Looking back : Un-Reality

Looking back on this project I can see how much others and I have developed over the year, 75% of this group I worked with on our first project and I can see that our ways of thinking and communicating has vastly changed. Especially the way I communicate with them asking if they need any feedback or understanding of why we have certain elements or entities and I can see that by helping the group develop that it will help my development because by explaining to others it reassures me what I am doing and brings me to hearing it make sense or maybe allows me to see any problems I might have. Throughout this semester and more noticeably in this project I began to see that there are ways of improving the idea and that as long as I am always asking questions I will be able to improve on an idea. I am usually stubborn on sticking with an idea I like and when others question about this idea instead of looking at their reasoning I try to make my decisions for this idea stronger and can become quite defensive over it without being open minded. 

I think I was interested in this project because of how much it relates to another persons emotions and how we can perceive and change what their thoughts are and how they act and feel based on their surroundings, giving them a chance to venture outside of their normal lifestyle. As we chose a theme that was based on repressing the Player and making it difficult for them to know what decisions to make, I think this really moved forward my motivation because I have background knowledge from a past English course that was heavily based on repression. I also think because a lot of my favourite movies, books and video games include  an overpowering force it has helped me relate to a world that I have some familiarity to.
I think that some of the things I can take forward for next year is find a way to make myself motivated and make the work I am doing open minded so I can bring in new ideas without it being completely stretched out to the point I become overwhelmed and uninspired.

Looking Back: Youthedesigner

As this was an individual project it allowed me to asses myself in terms of what sort of self motivation I had and what strengths and weaknesses would come up. I realise I have more motivation when working in a team because of the responsibility of having someone rely on me comes more of a concern then my own needs. I think if I could somehow apply this within my own individual motivation, like looking at the bigger picture for myself, then I think it will help me become more productive. As I started this project I began to worry at how well at drawing and designing I would have to be to get a quality product. I later understood that the design aspects could be integrated in simplistic work and as long as it had development and intentional aspects that related to the concept then I could have something that could stand out and be unique in itself. In later pieces of work including the Un-Real project I think I have been able to apply this by having many simple elements that can create a unique experience.

Something I did change in thought was my resources. By that I mean what could be useful and what could work well with my concept may not be the most reliable source and that planning should be involved when dealing with outside party sources. I found that relying on home made sources can have its benefits and provide the required time to create a finished product.

Looking Back: Aural Terrains

This project I think needed to have a lot of understanding involved for it to be considered as a quality visually looking piece of work. If we looked a bit more into our research involved and had a bit more of an understanding then I think it would have made it easier to incorporate what a sound installation is. This would have saved us copious amount of time because of the setback we created by not looking into the spacing surrounding the sound and having to change our idea to accommodate that.

I think that because I was not too familiar with sound and did not have a big background with it it made it harder for me to understand as an individual what we were required to produce in all parts of the project, not just the installation. To better assure myself that I could overcome this obstacle I did try to keep an open mind about what it is we are being shown and how I could relate it to me and my future expansions. If I was to compare this way of thinking compared to other students I think it helped as I could stay positive and try to engage more indepth instead of shutting it off completely and going nowhere. I think that if I am to keep this way of thinking and also include it with the idea making and developing process, it will help me later on towards next year. I also think that with researching, I could further understand as well as provide a better perspective on what work I am doing. 

Project 7: Afterthoughts

I think the big difference between this project and others was the entertainment and interest we had as a group. This is what made our project successful and allowed us to dive deeper into what it was we wanted to create. The more we participated as a team helped us with continually discussing any problems, progress or results. I think that because we opened up our ways of communication we could keep in control with what was happening. We used phones for personal updates, facebook for revision and questions, skype for brainstorming and discussion as well as physically meeting out of work time to collaborate and develop set pieces. Even with the extra actors we communicated with them to allow them to fully understand what it is we wanted from their characters. This will be something I will take forward and be one of the first things I discuss and plan in later projects.
I saw our attention to the safety aspects as a highlight to our work. We saw that our experience would have parts that could cause harm to people and I think we took the right measures to minimise this. Using another one of the groups to follow us and keep a look out for the public was the most crucial part to our safety as the public was of most concern. Thankfully no one felt to distressed during these certain parts to interfere. If I was to do anything in the public again I will further research what we are and are not allowed to do in public spaces. If I was to look at doing anything majorly shocking or offensive I would chose to make the space private or at least less occupied, but as a small university class I think we took the right approach.

