# Co-Labs Body- The Body Unbound
Abstract....
## Workshops
**Day 1- 14/10/22**

***Excersie 1***
***Excersie 2***

Body the unbound on this day, 2 excersises were conducted to determine each persons strenghs and weaknesses but also give an idea to and locate the individuals personality as a practitioner. Excersis 1 was to determine the personaility in the ways of context, methodologies and ways of working. Excersis 2 was to see were each individuals practice lines up this was sectioned into 4 sections, Craft, Design, Technogoly and Art, each label listed the area of practice.

**Day 2- 28/10/22**

***Exercsie 3***

Conducted a workshop with a team of certain individuals from 3 levels of academic skills. This workshop has tried to give everyone an idea of the work related to the body production of a physical piece of work where trial and error is necessary for the understanding of the body to be identified. This workshop demonstrated analogue recreation of motion capture using basic tools, phones, paper, markers etc. A recording of each person was made and then projected onto a sheet of paper through a projector, each colour represented a part of the body were then lines were drawn with every movement of the person.
- Blue represented the head
- Red represented arms and hands
- Green represented feet and legs

**Day 3- 04/11/22**
***Exercsie 4***
This workshop was to be able to understand sounds and how it connects to the body, it also showed that sound can be visualised. There were two tasks one was to draw sound in the shape we see fit that best shows this sounds shape. The second task was recording ambient sound and critacly evaluating on how it affects our emotions.

**Day 4- 11/11/22**
***Exercsie 5***
This workshop involves biometric sounds that correspond to each other making a singular sound. The workshop was about discovering the frequency a human can hear, the vibrations of each frequency and the different pros and cons of each sound frequency. What was discovered? Lower frequency has a quicker wave length, and certain frequencies such as 432Hz known as the miracle tone will work physically on a person, such as the individual will experience headaches or certain individuals experienced sickness and the urge to vomit. This workshop showed how sound interferes with the human body.

**Day 5- 18/11/2022**
***Exercise 6***
This workshop excersie invloved the understanding to how every individual in a team connects their ideas together to construct a final idea that will be excercuted for development purposes. The exciersie was a recreation of an **exquisite corpse art**. Everyone gathered in a team and drew a different segment of a body constructing one piece of art work in this case a character like creature. Exquiaite corpse is a form of art in which different pieces are assmbeled together to achieve a unique design as many ideas from every individual are connected together. Figure 6 show a collaporation between two other individuals.

## Team build up and Idea Development

#### Meeting **28/10/22**
The final team was made with MA students from each section of creative media. A meeting was set with Rob...., who was there to advise everyone regarding the development of a project for the body unbound. The team was named team G. As a team we decided to introduce ourselves and speak on the practice were interested in, our strengths, weaknesses and ideas everyone had for **Body**. A communication on Whatsapp was created to keep in touch. After that, a discusion was held on ideas and how the practice should be held, regarding this we decided to put reference material and a mind map on [Mural](https://app.mural.co/t/mainterdisaplinarypractice19795/m/mainterdisaplinarypractice19795/1666959172585/541b3e93212b3cfbfdede78c2f1b945f021b7af0?sender=uc3bd403533c71073c7450881) and the management of the team and role on [Trello](https://trello.com/b/iY6qNnLN/body).

#### Meeting Conclusion-
Regarding the team meeting, everyone decided to construct some research but also collate it to what body means to you and how it can add to the group's thesis. Research the group's thesis on holograms. This will then be discussed with each member on Friday 04/11/22.

#### Meeting **04/11/2022**
Conducted a team meeting regarding the next stages towards the team project. A final decision was made on what will be developed that will embody the body physically and digitally. The final idea resolves on developing a hologram with the usage of mirrors and projectors. Several ideas were spoken about during this meeting, regarding the theme/genre and what would be projected by the hologram. Three members attended this meeting where a vote was made with the final genre being **body horror**. The idea which was prominently spoken throughout this meeting was a loop of an animation/video of a combination of a human's head being attached to an animal's body. The organ parts would be animated to be removed from the body while the hologram plays the loop. The sound was also spoken about as the idea is for the audience to interact with this hologram.

#### Meeting Conclusion
To conclude, tasks were set to be done by 11/11/2022. Visual representation of the project idea is to be made in the form of a concept or render. Research to be conducted on body horror, holograms and one member of the team who is involved with sound design to research ghost sounds. A video call meeting will be held on 06/11/2022 to discuss the concept or render that will be produced and finalised to present for 11/11/2022, this will be a final project idea which will go into production and development.

#### Meeting conclusion - Teams Call
Conducted a meeting on 06/11/2022, through an MS Teams call. Discussed what each member should focus on constructing and researching towards the final project. The discussion went as follows, tasks set in the team chat shown in figure 4 with each member focusing on implementing their practice. One member of the team has not shown up at any meetings, as a team we tried to contact this member however there was no answer to this day, everyone has decided to stick to the team members we have now and focus on using just each other practices in achieving the final product.

