This week I’m left feeling a bit blank, I feel I spent the last couple of weeks desperately trying to work out which direction my project was going in and I feel I’ve exhausted everything I had to say across my blog and pdf. Last week prior to talking to Ben, I had a rough idea of what I wanted my end product to be, some kind of subscription box that included tactile objects that matched the theme of the film. The more I thought about this idea, the more it seemed less and less practical. It would be difficult to engage with while watching a film, and you would need to either interact with it before or after watching the film which seemed impractical and a bit useless. I started to lose hope in my idea until I spoke to Ben. His work and his ideas reflected what I was trying to do more appropriately. He suggested that I do some kind of interactive film experience in a gallery or exhibition environment. I had initially thought of this but I wondered if maybe it had been done before?
The more I researched into immersive experiences, the more I felt compelled to create one myself. After researching into anhedonia, its symptoms and treatment, it felt apt to create something immersive and experiential that would get you physically involved in an experience as opposed to just viewing. Although I did a lot of research into film spectatorship and this was helpful, I wanted to build on how I could enhance the film viewing experience for those with anhedonia. I found through my research and through my own experience that often films can be disengaging when experiencing this condition. That said, I do find that I emotionally engage with films that involve portrayals of the human condition and films with shock value. I think writers like Charlie Brooker do this well. I was thinking of ways I could immerse the viewer in my experiential project. As the idea is speculative, I was thinking of having some kind of atmospheric effect, such as smoke. I would also like to have holograms and projections of characters and objects. My experience at the Manchester International Festival inspired my idea to have some kind of 3D starlike projection on the ceiling. I’m also wondering how I will display my final project. I think I will use both after effects and Photoshop to get an idea of what the exhibition will look like. I’m wondering if it would be okay to choose a film that has resonated deeply with me, use that as a foundation, and create an exhibition around that film. For example, if I were to choose the film A Beautiful Mind, I could create a wall with newspaper articles, classified documents, and a collage that would represent the deterioration of Nash’s mental health. I would also use some atmospheric smoke, and I would have a 3D projection of algebraic equations on the ceiling. I would also have some kind of hologram of his hallucinations.
These are all speculative ideas, and I will explore them in more detail in the development process. I knew I wanted to create something immersive, and it’s definitely something that I find interesting and captivating and something I would love to explore in the future, but it seems quite out of reach. When I think about what it would cost to run an exhibition of this size and nature it makes me wonder if it’s actually feasible. I think it’s a nice idea for this project, but actually getting it up and running in real life might be quite different! I feel like my research and development has led to this idea. After researching anhedonia and film spectatorship, it’s clear that for neurotypical people, film spectatorship can be a really engaging and absorbing experience, but for sensory seekers and people experiencing a lack of emotion and feeling, they often need something more immersive, something that does more than entertain, something that evokes your senses and creates a tangible, memorable experience.
This week was the presentation for external evaluation and review. I wasn’t able to make this session due to work commitments, but I did manage to make a rough plan of my presentation and what I was going to include. You can find my presentation in my blog. I thought I would reach out to other film makers about this work and obtain their feedback on my project. I gathered their feedback and this is what I collected
“It would be helpful to provide more clarity on the specific objectives of your project. What are you hoping to achieve with the immersive film experience? How does it relate to your research on sensory experiences in film and the exploration of anhedonia? Defining these objectives more clearly will help guide the development of your project.”
“Consider ways to further enhance audience engagement with your immersive film experience. How can you ensure that visitors are actively involved and emotionally connected to the narrative? Incorporating interactive elements or personalized storytelling techniques could help deepen the audience's engagement and create a more memorable experience.”
“Pay close attention to the technical implementation of your project, particularly in terms of integrating sensory elements such as lighting, sound, and tactile elements. Ensure that these elements work well together to create a cohesive and immersive environment. Additionally, consider the practicalities of implementing technology such as projection mapping or augmented reality, and how these can be effectively utilized to enhance the overall experience.
"Consider Accessibility, Think about how you can make your immersive film experience accessible to a diverse range of visitors, including those with sensory sensitivities or disabilities. This could involve providing alternative formats or accommodation, as well as ensuring that the exhibition space is physically accessible to all."
As I was saying earlier it might be a bit ambitious to create an immersive experience of this size but as the idea is speculative, I feel I can achieve it for this project. I have thought about accessibility a lot for this project, but when I was researching sensory sensitivities, I felt it would be quite difficult to have an immersive experience that would accommodate those with sensitivities due to its sensory nature. I think inclusivity is going to be a big problem for those with hyperesthesia. I would, however, like to make the experience accommodating of those with other disabilities. After reflecting on the feedback about keeping the audience engaged, I thought I would create an experience that resonated with people with anhedonia and would possibly tell a story of the condition and its effects.