Some of the setbacks we had didn't occur until the final days of the project and could have been avoided. Our audio was our main feature when creating our experience but it also turned into the biggest fault or dilemma. When our experience took place we noticed that audio was very hard to listen to. This was because we did not have enough time for testing the quality of the audio due to it only just being finished a day out before the experience. I think this could have been avoided if we set up a timeline for each member with completion dates. We had a brief version of this stating what it is we would complete overnight or in the weekend but if something wasn't completed we just let the member continue while we progressed with our own work. If we communicated with that member and helped them progress so we could move forward as a group I think our overall project would of improved.

The other audio setback was our radios having too much interference when being used outside. This should have been tested earlier but we had created false hope from using the transmitters inside the building and assumed it would be the same. I also did not want to test using radios that I thought would not be included in the final experience, but when I finally found a collective amount of radios it was a few days before the experience around the time we did test them outside. This could have been avoided if we brainstormed over the testing, looking at all contributing elements instead of a simple 'does it work' system.

This project I have taken on a more directive approach instead of the laid back questioning style I am use to. I think this is because I have been more involved with this project and have had a lot more interest in the ideas we have created. I would like to think that I had the most knowledge over our project and had an understanding with what it is everyone was doing. This was because I kept an up to date to do list in the back of my journal that could analyse our progression and verify with members what still had to be done. I focused a lot on our story and the details involved to keep it within our theme consistently. This is because I saw that for a surreal alternate reality to work, it would be by being dependent on the detail to the elements. As I had this as my main focus I may have lost track on how these elements would be interacting with each other. If the elements had been designed to work with each other than it would have made it easier for our members to work together instead of separating ourselves into our own roles and becoming distant as a group. If our group had the same motives and contribution then it would have made it easier to progress.   

Here is my major role in the experience:
The entire experience script

Project 7: Portfolio & Presentation

For our portfolio and presentation we split up into aspects that we had the most knowledge in but also what we planned on speaking about for the presentation. Sam had taken a course on how to be a better speaker and presenter so he worked on the presentation part and described in detail what each person should talk about as well as providing us with helpful tips on how to present. Ryan worked on the reason why we chose this reality as he had the most detail on our inspirations and the origins of our reality as well the artistic values involved in our concept. He also created the portfolio templates to fit in with the same theme as his posters. I was able to create the elements and specifications list as I had written the script and had included in the script reason behind why each element was implemented into the experience. I also had the most documentation and could supply pictures for this part. Even though we had once again split into different areas it felt a lot more constructive. This was because we all kept in conversation online when creating the portfolio and could send members work around digitally to be critiqued or could ask questions if we started to loose track on what it is we were being asked for. It could have been a little more efficient if we had more of a ratio of how much work each member got compared to what their specialty is. Overall everyone was partaking whether it was revising others work or practicing for the presentation and made what I would call a successful portfolio and presentation.   

Here is my part of the portfolio:
Elements and Specifications

Project 7: Tonsilitis

During the start of the final week of this project I unfortunately received tonsillitis. This made it very hard for me to come into the studio let alone concentrate on our work. I still tried helping my team by mostly focusing on the digital work from home but because of this illness I had to trust in my team that they could carry on with creating the experience and even go through with it, without me. If there is anything positive that has come out of this illness it is that my team can help take over some of my work during the longer days leading up to the experience. It was good to see that I could communicate with the group when problems started to arise right at the end and then still have no pressure on me to have to come in to help out. Even on the day the group were able to keep things in control and play characters that they were not prepared for since I was not strong enough at the time.     

Project 7: Our Un-Reality

On the day of our experience we decided to alter some of the script to work around the characters involved as well as to minimise the surrounding interferences created from people and objects not involved. This was from things such as students who would be moving throughout the building including the foyer area where originally our videos were to be held. We decided to have our opening and closing videos changed to the year one working space and asked for all students and their equipment to move while we went through our experience. This created a space for the Players to focus on just our experience without anything to distract them. If we had the entire space to ourselves we could of moved the walls around to make a white hallway style entrance to work in with some of the Regulation themes of enclosure and suffocation.

