Nightmares and Waking Masks

Bryn Shanahan
Jul 28, 2017 · 5 min read

For my year 12 major I wanted to explore the discrepancy between the thoughts you think when alone and the appearance you exude when in public.

The idea for the major came from a time last year where I was freaking out about these things on my neck that I assumed was terminal cancer. Even after endless doctors telling me I was fine, I was still certain that I was living out my final days (to an extent, even I knew I was being ridiculous). But even with these ideas going through my mind I still never showed it to public, or even mentioned it to any of my friends. I was living my life like any other person, keeping their struggles to themselves and putting on a mask of ‘everything is okay’.

I wanted my artwork to directly address this issue but still leave room for interpretation. When brainstorming different directions I could take I ended up deciding on going with 360 video. This was mainly due to my previous experience in making 360 photos (which I had done for my previous art assignment). For this artwork I wanted to push my abilities a little bit further. I didn’t want to just do another set of 360 photos, I wanted to dive into the field of 360 video and virtual reality.

One of the original 360 photos I took on my phone

The idea that ended up forming was having two 360 videos connected to each other. One ‘master’ video and one ‘slave’ video. The master video would be the one that showed all the internal thoughts and the ‘slave’ video would be the one that showed the public appearance. The names also work into the idea of your thoughts always being in control of your actions even when it doesn’t appear so.

I also wanted to explore the idea of the viewer as the director of their own film/their own life. When each person put’s on the viewer they become the subject of the film, they are the person being inspected by the public, and the ones hiding their own thoughts.

Master Video

One of the earliest photos I had archived online

In the master video I wanted to convey some of the anxieties that I had experienced, the feelings of mortality and anxiety about health. To do this I went through all the photos I could find of me and put them into a time-lapse. Representing the speed that I felt my was going in.

I also wanted to convey specifically the thing that I was worrying about through that period. The idea that I had cancer D:

Cancer (actually just bacteria grown in a petri dish over a few days)

To represent the cancer I filmed/shot a time-lapse of bacteria growing in a petri dish over two days. I left my camera overnight at school fully zoomed in on the dish with a star photography remote making it take photos every minute and a half.

Video Recordings

https://youtu.be/Su-nP-NZ2EA

Experimentation

As I said before the main experimentation for this project was the photography that I had done before

Instructions

1. Plug the modem and wait 10 seconds for it to start. There should be two green lights like this when it’s ready

The green lights. Don’t worry if the one on the right flashes

2. Turn the computer on and login (there is no password, just press space bar and click login). Make sure the wifi look like this.

If the wifi doesn’t look like that click it and it will open the wifi menu, then just click the “Year 12 Major” network.

Click Year 12 Major

3. Double click the file called Open Me.bat

Double Click this file.

The website will open to something like this. (If the black screen is on top just click the white site behind).

This is the end goal for the computer

4. At this point you can turn the phone on and open it to the home screen (again there is no password)

5. Check that the phone is connected to the wifi network (high chance it isn't)

This is what the status bar should look like when it is connected

If it isn’t connected swipe down from the status bar. And tap and hold the wifi symbol until the settings appear. (The symbol won’t have the text Year 12 Major under it if it isn’t connected)

Once in the settings tap the network called “Year 12 Major”

Once connected the network should show the following text underneath it.

Eventually at some point the phone will probably send this notification. Just swipe it away and ignore it.

5. Open the app on the home screen

Click this image

Then the phone should follow the following screen.

6. Now place the phone in the headset (make sure the power button is facing upwards)

7. Press the button on the right of the headset quickly, but with force (if you press it too long it will select the text or try to open something in a new tab)

Hint

The video will pause after every view. To start it again just press the button again on the right.

If the video in the phone looks strange quit out of the app and reopen it until it is normal

If for some reason one of the devices has forgotten the wifi network you will have to enter the password which is: oddbug044

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