Bodystorming workshop — Final Major Project
Designers: Alex Newson, Sebastian Ervi
Stage of the project: Exploratory research
Restrictions were still in place during the first weeks of the project. Before personally heading off to Finland for the summer, Alex and I decided to research through a bodystorming workshop by organising our own concerts with 8 students from our course, aged 22 to 27 years old.
Part 1: Live stream
We wanted to know more about how people react and behave if a concert was streamed in a public space with other people. Would they dance? Would they sing? Would they simply sit down? Would they feel “being there” or not at all?
To organise the experience, we borrowed a projector and speakers, and set up a large room, dark enough for the stream. We prepared a bar space, with drinks for the participants. For the stream, we used the on-demand concert service MelodyVR, allowing to choose a fixed point of view instead of the camera cuts usually found in live streams. To analyse the workshop, we recorded it from start to end — and taking inspiration from photos shared on social media after concerts, we asked participants to draw their most memorable moment within an Instagram frame and to caption it.
Through the analysis of the drawings, the recording and notes taken during an open discussion after the experience, we learnt that most of the participants felt disconnected from the physical concert, due to the experience not being immersive enough. Following our classmates recommendations, this could be improved through more immersive technologies, a better point-of-view of the camera and a physical environment closer to the one at the concert.
During a planned open discussion after the experience, we also learnt that 6 of 8 participants didn’t know who the artist (Jess Glynne) was. One participant admitted that she wouldn’t go to a show without knowing the artist, and that knowing the songs would make her more engaged. We also saw how people easily follow other people’s behaviours: when two participants sat on the floor, everyone else began to do the same, despite one participant trying to dance.
Part 2: DYI concert
In contrast with the first workshop, we were curious to know how people would organise their own concert with only minimal instructions and through that, learn more about social behaviours in a small DYI community-based concert.
To organise the experience, we brought a guitar, drumsticks and a microphone. We placed a foam board to mimic a stage, and gave prepared role cards to participants: artists, fans and staff. Alex helped to setup a song for people on stage to sing and play on. The experience was organised 3 times, switching roles between each. Again, the workshop was recorded and participants were asked to draw their most memorable moment within an Instagram frame and to caption it.
This time, the experience was described as more engaging, active and fun. We learnt that this was due to the co-creative aspect of the experience and the social connections involved. Participants were highly engaged, with artists regularly interacting with their fans, who cheered back to them and tried to overpass security by invading the stage. In fact, the stage invasion by a fan — followed by other fans — was represented as a highlight of the concert by many participants. We think this could be explained by the stage invasion’s unexpectedness and the fun associated with this specific moment.
Take-aways
The second experience was considered as more enjoyable than the first one. Participants were much more active and felt connected throughout the self-organised concert, with everyone taking part and actively creating the experience. Some differences might also be explained by the participants not knowing who the artist was during the first part, while knowing each other well during the second part. We also learnt that elements of surprise might be interesting to explore further, in order to create memorable moments in digital or physical concerts.
We will need to explore further how these elements contribute to a real-life concert experience.
