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CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY
​In this practice-led research project, I am focusing on immersive technology and digital space as a field of making and mode of presentation (video and sound installation and VR). There are 7 layers of CYBERROT presently, this will most likely expand in future iterations. Each layer is a 3D digital environment built in Blender, predominantly out of experimenting with different forms, objects, and (digitally) sculpting freehand. I refer to the environments are “layers” as a blend between acknowledging the format of video game levels and the layers of consciousness and reality. The layers are considered as levels of the digital hallucination descending into the darkest depths of the subconscious, progressing into the “cyber rot”. The narrative is a subset of the experience but is deeply integrated into the design of visuals and sound.
Centering around Layer 001: Central Orb System (figure 1), the world of CYBERROT is based on the idea that this orb is a digital consciousness creating these hallucinations (in the same way the human brain is capable of). It is tethered to all the layers but exists in a void, with no connection to outside reality. Text is used within the video work as messages from the “system” alerting the audience there is no reality outside of this digital world. This is to reflect the state of mind one experiences in deep dissociative episodes, untethered from reality or caught within a distortion of it.
Figure 1: Katelyn Ferencz (2023) CYBERROT: Layer 001: Central Orb System [video]
The environment design is informed by PlayStation 1 (PS1) and PlayStation 2 (PS2) aesthetics and graphics, using 2D texture illusion on 3D objects, then rendering this in high definition for an uncanny effect between realism and artifice. Games I am drawing from are Osamu Sato’s LSD: Dream Emulator (LSD: DE) and Konami’s Silent Hill 2 (SH2), for their use of these techniques and using the platform to create hallucinatory or “other world” experiences.
As CYBERROT is intended as a non-linear experience, I am taking inspiration from LSD: DE's use of unconventional transitions between environments, as well as SH2’s save screens (both in visual and sound design). These transitions tend to occur through portals but also through intentional glitching, some are made to be satisfying shifts while others are interruptions intended to cause discomfort. The way the audience moves through the experience (in terms of where the animation takes their view) changes between falling through or walking into portals and no-clipping through environments. These scenes are animated in first person perspective to create an embodied view for audiences, moving between using a gravity simulator in Blender to appear as though the view is walking and a flying mode for the effect of floating through disembodied. These are used depending on the environment for either a realistic effect or emphasizing its artificial nature following Eben Holmes' theory of uncanny play. In this same vein, internet subcultures and aesthetics of Weirdcore, Liminal Spaces, and The Backrooms play a part in the visual considerations: dreamlike, hallucinatory, and intentionally digital in appearance. The aim of CYBERROT in its design is to enhance a distortion of reality between the embodied sense of reality and the reality within the screen.
Following the post-cinema and affect theories of Dan Strutt, this tension between realities is the condition of the digital image and enhanced by cinematic image (Strutt 2019). I believe that leaning into the digital aspects of this work can enhance this immersion and add to the level of discomfort I aim to achieve. There is a connection between the liminality of derealisation and that of immersive technology I am seeking, a feeling of disembodiment and unease while being engrossed in the world of CYBERROT.
Figure 2: Katelyn Ferencz (2023), CYBERROT: Layer 000: Loading Zone [video]
I design the sound from digital samples and distort them until unrecognizable, to amplify the uncanniness of the environments. Emulating Akira Yamaoka’s composition style for the Silent Hill game franchise of focusing on familiar and unsettling sounds (such as industrial sound) for an eerie effect. The environments of CYBERROT don’t represent reality and so the accompanying sound design reflects this otherworldliness. Part of the design is considering the size and scale of the layers, how vast or confined it should feel, sometimes not directly reflecting the visual such as in Layer 000: Loading Zone (figure 2). The design here was to go against the visual design of being an open space and create noise that feels claustrophobic and intense. Whereas other layers such as in Layer 001: Central Orb System (figure 1) or Layer 003: Flesh Forest (figure 3) were composed with the idea of vast space and mass, created through heightening bass and reverbed drone.
Figure 3: Katelyn Ferencz (2023), CYBERROT: Layer 004: Flesh Forest [video]
These elements are then brought into a space using data projectors, CRT and LED screens and speakers to be spatialised as well as into a VR experience. I am considering each install of CYBERROT a separate iteration in exploring different immersive technologies.
The first version focuses on constant movement and loop. Between the motion of animations on screen and arranging a circular installation of screens that prompt audiences to move around the work to view. Layer 000 and Layer 003 are juxtapositions against each other: a bright outer environment wrapped in blue sky and cloud textures and a dark internal fleshy environment. Layer 000 is the beginning, the entrance to CYBERROT, sitting at eye-level on the outer rim, and Layer 003 is a much deeper layer, the innards, displayed on monitors on the floor inside the circle. Despite the visuals repeating across the screens and looping, audiences move around to view the work. Both soundtracks play simultaneously, creating a kind of nauseating array of noise emanating from the circle.
Figure 4: Katelyn Ferencz (2023) CYBERROT version 1, 11-channel video, 4-channel sound installation [still]
​The second version focuses on scale. Using large-scale data projection in a large room, to tower over and encompass the audience's field of view, emulating a 180 panoramic view across three walls. Centre to the projections, CRT monitors sat on the floor displaying code, error signs, and other messages acting as the “console” of the “system”. In this version, five layers of CYBERROT are displayed with their corresponding soundtracks.
Figure 5: Katelyn Ferencz (2023) CYBERROT version 2, 7-channel video, stereo sound installation [still]
The third version expands upon the second, as a dual experience between large-scale projection and 5.1 surround sound and a VR experience. This focuses on the impact separate experiences can have on an audience, a shared experience, and an isolated one. The VR headset is prepared with a chair for the audience to sit during the experience, centered in the middle of the installation to play on the voyeuristic nature of VR.
Figure 6: Katelyn Ferencz (2023) CYBERROT version 3, 3-channel video data projection, 5.1 surround sound, MetaQuest2 VR head-mounted display installation [still].
The fourth version again expands upon the previous, with an identical setup. The videos and sound design shift away from an endless loop to a progression into glitched visuals and sound causing a reboot.
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