key culture texts (arts council)

When researching I came across a paper by the the Arts Council England which was an incredibly useful point of reference for my research. The paper is called: an evidence review PEOPLE AND SOCIETY PEOPLE AND SOCIETY TO OF ARTS AND CULTURE ARTS AND CULTURE VALUE. It lays out both how to try and measure cultural value whilst also breakdown different aspects of approach to the idea of cultural value. The paper also cited throughout two others which were equally useful: Enriching Britain: Culture, Creativity and Growth (warick commision) and Understanding the value of arts & culture (The AHRC Cultural Value Project).

The three papers all look into cultural value but approach the subject from slightly different ways and are more detailed in some areas of the argument than others. They are particularly useful when trying to define cultural value as a concept in my paper.

Talk with Dr Catriona McAra

After the advice given by my tutor I sought the insight of our colleges curator Catriona.

In the meeting we discussed my overall topic, my current thoughts on it and what direction my research/paper were heading in.

This was an incredibly useful discussion as it helped me make sense of the work I already had and also the other research paths available for my essay.

I was pointed at some very useful texts which intern referenced other useful sources, I was also shown so good examples of another possible topic to use in my dissertation.

We discussed the use of apps in conjunction with art rather than being an art form themselves. There were a couple of examples but I need to source more as increasing public interest in the arts is a very relevant point.

I plan to research further with the resources I was shown and undertake some case studies with relevant apps.

app building research

After finalising how my app was going to work with the second app test I started researching how I could actually create a functioning app. There a lot of different variables that I needed to consider which I discovered upon researching.

I firstly started looking at all in one "app builders" including gamesalad and appfurnace unfortunately I found these to be more geared towards creating games rather than an app that could effectively play video. I started then looking into using flash as it is known for producing games and websites using interactive animations. Flash also seemed like it was effective for publishing for different platforms (android, web, ios ect). I unfortunately know very little about flash from any point of view so I was starting from scratch with my research. It seemed like it would be very difficult to create what I wanted using flash and there was a surprising lack of useful material on using flash for this purpose. I knew from my reading I would definitely need to learn some java to customise what I was creating.

It was at this point I realised I was stuck somewhat between a rock and a hard place when it came to development, I did not want to compromise the UI of my potential app through software that was very limiting however my knowledge of app dev is very rudimentary that planning on creating something from scratch seemed unrealistic. At this point it seemed the best course of action is to focus on the visual aspect of the app and try speak to third parties to either create the app or point me further in the direction of doing it myself. The creation of the app is less important for my overall dissertation and the moving of video to app may become a separate project after the hand in.

Drafting a musician

After creating the second app test in which I created my own music it was apparent that I would not be able to make all the music myself in the time frame so I sought out a musician to help me.

I talked with a musician whom had similar interests to myself about creating interactive media and after listening to some of there work I thought they could create some good music for the project.

I created a rough brief for them to follow and stressed the importance of the time constraints I was following.

Brief:

Music Brief

Creating an Audio-Visual sequencing app where the user can build/layer their own music and video at the same time via a phone or web app.

Music needs to be accessible to a large demographic of people (not “too” experimental) but still be interesting

There will be 4 types of clip each running at either: 4-8-16 bars, split into categories of: Drums, Bass, Keys (chord) and additional line/synth/pad/scape (very open) 

Preferably 120 bpm but all clips must be set at the same tempo 

All clips must be in the same key or chords used must fit together tonally 

I think the music would suit being atmospheric (especially with the chords) but also some more upbeat drum patterns to combine with them (Often find the artist Lone does this really well) but please feel free to experiment with setting some different tones with each of the categories