My name is Rokaia, and I am currently an undergraduate student of Music Production in Limerick Institute of Technology (L.I.T.). In my final year of the Honours B.Sc., I have chosen to study Video Post-Production, where I have had the opportunity to apply both creative and technical skills in order to produce audio visual content. In the past four years, I have focused primarily on music and audio production, but have always had a great interest in film and visual media. I have spent the past months developing my creative and technical skills during this module, which I think will be applicable to a variety of future personal projects. Documentation of course forms an important part of the process!
I am a human with very large hair, who grew up moving back-and-forth between Co. Clare, Ireland and Agadir, Morocco. In the process, I feel that I have learned to adapt to two very different cultures. There’s a lovely picture of me just below with my kitchen spices. Today, I like to think of myself as a Progressive Secular Relativist, Equalitarian, Environmentalist, and Sassy-Feminista (although some do argue that I’m just a moody audio nerd). RokaiaThe main focus of my current undergraduate studies is research in psychoacoustics, where I am investigating auditory perception and the relationships between memory processes and the hearing system. This research is set to form a basis for my post-graduate studies, which will focus on creating and publishing a perceptual model, and applying my findings to multi-modal interface design. It is quite possible that I will be in academia for the remainder of my life. HOWEVER, I’m very much into audio and video, and have been a technology nerd since I was old enough to witness the release of Windows XP.
I chose to study Video Post-Production mainly because I felt that the skills I would learn would assist me in my personal creative projects. To my advantage, in the process the module has allowed me to develop multimedia skills that will be useful in various respects, including my future academic work. Upon completion of the module I feel confident that I would be able to create demonstrative videos in order to help me in future research dissemination at audio, interactive systems and psychoacoustics conferences. The module has also inspired me to work on video to be used alongside my experience in Max 7 (see my previous blog post). I now feel confident that I can combine my skills to create an audio-visual interactive installation for future art exhibitions. As a hobby to complement my academic work in Music Technology & Production, I enjoy producing and performing my own electronic music. Some of my greatest musical influences include Bon Iver, Imogen Heap, Four Tet, Francis and the Lights, and James Blake.
I have some experience in creating interactive audio-visual installations, both in terms of assignments in my academic programme, and also in a professional capacity. Although this mainly involves having significant technical knowledge (Max/MSP, Arduino and Ableton Live software environments), I feel that the Video Post-Production module has greatly complimented the visual aspect of my creative work, and I plan to integrate this knowledge into the creation of further automated audio-visual performances and exhibition. I have collaborated with Limerick School of Art and Design (L.S.A.D.) student Phoebe McDonogh and exhibited an audio-visual piece as part of “Sound and Visio 1” which took place in LSAD in early 2017, and more recently, I have collaborated with Dr. John Greenwood (L.I.T.) in creating a performance-based AV installation involving performers Angie Smalis and Mark Carberry. This project was exhibited as part of Limerick Fringe Festival 2017.
Although my interest in video has mainly stemmed from abstract and more creative editing styles, such as music videos and art exhibitions, I do enjoy a variety of films, documentaries and some television shows. A film maker that inspires me is Alex Garland, because of his individual and creative approach to content production. Garland’s latest work, “Annhilation” exhibits and example of this, in the form of a psychological science fiction thriller based on the novel by Jeff VanderMeer. The film follows a group of military scientists who enter a quarantined area, to investigate its properties. The film plays on the warping of time, and the mutation of landscapes and creatures caused by the environment alone. Another work that has inspired me (more relevant to the music scene, is the music video created for Sia’s “The Greatest”, which was written and directed by Sia and Daniel Askill, and choreographed by Ryan Heffington. The director of Photography was Mathieu Plainfosse. The music video is experimental and open to interpretation, beginning with complete silence and showing grey imagery of a jail-cell, a dilapidated hallway and motionless bodies. Throughout the piece of music, the visuals slowly migrate to a more colourful and life-filled theme. I feel that the concepts embedded in the musical composition are very well represented in the visual sequences.
