Filming - 14th March

For the video based installation, we are considering to exhibit it with projection mapping discussed in another post. After developing an approach to portraying Nano Nagle's life, we needed to source actors, costumes, props, locations and the equipment. We got in contact with CIT Drama Society but were unsuccessful in sourcing actors. I met with four students of drama and theatre studies in The School of Music. Even though there were excellent contenders to play the part of Nano, our schedules clashed. As our schedule is strict we had to get the shooting done that week so we transformed Anne into Nano Nagle. I asked a neighbour if two of her children would like to help us out and play the roles of Nano's students, they were delighted to and agreed to a payment of Haribo sweets. We wrote a release form and went through it with the mother who signed it. The final actress was an extra, a patient that Nano nursed.

Costume Design

Nano Nagle

For all costumes we tried to recycle and keep costs at a minimum, Anne very successfully made the white bonnets that both Nano and the students wore, with white crepe paper. For her dress and cloak I used a long black skirt over a long black dress (both of which i had in my wardrobe and never wore) and made a cloak using a black bed sheet. She wore a plain black pair of boots. We had a lot of fun with this, here she is in a strange juxtaposition with the bright orange wall. 

Nano's Students

 

For the girl's outfits we bought pillow cases and cut holes for the head and arms. I dragged the material around the mud and gravel to make them look more like worn. They wore these with the bonnets and plain white t-shirts and leggings. 

Props

We sourced blackboards, chalk, straw, a dictionary(which we used as a bible), the lantern, rosary beads and an old table for shooting

Locations

Initially we wanted to shoot the school scene in an old run down barn shed, the darkness prohibited this as we were shooting from 6pm. We had availability of a photographic studio so decided to create the sets there. We were aware that this was a big task and setting the scene would be very difficult but it turned out very well in the end.

 

The set for the school scene was created with a brown background and a floor of hessian. 

Lighting was a huge part of making a convincing scene, we placed 2 low level lights in the darkness. We later bounced the light of white surfaces to make a softer glow.

This scene was again shot in the studio. The lighting we created for Nano nursing the sick scene was much more dramatic. We went for a low but sharp lighting, with strong shadows. The actress lay on the table and we covered her in a hessian blanket. We set up a high chest of drawers beside the bed where Nano places the lantern.




















Final scene was to see Nano with her lantern walking through the streets of cork in the night.
We debated shooting this during the day and creating the darkness in post production. We had some fun with the content of that video.(Which on reflection is pretty embarrassing) Here is testing of that..

And we also did some testing of various possible filters for the end result.

We shot this at night on a small street back from Sullivan's Quay. It was a gorilla style shoot, we had to move traffic cones and wheely bins out of the scene. And shot the footage in between passing cars and groups of people passing by. 

Post Production

Once filming had been completed it was time to edit the footage. We wanted each scene to be less than 30 seconds, just giving the visitor a quick snap shot into the past. The video was edited using Final Cut Pro. The filters we used were Bed Film with a vignette. Maeve storyboards provided a basis for editing. The video has now been edited and the next step is to text this on an audience as well as seeing what it looks like with projection mapping. Below are the edited video clips: 

Text Based Installation Material

We have been looking into different options for material to use in the text installation.
Over the past few weeks we have been looking at material to use in the text based installation. We have also been looking at different option to trigger the installation. What we want to create is a set of tiles with letters on them. They are hiding a hidden word that is revealed once the visitor triggers it.

What we started with
We had started off with card and cut the letters out of this. We tried a couple of ways but it was hard to make the text appear sleek and finished. It was jagged and torn at the edges. It was also very time consuming.

This one took 2 hours to cut out of card. 

We then moved onto acetate which looked better however we had to double up the sheets in order to keep the light from shinning through the blacked out areas. 

This week I have looked into other potential material. I began by looking online.

Some materials, although they appeared are unrealistic to use as a material due to price and availability. Some of these option are:

Stone Onyx

Examples of Onyx Stone

This is a type of marble stone that illuminates when light is shone through it. It creates visualising interesting patterns. Letters could potential engraved into the stone, however this theory needs to be tested. I have tried sourcing stone onyx in Ireland but can't find any. I did however find similar stone but the price is too high. Another issue is how will we carve the stone as none of use have experience at this. Also if we were to hang these from the wall the weight would be a factor, it would cause serious injury if it were to fall.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1yVHcsxRTw

Fibre Glass Paper

Examples of Fibre Glass Paper Being Used

This material has been used for air filter monitoring, although I have found it being used to create artistic lamps. It is flexible, temperature resistant and see through. It can be sewn and cut to creating interesting shapes. This is another material that was hard to source. I did find a website but the price was too high. 
http://www.improvisedlife.com/2009/08/04/great-clip-on-lamp-shade-the-hunt-for-glass-fiber-paper/
https://us.vwr.com/store/catalog/product.jsp?catalog_number=28297-976

See Through Concrete

See-through Concrete

Another material option is a product I found online, it is see through concrete. This is definitely the most unrealistic option. However I really liked the visual look of it and how people have used it. There were no prices on the website so I emailed the company for prices, however it is such a unique product I think it will be too expensive.
http://dornob.com/see-through-light-transmitting-concrete-material/#axzz2vnEYoeKv - http://www.litracon.hu/   

More plausible options that we are would like to experiment with are:

Wood

Examples of Wood being used with Light

I have found many artist and designers online how are creating interesting objects with light and wood. The most interesting one I found was the Hix, a wooden cube lantern (picture above in centre). It is hollow on the inside and uses steel to create patterns revealed with light. The next step with this is to source some wood and start experimenting with it. Like the stone onyx, none of us have experience carving wood and it is something we really need to try out first.
http://www.hix-edition.com/index.php?lang=fr

Glass
We met with Debbie Dawson, a artist working in Crawford, to discus the possibilities of using glass as a material. Before we met we had a meeting and landed on the idea of using stain glass. Not only is it visually beautiful and colourful, but it is associated with the church and religion which is an important element to Nano Nagle's story. 
http://www.peadarlamb.com/work_dl.html

Examples of Stained Glass

We tried a quick test with some glass paint and acetate before meeting up with Debbie and we were pleased with how it looked. 

