Inverse Video Remediation: Internet > VHS

Everyone everywhere seems to be either copying their old VHS tapes onto DVD, or recording their entire video library as digital-only files.  The physical media which once held this video data (for example, the video tape), is being binned en-mass.  You could argue that this is the triumph of digital video over its predecessor, as the contents of the video tape is remediated into the computer platform.

However, what if the reverse were also possible?  My latest idea is to take content available online, and record this onto VHS tape, on which it is archived/kept.

Just as digitising from VHS onto computer must be carried out in real time, so must this recording from computer onto VHS; the computer would need to output a video stream of the web content in order to do this, which is then connected to the input of the video recorder.

My aim here is to bring balance to the direction of remediation (at least a little).  Although I can not change the way the masses consume contemporary media products, perhaps I can carry out processes that could help the masses think, and perhaps increase the ‘value’ of many contemporary video products which, due to their extremely temporal lifespan, are intended to expire quickly in order to make way for the next consumer release.

Scanner Animator – Test of Concept

Following on from my prototype scanner camera (a pinhole camera made from a flatbed scanner – see previous post), I have been working on further experiments, in order to record movement.  The recording device remains the same (a flatbed scanner), but multiple pinhole camera ‘cells’ are scanned in quick succession (as one image).

The resulting image is then cut up and layered in Photoshop by way of a Photoshop Action, and then animated in After Effects.

My hope was that the resulting mini-animations would appear to liken those retro hologram rulers, that you rtated to see at different angles, creating the illusion of movement.  Here is an example of what I mean, thanks to a youtube user:

My first tests were done at close range; cells were scanned in a single scan, the a Photoshop action used to cut them up and layer them, and After Effects to fade them from one to the other.  Due to the close focal length used, the cells do not really overlap, but rather they show a different portion of the subject.  For my next test, I hope to use a much longer focal range, so that each cell predominantly overlaps the others in terms of the subject being recorded.

Back to the Mac? Back to MacOS7!

Following the recent Apple ‘Back to the Mac’ event, this event did, quite literally, see Apple going back in time, to a previous mini-paradigm in mac computing.  Not just back to PowerPC, but beyond G5′s G4′s, G3′s, 604′s and 601′s, but all the way to the 680xx-based Mac era.

Why do I claim this?  Well, one of the major announcements for Mac OSX 10.7 ‘Lion’, was the introduction (or should I say re-introduction), of the Launcher; an application last seen in MacOS7.

Classic MacOS Launcher

So why re-introduce this feature now?  Well, perhaps Apple are trying to build on the success of the application launching screen for its mobile bevices (iPad, iPhone etc), and bringing this to the mac now may signal yet another shift in the Mac world, to smaller, more portable computing devices (the newly unveiled 11″ MacBook Air fitting into this category well).

Quite simply, the Launcher is a window of buttons, which can be made to fill the screen.  Clicking a button will launch an application directly, avoiding the need to navigate through the Finder if the application you want is not in the Dock.  Perhaps this even signifies Apple’s realisation that the Dock has its limitations; 1) it is not practical to hold all your Applications (or Apps as they are now called), and 2), the dock takes up space along the side of your screen; no good if your screen is quite small!

So once again, the oldest ideas have proven to be the best.  I remember fondly using the Launcher on my Performa 630, the computer which introduced me to the world to Digital Video Editing.  It had a built-in TV card, a video-input card, and came with Avid Videoshop 2.0.  Okay, it couldn’t handle even half-resolution SD video at full frame rate; but worked perfectly well creating quarter-PAL Quicktime movies; fine for making small-frame movies for the web.

Maybe now is the time to resurrect my beloved Apple Performa 630, and use it once again for video editing.

Avid Videoshop

And you thought that Apple TV was a actually new idea?  Its not the first time that Apple have attempted to remediate the TV and computing Platforms!

Apple TV/Video System

My Performa 630 came with this system pre-installed.  I could watch TV, connect my camcorder, and edit video – all out of the box.  And this was in 1995!

Terrestrial TV Switch-Off

Local radio announced today that the switch-off date for analogue TV broadcasts in the Oxfordshire/Buckinghamshire area has now been set; and its only a year or so away.  We all knew it was on the way, but now it’s been scheduled, it brings a new level of immediacy to the issue.

I recently removed a big flat screen TV from my living room, and replaced it with my previous TV – a 21″ CRT.  Why?  Well, for several reasons.

1) The TV was huge, too big for my living room really.  It kind of took over, and reduced the relaxation element I wanted my living room to have.  I guess its okay as a wall-screen; but I don’t want a wall-screen, I want a television.

2) Its in-built freeview box didn’t receive all channels properly.  New equipment… and less reliable!

3) In order to differentiate TV from Cinema, I wanted to re-instate the 4:3 aspect ratio I associate with Television as a format.  Okay, so almost everything is made in 16:9 these days… so i’m not going to see the image as the director intended… I’ve heard this argument over and over again, and yes, it is a good point.

