PsyberFlight - Part ][, the real thing

The Dream Mondo Turbo Skydive

Brief Outline: This was a 1st person 3D POV video/installation I created a few
years back.

Project Description:

A major focus in the entertainment industry with the convergence of
media related holdings, is the swing from passive dissociated movies to
interactive Location Based Entertainment, such as one may find at the many
theme parks throughout the world. Rapid advancement in technology gives us
new tools and effects, although the elements of the story seldom seem to
divert much from many of the money making formula films that are produced.
Luckily in the artist's domain, we are free to experiment with everything
that we can fathom, and in doing so we push the boundaries of the medium,
and push ourselves to new unknown realms.

My previous work has always included an interactive element to disolve
the boundaries between art and artist, however this proposed work does not
allow the participant to mold the audiovisual output, but gives them the
illusion of active participation through kinesthetic motion apparently
co-relating to their audiovisual input provided to them by a Head-Mounted
Display (HMD). I was considering realtime interaction with the use of the
HMD's built-in head tracking to modify the A/V content, but have decided
against this for now, as the experience will likely be so encompassing as
is, that this wouldn't be cost-effective for the project at this time.

I have recently taken up skydiving myself, and thought it'd be
interesting mix this some of my recent discoveries in videography and
computer graphics. The basic premise of the installation, gives the
participant a chance to experience virtual skydiving, by putting on a HMD,
and getting into the skydiving simulator. The flow of the video is sort
of a stream of consciousness, as one might have when jumping from 13,000
feet out of a real aircraft. Point-Of-View 3-D footage is combined with
custom computer graphics which overlay the twists and turns of the reality
of the jump. Added to this is sycronized binaural sound, which provides a
soundtrack with occasional vocals. The total experience time will be just
under one minute, but a very intense minute.

In my previous work, I experimented with 3-D, but I propose to
actually film in 3-D video and sound, by constructing a dummy head with
color CCD's for eyes and microphones in the ear canals. The CCD's are
the heart of today's modern video camera, essentially the image processor
chip and associated electronics, all on a circuit board the size of a
matchbox, allowing installation within the eye sockets of a dummy head.
The video signals from the synthetic left and right eyes, and the two ears,
are fed into a multiplexor, which combines their signal onto a standard
Hi-8 video tape. It does this by putting the left eye signal on the odd
scan lines, and the right eye on the even lines, and when played back
through de-multiplexing circuitry built into the HMD, the viewers eyes
get the correct images with full disparity, providing true 3-D visuals.
When accompanied with the binaural spatial surround sound this is such a
powerful combination of 3-D sound and vision, that a viewer watching a
earthquake footage standing up, would not be able to, as the seeming
reality of the simulation, would be quite great.

With the added sensory input of floating on a column of air in the
skydiving simulator, the 3-D A/V experience convinces the viewer that what
they are experiencing is reality, even for the most skeptical, as the
experience is so intense. Depending on how my time is going doing the
animations for the simulation, I may add-on an bioelectric brainwave
sycronizer, that would have the added benefit of tricking the brain into
further reality disabsorbtion, by modifying the endorphin level and other
electrochemical reactions. I know much of this may seem quite foreign,
but it is all within my technical and other know-how, and I think it would
make a feasible project.


SkyDive Video Script Final:

HeadCam parameters: Keep on max wide angle, clean optics before jump.
New additions are marked by XXX:( addition )

/HeadCam On
-Walk from road/house towards suit-up area, pause at all signs
(warning of death/danger, prop hitting head graphic, etc)
for at least 5 seconds each.
-Go into suit-up trailer, look at wall full of chutes.
/HeadCam Off
(suit-up and do whatever prep necessary)
(when ready to jump...)
/HeadCam On (stays on from this point)
-Walk towards plane
-Get in, etc.
-When in plane, after take-off, make sure you look out (or cam does)
the window periodically to show gaining altitude, ground below, etc
-***About 45 seconds before the door is opened, stare at a fixed spot
of the aircraft wall for about 30 seconds. It is extremely
important that you keep your arms at your side, or otherwise OUT
of the camera's field of view for this 30 seconds.
-Look at the pilot briefly, and when he opens the door, look at it

