This is not exhaustive. Edit this post with more.
Many decisions to make/things to clear up still.
]]># Minimum Outline
Gate is mean to cone, just wants to enjoy it’s hobby.
Because of being mean, it loses the golf ball.
Nobody wins.
Cone forgives the gate, and they get the golf ball back with teamwork.
They are friends.
# Minimum Viable Plot Beats
– Gate opens and closes for people as they pass.
– Cone alerts for obstacles.
– Gate looks left and right
– Gate Plays golf, alone. Enjoys itself.
– Cone ‘awakens’ and approaches gate. First, watching. Golf?
– Cone bothers the gate. Wants to play golf.
– People pass (visual punch line, freezing this ‘argument’ as they return to duty).
– Gate just wants to play golf alone.
– Cone harasses gate who tries to ignore it.
– People pass. One of the people finds the golf ball, and takes it. “oh cool!”
– Now both gate and cone are sad. Dejected.
– a few people pass. They do their jobs. Gate a bit ‘slow’
– Person who took golf ball returns, tossing the golf ball up and down, on the phone, pacing left/right.
– Person walks up to gate but gate doesn’t open. “Yeah, i don’t know, a defective unit or something, won’t let me pass. Yeah, I hate these things too”
– Gate stops the person and cone knocks into them as the person tosses up the golf ball, causing them to drop it. Gate lifts, the person passes, chased off by the cone.
– Golf ball is returned
– They play golf together, now friends.
The symmetric version:
The non-symmetric version:
The original 90-degree travel version:
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While there had been some disagreement over how many robots to include in the performance, I still believe that if our story concept calls for it, we should have at least 2 robots. One could have more complex movements while the other could make simple motions in one axis and be attached to one pneumatic device.
A lot of us had agreed on having the robot perform some form of slapstick comedy, so currently I’m trying to figure out how to add humor to my initial ideas while taking into account other ideas that we had agreed on during our meeting.
I had seen a video of our robotic prototype cleanly hitting a golf ball, which I think is great progress and can definitely shape the story that would drive our performance. It’s awesome that just getting out there and making something regardless of how it may or may not relate to a story can strongly inform our concept with its motion. The simple movement of hitting a ball can tell a much larger story.
I have some suggestions to our story given the prototype’s kicking movement, most of which fall under the category of slapstick comedy and interactivity:
-This robot (which I’ve named Golfie) can accidentally kick another robot, which can give pain signals such as flashing colorful LED’s, distressed beeping (or any other sound effect that can indicate comedic pain). Golfie’s main job involves that “kicking” motion, so it could be a sweeper bot, a simple robot that just loves mini-golf, or a traffic-directing robot that somehow got caught up with the more complex robot character that disrupts its mundane activities. In this story, Golfie is not the protagonist but a supporting character. If Golfie ends up being the mini-golf fanatic, it could have a flashing number 4 on it as a nice little pun and indicator of its purpose and obsession with this activity.
-Maybe Golfie could indirectly teach the other robot (which I’ve unofficially named Student) how to play mini-golf. We wouldn’t have to build an entire mini-golf course, but we’d have to construct a basic course (the hole could just be a little wooden box) and a simple golf ball dispenser for each of the robots.
Story Beats
The characters are simple: Golfie is a robot that is obsessed with mini-golf to the point of being oblivious and wants to spread the joy of playing this game. Student is confused by the rules of mini-golf and wants to learn, but is also very obnoxious. Student also may or may not want to get back at Golfie for accidentally hitting them.
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I have 2 story sketches. Both I am not super happy with.
Story Sketch 1
# Elevator Pitch
2 Friends are playing with a ball, which gets lost over a fence. They must use teamwork in order to get the toy back.
# Relationships
– One mobile wheeled robot, (perhaps a modified remote controlled vehicle, newly skinned), another larger arm swinging/sweeping robot. They are friends, and have a positive relationship with each other.
– In the world, they are rambunctious kids
– They are afraid of authority figures, external threats, and more. They are afraid of doing something wrong, and getting in trouble.
