1.Working Title

Daytime / Interactive device used in the sound mixing room
I show great interest in the combination of sounds and lights and the innovative visual effects of pop art. I hope to convey my ideas by means of different media especially when all these things are grouped together.
Audience in the space can raise their awareness of the sounds which may be ignored in their daily life. They will review their life by the appreciation of the actual sounds and the abstract visual elements. Different people may get different feelings toward the device, because their life experience are likely to have great influence on what they will see and how they may feel.

2. Background

There are various problems in this society. Some of them took place immediately. Due to the social pressure, you have to lead your life as usual. I think this may be familiar to you because you may hear this kind of idea frequently expressed on different occasions. For example, when a couple has a severe quarrel, the wife may continue her life as usual despite the family violence she has suffered. When people suffer from hunger and coldness in poor areas, they will always encourage themselves to carry on their former life. What can be done if a child is sexually assaulted? What can be done if the young children die before their parents? What can be done if the baby dies before its birth? What can be done if you are diagnosed with leukemia? What can be done if one of the legs has to be amputated after an accident? What can be done if someone is infected with AIDS after intercourse with different people? What can be done if someone is troubled by depression due to the overloaded pressure? The answer might be the same as well. Sometimes the problems present an optimistic side as well, such as the birth of a new family member, the victory of a battle, the family reunion in the New Year and the period of high school. We are fully occupied by these incidents, but we are more likely to ignore them due to numerous reasons. The daytime may exist as an excuse for us to ignore these incidents. My device for the interaction of sound and light is centered on the light, the sound and the visual effects. Why are sound and light used? Because they are the most direct and touching means to get close to one’s inner heart. If the light disappears along with the color, the world will be filled with darkness. Human eyes are the most important sensory organ which can adapt to the lights easily. The pupil can make adjustment according to the light. In our unconscious mind, we have been longing for light since the Stone Age.

3. Introduction

I have been to many exhibitions in Shanghai which inspired me a lot. The interactive device Rain Room made by Random International was open to public in Shanghai Yuz Museum in September 2015. I paid a visit there. I was impressed by the combination of light and natural media. I was deeply involved in this world. Later I saw many different forms of the reflection of light. The short film Epicenter made by Russian artists of Lighting Tundra and Sila Sveta left a deep impression on me. The artists gave new life to the abandoned area by the use of light and shadow. The artistic work brought great inspiration to my creation which made it possible for me to think of the possibility of the combination of sound and light. The Device Artist Bruce Munro who focused on light-based installation also left a deep impression on me. The first exhibit of the “Desert Radiance” series opened at Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA) on Oct. 3. I also appreciated DENT DE CUIR（A PARIS + MONTREAL BASED FILMMAKERS COLLECTIVE）. SHE’S BAD, a work by them, was creative in color. Yayoi Kusama, Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns were the most adorable artists of mine. Under their influence, I became addicted to light and shadow, sound, device and color.

4. Aims & Objectives

My plan is to arrange a scene in a three-dimensional space that is like a container, surrounded scenes were some art elements that I designed, it was an art design on the basis of red (a color that I defined). In dark scenes, I will set up 24 points to make flickering lights to guide people to interact with these points. When people come into these points, lights around will create an interactive effect. At the same time, when people touch the beam in the middle, corresponding sound will be heard, when more than one person trigger the beam of light, sound will be overlapped to form a unique style. When the sound increases, the scene will gradually become brighter, the artistic elements of the surrounding scene can be displayed in front of people. And each sound after each point is the voice of daily life: in a word, each sound is the representative voice that I extracted from some special situations, such as sobbing, condemning, breathing, and etc., all these voice will be arranged into hundreds of scenes, each scene comes from life, when audience create a different life in the space that I created, he may rethink why people are alive , maybe they will rethink why they escape from problems.

5. Methodology

How to make people who experiences in the space can stay longer when they are attracted by the charm of lights and sounds, the first problem to solve is in which form the lights appear in a confined space, and how to attract visitors to go to the places where lights are? Here the implementation is breathing, to make lights simulate human breath by the way of changing the intensity of lights, the purpose is to give lights life, imagine the effect of the scene, Black confined space with 24 beam spreading in the space, all these are already enough to make the audiences stop their paces. When audiences arrive at the designated position and touch the infrared sensors, the Audio mixing system will automatically turn on, in the field there will be 6 visitors enter each time, a white beam of light represents an audio mix accompaniment, when the first visitor walk to a position, the effect of the light will become increasingly strong, when he reaches that position, light within one point five meters will project to him simultaneously, meanwhile, Audio mixing system will be on to create a voice, other people in other positions can also feel the same effects, meanwhile each bunch of lights twinkles, it will trigger The LED light box settled in advance, each white column will trigger one or several boxes, the outer covers of boxes cast different color chips, LED light boxes burst a batch of lines made of special materials directly, material is nylon fishing line, fishing line will be interspersed throughout the space without affecting the running channels conditions, LED light boxes cast ultraviolet rays into the fishing lines by different color chips, the space has become a vessel of light. This is a scene when only one person in the space, if more than two points are on at the same time, it will produce another scene, for example, the sounds of crying and closing doors can produce a scene, sounds of crying and breathing will produce another scene, when the scene is produced, four walls will produce corresponding visuals, audiences will completely blend into the world of lights, shadows and voices, here he can feel his own life or a life that he never has, such as poverty, rich, war and so on. And at last, people will experience every life, and something will evoke their memories, when six people stand on fixed position, lights in the entire space will make series of visual effects, the sound will become noisy, perhaps this is what behind this bustling world, it is the origin of the world, but also it is the side that you can not ignore, people can no longer take life as an excuse, it can promote the most fundamental question, why are you alive. the entire space has been given the breath of life by the mixed accompaniments of sounds, light efficiency of fishing lines, light effects and some visual projection. There are many problems to be solved in the whole process, we should take many elements into considerations, such as estimated funding, planning time, personal scheduling, print of model, and many details including site selection, power supply, LED lights material, exhibition records, publicity and so on, we have to do a variety of experiments with different materials, if some material can not produce the desired effect, we will make plan B as an alternative.

