Synopsis

Close Circuit aims to explore the cyclical nature of the ‘Oddly Satisfying’ and ASMR sensory genres in relation to contemporary internet audiences searching for embodied experiences of pleasure and comfort.
The visual source material we used consisted of online videos connected to the OS genre, while the auditory source material was compiled from ASMR videos. The editing structure reflects the fragmented repetitivity of the source videos that have been looped and manipulated through different compositing, distortion, and AI effects to create a seamless flow of motion that is at once mesmerizing and disorienting. Hereby, we aim to emphasize the affective intensity of OS/ASMR videos as well as their uncanny nature as mechanical animated loops, depicting them as a manifestation of the fraught relation between our bodies and our machines.

Director’s statement

‘Oddly Satisfying’, together with its closely related sibling ASMR, is a term that has developed in online communities over the last couple of years into an audio-visual micro genre. Both genres have had a similar evolution. In the beginning, both terms referred to unintentionally created videos with (roughly) similar formal and thematic properties that were shared through several (mostly text-based) media platforms such as Reddit.

With time, the genres consolidated to their current form, which is formally and thematically more consistent and mostly dominated by user-generated content on image-based platforms YouTube and Instagram.

Most of the early ASMR videos contained deliberately unintelligible vocal sounds, not intended to convey semantic meaning in the form of speech, but elicit affective reactions to sonic artifacts that would be regarded as ‘noise’ in another context. Currently, ‘ASMRtists’ intentionally create these clicking, tapping, and scratching noises by manipulating everyday objects or their own bodies in interplay with specialized technical equipment such as binaural microphones. In another evolution of the genre, a lot of videos started incorporating role-playing scenarios of care-taking. Mostly young women whisper to the spectator in a second-person address, words of affirmation and comfort. The scenarios often occur in a medical or therapeutic environment, situating them clearly within the realm of (self-)care and well-being.

While OD videos are rarely intended to generate intimate, interpersonal connections through narrative, they attempt to create a physical and affective experience, much like ASMR videos, by using intense sensory stimuli.

Most popular videos show ‘perfectly functioning’ production or craft processes, tactile play with malleable materials or everyday objects, or (in a more recent development) computer-generated 3D animation. Three shared formal characteristics are notable: an almost tangible material presence, which can be linked to Laura Marks’ concept of ‘haptic visuality’, continuous motion, and high levels of symmetry and repetitivity. The textural properties of the material and the repetition of perfectly executed smooth movements elicit an almost meditative state of contemplation in many spectators. The resulting feeling of repose of the mind seems to be a much desired emotional state in a media environment of constant vigilance and connectedness.

With our internet-enabled devices, we are inhabiting an experiential space where our attention is constantly solicited, whether during labor or leisure. Unable to separate one from the other, we turn to our device for both work and pleasure, simultaneously subjecting ourselves to stress and seeking solace from it.