Queen Caroline's Drawing Room at Kensington Palace Interactive Story
Below are some screen shots of my final project:
Some of the story that would be incorporated into the room:
Above is a cartoon depicting the Inconveniences of a Crowded Drawing Room. This image displayed when a person triggers a sensor by walking past the wall. The image is then projected on the floor. Other similar visuals maybe used as well.
Lord Hervey a constant member of Queen Caroline’s court wrote a memoir of court life, which was published many years later. Historians believe this to be one of the best accounts available to get an understanding of court life when George II reigned. I wanted to have a sensor that when triggered gave an audio reading of an entry of Lord Hervey’s memoir. These would not always be the same, so it would give people a different experience even if they visit the palace multiple times.
I planned on incorporating some videos of popular dances from the era, which I found on: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/dihtml/divideos.html. Parties and balls from that era commonly contained dancing, which was frequently discussed in drawing rooms. In terms of dancing what was normally talked about was someone dancing scandalously close or other topics that caught other attendants interest. I was planning on having screens in the floor that when a person stepped in a particular area they would play music and show the dance steps. This was something that I thought children would be particularly interested in as well as some adults. I had collected several resources in order to be able to get my installation historically correct.
Sounds Effects:
Whisper.wav & Whispering 312595.wav : These two sound files would be implemented through a sensor to give visitors an idea of the kind of whispering gossip one would expect to find in a drawing room. The two of the seats used in my Second Life is 3D model is gossip benches which would be perfect places to implement this sound. In the actual palace it might be good to have these sounds in corners or alcoves.
Horse_and_Carriage.wav : This would be implemented through a sensor near the window. When someone walks into the window’s alcove the sensor would go off. The idea is to emanate the idea of the sounds of the city from that era. Kensington Palace is very close to Hyde Park and Rotten Row. These areas had heavy foot and horse traffic during this time period. They were the places to see and be seen especially for members of high society.
Footsteps.wave : This sound would be implemented so as you walk through the room it sounds like there are footman walking outside the room. This is to help give visitors a sense of what a working palace might sound like. The footsteps are intentionally quiet because a servant’s role was not to try to not be seen or heard.
Challenges of working in Second Life:
Implementing a story in Second Life was a lot more challenging then I originally anticipated. I found it to be very difficult to use. Additionally, because they make frequent changes several help sites did not have advice that worked. I had a lot of problems doing the most basic things in Second Life, which was highly frustrating. I felt that my progress was slowed and sometimes halted due to these issues. Overall, I'm happy that I used Second Life because I feel that I did gain a new skill that I am able to expand upon in the future.
A couple of my favorite research resources I found and used for this project:
This forum is essentially a collection of almost everything you ever wanted to know about royalty. It was very insightful while pointing the direction to many of the other resources I used in my project.
Alexander palace time machine: romanov, russian history and royalty discussion forum. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://forum.alexanderpalace.org/index.php#5
For a great account of court life during the reign of George II I highly recommend this book. You should be able to obtain it for free in Google Books in case anyone is interested. In general, Google Books is a great resource for getting older books that maybe out of print or difficult to find.
Lord Hervey, J. (1848). Memoirs of the reign of George the Second from his accession to the death of Queen Caroline. London, UK: John Murray.
Some of the story that would be incorporated into the room:
Above is a cartoon depicting the Inconveniences of a Crowded Drawing Room. This image displayed when a person triggers a sensor by walking past the wall. The image is then projected on the floor. Other similar visuals maybe used as well.Lord Hervey a constant member of Queen Caroline’s court wrote a memoir of court life, which was published many years later. Historians believe this to be one of the best accounts available to get an understanding of court life when George II reigned. I wanted to have a sensor that when triggered gave an audio reading of an entry of Lord Hervey’s memoir. These would not always be the same, so it would give people a different experience even if they visit the palace multiple times.
I planned on incorporating some videos of popular dances from the era, which I found on: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/dihtml/divideos.html. Parties and balls from that era commonly contained dancing, which was frequently discussed in drawing rooms. In terms of dancing what was normally talked about was someone dancing scandalously close or other topics that caught other attendants interest. I was planning on having screens in the floor that when a person stepped in a particular area they would play music and show the dance steps. This was something that I thought children would be particularly interested in as well as some adults. I had collected several resources in order to be able to get my installation historically correct.
Sounds Effects:
Whisper.wav & Whispering 312595.wav : These two sound files would be implemented through a sensor to give visitors an idea of the kind of whispering gossip one would expect to find in a drawing room. The two of the seats used in my Second Life is 3D model is gossip benches which would be perfect places to implement this sound. In the actual palace it might be good to have these sounds in corners or alcoves.
Horse_and_Carriage.wav : This would be implemented through a sensor near the window. When someone walks into the window’s alcove the sensor would go off. The idea is to emanate the idea of the sounds of the city from that era. Kensington Palace is very close to Hyde Park and Rotten Row. These areas had heavy foot and horse traffic during this time period. They were the places to see and be seen especially for members of high society.
Footsteps.wave : This sound would be implemented so as you walk through the room it sounds like there are footman walking outside the room. This is to help give visitors a sense of what a working palace might sound like. The footsteps are intentionally quiet because a servant’s role was not to try to not be seen or heard.
Challenges of working in Second Life:
Implementing a story in Second Life was a lot more challenging then I originally anticipated. I found it to be very difficult to use. Additionally, because they make frequent changes several help sites did not have advice that worked. I had a lot of problems doing the most basic things in Second Life, which was highly frustrating. I felt that my progress was slowed and sometimes halted due to these issues. Overall, I'm happy that I used Second Life because I feel that I did gain a new skill that I am able to expand upon in the future.
A couple of my favorite research resources I found and used for this project:
This forum is essentially a collection of almost everything you ever wanted to know about royalty. It was very insightful while pointing the direction to many of the other resources I used in my project.
Alexander palace time machine: romanov, russian history and royalty discussion forum. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://forum.alexanderpalace.org/index.php#5
For a great account of court life during the reign of George II I highly recommend this book. You should be able to obtain it for free in Google Books in case anyone is interested. In general, Google Books is a great resource for getting older books that maybe out of print or difficult to find.
Lord Hervey, J. (1848). Memoirs of the reign of George the Second from his accession to the death of Queen Caroline. London, UK: John Murray.
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