6．Program of Study & Evaluation:

The First Stage (from September- the middle of October)
Make an investigation about the sounds in the daily life. There are various forms of the investigation and the interview can be the main form. The sound and image used in my work was extracted from the actual life. From the investigation, I’m likely to get improvement for the concept of the design. I can also get to know if the interactive method can be improved or simplified, and understand how familiar the plan with my tutor in order to estimate the technological cost, the possible visual effects, the selection of the site and the total costs.

The Second Stage (from middle of October- March of the next year)
Be prepared to make a list of the detailed plan, the time arrangement and the materials needed. Do the simulated experiment in a site which is eighty percent the same as the required one and keep record of the process. Replace the materials which will influence the effect during the process. Make use of the Internet to find out what hardware can be suitable for the brightness control. Test with the arduino and make part of the codes. Detailed records are needed to test the sensing device such as the range sensor and infrared sensor which can be used in LED light box controlled by sound. Discuss the plan with my tutor, make models with the materials available, and do tests to simulate the actual condition. We can move on to the next stage when we get the anticipated effects.

Plans for lighting
Plan 1: Use of laser

It is easy for preparation and the cost is comparatively low. On the other hand, the laser indicates a sense of modernism which may not match the theme. The concentration of laser beam might fail to get the effect of cone beams which can be a weakness in atmosphere creation.


Plan 2: Use of light

It can get a satisfying effect as expected. Meanwhile the cost may be extremely high especially for the lights with rotating equipment.
I also consider the use of the projector and mirror reflection to achieve the goal which might be easy for preparation with low cost, but the results may require too many efforts in calculation.


The Third Stage (from March to May in the next year)

The interactive part of the scene and sound should be taken into consideration.
The scene outlines as a large container which can be shown as follow:
Considering the size and hardness of the container, we are likely to get the following design. The cuboid structure of the container and the smooth surface will have little limitation for the design. The size of the container is 420cm300cm500cm.


Interaction and sound effect

(I make several plans for the location of bodies and reaction of movement.)
The interactive effect can be achieved by the cooperation of sensors like the range sensor and pressure sensor.
The use of kinect can respond to the human body. It is a kind of infrared sensor which can function well in the darkness. It is supportive for the interaction of several people. However, the accuracy and reliability of kinect is yet to define.
The effect of sound mixing can be perceived within the space by interaction.

Each spot should be responsible for one sound effect. The sound mixing can be achieved by different matches of sound effects.
Calculate the total number and price of LED lights, light boxes, nylon fishing line and dry ice machine. This stage will take place in the exhibition site. Details need to be improved under guidance in order to be perfect. Debugging needs to be performed in the site. LED lights, sensing devices and light sensors have to go through final test. We need to complete the circuital connection, fire prevention measures and the emergency plan. All this can be done around the end of May.


The Fourth Stage (from May of the next year to June)

The production of the poster and propaganda film should be completed in a month so as to make a full and effective advertisement. The device should be tested so that it can be used safely. Make a summary about the plan after its completion. Then we will get a detailed record of the experience we have get, the relationship we have built, the problems we have conquered, and the details we have revised. All of this can be transformed into our treasures in later life.

7. Details about the technology

The interaction of music and light along with the use of kinect can be applied in the software application, the connector and the platform. In terms of the delivery of the information associated with the kinect and the location, the sound mixing system can be controlled by both individual and group users. The activation of different rhythms and sounds can have different musical effects. And different rhythms can control the light or the content of projection so as to create different visual effects. The combination of sound and light can give audience rich and funny experience.
The interactive part in Kinect
Initially, the interaction control is based on kinect or the laser sensor.
Kincet is used to test human bones and the depth by infrared ray. Each machine can operate on six persons a time within the space of the container. I can catch their locations for process. This can be regarded as a backup plan because its refresh rate and reliability remain to be tested.
Two plans are provided for the information process, and there will be more according to the specific circumstance.
One is to compare the distance between the person and the light device, making interactive changes according to the distances.
The other is to divide the length, width and height within the space. Each divided part can be seen as a button. If a part of the visitor’s body stays within the smaller part, the button will be activated. As a result, it will produce the effects of sound and light, or make adjustment to their combination.
The laser acts as a switch, and can be tested by the receiver. The connection of the light in the beginning part won’t trigger the switch. As long as the light is cut by the human body or anything else, the switch will be triggered. This seems like a timely response.
Control of light device
The device of light is planned to test with Arduino and the lights. The software platform will use the Open frame works which are based on C++ as the interactive language. It has additional libraries for Kinect, Arduino and audio processing with comprehensive functions as well. The language can be used for data processing of Kinect. The brief circuit programming of Arduino can also be completed in VS. Some basic hardwires such as the lights and the laser sensor can be confirmed after further investigation.
I have two plans for lighting. One is to use laser, and the other is to use lights. The change and interaction of lights should be further improved. We should arrange the hardware in the first place, then group the optical elements. Based upon the records of matrix, the Arduino will be used to control the lights.
We will expand the area of projection of the single projector equipment by using a flat mirror or a curved mirror. A large number of calculations are needed for the process, so models will be made for simulation in the procedure.

8. Bibliography ：

Yongsi, Liu. The art of light in movies. Beijing: Beijing Broadcasting Institute Press, 2000.