Summary of the week: We had a very busy week this week! We started getting more physical: researching and testing on site at the CMU Purnell Lobby, testing clouds, and testing dome speakers. We also worked on our branding and visual identity with our final logo, team photo, poster, half sheet, and concept art.
Weekly Instructor Meeting
During our instructor meeting, we went over what we did last week and what we plan to accomplish this week. With their suggestion, here is what we plan to do for the week:
- Meet with David Randolph about the hardware in our installation and power requirements and use in the lobby
- Physically visit the lobby to understand the space better
- Create an installation plan
- Where are the outlets located?
- Where will the clouds hang?
- Where will the umbrellas hang?
- Which pieces will wire to which outlets?
Susan Tsu – String Installation
We spoke more with Susan Tsu and got further details about the upcoming string installation in the lobby of the CMU Purnell Center. She informed us of the following:
- The string installation will run from October 12 – November 16
- There will be 3 projects in the lobby area
- A project above the lobby on the second floor/from the grates
- A project in the center of the lobby
- An interactive project in the lobby
This was very helpful information to receive! As the first production of Lear will take place on November 29, the string installation will not be in the way during our installation. However, it may be in the way when we want to run tests. Therefore, we will need to account for this and think creatively about testing in the space or testing in other spaces.
Schedule and Task Planning
We worked as a team to plan out the rest of our semester and delegate upcoming tasks. Our producer Angie created a digital calendar and task list for us!
Purnell Lobby: Research, Testing, and Installation Planning
Lauren went on site to Purnell Lobby to get a better understanding of the space, run some tests, and begin planning the installation of our project in the space.
We had a base architectural plan of the Purnell Lobby and surrounding areas.
However, it was a bit difficult to understand and interpret, so Lauren went to the Purnell Lobby and compared the architectural plan with the actual physical space. She marked up the blueprint with all of the major features in the lobby, clarified any unclear notation on the blueprint, and took photo documentation of the different features throughout the lobby. She also marked on the blueprint the location, type, and total count of every available outlet near the Purnell Lobby on both the first and second floors. She took photo documentation of each of the available outlets as well.
While at the Purnell Lobby, Lauren also ran 5 tests on the sound levels at different areas of the lobby, different times, different groups/group sizes and Lauren also took recordings of ambient noise/environment. We were very happy to find that the sound levels remained at what we expect to be a manageable decibel range, usually around 70 dB and up to a maximum of around 80 dB.
After this research and testing, Lauren decided that with the layout of the lobby, the available outlets, and the installation, it would make most sense to wire everything to the second floor of the lobby. Our set pieces will already be strung to the second floor so this would allow all of our installation setup equipment to stay together and out of the way of the guests on the first floor. With this knowledge in mind, Lauren created a potential floor plan and wiring diagram for our installation.
Lauren took notes of the size of crowds throughout the afternoon, where crowds of people tend to congregate in the lobby, and where people tend to enter and exit the lobby. She also took time lapse videos of crowds moving throughout the lobby for future reference of crowd flow.
Logo
Aldora finished the final version of our team Curtain Call logo! It was approved by our advisors and Shirley Yee.
Team Photo
We took our team photo this week! This is the photo that will be put on the 5th floor kitchen.
We dressed in the colors of our team logo and incorporated King Lear crowns and characters from Sesame Street to tie in to our project theme. Shout out to Aldora who edited the photo for us!
Poster and Half Sheet
Jiaxin, Aldora, and Angie also finished our poster and half sheet!
Here is our final poster:
Here is our final half sheet:
We have sent these in for printing and are looking forward to seeing the physical versions!
Clouds
The clouds that Lauren ordered arrived in the mail! We were able to open them up and test them. We played with the three different sizes: small, medium, and large.
We liked the small cloud the best, as it has the best shape and included an audio and lighting control system via phone app. The clouds can detect outside audio using an internal microphone or the microphone in the phone with the app, activating responses with the RGB lights inside. In this way, the clouds can respond to ambient noise or sound effects like thunder and lighting. The effect was very impressive and we are excited to look into using it for our installation.
The medium cloud has a similar system, but it is shaped in a flat way to be pasted against a wall. We aren’t a fan of this style because we want the clouds to be able to hang from above.
The large clouds did not come pre-assembled like the other two clouds. The large clouds had to be assembled using the fluff, background, and LED strips. We did not like the look of these clouds as much and it would require a lot of team time and effort to build these clouds from the beginning. Therefore, we decided to go more in the direction of the pre-assembled clouds.
Overall, we loved the small clouds and will plan on ordering more to use in our installation.
Concept Art
Jiaxin created concept art for our installation. This concept art will help to make sure that our team all has a similar vision for our path going forward. This concept art will also be useful for showing our advisors and our contacts at the CMU School of Drama, for presentations, and for anytime that we need to explain our project to new people.
UV Lights
We also revisited an old idea from Aldora about using UV lights. Potentially using invisible ink and UV lights throughout the space (for example on vinyl covered windows) could reveal hidden messages and make the interactions feel more meaningful and the experience feel more immersive and alive. Potentially it could act as cracks of lighting in the storm that reveal messages. These messages could be either pre-written by us or serve as an interaction point with the audience where guests could write their own messages or answer prompts/questions from the installation.
Below is a reference image of ours showcasing the power of invisible ink and UV.
Dome Speakers
Our dome speakers arrived! Unfortunately, we noticed pretty quickly that the dome speakers would be a bit harder to use than we had anticipated. They did not come with all of the cords/materials needed to use the speaker. Additionally, the cords that it did come with were quite heavy. We began getting worried about these dome speakers and how we might mount and use them in the space, especially with how heavy everything was. Our original plan was to hang all of our set pieces from the second floor balcony, but with the weight of these speakers, it would not be possible. We could mount the speakers from the floor, but that would ruin the hanging illusion and the mounting device might get in the way of guests walking throughout the floor. At this point, we are not sure if we want to move forward with using the dome speakers as our method of directional audio.
New Tree Concept
With concerns about the dome speakers and new concerns about the level of interaction with the concept coming up from team members, we started to second guess our original concept. We came up with a new potential direction with a new tree concept. With this concept, we would have a giant central tree in the lobby on which guests could write in invisible ink and hang notes from the branches. We will bring up our concerns and this potential new direction for our concept to our advisors next week.