But just because new programming is produced in 16:9, this does not mean that I am going to automatically consume all this new programming.  Most of the TV programming made nowdays is total rubbish; and I can watch all those old eposodes of Star Trek, Jeeves & Wooster, Bugs, Allo Allo and Dr Who with a frame proportional to the image, which actually improves my viewing experience for these programs.

But then there’s films.  They’ve been made in wider than 16:9 for years.  But do I really want to create the cinema experience in my living room?  In all truth, I do not.  It’s a living room, not a cinema.  We have been brainwashed to believe that we must constantly purchase the latest consumable electronics, in order to consume the latest media products.  But actually, this is a choice we have; no one is making us do this.  If I want to see a film in widescreen, I will go to the cinema.

I could go on here to discuss the adoption of 16:9 aspect ratio monitors by computers, and the remediation of the cinema format into the internet, but this is a parallel debate.  This post is about the end of Terrestrial TV.

One question we could ask is, is Freeview BETTER than analogue?  And despite all the hype, the answer clearly has to be, no.  Have you ever tried watching a rainy scene on Film-4, and noticed the screen become a series of digital blocks?  Okay, so BBC1 has a higher transmission bandwidth, but still, the images display compression artifacts, which you clearly see if you know what you’re looking for.  And for one, I prefer slight RF noise in the image, which is far nearer to the equivalent of ‘film grain’ than the compressed digital equivalent.

There are certain Freeview boxes on the market, which will output an RF signal to the TV, rather than just a SCART connection.  This is intended for TV’s with only an RF (ariel) input, and adds an RF-type noise to the image.  I could go one stage further, and delete all channels apart from 1-5, in order to create a more retro tv viewing experience (although I have not done this yet, I admit).

And to add to the retro experience, I have re-instated a VHS VCR into th set-up, allowing me to carry on recording on VHS tape.  Okay, so VHS degrades… but so does the surface of those DVD-recordable discs we have all now archived to.

When VHS degrades, the image picture deteriates; when DVD-R’s degrade, they become unreadable.

Max-16 v0.3.6: Put Yourself Into a Game (Video Documentation)

Video Documentation from Max-16 v0.3.6: Put Yourself Into a Game, event held on 10th April 2010.

Although the majority of documentation was in the form of still photographs (some of which will be posted shortly), I did take a little video, extracts from which are presented here.

This event is a work-in-progress event, as part of Project 1 (experimentation), on the MA Art & Media Practice at the University of Westminster.

The principal area of experimentation is in game-pods – pods that you get inside, in order to play a video game. In this case, tents are used. The theme is human and hardware-based video game (technology), joining within a small, confined space. You have to climb inside the pod in order to play the game.

Additionally, there is also an experimental Sinclair Shrine; a shrine made to Sir Clive Sinclair, inventor of the 1980s ZX Spectrum computer. Gamers are able to play a game which constitutes ‘worship’ at the shrine. My Vigatrope (Video Game Zoetrope) prototype has also been adapted to include images of Sir Clive, as it has temporarily become part of the shrine.

Vigatrope photographed by Scanner Camera

After unsuccessful attempts to use the scanner camera to photograph yesterday’s video gaming event, mainly due to too much light as it was a very bright day, I tried to use it again today, with more success.

I wanted to create a retro technology hybrid device (scanner camera), in order to photograph a retro technology hybrid device (the Vigatrope – Video Game Zoetrope).  Still with images of Clive Sinclair’s head attached (from yesterday’s Sinclair Shrine installation), here are a few photographs, with the ‘trope specially lit for the scanner-camera.

Scanner Camera

Following the construction of the prototype Vigatrope (Video Game Zoetrope), I wanted to find a way of documenting this, which was in keeping with (or at least in the spirit of) the Vigatrope; it is a victorian aesthetic prototype device, but using out of date [more modern] technologies.  I didn’t want to ‘steampunk’ a 10 mega pixel digital camera – as this would be using high technology.  Rather, I wanted to combine low technology with some victorian device principles.  So, I though about whether an old flatbed scanner could be mounted on the back of pinhole/box camera obscura.

Upon searching the internet, I found a few people who have got this to work successfully, and documented how they made the device, also showcasing some images they have taken.  This inspired me to have a go at making one myself.

These images show the prototype camera I have made, and one of my first photographs ‘scanned’ on it.

The prototype is made from cardboard, with a magnifiying glass as a lens, and using a Canon LIDE20 USB bus-powered scanner.  The camera is essentially a pinhole camera, with 2 card boxes that can be moved over one another to focus the image.  I have yet to add a working aperture control – at present it is using a 4cm hole cut directly into the box.  I will be replacing the ‘pizza box’ card construction with black card within a few days.  As this is just a prototype, I will then investigate the possibility of constructing the device as a permanent fabrication.

