Equipment , Budget and Software List

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This is my budget , equipment and software list for the project ,i made some minor changes on it , still pretty much the same like fyp 1 budget planning  .

Budget List
Quantity	Description	Unit Price	Total
3	Webcam	50	150
4	Plywood	50	200
1	Paint		25
1	Splitter Cabel		25
2	Speaker	70	140
1	Printing		30
1	Travel		70
1	Zoom H2 Rental		100
2	Glass	5	10
1	Etc		150
		Total :	900
Equipment List
Quantity	Items
1	PC / Laptop
2	Speaker
1	Keyboard
2	Power Extension
	Software List
	Adobe Soundbooth
	Adobe Photoshop
	Adobe After Effect
	Webcam Zone Trigger
	Audacity
	Adobe Flash
	Google Sketch Up

Action Script

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I  constructed short script with action scripts 3  for mp/wav player for my project . This will flash will be running on top of Webcam Zone Trigger , this flash will randomly pick an audio to play .. motion >zone trigger > keyboard > flash > sound
 

example :

//array
var my_sounds:Array = [Sound1, Sound2, Sound3]; 

//random number
var my_num:Number= Math.floor(Math.random()*3);

//And use it to pick a sound and instance that: 
var ChosenSound = my_sounds[my_num]();
var playing:Sound = new ChosenSound();


//play and stop function using keyboard , this keyboard button will response with motion detection by webcam zone trigger .

stage.addEventListener(KeyboardEvent.KEY_DOWN,keyBoardPress);

function keyBoardPress(event:KeyboardEvent) {
    //Space bar press
    if (event.charCode == 32) {
        playing.play();
    }
   
    //Shift key press
    if (event.charCode == 16) {
    playing.stop(); 
    }

}

Software Test

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Zone Trigger


As planned , my project involve motion detection .. so i decided to do the detection on Zone Trigger . Webcam Zone Trigger is the multi-purpose motion detection software , The software simply alerts you when motion is detected within the camera`s view.

software screenshot

I Installed the software and the webcam in order to test the detection and to see hows it work ,trying to figure out if this software suit to be  use in my project.

testing webcam

I can bind any action the a Hot Spot, making this software a very versatile tool. Zone Trigger lets users decide what will happen when motion is detected in an unlimited number of "Hot Spots" located anywhere within the camera's range.

software experiment

This is simple and good software for motion detection . The only downside its only play WAV file , the delay option between interval of something mostly 30 second ,  and both sound source playing when 2 hot spot detect together .

software screenshot

I decided to go with the software, I planned instead of using the option "play the sound" this software will call "keyboard keys" when it running . A simple flash will running on top of this software respond to the keys ( A, B ,C , D ) , this flash will help switching random sound , sound interval , 2 sound wont play together , and start and stop scripting . This will help with the downside of the software .

Halfalogue ?

I stumble upon a good article in internet about eavesdropping it give me some insight for my content for my installation  ..



Wrote By Jonah Lehrer
Published on September 10, 2010  

A fascinating new paper in Psychological Science explores an apparent paradox of eavesdropping: It’s harder to not listen to a conversation when someone is talking on the phone (we only hear one side of the dialogue) than when two physically present people are talking to each other. Although the phone conversation contains much less information, we’re much more curious about what’s being said. Let’s call this “The Annoying Guy On The Train Effect.” He is the last man on earth we want to listen to, and yet he is impossible to ignore.
What explains “The Annoying Guy Effect”? The answer returns us to the nature of information processing, and the perverse way in which the brain allocates our attention. As I noted in this post on curiosity, we are especially drawn to gaps in information. (This is known as the “information gap” theory of curiosity, and was first described by George Loewenstein in the early 90s.) In this new study, the Cornell psychologists build on the “information gap” model. They demonstrated, for instance, that subjects listening to only one side of a conversation – what they call a “halfalogue” – showed decreased performance on a range of cognitive tasks that require undivided attention. In a second experiment, the researchers confirmed that it’s the “unpredictable nature” of the halfalogue that makes it so compelling. Because we don’t know what the conversation is about, or where it’s headed, we can’t help but eavesdrop. Our attention is sucked in by the uncertainty of the words.
This effect doesn’t just apply to obnoxious cell phone conversations. In Proust Was A Neuroscientist, I discuss how the same concept can also explain the allure of music:

