Overview

MEDIA USED: Video

DESCRIPTION:
JiveJabber is an interactive head, which consists of a video face and an array of brain buttons that trigger single words and expressions. When the user presses buttons in sequence, phrases begin to take form. The brain buttons are color categorized into nouns, adverbs, adjectives, adverbial clauses and prepositions. As one becomes familiar with the buttons, such as a musical instrument, creative control increases and the user can begin to construct grammatically correct sentences or abstract phrases. In addition, the user can open and close the left and right eyes individually through two eyebrow slider controls. This allows some control of facial expression, which can influence the tone of communication.

This was an independent midterm project for Phil Van Allen’s Interactive Objects and Spaces class in the Media Design program at Art Center College of Design.


CONCEPT:
The intention of this project was to explore the behavior and character of an interactive object in a very direct way. I was interested in how an object takes on a life of its own, and what happens when a user contributes to its animation. I was also interested in the idea of an object that the user could naturally identify with in a fun way. Its use as a grammar teaching tool was also a thought.

On a deeper level, one could be inspired by reflecting on the subtleties of how we communicate with each other and the wonderful levels complexity we are capable of. Although we may choose our words and expressions in a similar way to pressing buttons on our programmed brains, we are not at the mercy of an outsider. We are by nature, individually capable of infinite modes of expression which ultimately contributes to the richness of the human experience.


PHYSICAL AND FUNCTIONAL DESCRIPTION:
The head is constructed of 1/4” MDF and stands approximately 18” tall and 8” at its maximum width. A 7” LCD monitor is encased and covered with a laser cut mask, which reveals the eye and mouth areas. The face mask holes are filled with 3/8” flush cut acrylic, to allow a better view of the video screen. I used a couple of computer speakers for ears and rewired the volume potentiometer so I could relocate it to the neck. A couple of slide potentiometers were hooked up to a MAKE controller to control the video clips of the eyes opening and closing. A black, rubber USB ASCII keyboard was used for the brain buttons, which wraps around a wooden cylinder that sits at the top of the head. The buttons were color coded: (BLUE = Nouns, YELLOW = Adverbial Clauses, RED = Verbs, ORANGE = Adjectives and PURPLE = Prepositions.)

Actionscript was used to control the video clips. Each clip was linked to a key press function. Here is a sample of the code I used place in a single frame of the timeline:

stop();

var clipArray = ["0_you_know",
"0_dont_mind_me",
"0_ehhem",
//These are the random clips which continue on...


var lastTouch = getTimer();
var noTouchTime = 10000;

var myListener:Object = new Object();
myListener.onKeyDown = function() {

trace(Key.getCode())


lastTouch = getTimer();
if (Key.getCode() == 9) {
attachMovie("dont_9","dont_9.mov",0);

} else if (Key.getCode() == 8) {
attachMovie("almost_8","almost.mov",0);

} else if (Key.getCode() == 112) {
attachMovie("you_112","you_112.mov",0);

} else if (Key.getCode() == 107) {
attachMovie("yes_107","yes_107.mov",0);}
//These are the mouth clips which continue on...
};
Key.addListener(myListener);


this.onEnterFrame = processEnterFrame;

function processEnterFrame() {
if (getTimer() - lastTouch > noTouchTime) {
var clipNum = Math.floor(Math.random() * clipArray.length);
trace("playing random: " + clipNum);
attachMovie(clipArray[clipNum], "random", 0);
lastTouch = getTimer();
}
}






MECHANICAL USE OF KNOBS
Two slide potentiometers were used with the MAKE controller and configured with NET Connect components in Flash to control the frames of separate movie clips for the eyes. The sliders were placed above the eyes to resemble eyebrows for intuitive control location.

The USB keyboard buttons served as an array of momentary switches, which also triggered individual movie clip playback for the mouth video. The rubber keyboard was located at the top of the head to reference brain function.

PROJECT ANALYSIS
Conceptually, I believe I succeeded at the task I set out to do. The head seemed to take on a character of its own, especially through the use of passive behavior, when it would blurt out random comments while idling. It succeeded functionally, because I was able to get it to operate in the way I hoped it would, using the proper action script and wiring of the components.

The project did not fully succeed in its appearance. The form evolved quite a bit through the process, and vast improvements were made along the way. Beyond the fact that it was a prototype, the execution of the form still seemed somewhat unrefined and clunky. Also, the way the user operated the buttons could be improved because most of the buttons that are used are more conveniently located in the front, while the ones on the back of the head tend to be ignored. The overall size could also be modified. I am interested to see what would happen at miniature scale as well as giant size.


I believe the project was amusing to the audience, yet I think a longer amount of time is needed to explore the buttons to begin to get it to start working with some satisfaction. With too little time, the user may lose interest rather quickly, because it seems that all that is being created is arbitrary nonsense.

It would also be interesting to expand on the vocabulary set as well as play with the frequency and tone. The eyes could also be passively animated instead of being static when idling.

Overall, the project became an obsession because it was really fun. It took a lot of coding and building to get it to the point of presentation, but I learned a lot in the process.