Unit 1 (W2): Methods of investigatinggggg

Reflecting on W1’s discussion;

• Perception is different to each individual, even in the most mundane, obvious things; this makes research intricate and inherently biased. 
  • Which led me to;
  • Why not use my bias to inform others of a different way of knowing? 

From the initial reading The Medium is the Massage by Marshall McLuhan: 

• “Have we become deaf, blind and unable to perceive our original ideas?”
• “We are so visually biased that we call our wisest men visionaries” 
  • What does it mean to “see” or “experience” a place ? 

In my investigation, I realised that the sounds and rhythm of Maida Vale are essential constituents in my understanding of the site. 

• MV exists as both a physical visual site, and a sonic one. 
• Commuters block sounds out but they choreograph how we move, wait or pass through.

References and Research for this project:

I initially purposely avoided researching the station, keeping my mind open to other ways of investigating. However, the below references strongly influenced my work.

Further Research this week:

• Further notetaking
• Attempted interviewing
• Videography
• Photography

I found, through my interviews that people did not really pay attention to the station and if they did it was solely the visual aspect of it.

Further inspiration:

I struggled to find a way in which to superpose my text with the sound and videos/ photos I had taken until I got inspiration from the sweaty betty store in KX I got the idea to explore sound waves and put them on top as such.  

As I was working on this project the song Video Killed The Radio Star by The Buggles was stuck in my head. Vision killed sound? 

However, after playing around with this idea in After Effects, it was abandoned as it seemed to highlight visuals, instead of bringing the attention of the viewer to the sonic identity of the station.

This distraction aspect was also for case for colour, hence the video became a B&W project.

That’s all for week 2.