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Here is my poster for my final project.

Project Definition

This project is an installation that intends to arise ideas over life. It aims to urge people to question the choices that we make everyday in our lives. The project focuses on the idea of ‘being the decision maker’ in life. In order to complete this mission it reconstruct the biological data, pulse-rate, collected from humans to a digital determiner that controls video sequences. The environment of this project designed to increase the effect of the installation and decided to be a ‘tomb’. ‘The tomb’ where most of the people believed to be rested afterlife and judged by their choices. The installation keeps the idea of tomb but creates an atmosphere where people can grow ideas about themselves and footages while they are still alive.

Goals & Objectives

The project has several goals about its concept.

-It tries to convince audience that they are not in connection with outer world for two minutes.

-It forces the audience to explore their feelings towards life by screening several videos that has been shot by me.

-It aims to remind audience visually that they are choosing the videos by using a flashlight that flickers according the volunteer’s heart rate. This part of the project suggests audience to become the ‘decision maker’ of their own lives.

-The project aims to direct volunteers to criticize the videos and make them realize that the videos are actually reflect their own lives and choices. So it wants people to become the judges of their own lives and choices.

-By using extreme close ups, wide-angle shots and different viewpoints project tries to have sophisticated visual elements that aims to form feelings among volunteers.

In the movie: The Color Purple we witness another situation. Sometimes we pospone our choices because we feel insecure or not strong enough. In this movie we see two scenes that establish us this feeling.

http://www.anyclip.com/movies/the-color-purple/shave/#!quotes/

Some of us believe that life is full of choices. I also do believe that it is. I think that choices are the urges that push us to continue or finish the sequences that we have been creating in our lives. In order to understand how important the choices are we have to understand the moment of deciding. Conscience on these decisive moments helps us to realize our lives and the outcomes of the upcoming future. The future, which would be shaped by the instant decisions that we have made.

I would like to share some examples from movies that include this topic: The Choices. ‘Thelma and Louise’ is a movie about two women who are tired of being bullied, conned and sexually abused or harassed. The movie uncovers two known but unreported secrets about woman. 1. The ties of womanhood, being stronger than any male/female relationship. 2. The violence in woman life. Having no mercy. Anger towards men. In the last scene of this movie, after the crimes that they have committed Thelma and Louise are deciding together on their faith.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXdN142_P7U

Project Definition

This project aims to collect pulse rate data from humans, which is used for determining video sequences that has been by me and will be screened in an interactive environment that includes lights, microphones, cameras and screens. The project focuses on the idea of ‘being the decision maker’ in life and uses the heart rate of a volunteer to screen the videos with the theme: life.

Goals & Objectives

My challenge is to push myself to capture several footages that have been aimed to relate to different characters that will be experiencing my installation. This is slightly hard because I need to push myself

By creating various audiovisual effects for this installation, I want to explore how videos, angles, sounds, light games and etc. can affect humans.

My main aim is to make people understand how life affects us and how sometimes we feel regret for the events happening around us. This project includes my understanding of life, which I perceive it as a chain of events that suggest you choices. I want volunteer people to consider their choices that they have made in their lives or a glimpse of this idea.

Target audience/user
define target audience and requisites accordingly

My target audience is people age between 20-60 who has an average or high education. It is important for me to reflect my idea so I need people who can be judgmental and open-minded in order to create some ideas out of the project when it is over.

Background information


Questioning life and thinking about the choices that we made while we are living it, is one of the admired topics within people. This way of thinking mainly caused people to recall death. Because it is mostly believed that death is the end of our lives on earth, the lives that we all lived and expanded with the decisions, choices that we confronted. To elaborate on the idea of life, choices and death it is appropriate for me to use some quotes that I connect my ideas to.

“No one else can ever make your choices for you. Your choices are yours alone.”

Whatever the results are, we are the protagonists in our lives. We are the ones who make the choices. The decisions we make, are ours alone and the consequences of these choices lead us to brand new decisions which. So the choices and the consequences, both are the steps in our lives that lead us to the other parting ways.

In this project of mine ‘The Tomb of Choices’ I wanted to create an atmosphere where people would have a chance of identifying the decisions in life. The videos are edited and shot considering the emotions of people. They are about humans and their experiences through out a life period.

“There may be a thousand little choices in a day. All of them count.”

The videos are related to the choices. These choices are not appearing in the videos. The purpose of the videos is to be able to make people feel that there are variable sets of decisions and paths exist in life.

“You cannot manage your life if you do not manage your self. You cannot manage your self if you do not manage your choices. Manage your choices, and you will manage your life.”

