Reflections on Concept 1

Although the idea of “The Meeting” started off my research project, it did not survive for long. As I went deeper into the idea of the tableau with the three females, I noticed how I started inserting more information into the scene. This made it feel more static.

It was central to my idea that the participant should feel physically present and able to connect with the situation of the child. But I could not think of a relevant role for the participant in the scene. Could I allow the participant to enter the interview situation with some mugs of coffee? Would this be enough for them to feel included? It would also be exceedingly difficult to create meaningful interaction in a scene with figures talking, based on volumetric capture.

I also reflected on the topic of objectification and the wish to keep the focus on the situation of the child instead of the conflict. I could not envisage a way to include the filming of actual people without introducing the risk of triggering existing biases in the participant or that information about the enemy and occupation would distract the participant.

This challenge reminded me of the choice we made in the mobile game, where we ended up using a graphic style reminiscent of Winnie the Pooh for the animation of the child. This allowed us to show the idea of the child, and also to show bruises without the visuals becoming too overwhelming. In my opinion, this allowed the player to focus on the child’s emotional pain from having been beaten instead of the physical pain. I concluded that I needed to focus more on an engaging and emotional user journey and adopt an animated style to reduce the number of distracting details.