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In this video, there are two dots keyed over the Canon feedback as the seed for the 2nd loop - as opposed to the one dot in the previous video (below). This creates nautilus-like shapes, and 3D looking wave-like curves.
Music: Russill Paul
Forward Chronology
Reverse Chronology
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Last night I spent hours trying to get something good out of the Device. It was another time of complete frustration where I just wanted to give up. There have been many of these times.
I was trying to recreate what I had done the night before, with a spiral on the Canon loop, but I was only getting circle-type shapes.
After a few hours I finally looked at that video again, and realized the spiral was created from the reflection of the red record light on the front of the Canon - and, since I wasn’t getting anything good tonight, I hadn’t hit record (this, creating it’s own frustration feedback loop).
Tonight, with some rewiring, I keyed a small dot in the lower left corner of the Canon feedback as a seed for the spiral.
Watch galaxies being created, matter flowing between them.
Music: Pink Floyd
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A brief explanation and a quick test. I knew this setup would create something interesting. I didn't know it would be so beautiful.
Inspired by the Phase III idea. Some description here.
I've made a version of this video with the Canon loop in the corner (to better understand what's happening) here.
Music: Anandamayi Ma
Forward Chronology
Reverse Chronology
And then - controlled video feedback between the Canon and the new rotating Panasonic monitor will be the 2nd input to the switcher. So, instead of the text “Merry Christmas,” for instance, influencing the Nikon feedback, now another entirely different feedback loop will.
It’s kind of hard to picture what this new setup will create, especially since both loops will be locked together, the Panasonic moving in unison with the Nikon.
This was inspired by the Phase III idea, two devices next to each other, two people working synchronously.
In a couple days the Blackmagic Mini Converter arrives, which will make the Canon work with the Panasonic monitor. Very exciting.
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If you're not quite sure what the half-reflective glass does, or what
the rotating monitor is for, this might clear things up a bit.
To see the setup, go here and here.
[There's a small inaccuracy at 3:02. Some of the words are rotating, and some are not.]
Music: Phish
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Real-time Christmas Fractals with the HD Video Feedback Kinetic Sculpture.
Music: Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 with some Stylophone mixed in
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The second iteration of Chrystal's Tree Spirit - the output is now input.
Painting by Josh Ford
Music: Ravi Shankar
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This is a simulation of a what it might look like if two people were using two Video Feedback Kinetic Sculptures in unison.
Originally I thought the next step for the device would be replicating it in 4K. I have an idea for a step before that though - Phase III: Two Video Feedback Kinetic Sculptures next to each other, two people working together to create the final image.
Setup 1: Person 2 operates Device 2, and just the upper monitor is used. The feedback created by this device is displayed on the lower monitor of Device 1 (by way of the rotating monitor). This image is mixed into the feedback created by Person 1. This is a pretty straightforward way of combining the two feedback loops.
Example: Person 2 has a lot of rotation on the camera and is making a circle. Person 1 has very little rotation on the camera, and a “tail” is created with the circle. As the circle changes, the shape of the creature with the tail changes.
Setup 2: The same as Setup 1, except now the output of Device 1 (the combination of images from Person 1 and 2) is displayed on the lower monitor of Device 2 (by way of the rotating monitor). This mixes the images from the two devices back into the image from Device 2. This is a much more complicated way of combining the two loops.
Example: This is kind of hard to wrap your mind around: Person 2 makes a circle, which is displayed on the lower monitor of Device 1, which puts a tail on it, but now this circle with a tail is on the lower monitor of Device 2, which means Device 2 is no longer sending a circle to Device 1, it’s sending the circle with a tail in a circle, which means Device 1 is putting a tail on the circle with a tail in a circle, and so on...
I did an approximate recreation using just the one device, recording each step, and playing it back on the lower monitor as if it were from Device 2. It’s still a mystery what this would truly look like beyond just the five iterations.
I think this feedback of the feedback is somehow something important.
Music: Edgard Varèse
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This is an example of how small changes over many iterations can create complex looking emergent behavior.
Painting by Josh Ford
Music: Zappa, Watermelon in Easter Hay
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Each monitor has two inputs. Here I explain what's what with that.
To see the setup, go here and here.
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This is a quick test using the rotating monitor with text as the 2nd input. This is with just one word - a story, poem or maybe song lyrics is the logical next step.
To see the setup, go HERE and to see a demonstration of what the rotating monitor actually does, go HERE, and the beginning of Phase II HERE.
Music: Maybe She’ll Fly by The Daily Evening
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This is the first test using the input from the synchronized rotating blue screen (and monitor). This allows actual physical objects to be used as the keyed secondary input to influence the fractals being created (here I had some leaves taped to the blue screen), or the monitor can be used instead of the blue screen (starting at 1:14).
The Roland switcher/keyer gets Input 2 from the Canon, which is looking at the rotating blue screen/Elecrow monitor. The Elecrow monitor gets its input from the phone. This image is keyed over the switcher’s Input 1.
