Updates, post-project....

For news on work developed from e-merge, and other updates, have a look at:

• Ambience, collaborative film-making mediascape for the Bristol Festival 2009
• Strata Collective - Soundlines music and mediascape project with schools and community in Weston super Mare, exploring ways of seeing the layered histories of the landscape of Sand Point, on the North Somerset coast.
• Soundlines project development blog
• PMStudio residency
• PhD research practice with Institute of Creative Technologies, De Montfort University
• Contact me for information on papers/presentations.

Documentation

It's report-writing time, to bring the project to a close, and to submit to ACE.

A lot of documentation has been generated along the way - this blog, the website, the walks and films themselves, photos, video, interviews, on and offline surveys, email comments, programmes, etc. etc.

I'd like to collate things through the blog. However, as I found at the start, that's quite tricky given the range of formats and file sizes involved.
Maybe something to bare in mind from the start on a future project.

- If anyone has suggestions for apps that would work seamlessly that would be great!

Meanwhile, I'm aware that a lot of things get filed away at the end of a project, possibly never to see the light of day.. so I'm going to do what I can in adding documents, photos etc - to have an easily accessed reminder of what's been involved, and also to make this as comprehensive a record as possible. I'm going to cheat the timeline though, and add them in at dates that seem most appropriate... labeled 'documentation' for easy reference.

For a few of weeks (since the Worle workshops) I've been thinking about new blogs to take on elements of e-merge. They're not all live yet, and more may develop along the way, so I'll just add a short post introducing each one - a kind of family tree of new friends and relationships!

Visitors...to the Worle mediascapes

Here's some beautiful creative feedback from the primary school children who visited to try out the Worle students' mediascapes....

Observations..

I asked Worle workshop participants what they'd particularly noticed about the London films, and what they had noticed or would want to highlight about Worle/school in the mediascape content they were about to make.

London:

Birds

I like the squirrel running through the trees

Trafulgar Square

London Eye

I liked the movement of people and cars amongst large monuments

Sped up sunrise, walking. Time manipulation.

I liked the horses and animals

Liked the moving people part

Birds

Dappled sunlight

Worle:

Buildings - different viewpoints

Grass

Different height levels

Friends and some lesson

I noticed how different the school feels with no children

Environment

Animals

D.T.

Trees

Worle was very flat

Show the school animals

Environment

Nothing except PE

Environment

Animals

Sports Facilities

Web Listings

Websites/url's featuring e-merge:

http://www.e-merge-walks.com
Temporary page with links, logos & outline info, live from 23/2/09. Full
site live and functional to include walks & films made etc from 5/3/09

http://www.e-merge-walks.blogspot.com Project development blog started 12/1/09 and updated regularly. Public access including comments.

http://www.birds-eye-view.co.uk/news/2009/02/21/jackie-calderwood-tells-us-more-about-innovation-project-e-merge/#more-704 Article featuring background to e-merge,
21/2/09. Incl. public comments

http://www.ica.org.uk/emerge_a%20filmmaking%20mediascape+19135.twl Festival listing

http://www.birds-eye-view.co.uk/563/innovation/emerge_-a-filmmaking-mediascape.html Festival listing

http://birds-eye-view.co.uk/585/training/pervasive-media-studios-presents.html Festival listing

http://www.birds-eye-view.co.uk/266/innovation/innovation.html Festival listing

http://www.mscapers.com/msin/ABA0000559 Development sketch, uploaded 19/2/09

http://www.pmstudio.co.uk/news/2009/02/21/birds-eye-view-film-festival-gets-a-touch-pervasiveness Article

http://www.visitlondon.com/events/detail/4528630 Event listing (multi-lingual site) visited
26/2/09

http://tntonline.co.uk/whats_on/specialevents/5754941402WhatsOnEvent.aspx Listing

http://shootingpeople.org/calendar/index.php?mode=detail&event=9552&day=2009-03-12&event_type=single Listing

http://twitter.com/BirdsEyeViewFF/status/1237611785 Announcement

http://www.a-n.co.uk/interface/whatson/single/515809/1
Listing article with images

http://www.a-n.co.uk/interface/reviews/single/525417 Review with images

http://www.pmstudio.co.uk/project/e-merge with links to journal entries etc.

http://sandpit.hideandseekfest.co.uk/sandpit-10/
e-merge at Sandpit#10 22^nd April 2009, at ICA

http://www.jackiecalderwood.com/home.php
e-merge listed and linked from website.

http://www.creativewiltshire.co.uk/index.php/2009061868/News/dotbiz-Last-In-First-Out.php e-merge remapped for students and industry
partners as part of workshops and presentations by Jackie on Pervasive Media at
dot.biz, Wiltshire College, June 2009.

http://www.wlv.ac.uk/default.aspx?page=20750 Jackie discussed e-merge as part of a
presentation ‘Pervasive Media: Experience of Landscape and Short Film’

http://www.pmstudio.co.uk/events/fri-17042009-100pm
Talk by Jackie at Pervasive Media Studio, April 2009, about work to date and
the e-merge project.

https://www.enyan.co.uk/article/show/7054
Case Study of Jackie for CPD section of ENYAN website (and e-newsletter March
2009) featuring e-merge project.

http://stratacollective.blogspot.com/2009/03/absence-and-presence.html feature & listing about e-merge

e-merge Workshop Plans

Part of the e-merge project is a workshop with school students in Somerset. I wanted to include this, to bring the project back into the SouthWest region and to share it within an educational context. It will be interesting to see how the content transfers to a very different space, and whether the iconic images of central landscape would have any significance or value to young people who may or may not have visited the capital. I anticipate that it may be a good strating point to consider their own environment, and what features of it they would highlight to share with others. It will also be interesting to potentially map the new journeys and films, and/or create new content for the same structure of filmmaking mediascape.

