DOCUMENTATION
BECOMING THE GLITCH
5 SATARA ACHILLE SELF INITIATED PROJECT
THE BRIEF
CHOSEN AREA OF EXPLORATION
CCTV and surveillance has become unnessary and it’s effects on crime are minimal. Our footage is being taken without us knowing. I’m questioning the point in having so many surveillance cameras when the negatives outweigh the benefits.
INITIAL QUESTIONING
How can I make live distortions so that cameras can’t pick up my identity?
DEFINING SURVEILLANCE
Close observation, especially of a suspected spy or criminal. “he found himself put under surveillance by British military intelligence” synonyms: observation, scrutiny, watch, view, inspection, monitoring, supervision, superintendence;
WHAT/WHY/HOW? SOURCE: http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/howcctv-is-used-in-the-community
The CCTV scheme is designed to assist in prevention and detection of crime and aims to: - provide evidence to relevant enforcement agencies - maintain public order - prevent anti-social behaviour and nuisance - provide reassurance - promote economic well being. The cameras record images 24/7 and are monitored at strategic times in a local monitoring suite. In the event of criminal activity being observed on a camera, the CCTV operators can direct police response to the incident.
BIG BROTHER
Big Brother is a fictional character in George Orwell’s novel Nineteen EightyFour. He is the enigmatic dictator of Oceania, a totalitarian state taken to its utmost logical consequence – where the ruling Party wields total power for its own sake over the inhabitants. In the society that Orwell describes, everyone is under complete surveillance by the authorities, mainly by telescreens. The people are constantly reminded of this by the phrase “Big Brother is watching you”, which is the core “truth” of the propaganda system in this state. Since the publication of Nineteen Eighty-Four, the term “Big Brother” has entered the lexicon as a synonym for abuse of government power, particularly in respect to civil liberties, often specifically related to mass surveillance.
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RESEARCH
PHYSCOLOGICAL EFFECTS SOURCE: http://www.ted.com/initiatives/ aws/security_cameras.html
CCTV FACTS AND FIGURES
The whole concept of the CCTV is grabbing the attention of the community in the modern day world. They are everywhere; from parking lots, to shopping malls, telephone booths, busy crossings, famous streets, jewelry shops, railway stations and airports. People look at them curiously when they see little cameras moving, tilting and zooming in and out. No matter what the statistics and experts have to say, the common man certainly feels more secure psychologically! People feel someone’s watching them continuously, day and night. Thus, the innocent feel safer and the malefactors feel more susceptible of being caught.
FACTS AND FIGURES
The British Security Industry Authority (BSIA) estimated there are up to 5.9 million closed-circuit television cameras in the country, SOURCE: including 750,000 in “sensitive locations” such as schools, hospitals and care (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/techhomes. nology/10172298/One-surveillancecamera-for-every-11-people-inBritain-says-CCTV-survey.html) Privacy International
The survey’s maximum estimate works out at one for every 11 people in the UK, although the BSIA said the most likely figure was 4.9 million cameras in total, or one for every 14 people. “With potentially more than five million CCTV cameras across country, including more than 300,000 cameras in schools, we are being monitored in a way that few people would recognise as a part of a healthy democratic society. “This report should be a wake up call that in modern Britain there are people in positions of responsibility who seem to think ‘1984’ was an instruction manual.” The average citizen is recorded 300 times each day. Only 3% of crimes are solved using CCTV. Between 10 and 14 million photographs are being processed everyday, many of which contain images of the vehicles driver and front-seat passengers. These images will be retained for at least two years.
INTERNET SURVEILLANCE
The video reveals how the NSA taps cables and uses relationships with technology companies like Facebook to gain access to personal information like SOURCE: email addresses and messages. “I’m particularly pleased with the scene with the http://www.fastcodesign. guy embracing the lady who turns into a bomb, plus the NSA sucking up com/3022698/a-dead-simple-exeverybody and everything at the end,” Kiss says of her favorite parts. A tweeting planation-of-nsa-surveillance bird trapped in a cage visualizes the end of the anarchic freedom that once characterized the Internet. Now that you know that you’re being watched, how http://www.theguardian.com/ world/video/2013/nov/26/nsa-gchq- does this affect the way you communicate and how much you trust the world surveillance-made-simple-video- around you? animation
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ANALYSIS
MY COMMENTS ON MY RESEARCH SO FAR
PERSONAL COMMENTRY ON FINDINGS
With the multitude of CCTV cameras around, we barely even recognise when we are being watched. CCTV cameras have camouflaged themselves into the environment. What if we knew exactly when we were being filmed? When we see CCTV cameras in an environment we automatically change our behaviour. We immediately assume that the area is unsafe and therefore change our attitude. If we begin to see CCTV cameras everywhere? Does that mean we are constantly changing our behaviour in public - walking in fear? How can people’s perceptions of CCTV change? Is there a way of making the interaction with CCTV more enjoyable and entertaining? Do CCTV’s benefits outweigh its invasion of privacy? Video surveillance has become more intrusive. Some cameras are fitted with facial recognition. If the majority of the UK’s CCTV camera’s are in the hands of private corporations, who has our footage and why is it so difficult to get hold of it? CCTV assumes that the criminal was a rational calculator like everyone else and therefore rather than pondering about the motivations of criminals the aim should be simply to raise the costs of criminality in terms of putting obstacles in their way.
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RESEARCH
BIRDS EYE VIEW
GOOGLE MAPS PHOTOGRAPHY Birds eye view (GOOGLE EARTH)
ANALYSIS: Google Maps is a form of surveillance, everything is documented from a satellite. It captures beautiful images and enables people to send messages from altering the environment. 4
RESEARCH
BIRDS EYE VIEW
BIRDS EYE PHOTOGRAPHY Menno Aden
ANALYSIS: These image reminded be of google earth. They feel like “a fly on the wall” surveying what is in the room. 5
EXPERIMENTATION
EXPERIMENT ONE
TRYING TO OBTAIN CCTV FOOTAGE OF MYSELF AT CENTRAL SAINT MARTINS
On the 7th of March I visited the security department at Central Saint Martins. I requested CCTV footage of myself for this project, which according to gov. uk I could obtain in 40 days.
SOURCE: https://www.gov.uk/request-cctvfootage-of-yourself
In response, I was told that it would be very difficult to get the footage and that I don’t have the rights to the footage due to a non-disclosure agreement. I asked whether it were possible if I could be the only one in the footage. They hesitated in answering and told me to send them an email regarding my request. Following this advice I sent this email:
I am still yet to hear back from the security department. 6
RESEARCH
BBC SURVEILLANCE
BBC SURVEILLANCE MAP With millions of public and private CCTV cameras, the UK is one of the most watched places in the world. We want to see how much is already available and are producing a clickable map of feeds from cameras located throughout the country. Use this map to explore different cameras around the UK SOURCE: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/ programmes/whos_watching_ you/8011103.stm
ANALYSIS: This project by the BBC really highlights the quantity of CCTV located around Britain. Showing live feeds of what is going on demonstrates how invasive it is to our privacy. 7
RESEARCH
ALTERNATIVE WAYS OF USING CCTV
SNATCH OPENING TITLES SOURCE: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=MpGTn-Z6WbA
ANALYSIS: Snatch opening titles show CCTV as an eye following every moment, from one room to another. 8
RESEARCH
ALTERNATIVE WAYS OF USING CCTV
THE WORLD IS A GOOD PLACE Coca-Cola SOURCE: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=F5COXj_H9_Q
ANALYSIS: Using CCTV for what it is not intended for is a great way of turning the extreme quantity of CCTV into something with a good purpose. 9
RESEARCH
VISUAL RESEARCH
THE ARCHITECTURE OF SPYING Photographer Trevor Paglen.