The switcher’s Input 1 is from the Nikon, which is looking at the upper Panasonic monitor, which gets its input from the switcher’s Program Out. The lower Panasonic monitor get its input from the Nikon.
This adds movement synchronized to the Nikon to an otherwise static keyed object.
Check out the video HERE to see this setup.
Music: Rubba
I added a second dowel through PVC tube that moves in unison with the main dowel. The rotation is transferred from the main dowel using a rubber belt for a Van der Graaf Generator (tape is wrapped over the belt to keep it from being springy). The transfer of forward and backward motion was harder to figure out (I later use a thin strip of tape wrapped around the dowel on either side of the PVC segments to catch and push and pull the second dowel).
On the end of this dowel is a monitor/blue screen that's used to give the static 2nd input motion.
Now the Roland switcher/keyer gets Input 2 not from the phone, but from the Canon, which is looking at this new rotating blue screen/monitor (which gets its input from the phone).
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Some experimenting with mixing video I shot with feedback.
Music: The Kingdom of Leisure's last show - the The Velvet Lounge, Washington, DC. 1999
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Check out the Phase II setup here, and the schematic here.
Music: Greta Van Fleet
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Phase II incorporates the Roland V-02HD Switcher / Keyer. This allows smooth switching between an image and feedback, and the keying of an image over the feedback.
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In this video I play around with variations on one camera / monitor setup.
This marks the end of Phase I.
Stranger things to come in Phase II...
This Music is from Bach's Musical Offering as a tribute to Douglas Hofstadter and his book Gödel, Escher, Bach (where I first learned about video feedback).
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A little Stylophone Gen X-1 circuit bending and rewiring and mounting to the device. In this video I created the audio at the same time as the images.
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The large viewing monitor makes it easier to see what's going on, and the Stylophone Gen X-1 makes it weirder.
See better wiring for the viewing monitor here.
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In
this video the upper and lower monitors have different input sources. Instead of both monitors displaying what the Nikon camera sees, now the lower monitor is getting its input from an iPhone camera. Go here to see this setup (I'm using the 50/50 glass for the first time here).
How the previous videos were made
Originally,
both monitors were showing the same thing - the output of the Nikon camera on
the rod (what I'll call the main camera). This created the feedback loop between that camera and the upper
monitor. The glass between the two monitors is beam splitter glass with a
rating of 50/50 - that is, 50% transmission, 50% reflection (this is
the kind of glass used in teleprompters). This glass allows the camera to see through to the upper monitor, and also see a reflection of the lower monitor.
Depending on the
rotation of the lower monitor you get different fractal patterns. The
jellyfish-like images are created when the lower monitor is positioned so the upper and lower monitors' bottom Panasonic
logos are next to each other. This makes the top right corner of the upper
monitor reflected on the top left corner of the glass. The fern-like
patterns are created when the lower monitor's bottom logo is facing out. This makes the top right corner of the upper monitor reflected on the bottom
right corner of the glass. The
Sierpiński triangles are created when the bottom monitor is perpendicular to the upper monitor. This might be a bit confusing when read, but if you look at the photo it becomes easier to understand.
How this video is different
Instead of the lower monitor having the same input as the upper monitor, it gets its image from an iPhone. Originally, I was going to put something on the lower monitor like a photo of a face, and have that, in effect, be half-dissolved with the
feedback in the upper monitor. The way this works is the main camera would be looping with the
upper monitor, but also see the face from the iPhone in the lower monitor in the reflection of the glass. This image of the face would influence the feedback. When I made the above-mentioned video on my tumblr site explaining the new second input setup, I realized that having
two feedbacks loops would be more interesting than just having the image
of a face on the lower monitor.
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This is one of the first tests of the new HD device using both monitors. Here I'm still using 60/40 glass.
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This is a test of the HD device using only the upper monitor.
It's difficult to maintain feedback in an interesting way without the screen going all white or all back. Here's a pretty good 20 minute block.
Music: Pink Floyd
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Testing the HD device using only the upper monitor.
Music: The Grateful Dead
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First test using only the upper monitor.
I've built a third incarnation of the Video Feedback Device. This one uses two High Definition monitors and a Nikon D810 for the camera.
For a complete chronicling of this build, go HERE for reverse chronology and HERE for forward chronology.
Music: Jerry Sneede (this track and this track)
"...This is like opening up the brain, poking around, and trying to find the
mind or soul. These things grow through iterations, through cycles that
start small and flourish, and can't be seen once they are gone (or the
screen has gone blank).
Imagine a dark room where the camera is looking at a dark screen. It
will stay dark this way forever (no life, no soul) until a 'spark of
life' (say the lighting of a match) brings forth an image, which will
then perpetuate itself on and on. But, then imagine something blocking
the camera's view of the screen, just for an instant. All of a sudden,
the image goes out (death), never to return exactly as it was. To me,
this is what the mind is, just a complex pattern."
To read the full text, go here.