Source: Own Image
Pop!– Anita Luo
Playthrough:
1. PROPOSAL
In Olga Ravn’s The Employees, the characters are either human or humanoids. They blur the line between what it means to be alive or dead through their sentimental and descriptive statements. Through this week’s assignment, I intend to build a Unity scene that incorporates the theory of embodied cognition and the careful consideration of a non-human perspective. In this process, I hope to develop a deeper consciousness of how forms/bodies sense and react to their environment and how their sensorimotor abilities are embedded in a larger context. If animals have differences in sensing their environments, what sensing differences do objects have? In terms of the technical aspect, I would like to challenge myself with a more extensive sound designing phase to explore what unique sounds I can produce. I would also like to include animations, post-processing, and triggers.
2. BRAINSTORMING
I wanted to construct a scene that not only exhibited the perspective of a non-living object but also the system in which it is found to draw meaningful concepts. A system in Shanghai that I am intrigued about is the designer toy culture, most notably found in the Chinese toy company POP MART. I sketched the ways in which I would use audio, visual, and spatial aspects to illustrate my idea.
Visual and Space:
Audio (keeping in mind the 3 layers of audio being the soundscape, auditory landmarks and auditory signals):
Reference:
3. INSPIRATION & CONCEPTUAL INTEGRATION
Concept #1: “The Employees” by Olga Ravn
As Ravn’s characters attempt to describe the nature of the objects in the world of the novel, the characteristics and relationships between the objects are revealed. At times the objects are found to be humming, at others it is “[a]s if they don’t actually exist on their own, but only in the idea of each other.” The notion that objects “reiterate” each other will be established through the repetition of forms within the virtual space and the unity of movements.
Concept #2: POP MART
The best example of objects that lack a sense of individuality and are seen as a collective is the toys in POP MART. Taking the perspective of a single toy, their intrinsic value seems lacking amidst the proliferation of overconsumption where the presence of the collective is much more significant than one toy; the toys can be easily replaced by another. The toys may feel inferior, or replaceable. Furthermore, the perspective of a small object is worth exploring and replicating. Lowering the pitch of larger entities to construct the perspective of a small object would be effective.
Through trigger events, I would like the player to move between different spotlights in the “diorama” to imitate manufacturing and lack of grounding. When the player reaches one spot, a new spot is open and when the player leaves their old spot they will realize that they have already been replaced by another toy.
4. PROCESS
1) Research
I visited, observed, and researched more about the toys in POP MART by documenting photos, listening to the sounds, and noting their interaction and relationship with their environment. (I also bought some.)
2) Audio editing
a) I decided to use raw audio from the previous week’s assignments because I wanted to focus on the audio designing phase this week. Using Adobe Audition, I experimented with different effects.
b) I adjusted the pitch for the public background noise to suggest the presence of giant entities.
c) I used more “exaggerated” FFT filters such as the “C Major Triad” and “Only the Subwoofer” to create alien audio. I also attempted to adjust the graph manually to get a better grasp of the mechanism of this effect tool.
Source: Own Image
3) Reconstruction
a) Following the tutorial below, I made a cube with a glass material. This will be the walls of the “diorama.”
b) I searched for free assets and found this website where I downloaded the material for the walls of the diorama. The style of the graphics was very similar to the ones I saw in POP MART. I used the image with simple gradation as the material for the ground. I also took a photograph of the wooden door in my dorms as the material of the table in the Unity scene.
c) I constructed the different leveled platforms using cubes.
d) I adjusted the material’s metallic and smoothness settings.
e) I used the background image with the most detail as the main background.
f) I added a red cube at the top corner of the background to replicate the logo in POP MART’s “dioramas.”
g) I then added the text “POP!” through TextMesh Pro.
h) I added spotlights in 9 positions where the toys will be placed.
i) I added a player capsule to the scene for playtesting and later acting as the non-human object.
j) I experimented with the skybox and environmental lighting settings to change the undertone of the scene and to make the scene look more realistic.
k) I found a Unity character asset that looked like a POP MART toy as the toy in my reconstruction. I had to manually edit the surface inputs and shader of these assets.
l) I placed these characters in the scene in each spotlight making sure they are evenly distributed.
m) I had a brief overview of the in-built animations from this Unity asset by looking at the “Animator” panel. While playtesting, I found that the random movements and synchronization of the toys aligned well with the concept of the project so I did not make any additional changes after placing the toys in the scene. However, I would like to grasp a better understanding of why the toys are animated the way they are, what is triggering them to move in the same or different ways, etc.
n) I initially wanted to place the camera over the shoulder of the player to show that they are a toy. However, later when playtesting triggers, I found the camera to be very disorientating. thus, I placed the camera in the position where the head would be later in the process.
o) After learning different functions of Post Processing, I created a global volume where I added bloom effects and chromatic aberration. These effects, I found, enhanced the aspect of desire within the context of consumerism of designer toys.
p) The depth of field for the toy is probably different from that of a human, thus I also adjusted the depth of field in the global volume.
q) To lower the depth of vision further I also added fog so that the toy would not be able to see the horizon.
4) Sound
a) Taking the suggestion of the professor, instead of using CineMachine to create custom-shaped zones of sound, I adjusted the 3D sound setting of the game object to snap the volume without gradual volume changes.
b) Instead of using CineMachine to create a separate outdoor sound zone, I put in a game object and will adjust its activeness using trigger scripts. Therefore, when the player enters the glass case, the background sound will be deactivated.
5) Trigger
a) At first I wanted the two spots where the player moves between to be in the middle of the top row and left of the bottom row. However, I realized while playtesting that this route is not that easy to see for the player to know where to go next. Thus I changed the trigger events to occur at the bottom row only.
b) Through multiple playtesting, I tried to find the perfect size of the box collider as the trigger for when the players move. The trigger events that I want to add are complex to some degree so the most appropriate size of the trigger is necessary.
c) Finally I made the final changes to the trigger events. When a player lands on a spotlight, the spotlight disappears which reduces the level of value/importance of the player. Simultaneously, an earcon will play to inform the player that they have landed on a desirable spot that will trigger an event. When the player moves away from their initial position, they will find that a new toy has been replaced. Thus, they are prompted to find a new spot. This pattern repeats.
5. AUDIENCE RECEPTION & 6. CONCLUSIONS
Through this project, I experienced going to a site and collecting information to construct a scene that embodies a perspective other than my own. As a result, I was prompted to consider the cultural and social context of designer toys in POP MART that exemplifies overconsumption and materialism. The player can be easily replaced by another object similar to their own which brings up questions about the player’s value and sense of self. Thus, the lack of spiritual residue of the toys presents a diorama of meaningless “stuff.” During the classroom check-in, my classmates complimented me on the appealing visuals of the scene which enhanced the feelings of superficiality within the space. The earcon also effectively informed the player that moving into the spotlight was encouraged. However, my classmates were still confused about what non-human entity they embodied. Therefore, a possible solution to this issue is to adjust the camera root position either inside the hoodie so that there camera is framed by the toy’s garment or to try a higher angle behind the player. However, there is a lack of first-person perspective and immersion in the latter method. Furthermore, I believe adding footsteps with a higher pitch can suggest further that the player is very lightweight as a toy. Additionally, more discernable dialogue for the larger entities (humans) mentioning certain terms about the shop, the designer toys, or purchasing the toys would provide more context to the player.
There is always a critique of consumerism by comparing commercial products to commodities that lack intrinsic value. However, I wanted to change my perspective to consider how the commercial objects feel in this spectacle.
7. APPENDIX
8. REFERENCES
Ravn, Olga. The Employees: A workplace novel of the 22nd century. 2018.