Paglen rented helicopters and shot aerial photos at night of three of the largest U.S. intelligence Agencies: the NSA; the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), which designs and operates spy satellites; and the National GeospatialIntelligence Agency (NGA), a map-based intelligence agency. In this project he is effectively spying on those who spy on us. SOURCE: http://www.fastcodesign. com/3026247/the-architecture-ofspying#1
ANALYSIS: Paglen’s project reflects on the idea that everyone is being watched all the time, even those who watch us are being watched. I believe his project highlights this concern about surveillance. 10
VISUAL RESEARCH
iSPY APP iSpy Cameras allows you to view and control thousands of public video cameras from around the world in real-time from your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch over WiFi, 3G, and EDGE. SOURCE: Apple App Store
ANALYSIS: iSpy shows that we’re constantly being watched, we don’t know who is watching us, and I believe this is of huge concern. 11
RESEARCH
HOW TO GO OFF THE GRID
GOING OFF THE GRID
1. Lose the Cell Phone
It might be your digital lifeline, but when you’re trying to hide, your cell phone is a THINK YOU CAN LIVE OFFLINE digital bull’s eye. Those with the access WITHOUT BEING TRACKED? HERE’S can easily triangulate your position based WHAT IT TAKES on your cell signal. You don’t even need to make a call, as phones are always talking to towers to get the best signal available. SOURCE: A built-in GPS only makes it easier. If you http://www.fastcompany. can, take out the battery. You can always com/3019847/think-you-can-livepop it back in for a true emergency. You can offline-without-being-trackedalso leave the phone somewhere to heres-what-it-takes misdirect tracers. The latter is best if you’ve got a phone with a battery you can’t access. (Apple iPhones are not for fugitives.) You don’t have to go without phone access completely. Buy pre-paid phones on the cheap at a department store or gas station. Give one to your most trusted friend or loved one and keep the other. That way, only the two of you can talk or text. In 2010, Congress proposed a bill to ban selling anonymous pre-paid phones to fight terrorism. It stalled out, though, so you can still get one without showing ID in most states. For now. For an extra layer of protection, don’t use the phone to make a direct phone call. Instead, use a pre-paid calling card. In addition, get some portable, solar-powered chargers for your gadgets, so you don’t have to rely on the outlets. Powermonkey eXplorer has plugs for just about every kind of phone and doesn’t require much light to charge a device.
2. Make Purchases Using Gift Cards It’s not impossible to make Web purchases while off the grid. Use your cash to purchase credit card gift cards, such as Visa or American Express. They’re available just about anywhere. You can use them for purchases online and off and then chuck them after they’re used up. (Try to rotate where you get deliveries.) The transaction with those cards is between the retailer and credit card company, your personal details are not required and nothing shows up on a statement.
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3. Forget Being Social It’s time to give up on Facebook and Twitter. Seriously. Just walk away. If you can’t go cold turkey, create anonymous accounts from remote locations. Friend a few bots to keep your number of friends/followers high for your psychological fitness, since you, by definition, don’t have any friends at this point. And for the love of all that’s holy, don’t friend or follow people you actually know.
4. Erase Info from Pictures If you’re still in the habit of sending or posting digital pictures online, at the very least, strip out the EXIF data on the image file. This information includes the make of the camera, date and time the pic was taken, and, with some modern cameras, geographical location info. With enough pics and time, someone could easily figure out where you’ve been, if not where you’re going. The free EXIFstripper program for Windows will do it.
5. Encrypt Messages You may still need to send some e-mails. Naturally, you’ll set up a brand new account. Even then, its best to make sure no one can read what you send. To start, use Gmail from Google since it defaults to using SSL encryption when you’re on the site. That’ll help when you’re using public Wi-Fi, if nothing else. For super secrecy, you need to encrypt messages you send. For a double-whammy, access Gmail using Thunderbird, but utilize GPG (GNU Privacy Guard) to encrypt messages via the Enigmail plug-in. A simpler tool is Encipher.it, an AES Ttext encryptor that works with Gmail or any other Web-based text. Click the Encipher It bookmarklet you install, give the text an encryption key, watch it get garbled, and send it. The person on the other end needs the key to decipher it.