-Jump (if possible do a few back flips or something snazzy)

-When free-falling, (based on total freefall time of 55 seconds)
Right after exit from plane, it doesn't matter what position your body is
in, although you may wish to level it out, but make sure you fix your view
(thus the camera's as well) on the ground (or if it isn't visible
(clouds, etc), in its direction) for 10 seconds (count in your head).
Then do some tricks, (flips, I dunno, something neat), for 10 seconds, or
thereabouts, then back to staring in the direction of the ground, then
back to tricks, and continue this pattern until you pull your ripcord.
(The staring down should total at least half the total duration of your
freefall.) Note: while staring down, if possible, occassionally spin
your body, thus gaze.

-***When you pull your ripcord, check chute, etc as normal, and manuver
as regular, but if possible, fix gaze towards ground for at least
half total duration of fall with chute, similar to during freefall.
For the first look down, after you have made sure your chute and lines are
fine, let go of your steering handles briefly, and extend your arms out in
front of you at an angle midway between shoulders and waist, and bend your
neck down so your arms are in the camera's view, and keep bending your head,
(but drop your arms to your side), until you think your legs are in the
camera's view. Stare down/at your legs for 5 seconds, then look up, and
re-grab your steering handles.
For the duration of your fall with chute open, keep alternating between
looking at the ground, and wherever, similar to freefall sequence.
Although from now on, if possible keep your feet out of the picture while
looking down, although this is not mandatory.

XXX:( It doesn't really matter if arms/legs are in picture...
Although if you think they will be out of the picture, try
to keep it this way for the duration of the jump.)

-nearing ground, do your normal landing, with no special attention to gaze.
-land as normal, collect your chute, then lie down on your back on the
ground, and stare upwards for 2 minutes.

That's it.


Psychedelic POV's Footage Used:

Note: At the time of this piece's creation, I was not entirely skilled with the creation
of custom computer graphics, and given the time contstrainsts of the project, decided
to sample a lot of footage, as it was more a proof of concept installation, not a showcase
for my personal graphics work.

