{"id":5062,"date":"2024-12-10T23:20:59","date_gmt":"2024-12-11T04:20:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dems.asc.ohio-state.edu\/?p=5062"},"modified":"2024-12-10T23:48:35","modified_gmt":"2024-12-11T04:48:35","slug":"cycle-1-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dems.asc.ohio-state.edu\/?p=5062","title":{"rendered":"Cycle 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Resources<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

An open face box made of Southern Yellow Pine and pre-primed wood paneling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A big white box<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A roll of paper<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some trash from the Motion Lab<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several boxes to form makeshift parapets<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Giant white sheets<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isadora<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blackhole<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Youtube<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Score<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The audience is staged in the Motion Lab entry way. They are invited in to see a large projection of a winter landscape behind a bunch of junk on a table. The junk transforms into a castle when hit by the projection. I used an image of a stone wall projection mapped across the front of the facade to achieve this effect. After a period of acclimation, the second scene is triggered and a freezing sound plays over the Motion lab speaker system. A distorted white bar raises across the facade of the castle dragging a blue video with a morphing snowflake along with it. Let it Go begins to play over the speakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The first scene defines all of my interactions. I would later pull these into a user actor that I could easily trigger within my Castle Project scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This scene outlines my basic conditions. Each section corresponds to a different piece of the castle. One section projects onto the roof, one handles the stone on the facade. Another projects the door, and yet another is projecting the windows onto the tower with a comment “Why did I do this?” When I finally got it working I felt like it was a minor detail that no one would even notice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This is the user actor that defines my freeze behavior. When I hit the trigger the castle freezes over and the Frozen music is played. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I was actually pretty proud of this. I used gaussian blur on a white rectangle to make the base of the freezing line. Next I warped this image using projection mapping to give it a more organic appearance. The effect in action was really very cool (but I forgot to record it due to nerves, so it lives on only in memory). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Valuation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I love the projection shows at Walt Disney World. Harmonious at EPCOT was the first show that I ever saw. The tight integration of audio with projection with fireworks and water displays… the mere fact that they’re projecting movie scenes onto water. The whole experience changed me at some deep level. It changed what I assumed was possible. It changed my perspective on fireworks shows, which I had always found to be rather boring displays that I would sometimes feel social pressure to pretend to enjoy. It solidified my desire to become a Disney Imagineer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For my cycle projects I wanted to do something that Disney does better than anyone. Blend multi-sensory stimuli to create a meaningful, impactful shared experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For cycle 1, my plan was to get into the Motion Lab and see what was available to me. I started off with projection mapping. Our first exposure, mapping onto a tilted white cube was quick and fun. How hard can projection mapping be?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As it turns out… Really. Effing. Hard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After hours of effort I was able to map textures onto the castle and towers reasonably well. This experience shaped my approach to cycle 2. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Performance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This felt like cheating. The performance was well received and both transitions elicited audible reactions from the audience, but I used a beloved song (“Let It Go” from the movie Frozen). I felt people were largely reacting to their love of the song rather than the experience that was put together. Yes, the song is part of the experience, but it did too much of the lifting for me and I didn’t feel like the experience itself was standing on its own merit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The feedback was really helpful. Classmates noted that they were immersed in the illusion and felt like they could go inside the doorway to the castle (side note – in hindsight I’m really surprised that the projector was able to output black so well).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I received notes about how I could use minor details to create light ambiance and make the experience more engaging. I could create footprints in the snow as audience members walk about. I could build slight animations into the facade of the castle, maybe vines grow over the castle. I could put candles in the portholes on the tower (yes, they were in fact noticed). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The little castle that could. This is the scene that the class walked into. Allowing the audience to see this first gave the second scene greater effect. This scene is a little chaotic, pretty messy, and not almost a little sad. The next scene, however…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Not so shabby… The castle with textures projected onto the face. Note the bleed around the main projector screen. I was certain that I had done away with this before the performance. I didn’t notice these artifacts until they were pointed out to me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Note here that the bleed artifacts have changed. I did not recognize this until posting. The reason for this – the motion lab floor. The floor gives as people walk across it, and this can cause projections to move slightly in response to foot traffic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n