Hilltop Soundlines!

Soundlines link Sand Point and Millennium Square

The last couple of days I've been checking through final adjustments to the Sand Point audio mediascape ready for Tuesday's walk. The content sounds great, and plays well. Just tweaking the start and end - because we're recording data from the walks for web playback, it all gets a bit more complicated... worthwhile though, website is looking good (thankyou Ben!)

At the same time, I've been remapping the Sand point sounds, along with the students' animations, into a mediascape walk for Millennium and Anchor Squares in central Bristol. Why? Because Strata were asked to present the project at the BBC Blast conference, Create and Connect, on Monday 29th March.

So here's testing the new format in a very different place...

This one shows the gps trace, undercover areas where it gets lost, and test regions. Not too bad, but a few minor adjustments to improve it before Monday.

Warm and well-fed in the tea-room, with the beautiful view of Sand Point out of the windows!

And out onto the hilltop for more testing... amazing light, icy cold wind!

And More Tests

An evening walk, beautiful platinum skies and metallic blue sea. Stunning panoramas and of course sumptuous sounds too! 40 minutes seems a good length of time to record a walk. Still more left to explore, but lots of atmosphere and contrast as you cover the hilltop. Log and keyboard are working fine, and most of the tweaks from Russ & Jane's visit yeaterday have been made and are working fine. Exciting to feel it coming together. Iterative not just in technology testing, but also in approaching layers of creativity through revisiting the landscape.

Mapping the maps

Traces from the three walkers (Russ, Jane, Jackie) last Tuesday - overlaid on a new map for the live area, co-ordinates to be used by Ben for the web playback too - although the map image will be redesigned for the website.

Hilltop Harmonies...

Very exciting today - hearing the students' sounds, post-produced last week by Alex, Jane and Russ, and  mapped as a first sketch on SandPoint by Jackie this weekend... and here we are, listening, dancing, captivated by sound, trying not to be blown away! Russ beating the boundaries so we have an accurate trace of the area that will be used in March ready for Ben on the website.

And then an afternoon of mentoring sessions with the Media Diploma students: Jane on project planning and management, Russ on mapping music and creating the landscape, Jackie on traces  for mapmaking and video editing.

Looking forward to the Party in April...

Community gathering day - December on Sand Point

What a WINDY day! The sea was boiling up into a big clash with the thick river Severn water. Extraordinary. Brrrr.
Strata C. (plus dogs hats jumpers and scarves) were on the loose gathering film for the film generating mediascape and comments from the 'community' - aka the general public. Thanks to everyone who gave time on this brisk and blustery day to say a few words.

A meeting at the Pervasive Media Stuio afterwards was warm and tranquil by contrast. Ben Calders' can-do attitude makes us full of optimism for the Soundlines website.....

Sand Point - school visits / Soundlines project

Well, yes, we were biting our fingernails about rain, wind, weather in general .... but the puddles receeded (fortunately for the cycling animator), the clouds lifted and thick shafts of light and land revealed themselves all around.
A brilliant day with two batches of students from Worle College , Priory School, and Locking Primary. We looked at views,tried to decide if it was Wales, China(?) or France ... everyone worked away at their sketches for the animations, and stories just - dropped from the air. Including the tale of the Incredible Tsunami of 1607 (pictured above). A sobering tale.

Here are some students racing Jane up the hill to find some treasure:

















And some more on Swallow Cliff filming and taking photos.


So, many thanks to all the staff who made today possible - we're looking forward to the music day, and can't wait to see all the sketchbooks , film, photos and animations.

Come rain or shine!

Just a few of the walks made by today's 20 or so walkers, who admirably braved the torrential rain to explore Soundlines on Sand Point. (They weren't really swimming in the sea - though it may have felt a bit like it at the end! I think the mapping of Sand Point is as variable as the tides!)
(Pictures and video documentation to follow later)

Triple Traces and Rainbows

Mapping Sand Point.

3 traces by 3 walkers.

All the colours of the rainbow...

Sand Point - making the Trace

Me slowly turning round - Russ determinedly striding out!




Amazing sunset over Cardiff ..... strange green light on Exmoor, shimmering edges where land meets sea, on and on into the west.

swirling seas, volcanoes

The green shelves of Sand Point were beaches once




















And some of these rocks are volcanic tuff - airborne material from a volcano. ....