-Or other appropriate shots, textures, etc

Time Description
---- -----------
X:YY:ZZ - X:YY:ZZ ....
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
X-MIX-1
-------
13:45 - 14:38 spinning separating from middle, then eye opens
23:07 - 25:05 not POV, just kaladio images, good for layering,
keying, etc
46:21 - 46:24 short spin of two sides tunneling
49:14 - 49:25 spinning triange POV, so-so cool,
53:13 - 54:00 twisting/bending tunnel POV's, so-so
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
X-MIX-2
-------
15:17 - 17:22 tunneling light POV, then cool diffusions,
38:48 - 39:28 Cool spinning POV (start full, then fade to 20%
or so in multi-layer shot.
39:42 - 39:58 Great spin POV starts clockwise
40:51 - 40:55 tunnel POV
44:18 - 44:26 flying particles POV
44:45 - 44:59 bending tunnel POV
45:14 - 45:25 kaledio/misc cool for layering
46:05 - 46:29 bending tunnel POV/misc, cool
53:58 - 54:30 diffusion of plasma, then cool POV's
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
X-MIX-3
-------
at peter's/VidPulse
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
3-LUX-2
-------
07:50 - 08:33 kaledio for layering, with unwanted corner name
13:19 - 13:30 Cool tunnel POV, with particles (everything on
black, good for keying)
23:00 - 23:20 Spinning feedback from centre of screen
24:20 - 28:55 Spinning cool feedback, sometimes off centre
46:41 - 47:20 from centre, ok kaledio stuff, then spinning
particles, then spinning landscape
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clock DVA
---------
17:08 - 17:16 misc kaledio
33:27 - 34:04 good flashing kaledio
35:08 - 35:10 mini warp
36:32 - 36:36 good for keying kaledio patterns, dbl mirrored
36:48 - 36:58 " "
40:00 - 40:30 " ", with circular stuff
44:36 - 44:41 short dna spiral, counter clockwise
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Acid Flashback Taboo (my master copy, non-orig)
--------------------
07:17 - 07:27 circular light flames
36:41 - 36:45 spinning falling POV onto city street
45:18 - 45:25 spinning red & white lines, good for layering
47:12 - 47:30 cartoony spinning circular montage, cool, light
background layer maybe
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eye Candy (my master copy, non-orig)
---------
1:06:03 - 1:10:19 spinning b&w/color fb, (start strong, then fade/layer)
1:12:35 - 1:14:47 mainly b&w, good for keying
1:16:16 - 1:17:40 circular fb, mainly B&W, cool
1:30:40 - 1:32:12 color fb, with square black box in centre (key into)
then square changes size, then color fb...use
near powers of ten squares...
1:51:25 - 1:52:50 great circular wild cosmic FB, B&W/c
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Powers of Ten (my master copy, non-orig)
-----------------
10:10 - 11:03 trip back at 5 times speed, (crop black side bars
and expand/stretch main picture to full screen
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Gate to the Mind's Eye (my master copy, non-orig)
--------------------------
05:57 - 06:09 explosion of sun, cool plasma
10:34 - 10:43 spinning cloud plasma
11:05 - 11:17 explosion out of circle
34:28 - 34:29 short spacewarp
35:45 - 35:49 spacewarp continued
37:09 - 37:45 reverse spacewarp, fades out
44:14 - 44:201 very cool twisted POV warp
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sample Tape #N-001
------------------
02:54 - 03:05 wonderful white fluffy clouds (keying?)
07:19 - 07:59 FINAL MISSION: very cool tunnel warps interspersed
with unwanted titles...cool way to do titles...
I could do similar with help of 3D Studio
09:02 - 09:11 cool flash/sound transition, other graphics
14:04 - 14:06 cool water drip with ripples from centre
16:23 - 16:28 circle tunnel
22:46 - 23:07 after death/landing, people pov at body (prob not use)
24:54 - 25:02 " "
35:23 - 35:39 spacewarp
50:10 - 50:39 accel tunnel pov...very fast/flashing (maybe use)
1:14:07 - 1:14:10 blue laser tunnel pov
1:31:22 - 1:31:29 medical pov/oxygen mask
1:32:58 - 1:33:03 tunnel plamsa spiral
1:33:10 - 1:33:16 " ", with mini-warp
1:34:26 - 1:33:45 dreaming, in face pov, (only use if crash)
1:42:01 - 1:42:05 ALT STATES: bubble explosion psychedel
NEED to finish capture of ALT STATES samples...spinning face, etc
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sample Tape #N-002 (clock times may be ahead/off by 19 seconds)
------------------
03:16 - 03:21 comp grafix quick warp
38:30 - 38:33 space explosion burst from centre
1:07:13 - 1:07:17 KAFKA: eye breakthrough glass pov
