CONSULTING WITH ANDREAS

Looking back at my previous consultations, I wasn't particularly excited about the prospect of another one because it often felt like I had to start from scratch and was heading in the wrong direction. So when Andreas initially suggested that focusing on set design might not be the best approach, I felt a bit disheartened. However, his reasoning started to make sense. He pointed out that I simply didn't have the resources to create a full-scale set design and produce an entire user testing production, unless I scaled it down to a miniature set. He then highlighted that this would shift the project from being a theater experience to a spatial experience, which was actually what I had in mind. I had been calling it "set design" because I was still drawing elements from set design, but Andreas clarified that we were essentially discussing the same concepts using different terminology. This clarification put me at ease, as it confirmed that we were on the same page in terms of the project's direction.

FEEDBACK ON MY EXPERIMENTS

When I presented my TouchDesigner experiment to Andreas, he acknowledged it as a starting point but pointed out that it followed a very linear approach. In other words, my thinking was quite systematic, where if one element was eliminated from the interaction, the others wouldn't make sense. Andreas advised me to approach the project in a way where the elements would complement each other, whether in their entirety or in isolation.

To help me navigate this, Andreas suggested adopting a more holistic perspective on interactions. For instance, if I was working with movement, I should consider various types of movements such as distance, gestures, hand movements, body movements, and so on. This approach would allow me to create a more dynamic and versatile interaction experience that could stand on its own or be combined with other elements seamlessly.

FOCUSING ON EXPERIMENTATION

TouchDesigner: circle moving with just Hand gesture

I focused on just handgesture for this experiment, there were certain challenges that I faced like I could not figure out the most accurate threshold for the the webcam to capture the handmovement, but after some trial and error I could bring it to the nearest threshold. It's not the most accurate but it works for now!

EXPERIMENTING WITH HOLOGRAMS

After last weeks consultation, I tried thinking of different ways of projecting different elements of set design into a space, one way I could think was Holograms because it not only gives dimension to the visuals but also helps recreate the elements of theatre in a specific space.

The first video is of a random visual off of youtube projected on the holograms and the other one is of the experiment I did on touchdesigner. One thing I want to navigate now is to figure out if the interaction and the projections of the holograms can happen in the same time in real time.

CLASS ACTIVITY

This was a fun little class activity where we divided into groups of four for a mini critique session . We provided each other with feedback using sticky notes, which was quite valuable. It offered a refreshing change of pace and allowed us to gain perspectives from peers who were encountering similar challenges and processes. Witnessing my friends engage with and enjoy my work was particularly gratifying. The primary feedback I received was that the interaction was fun, but there was room to explore different visual representations of Macbeth. I should look at different ways to visually represent macbeth, maybe also consider working with semiotics and symbolism.

I found these insights to be incredibly valuable and they provided me with a fresh perspective on my project. It was enjoyable to see what others had done, and I was particularly intrigued by Yishan's experimentation. She took a unique approach by using only craft materials and presented two different perspectives, which I found to be quite clever and innovative.