The Farewell

PERFORMED BY: ANNELISE MENNA & ESTHER COUNSEL
PIANO : SUNG WON CHOI
SOUND : MILES PHILIP & ETHAN HUNTER
CREATED BY : KATE MILLETT, KEEGAN BRAGG & GABRIEL BETHUNE

The Farewell is an Interactive Arts piece based on The Human Voice (Jean Cocteau) and La Voix Humane (Francis Poulenc)
The work expolores the different thematic languages used in Opera and Theatre, brought together through filmic techniques and experimental forms.
 The work is displayed on a TV and heard through a phone receiver. The channels can be changed through the phone buttons.
My work on the piece included the filming and editing of the video and audio, the building of the phone mechanism, the design of the video and audio system, and the programming of Qlab and Arduino.


The piece required the refitting of an old bakelite Secretary Phone. The audio had to come out of the receiver and the buttons changed the channel to switch between the Opera piece, and the Theatre piece.

The phone receiver I disconnected from the switchboard and replaced the old speaker with a spare headphone speaker. I connected the phone to a macbook with a 3.5mm connector. I can now connect this phone to another phone to act as speakers.

Since I was playing with video content that was 10mins each, I decided to use Qlab as the video and audio control. So all I had to create was a simple analogue to digital converter.
I used an Arduino UNO R4 Minima. This allowed me to send digital signals from the Arduino to the computer. Something that earlier UNO’s don’t do.
The phone itself was made to be rewired to suit different needs and so had it’s own breadboard inside.
5v output from the Arduino
Analogue inputs (A0-A5) detect changes in voltage
The phone buttons complete the circuit for their respective inputs.
The Arduino code detects the voltage and outputs a keyboard key that is used as a hot keyed cue in qlab.

PREACH THAT NERD SHIT

Game Design

Line 3
Line 4
Receiver Hang-Up
The interactive nature of this piece allowed me to look at it through the lens of a Game Designer.
An audience member sitting at the table with the phone, without their knowledge, is engaging in play.
As such it is important to allow them to discover aspects of the piece and to use it as they see fit.
Therefore you have a duty to give them an opportunity to discover.

There are 5 visible buttons on the phone, it would be disappointing to have only 2 of those buttons do anything. So you must have something happen on buttons 3 through 5. 
There is also a state for when the person hangs up the phone, and a 10 second grace period for them to pick it back up again before the work restarts.