This is the workshop outline sent to the school I hope to work with.

Wo-manning the event

I had to pop back to Somerset & Bristol for a day, missing a couple of sessions. So time to set out a brief for the BEV volunteers wo-manning the table & equipment, who have been great. Over the weekend it was essential for me to be going out with walkers, making sure they were happy with the equipment and seeing how they (and the technology) behaved with e-merge - and therefore what information people need to be given when they first come to the event.

This was the emergent brief...

Online survey

Everyone who asked to be emailed with their unique walk numbers from the website was asked to complete an online survey, with links from the website feedback page too.

Here are the questions:

1. Have you tried the e-merge mediascape?

2. How did you hear about e-merge?

3. Have you experienced a mediascape before e-merge?

4. Would you describe e-merge as any of the following?

Film; Game; Tour; Walk; Mobile media; Pervasive media; Art; Narrative

5. Did you encounter difficulties with the ipaq/ technology?

6. How did the mediascape alter your experience of the park?

7. Have you watched any of the e-merge walks-films on the website?

8. Would you prefer to watch your film?

In the park; Anywhere; On the website; In the gallery (ICA); Other

9. Please rate the project / your experience:

Very poor; Poor; Average; Good; Very good; Other

10. Please add any other comments, feedback, development suggestions.

Enter your e-mail address if you would like a reply, and for a chance to win a limited edition (1/10) e-merge print.

Thankyou!

e-merge live all week

A different blog..

Harriet asked me to write an article for the BEV blog about making e-merge... after having a look at some of their other recent articles, it seemed the chatty, easily explained style would work best.

‘e-merge’ _ A film-making mediascape by Jackie Calderwood

Interactive exploration of landscape through walking, music, artist’s moving image and mobile technology.

I’m making a mediascape for the festival.. with media drawn from and linked to the landscape, and experienced by walking around.

How does that work? Easy! Collect an i-paq (hand-held computer) from the ICA , plug in headphones, and listen to the instructions... you’ll be asked to choose some music, made especially for e-merge by three different women composers/bands. Then it’s over to you for a walk in the park. St James’ Park is right opposite the ICA and perfect for a stroll, run, or to meet the wildlife – from pelicans to squirrels that’ll take nuts from your hand! – you choose where to walk, how far, how fast – the music may encourage you to twist and turn as you meander the paths around the lakeside. When you’re ready, find a comfy place to watch your film – with images taken from the places you’ve walked, you may find a few surprises too! Make one long film, or several short films, and when you’ve finished we’ll upload a selection of films to the e-merge website so you can watch again, show your friends, and compare films!

The making process has been ticking away since November when I met Sarah Mosses, BEV’s innovation programmer, whilst visiting another interactive project. In one of those synchronistic conversations where I told her about my work using mscape to make short films, she told she was looking for a woman mscaper to create a piece for the film festival! Discovering the festival base would be at the ICA was a real bonus – with St James’ Park on the doorstep, perfect for a film-making walk. I’d made a similar mediascape last summer[www.jackiecalderwood.com/transitions.php] as part of extended practice completing my MA Media (Interactive Arts) at UWE, so would base e-merge on that, and create new content from and for the park.

How did I get involved with mediascapes?

I started working with moving image 12 years ago within a sculptural environment, moving into short film and community media arts facilitation. 2 years ago, during my MA, I began to work with HP’s mscape software and love the freedom to make work that moves people in an outdoor environment, placing the user, context, work and artist in dynamic equilibrium.

Mediascape offers an exciting new medium to explore my interests of contrasting relationships: movement & stillness, audio & visual, time & timelessness, limitation & choice, ultimately the way we respond to choice, how we interact with the world around us.

The commission for BEV is a great way to bring mediascape to a new audience, and for me to contrast rural and urban environments, and contribute to the discussion about film and mobile technology. Mediascapes often seem to be used for gaming, information, and education. So bringing e-merge for women in film, and the general public, feels very enjoyable! As part of ongoing research, it’s just fun to have the opportunity to work alongside more creative people, develop ideas and test out work in new situations – and hopefully get some interesting and useful feedback!

Making it...

So, in brief, the process to date has included meeting BEV and working out logistics of equipment, audiences, and all those things... a successful application to the Arts Council to support e-merge, commissioning music, meeting with the Royal Parks and photographing and filming in the park, researching historical images, editing still and moving images, building and adapting a structure for the mediascape with hp labs’ mscape[www.mscapers.com] software –( imagine it like a map of time and place, with media content dropped in.)Testing and more testing, ‘iterative’ is the essential-word for this kind of work! Coming from a fine art and community media practice background, I think it’s really important for innovative work to be well documented, accessible to the general public, and visually presented, so I’m keeping a project blog [www.e-merge-walks.blogspot.com] and designing postcards to promote the website which will go live with films made during the festival [www.e-merge-walks.com].

Challenges? Inherent in using a mobile device is the small screen and small quantity of film that it can play, so it’s a constant balance of what’s going to work well within the technology. Also how to be interesting and engaging to a wide audience, and the good old question of interactive design – how much freedom and choice can the end-user really have? Let me know when you’ve tried it!

Aim...

One of the first tasks... a brief biog and outline of e-merge for the BEV promo materials - brochure and website.