Advanced Interactive Media/2008 Project: Weekly Progress Summaries

Week01: The User and client profiles were discussed with the following notes:

User Description: Issues Raised: - Who is project being designed for?

> Grade school age children 7-9 or 10-12 (one grade-school, homogeneous group)

- Approx number of potential audience?

> 40 per session

- What is the attention span of the target audience?

> 30 seconds to a minute and a half

- Length of media elements?

> 30 seconds to a minute and a half

- What would hold the targeted audience’s attention and effectively get the point across?

 > Action
 > Noise
 > Sound (surround)
 > Color
 > Fast paced elements
 > Interaction
 > Competition
 > Keeping the actual audience in motion
 > The idea of reward

While we are initially planning this with the target audience in mind, we need to not forget who the client ultimately is and what they want. Client is the Kirkpatrick Foundation and the OKC art museum.

Collective Ideas/Suggestions:

- Segmenting the group, and moving the audience

- Competition between the groups

- Competitive scavenger hunt inside the virtual interactive museum (virtual flythrough), per following:

 1. Split the group in two and have them compete by interacting with a VR fly-through of the 
    museum (the manipulate where they fly) in looking for treasure
 2. Perhaps even better, have another group of their friends actually at the museum, and by 
    use of two-way A/V communications, they tell the team at the museum where to go and what 
    to look for

- Use the Wii-mote to control the virtual artwork inside the VR tent

Project Description: A treasure-hunt competition where the group of children will be split into two teams and each team will use Wii controllers and their half of the enclosure’s projection screens to work their way through a VR environment of the museum, using various collected clues, to find all the objects/information(?) before the other team does. Also in the enclosure would be a chroma-key wall where an actor/college student would show off media interaction by coordinating their movements and behavior with characters projected on through the chroma-key (Interactive team?). Leading up to the enclosure would be a tunnel-like entrance where the students would be introduced to the game and what’s ahead in the enclosure as well images and other aspects of interactive media via flat screens (Design and AV teams) Selling this idea to schools will require printed material (Design team) Other considerations:

- What is the operational budget?

> Potentially $0- $200,000

- What is the timeframe?

> This project is due a year from now.

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Week02:

Discussion regarding the look and feel of the final product, geared towards the user-profile from last week: General Considerations:

- Team Leaders: What are you going to do with the selected software to appeal to and reach children (what look and feel for the media)? Preparer a final statement for each team to encapsulate this and post it on Facebook in the respective team blogs

- Project concept is now entitled Surround Screen Video or SSV

- Create a detailed list of everything each team needs from the other teams

- Post what each team will offer on the Facebook, group wall

- Interactive Team Considerations:

- Further discussion given to the overall concept. A third possibility has now made it to the fore, and that is to break up the main group into much smaller groups, as follows:

> The media intro that the children see before entering the SSV is now conducted live by a college student or actor in front of the chroma key wall. On entering, the children see the actor and realise it was a live performance.

> Initially, all the screen inside the SSV are used to give a brief, guided tour of the VR museum interface, conducted by the same student/actor

> Once broken up into their separate groups, each with a Wii controller infront of an individual screen, the presenter shows how the basic interface works – basically click on a 2D layout of museum, and the room clicked grows into a 3D, VR model. Each group at each screen will play games that last no more than ten minutes (approx) where they have to figure out basic puzzles that are based on the art museum room that they are in. Overall, competition could still apply at the as to which team solved the most puzzles.

- Printout concept for high-school brochure: To avoid the usual trifold, create something that folds out rather like the SSV would; i.e. from the centre out to create a circular brochure? For more details, see: http://supercoenbros.blogspot.com/

- Video & Design Teams:

> What sort of transitions should be used in the VR tour when going between rooms? Do we want to have something elaborate that switches between VR and real video, or something more simple and quick that allows the students to quickly go between rooms? We do want some sort of transition so there isn’t just a jarring jump that breaks the illusion.

> This needs to be placed along side the idea of having an actual live team actually in the museum, if we still want to pursue that variation(?)

- Design team Considerations:

> Select colour palette (graphics used will ultimately dictate this)

> Research other ideas on the web – other fads. Particularly look at the Hannah Montana site and the game they have there that John mentioned.

> Remember that we will ultimately be selling the idea and its look to the Kirkpatrick foundation and the museum

> Work on starting the collection of a large library of still images – remember the discussion regarding needing only 1 second exposure duration before moving to the next image.