OBSTRUCTION 4

Obstruction 4: find a way to make the box become “alive” in a more exaggerated and dynamic way at times in the piece

In order to make the light-box become more “alive” during the piece, I started doing research on personification – which led to prosopopoeia and pathetic fallacy – which led to anthropomorphism – which led to abiotic and biotic. One thing I found out from literary and animation practices is that going too far with personification or using it too much can be distracting to the story (it could actually revert the audience back to reality accepting the object as nothing but inanimate). One of the most valuable things I learned was to ask how i want the audience to feel about the object in question; how do its personified characteristics contribute (support) the moods and tones I am trying to create?

I also found a few videos that helped me think more about how I could better “enliven” the light-box. Some of these videos made me think that it is possible that I am not looking to personify the box (give it human characteristics) as much as I am simply trying to make it seem alive (whether that be plant-like, animal-like, or human-like). Here are some of the videos I looked at:

The Switch – a good example of giving an abiotic object biotic characteristics (more organic characteristics = characteristics beyond those of a machine).

Pixar Lamp – these are personified because they have many crucial human characteristics = they appear to be able to see and they can show emotion through their movements (clumsy, confused, curious, etc.)

Minuscule animations (also found on youtube.com) – curiosity is very prominent in placing human characteristics to insects – also human sounds enforced on a non-human environment

Conclusion: One of the most effective ways I can give the light-box more life is to put it on an arm like object connected to a servo motor. My hope would be that it could move similarly to Marnix de Nijs and Edwin van der Heide’s “Spatial Sounds (100dB at 100km/h)” but at a much lower scale and with less intrusive tone. Giving it the ability to “look” around the room or face people would greatly improve its life-likeness. [the cost of a very strong, quiet servo motor could be very high though] Beyond changing its physical characteristics and abilities, ways that the box can contribute to the piece’s mood through it’s biotic appearance will not be fully understood until the audio element of the piece is being composed. Though very little can be presented right now, this obstruction has definitely deepened the final product of the piece.