magot
the personal web site of margot mcewen
artist bio:
Margot likes going on the computer. She is attempting to synthesise a new film grammar that reflects the underlying structures of the internet – a language for the ways in which the internet moves.
She is also exploring transcoding (the conversion of one moving image format to another) as an artform unto itself.
links:
- youtube
- margot mcewen
- margot.mcewen@proton.me
work:
- film
- ‘Network Topology’ (2024)
- starring
- Sarah Cleary and Hazel Branfield
- d.o.p.
- Jamie Thornham
- format
- MPEG-1 video in a matroska container
- software
- Pd, GEM, FFmpeg, Kdenlive
- runtime
- 10 minutes
Network Topology, a means of mapping the structure of computer networks, is transposed into a film grammar through the appropriation, digitisation, and recombination of montage techniques drawn from early cinema, structuralist film, and analogue video art. The film is a superimposition of superimpositions (just as the internet is a network of networks), and a record of two transgender women attempting to find connection.
All software used was free and open-source. All hardware used was second-hand.
Shown as part of the wolf Mad Mad group show at APT Gallery (2024.03.21 - 2024.03.24)
- web page
- ‘Reynaud gifset’ (2024)
- format
- GIF, WEBP, HTML, CSS
- software
- FFmpeg, Vim, Firefox
Despite over a century of cinematic development since Émile Reynaud's invention of the parxinoscope, Steve Wilhite's invention of the gif proved there was still an audience for funny little moving pictures. Again with 30 years of advancement in digital video compression, the emergence of the animated webp format shows that same audience still exists.
The work comprises a collection of Reynaud's praxinoscope animations transcoded into animated GIFs and WEBPs.
Linked is the full gifset.
- multimedia
- ‘Akt-Skulpturen’ (2023)
- format
- WEBP, HTML, CSS, JavaScript
- software
- FFmpeg, ImageMagick, Pd
‘Akt-Skulpturen. Studienfilm für bildende Künstler’ [Living Sculptures: Film Study for Screen Artist] (Oskar Messter, 1903) was envisioned as a reference tool for artists, but my first exposure to it was as part of a film festival programme of early shorts projected from nitrate prints, where it took on the appearance of an avant-garde film. By transcoding a fragment of the film into a looping sprite-sheet I have changed the piece's materiality as a means of restoring its initial function.
Initially made in PureData with input from a MIDI controller, this project was rewritten in 2024 using JavaScript so that it could be viewed in a web browser on computers and mobile devices. The figure can be rotated by scrolling horizontally.
- If you are using a laptop you can use trackpad gestures to scroll horizontally.
- If you are using a mobile device you can use the touchscreen to scroll horizontally.
- If you are using a computer mouse you can hold the shift key and use the scroll wheel to scroll horizontally.
Linked is the web browser version.
- video
- ‘Funeral Parade Presents’ (2023)
- format
- HDV Video, Presented as a DCP
- software
- FFmpeg, Kdenlive
- runtime
- 22 seconds
A video bumper commissioned by Sarah Cleary, to be shown before ‘Funeral Parade Queer Film Society’ screenings at the Prince Charles Cinema in London.
See the full Funeral Parade Film Programme.
- sculpture
- ‘Goodbye to Language 3DS’ (2022)
- format
- Stereo M-JPEG Video
- software
- FFmpeg
- hardware
- Nintendo 3DS
An extract from ‘Goodbye to Language 3D’ (Jean-Luc Godard, 2014) transcoded to play in the Nintendo 3DS 'Camera' app. The sculpture asks what it means for a film to be accessible and for technology to be obsolete.
In regards to the copyright status of the film being used I refer to Godard himself, "An artist has no rights, only responsibilities."
Linked is a short video documentation of this scultpure with sound.
- film
- ‘Flooded Street 5 a.m.’ (2021)
- format
- DV presented as H264
- software
- Kino, Kdenlive
An initial experiment in the superimposition of looped and layered images. The footage was captured through coincidence, and was edited accordingly.
Linked is a copy of the full film.
disclaimers:
- domain name
- I meant to call this web site ‘margot’ but forgot the ‘r’
- construction
- As with all web sites, this site is permanently ‘under construction’