*Figure 1*

#### Meeting/Conclusion **11/11/22**
This meeting concluded some changes and aspects of the project to evaluate on. Device design and construction were set for me and the clip that will be animated will be left to 2 other colleagues. The team has concluded that it will be more efficient and easier to animate body horror aspects on a filmed actress who will present a choreography with still scenes where body horror aspects will be animated and then reversed for another animation to shop up in the next pause scene of the choreography. Another change we had to consider was the shape and size of the device, this will be further researched as the size of the projectors will have a great impact on the sizing and quality of the overall hologram. Finally, a name was given for the device/project (put name); tasks were set for the next meeting to present further work towards the main and finished project.

#### Meeting/Conclusion **18/11/22**
This meeting concluded certain improvements, changes that should be considered and new research to look into for the hologramic device. Everyone spoke about their progress and what next steps should be taken. Everyone decided that on the 25/11/2022 a contingency plan will be made but also a risk assessment due to the scale of the overall project. Discussed issues of the device with the team and Rob who was assessing our progress as the hologram had a potentail flaw, talked about potentail tests which can be conducted to see wether the device works to the corrisponding idea of projecting the hologram. These tests can be seen in figuers 8 to 10.

#### Metting/Conclusion **25/11/22**
In this meeting several asspects of the hologram construction were discussed after further research was made. the image which will be displayed in a holograthic format will have to be made onto a black background and be shown from 4 different dirrections just like example shown in figure 2. This technique is an illusion technique was developed by "John Henry Pepper" and it is called the Pepper Ghost technique. As a team we have discussed exploring this but with more digitalised resources in this case a phone image and a self created pyramid with the tip cut of out of thin plastic matterial. After the discussion the memebers who are to edit the recording to meet the holograms criteria have been notified on the changes they need to their animation/recording.

*Figure 2*

## Research Journal
**Augmeneted Reality**
The Body Unbounded. There are certain factors and relations to the body and technology. The embodiment of body to technology can vary it can be anything, from the development of AI to the creation of virtual reality that can reimagine and expand the bodies, both human and non-human.
The idea of the body to me is the development of physical technology that can be bound to one that is digital its the correlation of two completely different elements that could co-exist together. Holograms can relate to this as they both need a physical body to project a digital body it is not bound by one but has the use of both.

What are holograms and what is augmented reality? A holography is a visual technique that displays scattered rays of light from an object which then presents it in a way that appears three-dimensional. AR also known as augmented reality, is an enhanced version of the real physical world through the use of digital elements, sound or other sensory stimuli.
A hologram can be found as a correlation to AR in the form of it being a digital sensory enhancing element, displayed in the physical world. This is why to first understand how AR works to then be able to understand its sub-element a hologram.

**Google Glass**
A hologram device was developed before which hasnt had much success with its consumers due to its high price. Google Glass is an AR device that allows the user to see digital objects or beings that would normaly not exsist in the real world such as a dragon, google glass are goggle like glasses that project digital images onto a real surface and can only be seen when wearing these glasses.

**Holograms or Illusions**
Holograms can be seen as illusions created by individuals to create an out-of-world experience, illusions allowed people to perceive 3D reality on a 2D surface. The first time this concept was used and mentioned was by "Italian playwright Giambattista Della Porta called *Magia Naturalis (1584)" the title was "How we may see Chamber things that are not". The idea in which Della Porta describes this is "The variety of the images that appear, proceed either from the matter or form of the glass. Crystal must be clear, transparent, and exactly made plain on both sides. And if one or both of these be wanting, they will represent diverse and deformed apparitions to our sight" (Cite). This however was not a technique that was developed at that time it was a theory which then moved down a couple of centuries to 1858 when English engineer Henry Dricks had heard that individuals at that time were communicating with the dead, due to his science like background he would not believe in this and wanted to "dispel their methods by developing one of his own". Dircks developed a certain concept it was "of a hidden room located under the seating area with the actor situated inside illuminated by oxyhydrogen-driven light which would then be reflected off a large pane of glass onstage creating the illusion". There was an issue though that Dircks discover he was not able to successfully create this due to the need for theatres and was demised. This is where John Henry Pepper resurrected the idea and gave it his name, the idea had some differences. Pepper's version "had the actor situated in the orchestra pit, and tilting a plane of glass 45 degrees while matching the actors' angle". The Pepper Ghost technique started as a theory by Porta, then expanded to a concept by Dircks and finalised by Pepper. This developed a cycle of how the whole technique/illusion was created it all began with one idea which was constantly changed and progressed on.