When our Adjustment agent was taken away by a Regulation guard

Another change we created was Ryan and Narus roles as back up Regulation guards. They were to follow the tour from a distance and be able to keep an eye on everything as well as support the other actors. They would not have any speaking parts but rather be merged into the background as a seen but not heard aspect. This was because we still needed people to do the background work like set up the videos or move objects into place. This worked very well as it allowed all other members to stay in character and keep to the tour. I think that this last minute adjustment could have been avoided if I had discussed with Naru and Ryan what they would be doing during the experience, then I could of looked into ways of incorporating them into the script providing them with roles that were relevant to what they were doing instead of becoming just a back up version of Regulation guards and being able to make the experience more surreal. 

Naru and Ryan as back up Regulation guards

We also took out the scene where the Regulation guard hands the Players a pill to enhance the testing experience. This was taken out because we felt that it was too tacky and out of place with the rest of the content in our experience. It also did not have enough explanation behind it and would confuse the Player too much about how it is relevant with the rest of the experience. I think this was a good choice and one that we made unanimously as a group.

The group as they are listening to the audio

Project 7: Penultimate

In the final days leading up we wanted to overlook all parts of the experience and make sure we didn't miss anything that could sabotage it on the day. The chroma key room was still in use so since it was not as much of a priority we stuck with the back up videos and moved onto more of the viral pre-experience work to hype it up. I was able to listen to Narus audio for the Adjustment interruption, just like a few of the members had commented before it did seem to be a little long and not as straight to the point. This might mean the Players would become very confused about what the Adjustment guy is going on about.

The shirt for the undercover Adjustment agent with the stenciled on logo.

Today was setup day. We got the posters printed and spread out in the studio. The CCTV footage was quickly produced and put up tonight on the Adjustment blog along with other relevant posts. The team here came together again quite well because we were able to discuss more of our ideas and implement them into the blog. Emails got sent out to the Players for their access cards. Ryan had the idea of making them look like ID cards with actual photo ID, I found this pretty amazing how much we can actually get off someone from the internet.

 

Jenny was able to finish the audio completely for the tour and before everyone left for the day I wanted to go for a test run around the area. When doing this outside on the streets we realised that the audio was not coming through clear enough from the transmitter and would break out from just over a meters distance apart. This was because there was too much outside interference. This should have been tested earlier but I felt there was no point testing on radios that we may not be using yet because the signal may be different on the budget, prototype ones compared to the final ones. I think we also made the assumption that the quality would be close to what was tested in the studio. I think a bit more brainstorming should have been done when testing the radios/transmitters. Luckily the group had a quick solution of just using mp3 players and having it play continuously throughout the experience. Jenny said she would be able to modify this over the night and have it ready for morning.

Our Regulation newspaper disguised in with other everyday papers.

We planned for tomorrow and sent out scripts that night for the actors to read for preparation. Jenny was tasked with being the Regulation Guide since I was not physically up to it, also because she knew the most about the audio and could direct the Testers where to go and what to look at. I said I would help with a practice run tomorrow so she could understand what she was doing and how she should act, I thought that this type of rehearsal was a little late but as we had not planned for my illness it was the best plan of action. We also prepared clothes and umbrellas needed for the day.

The website for the undecover Adjustment blog can be found here:

http://thepeoplesadjustment.blogspot.com/

Project 7: Revelation

As we are starting to feel the pressure of how much time we have left, the group decided to make a to do list for the day. Since Naru, Sam and I have finished most of the audio script, story script and intro video we decided to work on recording a conclusion video using an actor. As Sam is the undercover Adjustment agent, he will also be playing the role of the Regulation leader. We wanted to use the chroma key room so we could include a Regulation style background, unfortunately for us this has been booked until Monday. In case we were not able to use it then we made a back up version in one of the smaller rooms. We got Sam to read the speech to the camera and Naru said he would edit it over the weekend.

Another feature we wanted to start on was making a fake blog for the Adjustment group. Sam opted to work on this in the weekend and I gave him a few points on what should be included. My work over the weekend was to create the Adjustment interruption script and Naru said he would make the audio recording. The group needs to keep communicating with what they are doing and to give their opinion early on instead of agreeing with what others have said without looking at the work themselves.

We also thought that it is pointless to use two transmitters for the Player to change from when we could just have someone changing the audio tracks live and when they thought necessary. I made a few articles for the fake newspaper and gave them to Ryan via facebook as well as allowing others to comment on them too. I also suggested that we could come to the studio in the weekend to look over anything that was not completely finished yet. Otherwise there might be quite a bit to do on Tuesday.

