Project Title Animal Mirror
Project Statement of Purpose
This project is an interactive mirror that change people’s face into an animal image. When we look at the mirror in the first minutes, the mirror will reflect the real human face. After you knock the mirror, the image will gradually turn into an animal face, which looks like the magic mirror in Snow White. The mirror can customize a unique animal-like image for every user according to their personal feature that be used as a personal avatar.
Nowadays, many people are confusing with one simple but sophisticated question: who I am. I think my project “Animal Mirror” can help the confused users to have a clearer understanding of their personal identity by giving them a cute and vivid animal avatar. The different animals will stands for different features. For example, herbivores embody the women and carnivores embody the men. What’s more, it challenges on humans’ previous arrogant attitude that humans are superior to animals. Contrarily, it uses animals to describe humans.
Project Plan
My project aims at using the facial recognition technology to replace human face with an animal figure. To make my project come true, I point out several important steps I have to complete in each specific time. The first step is to design basic animal images. What I want to do is to create some sample animals such as rabbits, lions, wolves and cats, and randomly change the fur color accordingly to the users. Step 1 is due in 11.23. The second step is to make the frame of the mirror. I want to use the laster cut technology to make a wood frame. Step 2 is due in 11. 26. The third step is to write the code to realize the main part — replace people’s face with the animal figures I have created. I have researched on the Internet that the combined use of processing and faceosc can help me realize I want to do. The coding work will be complicated so the due date will be 12.4. Step 4 is to make the mirror much more like a magic mirror. I will write a code that if the noise sensor hear the knock sound, the arduino will send message to the processing and the animal face will appear. The 4th due date will be 12.6. In the following days I will work on adding more extra effects to the mirror. For example, changing the background into a forest. The final project will be a mirror whose animal-like reflection will act according to the users, which make the audience understand that the animal in the mirror stands for themselves.
Context and Significance
I was originally inspired by a Japanese Cartoon called <Beastars>. The story mainly tells about the conflicts between the herbivores and carnivores. I think the cartoon is reflecting something happening in real life. The animals may stand for different social groups in society, such as male, female, the black, the white etc., which is a very common technique that is used in books, comics and films. For example, <Zootopia>,<Animal Farm> and<Maus>. Thus, I come up with an idea that using animals to stand for personal identities.
Then I work on how to deliver the concept in an interactive way. I researched on several projects, and I find the interactive mirror very useful. The mirror is used as a virtual dressing room in a department store. When I am changing positions, the clothes I wear on the screen is changing too. This project gives an idea that maybe use the item mirror to enhance the users’ empathy when they see the animal figures. When the user is looking at the mirror, they are seeing themselves. And after they do something, for example, knocking the mirror, their faces turn into an animal figure. With the facial recognition technology, the animal will act vividly according to the users’ face, which make them believe that the animal is an embodiment of themselves.
The Animoji on iPhone lets the users to choose cute images as a personal avatar. It tells me that people love using cartoon images to stand for themselves, which gives me confidence on my project.
Thus, based on my research, my proposal is that using a mirror to reflect people’s different social identities(black and white, male and female, tall and short etc.) by turning their faces into animal faces.
My project aligns with our definition of interaction because there is a procedure of “input, process and output” as Crawford claimed . The mirror interact with the audience by seeing their faces, recognize and analyze their faces, and change their face into an animal face as an output. The procedure is cyclical because it is constant. The uniqueness about my project is that it is raising people’s awareness on their social identities in a funny and acceptable way. By sharing them a vivid animal figure, they get to know more about their person features and their social status. Compared with Snapchat that only using the facial recognition technology to decorate the selfies, the project is reflecting something deeper on self recognition. My project is intended for every member of the society to offer them a chance to review their identities.
For the subsequent projects, I will make a kind of illustrated handbook to record the different animal images, which shows the diversity of a society. Thus, the project can teach people to accept, tolerate and respect the diverse society.
Work Cited
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhOzN2z3wtl
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFqOjoQcIro