PRODUCTION & PERFORMANCE PROCESS insights

As with the entire Augmented Organism project, choice of frame, narration and the way we used technology developed from an intuitive and lateral dialogue between our practice based research areas and the natural environment. We let our creativity and technical planning follow nature's lead. We made ourselves as ready as possible for the perfect moment when the environment itself revealed narrative of itself. This meant equipment had to be ready and charged and the team ready to dive (literally) into action at any hour of the day! 

One of the central concepts in Augmented Organism Projects examines augmentation of natural movement of both the central character and filmmaker, creating distinctive ‘dance film’ experiences. In turn this influences the viewing to creatively engage with their own augmented relationship to natural environments. This is a trademark style of Director, Cy Gorman. 

Strong preparation such as researching, team discussions, care-taking the land, landscape designing and rehearsals created the right space and foundation to hold awareness and presence with/ in support of the environments' poetic voice.

SONOCHROMATICS - AUGMENTATION OF PITCH/COLOR RELATIONSHIPS IN POST

The central technical and creative focus in post production for the whole Augmented Organism project focused on various interpretations and inclusions of sonochromatic data into the sound and color of the final audiovisual works. Sonochromatic audiovisual files contain two main important functions - an RGB (color) value and a correlative sonic pitch specific to that RGB value. The imposition of sonocromaticism in the post production process was a necessary narrative tool in creating a lens to view through what it might be like to experience the natural environment as an Augmented Organism, a cyborg or perhaps some other fusion of nature and technology? Or  even an artificially intelligent autonomous system that is trying to understand what it is to be at one with nature. Sonochromatic mapping in this way opened up an artistic approach to explore relationships between nature and technology in new ways. The correlation between light, color, sound (vibration) brings a heightened almost unnatural 'augmented' feel to the film. 

An important point to note is that instead of only using RGB values (within the color spectrum of the video we captured) to dictate pitches within the final sound design, we also collectively 'tuned in' to the environment to discover and sound out what pitches were resonating strongly in the environment as a centrally narrative pitches of the environment itself. We then referred to the correlative sonochromatic RGB value to provide us with colors to add as an augmented color layer in post production. This equates to the organic reaching into the technological, not just submitting to technology to dictate the course of perception. 

For all chapters of Augmented Organism, we always started with nature as the speaker. We listened, felt and then went to "the machine" to interpret and augment this message in an effort to create new work that acts as a bridge between the natural and the synthesized. In this way the work creates possibilities and a space for a new dialogue around important issues that we all face with regards to human and post-human ethics. The work also raises questions about who or what is the audience of Augmented Organism. Is it you? Your children? Cyborgs? Trees?

A final note on the narration. How to say less with more? The language of poetry. Poetry opens up a wider field of interpretation and removes something that there is so much of in the world. Words. A central interest here is developing a voice that attempts to move beyond binary notions of male and female, or character/identity narratives that exist separately from an environmental voice or narrative.