IDAT 101: Alouette, déployer la piste de danse (Deployment of the dance floor project and worst-case scenarios)

When deploying the equipment for the installation, there has to be consideration as to what the environment contains, and how the equipment is to be installed. Because in our instance, our environment is going to be very busy, especially at the peak times (typically around 22:00-02:00), which is why the equipment has to be placed in a way that will not compromise the connections of our sensors, and power cables. Also, the equipment must last at least 5 hours because in case of failures, the installation has to then be rectified, which can cause problems, especially when the equipment is in mid-usage.

In the diagram below, the floor sensors are placed underneath the dance floor using tripods with the cables being fed to a small trap door that leads to the laptop computer and controllers. The example dance floor is also placed carefully near to the emergency exit, in case of emergencies:

The plan of action for the dance floor is as follows:

• Perform research on the environment, context, requirements (according to needs, demands and instinct based on specification from the client, the customer and other needs in terms of environment that the installation is to be placed at, and health-and-safety matters that can arise owing to wires, placement of sensors, cameras and other miscellaneous equipment required for the installation) and possible outcome.
• Obtain the necessary cables and main equipment.
• Plan out setup, where the equipment is to be placed and the times in which the installation session is to start.
• Code/set up Processing (for the cameras and LCD display behind DJ booth and Arduino (for floor sensors), then set up and test controllers for sound and video.
• Set up Ableton Live and MIDI for sequencers, program in samples.
• Pre-assemble floor sensors and then store, ready for transportation
• Have at least 3 days notice before performance to test setup and at least a month before performance to iron out bugs and other faults.
• Before departure to venue, ensure equipment is secure and packed in a way that the equipment will not get damaged en-route.
• Ideally, arrive before the club even opens (with direction from management) and do pre-run tests to ensure that last-minute problems are ironed-out and eliminated.

However, there can be other issues in addition to the aforementioned generic failure. These are also listed as follows:

• Software bugs and sudden errors in operating system can result in non-operation of equipment.
• Missing essential cables and/or tape to cover cables to prevent hazards.
• Samples can be corrupted, resulting in sound problems or unusual anomalies in samples.
• Sensors can be influenced wrongly by many environmental factors, such as a magnetic field interference, spilt drinks (which can also cause damage to equipment if not placed properly) and being near toilets with turbojet hand dryers.
• Settings in the sequencers and the software can be forgotten, thus requiring a manual setup, which can delay the intended start time.
• And also, transportation factors, including traffic, security of equipment and accidents.

IDAT 101: Contextual and Environmental study

To study what we will be expecting in the installation, we branched off to various nightclubs and sizeable bars in and around the city of Plymouth to check out the size, dimensions, suitability and also to measure what sort of audience we are going to target our installation at. Presuming that the sort of crowd will be young (at least of legal drinking age and above, but particularly also, students), we then had an idea about what we will be dealing with in terms of popularity, as well as what sort of requirements we will have to meet.

Because many young people, especially students, will be into latest, immersive and intriguing technologies, our dance floor installation will be without a doubt suitable for the audience. The space in which we are to place the installation at will be very crowded, but nonetheless it will also suit our specification very well, because not only is our installation designed to be fun and immersive, it is also designed to be influenced by the crowd, so basically, it makes them the 'DJ' because the installation is controlled by the crowd themselves, especially when it comes to making beats, basslines, rhythm and sound with special visual effects thrown in at the same time. At the same time, we took various photos (albeit on a low-quality built-in phone camera, but still captures the idea as many will probably have benign phone cameras, although many are anyways switching to better models and some even bring proper compact digital cameras with them) whilst I did a sound sample in a bar to highlight how busy our environment will be (link will be at the bottom).

However, the nightclub environment isn't without space issues. Because the environment will obviously be busy, placement of equipment and wiring will have to be carefully thought out before any implementation can occur, as well as researching the venue. But this should not really be the issue, especially in a large-scale nightclub, because this is what we are targeting this installation at, but we also have to address health-and-safety concerns at the same time, as per law and instinct.

In this example of a generic nightclub, this floor plan gives an impression of how our installation will be laid out in this environment. Although it really depends on how the nightclub dance floor is laid out, and also the size of the room as well, this is a typical representation of a generic nightclub environment that will accommodate all the needs and requirements of the specification. In this floor plan, the motion detectors are placed underneath the floor, with the addressable sensors and cameras placed strategically in order to provide a better triangulation of the dance floor in order to optimise the ambient lighting and randomly-generated images, which builds up the atmosphere of the environment, in addition to inputs generated by the sequencers, which are used by the general public to create his/her/their own music to dance to.

Link to group research: https://tulip.plymouth.ac.uk/Module/IDAT101/Wiki/FunkyTown.aspx

Link to sound recording: http://bit.ly/idat101recording