Ubiscreen
an interactive video device on the web
This project has been run by Isabelle Grosse-Mileo in collaboration with the sociologist Dana Diminescu
This project has received support from the CNC (French National Center for Cinematography), « La Maison des Sciences de L’homme, MSH Paris » and Regart.net
Isabelle was invited by UCLA in May 2016 as a speaker during the « Diasporas Mini Lab Day » to present the Ubi_Screen project
How do we continue living together when we are away?
UBI-Screen is an interactive web movie about “distant intimacy“, made of recordings from face-to-face video calls, between Ange and Yoro, a young African couple. Ange was living in Ivory Coast while Yoro was staying in France
They used to meet every day through their webcams in a ritualized relationship
What they were saying was not always amazing, often ordinary, but never insignificant
The distance emphasizes everyday life and their video conversations could last up to 6 or 7 hours, which enabled a temporality close to the one in real life
Based on the principle of multi-camera capture, UBI-Screen is a film dedicated to the internet and exploits the possibilities of interactivity to produce a new screening of moving images. The multiple capture proceeds as follows :
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using a standard video camera, Isabelle shot Yoro at home, in France
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simultaneously webcams images of both sides (Ange and Yoro) were recorded
Ubi-Screen shows Ange’s and Yoro’s conversation and one of their faces (or both their faces) all together on the screen. The screening of the three different sources of images is done within a single screen (unlike conventional multi-screen or editing)
This web movie is processed through a totally new interface that Isabelle has entirely conceived, and which enables viewers to switch from one character to another, without breaking the conversation flow between the characters
Such a device enhances the effect of presence and immerses the viewer into an active behavior thanks to the possibility offered to switch between characters