Project 7: Newspaper

I was able to finish the script by mid day and work more on some newspaper article. I sent copies of the script to other members to make sure everyone understood what my perception of our experience would be. All the information we are to give the player I want to relate to the Regulation or the Adjustment. That is why some of the articles I have written for the Regulation paper hint at events surrounding the experience. To save on how many actors we need, Sam agreed to play as the undercover Adjustment agent. Out of all people he most likely needs to know the script the best as he has one of the biggest role.

Uses a 'scanning' method to find stations, unpredictable.

Since we needed more of the portable radios I went out to Look Sharp to see if their were any more in stock, unfortunately the only ones that were available were cheap $4 ones that were not up to the standard we required. We will have to keep looking if we want to have consistency and a strong signal.

Project 7: Script

Had a meeting with the teachers about time slots and safety hazards. The time slot given to us is just after lunch which will provide us time to set up beforehand. It is also a good time for the actors who will hopefully be are more likely to be available then. The safety is not that much of an issue for our group but it is still something we consider important. I have outlined a few possible hazards and will include them and how we deal to them in the script. The forecast is to be considered not only a hazard but also could alter our experience. We decided that no matter how bad the weather is we will still go out, provided there is raincoats and umbrellas. Also depending on how reliable the actors are, we may have to fill in some of the characters with team members. That is why I said it is vital for everyone to read over the script and understand all roles as soon as it is finished.

Weather forecast for Wednesday. Looks like a few showers.

I was able to research a few other scripts before starting our one. One thing I got from a lot of these scripts were how they are not too formal in writing style and as long as the person reading can understand what is happening and what each person is feeling then it will be easy for the actors to follow. A decision I have made after writing some of the script is to integrate a tester access key for the player to be identified as a tester, they will get the chance to receive the access key via email before the experience. This is to help with how the player got to where they start in the experience and already have motive to start moving.

references

1. “Forecasts issued at:- 0700 NZDT Wed 12 Oct 2011 (1800 GMT Tue 11 Oct 2011),” weather, metvuw, October 12, 2011, http://www.metvuw.com/forecast/forecast.php?type=rain&region=nz&noofdays=7.

Project 7: Discussions

Over the weekend and on Monday I was able to complete all of the storyboards. As a group we went through any progression made over the weekend and gave our personal feedback. We discussed other aspects that weren't given to a particular person yet like actors, devices and uniforms. I also asked what other parts I could help with since the script would not take too long to make, I was able to help Ryan with his fake newspaper article and so I started developing important parts to be included in both script and newspaper.

Storyboard 3

A big problem we might be facing is how much work we are setting up for ourselves. We have been told the more detail and effort we put into this will allow the player to experience this reality the way we want them to. But if we start to add more and more features it might create the risk of falling apart and becoming uncompleted. It has been suggested to focus on the easy and most important aspects first and then decide if it is still worth looking at adding more in.

Ryan's Regulation Logo Design

I was able to give Ryan a few ideas on what it is we wanted the symbols/emblems to be for both organisations. We talked about what it is each side represented like the Regulation standing for rules, obedience and control while the Adjustment were about being rebellious, freedom fighters. Researching these words and what symbols they stood for was a big part into how Ryan created them.

Project 7: Radios

In the morning we tested out the radio with the two transmitters. It was very easy to use and changed between the two transmitters smoothly as we walked around from one to the other. Hopefully I can find a few more of the radios to keep the consistency in appearance. 

Transmitter and Portable Radio

Since our group has been assigned different roles we haven't been working together as much but we still communicate and ask for opinion before finalising any work. I was able to work on the storyboards most of the day, I found going into more detail with the storyboard is bringing out the smaller issues and helping to remove any complications we might be presented with.  

Project 7: Roles

Our main objective for the day was to all agree on an ending as it keeps being modified with each day because of how important we find it is for the Player. It will show the meaning of our storyline and leave them with something to think about and maybe look further into after the experience. It also might change some of the other parts of the storyline and would be difficult to make a storyboard if it keeps changing. I looked at all possible endings and tried comparing and contrasting between them but in the end we went with similar ideas to our original ending. However it was changed by the way the player got to this end which was more determined with what they did throughout the experience rather then just the last few minutes. This caused for a more situational report on our behalf and some of the actors to monitor the Players actions. We also changed the ending to have a positive and negative impact depending on the player actions. This has made it simpler to create but more stress on us and the actors when playing.

