Computational Cinema

“Tracing” is multiple. Following, step by step, moment by moment. Recording. Scanning. Compiling. Archiving. Unfolding. Reconstructing. Decomposing. Deconstructing. Streamlining. Visualizing. Sonifying. Mediating. Transforming. Translating. Transferring. Associating. Mapping. Combination. Permutation. Integration. Hypothesizing. Calculating. Estimating. Interfering. … These are the manifold actions that the artists of WMC_e5 have enacted on the data they are working with. The impact of computation on both aesthetic expression and aesthetic criticism has been widely felt. Not only artists but also critics are using digital technologies to analyze works of art and literature. Computation generates new modes of art by which criticism and artistic creation meet, an apt description for many works in this exhibition.
This catalogue, edited by Linda Lai, is a post-exhibition documentation of the 5th exhibition of the Writing Machine Collective at Connecting Space-HK in October 2014.
Contributors include Hector Rodriguez, Daniel Howe, Winnie Soon, Audrey Samson, James Coupe and Harald Kraemer.
This project is fully funded by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council.

Professional video recording is a complex process which often requires expensive cameras and large amounts of ancillary equipment. With the advancement of mobile technologies, cameras on mobile devices have improved to the point where the quality of their output is sometimes comparable to that obtained from a professional video camera and are often used in professional productions. However, tools that allow professional users to access the information they need to control the technical quality of their filming and make an informed decision about what they are recording are missing on mobile platforms. In this paper we present MAVIS (Mobile Acquisition and VISualization) a tool for professional filming on a mobile platform. MAVIS allows users to access information such as colour vectorscope, waveform monitor, false colouring, focus peaking and all other information that is needed to produce high quality professional videos. This is achieved by exploiting the capabilities of modern mobile GPUs though the use of a number of vertex and fragment shaders. Evaluation with professionals in the film industry shows that the app and its functionalities are well received and that the output and usability of the application align with professional standards.