We then met with Debbie intending to get learn of other option we hadn't considered and the possibilities and limitations of stained glass and glass as a medium. We visited Debbie Dawson on Thursday the 20th of March in Crawford College of Art. She was very helpful in giving us advise.

First we asked her about stain glass. She said that glass as a medium is very expensive, especially stain glass. She recommended we visit Douglas Glass. We informed her about us trying to use glass paint, but she said that this does not give the best effect and can crack. She then gave use a suggestion of using coloured cellophane to create the same effect.You can also but stick on lead to give it a more authentic look. Debbie even said that we could return with the supplies and she would help us make it look like stain glass. 

Examples of Coloured Cellophane being used

You can get some at Evans Art Supplies. 40 coloured sheets for €4.20 online. They sell some in Cork Art Supplies costing €15.99, however it is clear. I also found that coloured cellophane is often used by florists and can be bought at florist suppliers like Central Floral Supplies, however they are expensive (over 20 euro). Another option would be to go to a florist and ask for coloured cellophane as we do not need a whole roll of it. 

A second suggestion she mention was sand blasting the glass. It gives a frosted effect. 

Examples shown to us by Debbie








To do this we would need a print a image of the text on acetate in negative. This would then need to be exposed onto rapid mask which will stick onto a pane of glass to protect certain areas from the sandblast. There is a whole tutorial online: http://www.sandcarver.org/photoresist.htm. Debbie suggested we get in contact with the Sculpture Factory as they will have the equipment to create this. 

Examples of Sandblasted Glass 

Another ida we could look at is using different colour LED lights, so the glass may be plain, but the light will give the effect of stained glass.

The final suggestion she gave us was using etching paste. This would also create a frosted frosted glass effect, but a more subtle one. Debbie was kind enough to give us some glass and etching paste to try out.

The process involves us having a stencil of the letter on the glass (secured some how, maybe masking tape). Then etching paste is then thickly painted on using a brush, gloves most also be worn. The paste is left for a couple of minutes and then washed off.

examples of Etching Paste used on Glass

Next Stage:
We want to start experimenting with these techniques. We have the etching paste and can test this straight away. We must also get in contact with the Sculpture Factory to see about sandblasting. We are going to try and source some coloured cellophane and test this too. We are also going to look at wood as a medium, but must first get some wood. The aim is to create prototypes to test and evaluate. From this we will decide what is the most suitable material to use in the text based installation. 

Workshop 2

We came together as a group for another workshop, this time over the coarse of 2 days (March 6th and 7th). In last weeks work shop we began to bring our work together and create prototypes. This week we further developed these prototypes and updated them.

1. Audio Visual Installation
Maeve has been working on the finishing touches of the storyboards. Last week we had decided to look at projection mapping and this week we worked on testing this method. We got a set of 3 boxes which we set up at different angles.

In photoshop, a template was created of the box shapes to be projected onto. Images can then be placed onto the shapes, frame by frame. This is a tedious process but the results looks good.

Next stage in the audio visual installation:
We are planning on filming this coming Friday. We need 2 child actors, a Nano Nagle and a sick person to act. So far we have found 2 children and are planning on getting in contact with the drama and theatre course in the School of Music. We had previously contacted the drama society at CIT, however they have not replied.

2. Text Installation
Last week we had tested using acetate to create the letters. This week we updated this prototype by using printing larger letters and having these displayed in their own tile.

An issue we had last week was the ink not being dark enough and the light shinning through. This time we use laser printed acetate and used three layers in oder to achieve the effect we wanted.

We also brainstormed ideas for how this installation will be triggered. Originally we planned on the lantern dial as a trigger, however following the progress presentation we wanted to explore other, maybe more interesting options. One option we landed on was having the text light up when someone walks by.

Next stage in the text installation:
We have an idea of how the lighting of the text will be triggered, however it is something that we need to test out. We are not sure who will be observing the text and where it could be placed. we must also look at what technology can be used to trigger the text. Currently we are looking at infrared sensors that trigger the installation when the line is broken. We also want to look at other options for the physical design of the text tile themselves. What other materials, besides acetate, could be utilised. 

3. Map Installation
Last week we looked at the design of the map, getting LEDs to light up with the potentiometer and creating a test in after effects. This week we have received the LED tubing we had ordered. This was then used to create a prototype. Two prototypes were created. One in cardboard that looked at ways of implementing the tubing. First we looked at weaving the tubing in and out of the locations. however this was messy. 

The second method we looked at was cutting out the path and placing the tubing into it. This method looked a lot better. 

This method was then implemented into a second prototype using card with the map sketched on. While we got the effect we wanted there is an issue with the cutting out of pathways as it meant that Ireland was completely cut out of the map. 

Next stage in map installation
We must address the issue mentioned above. We are also going to test the prototype to see how users interact and understand the installation.

Content Testing

From reading and researching Nano Nagle's life I came up with a list of words that represent the story and the content that the project should provide.

I then conducted a word cloud test to determine which words people found most appealing and interesting. I conducted the test with 8 potential users. There are the results.

    

 

Results:

Most common: Priest Hunting, Secrecy, Oppression, Illegal

Not understood: Hedge Schools

We will use these to inform the information that we will use in the text installation and in the video installation.