In A Room with Views, I tried to express my individual reflections on the personal experience I mentioned in the Introduction, so I wrote the text in the first person. In addition, I included at the beginning of the video the fragment I extracted and commented on Virginia Woolf’s “A room of one’s own”. In this instance, my intention was to set the tone for the audience rather than to use this excerpt as a quote. Before watching the remainder of the video, this could help me to start a conversation with them and begin mobilizing "the subjectivity of the spectator" (Rascaroli 2009, 187). 

The visuals were taken with the previously mentioned mindset, keeping in mind both the excerpt of Virginia Woolf's text and part of mine. Since some thoughts about my personal situation emerged after filming and spending time outside with the camera, the text and images were essentially created simultaneously. 

I struggled with establishing a narrative in the images that could match with the text, so I made the choice of having a central timeline of myself in my room with outside images where I could be more imaginative and enhance the text's message without becoming too literal. Ultimately, video essays have an experimental quality that frees them from the conventional storyline of traditional films or even documentaries.

I understand that this video does not exactly qualify as a video essay because I do not go into enough detail about the text and the issues I addressed in it, but it was still very helpful to me in understanding how I wanted to approach the visuals for my project and in a more practical sense because I had to use cameras, editing software, voice-over, and other equipment.

2.1. A room with views

I had the opportunity to choose an elective for the second semester, and when I got to look through all of the possible options I found Audiovisual Research Skills.

This course was taught by Siamak Anvari, composer and sound artist, and here we learnt about cameras, how to work with different parameters such as aperture, ISO, etc; editing softwares, audio recorders, etc.

All this information was really valuable, but the most important thing is that we were permitted to use equipment from the EWP (Elektronica Weerkplats). Thanks to this, we could start exploring cameras and audio recorders right away and put what we learnt in class into practice.

From the beginning, I knew that I would apply everything I could learn in this course to the creation of the audiovisual component of my final project. Even though I was familiar with the fundamentals of editing softwares, I never worked properly with cameras or audio recorders. However, I was fortunate to have good references that enabled me to picture what I wanted to accomplish.

This 7-minute video served as the course's final project, but I also intended to use all the material I had gathered for it for my master's project. Through the filming of this video, I had the opportunity to use different cameras from the EWP, mainly a Panasonic G7 and a Sony AX-100. Because I wanted to film material not only for the course but also for this project, my father lent me his professional camera for a few shots, a Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro.

Although I was more familiar with other programs, I used Davinci Resolve 18 for the editing, which I learned how to use from our teacher and some YouTube tutorials. Nevertheless, Davinci's full version was accessible on one of the Conservatoire's computers.

At first, I was just experimenting with the camera's settings, especially the focus, ISO, and shutter speed. As a result, I was able to capture the first shot, which I did from the balcony of my apartment, filming with the camera lens completely out of focus, resulting in a scene full of vibrant and colorful dots. I was surprised with how simple it was to create such a beautiful image, just recording the street lights.

After this experiment, I decided to take the camera outside with me, and try to capture anything that caught my attention due to their inspiring nature.

This perspective is in line with the artists I mentioned in the introduction. Using the camera encouraged me to “open” my eyes, to be more aware of my surroundings in order to look for an image, which, despite being mundane, contains a beauty that can be revealing. John Cage was captivated by the Zen philosophy, which is based on accepting life as it is and bringing attention to the ordinary. In the case of Cage, he ultimately chose to adopt a "passive" attitude, but there were other artists who, in spite of having a similar interest, chose to be more proactive and use everyday life as a source for creation, as it is with Llorenç Barber, and so many other sound artists.

I think that in film, especially in documentaries, they are more used to working with this kind of content to later produce specific narratives through editing. Although they manipulate how the images are recorded through camera settings, lightning, pre-planned scenes, etc, most of their source material is what the eyes can see.

Continue to 3.The piece

Experiment (02): Waking up

Envisioning the sonorous outcome after the visuals of this experiment was a challenge for me, because in the end, there wasn’t any element that could suggest to me any specific sonority. 

I edited these two different shots together, because I perceived in both a feeling of calm and stillness. Additionally, I wanted to draw an analogy between my vision during the picture in the bed and my attempt to focus after waking up by zooming up into the sky.

Personally, I find the use of arpeggios to be very calming due to their steady back-and-forth motion and gradual harmonies changes. Also, with the progressive inclusion of notes, I was trying to emulate the zooming of the sky scene. For this, I was thinking about a microscope, in which when you use lenses with higher magnification, you’re able to see more differentiated elements, hence more notes in the arpeggios.

I played with the sul ponticello to add a different texture to an apparent stable motive. Also, I tried to represent the sudden light rays that appeared in the sky scene as something sharp with the sul ponticello.

2.2.Experiments

The personal trials I'm referring to as experiments are meant to test how I could combine my instrument with the images I’ve recorded.

These experiments are made up of brief sonorous improvisations that I performed while viewing specific images from the ones I've been recording during my master's studies. This was done after I made the decision to create an interdisciplinary piece for my final project.

As I previously mentioned, my goal was to create a continual interaction between the audiovisuals and the music, creating something that, as the term "interdisciplinary" suggests, is at the intersection of both fields.

I experimented with my instrument to convey the sonorous possibilities of the images, which encouraged me to engage with it more closely and, of course, to be more creative because I had to go beyond idiomatic, classical playing to get the sounds that the images suggested.

I explain here my mental processes and the outcome of the experiments I included in this research.

Experiment (03): Glass light

In this experiment, I had a very clear image, one that I hint in the title. While I was filming these scene, and moving the focus to have rounded shapes from the light filtering through the trees, I was constantly thinking in glass, in something very fragile.

