Continued research 

I think I prepared pretty well for the presentation and was able to present my creative process\research\and experimentation in the brief 5 minutes. I think so far I have obtained some solid research in the medium I’m working with, the next step would be to reach out to experts in VR and VR documentaries specifically to gain more first hand info on my medium. The only thing that I’m not entirely sure about is the method of interaction: whether I want my project to be entirely observational, like many 360 documentaries do, or if I want to try first person perspective and use embodied actions, something similar to what The Machine to be Another is doing. There are some additional things i gotta figure out:

 

Additionally, I definitely need to do more research on my topic, which is the experience of immobilized elders: the statistics, the access I can get locally within China, how does the pandemic lockdown situation further worsen the situation, etc. And specifically, I need to start finding access to people whom I can interview(elders who are representative of this situation) as soon as possible; since Shanghai is in a severe lock down and I’m currently in Beijing, maybe I can start finding my subjects in Beijing(via volunteer organizations and etc.).

Design & development

So far I’ve finished my first project demo, which is attached below.

With my first experimentation with photogrammetry(thru the IOS app Poly Cam), I 3D scanned a room in my home just for the sake of testing the technology. The scanning felt rather rough to me, I think there are some points to be aware of when scanning:

  1. Uniformed Lighting
  2. Better to scan something that has less details
  3. Gotta figure out how to edit those models in post
  4. Maybe try some higher end apps?
  5. Re-lighting in 3D softwares helps a little bit

In my upcoming iterations, I’ll explore more into photogrammetry and how it may help me in storytelling. I’ll also decide what is the form of interaction like by considering all the factors that contributes to the feasibility of my project.

Useful reference I got from the feedback: Project Water Tight.

User testing

I will start user testing around week 12, after I acquire some first hand info from the interviews.

Iteration & continued production

Noted below.
Documentation & presentation

I will keep documenting weekly and post my process consistently as thesis journals. Previously I have kept my research process on my own notion page. I can move it here if that’s needed.