For this group project, I was assigned to a team with Bella, Jason, Justin, and Luna, for the performance, our group name was “Explorer”. After a while of discussion, we decided to focus on telling a story about “The Plague”, using different artifacts of ours. The inventions included were Justin’s Air Field Helmet, Jason’s eye virus-detecting scanner, Luna’s Maybe Last Dream House and smart eye writer, and my heart monitor that is able to hear the heartbeat of petrified patients.
Everyone’s idea was from their research from the first two sections, however, mine was altered a bit for convenience. My original idea was to have a sticker that, when placed on the stone mouth, it will be able to play what the person is saying through a speakerphone. However, for the sake of the performance, I decided to change it to a heart monitor. Which was inspired by stethoscopes, but inside of just me listening to a heartbeat, everyone can as well. Our inventions respond to “The Plague” by Yan Leisheng because all of these was one that seemed the most realistic to make and is compatible with the situation of the story. During our group meeting, we thought that this was the story that we all really liked the most and felt the most “interactive” with. Meaning that it wouldn’t just be the artifacts doing the work but also the user and those around them.
The artifacts were relatively successful because they did what we intended them to, protect us or check for any signals of being infected. Justin’s shield helmet was pretty successful because it protected Jason from the virus and he was the most prone to infection because of his occupation as a security guard that scans people. Speaking of scanning people, Jason’s eye-scanning artifact also did what it was intended to, which was to detect if someone has been infected, and through this, he was able to detect that Bella was infected with the plague. My heart monitor artifact worked sufficiently because it was able to detect how much Bella was infected, based on the fact that we could hear her heartbeat.
In this project, my role was to use my artifact on Bella, who was our patient. My contributions included making my artifact and acting along with the script. We didn’t have a solid script and we performed, just with the knowledge of what will come after. My group was able to work together, first by sharing out imaginary artifacts. After, we voted to decide what story our performance would be based on, so we voted on “The Plague”. After the voting, we gave each other two days to make the artifacts and then congregated to rehearse.
I will be analyzing group five’s performance, named “Door-ry”. They created a portal to travel to any place in the world. Their artifact was related to “The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury because it was similar to the technology described in the novel, virtual reality. In the story, the nursery transported them to wherever the kids wanted to go, most of the time that was Africa Savannah. With this group’s artifact, it transported Sandra, the main character, to wherever she wanted to go, Egypt and under the sea. I think the design met the criteria and it was really interesting and fun to watch how it got acted out. I also really enjoyed the props they made, such as Sandra’s cardboard laptop, the food they brought, the door with a water bottle as handles, Nemo and the shark under the sea, and the Great Pyramids of Giza. The performance in itself was the most creative part of everything because transportation is mundane, but the creativity of the skit was helpful.
Following portion is our script:
Scene #1
A guard scans people at a quarantine checkpoint to look for any infected individuals. He is using a virus scanner artifact that detects people infected with the virus by scanning their eyes. He tells them to get into a single file line and begins to scan the eyes of the people one by one. After he finished, the guard coughed a little, and, alarmed, decided to scan himself to see if he had caught the virus. Luckily the result came out negative but it was a very close call.
Scene #2
The guard decided to visit his scientist friend, to see if he had developed any inventions that could help prevent him from being infected. He tells the scientist about his situation of working as a guard at a quarantine checkpoint, how the government only provides him with face masks for protection, and how he’s very worried about potentially being infected. The scientist thinks for a bit and gives him a force field helmet artifact. The scientist explains how the artifact worked by creating a force field around the user, which would allow them to be untouchable from anything, including deadly viruses that can be transported through the air. He demonstrates by turning the helmet on using the button on the side and once it was on he throws an object at the guard to show what is now basically untouchable, even when it comes to deadly viruses. The guards thanked the scientist and went on with his day.
Scene #3
The guard is now working using the force field helmet. He goes on with his day scanning people at the checkpoint, except today someone tests positive. The guards then signal other guards to take the infected person away.
Scene #4
The doctor is checking the vitals of the infected person that got taken away in the previous scene using a vital sensor artifact. The person has already turned into stone, but they are still alive. The guard comes in and uses his virus scanner again, to find out that the infection is already 70%, and since there is no cure, there is very little that can be done to help her. The doctor suggests that they should just minimize the patient’s pain before they succumb to the virus.
Scene #5
Another doctor comes in with an artifact titled the smart eye writer. The doctor puts a pair of glasses on the patient and puts the device in front of them. The device then begins to play the patient with their happiest memories that they wish to see before they finally pass onto the afterlife. The device finishes the process, and the patient is seen in the afterlife, where they are no longer suffering from the virus.
The teamwork for this team was pretty good because, in the end, we were able to achieve what we needed and wanted. We all had different roles in the performance, Jason as a guard, Justin as the doctor, Bella as the patient, Luna as the one bringing her to Rosy Garden, and I as Bella’s family member preparing her for the next life. To communicate for this project, I emailed everyone with my WeChat QR code and after everyone added me, I created a group chat. From there we allocated time for the first meeting and the after a couple of days, the second and final meeting.