Rebecca: made the Super Dario Kart banner, item boxes, and the Ghost Kart, and acted as a plant to entice other people to join.
Johnathan: Played the titular Dario, and put together a color-matched Dario outfit and Kart.
Daniel: Acted as the "Shy Guy" and put together the challenger's Kart.
Anna: Acquired cones for the race course, created flyers to advertise the race, and helped recruit others to photograph and document our progress.
How we hoped the design would work:
Mario Kart is an incredibly well-known franchise, especially among college-age individuals. It's something that has a lot of nostalgic value and we intended to capitalize on the popularity of Mario Kart to get someone to bring an item across campus. To raise "awareness" beforehand, we placed posters around campus, though in hindsight this wasn't really necessary. The idea was to get a passerby to stop once he saw the relatively familiar Mario (or "Dario") iconography, and upon seeing a list of previous challenger's times (obviously fabricated), would be compelled to put on the challenger's Kart and race Dario to the finish line. The object we need to move was one of the wheels on the challenger's Kart, which ensured that any challenger would be bringing the object to the finish line as quickly as they can. The challenger is guided along the course via a series of multicolored cones and brightly colored Mario-esque Item Boxes. Since we weren't allowed any form of communication with each other or with the participant, we communicated via overly-exaggerated body movements.
The race in action:
Reflections:
I'd say the project was a success. At first we felt discouraged because a lot of people looked at us and walked past us, but nobody seemed interested in picking up the Kart. But we did get someone interested in running the race and from then on it went mostly as planned. They ran the path we laid down and ended right where we intended. We had no unexpected situations, but there was one thing that didn't go exactly as planned. The item boxes placed near the flags contained items, and the idea was to get the racer to stop, pick up the item, and continue (slowing him down enough for us to snap a picture with him in close proximity to the flags). However, they didn't stop to pick up the items, but we still managed to snap a photo with him close to the flags. If I had to change one thing, I would probably put a bit more work into the Karts and the costumes in order to get more people to recognize our setup and be more willing to participate. Other than that, it went quite well and I'm glad to have participated in such a fun project.
- Daniel
At first, people looked confused by our display, and couldn’t quite figure out what was going on. Without vocals, it was hard to convey that anyone was allowed to jump in for a race, and that we weren’t just street performers. However with hand gestures, I was able to direct a group of runners to our race, indicating we needed their help. The runners cooperated, and the one who got into our Luigi Kart ran straight from start to finish without hesitation, and cooperated wonderfully. The only unexpected situation was that our runner did not stop to pick up the items from the item boxes; this meant that we had a hard time getting our photos, but thankfully we were able to adapt. Because of this, however, the game didn’t work exactly as we wanted it to; the game was to collect the items from the item boxes in the race, then trade them in for a prize at the end of the race. Our runner took off to catch up with his friends immediately after the race, however, so the prize and item boxes were left untouched. This was probably an issue only due to lack of vocal directions, and we probably needed more signs (they came from the direction facing away from the signs explaining the game). In the future, we would hopefully have vocals, and clearer explanations of the games objectives.
-Anna
At first, it was easy to get people interested and respond to us, but difficult to get them to want to participate, understandably. Luckily, within the first 8 minutes, there was a group of cross-country racers (?) who were up to the challenge of a race. So they took it very literally (and did not see my signs to get all the 'items') and ran as the guy ran as fast as he could, leaving me trying not to trip down the stairs in my clunky box, far behind (lol). So I didn't really see much of the action, more like a blur, but success none the less. I made the banner and signs, the boo kart, the item boxes, and put mario kart themed items in all the boxes (hoping the challenger would stop at the boxes, planted by the flags, long enough for us to take a picture at them, but no such luck). Overall I'd say we were quite successful and I think that was partially because of luck. We probably should have made more banners and signs so they could be seen from all angles, and the tasks could be more understood (to stop at the flags), but other than that, it went really well.
-Rebecca
No comments:
Post a Comment