The final component of the URL=IRL webpage includes a video in the style of a 12-channel zoom call which documents the Gardens Theatre site through a distorted, surveillance style. The video consists of six 'abstract videos', demonstrating blurred, ambiguous content unrelated to the Gardens Theatre site. The other five channels document the spaces and performances taking place at Gardens Theatre. The final channel is labelled 'you', creating the illusion that the viewer has a role within this fake meeting.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, this is intended to enhance the sense of disconnection that viewers may already be feeling since transferring their physical relationships to digital spaces. Join Zoom Meeting? aims to highlight the difficulty of adapting to digital relationships.
To contribute to this video, I created a template of a zoom call and embedded all 12 videos within this. I had input on five of the 'abstract' videos and one of the site videos.
Join Zoom Meeting? (2020), Collaborative Video
Video Template: Bella Deary
Composited Videos: Bella Deary, Lillian Whitaker, Zara Dudley, Lucy Nguyen-Hunt, Macarra Berthaly-Martyn, Anthony Vanden
Sound: Anthony Vanden
'Join Zoom Meeting?': Individual Video Production
The videos below predominantly depict abstract content to promote feelings of alienation and allude to a distorted sense of reality.
The videos that I have contributed to include five of the six abstract videos and one of the Gardens Theatre site videos included in Join Zoom Meeting? These abstract videos each present blurry, layered imagery and movement to subtly allude to the presence of a body. All videos are also often interrupted by static to imply glitching and highlight the dysfunctional nature of technological interaction. This static effect was created by Lillian Whitaker.
Abstract Video 1: Aqueous
Abstract Video 2: Delusions
Gardens Theatre Walkthrough Video 1: Lily's Journey
'Join Zoom Meeting?': Collaborative Video Production
The following videos were made collaboratively with project member Macarra Berthaly-Martyn. Within these videos, I filmed blurred corners of rooms and choreographed movement to pass by the camera. Macarra then contributed footage she had taken of her body in motion. I edited the footage together by overlaying the footage and adjusting the transparency, with Macarra's input. The static that I have included periodically was made by project member Lillian Whitaker.
Abstract Video 3: Gestures
Abstract Video 4: Apparitions
Abstract Video 4: Transit
Collaborative Videos: Zoom ChatBot
The following videos are intended to elicit feelings of disconnection and alienation from viewers as the person asking them questions is presumably a stranger, existing purely in the digital space. This barrier between the speaker and viewer is emphasised by labelling the subsequent zoom channel as 'you', implying that the viewer is unknowingly present in this call. Chat boxes have also been included below each video to invite viewers to actually respond to this figure.
These videos were made collaboratively with project member Lillian Whitaker and Anthony Vanden. My role in the videos was to pose as the speaker in the zoom meeting, while Lillian's role involved editing the videos, and Anthony created the sound element.
Zoom ChatBot (2020), Collaborative Video
Zoom ChatBot (2020), Collaborative Video
Zoom ChatBot (2020), Collaborative Video
