A Circle in 12 parts: Scorpio

A combined live audio visual improvisation with contributions and vinyl selection from this years guest Scorpio, Jack Smylie Wild.

I really enjoyed working on this experimental project with Jake. For me, it was a chance to leave my usual writing practice to one side, and focus on enjoying the collaborative process, dipping into areas I’m interested in, but don’t give much time to.

I found a lot of old footage I’d taken, and Jake was happy to play around with it. I also made some new bits of film especially for A Circle in Twelve Parts, transforming myself into a kind of Green Man in the woods, with river clay and leaf litter.
For the live recording on the night, I revisited some characters I used to draw when I was a teenager, for a comic I made called ‘Creatures of the Moonshine’ – which explores ideas around the multifaceted nature of self, and the seeming contradictions and juxtapositions therein.

This work felt more like the start of something than an end-product, and I’m looking forward to getting back into Jake’s lab to conduct further multi-media experiments, perhaps with some spoken word and rap, in the future. 

A circle in 12 parts: Virgo

A combined live audio visual improvisation with contributions and vinyl selection from this years guest Virgo, Anna Sherratt.

I’m a writer, director, producer and sound designer from Aberystwyth, but currently living in Cardiff. When Jake approached me with his brilliant avant garde project, I was excited but nervous – not knowing quite what to expect. True to my star sign, I am a meticulous planner, but I also love improvisation and chaos, and the creativity that brings. 

In the end, I went with a “Desert Island Discs” approach, taking ideas from where life and music intersect and responding to Jake’s amazing mixing in chatter, spoken word and song. 

It was an honour to take part in such a unique series, and to have a go at making Virgo whatever it happens to be – especially if that’s a bit messier than the stereotype!

Analog outputs

Revisiting some old tech including the Sony FD Mavica! what a camera!

A popular digital stills camera about 20 years ago, I remember there were 2 available in West Wales School of Art where I was studying at the time, so popular we had to book it at least a week ahead!
One of the first digital cameras to save to removable media, it used a floppy disc and could hold around 10 photos a disc!… amazing! It also boasts the ability to record short low resolution videos and has an A/V out!

Experimenting with the analog output – after not pressing anything for a while the camera went into a lovely demo cycle…

After rearranging the studio, I can now reach the turntables and synths at the same time! This is really quite exciting, these are the second or third time I’ve played the two together seen by Sony A1E and GoPro4 cameras through a Skytronic A/V switcher.