ActiGREAT! April 9, 2009
Posted by sarahtompson in Uncategorized.Tags: acti, Activate, alice in wonderland, Friends, fun, Happy Box, Mimes, school, visceral
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Da Bomb!
Feedback: Happy Box
I was attracted to this experience because it was visually appealing as it was a big black structure in the middle of the main entrance area. I waited in line to enter the Happy box. Outside a class mate was standing at the entrance getting people excited to for their experience and controlling how many people entered at a time; three people being the limit. I entered the experience by myself. When it was my turn I was guided through an entrance, which was cloaked with black plastic bags. The inside was also black and was shaped like a cylinder. There was nothing for me to look at as the space appeared to look the same from all angles. Once I was settled an audio track started which started a countdown. As the count got closer to one it started to slow down and become a bit distorted. This started to raise feelings of anxiety as I anticipated what was going to happen. At the count of one, eye slots opened around the cylinder and I found myself standing in the dark room with about a dozen or more pair of eyes staring at me. This made me feel uncomfortable because I didn’t know how I should act. After a couple seconds of staring, a drawer popped out from the wall, which had a small cupcake inside. I took the cupcake and then exited the room through another black plastic bag. The overall experience gave me an over all anxious and uncomforting visceral reaction which is what I believe they were trying to create. After exiting, another classmate was waiting on the outside to guide me over to a table where other members of the class were recording reactions from the experience.
Da Not So Bomb.
Feedback: Alice in Wonderland
As I approached this experience I saw a lot of construction paper; cut out shapes of flowers and grass. I was greeted by members of their group welcoming me to Alice in Wonderland. It seemed unorganized because they were not confident in their experience. I was lead to a table, which had some snacks on it and was decorated like the tea table from the movie. Just from seeing the movie I assumed that I would be seated at the table and they were going to attempt to recreate the tea party seen from the film, but unfortunately it was only there for visual appeal. I was told I could play with a croque game they had made with paper or get my picture taken with a cardboard cut out of the queen from the movie. I enjoyed the tactile aspects of the experienced, that they had parts where I could touch and move things. Overall it wasn’t a HORRIBLE experience, but loving Alice in Wonderland a bunch, I found it to be kind of a let down. I failed to find a use of metaphor or any other tactics that were used to create an awe factor.
Best and Worst of Activate! April 9, 2009
Posted by emilysoo in Exercise 4: Documenting Activate!, Uncategorized.Tags: Activate, affordances, alice in wonderland, experience, feedback, hairdresser, makeover, Project, visceral
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After seeing all of the first year projects for Activate, I think that our class had the best project, but since we can’t pick ours, I think that the Makeover Project inside the Room next to the Butterfield park was the best. It was a great experience as it made the participant scared as you were getting your hair cut. They had real sounds that created great feedback, when they had scissors cutting your hair, and also the buzzing of the razor. Their experience also had great visceral components to the experience, because you could see hair falling onto you as you had your hair cut, and also the hair colour was the the exact same as your own. Not only that but before they started cutting your hair they took a picture of you before you had your makeover. Also they spun you around so you couldn’t see what was being done to you in the mirror. This created an element of curiosity for the participant as they didn’t know what they would look like in the end. The experience was somewhat tactile, because of how you could feel the hair falling down, and also the way the hair dressers were pulling on your hair, pushing against it. In the end of this experience, they provided you with your end result picture, in which someone photoshoped a wig on your head, and it was funny to view in the end. Not only that but they even sent the image to our emails, once the activate event was over. This was a good idea to take the participants email, so they would be able to receive something even after the experience was finished. Overall, this experience was really fun, and it was one that i remembered most!
The worst experience I think of Activate was the Alice and Wonderland project. As I walked into the entrance of the installation, I thought that I would receive something amazing, as it was alice in wonderland. However when I entered, all I received was a group of people saying “Happy Birthday” , sitting down on at a tea party table, with decorations. They also asked us to play a ball game with a stick, and that wasn’t really fun, as there was no real feedback to that game. They asked us to take some cookies, and asked us to play that ball game, that was about it. There wasn’t really anything to experience, and I think they could of done alot better, with this particular theme. Overall this was a bad experience, and I didn’t receive any good feedback from that installation.
Our project however created great feedback, and the affordances were really strong because of the video and sound created when the ball was put into the whole. The participant was able to place themselves in 6 different experiences which were extremely fun. I think it worked our amazing!
R U Experienced? 