1. We started with making the WeChat group together. We found all our group members from other sections, and started proposing ideas in the chat. We picked up the best idea, developed it further, and chose the date of meeting. We all came together to the studio and started making our project. It was very fun! We were trying to use all the materials we saw around. Everyone was into the making, so it was team work. We made and decorated the box, wrote the script, and rehearsed it in the hall. We also picked different roles for everyone and tried to come up with ideas for costumes and makeup.
On the second meeting we added flowers and rehearsed the play for the second time. It is not really easy to convey your idea without actually talking about the idea of your invention with the audience. We were adding many lines and ideas during the rehearsals. At the begging the ideas of the box and script were mine, but group contributed very much with the flowers idea and making techniques. This was truly a group project, because everyone worked hard and together.
2. The successes of the project is that it gave us the opportunity to learn how to work in a group and to think deeper about the story.The mechanism of pushing flowers worked and no one failed with the lines or improvisation parts of the performance. I think we could be better at decorating the box (to make it more of more quality). Also, I noticed that not everyone got ours idea, so it wasn’t really clear what we were trying to explain with this metaphorical box. We could also add more interactivity to it. But I am 100 percent sure that each of us would be better next time. It was a good lesson for all of us.
3. Our project is the box of pain. It is from ‘The One Who Walked Away From Omelas’. In the story they used the boy as a constant reminder how bad their lives might be. The boy is living in awful room like a prison. People come to see him to make themselves feel the other way. They see the boy who is poor and dirty and hasn’t got any alternative options to live, and they feel happier, because their lives are not so bad. They start appreciate their lives more after thinking of the pity of others. This box is the more humanistic way to remind them how life in the freedom and fresh air is great. It puts you in the black and small space, but the other people can see just how flowers are pushing up. So when someone is struggling in the box, the lives of others becoming better, because they see just flowers. This is a metaphorical box.
It is interactive, because box responses to your movements. Analog input is here- the deeper you put your head into, the higher the flowers will rise.The more someone in this city is struggling, the better lifes of others are becoming. It is also interacting, because it pushes your mind to work, to think, to discuss your ideas with other people – so you are actually interacting with other people after seeing this project. Also, this box doesn’t require you to use electronics to made it. It is great, because it was prohibited for us to use them for this project.
4. I really loved the project of the first group. It was something like helmet or glasses with switches for IQ and EQ levels. First, this is an interesting invention which is consistent with all the group project guidelines. Second, the presentation of the project was amazing. It was well developed and organized, confident and really funny. The creative modifications of the environment were great. Their performance definitely helped me to understand what is their invention and how it works, also they showed us the possible negative consequences of using their device. The design was simple, but it is not bad, because it gives everyone the opportunity to use it without any additional knowledge. My only suggestion for the improvement is to connect artifact to the story clearer. I love this project, but I don’t think that it is actually relevant to the 2 story. It just can be relevant everywhere, so it fits. However, overall presentation and project were great.
Our Box:
