Further Experimentation with the Chladni Kit –

As I’m interested in hidden phenomena such as sound vibrations I wanted to shoot some footage showing how these could be visualised.  I purchased a Chladni kit, but I had missed some fundamental assembly instructions in the manual.  This was probably on of the main issues holding me back from making more sound patterns.  The creator of the kit on seeing my time-lapse videos kindly pointed this out to me and I made the necessary changes.   I believe that as a direct result of these changes I managed to make another pattern.

While making the new pattern it was fascinating to watch the grains of sand as they vibrated up and down on the plate. I tried to capture this as best as I could, but unfortunately my light levels were too low.  The video piece I created is below.  Please note this is a very early experiment and I shall be re-shooting this with greatly increased light levels and a much higher frame rate.  The increased light levels will allow me to increase my depth of field so more grains of sand appear sharp and in focus.  The higher frame rate should yield a smoother video when it is slowed down to show the grains moving in slow motion.   My journey into Chladni Patterns continues.

A New Chladni Pattern – Click to See a Full Size Image

 

 

 

 

 

Sound Vibrations an Early Video Experiment

The early experiment below was shot in poor lighting.  The grains of sand were backlit with a shallow depth of field to allow more light into the camera.  Although the imagery produced was not exactly as I intended I still feel that it’s quite an interesting early piece.  I know exactly what I need to do to improve the quality and this will be my next experiment. I will also attempt to make more patterns.

Further Experimentation

I knew that there were a few technical issues with the early footage.  Therefore I decided to have a reshoot. I added some LED lights to create a background containing bokeh.  I also tweaked the colours.  I knew I needed a lot more light so I added a key light overhead and a fill light to the Chladni plate itself.  Below is a before and after still that I edited.  I also produced an invert from the still as I was curious about the colours.

I am becoming increasingly interested in time and the passage of time as I embark on my projects.  The following video took around two and a half hours to shoot and this did not include the set up time. Unfortunately I forgot to set my camera going but at least I managed to capture the bulk of my work.

I was lucky because my mum decided to keep me company while I shot my video.  As I was setting up the time-lapse of my project (see below), I was concerned that the clock was a distraction.  Part way in I moved my tripod to cover it up.  However, when I played back the footage I briefly caught sight of the clock that I had tried to cover up.  On reflection I wished that I had left this in place because the speeded up motion of the clock actually added to the piece.

I think from this point onwards I will incorporate a clock into my time-lapses as it gives context.  I will enjoy shopping for the perfect clock.

The Chladni Plate Time-lapse video

It was tricky trying to position my camera to shoot the following time-lapse.  There was no obvious place to set up my camera, so I decided to focus it on me and my camera.  I wondered if the viewer would find it frustrating not being able to see what was going on behind the scenes.  I know this would annoy me.  This posed the question – would people watch a video longer if they knew they would get to see the end result; as opposed to having the end result and behind the scenes images in the footage.  In short would the element of curiosity keep a viewer engaged longer?

I would love to have some feedback on this so if you are reading this and would like to join in, please leave your comments in the comments section below.  Ideally I’d like to know: would you have liked to see what I was shooting in the time-lapse video? – or do you think curiosity about what I was shooting, would more likely keep you watching till the end?

The Chladni Plate Revisited

Below is the result of what I was doing in the time-lapse above.  I am finding that practice really does make perfect.  The patterns are becoming increasingly easier to produce and even if nothing else comes from this part of my investigation – the tones are interesting but the vibrations are beautiful to watch.