A big development for the group was assigning roles. This allowed for each member to work on their own thing in their own time but to still keep in mind about communicating with the rest of the group about progress and any decision making since most of these roles correlate with each other. The roles are:

Marty - Script writer/Storyboard
Sam - Details and history of the city including headphone tour information
Ryan - Designer of posters, symbols, uniforms and email templates
Jenny - Actual recording of the headphone tour information
Naru - Intro video explaining the headphones and Conclusion videos

http://www.badmovieplanet.com/unknownmovies/pictures/equilibrium2.jpg

Ryan also suggested watching a movie called 'Equilibrium' as it is very similar to our idea and might help with coming up with contributions to our work. I watched this later today while keeping comments and found the plots twists and turns very unique and surprising. Hopefully our experience can create a similar impact on the Player.

I also sought out to find some portable radios which I got at look sharp for $12 including headphones. Tomorrow I will look into seeing how they work with the transmitters.

References

1. Wimmer. K, Equilibrium, Action, Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller, 2003.

Project 7: Transmitters

The transmitters were easy to find and at an affordable price. By testing them on a local radio it showed the transmitters could reach around 20-30 metres before becoming distorted. When using two transmitters, the one that is heard is the one that is closest to the radio. The signal changes instantly when changing one transmitter to a different frequency and allowing the other to connect. This is just what we need when changing between the government and the rebels signal. Now we need to find a portable radio that can work on the same frequency as the transmitters for the player to hold onto.

Transmitter tested on radio.

Since Ryan was away the day before, he had a few questions about our concept. This proved to be useful in fixing up some plot holes and details that were not entirely looked at yet. A timeline was also discussed and created. From our estimation, the experience should not exceed 25 minutes.  

Project 7: Concept

Today we went straight back into creating story concepts to base around our exhibition idea. As a group we decided on the one that looked to be strongest and most developed. I created a draft structure of the events and decisions that would happen based from our concept. Here is that concept (It does contain major spoilers so only read after our experience):

"It is a dystopia type city that is controlled by a government like organisation where the civilians have no choice but to live by their rules. The player is brought to a testing facility that tests new headphones for tourists to use as a tour guide when entering the city. The government wants to know the range and quality of the headphones and the player is the test subject for this. An intro video is played to the player who then puts the headphones on and walks around the allocated areas.

The audio they hear is about the city and how the government has made the city into what it is, a should be happy environment. The audio changes depending on where the player is, which we can change by using fm transmitters that are synced with portable radios.

After about 10 minutes the audio is disrupted to a different transmission. Here the rebels interfere and show you the truth to the world you are in. After about 5 minutes of the rebels talking, both sides try to interrupt and convince you what is real and whose side to join. From here the player gets to make a choice on who they want to go with.

Either way they go they will be taken to the end room where a video will thank them for participating in the experiment. It is here where the player will wonder if there really is a government vs rebels situation or if it is all just government. This is because both government military and rebels will be present in the room. We are wanting to show that the whole thing was a test on the players commitment to one of the sides and lets them question what is really happening."

Our concept reminds me of other iconic dystopian repression stories such as the beginning to Half Life 2 or the deceitful act in V for Vendetta. Researching into these will help show how they brought across this feeling of restriction and how we could incorporate it into our experience.

A book about a world that bans all books and any reading of that kind is illegal. It captures a repression from a government force, similar to our concept.
http://www.american-buddha.com/afahbookcoverray.jpg

We also talked to Julian about using some sort of audio device to change what is being heard in the headphones. He suggested using a simple transmitter to transfer a signal to a portable radio. Apparently it can change between two signals smoothly without any complications. After a bit of research we decided to test this out in the next few days.

References

1. Bradbury. R, Fahrenheit 451 (Ballantine Books  August 12, 1987, n.d.), http://www.amazon.com/Fahrenheit-451-Ray-Bradbury/dp/0345342968.
2. Everything you know about ARGs is WRONG, Six to Start, n.d., http://www.sixtostart.com/onetoread/2008/everything-you-know-about-args-is-wrong/.
3. “FM transmitter (personal device),” encyclopedia, Wikipedia, August 30, 2011, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FM_transmitter_%28personal_device%29.
4. Half-Life 2: The Beginning (Part 1), 2006, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGKw-6ElNKQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player.
5. Kogawa. T, “Making the simplest Transmitter”, 03 2005, http://anarchy.translocal.jp/radio/micro/simplestTX00.pdf.
6. V for Vendetta, 2006, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XKa8VE7ILI&feature=youtube_gdata_player.