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Enabling the VJ as Performer with Rhythmic Wearable Interfaces

Source:

Andreas Zingerle, Tyler Freeman. 2011. Enabling the VJ as Performer with Rhythmic Wearable Interfaces. In MM ’11 Proceedings of the 19th ACM international conference on Multimedia Pages 765-766, Scottsdale, Arizona, USA — November 28 – December 01

Summary : Andreas Zingerle and Tyler Freeman, authors of this article talk about an experimental wearable controller called VJacket. This jacket is compound with several sensors that detect body movements (bending, touching, hitting) and can send the information to the VJ program.

The main function is to manipulate visual output in a rhythmic way. Sensors are the best option for this because they are small (some are flexible) and can be placed in the body a difference to a mouse and a keyboard that are very rigid. Also sensors in the body are more precise than a mouse if we talk about making rhythmical sound.

With the VJacket the performer will be able to control a video just using his/hers body movements. The authors talk about the maracas-based “rhythmism“, which is a project were the instrument becomes a performance tool. Depending on the speed, and the way it moves, the video may change. The authors are convinced this technology is the future for Karaoke bar, Rock bands and DJs performances (Djs are going to be able to move and walk around the nightclub).

In this article the authors mention that they designed their own Arduino software (Arduino2OSC) to have the chance to use more than one sensor. It is a very interesting software because with it you can adjust the values of the sensor because little by little the can get a little bit damaged after each performance. To avoid replacing them, you just have to change the valued in the code.

Relevance for our project: This article is relevant to our project because it give us the option to explore with Arduino2OSC and think about attaching the sensors in clothes instead of directly in the body. It is also a very interesting article that gives us some inspiration for the project.

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Evaluation on Performer Support Methods for Interactive Performances Using Projector

Source: Authors: Jun Ikeda Kobe University, Kobe, Japan Yoshinari Takegawa Kobe University, Kobe, Japan Tsutomu Terada Kobe University, Kobe, Japan Masahiko Tsukamoto Kobe University, Kobe, Japan

MoMM ’09 Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Advances in Mobile Computing and Multimedia, Pages 105-112, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — December 14 – 16, 2009 ACM New York, NY, USA

Summary : Lately the performances are getting more attention when they use computer technologies. Performances with a person having some sort of interaction with projections are very entertaining to watch.

This article talks about the evaluation and experimentation of interactive performances using a projector. The goal of this article is to improve the way the performers are interacting with the projections and to support them using display devices like HMD.

In the entertainment world, the interactive performances are much known and there is always the desire to explode their potential. The idea is always to improve the performance itself. But this research is about supporting the performer.

In this article, the authors try to find the main problems on stage so they classified the performances in two principal types: the first one is when the projection is basically a movie and the performer has to memorize everything in order to perform in time. And the second type of performance is when the projections are based on the performer actions.

The article also mentions the situations a performer can face WHEN the performance is: facing the audience, facing the screen, in parallel with a screen, in contact with a screen, far from a screen and when using part of the body. In most situations the performer has difficulties to see the entire projected image.

Some display devices (HMD, Monitor, Projection on floor, Earphone) where took into consideration and they mention they pros and cons. At the end they choose the HMD because is the most effective and they adapted it as a display device, additionally they added a wireless mouse to the experiment. They made performers play some games using the HMD and the wireless mouse in order to evaluate the recognition speed, understanding of the object position and timing recognition of changing images. At the end the results vary, sometimes the problem was the delay in displaying images.

Other evaluations were: to see the naturalness of the performer when facing the audience, when the performer is far from the screen and is using a real object and when he/she touches the screen. In conclusion they found out their method is effective but they want to improve it and try similar works but with more than one performer.

Relevance for our project: This article is very relevant to our project. I see this article as a piece of advice. I am sure this research can help us with the developing of our ideas and with finding/creating hardwares we may need.