AGI Studio 2 - Week 1 - Statement of Intention

RATIONALE – Why are you doing what you are doing?

Articulate the rationale and set of motivations for making your project. What could be an inquiry or question that you are exploring in your project?

During semester 1, coming from an interactive background, I decided to take a look into linear animation. Using Cinema 4D, most of my inspiration came by exploring the 3D looping “relaxing” animation scene, in which I saw a great opportunity to reinterpret in ways to reflect not just relaxation, tranquillity; but other feelings, using a minimalistic 3D animation approach with basic figures and the use of sound as a kind of “context locator”.

This time, it caught my attention all the situations derived from the pandemic and how it’s affecting one of the industries that I used to be part as a regular client: the musical event industry. Since the beginning in the pandemic, a lot of the big names in the EDM industry (my preferred genres are around techno) have been trying to innovate while not gaining revenue by the traditional means: concerts, festivals, small events, DJ tours, among others. That’s why, one of my three projects is aimed to tackle this situation by creating an engaging virtual experience that can be used in this context.

After thinking about some possible inquiries, these are my candidates:

• What would be an engaging secondary activity that promotes interaction between the spectators in a digital/virtual party?
• How can a cross-contaminated party (real and virtual, simultaneously) can increment the interaction of online spectators?
• What type of interaction can create a collaborative party with interactions between DJs and assistants?

CONTEXT – Who else is doing what you are doing?

Identity your field and the related practice and/or theories that situate your project.

Like I said in the RATIONALE, big names in the industry are looking for alternatives to tackle the effects of this pandemic. The main problem that afflicts a traditional real physical event during the current COVID-19 context is that social distancing is not possible (or desirable in relation to the economic part); that is why while this emergency is still present, there is not going to be public, no DJs touring, and hence, no revenue.

Additionally, this type of physical experiences are enhanced by secondary activities that involve hanging out with your preferred group of friends, knowing new people, eating inside or outside the event, sometimes there are playful activities which are promoted by brands, among others. This creates an ecosystem in which assistants are immersed and often creates an “bubble” of preferred activities, in which music is put in the background.

Generally speaking, a festival or big concert context is not well represented in a virtual space by current standards, or when it tries to resemble one it doesn’t generate or fulfills the same expectations. Despite this, virtual parties/raves have been present in many ways during the last two decades, trying to replicate or propose similar or enhanced experiences. Having a look into them, videogames play an important role, creating virtual environments that can visually and functionally get close to the “real deal”.

There have been some amazing concepts carried through this year:

• Awakenings 2020: A virtual festival consisting of multiple DJ sets streamed in YouTube. While many DJs from Europe could play in person in the Gashouder, a club located in Amsterdam, others streamed from their houses in front of a green screen, been able to put them into the virtual Gashouder, a 3D representation of the club.
• Tomorrowland Around the World: This famous music festival from Belgium tried to replicate the same experience, replicating their stages from real life into a 3D world, where artists were pre-recorded and put in front of a stage with thousands of fake 3D assistants. The assistants from all around the world where charged to be able to attend the festival from their PCs, phones, tablets, etc.
• Resident Advisors Club Quarantane: A online club consisting on 3 days of nonstop music by a wide arrange of DJs and a set of rooms like the “Cloakroom” or the “Bar”, giving the assistants the chance to chat and interact with others users attending the “club”.
• Virtual Raves: Videogames like Second Life, Minecraft, Fortnite, VRChat; offer players a place to move and interact with other players, often having native or external tools to reproduce music and creating a party/rave experience.
• Zoom parties: They consist of a normal Zoom meeting, being one of the users the DJ and the other, the attendants. This is one of the most simple but unique approach, because people often personalize their room and dress to create a rave environment visible to others.

However, it doesn’t mean that there were no “effective” ways to deliver this type of experiences online in the past, being one of the main channels of exposure for brands and DJs - live or pre-recorded set streams. Some of the most important channels are:

• Boiler Room: A collective and organizers of multiple parties around the world, streaming all of them through platforms like YouTube or Facebook, live from the events or festivals.
• Cercle: A channel that organizes parties in beautiful and exotic scenes around the world.

METHODS – How will you do what you are doing?

Describe the activities (pre-production, production etc) you will undertake to develop and complete your project.

1. Defining and delimiting the scope of the project. Is there an opportunity for the creation of a full interactive experience in a web environment? Should I use the existing platforms provided by video games and virtual reality applications?
2. Pre-production:
   • Create sketches of the preliminary idea, considering physical devices, software and all the items involved in the development of the project.
   • Build a user flow with the proposed functionalities.
   • Select a language, software, or video game to develop in.
   • Design an early prototype with tools like Adobe XD, InVision, among others.
   • Make user testing to validate the ideas and interactions.
3. Production:
   • Define an aesthetic for the project.
   • Develop the prototype.
   • Make user testing searching for bugs or undesired results.
4. Post-production:
   • Graphic improvement and retouching.
   • Sound design.

OUTCOMES – What are the tangible objects that must be made to articulate success?

Outline what your final submission will be and indicate any potential impact, significance or value this project may have.

• A secondary interactive activity that can engage a party or rave in a virtual environment.
• A web app that can be accessed in any device.
• A video game plugin, extension or development.