Right now this technique is used more relatively as a **hologram**, with more modern equipment the development of holograms is easier to achieve this regards to the likes of Hololens, Google Glass or any AR-related technology which brings the digital world to life into the real world through a basic lens of a phone camera. People can develop their little holograms using the pepper ghost technique. This can be done with a mobile phone and a clear plastic pyramid shape with its top cut out, this make a pointy bowl shape. The construction of such a home hologram device can be found on [youtube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YWTtCsvgvg&ab_channel=Mrwhosetheboss). The only limitation of this device is its size due to its simplicity it is small and practically no costs are needed as long as the individual has a clear plastic material, sellotape and scissors the rest is self-explanatory.

#### Hologram Idea Construction
Developing a 3D construct of the device that will be projecting the team's body horror "clip" in Maya. The device uses 4 projectors in the middle and projects the "clip" onto several mirrors that then reflect the projection onto each other to create a hologram (not yet proven), the idea for this contraption is that with more mirrors the hologram is more visible and has a better visual quality. After evaluating the construction of the hologram projection room, there might be issues getting the projection to show in the middle of the space it is projecting to, due to the parallel shape it could lead the hologram to just be a reflection as the light travelling from each projector is travelling in 2 directions instead of a loop. The changes that can be made regarding this would be changing the shape of the room making the shape more spherical than hard-edged. Practical tests will have to be made to determine the best shape of the device.

*Figure 3*
*Figure 4*
*Figure 5*
*Figure 6*

#### Maquite Construction
Construction of a 3D maquette designed to test reflectivity and the space in which the projection will take place. Equipment used in the construction was glue, card paper, scissors, fine line pen and tape shown in figure 9. The process of the maquettes can be visually seen in Figures 6 to 8, each demonstrating a process that was conducted to achieve the final maquette. Two maquettes were constructed each of a different shape. The first was designed to be simple and look like a modern bowl, it was constructed using squires and isosceles triangles. The second maquette had a more unique look to it, the shapes were more complex, however, the idea for it was to have more surface area to reflect onto but reflect from aswell as more angles were created in this maquette. Lastly, a small piece was created as an additional reflector if the device were to not work properly precautions were considered. The next step involving these maquettes is testing if a ray of light will reflect from one reflective area to another and so forth.

*Figure 7*
*Figure 8*
*Figure 9*

#### Equipment Management
The sizes of this construction will be kept to a minimum as the larger it is the higher maintains it will be and the cost of it will be larger. Projectors are the main part of the device for the hologram to work. The projectors had to be strong but also compact in size two of these caught my interest shown in figures 6 to 7. These projectors were available to rent from the AV Store however one of them has a limitation to the number of projectors that can be rented out making it hard to decide as it would be a more reliable choice to choose the same projector as the quality and specs of the projector are identical meaning the hologram has a higher chance to run smoothly. Tests will have to be put into place to determine which projector will be more suitable for the device.

*Figure 10*
*Figure 11*
#### Testing Phase 1
A test was conducted to see how the device and a reflective surface reflect against each other and form a hologram. Firstly the maquettes had to be tested on their effectiveness and whether the shape and overall idea would work. A project was directed into the maquette which was covered internally with a reflective material. The idea was to see if the image from the projector will bounce around the dome and create a hologram in the middle. The thesis failed and no image was created, the light from the projector created a rainbow-like effect inside of the dome, and the image was most likely distorted creating this colourful light, shown in figure 8. Secondly, another test was conducted to see if a projection in a single direction on a reflective surface will display on a white surface due to the restriction a projector can project onto. Figure 9 shows this test, the reflection is displayed on a white wall the only issue that can be identified is, the image is upside down this is due to the physics of reflective surfaces when directing an image the correct way around. To be able to change this the image would have to be projected the opposite way around making the image display in a reliable rotation. Finally, a more advanced version of the first test was made, due to the rough surface in the maquettes a decision was made to use a smoother surface to bounce the image from the projector to display onto the wall with is shown in figure 10, I have used my phone which is the galaxy zflip meaning it can bend in certain angles. The reflection, however, was unsuccessful the reflection did not bounce and the image could be displayed. On a final note, further research will need to be made looking into holographic projectors and how to construct a hologram these tests have proven that an image can not be reflected several times to form a hologram as it has no surface to land on directly and be displayed onto.

*Figure 12*
*Figure 13*
*Figure 14*

#### Testing Phase 2

## Links to continue on
https://torl.biblioboard.com/viewer/6e3b0abe-7652-4263-be20-d57d7071ca32/1 page 79
https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/envisioning-holograms-design/9781484227497/
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/mmu/reader.action?docID=1073012
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/augmented-reality.asp
https://www.livescience.com/34652-hologram.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNceVquu02o
https://go-gale-com.mmu.idm.oclc.org/ps/i.do?p=AONE&u=mmucal5&id=GALE|A543207453&v=2.1&it=r&sid=oclc

## References
www.lightfieldlab.com. (n.d.). Light Field Lab. [online] Available at: https://www.lightfieldlab.com/blogposts/the-history-of-peppers-ghost#:~:text=Pepper [Accessed 26 Nov. 2022].

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