Collaborating
Summary
20 Credits
This unit offers the opportunity to work collaboratively with other courses and disciplines. Students are helped to develop and negotiate team skills within the roles, responsibilities and frameworks associated with group working. You work in teams where your sonic skills are used in collaboration with those of other creative practices. In addition, the unit focuses on enterprise, employability and professional ethics.
Collaborating
Timeline
Week 7
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
Week 11
Week 12
Week 13
Week 14
Week 16
Books:
Sawyer, R.K., (2008) Group Genius: The Creative Power of Collaboration. Basic Books
Books:
Sennett, R., (2012) Together: The Rituals, Pleasures and Politics of Cooperation. London: Penguin.
Books:
Vera, J-S, (2006) Creative Collaboration. Oxford University Press
Books:
McCabe, C. et al (1984) Artistic collaboration in the twentieth century. Smithsonian Institution Press
Work in Progress Seminar
Monday
Summation
Collaborating
My Contribution - Group Dynamics
I’m thinking of creating a room with 6 objects within it that corresponds to the identity symbol I have made by subjecting the 7 circles of the flower of life.
If the group agrees I’ve thought about taking this cube idea and if it’s possible, crating a cube inside of another cube.
The inside cube has the side on which show visual representations of sounds on each of the four outside faces.
This cube would be inside a room.
I’m wondering if whether the four sides of this room could lead to individual rooms which then, have their back walls each lead out into another room which then holds a cube with the four rooms within each of their four outside faces.
In our first meeting the group was told the idea of us all making our own rooms which can be decorated together visually and audibly. I then asked about the placement of these rooms and how we get from one to the other and I thought since there was initially seven of us in the group that we could each make our own rooms while basing it on the seven circles of the seed of life or within a hexagonal pattern. It’s a shape I’ve come back to a lot in my work as I think it’s a great way to form a perspective of identity and showcasing one’s self in relation to others.
So the idea would be to place the rooms on each of the circle’s centres with doors between them, making six outside rooms and one central room.
<https://www.tokenrock.com/subjects/flower-of-life/>
<https://www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/flower-of-life-meaning>
So our tasks for the end of this meeting was to make a draft plan of what our ideas were for our rooms.
At the next meeting Zedan mentioned that they had been working on an idea of presenting the rooms in a cube, making four rooms cross over each other within it, utilising the four outside faces. This reminded me of how four-dimensional shaped could be represented and really liked the concept. There were six sides to a cube and it would have to be held within a space also so we would still have seven rooms to make.
Shortly after this we became unclear about who was in our group and who wasn’t since we hadn’t heard off some of our members, but we were encouraged to move forward still and to allow anyone in the group to catch up at their own pace.
It was then made clear through Zedan’s testing of the shapes that the top and bottom faces of the cube would not be able to have rooms made within them because the hardware was not able to keep up efficiently and there would be too much lag. This also then brought up the question of whether we would be able to integrate our own designed rooms at all. Zedan stating that it was Abhay who was encouraging the idea for us all to create our own spaces for our sounds and that there was en error of communication.
Zedan then showed us some videos of live, visual representations of music that can be implemented into the game engine and set inside each of the four faces of her cube.
This left us in a bit of a limbo since never was there a point where every member of the group was in a meeting, in-person, at one time. So we quickly came up with the idea to have two cubes, one with visual representation and one with rooms designed around sonic themes and to meet again the next week to discuss it. We couldn’t however figure out on that day who would be making sound for what since there was now a limit on the number of specific roles and everyone had been planning for the same one.
At this time I tried multiple times to use the group chat to determine who would want to do what, since, we are all in it and can just set up a poll. This idea was ignored and it was decided that we need to have another in-person meeting.
After a class with ingrid it was mentioned about having changes to the environment that are triggered by the player and how this can enhance the experience of the game. It was also noted to think about the linearity of the game and how a player moves from one level or environment to another, so I made up a proposal of how this could be done using these block ideas [Pages 4-6] and sent it into the chat with an explanation. This too was rejected and it was stated that the idea was that we were having two cubes side-by-side.
In short:
They wanted us to think of the idea for rooms
Then they had an idea of how to create the rooms
We were umming and arring about what we need to make as some of us had ideas for rooms and some didn’t
Then we came to the conclusion that we would all have rooms again
Then we found that they want us to only make sound
Now we are waiting on whether we can design our own rooms or not so I’ve decided to run with what I had already.
Initial idea for my room:
Elaboration of the cube idea:
Collaborating
A Proposal of Overall Floor Plan
Outer Room
Inner Room
Outside Cube
Inside Cube
Room 1
Room 2
Room 3
Room 4
The Outer Room holds a cube [Outside Cube] which has four rooms inside each of its faces. These rooms lead into the Inner Room which holds another cube [Inside Cube]. This Inside Cube shows visual representations of sounds.
This way there is not eight full rooms needing to be made, yet there is also a way in which to make two cubes, giving each of us a chance to create something. This way is engaging for the player as they can explore each avenue as they please while still finding a reward at the end (the reward being the inside cube).
So the rooms of the outside cube are essentially walkways that lead to the Inner Room. I’m thinking these can be stylised as per our designs, yet there is not so many that they would have to be rushed.
This plan when presented to the group was rejected. It was stated that the two VR students already decided what they were going to do. The idea instead is to have the two cube in one room, one next to the other. One will have a visual representation of sound/waveforms much like what can be done with TouchDesigner and the other will be set up with four rooms of each face, which, so far, are said be being designed with the input of four of us sound students. �
Collaborating
Cube 1 - Visualisations
Front
Back
Left
Right
Top
Bottom
Collaborating
Cube 2 - Rooms
Front
Back
Left
Right
Top
Bottom
Collaborating
Idea for room
I’ve had a call with the group and it’s been made aware to me that Abhay needs an idea for his cube so at this point I’m making up a schematics proposal for the room. I wanted to showcase the idea of identity through the use of the flower of life and then also demonstrate the relation between this shape and 3D digital objects which I wanted to learn how to make. I like to tell people about how fascinating these concepts are, but I find the better way to do this is to show them and allow them to make connections for themselves. So the sole goal in this is to place the user within the space and show a connection between everything therein it.
