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Research
My essay question was centred around an interactive designed environment. So for my final project I thought that it would be appropriate to create either an interactive designed environment or object/ objects. My first thought was to create something in which a wide range of senses would be required of the user during their interaction. The first idea that came to mind was looking at the sense of touch and how someone would go about identifying for example an object through touch only. I thought the format of a box offered a wide variety of ways to engage the various senses. Through my research into film (as seen below), I found out about the different ways in which the box itself has been used to convey meaning or create an experience.
Dune (1984):
The above images are of the scene when Paul (the son of the duke) is tested by the reverend mother to prove if he is worthy. The test is to analyse whether his awareness is powerful enough to control his instinct and prove his worth. This is done by him putting his hand within the box. The reverend mother says that his human instinct will be to remove his hand from the box, if he does so he dies. He puts his hand in the box, and withstands the pain. This proof of pain by induction, suggests that according to the prophecy he could be the one. In this case, the box has been used to prove worth.
The storyline of David Lynch's Dune is 'in the far future, a duke and his family are sent by the Emperor to a sand world from which comes a spice that is essential for interstellar travel. The move is designed to destroy the duke and his family, but his son escapes and seeks revenge as he uses the world's ecology as one of his weapons.'
Roman Holiday (1953):
The storyline of Roman Holiday is 'Princess Anne embarks on a highly publicized tour of Europian capitals. When she and her royal entourage arrive in Rome, she begins to rebel against her restricted, regimented schedule. One night Anne sneaks out of her room, hops into the back of a delivery truck and escapes her luxurious confinement. However, a sedative she was forced to take earlier starts to take effect, and the princess is soon fast asleep on a public bench. She is found by Joe Bradley, an American newspaper reporter stationed in Rome. He takes her back to his apartment. The next morning Joe dashes off to cover the Princess Anne press conference, unaware that she is sleeping on his couch! Once he realises his good fortune, Joe promises his editor an exclusive interview with the princess.'
Here Hepburn and Peck embark on a Vespa ride through Rome in one of the films comedic sequences.They spend the day seeing the sights, including the "Mouth of Truth," a marble image said to bite off the hands of liars. This in a way connects to the whole idea of interaction, again here its to prove something (that someone is being true).
PUZZLES:
I also thought of trying to create a puzzle that follows the structure of the traditional jigsaw puzzle in terms of one image/ composition cut up into many pieces. But I thought making it 3D so that people can interact with it.
SENSE OF SMELL:
I thought of incorporating the sense of smell into the interaction. It would be good to see if a participant presented with different scents (perfumes) and told their names could recognise which one is which when they're mixed around and the information is taken away.
SENSE OF TOUCH:
I also wanted to bring touch into the interactive experience. I wanted to present the user with a puzzle which they had to put together only using touch to identify the right parts.
I will create several prototypes in order to see if my ideas in theory will work in practice.