‘OCTAVE’ is an exploration of the urban world made new through the reordering of physical time. The notion of time as a physical, tangible and malleable medium has always been a big influence within my work. By reordering and distorting time ‘OCTAVE’ is an exploration of the frenetic architecture, rhythm and geometry of Hong Kong. Filmed from a moving vehicle, the film utilises motion and time to create a seamless evolving architectural canvas, viewing the urban environment from a unique perspective.

We see the world around us reinterpreted by our own relativity; our physical distance, speed and angle helps to paint our own unique and subjective relationship to the world we inhabit. Motion picture born out of the last 130 years has sought to explore the world in a time based environment, whereby static juxtaposed images change their meaning to one another when combined in different arrangements, creating a subjective image.

By using the medium of time to reshape our perceived relative world OCTAVE imagines the urban environment in an organic state, re-shaping and re-ordering as a new form of architecture.

As the name suggests ‘OCTAVE’ is inspired by the visual and structural language of musical notation. Beats, bars, repeating and ascending rhythms of notes evolve and develop to create evolving scores of emotions. A commissioned composition ‘te amo laughing / future jail’ by the Los Angeles duo ‘Lucky Dragons’ adds a humanistic layer to the concrete world OCTAVE explores. As described by the artists the composition is based on the ‘auditory illusion described by Diana Deutsch, in which one's attention starts to find patterns in long sequences of looping syllables that fall somewhere between language and music - sometimes appearing as rhythms and melodies, sometimes as words or phrases - usually with unique effects for each listener. 

A custom designed camera rig was developed for OCTAVE, consisting of a Canon C200, vibration isolator and a custom off-camera feed recorder. Similar to the way a flatbed scanner records an image the camera recorded a vertical image line-by-line creating a vast horizontal moving texture.

By adjusting the record signal of the camera and speed of the tracking vehicle, objects at alternate distances are either brought in or out of sync with the speed of the vehicle, creating a canvas of resolved or distorted scenes. The sequence of repeating images through persistence of vision creates moving images that create new forms of geometry in the minds eye. This process was partly inspired by and references early forms of animated content such as the Zoetrope and the work of Eadweard Muybridge.

Installations

OCTAVE has been created to be seen at scale. Shot with a 4K vertical resolution it enables OCTAVE to be experienced in a variety of formats and physical installations. From a traditional cinema screening to vast double width projections, each format creates an entirely new experience.

Cinema projection

8 Minute version
3840 X 2160px , 5.1 Surround Sound

Gallery projection environment.

Seamless looping projection.
7680 x 2160px with 5.1 surround sound.

Gallery screen environment

Seamless looping gallery screen
7680 x 2160px with 5.1 Surround sound.

Production support UK:
Tristan Earl at Red Lorry Yellow Lorry

Equipment Loan:
Canon UK, Focus 24

Vehicle driver:
Marco Lau