05/08/2009 - Final Presentation
Today was our final presentation of our semester long project. In our presentation we talked about our project motivations, our development process, and an overview of our interactive production of Rashomon.
Download the presentation.The reception of our project was generally positive, and the entire team is very proud of what we came up with. Check out the posted video to get an idea of what our performance was like.
05/04/2009 - Today is the Day!
04/29/2009 - Move In
Today was our first day in our final performance space! We were given the aid of some incredible technical designers from the drama department of CMU to help us build stages, hang our projectors, and get lighting rigged.
Our initial tests of the technology went smoothly! So all we have to do is lock everything down, prepare sound levels, rehearse with the actors, and prepare for the final performances!
04/27/2009 - Set the Date!
Our production of Rashomon will be held in the Rauh Studio Theatre on the evenings of May 4th and May 5th at 7:00, 7:40, 8:20, 9:00. We will run the whole performance 4 times each night, and each performance will be followed with Q&A with our project team.
We will have 5 swivel chairs available for audience members, as well as around 40 seats of general admission to experience the performance from the outside of the 360 degree stage. Admission is completely free!
04/14/2009 - Every Show Needs Actors...
Even this one! We are happy to announce that we have secured three wonderful actors for our performance!
04/10/2009 - Finally, a Space!
We've finally secured a space for our final performance! It will be held in the Helen Wayne Rauh Studio Theatre in the Purnell Center for the Arts at Carnegie Mellon University. The modular nature of this theatre is perfect for our unconventional stage setup and we will have access to the resources of the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama.
We are still ironing out the details of the dates and time of the performances, but expect the performances to be held on or around May 4-5.
A map of Purnell Center can be found here on the CMU Drama website (About Us --> Facilities).
04/02/2009 - Visit to CMU Drama Warehouse
This afternoon we visited CMU's Drama School's warehouse in Wilkinsburg in the hopes of finding portable stages that we could use for our performance. When we finally found the place (it took us quite a while) we were amazed by the amount of things they had there. Also, the fact that everything was more or less organized meant that you could run into a wall full of futons, just as probably as you could run into shelves ridden with every kind of telephone possible.
The platforms we wanted were nowhere to be found, though. We did find some platforms with steel bases, but all 8x4 platforms seem to be currently in use by the ongoing CMU productions, so we are going to have to either build our own or wait for the productions to be over. Moreover, we are going to need to raise whatever platforms we do get to a height of around 2 ft so our audience members don't block each other's views.
After our fruitless trip to the warehouse, we stopped by the Southside to take a look at our potential space (the Sharer Image) and enjoyed a quick beer a the recently inaugurated Hofbrauhaus. Tikitaka tikitaka! Oi oi Oi!
04/01/2009 - Functional Chair!!!
After trying chair after chair after chair after chair... we finally found a chair that we were able to get working using our Toradex rotation sensor: the RUTGER / JULES swivel chair from IKEA! And it doesn't look half bad either ;)
In order to get this chair to work we modified the bottom of the chair by removing the piece that holds the chair onto the base so that we could mount a magnet onto the inner rotating shaft of the chair. Additionally we built a housing for the sensor made out of 1/4" particle board that snaps right onto the bottom of the chair.
The magnet and housing can remain on the chair at all times and can sustain the lateral motion due to moving the chair around on the wheels as well as the vertical motion when someone sits in the chair. The sensor simply slides into the housing when we are ready for the performance.
03/31/2009 - Sharper Image, Potential Performance Space
Today we visited the Southside in Pittsburgh to look at the Colleen Mac space as a possibility to put on our performance, but the dimensions of the space turned out to be too small for what we were looking for.
However, as we peeked into the window of the old Sharper Image space, just next door to the Colleen Mac space, we realized it might just be big enough to accomodate our performance. They let us in the empty store and we liked what we saw: enough space, lots of outlets and not-too-high, not-too-low ceilings. The only impediments would be the two columns that flank the space, but we are confident that we can get around them by carefully designing our setup.