RESEARCH
GOING OFF THE GRID
6. Hide Your IP Address A sure way to get noticed is to visit a website that collects IP addresses from its visitors; this can even happen with some Facebook applications. Once an IP is matched to you, it’s simple enough for law enforcement or clever skiptracers to call the ISP assigned that IP address and match it to a user. Even if it’s not direct to you, it could be too close for comfort. It gets worse if you’re surfing from a school or business. They can track you right to your dorm or cubicle. A proxy server can help. Tor (aka The Onion Router) helps prevent people from seeing you, by routing your webpage requests through multiple routers on the Internet. The people at the other end will see an IP address for a router nowhere near your computer. Bundles exist for every major operating system and even some smartphones (Android, iOS, and Nokia), though some are more finished than others. There’s a browser bundle and an IM bundle, and both come in multiple languages. The bundles will run from a USB flash drive, so you don’t even need to use your own computer. There is a Firefox add-on called Torbutton that lets you enable Tor instantly with one click. Several Chrome extensions promise the same features (search for “anonymous”). At the very least, use a website like Proxify or Hide My Ass!, both Web-based proxy servers, to do searches and visit sites. The very popular Ghostery extension, available for Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera, and IE, shows you which sites are tracking you.
up a router with VPN support at a remote location and link to it direct (providing another hop for people to contemplate).
8. Don’t Look for a Tail Don’t go searching for a digital tail. It’s a classic way for the pursuer to get the pursuee, because anyone on the run wants to know how close they are to getting caught. If you start looking online to see what people know about you, your location, or your activities, chances are you could stumble into a honeypot meant just for you. Try not to Google yourself and stay away from posting misinformation anonymously.
9. Don’t Disappear: Deceive
7. Don’t Sign In
Former skiptracer Frank Ahearn wrote How to Disappear in 2010. But last year, he decided a new tactic was more important. All of the info people can find about you online generally comes from one source—you. So, an easier tactic might be to hide in plain sight by filling the Internet with incorrect information. That means using things like social networks to put misinformation out there. Reducing your digital footprint is certainly important, but if you still want to stay online, deceiving people about where you live, your income, and members of your family, can make it hard for pursuers to find you. Ahearn suggests in his latest book The Digital Hitman that you create yourself an imaginary life and start making status updates to that effect. The more misinformation the pursuer gets, the more time they waste looking around or confirming it.
When it comes to free Wi-Fi, often you’ll need to sign in, which means creating an account. Avoid these places, if you can. Starbucks and Barnes & Nobles are plentiful, and the AT&T Wi-Fi they use doesn’t require anything more than clicking to reaccess every couple of hours. Once you’re online, however, put a VPN to work for you to help prevent wireless snoopers from seeing what you’re doing. Hotspot Shield will do this and it’s free (or pay $30 to avoid seeing their ads). Or, you could set
Looking over your shoulder yet? Yeah, this may be overkill, but what it demonstrates is just how it easy it is to be tracked. So, be careful, don’t overshare, use common sense when you’re online, and take precautions with the amount of personal information you put out there. Think we’re nuts? Check out this Wiredstory about Evan Ratliff, a journalist who went on the run for a month while trying to stay digitally connected, as part of a contest the magazine held in 2009.
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RESEARCH
GOING OFF THE GRID
ERASING DAVID David Bond lives in one of the most intrusive surveillance states in the world. He decides to find out how much private companies and the government know about him by putting himself under surveillance and attempting to disappear, a decision that changes his life forever. Leaving his pregnant wife and young child behind, he is tracked across the database state on a chilling journey that forces him to contemplate the meaning of privacy and the loss of it. SOURCE: http://erasingdavid.com/
ANALYSIS: Erasing David proves that it has become extremely difficult to go off the grid. Everyday we are being tracked unknowingly. Erasing David is an example of how much data of our is being collected every single day. 14
RESEARCH
GOING OFF THE GRID
A TYPEFACE DESIGNED TO THWART NSA SURVEILLANCE “In all likeliness, it would be impossible to fool the NSA with a typeface for long,” he writes. “When I first showed the work to my peers, they enjoyed the subtle humor embedded in my political statements. It was obvious that this wasn’t the best tool to fight the authorities, but it did attract attention, even before the recent revelations regarding Prism.” And that’s really the point. ZXX is an advocacy platform in a font, as well as a turnkey tool to empower a little digital disobedience. At the end of the day, ZXX’s goal isn’t actually communication obfuscation. ZXX is meant, ironically, to send a very specific message to our government. SOURCE: https://vimeo.com/42675696
ANALYSIS: This typeface is a great and simple way of thwarting NSA surveillance. Understandable from the human eye with subtle changes makes it a successful method of keeping your privacy. 15
RESEARCH
GOOGLE STREET VIEW
STREET VIEW (GOOGLE EARTH) SOURCE: http://9-eyes.com/
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RESEARCH
GOOGLE STREET VIEW
ANALYSIS: The beauty of this project is that it captures images that CCTV or google street view isn’t used for. It’s finding a different purpose for its intention. Similarly like the Coca-cola campaign, it’s finding an alternative purpose for CCTV. 17
RESEARCH
GOOGLE STREET VIEW
GLITCHES ON GOOGLE STREET VIEW As sophisticated as it is, Google Maps is fundamentally the same type of thing cartographers have been making for centuries. It’s a flat, scaled representation of our planet. That means decisions have been made about what to show and what to leave out. At any given level of zoom, you can see only a certain subset of streets, of cities, of tributaries or topography. Even today, some streets are missing or mislaid. It feels omniscient, but its omniscience is made by humans, for humans. Emilio Vavarella shows us in his screenshots, the places where that system breaks down have a mystery all their own.
