New Lossless piece

By doug goodwin | Published: January 19, 2012

Rebecca and I have been distracted by a number of things lately, though we have discussions about work now and again. Yesterday we were making a list of work that computers might actually be able to perform without the compromises that the encoding and decoding process impose on media. We started thinking about media that it defined by absence, media that could slip through the codecs unharmed. The first thing that jumped out was John Cage’s 4:33. The intent of the piece is in no way reduced by the computer. As the title suggests, 4:33 is a precise form with content (ambient sound) that varies with each performance. That content is extrinsic by design–there is no threat of compression.

Here is the first cut on the MIDI file. 

Format 0 MIDI file.  1 tracks, 120 ticks per quarter note.
0, 0, Header, 0, 1, 120
Track 1: length 137.
1, 0, Start_track
1, 0, Text_t, "Lossless. Rebecca Baron and Douglas Goodwin. 2012\012"
1, 0, Sequencer_specific, 3, 0, 0, 65
1, 0, Time_signature, 4, 2, 24, 8
1, 0, Key_signature, 0, "major"
1, 0, Tempo, 6000000
1, 0, Control_c, 0, 0, 5
1, 0, Control_c, 0, 32, 87
1, 0, Control_c, 0, 7, 0
1, 0, Control_c, 0, 0, 0
1, 0, Control_c, 0, 32, 1
1, 0, Program_c, 0, 0
1, 1, Control_c, 0, 11, 0
1, 5459, Control_c, 0, 7, 127
1, 5460, Control_c, 0, 11, 127
1, 5460, End_track
0, 0, End_of_file

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My very own Daily Brief

By doug goodwin | Published: July 20, 2011

Metro Developer produces Timelapse video of Mulholland Bridge Demolition

Metro will soon release a timelapse video of the Mulholland Bridge demolition. Produced by Douglas Goodwin, developer for Creative Services’ Interactive Design group (IxD), the video is cut from 10,000 frames captured every fifteen seconds over the course of the weekend. These frames were first seen on I-405 Sepulveda Pass Improvements Project live feed page on Metro.net. Throughout the demolition this webpage received fifty times the traffic of the typical load on the whole site. This images were captured by a still camera, processed by software that averaged each frame with the previous four frames, then uploaded to Metro.net’s servers. The camera, laptop computer, and wireless network card were all powered by solar energy. The low-tech / low-power design was also implemented by Goodwin. The timelapse was produced with support from Public Relations officers Gayle Anderson and Luis Inzunza. The final video features a soundbed of audio samples taken from Metro videos and radio broadcasts. In this example a full minute of video has been pressed into each frame. This technique deepens the time in each frame, and by deepening the time we can experience a compressed duration without sacrificing time itself. The video will soon be available on Metro.net and on the “losangelesmetro” YouTube channel [http://www.youtube.com/user/losangelesmetro].

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carmageddon timelapse

By doug goodwin | Published: July 11, 2011

This video is made from stills that were uploaded every minute to the server through the cellphone network. There is no sound yet.

I don’t like that frenetic pace of most timelapse movies. That frenzy gives me an uneasy feeling that it’s stealing time away. I have been working on techniques to put more time into each frame. Here I’ve compressed a full minute into each frame much as you would if you left your shutter open for a minute. By deepening the time in each frame we can experience a compressed duration without sacrificing time itself.

Thanks to Gary for shooting this pic of me.

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going… going…

By doug goodwin | Published: July 1, 2011

 

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and the winner is…

By doug goodwin | Published: June 9, 2011

Metro.net wins Best Home Page from LAWeekly!

Yes, I work at Metro when I’m not teaching at CalArts or making experimental art. I am responsible for the Python/Django code that makes Metro.net go.  I’ve been working on this for two+ years with an amazing team of five. It’s all part of a larger project to get Angelenos out of their cars and into buses and trains.

We’ve received plenty of awards, but this one feels good enough to share. We’re taking the Red Line subway to the festivities. Hope to see you there!

Best Home Page: LA Metro

A A A Comments (0) By Liz Ohanesian Thursday, Jun 9 2011

Need to make the switch to public transportation but feel like you have no understanding as to how the Metro system works? Metro’s website is a ridiculously user-friendly portal into the world of public transportation. Use it to plan trips, keep updated on traffic and even check out the Metro Art program.