Before a musical pattern can be desired by the brain, it must play hard to get. Music only excites us when it makes our auditory cortex struggle to uncover its order. If the music is too obvious, if its patterns are always present, it is annoyingly boring. (Just think of an alarm clock, which is a perfectly predictable pitch playing in perfect time. Not so nice.) This is why composers introduce the tonic note in the beginning of the song and then studiously avoid it until the end. The longer we are denied the pattern we expect, the greater the emotional release when the pattern returns, safe and sound.  Our auditory cortex rejoices. It has found the order it has been looking for.
To demonstrate this psychological principle, the musicologist Leonard Meyer, in his classic book Emotion and Meaning in Music (1956), analyzed the 5^th movement of Beethoven’s String Quartet in C-sharp minor, Op. 131.  Meyer wanted to show how music is defined by its flirtation with—but not submission to—our expectations of order. He dissected fifty measures of Beethoven’s masterpiece, showing how Beethoven begins with the clear statement of a rhythmic and harmonic pattern and then, in an intricate tonal dance, carefully avoids repeating it.  What Beethoven does instead is suggest variations of the pattern.  He is its evasive shadow. If E major is the tonic, Beethoven will play incomplete versions of the E major chord, always careful to avoid its straight expression. He wants to preserve an element of uncertainty in his music, making our brains beg for the one chord he refuses to give us. Beethoven saves that chord for the end.
According to Meyer, it is the suspenseful tension of music (arising out of our unfulfilled expectations) that is the source of the music’s feeling. While earlier theories of music focused on the way a noise can refer to the real world of images and experiences (its “connotative” meaning), Meyer argued that the emotions we find in music come from the unfolding events of the music itself.  This “embodied meaning” arises from the patterns the symphony invokes and then ignores, from the ambiguity it creates inside its own form. “For the human mind,” Meyer writes, “such states of doubt and confusion are abhorrent. When confronted with them, the mind attempts to resolve them into clarity and certainty.” And so we wait, expectantly, for the resolution of E major, for Beethoven’s established pattern to be completed. This nervous anticipation, says Meyer, “is the whole raison d’etre of the passage, for its purpose is precisely to delay the cadence in the tonic.” The uncertainty makes the feeling. Music is a form whose meaning depends upon its violation.

In other words, listening to Beethoven is the artistic form of the halfalogue – it is a sensory stimulus that draws us in precisely because of what it doesn’t tell us. The information is incomplete – we don’t know when, exactly, the tonic will return – and so we eagerly await its completion. Meyer would later apply this principle to all narratives. He pointed out, for instance, that the moment of most suspense in a movie is also the moment of peak unpredictability. We are riveted because we have no idea what will happen next.

Reference : http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/09/the-science-of-eavesdropping/

Audio Editing

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I now using  Adobe Soundbooth CS5 to edit my recorded track on this project , this software really can help noise filtering , clean up recordings, polish voice, customize music and sound effects, and do much more .

I think if you are already familiar with Adobe's other products, you will find it easy to navigate through all the menus and module windows because the movable panels have a similar behavior than those of the other Adobe products.

volume matching, non-destructive editing, and MP3 compression

With the ability to apply different modifications to the same track at the same time and put them side by side, i can compare which modifications work best on your audio track .

editing

Adobe Soundbooth allows users to export an audio track to a native ASND format, a format which can be easily integrated with other Adobe products like  Flash,  Premiere, and  After Effects..

editing software screenshot

Editing still in progress , some content are done . Still searching more ideal sound , speech or anything interesting that suit my project .

Digital Content

This is several recorded footage i been working on,its all raw and only been cut by open source software : Audacity 1.3 . I`ll get Adobe SoundBooth CS5 soon .


-  Recorded at bus stop beside of the road.




-  Recorded at playground near my house , a father with his son and daughter playing slider around .




- Recorded at Media Post Production class last semester , several student chatting while waiting for lecturer .




- My hungry cat.




-Recorded In Komuter to Sentul , 2 indian guy chatting.




- Recorded inside the kitchen .




- Water dripping into basin.




- KTM station .

Installation Diagram

Current installation diagram from top view . Click the image for larger view ..

Diagram

pre-impression diagram

Floor Plan

This is my current floor plan and space planning . Please click the image for larger view.

Top View

Front View

Side View

From Back

Gantt Chart

Click The Image For Larger View

Installation Flowchart

Click the image for larger view

Installation Flowchart

Finalize Proposal

Topic
Spying

Title
Eavesdropper


Background

Eavesdropping is the act of secretly listening to the private conversation of others without their consent, this is commonly thought to be unethical.
It has got many names or rather aspects: spying, eavesdropping, and so on...and it are considered negative most of the time. This feeling that you need to know everything that's going on or most things keeps making you carry out some weird actions sometimes.


“There's nothing like eavesdropping to show you that the world outside your head is different from the world inside your head”

-Thornton Wilder (1897-1975)



Problem Identification

Spying and eavesdropping is some people habit. They always wonder what is happening behind the walls, always wanted to hear the truth. All those conspiracies and plans behind their back, the arguing, the discussion, what channel they watching and etc. They always wanted know all of them and some
of us that doesn’t have that habits and never experience eavesdropping or spying will wonder what eavesdropper really hearing.