1:07:29 - 1:07:43 DARKSTAR: earth warp, spacewarp
1:11:50 - 1:11:53 tunnel warp pov
1:23:01 - 1:23:04 brain mri
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sample Tape #N-003 (prob with tape at begin a bit, thus time might be off)
------------------
21:13 - 21:17 pov mini chute warp
1:05:21 - 1:05:26 spinning auger pov
1:22:04 - 1:22:12 david touching god's hand (slow-mo)
1:50:36 - 1:50:45 spacewarp
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sample Tape #N-004
------------------
09:00 - 09:45 doctor in face pov's, then skull pov
17:45 - 18:49 BRAINSTORM: title sequence cool graphics, with
unwanted interspersed titles
19:10 - 19:25 " ", without titles, though not as cool
19:30 - 22:30 fighter jet, car racing, etc pov's (good for intro)
28:35 - 31:00 end sequence, wonderful cosmic pov's
36:09 - 36:22 super electronic wires pov
40:32 - 40:39 hypno kaledio imagery
44:07 - 44:17 doctor in face pov
50:29 - 50:54 LAWNMOW: start of rapid pattern imagery sequence
51:20 - 51:33 rapid " " repeat....good for after dmt smoke seq
51:36 - 51:41 seq rapid cont " "
51:49 - 51:52 rapid tunnel flashing/turning
52:24 - 52:39 twist warp tunnel engage
53:00 - 53:16 cont " "
53:41 - 53:47 cont " ", twisting more
54:11 - 54:19 cont, warning flash.
54:40 - 54:50 see two hands, look down, see feet. (maybe good if
sync'd to real images)
57:38 - 58:20 cg tunnel
1:00:19 - 1:00:25 fast warp pull in
1:03:58 - 1:04:09 DOORS: desert seq mini flashes, cool
1:08:39 - 1:09:01 POINT BREAK: sky dive misc footage (most unusable)
1:11:23 - 1:11:27 confusing falling pov
1:13:05 - 1:13:20 droping from plane, hitting ground (red suit)
(could use in death version if he has red on as well)
1:16:28 - 1:16:30 mini light warp
1:16:44 - 1:16:48 mini warp, with game over text
1:18:30 - 1:18:51 longer cool vector warp sequence
1:20:40 - 1:21:39 FORTRESS: cg warp sequence
1:23:14 - 1:29:49 2001: stargate sequence
all for now...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sample Tape #N-005
------------------
06:47 - 07:49 twisting vector kaledio, short snips
27:28 - 27:33 NBK: devil quick shot (use?)
39:51 - 41:11 Liquid Sky kill sequence & music
41:43 - 42:10 needle sequence (prob not use)
44:11 - 45:13 aud: "do it" seq (maybe b4 dmt smoke..voice in head?)
1:00:51 - 1:01:02 very cool vector kaledio
1:25:47 - 1:25:49 brief b&w moire
1:26:08 - 1:26:11 skull POV
1:45:05 - 1:45:12 spacewarp snips
1:56:13 - 1:56:40 TRON: laser spacewarp (macrovisioned)..great stuff
though, get original
1:58:50 - 1:59:07 reverse laser spacewarp (semi-macro)
2:00:13 - 2:04:00 POINT BREAK: swaze falling out of plane, non-pov
but good for thrill seeker intro maybe
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Future Shock ]I[
----------------
01:52 - 02:00 moire patterns
41:15 - 41:43 light blue warp
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dancing in CyberSpace (my friend tape, non-orig)
---------------------
01:49 - 02:30 fractal warp, interspersed with unwanted stuff
07:33 - 07:47 white warp'ish, with plasma
08:10 - 08:38 grid warp
19:30 - 19:36 pastal warp
20:00 - 20:05 fracal mini warp
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Mind's Eye #1 (my master copy, non-orig)
-----------------
24:25 - 25:20 warp, cosmic space journey
27:06 - 27:13 jungle warp
45:47 - 45:52 mini warp
50:05 - 50:15 nice colourful warp, twisty
54:10 - 54:20 kaledio warp
54:42 - 55:05 " "
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Severed Heads
-------------
07:28 - 07:45 feedback warp on black
14:49 - 15:17 wild feedback on black
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Freejack
--------
19:19 - 19:24 doctor in face pov
19:57 - 20:05 " "
1:38:27 - 1:39:15 very cool eye warp ***
1:46:03 - 1:46:50 " " same, but diff, very cool!, some unwanted
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dreamscape
----------
28:57 - 29:22 mini space warp
40:55 - 41:10 " ", cool
46:47 - 47:00 " ", blue
55:52 - 56:09 " ", white
1:23:02 - 1:23:19 " ", red
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
APEX (my master copy, non-orig)
----
00:33 - 02:13 title seq, unwanted stuff, but ok warp
08:33 - 08:41 wild cyber warp
09:11 - 09:17 " " cont
1:01:26 - 1:01:33 another cyber warp
1:02:20 - 1:02:25 " " cont
1:09:57 - 1:10:05 double cyber warp
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Consciousness TLC tape
----------------------
-took some stuff, but on the fly, not in my notes...


