in such a small amount of time could be quite difficult to juggle with a regular school schedule.  Furthermore, getting an album printed on vinyl and/or compact disc can be costly.

Assignment 1 - Mac

MPM42a/b

New Media Production

4^th year student’s senior PROJECT SYNOPSIS template document

Fall-Winter 2011-12

Due: 2nd class September 2011

Instructors: Jessica FIELD, Lila PINE, Priam GIVORD

Below are the features to include in your 1^st Project Synopsis document. It is an indicative list (non-exhaustive) of the first things to put down when starting, we would like to see them all addressed and more if you see fit.

Please bear in mind that this is going to be part of the first mark given for 4^th year.

__category of the work

Interactive non-linear video installation: providing narration to the gallery space.

__artistic and technological references

Drawing influence from videogame culture; exploring the nature of narrative as it pertains to an individuals actions within a closed environment. This piece is a response to the growing level of surveillance in our lives and the narrative of our news outlets, exploring the contemporary prison; the increasing need for control.

• Bioshock

• Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison – Michael Foucault

• http://www.technewsworld.com/story/70704.html

__descriptive text of 10 lines mini, for example: what it is going to feel like experiencing your work? What is it about, what is its message?

The work consists of 9 video displays encased in dark plastic. Grouped in threes the displays will create a path through the main space. Using infrared sensors the display will notice the presence of nearby viewers and begin playing. The videos will create ask the user to participate in their story by directing the viewer from screen to screen. The video logs will explore shared themes in Lucas Thurston’s concept album I: The Edge By Supercompact Wormhole Propulsion. Lucas’s concept album uses Nietzsche’s theory of utopian society; the video pieces will juxtapose them with Foucault’s exploration of the evolution of contemporary prison systems. The video network will direct you to the statues of Steven Wright and the final video screen. Your journey is complete. Each video screen is also equipped with a camera that has been photographing every viewer and uploading this information to a centralized database. This information will be used for a variety of applications including live projection and potentially facial recognition driven statements given to the viewer when the system detects they have arrived at the end.

The work asks the viewer to depart from the convention of their life and explore the lives of the individuals contained within the screens; depicting their lives throughout the completion of the story. The video warns of the future of surveillance and the nature of an increasingly technological world. The system is interested in teaching you and will recommend you visit the rest of the pieces at the completion of every video. The photograph taken of you will be before the video begins.

__materials and technologies required

1.     9x iPads

2.     9x Infrared Sensor

3.     9x Speaker

4.     9x Plastic Enclosure

5.     9x Arduino Micro-Controllers

I will also need to create USB circuits to connect the iPad to the Arduino, most likely a simulated keyboard input. This is to trigger the iPad to play video and to trigger the camera to take a photograph.

__Include potential fabrication difficulties that can happen during project making this year

Acquiring all the iPads will be challenging. The fabrication of the enclosures to conceal the iPad and the Arduino will require CNC cut plastic. I will then need to create a complete non-linear 9-part story. In conjunction with this I will also be co-producing Lucas Thurston’s Album.