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chromatic aberration

By doug goodwin | Published: May 26, 2011

I assigned the students at my workshop   in Vienna to bring examples of media artifacts. They brought in a wide variety of artifacts, including many things that had never thought about.

This one is about chromatic aberration:  those phantom colors that bleed away from their source into neighboring colors. He explained that chromatic aberrations are generated by all lenses including camera lenses, raindrops, warm air pockets, even the retina of the eye. I guess it’s a form of unweaving the rainbow, of splitting white light into constituent colors when it passes through a substrate of different density.

It’s worth noting that this artifact comes from the optics: both digital and film cameras are equally susceptible. But maybe that’s a bit misleading as digital cameras often have different optics that film cameras. The smaller imaging surface means less glass.

He showed an example image looking out windows, black aluminum muntins against the snow. He described the blue and purple stripes in the dark area of the muntin. It was subtle, and to be honest I didn’t see the color he was talking about and started to worry that I was being set up. The other students said they could see it, but they had presumably been looking at similar images for the past semester.

Muntins on Flickr, with some rights reserved by Ted and Jen

Anyway, I believe it now. I’m still waiting to see it directly with my eyes, though I have seen examples of this in images shot by cameras with cheap optics. Here are a couple of examples.

  1. Note the soft color shadows that you will find in the vicinity of hard lines in an image in these examples from Wikipedia:

Purple fringing (detail)

Chromatic aberrations around highlights

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DFP: Ann Arbor film fest offers 6 days of the wild and the wacky

By doug goodwin | Published: March 17, 2011

BY JOHN MONAGHAN DETROIT FREE PRESS SPECIAL WRITER

Mar 17, 2011

 

The Ann Arbor Film Festival, which turns 50 next year, remains the oldest experimental film festival in North America. The 2011 edition kicks off early next week with a lineup of 188 films, videos and live performances at the Michigan Theater.

The Florestine Collection

"The Florestine Collection," filmmaker Helen Hill's mixed-media appreciation of a New Orleans dressmaker, opens the Ann Arbor Film Festival on Tuesday. / Ann Arbor Film Festival

Opening the six-day event is Tuesday’s 8:15 p.m. world premiere of “The Florestine Collection,” a mixed-media appreciation of a New Orleans dressmaker from the late Helen Hill. The filmmaker died in 2007, and this work has been completed by her husband, Paul Gailiunas, who will appear with the film.

Music fans are prepped for the premiere of “The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye,” a portrait of two performance artists-musicians who bend genders and musical boundaries in the creation of a new work. Genesis P-Orridge, subject of the film, and director Marie Losier will attend the 9:30 p.m. Wednesday screening, the first since the movie premiered at the South by Southwest film festival earlier this month.

Also worth the trip: “Midori-ko” (7 p.m. March 25), a Japanese animated gem 10 years in the making; and “Artifact #1″ (7:15 p.m. March 25), which manipulates footage from the famous car chase in “Bullitt” to create a fragmented study in motion.

“There is a great variety of experimental work, including animation, documentary, narrative and performance art,” says festival development manager Becca Keating. “It’s rare to see all of these different kinds of mediums projected in one festival.”

The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye

Screening Wednesday in Ann Arbor, "The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye" is a portrait of two performance artists-musicians. / Ann Arbor Film Festival

The Ann Arbor Film Festival runs Tuesday-March 27. Most screenings are in the main auditorium and screening room of the Michigan Theater, 603 E. Liberty, Ann Arbor. 734-604-4627 or aafilmfest.org. $9 per screening; $7 students, seniors and festival members. Opening night reception, $30.

‘Johnny Mad Dog’ ignites Burton: A group of child soldiers is at the violent core of “Johnny Mad Dog,” set in 2003 near the end of the second Liberian civil war. Using mostly untrained actors, the movie depicts its subjects as feral warriors who engage in unspeakable acts with little regard for human life, including their own. Friday-Sunday and Wednesday at the Burton Theatre, 3420 Cass, Detroit. 313-473-9238 or burtontheatre.com. $7, $6 students, $5 Wednesdays.

Human spirit explored through ‘Poetry’: The South Korean “Poetry” ( * * *) is a lengthy portrait of a youthful grandmother (Yoon Jeong-hee) whose recent Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis is just one of her many problems. She is also stuck with a lazy, lumpy teenager who disrespects her and may have contributed to a classmate’s death.