Misc Notes:

- Use stroboscopic mix of black and white to flash overlay into shots, to
entrance on way down in skydive, along with optional syncronized beat.
- Pull images right off these tapes to S-VHS work tape, don't put on S-VHS
then S-VHS again, just put right on original...
- music, need angelic voices, chanting
- statement: in producing this work, I ripped off many special effects from
others work. Many of the artists whose work I sampled though, in turn
borrowed bits and pieces from other sources, and this recycling in turn
keeps things fresh. And so I present this latest work: The psychedelic Skydive!
- For non-originals, borrow originals if possible
- rent black hole
- additional question for MIKE...is the headcam stereo..if so, add binaural
mikes externally

Go to the library (not-ref), and look/borrow/mark pages from books that
have visuals that I want shannon to scan for me, then I can use them
as is, or photoshop them up, or morph them into mini-anim sequences, or
play them in succession like symbol seq from Lawnmower man.

Books to scan?:
---------------
my symbols book
astronomy/star/galaxy books
cool mags I collect...cool visual images


---------
Get more universe footage, computer anim's, carl sagan stuff from N.York
library, etc.

Shoot "skydiver" on aerodium, from below with sky as the background,
then luma-key in cool visual background that they are within

Once skydive HMD movie is finished, edit a version, which is essentially just
cut down to the jump, with start showing getting out of plane, and the
participant here will start the video slightly before he really does get
out of the plane at 13,000 feet. He's on the strut of the plane, and when
he hears "jump" in his headphones, he jumps, video POV does too, in
sync...he's falling, and the POV aud/vid fall sequence fills his HMD, with
see-through if worried, but full immersion is better...this lasts for 50-55
seconds, then visual flashes, "Pull your ripcord!"...and he does, and flips
up full-immersion visor, so he can see to navigate safely down. This gives
him the true danger of "the psyberdelic skydive experience" while really
skydiving, but since we have a 55 second fall window, if the experience is
only that long, then things are still safe. Or instead of having the jumper pull
the ripcord, I could add a coded signal on the tape, that would trigger the AOD
and thus the chute automatically.
---
Possibilities:

-In audio studio create x second ramp sound (bomb dropping to correspond to
jump out of plane to crash/ripcord/transcendance?
-Perhaps set the ground higher than it really is...create anim of depth
gauge in autodesk anim or whatever, and at about 4000 feet there are
screams of pull the ripcord, but from 4000 to 3000, things are sped up
with stop motion (pull frames out for jitter with video) and the ground
will supposedly be at the real 3000. This allows to show
crash/blow-your-mind quick part, then real pull ripcord signal is given,
and they do, and now the chute really opens, and they begin to float to
earth, perhaps cut with footage of doctors over them, or staring into
sky with angelic choir voices, etc?...I dunno
-Dilema: Whether to keep everything POV based, or use other shots too.
Watch films such as IRONMAN/BODYHAMMER to take not on style.
-Get Mike to jump again, and have DAT with binaural mikes, and turn
everything on about 5 min before jump from plane. Then I can pull from
this 3-D audio, and use with main footage, even though things will be
out of sync. Use this to my advantage, and echo some words before jump,
SE-70, etc, to give time/space displacement that we will make use of
later when the false ripcord pull scene occurs.
-Put camera behind HMD, and film visor flipping up, after they pull
ripcord, and it's just smooth real footage (un fx'd) at this point, but
then mix in displacement stuff, afterwords...more time/space mix-ups.

Idea: After falling, near ground...picture shows red jumpsuit person
hitting ground...but flashback to shoot opening properly, landing,
so you're not sure what happens, ...collect shoot, then lay on
ground looking up. during this time, the medical teams looking
at you POV's, and hallucinations, but you think you're ok?
Then after a bit, he gets up and walks away...


Final Misc Unsorted Notes


-audio of binaural airplanes/jets going overhead, also bombs dropping,
other stress related effects..
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Canadian Sport Parachuting Association (613) 835 3731
called, may CB
saint simone, aerodium/wind tunnel, (514) 532 3020...
ask for: Robere Ladu or Laval Peril

$150 per 15 min..., max 5 people in at once, split fee
if we are skydivers, they give us 33% more time "free"
about 30 min away from montreal...we can sleep free at the drop zone
on the weekend...bring log book or certificate...they are sending
me info
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stock Footage available from:
Military Combat Stock Footage (206) 898 8080
P.O. Box # 399
Union, WA
98592

They will provide a VHS tape with timecode burn-in.
$125 "research fee"
$35'ish for tape
$28 for fedex...call to confirm b4 mailing...all in USD

-use only if extra footage is needed after main script is shot
--------------------------------------------------------------------------


-Return to Previous Work
-Go onto Future Work


hallway | reception | tools | library | lab | lounge | hangar | school