This is the reason why I decided to play with actual glass jars, rubbing against each other to produce this very particular sound like tiny blobs that reminded me of small circles of light.

Translating that to the viola, I have an instant connection between fragility and harmonics. For me, they share the same fragility with glass, in terms of very thin sound, and instability, since the minimum movement from the fingers changes the harmonic. At some point, I tried to use a spiccato stroke to emulate even more the outcome I obtained with the jars, a less continuous sound, although i thought while playing the long sustained harmonics, that they could be better to use later in the making process of the tape

For this project, I made the decision to document every choice made and every step of the creation process so that I could better understand the journey and learn from past failures and achievements.

Every creative step was centered around experimenting with the writing, the camera, and my instrument. The interactions with my surroundings—my room, the city, and commonplace objects—were the source of all my experimentation. I believe I could say that my approach, or the kind of interaction, is phenomenological, which means that I'm going with my own intuition and emotions regarding the various experiences I had along the way, attempting not to overanalyze them, but looking for the affordances that could lead to interesting artistic outcomes.

CREATIVE PROCESS

There isn't a set reading sequence. You are free to read the various texts in any order you choose.
There is, nevertheless, a suggested order:

2.1- A room with views

2.2 -Experiments

2.3- Installation

2.4- Meetings with the composer 

Experiment (04): Swinging trees

The light and colors of the sky made this scene very poetic, but I wanted to depict a sound that would blend in with the soundscape of that moment.

After watching the trees swaying in the wind, my thoughts turned to how their extreme bending might cause the branches to break.

I overpressed my bow on the strings, drawing it very close to the frog, in an attempt to recreate that image. Subsequently, I moved the bow from left to right, maintaining tension and position on the strings; in other words, there was no vertical movement.

The result was a crackling sound as a consequence of the significant pressure on the bow's hair.

Experiment (05): Lake

I used two improvisations in this experiment. The first was created by allowing a piano pedal to resonate after pressing it. I was attempting to convey both the space's openness and the serene, weighty quality of nature.

I produced the other improvisation by holding one pitch and varying the pressure applied with my left hand. With this, I was attempting to simulate the ripples in a lake and the common scene where a stone is dropped and the water's surface produces round waves that diminish in size from the center outward.  

By doing this, I was making a thinner, more delicate sound when I was hardly touching the string, and a more solid pitch when the pressure was at its initial level.

2.3. INSTALLATION

After I decided that I wanted to focus on the the concept of space, and especially on the idea of personal space represented by a room, I instantly remembered a piece that I saw in the CAC Málaga ( Centro de arte contemporáneo ) that had a big impact on me. The piece is “My bed” by Tracey Emin, which basically consisted of a bed surrounded with trash. I was not impressed by its visual beauty, but rather by how explicit and real it was. By just looking at it, you could immediately know that the artist was in the middle of a difficult situation

2.4. Meetings with the composer

I kept a record of every meeting I had with Juan Palmero, the composer I worked with on this project and who I had previously met working on an Ensemble Academy project. 

I got in touch with him for a few reasons: first, we're both Spanish, which makes communication easier; second, he plays the viola, so he is aware of the instrument's possibilities; and third, I played and listened to a few of his compositions and thought they were excellent.

I didn't document the first meeting, where we essentially brainstormed, discussed technical issues, and he asked me for references so he could better understand my vision for this piece. 

Clicking in this hyperlink you will go to the record of the meetings

I felt that Ermin was opening to us her personal world, and in my case, was very impactful. 

It was through this piece that started my love for contemporary art. They questioned art as something that belongs to another dimension; they demystified it, making me believe that my sensibility could be valuable enough to make art as well.

For my project, I was interested in including an installation during the performance. Since my bedroom is an essential image of the whole project, I wanted to create a structure with the same measures of my actual room. With this, I wanted to point directly towards the question of how much is necessary to live. I admit that I wanted to create a shock factor, but after attending the Wood Workshop in KABK, the initial idea that I had was very ambitious with the resources I had.

I changed the design several times, to finally decide that I will create one in the middle of what I initially envisioned.

It consisted of four vertical slats of around 2’00 meters long bolted to a wooden plank. Between the slats I will tape the floor with the actual measurements of my room’s floor. It’s not maybe as impactful as I wanted, but it allows me to play inside and delimite a virtual space.

Like the abstract expressionists, I wanted to make something that, although not overtly outrageous, would blend in with the rest of the area, making you aware of your presence there. Even in the case of an apparent divide, you become more aware of the various components that come together to form a larger space.

Continue to 3.The piece

Also, by playing inside the virtual space that creates the installation, I hope to create a more intimate atmosphere, linking the live performance to the room's images of the visual part of the piece.

Both the composers and I struggled with the position of the installation, so we considered several options. At first, I wanted it to be in the center, with total freedom of the audience to move around it, but technically it was very difficult. 

Furthermore, the projection of the images determined the position. We ultimately opted to use a single traditional projection screen next to the installation because, although I had intended it to be a part of it, building a screen large enough to cover one of the walls would have required a significant investment. As a result, we both agreed that the installation should be placed at the back of the chapel so that viewers could view it before the performance started and, naturally, have a clear view of the pictures and me (Option 2). Option 3 was also very interesting, but since I would need more speakers to make sure that both groups had the same experience, it will be more challenging in terms of amplification and speakers. On the other hand, it would be difficult to avoid having moments where I'm giving the group my back in terms of movement and placement within the installation.

Continue to 3.The piece