SOURCE: http://www.wired.com/design/2013/12/incredibleglitches-from-google-streetview/#slideid-379161
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RESEARCH
GOOGLE STREET VIEW
ANALYSIS: Finding these images of glitches on Google Maps started to make me think about how information could be distorted with glitches and imagery can be concealed with a glitch. Glitches are random and due to malfunctions. I began to start thinking about how a person could malfunction on camera and ‘glitch out’ of the footage. 19
DEVELOPMENT
EXPERIMENT TWO
SKETCHING A GIF IN PHOTOSHOP
NOTE: See memory stick for animating screens: Glitch/Glitch gif/Glitch Test.gif
ANALYSIS: After researching into glitches, I wanted to experiment with glitching out the identity of someone on CCTV footage. I created this GIF in photoshop by selecting areas and playing around with the colour balance. 20
DEVELOPMENT
EXPERIMENT TWO
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DEVELOPMENT
EXPERIMENT THREE
TESTING GREEN SCREEN AND CHROMA KEY IN FINAL CUT PRO
I started to play around with some green felt and in post production chroma key a glitch onto it. I wanted to explore ways in which I could conceal identity on camera.
ANALYSIS: The glitching in final cut isn’t live, footage would be taken and then I would place the glitch over the top. I wanted to explore ways in which this could be interactive. Allowing everyone to become the glitch. 22
DEVELOPMENT
RESEARCH ON BEING ACTIVE ON CCTV
SURVEILLANCE CAMERA PLAYERS 1984 SOURCE: http://www.notbored.org/3nov98. html
(Dec 13 1998, NY1 News). Is Big Brother following you around the Big Apple? A study by the New York Civil Liberties Union says yes. The group’s report points out more than 2000 secret videotape recorders in public places around Manhattan, especially in the Midtown and Wall Street areas. It’s unclear who put the cameras up, but the NYCLU believes most of them are privately-owned. Police Commissioner Howard Safir makes no apologies. He insists the cameras are legal and help fight crime. But the NYCLU wants camera owners to be required to register their equipment and post signs informing people they’re under surveillance. 23
DEVELOPMENT
MY OPINION ON MY FINDINGS
FORMULATING AN OPINION ON CCTV
Through the journey of researching on CCTV and surveillance, I built up some strong opinions on the subject. Firstly, I believe that the multitude of CCTV cameras is unnessecary and resulting in a nation of fear mongering. Our behaviour in public has drastically changed due to this. Secondly, the majority of the CCTV cameras are privately owned, which raises questions on who has our footage - and why do they have the right to keep hold of it? My research questions surveillance, identity and diverse ways in concealing information. I wanted to take inspiration from all my findings and create an outcome that reflects the questioning through a light hearted installation.