The power of language becomes her sole release as she attends poetry classes and readings, frustrated by her inability to find artistic inspiration. The movie benefits from subtle performances and a quietly powerful message about the value of the human spirit. 7 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday at the Detroit Film Theatre at the Detroit Institute of Arts, 5200 Woodward, Detroit. 313-833-4005 or dia.org/dft. $7.50, $6.50 students, seniors.

DFT focuses on Keaton’s ‘Cameraman’: Made in 1928, “The Cameraman” ( * * * *) ranks as one of the funniest features from Buster Keaton. The silent slapstick genius plays a newsreel cameraman who ends up in various mishaps on and off the job. It includes some funny bits as Keaton costars with an organ grinder’s monkey. 4 p.m. Saturday at the Detroit Film Theatre at the Detroit Institute of Arts. (See theater info in previous item.) $7.50, $6.50 students and seniors, DIA members free.

‘Taxi Driver’ makes anniversary stop: Martin Scorsese’s landmark “Taxi Driver” ( * * * *) is getting 35th-anniversary screenings Saturday and Tuesday at a pair of local theaters. The still-riveting 1976 thriller stars Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle, a Vietnam vet and New York cabbie who turns to violence as he backs away from mainstream society.

The movie’s period detail, especially its views of a grungy Times Square in the ’70s, is unforgettable. So is Jodie Foster’s Oscar-nominated turn as a preteen prostitute. 8 p.m. Saturday and Tuesday at the AMC Livonia 20, AMC Forum 30 in Sterling Heights and the AMC Star Great Lakes Crossing. amctheatres.com/taxidriver . $10.

CONTACT FREE PRESS SPECIAL WRITER:MADJOHN@EARHTLINK.NET

Screening Wednesday in Ann Arbor, “The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye” is a portrait of two performance artists-musicians. / Ann Arbor Film Festival

“The Florestine Collection,” filmmaker Helen Hill’s mixed-media appreciation of a New Orleans dressmaker, opens the Ann Arbor Film Festival on Tuesday. / Ann Arbor Film Festival

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mersenne video twister

By doug goodwin | Published: March 4, 2011

One of the students in my workshop in Vienna asked for help in disrupting the frames of a video. She explained that she wanted to use every frame, and that each one should be played out of order. I made a couple of notes on the back of an envelope, and here it is as a quickie script that will de-sequence a video to your liking.

The script requires Python and mencoder.

Inspiration taken from Nic Collin’s Devil’s Music. Thanks for that, Nic!

Here’s what you’ll need to do.

  1. Use QuickTime to export your video as still PNG frames. Use sequential naming, no spaces. Put these in a folder by themselves and remember the folder name.
  2. Copy this script into a folder above the one containing the images. Call it “mersenne.py”
  3. Try it out: open terminal, cd to the directory containing you script and type: python mersenne.py
  4. You’ll get an error suggesting that you enter some information. Tell mersenne where it can find your still PNG images.
  5. Specify a range of frame sequences to retain before desequencing. minimum 4 max 12 works for me!
  6. open your preview file with this: mplayer review.avi

Here is that example: Mersenne Devil twister video

import os, sys
import random
from dircache import listdir
from pprint import pprint


"""
a. gen a list of images in sequence
b. gen a list of random numbers within a range random.randint(seq_minlen, seq_maxlen)
c. loop over random numbers list using the values to grab a slice of the image list. save as a tuple.
d. add the slice to a new list
e. randomize this new list
f. dump the list of tuples into a new list
g. make a new image sequence from this list and prepare a preview movie
"""


if len(sys.argv) != 5:
    print 'Usage: mersenne.py    '
    sys.exit(1)


dir = sys.argv[1]
seq_minlen=int(sys.argv[2])
seq_maxlen=int(sys.argv[3])
outmov=sys.argv[4]


imgexts = {
    "jpg": "image/jpeg",
    "jpeg": "image/jpeg",
    "png": "image/png",
    "gif": "image/gif"
    }


def isimage(filename):
    """true if the filename's extension is in the content-type lookup"""
    filename = filename.lower()
    return filename[filename.rfind(".")+1:] in imgexts


images = [f for f in listdir(dir) if isimage(f)]
imgct = len(images)

b.