– The audience should empathize with the machines.
– The robots try to impress each other, they want the other robot to like them.
# Story beats
– The robots play.
– The ball is lost.
– The robots are lost.
– Robot 1 tries to get the ball back.
– Robot 2 tries to get the ball back.
– They are dejected, and defeated.
– They are about to give up.
– They discover that they can work together (in a non-obvious way)
– Something only possible with robots, which creates a comedic beat. Like they take themselves apart and put themselves back together; or a power line that holds them back, one unplugs it and moves it to a different outlet, and now they can reach. Up to this point in the story, the robots have behaved like human actors; so the audience expects this as the reality; but the ‘twist’ so to speak, the discovery, as that the robots are well aware they are robots and we leverage that to create an unexpected turn which allows for the recovery of the object.
– They get it back and are happy.
– Hooray friendship
# Notes On Realization
– The point of the story is to begin as if we are doing a story with robots merely working as human actors, and then during the critical turn, the robots leave this ‘reality domain’ that the audience assumed, embrace their mechanical nature to some degree, and then they can achieve success. So while the simple morality play is about ‘we need friendship’, that’s just scaffolding. The play is about the robots needing to BE robots, not human actors or puppets, in order to realize their goals.
Basically, if we can’t defeat cliche’s or obvious choices, then leverage the audiences expectations.
Some ideas for that turn:
early in the play something goes wrong, we break the 4th wall and a human intervenes and fixes things. Later, the robots ‘call’ for the human again, to help them. We go from play-space to room-space comedically.
One robot wants to unplug the other robot (who is not a fan of the idea) so that the giant extension cable stops limiting their movements.
The robots deconstruct and rebuild themselves (“quote unquote”).
The robots build a new robot, they deconstruct the set, or something else visually extreme.
I hope to come up with something better. Eck.
# Evaluation
The underlying premise is to leverage and then circumvent an audiences expectations about what they think robot performers will be. We give them the obvious answer to “robot play” and then we change it DURING the play, and as a PART of the play/plot. The traditional plot is completed, but in such a way as to get the audience to be forced to reconsider the assumption about what robots in theater can do.
The “friends lose a ball” script is, well, bad. I’m not happy with it. I imagine it as being interestingly challenging (and thus impressive to an audience) in mechanics, and immediately readable by an audience. Clear goal, clear problem, etc.
The play will be a success if the audience leaves with their mind turning about what robot theater can be. I am worried that it will play as a gimmick or joke (which it sort of should be; funny that is) and the audience will go ‘ah, they left the space and came back’ and not ‘ah, they could do that the whole time.’ It is still up to task to identify the core ‘Theater space’ assumptions we want to question, and what ‘other space’ we want to enter.
Story Sketch for RCP 2
# Elevator Pitch
A street-performer robot interacts with a crowd, trying to get tips for it’s hat.
# Relationships
The robot actually reads the audience
– It knows when it’s been given money
– It knows if the audience is engaged
– It knows if someone is leaving
– It knows how many audiences there are.
# Story Beats
The robot is able to perform ‘tricks’. Not, like, juggling; but robot things. We build a robot that does a little dance, is what I am imagining.
As audiences come and go, it calls to them (yells at them, pneumaticaly), it gets upset and childish and emotional. It does not have a face (to easy!) but it’s mannerisms should reflect that. Nobody around? It stops and stoops, dejected. One person walks in and that person gets all of the attention. It wasn’t to please them, “looks” right at them, etc. As more guests arrive it gets more energy. If the guests arn’t paying attention it will be louder and more annoying, if they are, it will do a nice formal – non-noisy/chaotic dance.
# Notes On Realization
– Computer Vision. Woo.
– We don’t need much robot to express much
– Interesting if the robot is disconnected/apart. Like it has a “hand” that shakes a tip hat, and that’s just on the floor. The main dancing body, perhaps it spins around a light or something else; separated from one single ‘actor’.
– How little gesture/posture/movement do we need to express this robot’s emotions?