This is my FINAL LOOP project

I will include a copy on DVD in my journal incase the quality of this video is too poor.

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This is an earlier version of my loop project. NOT the final version!

From the crit on Friday, I have realised that 'less is more'. I am going to simplify my project even more than I already have. I started by going through all the footage I had and selecting out the pieces I might use. I then cut down on these depending on the quality and variety of shots I had. I was able to get rid of footage where there was too much grey floor visible. I then moved around the clips on the timeline, played with the speed of them - fast forwarded some, slowed some down, played them backwards. I also cropped quite a few of the shots, so there was a bit of a graphic aesthetic to them. At this stage the loop was about 2 minutes long. I decided this was excessive and a got a bit boring by the time the loop came around. From there I cut it down to roughly one minute, which was the piece I showed in the crit. 

For my final version I have cut it down further and added some audio. I was going to use the audio that was recorded with the footage, but although it suited the sort of 'bloopers' in the earlier versions, it didn't really fit with the new one. I considered using some silly sound effects to match the absurdity of the footage, but I didn't want the piece to be too thematic. I wanted to keep the random feel about it. I chose to use a section of music from a Daft Punk song because its beat matched the movement in the clip and gave the piece another amusing aspect. I think the music makes it seem like this completely ridiculous bear takes himself/herself pretty seriously and thinks he/she is pretty awesome, but actually looks like a complete fool! 

I filmed my friend hula hooping today. I have never laughed so much in my life. I hope I can do the experience justice with the editing and final product. She wore a skin tight lycra suit, 'bedazzled' with blue, red and white sequins and also a bear mask/head thing. I was a little worried in the initial stages of filming as she was having trouble hula hooping for more than 2 or 3 seconds. However, this provided some very amusing footage of the time between attempts which I will have to include in the loop piece as they are hilarious. I plan to cut up all the footage so I can limit the amount of time the hoop spends on the floor! 

For my loop project, I am going to film my friend, dressed up in a ridiculous outfit, hula hooping. 

I think this will be interesting because the action of hula hooping kind of reflects and contradicts the idea of a loop at the same time. I guess the aim of hula hooping is to keep doing it for as long as you can, but inevitably (unless you are the worlds best hula hooper) you will muck up and the hoop will stop. By filming the action, I can make it go on forever! 

I want to make it entertaining, hence the ridiculous outfit, to keep the viewer engaged. I will film it from different angles and distances, to get a variety of shots to keep it interesting.

I am unwell at the moment (pretty sure it's not swine flu....) and was unable to go to the critical session today. I was a bit worried that I wouldn't be able to get any feed back and advice on my piece. However, I have been able to show it to my family members today and have got some ideas as to adjustments I need to make. These include slowing a couple of the bubbles down or making it so that there is more of a chance to read more of the text, I think this can be done and still maintain the idea of fast moving, overlapping thoughts that come and go before you can really consider them. I also plan to show some other people, friends mainly, over the weekend and see if there are any common observations and suggestions made which I could work on. I have shown a couple of people in my e-media class over the last week, and have had some responses which pointed out good things, such as the aesthetically pleasing 'stream-like' movement, vibrant colour to engage the viewer, and an interesting concept relating to 'automatic writing'. Some people suggested that the text moves too fast to read, this generally happened before I explained the reasoning for this. However, I understand that as a visual piece it needs to be engaging, hence the decision to make changes previously discussed. Unfortunately, missing out on the crit means that I will have to show it to as many people as possible, to form my own sort of 'crit'.

I am also considering changing the background to something with a little more depth, as I feel it is looking a bit flat at the moment.

I have a rough version of my text project ready for the crit tomorrow. I am a bit worried that it is lacking something.... it seems a bit flat.

I still need to add: 

audio -  I think I will use a sound clip of 'under water' because it was like the sound in my head while I was doing the automatic writing task. It was a sort of low, irregular humming, and seems to suit my piece as I felt submersed in my thoughts. As they became more erratic, I felt my heart rate rise a little and I felt excited and inspired. If I was to put this feeling into a sound it might be something with a higher pitch, perhaps the sound of a glass being tapped. After the lecture on sound, I would like to create my own sound clips, but I guess it depends on how much time I have.

I might slow a few of the bubbles down, some which are at the front of the screen, so the viewer has more of a chance to read some of them. Although, the main point I am trying to convey is the feeling of frustration and dis-order I experienced in trying to record all the thoughts that went through my mind while I was automatic writing. I did the task several times and found that each time, my thoughts started off slow and orderly but as I relaxed into the task, I found that my hand wasn't able to keep up with my head as thoughts came and went before I could record or finish recording them. They were overlapping and intertwining.

In my piece, I attempted to re-create this feeling for the viewer, in the overwhelming movement, speed and directional changes in the thought bubbles.  

The idea of my piece is not for the viewer to be able to read the text exactly, but to able to experience the feeling my particular flow of thought and stream of consciousness. 

I wanted to capture the concept of 'automatic writing' - an unpredictable, uncontrollable, continuous, unedited and at times confusing and frustrating process.