Author: Tao Wen

The idea is when user clicks on each character in the picture, a picture featuring them is shown, like future-telling. If given enough time, I would make a flashing effect.

PImage image1,image2,image3;
float x=400;
float y=300;
float r=110;
int state=0;


void setup() {
  size(800, 600);
  image1 = loadImage("fox.jpg");
  image2=loadImage("dad1.jpg");
  image3=loadImage("dad2.jpg");
}
void draw() {
  background(0);
  imageMode(CENTER);
  image(image1, width/2, height/2);
  fill(235, 174, 52);
  ellipse(pmouseX,pmouseY,30,30);
  noStroke();
  fill(0, 0,0, 0);
  ellipse(x, y, r, r);
  if (mousePressed && ((mouseX-x)*(mouseX-x)+(mouseY-y)*(mouseY-y)<=r*r)) {
    state=1;
  }
  if (state==1){
  flash();
  }
  
    delay(30);
  }

  void flash(){
    imageMode(CENTER);
    image(image2,width/2,height/3,400,300);
  }
  
  

The interaction I built is really simple. Basically, one turns the potentiometer around, and the picture is tinted accrodingly. However, reading the Cheese installation part, I have an idea about how my interaction could be potentially used for. If one smiles, the picture would turn light up accordingly and vice versa. The project could be used to show what people suffering from depression could see in their world, calling people’s attention to and care for this particular group.

Aruduino Part

void setup() {
Serial.begin(9600);
}

void loop() {
int sensorValue = map(analogRead(A0),0,1023,0,255);
Serial.write(sensorValue);
delay(10);
}

Processing Part

size(600, 600);
PImage photo;
photo = loadImage("budapest.jpg");
image(photo, 0, 0);
tint(0, 0, 255, sensorValue);
image(photo, 250, 0);

PROJECT TITLE

The Truman Show

PROJECT STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

As a filmlover, I’m very interested in new and creative way of telling a story, and I also find myself deeply attracted by interactive forms of storytelling. For example, Sony once launched a horror game called Until Dawn , in which the player keeps making choices that will decide life and death of the characters. My project intends to explore a new way of storytelling, which employs the idea that users are involved in making the story happen. It can also be seen as an art device considering that it delivers a philosophical idea once the user knows how to play it. For the fan of The Truman Show, this design provides them outlet to express their love for it; For those who haven’t watched the film, by interacting with my project, they could grasp the concept of the film without having to know the actual story; For general users, my project can be seen as an escape room game with a reinvented medium.

PROJECT PLAN

In the form of a minisized interactive escape room, my project intends to deliver the concept of the film The Truman Show. The film tells the story of a man who has been unknowningly playing the main role of a reality show since birth, since an island-sized shooting site is built specifically for it. Truman grows up and lives a normal life just like any other people, except that all the people around him are actors and follow a well-designed script. At the end of the film, Truman finds out that his whole life was a lie and was able to escape out of the fake world. The idea is to critique people’s desire to peek into other’s life so much so as to sacrifice a man’s freedom. The project is a minisized escape-room-like box. The user, standing at the viewpoint of the reality show audience, has no access to the interior except a camera installed inside, so he has to interact with the box to be able to see the inside, find the hints, solve 3-4 problems, and finally get the key to open the box and get Truman out of this world. To empathize with the user, I will keep doing research regarding these aspects: players’ feedback about a real escape room, filmlovers’ expectation of film-related products in general, and user feedback about puzzle boxes.

Here attached is a project timeline.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE *

Projects employing creative storytelling forms:

Until Dawn

I watched some video bloggers playing this horror game long time ago, but I can never forget the experience. It’s as if you were actually deciding how the story would go on, and it inspires me to associate interaction with storytelling. I try to figure out why it attracts me so much, and an article answers the question, writing “Key decisions and moments have a ‘Butterfly Effect’, and you’re alerted to those moments that have unknown consequences on how things are going to play out. I couldn’t help but get curious when that happened: had I messed up? Had I consigned someone to a gory death? Did I actually have fair control over what was happening?”. Therefore, the interaction includes both sense of control and sense of insecurity, which makes the game a success.

Bandersnatch

This Netflix TV is very similar to Until Dawn, the former is a game-like film while the later is a film-like game.

Both are experimenting on the form of storytelling that invite users to engage with them. The use of interaction here helps tell the story to the audience, instead of telling at them. When the audience aren’t receiving the story passively, the experience might be more fun.

My project differs the ones above in two ways: Firstly, it takes the form of an object ( an escape room), showing a difference from linear way of storytelling. User has full control of the time and pace to explore the room. He can pause at any time to think about the implication of some detail in this project. Secondly, by engaging with the story of The Truman Show, the project is more profound in meaning. It criticizes the disrepect of people’s privacy and fundamental rights. Since only until the user shuts down the webcam installed inside can he successfully open the escape room, the answer to “What can set Truman free” is clear, which makes the project more than merely a game or a story that “looks fun”. My project faces a large range of audience. For the fan of The Truman Show, this design provides them outlet to express their love for it; For those who haven’t watched the film, by interacting with my project, they could grasp the concept of the film without having to know the actual story; For general users, my project can be seen as an escape room game with a reinvented medium.

My project, if completed successfully, opens more possiblities in this form of storytelling. By installing more devices and adding more details, there can be multiple endings—-Truman might get out, might not be able to get out even if he wants to, and he might even choose to stay in that world forever though well aware of what that is (like taking the blue pill in The Matrix). The targeted audience remain the same, but more people who have never watched the film would be able to know the plots just as much as those who have watched, if more game-like interactions are provided.

Reference

1. Until Dawn game review: https://www.denofgeek.com/games/until-dawn/37259/until-dawn-the-interactive-movie-and-storytelling

2. Bandersnatch vice report: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/7xnq3a/netflix-more-interactive-movies-like-bandersnatch-rom-coms-todd-yellin-interview-vgtrn

Exercise one:

Regarding coding, there’s one aspect to notice: the map function. Otherwise, the circle will go out of the frame.

Exercise one- Etch A Sketch:

The difference between this and the last step is that this one uses “line” function. I tried to use tiny little ellipse to consist a line, but the fact is that not the whole trajectory would be shown on canvas. And when using line, it’s not enough just to connect(x1,y1) and (x2,y2), otherwise nothing would be drawn.  You have to use the previous coordinate, just like what we do with pmouseX and pmouseY.

Concerning the interaction experience, I don’t like it at all, probably because I’m not used to drawing by thinking about its horizontal and vertical coordiantes. However, I think it’s a useful way of algorithmic thinking when designing drawing-related projects.

Code that matters(Arduino):

Code that matters(Processing):

void draw() {
  updateSerial();
  printArray(sensorValues);
 
println ("sensor1=",sensorValues[0]);
println ("sensor2=",sensorValues[1]);

line(p1,p2,sensorValues[0],sensorValues[1]);
p1=sensorValues[0];
p2=sensorValues[1];
}

Exercise two:

The idea is to create a piano key board, which requires two variables: the on-and-off option and the tone, corresponded by mouse press and mouseX. Since I wasn’t familiar with coding, the interaction experience is not ideal. The five sounds, put together, are so disturbing to play. I would like to expand on this idea: the user can choose a music style (e.g Japanese, Chinese pentatonic, Arabian), the tone of keys will switch accordingly, and then the user (ideally amateurs) can explore and create their own melodies.

Code that matters（Processing）

Code that matters (Arduino):