In this work human heart pulse is the determiner of the video sequences. I believe that we make choices by considering the logic and our feelings. We know that emotions are linked to our heart, the source of our feelings. That’s why this project is controlled by human pulse rate.The idea of tomb represents the inevitable ending of our lives. All of us know that in the end we will be remembering a life full of choices this is the idea behind the atmosphere of my project. It is the moment of the project aim to remind people the end of this life and all the made decisions.

Detailed project description
write detailed description of the project.
regarding the project, sub headers might go in this section i.e. synopsis, working structure, etc.

I am planning on building a coffin, which includes several audio-visual elements. I want to cover the interior of my coffin with screens that will be playing videos that have the theme: ‘Life and Death’. These videos are collections of footages shot by me and shot by other people. I am also planning my coffin to have some speakers, microphones and lights aimed to play the sound effects, record sound data from the subject inside of it and create a extraordinary lit environment. These elements would help me to increase the effect of my theme and my idea of experiencing the death and memories from life.

My videos will basically be about human life, regrets,  bad moments in history and good memories. So all the videos will be familiar to people in terms of the common feelings that humanity shares. I would like to push people to feel that this live that they are living in, can change. I also aim to show them that they might become the protagonists in every situation in life.

In order to make people involved with the installation I will use their heart beat to determine the sequence of the videos.

At first I will try to launch my coffin properly in terms of screening the videos, hearing the sounds and playing the light effects. Then I will try to integrate some cameras, microphones and detectors that can record human pulse rate and can put this data as an output. My aim on integrating detectors, cameras and microphones, is recording subject’s biological responses and reflexes inside the coffin.

The second phase of the project includes projecting the data, which I will be getting inside the coffin to a wall. Aim of this part is to share the experience that the subject is having inside. This part requires programming. I will be using Processing and Ardiuno to collect data and to create the interface of the screening program.

In the third phase of the project I plan on copying the collected data and burn it to a DVD. So that can the subject can see his/her own reactions in the coffin. So this installation general aim to give people some kind of judgmental perception towards life but at the same time reminding them that they are the ones inside the coffin and they would be the one who is going to be ‘judged’.

Scope of the project 
explain what will be covered and what will not.

In this project I will be using many disciplines such as; sound design, video design, light design, live footage-recording, micro phoning, programming and screening. I will be building a coffin where I will also be creating an audiovisual environment that tries to make people react towards the happenings inside.

I am not planning on collecting many scientific data. My aim is to collect physical reactions of the volunteer and his/her pulse rate.

In this project I will try to make the volunteers become the subject meter of the installation. I don’t expect them to

Required know-how and resources

This project requires me to deeply learn Processing and Arduino in order to program.

I also need some volunteers to take a part and experience my two minute installation.

Difficulties & Risks
 what are the significant risks to the successful completion of this project?

– Failure on building the coffin that includes cameras, speakers, lights, – – microphones and screens

– Failure on programming the pulse rate determined video sequences

– Failure on screening the data in a collective way

– Failure on creating the effective videos that would make people react or make them feel something

– Failure on creating the effective sound effects

– Failure on creating the effective light effects

Phases of the project
divide project into smaller steps and list them

– Shooting and gathering videos

– Editing the videos

– Designing light effects

– Designing sound effects

– Building the coffin

– Integrating the lights, speakers and screens to the coffin

– Testing the audiovisual devices inside the coffin by launching the designed videos, sounds and lights effects.

– Integrating the microphones, cameras to the coffin

– Testing the microphones and cameras (if they can capture data)

– Using the heart rate device and collecting pulse rate data

– Programming the screening program

– Projecting the data inside the coffin to the exteriors

– Launching the program that includes and process all these data

criteria of success
explain the phases that will be completed by the end of this term
explain the criteria to judge the success of the project

In order to be successful I should full field all of  the phases of the project that I have mentioned above. Rather than the technological part of the project there is one more challenge that I should overcome. ‘The Effectiveness of the Audiovisual Elements’ that I will be creating. My project can collect data, screen copy and distribute them but if they don’t make people to react or feel then the project will not be accomplished in content.

project schedule
GANTT CHART (inc. WBS and PERT CHART) we will do this next week in the class.

1. bibliography and references
all the sources (including web sites) that helped you during the research and production will be listed here.

I found a source that explains how to make a heart rate meter on your own. This is a very primitive design but it can help me to understand the tech behind heart meters and i can build one for my own.

Micro-controller and display circut:

Steps:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Microcontroller-measures-heart-rate-through-finger/#step1

Instruction of building the DIY muscle sensor: This one is kind of hard to use because of the pads that should be sticked onto your skin but it is a good example of understanding how muscle tension can be received using Ardiuno and can be transformed into beeps.

All steps can be seen by clicking the link below:

http://www.instructables.com/id/EMG-Biofeedback/?ALLSTEPS