FACES

Using the UR5 Robotic Arm, and fastening a Black Magic Micro Cinema Camera to the end, my partner Quan and I created a predefined path using the robot, and aligned the videos to create this intimate exploration of the human face.

BODIES

We used the same camera setup and my OpenFrameworks C++ application to computationally control the zoom and the focus of the BMMCC camera during an intimate exploration of the human body.  We zoom and focus according to the narrative of the subjects to emphasize how the subject views their own body.

As a final experiment to working with robots and cameras, Quan and I decided to do a few experiments with putting the Black Magic camera on the robot this time.  Many have done robotic cinematography, by simply using a robotic arm to maneuver the camera in specific ways.  Our technical endeavor was to create interesting cinematic effects using the motion of the robot arm around objects while simultaneously controlling the focus and the zoom.  I wrote a OpenFrameworks app using the ofxTimeline addon to computationally control the focus and zoom of the black magic camera with an arduino.

Our first attempt was to create stereo video using two BM cameras.  After filming quite a few scenes using computationally controlled focus and two cameras, we realized that shooting stereo video is not as simple as putting two cameras eye-distance apart.  We noticed very quickly after creating the first stereo video that even the slightest change in zoom or distance from the object completely altered the focal point - more than we expected.

After our in-class progress critique, our main feedback was that the capture technique is great, and that we already had a great way of capturing video – one camera, one robot arm, computationally controlled zoom and focus – but we needed to derive meaning from the objects we were shooting.  Our project needed a story.  We had considered doing portraits before, but the class reinforcing that portraits would be the most interesting way to use this tool made the decision for us.  We moved to portraiture.

We liked the idea of putting people in front of the robot arm while we explored their face using this unusual method.  We had our subjects stare at one spot and took the same three minute path around each of their faces.  For three minutes they had to sit still while this giant arm with a camera explored their faces very intimately.  The results were pretty mesmerizing.