HELLO AGAIN.

So! This is the second milestone of my still unnamed project. Maybe I should name it! I’ll consider that while writing.

So!!! Last time I was like THE HELL DO I DO WITH THESE SENSORS AND CAMERAS, and the answer was discovered to be STUFF. So now I did some stuff I guess.

First, Ali helped me set up a camera helmet combo, which is very fun. I am like an Angler Fish. Pictureeeeeee:

It is pretty exciting! I also used some clothesline I had lying around to attach it to my face better. This has the wonderful side effect of choking the wearer. Besides that it’s pretty comfortable, though.

What else happened? I played with a Raspberry Pi some. I don’t have any pictures of that, because I haven’t really gotten anywhere yet. But yeah, I might end up porting things to PD and putting it on that? That would be splendid. I guess that is happening next a little bit.

I made a little video to show what it looks like in Max right now. Uh.

Ok. So Right. The point of this milestone was to make a SOLID GAMEPLAN. So I guess I will do that. Let me draw some pictures.

HIGHLY TECHNICAL BLUEPRINT DOCUMENTS:

You can click to see them in a bigger / legible size!

So, developer’s commentary. My thinking was something like this: (Not very important, feel free to skip!)

1. Ok. Overall message is to be ANY INTERACTION IS A MISTAKE. THOUGH IT MAY BRING MOMENTARY SATISFACTION, IT WILL TURN OUT TO BE A BAD DECISION.
2. This reminded me of a part from CITY OF GLASS where the protagonist is tasked with tailing this man from a train station. So he is waiting for the people to get off the train, looking at the picture of the guy he is supposed to follow, when he sees two of him appear! They are both different, but both could be this guy Stillman, and are both equally real. “There was nothing Quinn could do now that was not a mistake.”
3. That is kind of unrelated, but I really like that moment and quote. You should read that book I guess. City of Glass by Paul Auster! Find the Graphic Novel adaption by Paul Karasik and David Mazzucchelli. It’s a blast, woah.
4. Back on topic, I had to do something about the hardhat business. Because the hardhat image does not juega bien con my message. It conveys working class construction stuff that is really unrelated.
5. So hardhat = no. But at the same time, I don’t think I am skilled / not-busy enough to construct my own helmet? So I need some way to cover it. You could call this a Lazy Approach. I am considering it more of a Realistic Lets-Get-Things-Done approach.
6. So what can I do? What materials are there? Well there’s wood and cloth and cardboard and paint and all kinds of stuff. But this approach is kind of backwards.
7. What should I do? I want the viewer to understand the DON’T MOVE aspect of the work rather quickly. Similarly, the wearer should kind of want to move but understand that this is also a bad idea?
8. The latter requirement is kind of dealt with by the performing atmosphere. If this instrument is performed onstage, etc, the audience has its expectations etc, and the performer will feel uncomfortable sitting still.
9. The former is more related to the appearance of it. Well, what about something that looks like it is going to fall apart? Or something that looks very balanced? The viewer will be like “Ok, the performer cannot move because that looks like it will collapse at any moment.” That works. So what next?
10. WELL. I read a big book on hatmaking over the summer, and it liked to stress how THE BEST HATS LOOK LIKE THE DIFFERENT PARTS WERE JUST BLOWN TOGETHER BY THE WIND, AND DON’T LOOK STRONGLY SECURED AND WHATEVER. So ok, how about some kind of loose fabric construction?
11. And so I have reached this weird turbanlike conclusion. It will be fabrics wrapped around with all kinds of little elements draped all over the place, looking like a very delicate construction. Perhaps it will even have parts that fall off, to encourage that. I think this is ok.
12. BUT HENRY, TURBANS HAVE A PRETTY BIG CONNOTATION IN AMERICA OF TERRORISM AND STUFF, DESPITE HOWEVER MUCH YOU MAY WISH THEY DID NOT. This is true. Does this frightening / foreign image connect ok with what I am trying to convey? I think so, actually. The meditative appearance of a performance of this will have similar Eastern notes to it, which may complement each other.
13. The elephant in the room though would be that HENRY THE PERFORMER IS A TERRORIST WITH A BOMB AND NOW IT IS A POLITICAL STATEMENT. This is true. What is the statement, though? This terrorist bomber is staying as still as he can, because if he moves there will be a sudden and jarring event. So it is almost like a microcosm of whatever last moments such a suicide bomber would be experiencing – calmness and fear and tension and all that.
14. I quite like that, actually. The original message of MAN I HATE IT WHEN YOU AREN’T SURE IF YOU ARE BOTHERING A PERSON SO YOU DON’T CONTACT THEM MUCH AND THEN SUDDENLY THERE IS THIS EERIE CONTACT-SILENCE AND YOU WANT TO BREAK IT BUT YOU MUSTN’T + this new implied picture of TERRORIST FRIGHTENED IN HIS LAST MOMENTS = Some kind of connection between us and them / our fears and their fears? I don’t know, something like that.
15. But even though that seems almost kind of OK, there are so many aspects to Turbans, what with religion and symbolisms of colors and oh my goodness. So. I. Probably want to avoid that.
16. So I will experiment and see how it goes. Maybe there will be a way to turn it into a different image while still maintaining this cloth covering nonsense. Experiments.
17. This has been a gigantic wall of text.

So yes. The visual will be something fabricky.

In other news, a title. Or a name, as it’s an instrument. Hm. Nothing springs to mind. I will have one by the next update. Something like MISTAKE MACHINE, you know? Cool.

GOOD DAY