a looking-glass book

Thesis Proposal

elevator pitch

iam is:
24/7 point-of-view video,
published to the web as serialized metafictional video blogs,
in a layered/drill down UI,
exploring narrative possiblities and new types of personal filmmaking.

2 page overview (pdf)

abstract

iam is a research project to explore and catalogue user created point-of-view video. When recording media today, one pulls out imaging equipment and records the scene. But when the equipment becomes visible, the scene itself changes. People behave differently knowing their actions are being recorded. To this end, the iam system helps the user create personal stories while they are occurring, without the author (or the audience) being conscious that recording is happening. Not only does the author become the director, editor and actor in his or her own movie, the point-of-view video allows the author to review (and relive) his or her experiences directly from his or her vantage point. Others are able to experience life through your eyes, able to see your life story in front of them to experience through your eyes. Once this large amount of video data has been recorded, software is needed in order to navigate through it. Using data analysis, scene extraction and meta-data, iam provides an interface that allows the user to quickly absorb an overview of the entire video. Using the system, users are able to create personal content, share it with others and easily navigate and browse the videos they have created.

thesis proposal (PDF)

Excerpts from PDF:

Project Description

Twenty four/seven video recording is becoming a reality as technology advances. Storage space continues to grow, ensuring that data is no longer worth destroying. Camera technology also continues to improve, creating smaller, better recording devices. These cameras can be easily mounted on a person, recording what a person sees: point-of-view video. The combination of these two factors leads to one inevitable conclusion – in the future, everything will be recorded and saved.

The iam system creates a personal hybrid of television's reality show and scripted drama. It will naturally change the way authors live their lives, while opening their experiences up others on the Internet. It is not difficult to imagine the system to be used as a memory aid, as a personal nostalgia instrument, an extended personal diary or photograph collection. These creations allow others to see life from your point of view. The movies will change the way one looks at the world and the way one moves through it.

These are all valid, but simple, uses. Iam gets more interesting when one begins imagining creative content beyond these scenarios. Amateur serialized movies, much like television soap operas, are possible and can be easily produced. Staged events and friends playing characters blur the line between reality and scripted drama, not unlike present-day reality shows.

Additional usages for the system become apparent when one looks beyond personal use into community and team-based situations. Training, reconnaissance, even anthropological community studies offer new content opportunities to a variety of authors and viewers.

But the creation of this much video creates a huge data glut. Unlike traditional media, time-based media requires the audience to spend a set amount of time with the creation. While a painting can be viewed for as long (or as little) as one wishes, video (and other time-based creations) requires one to stay with the entire piece in order to understand it fully. When the piece is not only shot in real-time but is also continuously being produced, the ability to watch everything that is shot becomes an impossibility. From the creation standpoint, trying to edit this much video is formidable. And with storage capable of holding all of the video, there is no reason destroy any of it.

What is needed is not to present the viewer with less video, what is need is better summation tools and a UI suited to handle large amounts of video data. The iam system auto-summarizes the video for the viewer, saving time and helping them understand the full video without having to watch it.

By incorporating a button with the camera, the author is able to tag moments during his/her day as 'important'. Software can analyze video for changes in scenery and lighting which further breaks apart video into separate scenes. By offering a stackable interface, the audience is able to quickly understand the complete content of a video in a way that was previously impossible.

Unobtrusive recording from a personal viewpoint offers a good deal of personal recording opportunities, allowing you to review your actions and reactions throughout the recording period. This alone is an interesting proposition, but when coupled with the ability to share these same events with others so that they can see what you have seen, it literally offers a new way to view the world.

Scenerio

The ability to watch another person's life through their eyes would be amazing. To see what they have seen and to understand the events that shape their perception of the world is something that has never before been available. While content creation could begin in this way, it could quickly jump into more sensational video creation – reality television and Jackass movies will spring forward. From these movies, it is another simple jump to more serialized dramatic fare, mimicking soap operas.

Jimmy puts on camera, complete with empty memory card (for recording) and button for marking important moments. Turning the system on begins the recording, straight to the memory card. Because the camera is mounted to the glasses Jimmy wears, it records what he sees. (Future versions hope to actually be able to follow the focus of the eye, not simply the field of vision.) Jimmy goes about his day, or, in the case of the movie maker, he records his fictional movie (hyper-real/meta-fictional cinema verte). * As Jimmy sees or experiences interesting moments during his recording session, he hits the button on the camera. This sets a flag on the video, noting the timecode. These moments can be anything from seeing a billboard as he drives to work to a humorous conversation over the water cooler. It is these moments which will help the viewer relate to Jimmy's experience later, while the video in its entirety will offer a complete record.