Aim and Objectives

• To explore physical motion and non computer device as a way of interacting with sound.

•  To making the glass as extension of the sound world, not confined in a speaker or other sound hearing device.
• To give user enjoy the exemplary experience as an eavesdropper

Ideation and Concept

Eavesdropper is a sound installation project consisting of a series of speaker setup behind a closed wall, a motion detection program with webcams and a drinking glass to interacting with the installation. During the exhibition user will engage the installation by browsing an empty wall with a glass giving an
impression of trying to eavesdrop from other side of the wall , users eventually will hear recorded audio of anonymous peoples and places that have been recorded by eavesdropping method when hit certain hotspots.



Review, Analysis and Precedent Studies

http://faizfyp.blogspot.com/2010/07/presedence-study.html
http://www.telart.org/text.htm
http://www.icinema.unsw.edu.au/projects/prj_eavesdrop.html

Click the images for larger view.

Teaser

Poster

National Art Gallery Trip

Trip Pictures :

Click Here ~~~~


On the 5th of August , DM Fyp class had made a field trip to National Art Gallery with Mr. Kok Yoong .

On the first floor , There a an exhibition entitled "Can We Meet" , it a Malaysia and Japan Video Art Exchange .This exhibition brings together video works from Malaysia and Japanese artist . What is the meaning of 'distance' when video can instantly show us people and places from around the world ? In this spaces between video screens , this collaboration ask the question : where and how we can meet ?

One notable artist in this exhibition is Mdm Kok Siew Wai , the media production lecturer .

While on the second floor there are solo exhibition from local artist Mr Zulkifli Yusoff with tittle Negaraku,
In my opinion , Mr Zulkifli`s art look  quite old school , it seem like from the 80`s and 90`s . All his material based from wood , metal scrapped , aluminum , acrylic , resin and glass . He even make print on wood and metal .

At the 3rd floor there is a painting exhibition. A collaboration art from Singapore , Indonesia and Malaysia . Very expressive ,  fine and unique . Well i observed all those pieces i came to notice that Indonesian artist are very traditional ,  their painting always seem heavy influenced with culture of their own, while Singapore artist is kinda modern and expressive . Malaysian artist have mixed of those.

And finally our group have engaged with short discussion / talk with Mr Ropesh , the curator or National art gallery ( Mr K.Y friend) , mostly we talk about our Fyp project and how to enhance it . One thing interesting when Mr Ropesh raise the issue about thinker and dooers .. it really hit me up , been thinking about that until i felt asleep in Mr KY`s Car .

I think i came up with my own answer on the nap ,

Am i a thinker ?

What good does it do me to be a doer and not a thinker?

What good does it do me to be a talker.....but not a walker?

To be truly be great.....I think we must achieve a balance of all these things. We must first think....then do. There for we can talk our talk and back it up with our walk.

Am I making any sense or nonsense ? ...

Content Development

Content Development

Original proposal …

Background

Spying is some people habit. They always wonder what is happening behind the walls, always wanted to hear the truth. All those conspiracies and plans behind their back, the arguing, the discussion, what channel they watching and etc. They always wanted know all of them.


Aim and Objectives

- To explore physical motion and non computer device as a way of interacting with sound.
- To making the glass as extension of the sound world, not confined in a speaker or other sound hearing device.
- To give user sense of experience spying on the next wall.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

In order to expand more on this topic spy, I made a mind map about spying; it’s not worth scanning because the handwriting is quite bad... So I will copy from what I got from the mind map in point form.

Why Spy ?

-         secret / gossips (politics and relationship)

-         experimental

-         curiosity ( in sound , in life , etc)

-         Habits / hobby

-         Jobs ( government , police , fbi)

-         Power and control ( government and people , Boss on worker)

-         Ideology

-         Monetary ( people spying for money)

-         Trust issues

-         Influence ( movies , TV and friend)

How Spy ?

-         Online

-         Research

-         Phone

-         Spy Gadget

-         Eavesdrop

-         Peoples

-         Observation

-         Shortwave radio

-         Transposition Ciphers

Spying is a broad topic to be cover, so I will just a pick up certain elements that suit to be implementing in my installation.

Why spy in my installation

- Secret / gossips

- Experimental

- Curiosity in sound

How Spy in my installation?

Using glass to hear from other side of the wall like the proposal,

I don’t know what to category this kind of act, maybe low level spying (if that kind of thing exists) or maybe just eavesdropping.

Why Glass ?

- To explore physical motion and non computer device as a way of interacting with sound.
- To making the glass as extension of the sound world, not confined in a speaker or other sound hearing device.

- The glass is symbol for hearing even we not use it as hearing aid in everyday life, but I m sure most people will get it.

Content Development II

Sound

What kind of sound should be my installation?

