Interactive
Planning, Concept, Directing, Video shooting, Editing, Coding, Photography, Max/Msp, Final Cut Pro, Figma
What is Tsumuguba?
The current high demand for dogs and cats as pets results in mass breeding, however, their commercial value only lasts for half a year, leading to the euthanasia of tens of thousands of animals annually.
Tsumuguba presents a new business model in which animals are not treated as mere products. Instead of selling animals as products, we let people meet them at various stores. The aim is to alleviate the burden on animal protection groups and ultimately achieve zero culling of animals.
Planning
The first step was to plan out all of the areas and stakeholders of Tsumuguba’s business plan. After this, it became clear that there was a need to display interactive content at stores so people could get in touch with sheltered pets.
Interactive Mirror
As the idea of this project would be something that is not invasive, but gives people a pleasant surprise. We decided to make it look as a normal mirror, allowing people to keep shopping without any interruptions.
The idea was to have a digital screen acting as the mirror, so when a person was standing in front of it, a cat or dog would come up on the screen.
Production
I worked with a carpenter to make a wooden frame around the screen and made other adjustments by myself to get all the equipment placed correctly. The main camera had to be placed on the top part of the frame with an angle of 45º
Recording
The next step was to shoot the animals from the shelter using a backdrop, so the background could be removed in post-production.
Coding
With all of the footage ready, the step was to remove the background and add some messages coming from the pets, including a QR code that people could scan and access the app in order to find out how to adopt them.
Face Recognition
Using the camera video input, I used Max8 in order to detect movement and people’s faces.
When a person was detected in front of the mirror, it would then trigger the pets filtered videos on top of it. This would give the effect that the animals were standing in front of them, as they’re also looking at the mirror.
This was particularly important as the goal was to keep the mirror screen empty, and only trigger the animations at the right timing, keeping the surprise.
Final Outcomes
The interactive mirror was first presented at Tama Art University together with a video that I also produced, illustrating how the business model works and how Tsumuguba’s product is used at stores.
Presentation at Tama Art University
Concept video
This is a short video I made demonstrating how the product works. Work included planning, shooting, directing dogs, making a mobile app prototype and editing.
Next project: Videography