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DEVELOPMENT
EXPERIMENT FOUR
TESTING GREEN SCREEN AND CHROMA KEY IN CAMTWIST
NOTE: See memory stick for animating screens: Glitch/Experiments/ CamTwist
ANALYSIS: Using camtwist was a quick and fast way of experimenting with chroma key live. Although, the program is very unreliable and crashes a lot. After doing this experiment I decided to start experimenting it in processing. 25
DEVELOPMENT
EXPERIMENT FIVE
MOVEMENT SENSOR IN PROCESSING
NOTE: See memory stick for animating screens: Glitch/Experiments/Processing Sketches/ motion_detector_test/ motion_detector_test.pde
ANALYSIS: In this experiment I wanted to explore ways in which people can be more active on camera and with screens. In this experiment the remains black if their is no movement in shot but when there is movement visuals like on the right appear. I gave this processing sketch to friends to see how they interacted with it. The most interesting part of this experiment was the way people would move to created different shapes from there body. 26
DEVELOPMENT
EXPERIMENT SIX
CHROMA KEY IN PROCESSING
NOTE: See memory stick for animating screens: Glitch/Experiments/Processing Sketches/ becoming_the_glitch/ becoming_the_glitch.pde
ANALYSIS: I sourced code from Golan Levin and edited it do exactly what I had done in camTwist. I was really happy with the result in camTwist, however it was a really unreliable program. In processing I programmed it so that with a tap of the keyboard you can initialise what colour you want to glitch. This means anything can glitch depending on what you have initialised. 27
DEVELOPMENT
EXPERIMENT SEVEN
TURNING A DUMMIE CCTV CAMERA IN A WEBCAM
ANALYSIS:
I bought a dummie CCTV camera and took it apart to fit a webcam inside. I did this for the purposes of an installation. I connected the webcam to the processing sketches I had previously made. 28
DEVELOPMENT
EXPERIMENT EIGHT
CREATING GLITCHES FROM RECORDING MY SCREEN AND PROCESSING SKETCH
NOTE: See memory stick for animating screens: Glitch/Experiments/ Glitch Vortex/ live screen glitching.mov
ANALYSIS:
As an experiment I wanted to see what would happen if i were to record my screen with the processing sketch I had made in a previous experiment. Unexpectedly, I created really interesting screen glitches. 29
DEVELOPMENT
EXPERIMENT NINE
PROJECTING THE GLITCH VORTEX
NOTE: See memory stick for animating screens: Glitch/Experiments/ Glitch Vortex/ Glitch Vortex.mov
ANALYSIS:
I wanted to see if experiment seven could be interactive. I attempted to project the screen with the back and forth movement of the camera large so that a person could glitch aswell. However, it didn’t have as much impact as the screen. 30
DEVELOPMENT
EXPERIMENT TEN
MAKING A GREEN CAPE TO CHROMA KEY
ANALYSIS: After testing the green screen with small square pieces of green felt, I wanted to create a cape that would cover the whole body and make more of an impact on camera. I bought green screen fabric and used a sewing machine to create the cape. 31
DEVELOPMENT
EXPERIMENT ELEVEN
FILMING THE GLITCH
NOTE: See memory stick for animating screens: Glitch/Experiments/Chroma Key
ANALYSIS:
For the first time that I filmed the glitch, I did it around the Central Saint Martins buildings. Unfortunately, many people around the building aren’t fazed by obscure things. I wanted to film in a busy place so that I could get stares from the public. I used a GoPro and my processing sketch. 32
DEVELOPMENT
EXPERIMENT ELEVEN
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DEVELOPMENT
EXPERIMENT ELEVEN
FILMING THE GLITCH
ANALYSIS:
The second location to test shoot the glitch I went to Angel, a busy location. I realised that I needed to map out a route for the glitch to walk and film them from different angles. I wasn’t very happy with any of the footage I got from this test shoot. Although, the reaction from the public was great. 34
DEVELOPMENT
EXPERIMENT ELEVEN
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DEVELOPMENT
EXPERIMENT ELEVEN
FILMING THE GLITCH
NOTE: See memory stick for animating screens: Glitch/Becoming The Glitch
ANALYSIS:
For my final shoot for the glitch I shot it around Haggerston. I requested the glitch to walk a certain path whilst I filmed from different angles. 36
DEVELOPMENT
EXPERIMENT ELEVEN
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