Well I have narrowed down the category of spy that should be on my installation,

- Secret / gossips

- Curiosity in sound

- Sound in everyday life

Revise how sound affect us everyday:

Physiology – breathing, heart rate, brainwaves

Psychological – emotion, mental state etc

Cognitive – can’t listen to two things at once.

Behavior - The actions or reactions of a person

I will try to implement this effect on sound that will be in my installation.

Well I have made some research about this on my SRI , here a part of chapter 1 :

     Firstly music evokes emotional reactions in people through a combination of its elements: rhythm, tempo, melody, themes, chords and instrumentation. There are many different musical styles that appeal to different people for different reasons.

Secondly speeches is sound generated by the human vocal cords and is a very expressive medium. The advantage it has over written text is that it is much more defined. Cotton and Oliver wrote on the advantage of speech over text:

"The added advantage is that we can also hear the tone of voice, intonation, pace and rhythm, which can further clarify and illuminate what is being said." (Cotton/Oliver, 1997, p 81)

Then finally sound effects, also named ambiance or environmental sounds, are sounds that give the listener a sense of being in an actual space, the listeners could imagine themselves in a different world. They provide a good way to achieve an immersing experience.

Sound that should be in my installation:

Contain:

- Secret / gossips

- Curiosity in sound

- Sound in everyday life

From

-         Speech or conversation

-         Sound in everyday life

-         Music if possible

-         ambience / sound effect

-         accident/unplanned sound

Its seem like i need some talents for sound recording and a good scripts.

This content development is the harder part of my project , I need more time to think and research what should I record to really give the more impact on the users . But for now, I stick with above list.

Content Development III

Recording Trial

Last two week , I managed to get myself a day with a portable recorder for free from my friend`s studio .
http://aftertwelvestudio.blogspot.com/ ( Shafiq , Thanks so much )

Well i got not much of tracks because when the time i got this recorder .. i`ve not made my decision yet about what should it be in my installation  , took me sometimes to explore the recorder and playing around with..

Zoom H2 Portable

This recorder allows a variety of polar patterns and even supports 5.1 surround sound. Record at 96kHz, 48kHz, 44.1kHz or MP3. Archive files to your computer using the USB port. Use as a USB mic to record your guitar or vocals directly to computer and a lot other features. Very neat .. but I've been inform the price is around RM700...


I got some tracks with these recorder but most have a lot of noise because i don't use the Mic caps on the first place . Here some clear track that have been recorded


Water dripping into basin




Jinggo get hungry

Audio Splitter

I figured that I might need more then one set of speaker to use in this installation,  so I been searching for the method  for wire a couple of set of pc speaker to one pc/laptop. Turn out that nothing much to be done I just need an adapters, that are available to expand the audio system for a PC to include multiple speakers.

The simplest way to connect two sets of speakers to a PC is to use an audio splitter available at electronics stores. It is essential to use only self-powered speakers with this setup, because a PC does not have built-in amplifiers to drive external speakers.

I don’t buy the audio splitter yet, so no experiment on this at the moment, but I got the instruction how to wire the speaker it seem moderately easy.

Audio Splitter

Things Need:

• PC
• Speaker signal splitter
• Two sets of external speakers

Step 1

Connect each pair of speakers by inserting the plug on the cable from the left-channel speaker into the OUTPUT jack on the right-channel speaker. There should be four speakers wired in two pairs.

Step 2

Connect the mini-plug on the cable from each right-channel speaker to a jack on the signal splitter. The Y-shaped signal splitter has two audio jacks on one end and a mini-plug on the other.

Step 3

Insert the mini-plug on the signal splitter into the AUX OUT or Audio OUT jack on the PC, pushing the plug straight into the jack until it seats with a click.

Step 4

Plug a DC adapter into the power jack on the back of each right-channel speaker, then connect the transformer on the other end of each cable to a surge protector power strip. Plug the power strip into an electrical outlet.

Step 5

Activate the two pairs of speakers by turning the on/off volume-control knob clockwise on each right-channel speaker and adjust the volume to the desired level.

Read more:

http://www.ehow.com/

http://www.computing.net/howtos/list/1.html

Artist Impression and Diagram

Click the images for larger view .

Diagram Plan

Floor Plan

Click the images for larger view.

Front View

 

TopView

Back View

Side View

 

Multimedia Application Storyboard

Click the images for larger view .

Installation Flowchart

Click the image for larger view.

Budget and Equipment List

Budget List
Quantity	Description	Unit Price	Total
2	Webcam	70	140
4	Plywood	50	200
1	Paint		25
1	Splitter Cabel		25
3	Speaker	70	210
1	Printing		25
1	Travel		50
2	Glass	5	10
2	Mirror	5	10
1	Etc		150
		Total :	RM 820
Equipment List
Quantity	Items
1	PC / Laptop
2	Speaker
1	Keyboard
2	Power Extension