Creating a Prototype (Contemporary Art Practice)
I still wasn't sure if I wanted to use the cardboard box idea with the new speech that I was working on. The speech relating to depression was never originally intended to go with that medium, but I wasn't sure how I wanted to best convey that message. In the interim, I got my hands on a box that I thought would best fit what I had in mind. I wanted the box to have as few markings on it as possible, and look like a generic box, both in material, shape and size. I went through a few different boxes before landing on the one I wanted to use.
Knowing that this was something I wanted to do, I bought a small bluetooth speaker a few weeks ago, intentionally trying to find one that was small and flat, that I could place quite low and flat down on the bottom of the box.
As you can see, the speaker is quite low in profile relatively speaking, in terms of the box's height. Once I did that, I found a piece of cardboard of the same material that I could use to create a fake bottom.
Once I cut it to size, it was easy to place into the box on top of the box and make it look completely natural and benign. The difference in the space was really negligible, and no one really noticed, or had any reason to suspect the false bottom.
This more or less was all I wanted to do with the box. For the next step, I needed to connect a device to the speaker via bluetooth and play audio over it. So I set about recording the audio. As I still wasn't sure what I wanted to do, I recorded multiple versions of both speeches. I selected my favourite takes for each one, and then edited them to try and remove background noise and such, though the audio was a little choppy.
The above is the box playing my first audio, a recording of me reading the 'war' speech loudly and aggressively. I wasn't able to rig it so it would shout when the lid was opened, but I know I'd be able to with a number of electrical components and a lot of fiddling and wiring. For testing purposes this gave me a good idea of what the final piece would be like. I was actually surprised by how much I liked this. The false bottom sort of threw the sound, so it didn't seem like the sound was coming obviously from the box. It sort of inspired a curiosity to look into it deeper.
This is the second speech which focuses on 'Depression'. I was nervous about this one, and actually saying the words felt... embarrassing and little off putting. I wanted it to be more emotional, but at the same time was freaked out at how emotional it was. I wasn't a great enough actor to really get to the core of what I wanted. As for the physical part of it, I had the idea of simply closing the box. This actually really worked. It sort of helped the subject matter, as people with depression can become very closed off, and the voice coming from within that environment seemed to fit.
I actually really enjoyed both of these. However the first speech was closer to what I wanted in my head. I wasn't as nervous about listening to it or hearing it, and some of the phrases the box spits out did make me chuckle. There's something amusing about a shouting box. And though the subject matter is serious, it sort of juxtaposes the idea. I still maintain the idea was that this silly little box was meant to scold those in a position of higher power. Maybe I should mail it to someone?
Knowing that this was something I wanted to do, I bought a small bluetooth speaker a few weeks ago, intentionally trying to find one that was small and flat, that I could place quite low and flat down on the bottom of the box.
As you can see, the speaker is quite low in profile relatively speaking, in terms of the box's height. Once I did that, I found a piece of cardboard of the same material that I could use to create a fake bottom.
Once I cut it to size, it was easy to place into the box on top of the box and make it look completely natural and benign. The difference in the space was really negligible, and no one really noticed, or had any reason to suspect the false bottom.
This more or less was all I wanted to do with the box. For the next step, I needed to connect a device to the speaker via bluetooth and play audio over it. So I set about recording the audio. As I still wasn't sure what I wanted to do, I recorded multiple versions of both speeches. I selected my favourite takes for each one, and then edited them to try and remove background noise and such, though the audio was a little choppy.
The above is the box playing my first audio, a recording of me reading the 'war' speech loudly and aggressively. I wasn't able to rig it so it would shout when the lid was opened, but I know I'd be able to with a number of electrical components and a lot of fiddling and wiring. For testing purposes this gave me a good idea of what the final piece would be like. I was actually surprised by how much I liked this. The false bottom sort of threw the sound, so it didn't seem like the sound was coming obviously from the box. It sort of inspired a curiosity to look into it deeper.
This is the second speech which focuses on 'Depression'. I was nervous about this one, and actually saying the words felt... embarrassing and little off putting. I wanted it to be more emotional, but at the same time was freaked out at how emotional it was. I wasn't a great enough actor to really get to the core of what I wanted. As for the physical part of it, I had the idea of simply closing the box. This actually really worked. It sort of helped the subject matter, as people with depression can become very closed off, and the voice coming from within that environment seemed to fit.
I actually really enjoyed both of these. However the first speech was closer to what I wanted in my head. I wasn't as nervous about listening to it or hearing it, and some of the phrases the box spits out did make me chuckle. There's something amusing about a shouting box. And though the subject matter is serious, it sort of juxtaposes the idea. I still maintain the idea was that this silly little box was meant to scold those in a position of higher power. Maybe I should mail it to someone?
Comments
Post a Comment