What an exciting predicament that was not so exciting I was in. Forced to recede from my original ideas to the extent where I didn’t have to be a physics master, it opened up new possibilities to enhance my own film making abilities. Hence the wording of it being an experiment. Still, I did not want to stray too far from my notions of a Rube Goldbergian/Pythagoras Switch creation so I started off making contraptions which fell apart in  lieu of filming. I captured as much of my meager first attempts as I was able, but cut most of it out in processing and editing, as consequence, the video is lacking in the extra minute or so length that I would have required to obtain more of the atmosphere I wanted to build. I had some footage of Doctor Ekulsen running up the stairs, that didn’t work with the rest of it all because I wanted to keep a balance between him and the other elements, but as for the future, I definitely acquired some good shots to use in other projects or even possibly a recreation or better crack at this coconut. All in all, I think that I worked within my capabilities to produce something that was better all around rather than overambitious and lacking.

Watch the video on youtube here.

For my final project I want to attempt a Rube Goldberg esque machine/sculpture that would combine all the elements and areas of my room. Seeing how I can’t bring my entire room into the class I would have to film this process and make some sort of video of it. Basically how this kind of routine works is there is a catalyst or event that triggers the start of a mass of events thereafter all configuring into a final abrupt end of little to large significance.

I wanted to do this within my own room because of the fact that it is a conduit for all the energies and creative elements of my life, with each little piece of it adding to the aspect of a greater happiness for myself. I would use only the objects and things from my room as an attempt to make it more interesting to figure out mechanically and kinetically. Because I have so many random things floating around in there I feel that it would be a good idea to incorporate how they inhabit my room and what that interaction means to the rest of it.

The area where I paint will have its specific section of the machine as well as my desk and its relationship to sculpting/glueing. This means that I will have to do each sequence in a different segment of filiming rather than attempting to film the whole thing through.

TIMELINE:

Research and Brainstorming: This weekend Nov 21-23

(analyzing the parts of my room and experimenting with what works and what doesn’t)

Machine Construction and Completion: Nov 23-27

Filming: Nov 27th

Editing and Wrap Up: 30th onward

Some other Rube Goldberg creations:

Honda Ad – The Cog

Japanese Rube Goldberg Contest

Peter Fischli and David Weiss – The Way Things Go

Enjoy!

Update. I have fixed up the video to be working now so you can see some of my process work and test run here.

This project was interesting to say the least. There were a lot of blips and errors in the circuiting so that I had to redo most of them until they worked. I also had trouble with attaching the actual wheels to the gears and making sure that it didn’t wobble (in the end it did anyways). My idea of having two people interacting to make the bubbles happen would have worked if the wheels hadn’t been so shoddy, but I think it turned out well regardless. In the end it would have been nice to have one of those gigantic bubble wands so as to get more exciting bubbles, but I kind of liked the fact that it turned into a small blip of bubbles instead. The whole process of getting the thing to work for such a small reward is more intriguing this way.
In the end, I’m pleased with the result, but hopefully I won’t have to trek through so much rain next time.

For my project I plan on making some sort of moving bubble machine. I will attach two stationary wheels and a third pivoting one to some sort of base component. On this base there will be three switches that control the on/off and the direction in which the whole component turns/moves towards. The stationary wheels will have motors attached to both their axles that will grant them motion. If you turn one on, the wheel will push the base to the opposite direction it is on and vice versa, but if you press both, it will move forward.

Motion down, now all we need is bubbles, and to do that I’ll need to resort to something a little more complicated involving a small motor, a fan and a dollar store bubble blower toy.  What I will have to do is mount the liquid container underneath with the fan blowing beside it. The rod will be attached to a contraption on the motor that will spin and yet keep the circular end of the rod in line with both the container and the fan. This will mean that the bubbles wont be constant, but will also mean that I wont have to keep refilling it by hand every time the stick becomes dry. Hopefully I can get all this done by next week!

So basically the editing process is what killed my video, because I couldn’t seem to get it right the way I wanted and now I am working right up until classtime. I had two more portions of the video, but had to take them out because the stop motion part had all the photos sideways and lack of time. Basically I have made a hollow shell of the video I would have liked to have done, but nevertheless it serves its purpose. To take a look go here. It’sthe second one down.

UPDATE

I made some changes and edits, and have come up with my final copy which I feel is much more successful.  Click here for the youtube link.