randlist=[]
for i in range(0,imgct):
    randy = random.randint(seq_minlen, seq_maxlen)
    randlist.append(randy)

c.

dup = images[:]
bin = []
while dup:
    randy = random.randint(seq_minlen, (seq_maxlen+1))
    tup = dup[0:(randy+1)]
    del dup[0:(randy+1)]
    bin.extend([tup])

e.

random.shuffle(bin)

f.

fin = []
listfile = "./list.txt"
twister = open(listfile, "w")
for list in bin:
    for img in list:
        pl = "%s/%s\n" %(dir,img)
        twister.write(pl)
        fin.extend(pl)
twister.close()


print file(listfile).read()

g.

cmd = "mencoder mf://@%s -vf scale=320:240 -mf w=64:h=48:fps=25:type=png -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:mbd=2:trell -oac copy -o %s" %(listfile,outmov)
os.system(cmd)

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the floor is wood

By doug goodwin | Published: January 4, 2011

Look at (this image) of the floor. How do you know it’s wood? Have you touched it or interacted with it in some way? Visual cues tell you something about its character. The way stains penetrate the surface. Patterns in the grain suggest tree rings. Smoothed whorls of darker material suggest lost branches. Dents from dropped objects suggest density. Artifacts suggest saw wheels and other milling tools used for woodcutting. If you’re looking at an actual wood floor, maybe it has a familiar wet smell you know from past experience of wood.

this is wood

My point is that your understanding of this wood can be broken down into lists of cues based on your past experience of wood floors. Your tactile experience, olfactory experience, kinetic experience. This is a pretty unique floor, the timbers culled from some long gone forest. You probably haven’t interacted with too many of these, but you have enough experience to tell me a lot about it without actually interacting with this specific floor.

Now, imagine its your job to represent this floor. How will you do it? You have many tools available, narrative, images, persuasion, etc. At the most basic level your job is to convey enough of these cues to say ‘wood.’

wood

The digital media engineer is motivated by the economy of means. He wants to use the least amount of information possible to communicate wood-ness to you without distracting you with the means of that representation. The engineer’s job is to reduce these as much as possible. Information is the means.

How much information has something to do with the subject of your representation. Is this wood part of the foreground or background? Is it subject or object?

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Österreichisches Filmmuseum: In person: Rebecca Baron

By doug goodwin | Published: December 15, 2010

Lossless #3, 2008, Rebecca Baron & Douglas Goodwin

December 15 and 16, 2010

Programme:

With a body of work that consists of relatively few films, videos and installations, Los Angeles-based artist Rebecca Baron has covered a wide span of approaches since 1995: medium-length essay films, digital transmutations of avant-garde and Hollywood classics, and research into the political dimensions of photographic media are all present in her oeuvre. In the framework of this first retrospective dedicated to her films, Baron and her partner, media artist Doug Goodwin, will also present a new “work in progress” (Serios) and hold a workshop at Vienna’s Academy of Fine Arts.

A unifying feature of Baron’s art can be found in her engagement with the fault-lines of memory and history, and with the processes by which they are constructed through modern media. For Baron, the images that connect us to the real and to the past become most compelling – and problematic – around the edges: where fact and imagination intersect (as in her 1995 film The Idea of North, the chronicle of a failed 19th century polar expedition). Her masterpiece, okay bye-bye (1998), builds on excerpts from letters, found super-8 footage of an unidentified Cambodian man, photographs from the Vietnam War and other partial images, in an effort to find out whether something as monumental as the genocide during the Pol Pot regime can be examined effectively with traditional methodologies. How Little We Know of Our Neighbors (2005) is another strong example of Baron’s “experimental documentary” mode: a study of the British “Mass Observation Movement” during the 1930s and its relationship to contemporary issues regarding surveillance, public self-disclosure, and privacy.

The multi-part series Lossless (2008) represents a new area of study: in collaboration with Doug Goodwin, Baron has arrived at the historical transformation of film itself. Their computer-based rendering and re-imagining of films such as Meshes of the Afternoon or The Searchers is far from “lossless,” of course; yet there is also something to gain: new forms arising from the “materiality” of the digital.

The show has been organized in collaboration with the Academy of Fine Arts; with thanks to Dorit Margreiter and Constanze Ruhm.

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