Jimmy has decided to record a meta-fictional narrative. He has spent time 'offline' of the iam system, scripting out the next chapter in the ongoing film of his life. He begins recording for the day, having let his friends and actors know what parts he wants them to fulfill during the day. He has scouted locations for the day's filming as well.

Jimmy gets a call from Frank, one of his friends, telling him to head up to the Hollywood sign around 10am. This friend owes him money and, although the location is odd, Jimmy is curious. He drives there and then hikes the rest of way to the sign. As he makes his way to the sign, he takes scenic routes, trying to compose interesting shots from his point-of-view. He tags several of the shots he composes.

Frank is waiting for Jimmy when he shows up. Previously, Frank had gotten himself in trouble he never clearly explained to Jimmy. They are friends and Jimmy loaned Frank 750 dollars to help him. The money didn't get Frank out of his problems; while Jimmy thinks he is there to get repaid, Frank is intent on asking Jimmy for more money.

While they are meeting, Jimmy gets a call on his cell phone. He can feel it vibrating in his pocket, but not wanting to interrupt the current scene in his movie (and knowing he can't reshoot), he ignores the call. Later, during a lull in the narrative or when he has wrapped for the day, Jimmy can check to see who was calling him.

He and Frank get into a fight over money and during the argument, Jimmy makes sure to press the 'important moment' button on the recorder. Frank threatens Jimmy and then storms off. Jimmy follows Frank down the trail to the cars, prompting another fight (which Jimmy also tags) before Frank pulls off in his car. Jimmy checks his phone to see who was calling.

It was Jimmy's girlfriend, Jennifer. She wants to have lunch with Jimmy on her break from work. He drives near her workplace, again taking a strategically planned route through the city. He picks her up several blocks from where she works, attempting to provide some privacy for her. He doesn’t want viewers to figure out exactly where she works, for fear of her safety.

He picks her up for lunch and they drive to their favorite Mexican restaurant. He doesn't mention Frank, not wanting to bore his viewers with redundant information. In fact, as he records things, he makes sure to move his head often, offering new information and vantage points to the camera so his audience has new content continuously. This is important as Jimmy doesn't have the luxury of editing his shots – everything occurs in a single, real-time shot.

In the restaurant, Jimmy spots one of his friends. Unfortunately, Jimmy hasn't scripted his friend into the narrative recently and wants to avoid ad-libbing right now. He ignores the friend, actually going through elaborate movements to avoid being seen and causing an awkward moment. Jimmy and Jennifer discuss matters over lunch; Jimmy steers the conversation in specific ways, fully aware of the items he is speaking aloud for his viewers (and intentionally leaving other pieces of the conversation vague and unexplained for another episode).

When Jimmy is finished recording, he turns the camera off. He removes the memory card from the camera and connects it to his computer. He uploads the recorded movie to his web server and publishes it. Jimmy can tweak, add and delete flagged moments if he wishes at this point.

The server processes the file for other users, creating stills and flagging the moments Jimmy marked. Jimmy is done authoring. The system provides the scene breaks for his day (his apartment, the drive to the sign, the encounter at the sign, the drive to lunch and lunch) as well as the tagged moments within each scene.

The system parses the video for scene changes and flagged moments. These are saved out as stills. The longest scene is then split into 20 chapters, with the first frame from each chapter saved as a still. The space between each chapter is then used on the rest of the chapters. This produces a stack of frames for each chapter, all separated by the same amount of time. Important moments are read back in and also saved as stills.

Jenny visits Jimmy's site. She selects the day/movie she wants to catch up on. The computer returns to her a horizontal line of scenes, with all stills for that scene layered behind the first. Important moments are indicated by an arrow above the still. Mousing over any of the stills raises it out of the pile. Clicking on any of the stills opens the movie to that location and begins playing.

Jenny is able to quickly scan the chapter list and visually tell the length of each scene within the movie, as well as being able to quickly browse (and watch if she chooses) the interesting moments of Jimmy's day. She has the option to spend as much or as little time with his movie as she desires, while still being able to absorb the overall story quickly and easily. She will also return regularly, becoming more and more involved in the ongoing narrative of Jimmy's life.

Images, References and Schedule all are within the PDF.

* Several important features differentiate Jimmy's fictional movie from more traditional films: 1. Although the movie features Jimmy, Jimmy does not actively star in the movie. Because the film is Jimmy's POV, Jimmy's face is only seen in reflections, much like real life. 2. The movie is one continuous take. Much like "Time Code" or "Rope", events occur in real time. Jimmy does not have the option of retakes or pickups. 3. He is living the movie. Jimmy isn't creating movie magic – he is experiencing it. The narrative he is telling is also the story of his life, whether it is fictional or not.