Interaction
For this project my group created a software that allows people to travel to places in which they can interact with. The software creates this portal (door) in which the user uses to travel to their desired locations. This creation reflects the concept of interaction discussed during the earlier assignments because there is a communication between multiple actors. Not only does the process of using this creation to achieve the final goal an interaction but this creation also creates interaction for the user with other environments.
To travel to a specific place the user just has to type into the software on their computer the name of the location and if it’s possible to go to then a door will appear for the user to travel to their desired location. During this process, the user communicates to the software about where they want to go and the software, after it received the input, will create a portal accordingly. This exchange of input and output fits the definition of interaction established prior. Moreover, after the user has traveled through the portal to their desired location they can interact with the environment within the portal that they entered. They can take things, touch and feel things, and of course make changes happen to the place they are at. This is another form of interaction that occurs through the use of this software.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Design Process:
During our first meeting, after going over everyone’s ideas we decided on Wes’s idea of a software that allows people to travel to places but what is different about this software would be that it was include the aspect of being able to interact and touch the world around. Hence, we thought of a door being connected to the computer that has the software to be our portal. We chose Wes’s idea because out of all the ideas and stories we thought his would be the easiest for us to replicate with performance and cardboard.
After establishing what we were going to create we then started to assign the jobs of prop making to everyone in the group. We decided that Sandra was the person performing as the user of our software and she was in charge of making the laptop that contains the software. Secondly, we decided the different places that Sandra was supposed to travel to: desert, the sea, Shanghai etc…
Furthermore, we decided on what specific objects or animals we would want to have for the specific locations so that we can stimulate the environments. Wes, Sophia, and I each made a prop for every single location we had. We agreed to have all the props ready for the next meeting so that we can go over the script and rehearse.
In our second meeting we realized that we need a physical door so I made a door from cardboard that my roommate left in our dorm. The part about adding the door was an inspiration from the Japanese cartoon Doraemon. After that we discussed what scenes were supposed to happen when and rehearsed with the props that we had made. Throughout this whole process of making the creations we would text in our wechat group if any questions popped up during our cardboard making process. As far as task allocation goes, everyone picked what prop they wanted to make and it was distributed fairly. We did not have any issues working together and had great communications.
For this project I made the cardboard nemo fish, the door, the camel cardboard, and the buns cardboard too. I wrote the script after we discussed the order of the scenes. I also bought the little buns for the scene where Sandra took the food back home. Sandra made the cardboard computer and she was our lead actress. Wes made the cactus, shark, and Pearl Tower. Sophia was in charge of making the seaweed, shells, street sign, and pyramids. Overall, I think we did a successful job in conveying the purpose and use of our creation to the audience.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Script:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vB5EHl5i-PT6TVt_okAvkhQVv4oB0phd13sHCsGkSLY/edit?usp=sharing
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Props we made:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Analysis on the creation of Mirrors:
The team for Mirrors made a mirror that allowed people to see themselves as the kid who is locked up in the basement. There was a mirror “agent” so to speak that took care of the mirror. This artifact is pretty relevant to the fictional story “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” as its purpose is for people to understand and sympathize with the poor child who’s happiness is sacrificed for that of others. In addition, the creation does meet the criteria of the assignment as it fulfills all the requirements. I really liked how the final product came out. The technique of rolling up cardboard and adding it to the frame of the mirror after creating texture with markers makes the mirror more mysterious and unordinary. The performance was also very interesting. The choice of choosing two sets of scenes made it easier to recognize what the mirror was suppose to do. The act of moving around the mirror was very interesting and having the role of a mirror keeper was very clever and a very fun addition to the performance. Overall, I really enjoyed this performance.
Leave a Reply