Category Archives: Fall

Final Project

My final project for Time Fall 2014 is meant to be experienced at the Astor Place Subway Station between Lafayette and 4th Avenues and 9th and 8th St.  I was happy with how the site turned out, especially the video.  Changes I would make in the future would be to make the site more about the media and simplify the layout to eliminate the issues I had with writing the site for mobile devices, but at least I now know HTML and can customize my websites.  This project ended up being a satisfying way to end the semester.  

 

THE ASTOR PLACE FUTURE EXPERIENCE

note: experience the site on an iPhone 4 or higher for best results

Final Project: Website Sketches

 

map sketch  

 

Website Layout Sketch

 

The plan for my site was to make an interactive map for the subject to experience the location.  It was supposed to act more like an app than a website.

The user’s experience should be the following:

First Level: instruct subject where to be to experience my “Augmented Reality”

home

Second Level: interactive map

map

 

Original Map

My original map had to be modified because of HTML site writing issues.  I thought I could make an image map with “active” areas on the picture which would link the user to the videos I made for the class but I had to slice my map into five horizontal strips and link those images to the videos instead.  I’d like to explore more possibilities with HTML image maps but time didn’t allow me to resolve the image sizing issues I had when using my website on my phone.

 

map1 map2 map3 map4 map5

Revised Map

Third Level:

message1

 

Two of my links would take you to this page, where you’d accept an incoming message from the futuristic girl character.  You could “accept” and jump down the page to a video, or “decline” and return to the map.

instructions3

 

The remaining links would take the subject to this page, where they were supposed to line up their phone with the image on the screen and play the video clip 

 

Fourth and Final Level:

Final Project: Subway Video from Cameron Durham on Vimeo.

 

Transition of Astor Place from it’s current architecture to a futuristic concept piece

internet from Cameron Durham on Vimeo.

 

Brief message from the “future girl” talking about what the future is like

 

 

 

 

 

Sound and Vision and Reflective Writing

After completing the sound portrait of a space, my time class created a video to accompany our recorded sounds.  I chose the theme of nighttime videos of interesting lights and street scenes without people (mostly).  This peaceful and slightly dramatic subject would compliment the sounds I recorded to portray the University Center Library.  I carried my 5D Mark II and a low light 50/1.8 lens with me almost all the time, to capture little clips of video for the project.  After reviewing my footage, I realized I didn’t have the style of footage I needed so I filmed a few scenes outside my dorm room window of the apartments across the street and the nighttime skyline.  “Blade Runner” inspired my editing for parts of the video, I wanted to evoke the slow, methodical progression of the classic and use a saturated color palate.

 

Sound and Vision from Cameron Durham on Vimeo.

 

When the class viewed my video, they didn’t pick up on the minute details I edited into the video.  I obsessed over synchronizing my visuals with little patterns in my soundtrack but I didn’t make my edits apparent enough.  I learned to focus on the project as a whole rather than relying on little details to make the best impression.

Studio/Seminar Project: Shift As Urban Camouflage

SoHo Editorial Page9

We shot a fashion editorial for my Integrative Studio class at Parsons. Our goal was to represent a New York neighborhood in a garment and then create a fashion editorial in that neighborhood. My group chose SoHo and researched the history, architecture, culture, and street style of the neighborhood for inspiration. We decided to represent the commercialism that has taken over SoHo, a neighborhood famous for its cast iron architecture and the artists who lived and worked there in the 1960s.

Final Project: Storyboard

My Immediate Experience Project will center around a walk in Astor Place.  From my original outline, my concept has changed entirely and now focuses on a futuristic female character from the upper class in an even more dense New York City.  Through narration clips, on-location and possibly offsite videos, she will show the viewer around the Astor Place Square.

Final Project: Proposal

Augmented Reality Project

 

Project Objective

Create an Immediate (non-mediated) experience

What would happen if, on top of an immediate experience, you were to layer a mediated one that might refer to the past, the present or the future; the immediate vicinity or a distant location?

How do I want change the subject’s experience?

create feeling of being watched

make subject rush through walk

enhance subject’s awareness of surroundings

make subject interact differently with the location

alter subject’s perception of their experience

Location

Cooper Square and Astor Place Square

walk between E 6th and E 9th Streets on Cooper Square

 

Why?

 

I’m drawn to the area’s modern architecture the different feel the area has from the rest of New York.  By using the nighttime lighting and the futuristic feel of the Cooper Union Square, I want to make the subject feel they’re in a different time.

 

Characteristics

 

Cooper_Union_New_Academic_Building_from_north

Cooper Union’s New Academic Building

modern architecture could help create a futuristic feel for the walk

 

public space new office building

New Office Building at 9th St and 4th Ave

blue lighting and public benches on 3rd Ave and Astor Place St

770 broadway

770 Broadway Lobby

building lobby glows a warm yellow, contrasting the blue lights at Astor Place Sq

Plan

Project Map

Establish Character/Guide:

narration audio

video of actor at site

 

Location Images:

video footage

surveillance camera-style footage

altered pictures of location with existing buildings and futuristic style buildings

Sound Effects

atmospheric noises (ambient sounds, suspenseful effect sounds, rain, thunder)

futuristic noises (vehicle sounds, beeps, whirrs, electronic beeping)

 

Transitional Space: Single to Multiple Images

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Project Objective:

Visualize time and movement through a transitional space.  

transitional space: a space connecting two other spaces or places passed through  to get from one place to another

I began the transitional space project by searching for a space that showed as many transitions as possible.  The first space I considered was a busy subway station stairwell at a public park between Chinatown and SoHo.  My goal was to show the contrasts between culture and economic status between the two neighborhoods and the differences between the relaxed people in the park and the busy subway commuters.  After several attempts at photographing this location resulted in cluttered, busy pictures, I realized I was trying to include too much information in one photograph.  I reconsidered and tried to photograph the project at the Astor Place subway stairwell.  Its aesthetically pleasing awning and interesting surroundings attracted me.

Test pictures at Astor Place subway stairwell.  I decided to change place to the Union Square SW stairwell to capture this project's image.
Test images

My goal here was to show the stairwell, the subway platform, and the ground level above.  I tried to capture my image three different times before deciding the area was too small and cramped to allow me the right point of view to capture the image.  Finally, I discovered that the Union Square SW Stairwell was the right mix of aesthetically pleasing and practical design that allowed me the right perspective for the project.  At the top of the stairwell, you can see the park above, the area below, and the stairs that connect the two spaces.  The gate around the stairwell neatly separated the above and below ground levels and there was a place for me to stand and capture my transitional space and the spaces between which it transitioned.  Overall, it was an easier place to clearly capture the objectives of the project.

Photographing the Union Square station stairwell was a prolonged process of trial and error.  I wanted my picture to capture the streams of people ascending and descending the stairs.  During my first two attempts, I stood on ground level and held my camera above my head.  This produced off-angle pictures that didn’t compliment the symmetrical structure of the stairwell.  On my third attempt, I decided on a shutter speed that showed enough movement of people without losing their form entirely.  I climbed on a chair, which a friendly Union Square chess player kindly lent me, to have a steady hand to capture from a higher perspective. What I learned was that my process takes time, experimentation, and thoughtful planning.  It takes me a long time to achieve the picture I want and I often become frustrated that I cannot get the picture I imagine.  I must clearly understand what I want in a photograph and make sure that I have all the elements required to convey my vision.

Multiple Images

Brian Arrows 2

The second part of our transitional space project involved conveying a sense of time and motion through the juxtaposition of multiple images taken at the same space.  This was another lengthy process with multiple revisions.   At first, I planned to make a comic book style picture series that showed the action of moving between the park and the subway turnstiles.  My first plan involved photographing two friends in a photojournalistic narrative style during rush hour.  Dealing with the large crowds while trying to capture my narrative was incredibly frustrating.  I tried again with another friend, this time trying to shoot for a graphic layout that showed my friend’s path up and down the stairs.  My friend’s progress would be portrayed along points of an arrow, with varying picture sizes forming the shape of the arrow.  I also tried to show the process of tuning out the outside world by donning headphones and sunglasses.  The resulting layout, despite its order and symmetry, was too cluttered and had too many objectives to clearly convey the main transition.  My final layout didn’t focus on a single person and showed people along their path down the stairs.  I wanted to simplify my design graphically while showing the sequence of passing through the transitional space to the subway turnstile.   The revision simplified my vision too much and lost the comic book feeling of stylized movement I desired.  I learned that I must prioritize my design choices and decide how to effectively achieve them to make my projects creatively stimulating for me.