Empathize , Define, Test, Ideate
Arrival, testing, and reflection
In week 11, together with the team we traveled to Oslo, and spent a couple of days, with the primary purpose of meeting clients in person. During this visit, we explored the city, visited the Det Norske Theatre, examined the black box room where the play is set to take place, and tested various prototypes in collaboration with the people from the theatre and specialized equipment that will be used later in the play.
The experience felt so beneficial to this project, providing a deeper understanding of the concept and its practical implementation within the black box room.
Notably, we encountered several technical and design challenges, the identification of which was made possible only through testing within the specific theatre environment, complete with a large TV screen, projector, and shotgun microphones.
For my learning objectives and project development, engaging with theatre members during this trip provided valuable insights and feedback that significantly contributed to refining the concept art idea. Even though the final concept took a completely different turn, it is good that this happened so early in the process. The environment paintings looked good to both the team and the client itself, however, after testing with a projector and screen in person a different approach was chosen. The initial idea for American-style courtroom was more suitable for the theater setting.
Based on the input from the client we continued the process with the following sketch and chose it as a main guide for the courtroom environment (Figure 1) with the note that in the final Houdini scene, the audience's seats will not be visible.
Figure 1. Base courtroom sketch for American-style courtroom.
A particularly beneficial activity at the theatre involved discussion and brainstorming sessions with Anders and Peer, key contacts serving as the theatre's directors and dramaturg. The face-to-face setting allowed for smoother communication when compared to the short online meetings we had once a week or two.
Each of the two days the primary focus of our discussions was the interaction and dynamic interplay among the actor(s), the ChatGPT persona, the system, and the audience. We managed to successfully recreate the experience and test choreographing the installation to respond to the actor's cues while acknowledging the unpredictable nature of audience responses. The goal was to create an organic and responsive way to communicate that would enhance the overall theatrical experience for all involved parties.
Additionally, we revisited various possibilities and scenarios within the interactive play successfully both in English and Norwegian.
What can be improved on is that we did not have a planned testing session so it took us some extra time to set things up and conduct the research. Nonetheless, this was a key moment in our project that inspired us to proceed further with our work.
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