In the Phoenix Gallery (Leicester), we chose to highlight the aural elements of the work by installing speakers in all gallery sapce's surfaces. This technique was developed with renowned electronica composers ZOVIET FRANCE and created a completely immersive sonic experience for the audience.
The exhibition space in Rugby Art Gallery is round. We chose to emphasise this fact to highlight the parallels with the circular layout of sports stadiums.
Dissemination
Academic
Deepres, R (2016) 'The Gain Line' Open Design for E-Very-Thing: Cumulus Hong Kong 21-24 March 2016
Press/reviews
'Too Big To Miss' - article written in response to 'Gain Line' by Steven Bode. Director of Film & Video Umbrella
LIDAR
One of my main objectives with this project was to explore how the collection, analysis and application of player data shapes the modern game. University of Bath and Bath Rugby have developed ground-breaking techniques for collecting visual data on the strain suffered by players’ muscles during scrums. I was interested in exploring how these data collection methods could be featured in the project.
We investigated how UoB’s specialist cameras could be combined with 3D LIDAR scanning techniques to represent players’ anatomy in the project.
Each of the three gallery spaces were unique in their shape, size and acoustic properties. As a result, we adapted the installation of the work to highlight different aspects of the film.
Aim
Gain Line is a moving-image gallery installation commissioned by Rugby Art Galley and Film & Video Umbrella to celebrate the UK hosting the Rugby World Cup in 2015. The work was shown simultaneously at three UK galleries in autumn 2015. The aim of this project was to investigate ways of visually representing origins of the game, its birth at Rugby school, the creation of rules, and the importance of the field lines in creating boundaries. A central feature of the research was to investigate how LIDAR scanning could be combined with other technologies to provide an artistic reframing of rugby’s historical evolution, and to highlight the impact of data analysis on the modern game.
Player perspective
We wanted to allow the audience to experience the game from a player’s perspective. Research was done with the specialist production company Extreme Facilities (EF) in order to combine drone sequences and player-mounted cameras to provide an alternative to the static cameras that are conventionally used to record footage of the game in play. A series of experiments led us to attaching cameras to players’ heads, torsos and feet, as well to the ball.
Drones were used to recreate player GPS during games in order to express a new way of sensing this in a visually immersive way. I originally tried to get raw GPS data from clubs to be able to programme drones to recreate the exact trajectories of the players, but this proved difficult due to concerns about data privacy. Consequently, we decided to analyse the choreography of certain players in games and recreate this effect by capturing footage from drones flown at player eye level. This was conducted in Twickenham stadium who became one of the partners in the film. Drones are mainly used for aerial work. In this case tests were done with EF to find a way to make the drone follow pitch lines to reinforce ideas of boundary, recreate GPS movement and raise awareness in a sensory way of proprioception, which was a main research theme within the work.