On the way back home we also stopped by an empty Ann Taylor LOFT store, which shared most of the characteristics we found on the Sharper Image, although the columns were not as thick in this one. It looked as if someone might move in soon, though, so we will ask about getting the Sharper Image space. It's a big enough space with an impossibly good location, so we are excited about the possibility of getting it.
03/16/2009 - Half Presentation
We presented our half presentation for the ETC students and faculty on March 16th, 2009. In the presentation we discussed how we chose to work on just two prototypes, how we ended up choosing the stories of Rashomon and Hamlet for our prototypes, and gave a detailed description of the technology required for the 360 degree dynamic sound generation concept as well as for the choosing of multiple perspective camera angles during a traditional theatre piece.
The feedback we received after our presentation was positive and after discussing with the faculty have decided to finalize design documentation for prototypes for both Rashomon and Hamlet, but to only put on a production of Rashomon in Pittsburgh at the end of the semester. Rashomon and Hamlet prototypes will be available to Chautauqua for the performances in September at the Chautauqua Institution.
03/11/2009 - First Tech Playtest - Rashomon
After getting our sensors in we were eager to attach it to a chair and test the code we had been working on. So we assembled a motley construction of the computers, monitors, and speakers from our desks and taped down the sensor underneath the chair to see if we could reliably read the direction of the chair on the computer.
All in all the test was a success! When turning the chair the computer would reliably read the correct angle of rotation... that is until someone sat in the chair! :( Frown. It was a good thing that we ran this test as it told us about the technical difficulties of using this particular chair. We planned to attach the magnet to the rotating shaft of this chair and it worked gloriously when noone was sitting in the chair, but when a person sat in the chair their weight caused the rotating shaft that we were monitoring to stop rotating! Oh well... maybe next chair...
You can check out all of the photos on flikr.
03/02/2009 - Visit to Chautauqua
The entire team and our advisor Brenda took a day long trip to visit the Chautauqua Institution grounds and the potential theatre spaces that will be available to us in September. We were presented with four potential spaces for our ideas: McKnight Hall, Lenna Hall, Fletcher Hall, and the Bratton Theatre. The photos from our trip can be seen on flikr.
03/02/2009 - Wizard of Oz Playtest - Rashomon
Inspired by the visit of MAYA design to our project, we held what is called a "Wizard of Oz" playtest. A Wizard of Oz playtest is a run through of a designed experience without using any technology. So we basically put on our intended performance of Rashomon for an audience of three in swivel chairs, simulating the projections with ourselves standing on chairs and simply modulating our voice according to the audience members' general focus.
This playtest was invaluable for us to hear from an audience what is was like to try to listen to three people talking at the same time. We were able to get a sense of how and why people moved in their chairs to look around. Also it helped us to foresee issues with the progression of the scenes of the performance that we would not have seen otherwise.
You can check out all of the photos on flikr.
02/06/2009 - Quarter Presentation
We gave our quarter presentation for the ETC students and faculty on February 6th, 2009. In this presentation we spoke about our client, our current research in the areas of modern/interactive art/theatre, and our initial three technological prototypes for for introducing interactivity into theatre.
Our feedback was mainly in the form of response to our concepts, giving us insight on how they might be experienced by an audience. We ended up choosing to pursue two of our proposed three concepts based off of the feedback of the Entertainment Technology Center faculty and off of the feedback from our client. The concepts we chose to pursue were:
1. 360 sound generation using swivel chairs and a circular stage
2. Showing multiple perspectives/camera angles during a traditional play.
02/01/2009 - Global Game Jam
This weekend our whole team took part in the Global Game Jam at the Entertainment Technology Center in Pittsburgh, PA. While not directly related to the project it was a great opportunity for us to work and and have some fun together! We are very proud of the outcome, a small art-game called Balloon Man.