The first idea I have for creating a map of London is to generate a song based on the travels of a randomly (or pseudorandomly) chosen person at three different locations and times. To select the first person, I’ll go to a location, as yet to be chosen, and follow them for approximately an hour.
To create the map, I’ll keep a constant record of my location on Map+. However, this will be only one component of the map.
I’ll also be logging each time that I turn to follow the person, and how many steps I took between the last turn and that one. I will then convert all the numbers to mod12. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modular_arithmetic) That is, the only numbers I’ll use are 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11. At 12, I loop back to 0, and so on and so forth. From there, I’ll make a musical piece with the counted steps as the melody. To convert numbers to music, I’ll use the system used in music theory for atonal music, the twelve tone technique. https://goo.gl/4bkDbj
In the twelve tone technique, each of the 12 chromatic notes in the western scale is given a number. C is 0, C#/Db is 1, and so on and so forth. After constructing the melody, choosing for myself which octave is to be used, as well as rhythms and accompaniment, I will create a video which overlays the map and the audio created, as well as a photo of my starting and ending locations. The three maps created in this way will be combined in a final video both one after another and concurrently.
There are some parallels to other course assignments. At the most obvious level, I’m using Map+ to track my location, and merging different pieces into a coherent video. At the most abstract, a map tracking footsteps via melody is a way to challenge conventionally held ideas of a map. In between, like the guided tour, my map is a combination of the physical reality of a single person’s single journey and the permanent mark that it has, being digital.
One thing that I’m unsure of is whether I want the three maps to sound harmonically together. If I do so, then the concurrent video might sound better. If I don’t then each piece may sound better alone, or just simply be easier to compose. I’ll continue to think about that as I keep working on developing this idea. I’ll likely start in the British Museum, as that is a location where people move about a lot, and so I’ll be able to gather a good number of notes. Additionally, it’s less likely that someone will be worried about my following them in a museum.
My second idea is another combination of sound and reality. As before, I’ll go on a walking journey. This time, however, I’ll be recording the ambient sounds. I’ll also be using the stop motion feature, taking a photo likely every three seconds. Once I’ve finished the journey. I’ll stitch the stop motion photos into a video, and speed the audio up to fit the length of time of the journey.
From this intermediate video, I’d pull bits of sound from the journey, now associated with video, and create some sort of music from these. I’d restitch them together, and the final video would be played after the initial.
The reason I’d keep both videos is to make it a little clearer that the map actually did exist. If I didn’t I worry that it might look like music videos that simply feature stills back to back, rather than the temporal journey it was.
A concern I have is what to do if I was to overlay the audio. I could do a few things in that case: overlay the video, split screen the video, or simply have one video. I think I like the idea of overlaying the video, making each slightly transparent, as it adds to the knowledge that the audio is happening over a timeframe.
The questions I’m unsure of as yet are where I would go. I think that I might go to a river again, because that way the video, even after being cut and stitched together, might look more similar. In the previous riverwalk, many of the photos were very similar, and easily replaced with one and another, just because they all had a large portion of the frame occupied by river. Additionally, the scenery around rivers is more similar for a journey than not.
On the other hand, the audio at a river is less jarring and interesting. Additionally, it might be nice to really jar the viewer, in which case a walk through the city would be a good choice.
Another concern that I have about this process is how long it would take. Aligning the many cut videos might not be a practical approach to the course. However, simply mixing the original sounds, and overlaying that mix on the stop motion might be more feasible. It’s certainly something I should ask the class.
This idea comes from a discussion with Professor Kaufman, as well as course materials, such as the stop motion map and the different sound mapping we read about in assigned readings.
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