For the next project in my digital media course, I have to create a hybrid media video. Hybrid involves combining multiple forms off media (which encompasses everything from film clips, published text, photographs, etc) into one single clip. For part of the assignment, we have to define a couple of terms that will help us better understand what we have to accomplish with this assignment.

• Haptic Visuality- The term was defined by Laura Marks, who was referring to works by Pipilotti Rist; "..the eyes themselves function like organs of touch". It is when a viewer is trying to discern a tactile texture created by a combination of blured, grainy , low-resolution images. Basically the image deines the viewer a single form to focus on. Instead the viewer has to work to constitute the image, which creates a more multi-sensory experience.
• Variable Media- In this context the term 'variable' refers to all possible forms (whether they be visual, temporal, spatial, interactive, etc.) within design and animation software, which can be modified at any point. Media artists can assign the variable to their own channel on the video's timeline and use that as a jumping point to start animating various dimensions within the scene itself. 

Trying to create this hybrid media project hasn't been easy. I guess that when you have such a board selection of media to work with, you find yourself a bit overwhelmed with all the options available. You need to be able to combine different forms of media and end up with a work of art that conveys a certain idea. 

To me these terms highlight the abstract nature of hybrid media video. Frankly if I had to sum up the examples I have seen in one word I would've said "Abstract". These kinds of works involve some kind of digital manipulation, whether it means playing with an image in photoshop or modifying a film clip. The originals are distorted into something else entirely.