As the Scanner is bus-powered, it will power directly from the USB port of a laptop; therefore, it would be truly mobile as long as the laptop battery is charged up.   Furthermore, if within Wi-Fi range, the laptop could instantly be used to upload images onto the internet – a practice I plan to try out.

This is exactly the kind of hybrid product I wanted to make, combining out of date computer technology with pre-computer ideas and procedures.  Plus, it is, I believe, potentially a product which would demonstrate an ‘inverse remediation’ of the internet; here, the internet is being used as an instant distribution platform for a lower-tech image-making device.  Therefore, the pinhole camera has, effectively, remediated the internet, rather than the other way around.

Sinclair Shrine 1

Following on from the Light experiments (I, II & III), and Tent Pod 1 (Michael Jackson Tent), I have been experimenting with a kind of shrine to retro computer gaming systems in general.  In this case, I have chosen to tailor it specifically, at least in part, to Clive Sinclair, who was responsible for the well-known ZX Spectrum computer of the 80s.

I have not based this shrine on any other shrine in particular, but rather, it is my own creation; however it is slightly inspired by the Beatles shrine I created for my 1998 video ‘Vinyl Meets Acid’.  (I have adapted the Vigatrope (Video Game Zoetrope) to additionally feature motorised spinning cutout heads of Clive Sinclair, although this does not feature in this shrine as it is currently a parallel element of my project.)

Chanting or mantras to Sinclair was something I considered (perhaps using the phrase ‘Spectr-OM’ – similar to the name, Spectrum), however upon reflection I felt it apparent that the game-playing itself is the equivalent to the mantra of the game-player.  I did not want the traits of the gameplayer to become too apparent, in case they distract from the worshipping.  The human form is shrouded; the only apparent features should be a slight outline of the face, and the fingers curled over the keyboard, whilst the back is hunched to bring the face nearer to the screen.

The human form, therefore, exists to serve the machine/shrine by playing the game, and serves no other purpose than to activate and engage with the technology which is being presented to it.  Like ET (Spielberg, 1982), it may possess spindle-like fingers for button-pressing, and a head disjointed from the body for viewing VDUs,  I would like the human form to ultimately become more alien in its very form, however this may be for another stage of the project.

The candles and incense could be considered a rather kitsch addition to the shrine, which I accept; in fact, the worshiping of retro does itself lend itself quite well to this, I feel.  The hardware being worshipped is in fact being fetishised.    I also candles necessary as a way of providing in-shrine lighting, without bringing in additional lights, and they provide a satisfying flickery aesthetic and warm glow.

The shrine is also a tribute to those popular computer game TV shows of my teenage years, including Bad Influence, Gamesmaster, Knightmare and The Adam And Joe Show.

Sinclair Shrine 1 documentation on 4th April 2010.  The idea is to make a shrine to 8-bit computer systems in general, and more specifically, Clive Sinclair and his ZX Spectrum computer   This was made in my garden shed.  I am interested in the human-computer interaction of the shrine worshipper, as they play PowerDrift to its blippy tune.  The workshipper/gamplayer hunches over the computer, fingers curled onto the keys, as they are transfixed by the video  image.
Idea and realisation was by Aaron Kay.  Shrine Workshippers are Justina Moriarty and Aaron Kay.

Defining the magic in retro

Well today was going to be a gaming event day, but as most people dropped out within the last few days, I had to cancel it.  Which got me thinking.  I had defined the event as a joint electronic and board game event, to see if people would be as enthusiastic about this as they would about a purely video game and technology-filled event.

It would seem, however, that this is not the case; perhaps there is not quite as much enthusiasm for non-electronic games, perhaps there isn’t any real magic in it?   Maybe it is video games, by their very nature as electronic entertainment devices, which people find so magical?  Is it this magic which makes retro video games so nostalgic?

If so, technology is in fact key to what I am trying to discuss in my project.  These wonderous gaming devices from the days we were children (or in some cases, not even born yet), seem to hold some wonder, or curiosity.   It is this magic, wonder, and curiosity which I feel has been lost from mass-market contemporary entertainment and communication technologies.  Maybe we take them too much for granted, or maybe our everyday exposure to them builds up some kind of immunity to their true nature and wonder?

Following the completion of the video essay about video games (to be posted online shortly), and with this as well, I think that maybe my project is not really about computer games.  Computer games, specifically retro ones, are one access point into what I am really investigating; which is, of course, the magic of technology.

The Death of the Gaming Console?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8556874.stm

Will traditional gaming consoles all be obsolete when a new internet-based gaming service launches in june?  Why purchase a consule and games, if you can access a whole world of gaming online?

Whilst I find this change quote scary, it is perhaps a further remediation of hardware, into softwaere code on the internet, which is unavoidable.  Whilst it is the destinay of all physical platforms to be remediated into newer ones, perhaps the dominant platform, the internet, is set to remediate all others.

Just as retro gaming system emulators are available via the internet, contemporary consoles now look set to receive the same treatment.