Part of my role in this project was to conceive a concept on top of which we could create a range of designs, and eventually build a set for all of the designs to be situated. Our final idea was to create a street market that set up shop around a naturally occurring portal that supposedly carried you off to other worlds. The aim of the vendors was to sell you products that would be needed in this new and strange world. Everything we created contained qualities of narratives that provided a seemingly never ending and in-depth experience.
The "portal" was created by using a fog machine and projecting a graphic through it. The graphic was a software I had developed through Processing in order to create a sense of depth and to give it a "living" quality. Coupled along with the use of speakers and sound effects, we were able to make it appear to the audience as if the portal were actually being used.
fun fact: we contacted the fire department to shut off the sprinkler system to make sure no false alarms were triggered by the fog machine.
Each actors booth was designed specifically to clue the viewer in as to what the characters backstory was. In this case, this "blackmarket machine parts dealer" was fronting as a fruit vendor.
We did our best to find ways to incorporate qualities of the environment (lobby) to provide further believability for the spectators.