[Room proposal see pages 8-12]
I have the floor plan and wall texture drawn up and I’ve sent the pages to Abhay who is in charge of creating physical rooms and still needs ideas for them. He has asked me about what the five objects will be and I’ve said that I will be making these over the easter break. He said that that is fine and to upload them to the OneDrive as .OBJ files.
I’ve made the objects for the room as the platonic solids and uploaded them to the OneDrive, I’ve just now asked Abhay what he thinks we should do now to take this forward and he got back to me with a voice message saying that I hadn’t given him any plan on the visual of the room and that he had decided to take on another idea since he and Zedan have changed back again to the idea of creating one cube and he was now only needing to build two rooms. All of this they had forgotten to tell the group. I then asked him to share his information about what he is making and what is needed from us in order to create these two rooms and he said he thinks that that might be made up tomorrow in the in-person meeting (I can’t attend this due to a job offer I can’t turn down, which has been explained to the group). He asked me what I had prepared.
I then went on to explain the room again and how it would look and what has already been done and he tells me that he will make a “secret room” to integrate it into the project. I mentioned he should speak to the group before deciding that. He’s pressed the point that it will be fine and I am losing a lot of care for this now so I’ve decided to just go-over the concept again in a video to cover everything for the meeting and so that it is easier to understand. He says this is a good idea. The video is on page 12 and when it was sent off into the main group chat and privately to Abhay, I was ignored again.
A month later I get a message from Abhay saying that he won’t be able to implement my room into the project, which I already assumed was the case. I asked him if there was anything specific that he needs right now and he sent me a list of sounds that were needed. Zedan had stated in the group chat earlier that day that she needs the sounds by Wednesday (Within three days) and I said that the list that Abhay was asking for was unrealistic by this date. He then told me to talk to Dec the “split the workload” and since I didn’t care much anymore anyway I did send a message to Dec and asked what his perspective was. He reassured me a bit by explaining that the sounds could be abstract, so I’ve decided to alter a file I already have and send that into the OneDrive.
Idea for room - Optional Wall Texture [Rough Sketch (Without Colour)]
Collaborating
Collaborating
Idea for room - Floor Plan
Object 2 [Sound 2]
Object 3 [Sound 3]
Object 4 [Sound 4]
Object 5 [Sound 5]
Object 6 [Sound 6]
Entrance
I want to have a sound on the player [Sound 1]
These sounds are creative loops that are designed based on the objects.
When the player stands in the middle, they will hear all of the objects melodies play together which will result in a complete spacialised piece of audio.
Collaborating
Object Design
Tetrahedron
Four Triangle Faces
Four Corners
Six Edges
The tree of life and Kabbalah have been brought to my attention and the way that the golden mean fits onto the map of circles [See Optional Wall Texture]. This is something I will take forward into my own Web3 projects.
Hexahedron/Cube
Six Square Faces
Eight Corners
Twelve Edges
Octahedron
Eight Triangle Faces
Six Corners
Twelve Edges
Dodecahedron
Twelve Hexagon Faces
Thirty Corner
Twenty Edges
Icosahedron
Twenty Triangle Faces
Twelve Corners
Thirty Edges
There are 5 platonic solids
Each one I can generate patterns from based on the number of corners, sides and faces. These patterns I can then generate audio from using PureData.
I’m thinking of creating drone type audio files which can then be manipulated through the use of EQ and overall volume. This is inspired by the work of Éliane Radigue and I’ve made a piece like this with stretched audio in the past which can be found here <https://www.instagram.com/p/CMYM1THg4jb/>.
I’m thinking of an activity; starting with flat EQ and a 0db volume level and improvising in a group of 5, manipulating the audio in real time using a mixing console of which could be physical or digital. If we end on a flat EQ and 0db it can be looped and then attached to the object files. This I think is a great way to involve the sound art students together.
I’d like also to get some input from the VR students on how to present these shapes. Should they be animated? Float a bit? Have a little glow?
All things to consider that can involve everyone.
These are also easy shapes to model in Blender as I am trying to learn this software at the moment and this could be a good gateway in.
Collaborating
Object Design - 3D Models
Tetrahedron
Four Triangle Faces
Four Corners
Six Edges
Hexahedron/Cube
Six Square Faces
Eight Corners
Twelve Edges
Octahedron
Eight Triangle Faces
Six Corners
Twelve Edges
Dodecahedron
Twelve Hexagon Faces
Thirty Corner
Twenty Edges
Icosahedron
Twenty Triangle Faces
Twelve Corners
Thirty Edges
Collaborating
Object Design and Video Explanation
Video of me explaining the concept verbally so that it is better understood <https://youtu.be/t5vmjxsWh5s>.
Example of the shapes if they were to come together. It would be interesting to see them in wire-frames.
Collaborating
Literary Thinking
Spirit of Place and Sense of Place in Virtual Realities Edward Relph
<https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/SPT/v10n3/pdf/relph.pdf>
Artistic collaboration in the twentieth century / McCabe, Cynthia Jaffee
Group genius : the creative power of collaboration / Sawyer, R. Keith
LaBelle, Brandon. 2018. Sonic Agency: Sound and Emergent Forms of Resistance.
Salomé Voegelin “sonic sensibility” - The heard and unheard. How is that being brought into and utilised in my room?
Reading and research: